[Keep A Word Drop A Word]

School books

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Strip search

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Fantasy literature

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Tour guide

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Cable car

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solar power

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chocolate chip

[Keep A Word Drop A Word]

pig tail

[Sh*t people say when you are applying to grad school]

After explaining that I've applied to grad schools:

 

Response 1): "Ohhhhh....*grimace face*" 

Response 2): "But you can stay at your job if things don't go well, right?" (e.g. yeah, this may not work out for you. Don't quit your day-job. Literally.)

Response 3): "[insert obscure, most likely deceased relative] was a professor! It's in the family!!!!"

Response 4): "You'll make a great teacher. Wait...can you do things other than teaching with a Ph.D.?"

Response 5): "Where are you going to go? Oh you have to wait on an acceptance? Well, have you heard any news yet? No? So when will you know? That long of a wait?! You must be sooo anxious." (very unhelpful)

Response 6): "Wow, it sounds really expensive to apply. I can chip-in $20....if you really need it. Just try to save your money."

[UC Santa Barbara?]

Interesting. Mind if I ask who you're hoping to work with? I'm going for IR and am hoping they'll let me pick political economy as my self-defined field. Really hoping to work with Dr. Cohen. Have you already finished your SOP?

 

I can't see why they wouldn't let you select Political Economy as a sub-field under IR, and Dr. Cohen would be a great choice. Are you specifically interested in fiscal and monetary policy?

 

I'm primarily interested in working with Dr. Bimber, among one or two others.

 

And yes, I've completed my SOP. Have you finished yours?

[UC Santa Barbara?]

Is anyone here either applying to the doctoral program at UCSB or already a student/faculty member there?

 

 

I'm applying to the doctoral program at UCSB as well. What research emphasis are you selecting? I chose American Politics and Methods.

[Welcome to the 2013-2014 Cycle]

It only gets worse when you get to grad school.  You look at the people that got admitted and you're like HOLY CRAP WHO WAS ON THE SEARCH COMMITTEE MY YEAR AND WHY HAVEN'T THEY BEEN FIRED?!?!?!

 

I know you meant this as a negative...but embarrassingly, it's giving me hope. 

 

 

When I wake up : Feeling pretty confident. "I have a kick-ass SoP with research questions that will make the adcoms think. It will help me stick out from the pack. They will realize that I love research and can work independently. I will get in somewhere."

 

After reading gradcafe and realizing what awesome applicants there are:  "I'll be lucky if I get ANY acceptances. I don't have a BA/MA in Math, Statistics, or Economics. I just re-read the SOP I submitted - What was I thinking when I wrote that?!?"

 

 

 

If it makes you feel any better, know that coming from the Economics field affords me absolutely no confidence in this situation.   

And I've been doing the exact same thing with my SOP. It improves with each go, albeit with diminishing returns. But it does bother me because then I worry about the quality of what I've already submitted. Who knows, eventually it may devolve into a crayon scrawled note saying "admit me, thanks."

[Personal History Statement / Personal Statement]

I also got the idea that personal/diversity statement should not matter all that much. However, this time (as opposed to the last round of applications) I've been strongly advised to introduce some perspective on my background. The general advice, as far as I understand it, is to make your disadvantages work for your advantage. Last time I preferred to ignore this aspect (as I think it shouldn't matter); this time I am trying to do the opposite, and actually stress it.

 

Talking to a number of professors in some schools led me believe, that if there are two candidates with a similar profile and characteristics (e.g. test scores), but one of them is from Ivy and another is from an unknown Belorussian university, it won't hurt the second to introduce a little story. Without a story, Ivy can be just another automatic plus to the first applicant's profile, whereas the story can actually change the balance in some cases.

 

I thought I'd share this perspective with other (especially international) applicants.

 

 

I doubt professors would read it. Berkeley and Michigan usually receive millions of documents to review. 

 

While I'm inclined to agree with jazzrap, maybe these sorts of supplemental essays play a role in finding funding from University sources. I recall one U.C. app stating this, more or less. So maybe it's not a big deal in initial admissions rounds, but counts later?