KieBelle

Backpack or messenger bag? For pete's sake, this is grad school, not high school! Who cares what I bring my stuff to school in, as long as it gets there? If all I have on hand is a paper bag, then that's what it'll be. No one will notice or care, and if they do that's they're problem, not mine.

The Denver thread is

I don't think you should assume that you've been rejected. Many people (including myself) are still waiting to hear from schools. However, if you feel that you should have heard something by now, you might want to call/email the schools and ask if decisions have been made.

If I were you I'd wait to buy a used bike once you get to Santa Cruz. You won't have any trouble finding a decent one for pretty cheap. Most people ride road bikes, but I've certainly seen plenty of hybrids. There's a farmer's market in downtown Santa Cruz on Wednesdays and Sundays (I think-- it's either Sat or Sun, maybe both. but def Wed.) and a larger one at a community college in Aptos (a bit too far if your only mode of transportation is a bike. even taking the bus there would be a chore, but it's worth checking out if you have a friend with a car who's willing to get up early on a Saturday morning.) There's also a couple natural foods stores in and around downtown SC. I can't help you with the farm shares- I just don't know. Sorry! If you're coming from Philadelphia, the bar scene in SC is going to be a disappointment. There aren't many to choose from, but of the ones that are there, most are dives. You'd probably like 99 Bottles, which is a small pub with, you guessed it, 99 different kinds of beer. The atmosphere is laid back, the food is okay, the service is always horrible, but with 99 kinds of beer to choose from you won't care too much. Craigslist is definitely your best bet for finding a place to live. I have no clue about campus housing so I can't help you out with that, sorry. But avoid any place near the Boardwalk. That's Beach Flats, as I mentioned in my previous post. Beach Hill is right above that area and consists mainly of old Victorians and the rent there can be a bit cheaper. It's not quite as bad as Beach Flats, but it's still a bit sketchy. The area of SC you should be looking at is the West Side. That's where most UCSC students live. I'm not sure how many studios or 1bdrs are available in that area though. It's mostly large houses with a few students sharing. Downtown SC is another good area to check out that's within a reasonable distance to campus. Hope that helps. Good luck!

I got my first acceptance yesterday and I immediately burst into tears. lol. I certainly hadn't planned on doing so, but the tidal wave of relief and joy overwhelmed me. Then I called my mom. Then I did a happy dance for about 15 minutes. Then re-read the email about 10 times. And tonight I'm going to have several celebratory martinis.

Them: "So what are you going to study in grad school?" Me: "the political and social roles of violent non-state actors in the Arab Middle East" Them: "Oh... wait, actors? What?" Me: "..." Or the FAR more common response: Them: "So what are you going to study in grad school?" Me: "the political and social roles of violent non-state actors in the Arab Middle East" Them: "I hope you're ready to wear a veil!" -or- "But you're white. And a girl. Why in the world would you want to study that?" Me: "..." I am so sick of those responses.

This isn't an active topic, but I wanted to respond to Mumbet's post. To start off... the sea lions are not from Antarctica. They're there year-round. And yes, the water is freezing cold year-round also. (Hence all the surfers wearing full-body wetsuits in the summer.) The beach that Mumbet is referring to is where all the tourists and none of the locals go. There are many other beaches in nicer areas of Santa Cruz. (Locals don't usually like sharing that information- better to keep the tourists confined to one area. ) The Boardwalk and the beach nearby are in an area known as "Beach Flats" and it's not an area you'd want to walk through alone at night. However, UCSC (which isn't in downtown Santa Cruz) is nowhere near Beach Flats or the beach. UCSC is a huge campus up on a hill above the west side of Santa Cruz. I was born and raised in Santa Cruz, so if anyone has any questions feel free to ask.

I've refrained from voicing my opinion on this subject in previous postings, but I'm gonna finally go out on this fragile limb and say what I think. Truly, I do not think it is some horrible moral transgression to look at a LOR in this situation, even if you've waived your right. This is your future, and if you can give yourself a better shot at getting in by reading what YOUR professors have written about YOU (it's not like you're violating anyone else's privacy), why not do it? I say people need to get off their moral high horse. I think those who argue that this is a very bad and dishonest thing to do need to put things back into perspective- this is NOT the same as cheating on an exam, plagiarizing a paper, etc. Now, I don't think everyone should just go around opening all their LORs. But if it is a specific situation such as this one, and it can truly affect whether or not you are accepted into grad school, do it. For the record, I have never read any of my LORs- but not because I think it's a one-way ticket to Hades. I just don't want to know! Let the stone throwing begin.

I know others have mentioned this, but really, Indiana's online app is the WORST!! I swear the thing needs to be completely scrapped and rebuilt from the ground up. Their website is almost equally as bad. One of my most annoying things I've run into is (and this isn't quite about the online app, more like an SOP thing, but still...) the SOP prompt for one school wants to know which profs I'd like to work with and how their work relates to my own interests. Fine, no problem. Except that their faculty info consists of 100+ names and their corresponding departments. That's it! No info on what they teach, their research interests, their publications, CVs, NOTHING! I've literally had to Google every. single. freaking. professor. just to figure out basic info. Aaarghhhh!!

