Sigaba

I recommend that you write a short email in which you:
Thank him for his reply. Thank him for the compliment. Indicate that you'll submit an application. Indicate that you will be honored if you earn the opportunity to work with him. The key with this point is not to indicate anything along the lines of an assumption that you'll be admitted on his say so or a statement that you will commit to the program if you are admitted.  

I would look for ways to get under the 500 word limit.
I would start by looking at my longer sentences for opportunities to write more efficiently. [15 words] I would write more efficiently. [5 words]  

I recommend that you write a short email in which you:
Thank him for his reply. Thank him for the compliment. Indicate that you'll submit an application. Indicate that you will be honored if you earn the opportunity to work with him. The key with this point is not to indicate anything along the lines of an assumption that you'll be admitted on his say so or a statement that you will commit to the program if you are admitted.  

I recommend that you write a short email in which you:
Thank him for his reply. Thank him for the compliment. Indicate that you'll submit an application. Indicate that you will be honored if you earn the opportunity to work with him. The key with this point is not to indicate anything along the lines of an assumption that you'll be admitted on his say so or a statement that you will commit to the program if you are admitted.  

After replying to the professor, take some time to absorb what the person wrote and how you can draw confidence from the appraisal.

Rather than asking yourself "Am I good enough?" (a question kicked around the GradCafe often), can you ask yourself "How good can I be?"

I recommend that you write a short email in which you:
Thank him for his reply. Thank him for the compliment. Indicate that you'll submit an application. Indicate that you will be honored if you earn the opportunity to work with him. The key with this point is not to indicate anything along the lines of an assumption that you'll be admitted on his say so or a statement that you will commit to the program if you are admitted.  

The writing sample is taking me the longest! Coming back to my MA thesis chapters after a year of not looking at them is rough. I'm finding mistakes and trying to better focus my arg, but it's slow going. Especially since I need different lengths.
BUT I'm done with my SoPs and my letters have all been requesting, so I'm kind of ahead of schedule. But I only got all that done because I was avoiding the writing sample ?
Sending good vibes to everyone else working!

Saw this virtual panel apparently from UC-Berkeley and Michigan Stat PhD students to answer questions about Stat PhD admissions and whatnot, and figured people who come here might also be interested in it.  I claim no knowledge of these folks, but Rob Santos tweeted this out, so I'll take the liberty of assuming he hasn't gotten hacked or whatnot (and I haven't seen anyone else post it; if they have, we can delete this).
Anyways, the panel is at 7 PM Eastern time on Oct 13 (today/tomorrow, depending on how you delineate that).  Here's the link:  https://www.statsphd.com/ to their site, or the Zoom registration directly to save you a click:  https://umich.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_R9Bjv3IdRoqmrdygdnkNPA 

RE: readings/tablets/technology -- I just bought a reMarkable tablet for PDFs, eBooks and notes. One of my friends had one in Div School and recommended it. I have an iPad as well, but found the glare and notifications to be distracting, hence the remarkable tablet. So far, I love it. I'm just about to start my PhD and I don't know how it'll hold up when I'm back in the classroom, but for summer reading it's been excellent.
I second what was said about Scrivener. It's my go-to. I used to like Pages because it synced to iCloud, but it got frustrating over time. 
Also, following because I'm intrigued what others have to say!

I would look for ways to get under the 500 word limit.
I would start by looking at my longer sentences for opportunities to write more efficiently. [15 words] I would write more efficiently. [5 words]  

I would look for ways to get under the 500 word limit.
I would start by looking at my longer sentences for opportunities to write more efficiently. [15 words] I would write more efficiently. [5 words]  

@MarineBluePsy I agree that telling well meaning self described allies to buzz off is an appealing option.  And at the same time, moments like the one we're in don't come often.

(FWIW, I'm continually refining a number of responses that I can deploy depending upon the sincerity and intellectual skills of the person asking. Most of the responses center around urging the person to do a better job of listening, of learning the dimensions of the issues, and of figuring out ways to contribute to solutions that help people of color in the short, intermediate, and long terms.)

@iosman001, I don't think so. I don't think they will punish you for one W in the face of multiple national and international crises. 
You could call the program and ask the question directly if that will help you to relax so you can get some rest this summer and then start getting ready for your next term.

@kchistory, the only response that would make me change my plans would be if a POI were to indicate that she's not taking students or is going to retire/change jobs.

