coyabean

Again, I'm just different, I guess. LOL With a week out to deadlines I take the gloves off. All of my writers are local, thankfully, and I have a semi-personal/within professional boundaries relationship with them. Sooooooooo, I start showing up, calling, emailing everyday, etc. I make it all about my frailties, not theirs though. I frame everything like "I'm just a little OCD and I am soooo nervous about this whole process so I'm sorry to pester you but I want to do do whatever I can to make this easy for you blah, blah, blah." No one has taken offense yet. And one could have. I told him, only half jokingly, that if all four of his tires ever go flat at the same time that i'm sure its just a coincidence. He laughed...and submitted all my LORs within the next couple of days.

YES! That's why I'm a little put off by all the pat "read this website carefully" responses you get from reps and the like. YOUR WEBSITE IS NOT CLEAR!!!! LOL

Above advice seconded. Also, consider that you will be asked during your career to reduce your research to an abstract. Think of this as an exercise in that.

Think of it like this, you are dating someone and you tell them that the ONE thing by which you cannot abide are wet willys. And the first thing they do is stick their slimy wet finger in your clean, dry ear. So, yes, it matters.

I'm going to share in your excitement the best way I know how -- by being uber jealous!!!!! YAY!

I want to thank you for this, too! I think you have a point with small programs. How it is I missed that I have performed best when I had a respectful mentor-mentee relationship is beyond me. But when you said this I reflected and there was the pattern! Something I should seriously consider in the coming months as I pray for admission decisions. And I want to second number 2. My school PCP didn't want to give me meds even though my counselor made it clear that at the time I was suicidal. Not something I'm proud of, btw, but the truth. She wanted me to manage my insane crying jags and almost total loss of short term memory with tea and exercise. :/

Also a desperate wanna be cultural anthropologist here hoping for more numbers!

Ok, here's my rule about all creative flourishes. If you are a talented enough writer to pull them off then by all means use them. If you are not talented enough to do so, then please be kind to your audience and ditch them. How do you know the difference? Ah, you ask the right question grasshopper. You know if you are a good writer. People have told you, if not expressly then by joyously reading what you write. If you've never had that experience be conservative and ditch them.

For my process Duke requires one for the finalists. I have heard some other schools do them optionally, at the applicant's request. If there is no mention of it and you don't ask for one then I think it safe to assume you don't have to worry about it.

At the risk of feeding the troll... So, if you already know you will get admitted why this exercise in SOP feedback? And give a "brotha" a break? Really? LOL Break on "brotha" and while you're at it send your SOP exactly the way it is. It's PERFECT. Doesn't need a thing. You are a shoo-in. You cannot be denied!!!! I imagine there is a adcomm waiting for your SOP genius as we speak. You must satisfy them POST HASTE!!!!!

Someone requested that of me, too and I decided not to use them. To me it was essentially him saying he had no idea who I was or what I was capable of -- not a good sign. Since he was a back-up anyway I just let it go. I really do think it is lazy, though. If you can't or don't want to write the letter then say so. There is no way I can bring myself to talk about my excellent approach to anthropological inquiry or whatever with a straight face and I'm a pretty solid writer. Bleh.

ditto. it's annoying to take time out of your own process to try and give back to a board that helps you to only have it all ignored. in the event that we are wrong i will just say that you still come off as annoying and your first paragraph sounds like you are just going to graduate school because you couldn't land a glamorous job.

I hear you. I had to LOL at the inherent innocence in the above comment. I not only worked full-time but I bought and subsequently sold a house, filed for divorce, moved twice and worked and had a full time course load the entire time.

I prioritized by due date and how badly I wanted in. My top apps are completely done as of two weeks ago. My earliest deadline was tomorrow though. The other batch go out next week. Had to wait until payday! This is expensive.

I'm going to disagree with the above. That was an azzhole-y thing to say. HOw do I judge azzhole-ness? By the net positive effect of responding versus the net negative of just ignoring the email. This communicated nothing. S/he knows you would know to apply to the school. They expended energy just to be mean. Consider it a favor. You often don't know someone is an dungbutt until after you are enrolled. Still apply if you'd like but now you know to keep this person on your watch list. Contacting profs is absolutely fine and expected. Don't let this person ruin it.

