coyabean

Does this thing create some kind of karma issue? Oh jeez. I'm such a joiner. lol 10 apps feel pretty strong for: 4 wishy washy maybes: 1 Would be over the moon with two competing fully funded offers from any of them.

I'll be doing it precisely because I don't have a great GPA. And I took 21 hours this semester -- the remaining hours of my junior year and the first of my senior. I think it could help?

Gee thanks, guys. No, really. I needed something else to have an inferiority complex about. Stellar! I'll be 33 when I go somewhere and 38 -- if i'm lucky and focused and obsessive and lucky and, well, lucky -- when I get out. I asked my mother last night if they shot people when they turn 40. She assured me that they do not. They do it at 39 she says. So, this process better be fun.

happy to hear this. maybe there's still hope for my earlier apps. it's difficult because you know yourself and what you are capable of. the reader does not, but that's cold comfort when you go into panic mode.

Ain't that the truth! And you guys have read the ones on Duke's website, yes? http://culturalanthropology.duke.edu/grad/GraduateStudentStatements.html

Yeppers for me, too. One program was halted and I just found out that another is taking a grand total of THREE candidates this year. Three. Just...three.

That is very interesting, and by interesting I mean a bit crazy. What would it add to the application? Hmm. I'd ask them.

this isn't even my discipline but i approve this message.

Are there any Interdisciplinary folks lurking about? The bulk of my focus is on anthro programs but I also have two Interdisciplinary programs on the list. Anyone with any experience with them? How are you approaching your SOP differently? Worried about getting a job? I have USC's ASE and WashU's American Culture Studies on the list.

I'm sorry, WHAT?!!! Emory's app is free for all grad programs/disciplines? Am I understanding that correctly? Because that would definitely be news. ETA: I checked and YES!!! From the website: We’re happy to announce that applicants who submit their applications on or before December 15, 2009, will receive fee waivers. After December 15, the application fee will be $50. If you are applying to the Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences or to Chemistry, please see program websites for program-specific instructions about the application fees to those programs.

Nope. They were ones I'd visited in the past but somehow got put off, mostly due to location. I think I am going to ditch Princeton and Columbia -- Penn is the reach school I'd REALLY like to get into -- and add Temple and Southern Illinois instead.

Duke's also on my list! Kudos on the changes to the SOP. I think you hit the right tone. I found the sample SOPs to be more detailed and scholarly than most others. I think you managed to mirror that. A few minor things: -- I felt like you may have buried your proposed research plans deep in the statement. I think i had to go half-way through to get to it. -- I took the instruction to list your three interests at the beginning as a clue that the committee prefers your SOP to be front-loaded with your proposed area of research -- With your impressive language skills, travel experiences, etc. I don't know if you need to devote so much space to the political canvassing; it's an area to eye for cuts Just my opinion. Good luck!

God bless them, my writers are intimately aware of my crazy. LOL One was my fellowship preceptor last summer and when I call him in panics he just shakes his head and tells me I sure am crazy to be so smart. The other was also a preceptor though not my own. I tracked her down when I heard she had an application boot camp and basically plied her with free tea until she agreed to help me too. The final has been my adviser for two years. I once threatened all of his tires if he missed a deadline. At this point I don't think they expect any less than for me to drive them crazy. Seriously though I do try to keep the deluge of info to a minimum for them. I only hit submit on an app once I'm sure so that they aren't getting a crazy amount of emails. And for those that I need a paper copy for I put together packets and a website to help them manage them all. I am really super sensitive to annoying them. I try to only annoy friends and e-people. And delete a bookmark?!!!!! I freeze at the thought. I've committed to deciding this weekend -- in 12 hours -- and not looking at it again.

You nailed it! LOL This is exactly what happened. I finished my first app in August and my SOP in July! So, yeah, I started early. I know I have some strikes against and I thought planning would help mitigate them. And good check on the sig. My list changes so often I can't keep it updated.

Thanks. I was hoping to hear from folks in the discipline. Berkeley's stats are, indeed, higher than Duke. Penn is my super-reach, I think. Duke less so only because I damn near live and work there right now. And that's where my superstar LOR is tenured. I feel like they will at least READ me. Penn? I'm afraid they'll just ditch me without a second glance. And I was never in love with Berkeley; it's just that it's so huge in the field. Applying feels like an obligation, you know? i meditated on this all weekend. *sigh*

I did do CIC back in August or so. I think I got one for UIUC, MSU and Indiana. UMich denied me -- GPA.

