melusine

So plenty of electronic submissions want you to scan a copy of your official transcript and upload it. Problem is, when I do that with mine, the security watermark appears in the background saying "Faux/Void" over and over again. Now at this stage in the game, my paranoia having reached an all-time peak, I am getting freaked out about whether this will cast any doubts on the validity of my grades. Anyone else have the same thing happening?? Whaddoiado??

Pros: diversity, maturity, all listed above.. Cons: the SOP... trying to condense and relate in a concise and credible manner a background that usually takes a couple hours to explain! I mean, in my case, I am a citizen of country A, whose family moved to country B at a young age, who did all her schooling in country C and her university in country D. Now try to justify, in those pesky little one-line boxes they give you i the online application forms, how on earth it is possible that you are a "native speaker" of languages A and C, a damn close-enough "native speaker" in language D, and still quite fluent in language B.. I have the nagging feeling they will think I am either a joke or a fraud, or, given how inarticulate the little boxes make me sound, a braggart who speaks a lot of languages all equally poorly. MEH!

I didn't list Dean's list... Should I???? I'm starting to get the feeling i completely screwed up my CV! I did the standard (imo) thing where i just put what uni/programs i attended/expect a degree from and then went on to my scholaships/awards, work experience, publications, etc.. Didn't mention grades, averages, none of that. I mean, I kind of assumed that's what the transcripts are for. Now I don't know..

Hear hear! I actually (archly) commented on somebody's post to that same effect, a couple weeks ago.. This actually reminds me of a facebook acquaintance of mine, major attention-seeker drama-queen type of character. the other day, she put a 'vent' on her status about how her gpa is one decimal under the record for her grade or something... fair enough. except she listed her gpa (on 4.0 scale) as... 4.6 yeah. clearly we in canada don't really use gpas and hence have little to no idea what the actual scale is... but some poor american friend of hers proceeded to write a weepy comment about how hers was *only* a 3.87. seriously, this is getting ridiculous! i feel like the "my grades suck soooo bad!" is becoming the academic version of the infamous teenaged girl "I'm soooo faaaat!"

well, given that i'm an oddball case all around (european with a canadian BA applying to american programs with 1% rates of acceptance), i think i'll be more than realistic when i say that i hereby officially predict an all-round rejection. once you put it this way, everything's always a pleasant surprise. or, to quote one of the greatest philosophical authorities.. ahem: "You know, you come from nothing - you're going back to nothing. What have you lost? Nothing!"

same here. 730V, 4.5 AW. Applying to Comparative Literature. i don't give a monkey's buttcheek though. one encouraging piece of information i got from a recent English Lit PhD postgrad from Brown University (at least in our fields): no even considers the AW as an indicator of your writing abilities. that's what the 20+ page writing sample is for. AND the statement of purpose. my friend (the postgrad) completely bombed the GRE 5 years ago and unless times are very much changed (which i don't think they are in that respect), it really doesn't hinder or help you in the application process.

at the risk of sounding mean... why do u keep reposting what is essentially the same question? this is at least the second time i read a description of your scores, grades, background and age, and from what i recall you were given some very encouraging/supportive feedback last time. also (wounded pride talking), it's rather strange that you keep coming back to a forum for support but don't follow up on your pm conversations on, essentially, the same topic. it just seems a little bit "attention-seeking" to me, that's all. as for your (reiterated) question, I will answer, once again, that all your records sound very impressive. Age might play against you (i.e. you might be perceived as a tad immature) as much as it might work in your favor (precocious genius), so I really think those two unknowns cancel each other out enough for you to be just as confident (or panic-stricken) as the rest of us twenty-something applicants.

I used to work as an RA from a prof who expected me to research everything, and their mother's dry-cleaning.. So when I write my fit paragraphs, I just pretend it's yet another research project/background check thingie I'm doing for work. Also, when trying to tune my sop to the school, I get so immersed in linguistic/stylistic intricacies that I don't really have time to daydream about all the wonderful possibilities. If all else fails, you can always chant, mantra-like, "che sera, sera.." basically, put it in perspective> what's the worst that could happen?? you could be disappointed. oh well, like my boyfriend says, "failure is a part of life" the best part is that you can always try again, or even change your mind and do something else

i'd be more worried about "intellectual inquiry".. i have no clue what you really mean, and the meaning i gather from it doesn't do you any favors. ("inquiry" as in "an inquisitive mind"? plus "Intellectual"? so you think your inquisitive mind is intellectual? sounds pretty cocky when put that way)

Well I'm applying to all the "top places", as you call them, and I think them being so selective is all the more reason for giving the reasoning behind my choice. I mean, if you're applying there simply because of the school's reputation, that not only shows you as a very shallow person, but also brings into question your seriousness as a candidate. What distinguishes grad school from undergrad is that you're making a life-altering decision on both a personal and professional aspect. Therefore, your decision to attend a particular school has to be intimately linked to those two variables... If your ultimate goal in life is to be a university professor (v, v competitive goal), or an otherwise highly esteemed specialist in your field, a diploma from one of the Ivies will make your life easier when looking for said job, as it will not only give you a very well known and respected degree but also allow you to establish contacts with very big names in your field. You also need to mention how a particular school fits your particular scholarly project: and you have to do this regardless of the school's reputation. After all, your desire to work with a particular prof/within a particular department should be your real motivation when applying somewhere. Just an example> say you are applying for a PHD in Latin American history and want to specialize in Argentina, Chile, Peru.. And the only profs in Latin American history at one of the big name schools specialize in Cuba, Brazil, are you still going to apply? Probably not, and if you are, the difficulty you'll have in convincing them you fit will only make it more apparent.. that you don't.

those are some seriously dangerous waters you're treading there, mudlark! i'm paranoid to the point that i'm scared to mention any research done by a prof more than five years ago, for fear that they've changed their focus/mind/baseball team since then.. but best of luck to you.. i'll be the first to yell callooh, callay, should you succeed!

