alexis

I'm applying to 5 programs. I seriously can't divide it up to acceptance/rejections, but here is my best attempt. Fairly confident in acceptance: 1 (also one of top choices) Moderately confident in acceptance: 1 Completely unsure: 1 Rejected, but still keeping irrational hope for: 1 (other top choice) Definitely rejected: 1

In general, it seems that a master's is a big help, but this is REALLY discipline specific, so it's hard to generalize. For example, I'd say it's crucial for some of the business programs I'm applying to, but for psychology programs, I don't think it matters as much.

Yes, you should do that. Whenever I got asked a question like that (date attended to, date graduated-if I was required to put one) I just put "05/2010." On my resume, it says that my degree is in progress and expected graduation is May 2010, so it should be pretty obvious.

I'm not applying to Rutger's, so I'm not sure about their specific application, but I had been having similar problems. What I figured out was that the dates DID save; they just clear every time you log on (sometimes for privacy reason; other times, no good reason I could see). This was in ApplyYourself. When I went to submit, they let you preview the application first--and when I opened it, the dates magically appeared.

My professor (who sits on our master's admin committee) told me yesterday that schools usually accept LORs after the deadline. I'm not sure how much this applies to all programs; I can see the super-competitive ones enforcing the deadline, but it sounds like it's also common for letters (&GRE scores) to be accepted late, especially since the admin committee doesn't meet until the new year.

Yup, all my recommenders happen to be submitting their letters after I submitted the online application, but it doesn't matter. I'm actually sitting in my LOR writer's office at this moment, literally waiting for him to submit my letters online. I had to show him how to log in etc. Seriously. Everyone said, "you have to sit there and make him go through the process, or else he won't do it." Craziness.

Just basing what I've heard, it seems to be the two-page limit is a good thing to aim for (kind of one of those "unwritten rules" in applications). I guess it's down to whether everything you've included is relevant and crucial for you to get across? Are you including anything in there that might be better suited for a supplemental essay (if the school has one, e.g., explaining bad grades in your transcript or something)? My advice is try to edit it down to 2 pages if you can (doesn't necessarily have to be 1,000 words; you can probably fit 1,100 words on 2 pages), but that's just my humble opinion. To be honest, though, if you do keep it at above 2 pages, I can't imagine it hurting your application much, if at all. If there's no limit for that program, to have 2 pages and a little more doesn't seem like it would be a huge deal. Getting it down to 2 pages just might be something to aim for.

totally random, but I had just read this thread and then a few minutes later heard this on late night with jimmy fallon- (bit where they pretend to be saying the thoughts of one of the guys in The Roots) "Why do they call it Toys'R'Us and use the passive voice? It should be called We'R'Toys." Needless to say, it made me laugh.

I saw this and thought it was really interesting in regards to why GRE cutoffs shouldn't be used. (Why can't more schools get that?) http://www.fairtest.org/examining-gre-myths-misuses-and-alternatives

Could you also add me please? Thanks!

I'm in an M.S. program right now, and so far, it IS awesome. Ten times better than undergrad. Just as much work, but more engaging--discussion, analysis, etc--rather than cramming and memorizing things. Mostly essays and presentations rather than tests. By doing research and interacting with your professors, you really feel like you're contributing. The only downside I'd say is that there's less of a social aspect to grad school, at least at mine; it's not like undergrad in that way.

Seconded!

Ah I like that! I will think about replacing my "honor" with "pleasure"...thanks for the tip!

Social Psychology: 1 ranked in top 10, 1 ranked in 60-70 range. Based on NRC rankings. Management: 1 ranked in top 10, 1 ranked 50-60, 1 not ranked, based on US News & World report (Limited by geography hence the weird spread, but believe it or not all of them I'm interested in & feel would be a good fit. One thing I'm interested in is actually to going back and teaching at the current master's program I'm a student at, and I know they'd be happy to have me even if I attend a lower-ranked school. I wish they had a PhD program there so I could just continue at the university I'm currently at.)

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it, I think I'll keep it in for now. (Still a week or two before I submit my apps, so plenty of time to agonize just that little bit more

What a bummer none of the words showed up! That is so frustrating. It's like studying for an exam at college and nothing you studied for shows up on the test. I lucked out on my GRE and a bunch of the Barron's high frequency words showed up. Just goes to show what a crap-shoot the GRE is. But congrats on raising your score, that is great! And with a 30 point increase in the verbal, I imagine you're at least at the 80th percentile or around there, which isn't bad at all.