I have spent this whole cycle trying to strike the right balance of aspiration and calculated risks. I'm down to the wire and I'm tired and almost broke. I thought I'd ask for feedback on the smartest route in light of these two facts. My stats: -- 2.98..... GPA currently. It'll be a 3.0 but here we are. -- 660v/520Q/5.5 -- independent research experience -- pending journal article submission -- "incandescent writing sample"; that's a quote because who should say something like that about themselves? gag -- i'm a writer by former trade and nature so i think my SOP is solid -- this also makes me gag but i had no good quote to use -- current research experience -- not an UG major in my proposed doctoral discipline. i'm going from english and poli sci to anthro -- no name UG -- a nerdstar LOR I've completed: -- duke -- unc -- michigan state -- university south florida (master's) -- USC 100% committed to completing: -- Penn -- Princeton -- Brown I am debating if I have any glaring holes in my list and weighing that against time and money. Other schools I rotate in and off my list include: -- Berkeley -- University of Michigan -- UIUC -- American -- Columbia -- Brandeis Are any of those remotely possible for me or worth spending the money on? I know it's a bizarre question but I guess I am wondering if my done and absolutely committed lists look like a good mix where at least one good offer looks possible. Are any of the extra apps worth the investment? IF it helps I am focused on urban, complex socities' approach to formal and informal knowledge production and how those processes are stratified by race, SES, ethnicity. Any glaring omissions? Any stupid long shots not worth the money? Stop with my application addiction?

Me too. If I couldn't convince them in the SOP I took that as a bad sign. To the OP: it depends on how good you are at deluding yourself. AS soon as I submit my app I pretend I don't want to go to their stupid/elitest/no name/insert whatever school anyway.

I love this advice. My BFF is my designated submitter. I call her and she says,"idiot, hit the button" and strangely enough I do it! LOL As a writer I feel this times 10. My thing is I want people to read it but i want to be there when they read it so that I can dictate to them. LOL I'm also submitted an article right now and there's no such thing as a perfect draft. Convincing yourself that the person on the other end won't laugh at you and use you as the academic equivalent of a Cosmo Don't is hard.

thanks for saying its awesome. i am sacrificing a lot to get to where you are and it is scary how many people are so happy to tell you how much they hate it! i am banking on learning, being challenged, not being the only one to speak up in class, etc. nice to know i am not making up all that awesome potential.

ditto CIC. some schools flat out say none for anyone. others, particularly those with serious endowments who have some kind of of diversity initiative in place will consider doing so. i didn't meet Yale's GPA min -- 3.5 -- but i have had SOME luck. I think 3 of mine are waived. Ask by phone, not email, is my suggestion. if you're currently in school ask them for a "hardship letter" to bolster your case and good luck. there's a paper in here somewhere about the cost of applying to higher education as a stratifying mechanism, i'm sure.

I got the same advice. I specifically asked one of my writers to reference it and another did it on her own.

Not to get all nerdy up in here but I was just reading a book last night in the bookstore that has an interesting take on this conversation: http://www.nurtureshock.com/. The first chapter discusses how excessive positive reinforcement trains the child brain to expect immediate reward for all effort. Once the brain forms these receptors that process reward = effort it makes it difficult to change that later in life. The result is an adult with no concept of persistence -- that is using failure as a learning experience. I think we're seeing the first adult generation with brains wired for immediate reward. Why wouldn't they think they should get an A for trying? That's what they got at home. That's fine for self-esteem -- although the science also debates that, long term -- but it's not so good for ingenuity. Learning has a built-in failure component. it's that moment in your research where you have seemingly read everything in the world, can't figure out up from down and, if you're me, you drink while crying. But if you are accustomed to occasional failures you think this is a normal, or at least a familiar, process. You persevere and then one day you get your light bulb moment, or you just work like a pack mule and cobble something together reasonable. Either result never happens if your brain shuts down the first time an expected reward doesn't materialize. So, I've been thinking about what this means. I'm sure there are some workplace and productivity consequences. But, for the more immediate future I'm thinking this is my competition in grad school...and I'm feeling pretty good about my odds.

And that just about sums it up. There's been a whole war or words about this on The Chronicle.

10 (or 11?) total. I add the occasional program if I get a fee waiver. Still, the score reports add up and it's getting close to due dates so I'm capping it. Mostly PhD programs, two Masters that are my version of the dreaded s***ties. I don't like saying the word. I think it's jinxed.