Not sure what an AA is... I did my first year at the University of Alberta, and am getting my degree (BA) from UBC so I'm putting both on my CV. Hope that helps!

Thank you guys, this is awesome! and mudlark, there is, sadly, no department of Jabberwockian studies. However, the work of Jabber W Jabberwock, especially in terms of jabberwockyist phenomenology and jabberwockics is fundamental to my (and many other ppls') research in literature of a certain period. That's why the presence of one or more Jabberwockyists, even outside my literature department, is a big plus in determining my fit in a school. Who knows, perhaps I am a budding Jabberwockyist myself aching to reinstate Jabberwockianism in contemporary thought and make the honourable Jabber W himself proud!

hey all! please help.. I have three term papers due next week and brain just shut down. I have this awesome sentence introducing the fit paragraph in my sop.. except it's not that awesome- yet. But i really like the last part, and i do want to say all the things i say. can anyone find a better/less awkward way to phrase this?? With the presence of Professors Tweedledee and Tweedledum, whose research interests greatly complement my own, and that of other notable scholars engaged with jabberwockian thought, I believe Bleep University can offer me a great range of academic support for such work. [i especially hate "the presence of" but just "with Prof.." sounds even more ungrammatical] help!

i'm not sure of their place in the rankings. but mine are all very competitive (all Ivies except Rutgers and NYU). my reasoning> 1- i need automatic full funding which i found hard to find in other universities, 2- if i'm going to spend 5+ years somewhere, it had better be somewhere i really want to be (I'm an all or nothing kind of gal)

funny, when i called NYU, i had the same reaction except :"us numbers are the same as Canadian!" lol slight difference of perspective here!

they didn't tell me anything. our last communication was (after a month of silence from them and emails into the void from me) a phone conversation where they said : " i had a problem wth my email. i still totally want to help u. send me everything!!" that was a month ago. i have since had 3 profs at my uni (who have the rec's email) forward my messages with no result. the person is on another continent so it's not like i can go talk to them in person. also: def. a superstar (tv interviews and all) and as it turns out, likes to throw away promises and crash ppl's dreams. yes. i'm still very bitter,

as some may recall, i too had a big name, that dropped me in (as of yet) completely unexplained and unjustified circumstances. i almost cry everytime i see this thread! you guys are so lucky.....

alright then... my 2 cents about Vancouver! overall it's a nice, big, vibrant multi-ethnic city with breathtaking scenery. you literally have the beach, mountains, forest and city all in one. whistler's pretty close too if you are at all into winter sports (we ARE hosting the olympics in a couple months! exciting.. ) on the flip side, the city itself has had a reputation of being the "slums of Canada", with one specific area widely known as the poorest postal code in the country. they're not exaggerating either- i'm from the ex-soviet union and i've seen pretty extreme poverty in my home country but NOTHING like the nasty, nastiness you will see in that neighborhood. it's basically a by-product of Van being a port city and BC being one of the biggest, most developed pot-producers and exporters in the world. all drug puns aside, it's a known fact that illegal activities like that is where some of the wealthiest ppl in the province get their money. anyways, not to worry, UBC's a safe 50 min bus ride away from those places so you'll be pretty removed from that aspect. otherwise, lots of rain and not that much to do on rainy days except study, which is good cos that's what you'll be doing anyway, right? libraries and study spaces are plenty, almost all the residences have nice big gyms with flat screen tvs so you can come relax, or read your coursework on the stepper.. oh, another thing people like to whine about: while pot is a-ok anytime anywhere, you can't buy alcohol unless it's from a licensed liquor store. these generally exist in all kinds of far-off inconvenient places and close at ridiculous hours (7pm all week and closed on monday?! are u kidding me??!). you also can't drink outside (as in carrying your beer like you would on the street in any city in Europe) it's a minor inconvenience but it's there. that's all i can think of right now. hope it helps!

what about if you went to a Canadian university and therefore don't have a GPA? do you put your percentile average ??

LateAntique and cckrspnl56 - you guys are mean! ..but funny.

I go to UBC.. but as an undergrad in arts. so i don't know how useful my experience might be to you, but feel free to ask any specs you might be wondering about relative to the overall campus/faculty atmosphere.

a little aside here... every time i see this thread's title, i for some reason read "eroticism"! there's something wrong with me.

thanks for the help everyone! feeling much better now.. as for that, perhaps that is generally true in most cases but not necessarily in all, and certainly not in mine. coming into a field with such a strong multi-lingual requirement as comp lit, you are pretty much expected to back up any claims of bilingualism or other linguistic proficiency with information that, more often than not, borders on the autobiographic. i mean, how many perfectly bilingual speakers do you know in their early twenties that are so purely thanks to academic training? just my 2 cents on that subject.

What is the proper form of address of a SOP? "Dear Admissions Comittee" "Dear Sir or Madam" ...????? I suck at writing things like that, especially since I'm not used to doing them in English. It all just sounds so awkward, like middle-school-dance-awkward. Please help me out!!