It seems like that's a common response (e.g. professors who we contact as advisors don't generally sit on adcoms, but I think you're right, probably depends on the program). It appears to me that the whole process is EXTREMELY field-specific, from what I've seen, regarding contacting professors and the type of responses you receive. For some programs, you have to identify a professor to work with; for others, it's optional; for some, you're not really supposed to, because you don't specialize your first year. How specific you need to be about your research interest also seems to vary. I've decided not to stress too much about the responses I received (mostly tepid/generic ones from the psych programs). You have to base it on their research interests/apparent fit, and it's hard to know what to think until you meet someone and see if the program is a good fit in person (e-mails can be oh-so deceiving--I know some super awesome people in academics who come across really mean in email, for some reason, and vice versa). At least, that's the approach I'm taking.

Could you just generally explain that you had a chronic illness, but you are doing much better with treatment? It's not really their business what the exact medical condition was, and you're not obligated to share that you suffer from depression. By explaining it in general terms and how it affected your academics, but now you are doing much better, that may address it (and you can keep it brief). Perhaps you can tie that into how it made you a stronger person and even more determined to pursue your academic goals (if that's the case) by having to overcome a difficult period in your life.

My intention is not to sound sneaky here, but...why not just submit your transcripts now? I ordered mine in October. I know my fall grades won't come out until mid- or late-December; by then, all my applications are already submitted and most are past the due date. Nearly all colleges follow this schedule, as far as I know, and realistically, most adcoms won't have your fall grades when reviewing applications. If you get a copy of your transcript now, it will just say "in progress" or something like that. To me, that would look better...they will see that the course is in progress (even if you do end up withdrawing & re-taking it in the spring). I personally think that the "W" or low grade will really hurt you otherwise, especially with it being a required/recommended course for your program. Which is worse, I don't know. But, if you get accepted, then they see you had a "W" then a "B" or "A" next semester--it seems unlikely that would change your admission status.

I'm nearly completely done with my apps, and have my personal statement in near-final form, but I've been agonizing over this one bit that I can't figure out. Basically for my top choice programs, where I feel I'm a really good fit at & the professors are amazing, I say something about how my research interests align with theirs, and how "it would be an honor to work with them" or "it would be an honor to have the opportunity to work with them." But even though I mean it (it would be an honor!) I feel like it comes off as cheesy/sucker-up-ish. I can't think of a better alternative, and I keep going back and forth. Anyone have any thoughts? (Or am I just being nitpicky and over-analyzing, which is definitely something I tend to do! )

5 programs (in 3 schools). My field is interdisciplinary (plus I'm interested in a lot of things), but I'm limited by geography--not moving at all. So I'm very fortunate I have that many programs within a 5 mile radius that I would be interested in attending and happy if I got into (I know it sounds crazy, but that's the advantage to living in a big city).

In my field, I've heard the answer to this is "yes." They want to produce professors. If you have something you really, really want to do with a PhD that doesn't involve academia and research, I'm not saying be dishonest in your SoP...but you might want to reconsider how you approach it. (I.e, don't imply that you don't like working in academia--you're going to working in that area, in a sense, throughout the PhD program.)

KieBelle I totally feel the same way! My strategy has been to completely ignore my applications for a week or so at a time (usually because other things are more urgent aka have to get done right now in school/life), then I can look at my statements again with fresh eyes. I'm at the point now though where like you, I just want to be DONE with it all! I feel like once they're submitted, it will be "out of sight, out of mind," and I won't have to worry about things til March. If you feel you've gotten your essays as good as possible though, and no amount of time will really make a difference, go ahead and hit that "submit" button!

I went to UVA for undergrad too, always good to see a fellow wahoo. Wow your GRE scores are awesome, GPA is good for UVA, especially since (in my opinion) they don't do a whole lot of grade inflation. Every person I know who went to UVA undergrad & applied for a PhD/master's/med school/law school there got accepted. I'm not saying this is across the board, and I don't anything about the spanish program, but I'd say your chances of getting in there are good, especially since (I'm assuming) you already know professors in the program & have connections and LORs from there. Best of luck; I think your stats are really good.

I've been out of work since May (well, currently full-time in grad school--though it is evening classes--starting in August), and I asked my prof if I should mention this at all. Additionally, I had to take last semester off in the spring (while I was a part-time student/full-time working) due to an illness. She said NO WAY, don't mention either of these things. I agree with the above posters that the adcomms are unlikely to care about this. I almost feel like by talking about it, it's bringing attention unnecessarily to something that isn't relevant at all to the application.