Daisy123

This past year (yes, all of 2014) i was exchanging phone calls and emails with a professor who was very interested in working with me and wanted me to apply. We even had a visit scheduled for me last month. But, since he announced that he wont be able to make our meeting scheduled in the middle of December, we never spoke again. I have contacted him a couple of times to no avail. I am getting the bad feeling that he is going to go on a sabbatical and i wont be able to apply.- which is very scary because that was the school where i had the most chance and i am only applying to 3 schools total. What would you guys do? keep emailing? start calling?

good luck to you! please let us know how things are going. Where else are you applying? i am applying to UNLV , Pittsburgh, and Notre Dame

I go through these periods of heightened hope and happiness. For 3 days i have intense (like 4 times a day) communication with my POIs from one school and another. I feel encouraged by them and they engage me in these conversation about iF i get accepted we will do this and that....Suddenly, in the middle of it all, they stop responding, and here i am , almost a week later, with about 20000 fewer hairs on my head, wondering what i said wrong, does this mean they are no longer interested, checking winter break dates, and of course looking at my email every 2 seconds. Not to mention the dreams. Am i going insane alone here....? I know how irrational I am, but i cant help but feel that they wont contact me again. I am especially upset and emotional about a particular case- i had a hotel booked and everything to meet a professor who was REALLY interested in working with me, and I with him. We had spoken on the phone for 3 hours before. THen he emails me a day or so before i have to go, and tells me that plans have changed and we have to reschedule. That was all fine, but since then, i have made 3 separate inquires about when that new time should be, and it has been absolute radio silence for 2 + weeks. I cannot help it , I feel like my biggest chance and hope is now down the drain. that is the end of my rant- thank you everyone for listening and good day.

Has anyone else applied here? what are your interests? Who do you want to work with?

next comes the nail biting, hair pulling, checking email/ grad coffee every 3o seconds or so part of the application process.

i also did not follow any limit requirements.....5000 word writing sample???...no, the whole MA thesis. I did not have stand alone chapters that i can send, i am not enrolled anywhere currently and cannot afford to write something that wont be edited the way this needs to be. So, of course i am going to send in my best work. As it has been said, taking risks is what this is alll about. Every sentence we write is a risk. Do i address a weakness in my record in my SOP? Should i not? Should i mention this thing that I want to study , should i not? Does this need to be explained? ect. ect. ect. If you do is a problem, if you dont its a problem. Catch 22. Last year i discussed my weaknesses (a sudden shift in my GPA during my undergrad, or my amazing GRE scores), this year, i have not heard anything and i know nothing

Hello! I just wanted to say congratulations to our first admit for this year ! i hope everything goes well for you and as you have planned! Also, good luck to those of you who have submitted or are in the process of just saying "bye bye" to your applications after a last look. I submitted my first application a few hours ago to Notre Dame, where they have a new PhD program in Anthropology . After 30 minutes passed i decided that i am going to stress about the fact that my SOP is too long....ugh. How long is too long according to you guys.?

true that...i hope they feel sorry for my idiotic soul and let me repent my sins

I just realized that i made a HUGE mistake in my SOP. I copied and pasted part of the text that explains what i want to do in my graduate studies, but not the whole thing. Now it reads as a brief mention of where i am headed!!! the deadline is tomorrow but i already submitted the application a week or so ago. Would it be futile to contact the office tomorrow and ask them for an opportunity to revise....Has this ever happened to anyone?

I love the family guy reference hope you get in. hahah lots of luck this year with those applications. I feel jinxed now because for 2 weeks i cannot go into the profile page to finish my application.

Also UNLV, they have DR. Atici - a zooarchaeologist who is interested in these questions

I think you definitely are NOT wasting your time. But the only way to really know what you can and cannot do, is to contact faculty that you want to work with in the particular schools you listed > After you talk to them and tell them exactly what you have and what you are lacking ,you i will be able to know exactly where you have a shot and where you will be wasting your time. I suggest you start one by one, writing an email, or calling even professors, stating your interest and if they will be interested in talking to you some more. From there , you can build a relationship and learn more about the programs themselves. one of the most important aspects in these applications is to get a faculty member interested and willing to work with you, and learning how to show them (in your SOP) how you fit into their program.

Thank you so much for your advise! This is a good key word so to speak i can use in my SOP

oh cool! and what do you know who did you see , what did you hear?

This is my first year applying here. I am worried. Does anyone have any experience/ advise/ knowledge of the Anthro program at UNLV ? Is anyone applying here besides me? I am starting this topic so we can support each other and go crazy together thank you!

Okay fasboo, i am in, lets swap. Send send it to me via msg

okay, so i will NOT be applying to OSU! omg i am so sorry!

OH GREAT> thank you. It sounds like a hit already. I hope you get in after this torture

does anyone want to swap? yes no? and of course you can get in on this if anyone has something ready or wants to read an SOP i am ready too good luck all of you

I have a dilemma- when writing in your SOP , did you end up repeating the info from your CV ? I feel like in the part where i explain my experiences I am repeating and wasting space. I have so far just written down the most recent and relevant, and am leaving everything else out. what are your thoughts ?

Hello! I am sorry for not replying earlier. I figured that this is true and decided not to apply. Though i really thought that the program was very well suited to my needs, i just cant get in contact with my 3rd letter of recommendation writer in time for the 19th deadline Super! congrats- if you want, when you are ready lets swap SOPs?

I am ready too! does anyone want to swap a SOP or 2?

hello guys! super thanks to you for opening this SOP swap thing- otherwise i had to . I am in. how do we swap? Do you guys want to post it here or privately msg it?

that would be I*

yeahhhh i claled but his secretary wont put me trough. She tells me "just write to him" and i am explaining to her that i HAVE. ..but no. its not meant to be u guess i wanted to work with Dr. Larsen.