While I do think that the above poster is a little annoying in hijacking seemingly random chance me threads with alarmist takes, I want to maybe step into their defense at least a little bit and reconcile my take with some other takes that are prominent in this forum. Hopefully it's not too garbled. What they are right about is that job prospects are very asymmetric and that the job market is...not good to say the least. My philosophy is very game theoretic, that you ought to do whatever is going put you in the best position in the future, from both a monetary and career trajectory standpoint. I gave up a job where I probably would've been able to break six figures by 26, but am in a PhD program because every reasonable future possible option will put me in an equivalent or better position, with respect to work satisfaction and salary. I want to be a professor, but am getting teched up so that if that doesn't work out, I can do data science work in industry.  Maybe my thoughts are extremist, but these were some things I really thought about when trying to figure out whether grad school is worth it: 
Professorship, with a degree from anywhere, at any school, can never be guaranteed. We all know that the US job market is bad, but it's not like most of us can go to Canada, Europe, South America, or East Asia and get hired just by virtue of an American degree. The Canadian market is just as bad if not worse than the American market. European schools especially are very uh incestual and don't care for most American PhDs, especially if we don't have connections. No idea about the South American market, but I presume that your application is DOA if you aren't fluent in the native language. East Asian schools, while hiring individuals from American programs, are largely hiring back people from that particular country. The community colleges and unprestigious regional schools are the ones that each year lean heavier and heavier on adjuncts. R1 positions are relatively "safe" but even big state schools have adjuncts, grad students, and non-TT lecturers teaching many courses. If you have the sole intention of being a professor, even if you're willing to work literally anywhere, you need to change that mindset and be open to industry.  In my field, there have been notable recent students from CHYMPS programs, with solo APSRs and AJPS publications and prestigious postdocs, who earnestly tried on the job market and got nothing. They did everything "right." They have industry jobs now, and that's fine -- they're not starving or anything, but anyone who thinks that they're for sure 100% going to get some kind of TT academic job is lying to themselves. Some people will look at placement numbers and see that program X (especially when X is middle-range program) has ya know 80%+ in industry jobs and think that "ah people just realize that they don't want to be professors" but that's really not true for a lot of them. They take these industry jobs because their probability of getting a TT job is outrageously low, coupled with the fact that whatever TT jobs they can get will pay poorly relative to [think tank/industry]. The appeal of industry is big, especially for PhDs who can get these tech/MBB jobs where the starting salary is $150k+, but even then, most who end up getting the PhD would prefer to teach if professorships paid just as well (they just don't, and once you're 30 you realize there's more to life than examining the relationship between vote choice and political party, like affording kids and stuff).  You shouldn't go to a school unless most/all of your realistic preferred outcomes are only attainable to you if you go to that school. Obviously, yes, you need the PhD to be a professor. If you are admitted to a quant heavy top school, then if you want to work at Facebook doing experiments, then yeah a PhD is absolutely necessary. If you don't have connections and come from a no-name generic undergrad and get into a fancy-name school and want to get into MBB consulting, then yeah the PhD or mastering out from a PhD program is going to open that door for you as well. If you're going to take a lot of metrics/stats/CS classes on the side and go into data science then again a PhD is cool. If your PhD work isn't getting you these practical skills or fancy school names, and you don't have any backup-to-professorship options that require a PhD or at least an MA, then you really need to think long and hard about whether it's worth 5-7 years of your life. I guess this condenses down to the idea that going to a top program is doubly important if you want a job that you couldn't have just gotten out of undergrad or with a generic MPA. 

@Manana, been there done that!  NBD.  Just say hello, remind them of who you are, offer any update on your progress since last year, and let them know you're interested in re-applying and ask how admissions will be handled. It's also worth emailing the DGS to inquire about re-using your transcripts and GRE scores so you don't have to shell out unnecessary amount of money for another set.
Somewhat good news from Ohio State: It looks like we will have a very small cohort for Fall 2021 after all. but it will be amazingly selective so be in touch with your POIs there about applying.  Any questions, feel free to be in touch with me too!

Have you ever made a positive contribution to this forum or has it always been like this?

I suggest you head over to the professional government sub forum. They’ll be better prepared to answer the questions you have about those specific program. Most of the people on this forum mostly deal with political science grad programs, not professional ones. 

Your school may have a standard signature they want you to use.  Mine does.   My signature is dictated by the style guide.

Just to note, there's a difference between being the instructor of record (teaching s course by yourself), and being an "Instructor", which at most schools is a full time or part time member of the faculty. Basically, it's the "an instructor" vs "an Instructor" difference. I've never heard of it going along with a TAship, but that doesn't mean it isn't done  
You may well know this and be using it correctly, but it would be a pretty big faux pas to use the title of Instructor if you were not hired as one, just like it would be to use the title of Professor. It definitely looks impressive, it can just as easily backfire if you use it wrong. 

Honestly, I think shorter signatures are in general better. Why does anyone need your snail mail address in an email signature?
Also, are you currently employed as a (ranked faculty) Instructor in addition to being a student?

@mbat72 , welcome to the Grad Cafe. The following forum may a better match for your interests than this one. https://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/8-psychology/
 

This conclusion may be a bit of a stretch.
A department can be so overwhelmed from helping a member of the faculty who is struggling with addiction/dependency issues that it decides it needs a break from such complicated commitments for the time being.

A department could be under pressure to get graduate students to finish and it may understand, based upon experience, that complicated life stories impede upon its ability to meet performance goals.

The number and areas of students could be driven by key performance indicators centered around revenue and expenses.
Do Americanists studying social history complete the program faster than Europeanists studying early modern intellectual history?
How many TAs will be needed if the department offers crowd favorite courses?
Which professors need to be nudged to supervise more dissertations to justify their continued employment?
Who among a group of applicants could provide a lot of "bang for the buck" because their interests will see them using other resources at Michigan and/or could be funded by other sources and/or could be dual hatted as a TA for other departments/programs?
What are the financial benefits of offering admissions to students who already live nearby? (Do applicants already familiar with Ann Arbor need less support?)

This conclusion may be a bit of a stretch.
A department can be so overwhelmed from helping a member of the faculty who is struggling with addiction/dependency issues that it decides it needs a break from such complicated commitments for the time being.

A department could be under pressure to get graduate students to finish and it may understand, based upon experience, that complicated life stories impede upon its ability to meet performance goals.