I'm attempting to fill out a supplemental department questions form (which is SO poorly designed I'm about ready to give up) and one field asks me to "Please list your major extracurricular activities, which would include volunteer work and offices held" followed by a little tiny box. The main application has an entire section devoted to work experience and I also have to submit a CV/resume, so I'm confused about what, exactly, I'm supposed to put in this (rather small) box. I cannot possibly fit all my work/volunteer experience in it. I'm not sure what they mean by "offices held" (this isn't for a political science degree!). I doubt they're asking for my hobbies. Perhaps I'm being totally dense, but if someone could please interpret this sentence for me, I would greatly appreciate it.

Why bother writing the grad schools to ask if the transcripts have been received? Why not call? Much faster that way. I've called each school at least once to ask if they've received everything and everyone's been very friendly and helpful. As for the missing transcripts, I'd ask the two schools to resend them, but they may force you to re-order (and re-pay). At this stage of the game, I wouldn't waste too much time or effort trying to convince them they made a mistake and should resend them for free- just do whatever it takes to get the transcripts there as quickly as possible.

yay! congrats!!

All of the schools I'm applying to specified that the essay should be double-spaced, and I'm pretty sure that's the norm. Also, 12pt Times New Roman font is standard. I decreased the font to 11.5 on one essay and I'm hoping that they're okay with that (it's barely noticeable, and I had to get those extra couple sentences onto the second page). Most of the schools also gave instructions on what to include at the top of the essay--usually "Statement of Purpose" or "Personal Statement", along with your name and university ID, if known.

Two of my recommenders had the same problem with Univ of Denver. I called the admissions office and they gave me an email address that the letters could be sent to, along with instructions that the recommenders should mention in the email that they were given permission to do so by the lady I spoke to. So I would definitely call the admissions office at UPenn and ask them if there are any alternative means of letter submission available given the circumstances.

Whoops! Now I look like a moron. I blame my second-rate public school education. To this day I couldn't tell you the rules of how to write well or specific grammar terms, but I'm a pretty decent writer, I swear! (thanks to reading endless amounts of books in my spare time) So perhaps I'll keep my mouth shut from now on in threads like this one.

IMO, passive voice has no place in a SOP. You are trying to convince the reader that you are confident and prepared. Using passive voice implies just the opposite. "I hope to", "I believe I will", etc... blech. That kind of writing just sounds wimpy.

In the first page header of all my essays I wrote (aligned left): Statement of Purpose/Personal Statement (depending on what the school calls it) Jane F. Doe Program name In subsequent page headers I wrote (aligned right): Statement of Purpose/Personal Statement Jane F. Doe Page X of Y That way if pages get reshuffled they'll know what document it belongs to, whose essay it is, and how to put it all back together.

I'm in the middle of filling out an online application and I've come across a question in which they want to know if I've contacted any faculty or staff and if so, who. I had to laugh, because OF COURSE this is the ONLY school that I haven't contacted anyone at, and the only one who's asked. Ugh! in whiny obnoxious voice: Do I really have to contact someone now? Most professors take forever to respond, or never respond at all, and I was hoping to submit this thing tomorrow. It's a master's program, and I really hadn't gotten the impression from the website that MA students work closely with advisors. Will it hurt my chances of being accepted if I just click "No" and submit it anyway? I've mentioned 3 profs in my SOP that I'd like to work with-- good enough?

Need quick help with an intro paragraph. Anyone care to review it? Let me know and I'll PM it to you. Thanks!

I'm applying to several MA programs and only 2 of them require writing samples. I've been out of school for over 4 years but fortunately I've saved much of my undergrad work. Problem is, I'm feeling quite insecure about submitting any of my old papers. I've been editing one of them to make it as good as possible, but I'm still nervous that it's not good enough. So my question is, how much weight is given to the writing sample during the admissions process for taught MA programs? And in case anyone was going to suggest it, I can't write a new paper. I don't have the resources, time, or desire to do so.

My list of schools shrank from 13 to 9, and I'm actually having serious second thoughts about a couple of them. I'm going to apply anyway because I want to maximize my chances of getting in somewhere and I'd still go if they were they only ones that accepted me, but the program fit isn't as good as some of the others. Plus, I've already spent the money on sending GRE scores and transcripts so I might as well just go through with it.

I posted about a similar situation a few days ago

University of Denver is like that- LOR writers can't submit anything until the online application (including SOP) is submitted. Needless to say, that pushed Denver to the top of my to-do list. I just submitted it last week. Of course, now my recommenders are saying they can't get the online LOR system to work... I'm the opposite of you- if I keep my essays around for months I'll nitpick and change things and end up actually making them worse. Plus, I don't usually agonize over things after it's out of my control. So my goal is to get them submitted ASAP, and it looks like that'll happen by next weekend! Yay!