Thank you for posting this. We discussed something similar on lj recently. As far as depression goes you have to learn to live despite the feeling. I know it seems crazy, but sometimes I'm depressed, I acknowledge it and then I do what I think I cannot do anyway knowing that one day I will NOT be depressed and it would be nice to have a life waiting for me when that happens. Grad school is going to be a little more difficult, but that challenge can also make you more effective. I would go schedule an appointment with the health center and therapist as soon as you arrive at your program. Outline your history, get your meds if you take them and set up a schedule to meet with them. Try to get them to promise to check on you if you don't meet that obligation. Do the same with your friends. Give them permission to call you on your symptoms. Having said all of that, being depressed is a lot harder when you're also in a dead end job, in a dead end city in a life that isn't yours. Go for the gold in your apps. You are more than qualified. The idea of being a producer of knowledge is intimidating as shyt. I am more worried about the folks who DON'T have a healthy dose fear or inadequacy. Let that fear motivate you to polish your SOP one more time, to do one more reading session, etc. ONe of the reasons I obsess about the things I can control - SOPs, GRE, etc. - is because it keeps me from going under the wave of pressure of the many things beyond my control. I can tell you the best way to not get into a program is to not apply. Throw in some masters programs if they make you feel more secure. I am doing the same. And then apply to every school on your list. You deserve the chance to be considered. And if you pulled those stats with depression I am confident that with a support system and a plan that you can do whatever it is you want to do.

Consider it a conversation; a professional conversation. If you have further questions or insights, share them. If you come across an article of interest, forward it. And then if you decide to apply send them a note letting them know that they were instrumental in your decision to apply.

Absolutely! LOL I have a flair for the dramatic so I go to extremes. I waffle between "my life is over, OMG, i'm nothing" and "ok, ok, i got this, i'm a superstar, i'm going to make it happen!" I mean to be nice I'm limiting contact with my friends. No one should be subjected to me right now. This process combines my two least favorite things: forced patience and loss of control.

you guys are totally scaring me.

Sorry about that! I'm in that applyingtograd comm on LJ and we dispense with all niceties there. We're all super busy with our own apps and offering help where we can and I think in the rush we -- meaning I -- can seem brusque. Plus, I'm an Eng major in UG. We're bred to be writing snobs. Pay it no mind. If I'm offering my admittedly cheap advice then it means that I think the SOP is worthwhile. When they're beyond hope I just skip them. LOL And yes, I think this second one is MUCH better. You simplified the sentence structure, took out some of the flowery language and it sounds like you know what you're talking about. You might want to clarify what population you are talking about unless that's a discipline thing that will be understood by other engineers? I can't help there. But I totally got needing to use math and inventiveness to create new ways of building structures that respond to climate changes! And I'm Eng and Poli Sci. If I get it then you are doing your job. Good luck.

Oooooh. Ok. Yes the odd syntax was actually for the OP. Oops. And the SVO advice is in general, I guess, but definitely applies to the OP. There were some odd sentence constructions that asked too much of the reader, IMO.

Thanks to everybody! This really helped. I thought I'd give an update in case, one, anyone cares and, two, anyone is ever in a similar situation. First, I got all my ducks in a row. I found all my advising sheets from the past year and a half, tracked down emails, made my case with my adviser (who was totally on my side) and the dean of the dept (who is kind of scared of me but that works, too) and then I made an appointment with the graduate auditor guru. Apparently there is a person in your department with the authority to sub classes, certify you for graduation with the registrar and all around make your life worth living. Find this person. At my school it's a regular prof who also has this duty. Maybe at your school it's a coordinator or something. I emailed him with my concerns and my school id so he could have time to read my file before we met -- I didn't want to ambush him. And it appears that my adviser and dean also chatted with him. By the time I got there today he was pretty amicable. I made sure he knew how much time and money I've put into grad school apps and I was very, very, very nice. I'm talking "thank you Dr. So and So" and "it would really be great if you could possibly do such and such". I think nice cannot be overstated. 20 minutes later he subbed some old classes for new ones and signed off on a graduation plan for next semester!!!!!! He even said "I'll make sure you get out in time." So worse case is maybe an online course this summer for the hours if I can't get all 18 in next semester but it all will work out...I mean, if I get into grad school. Now back to that grind!

Ahhhh, knowing that actually helps. I thought your syntax a bit interesting. For the record, my humor falls flat for international audiences. I just meant that it is a bit too informal. Also, keep in mind that Subject-Verb-Object is really the best way to structure a sentence if you want to keep it direct.

fuzzy has addressed most of the issues I would have commented on. I would also watch your word selection. You have an odd combination of supercasual idioms -- "besides" (which should never be used by anyone not in the mafia), "scientific juices flowing" = ewwwww -- and stilted formal verbiage -- helping retrofit and replace our nations deteriorating infrastructure. So, you think you have nothing to write about. That is impossible. You just have some standard in your mind that you need to challenge. Do you want to be a creative writer or a grad student in engineering? I can't really tell from this SOP. If it is the latter pick one career track and use it to focus your essay. No one is going to arrest you if you change your mind later or even if you already know that you are open to other avenues. The point here isn't a session with your therapist; it's to make a convincing case for your admission. I really don't need to know about your screen saver or how happy you were as an UG. As a rule of thumb, use creative devices only if you have been told many times by many people not related to you that you are an excellent writer. Barring that come up with a formula and stay on the conservative side. Why are you applying to this school? You chose it for a reason but I don't see it here. After reading this I have no idea why grad school, why for you, why now, why here, or why I should care.

Thank you for this. I'm planning an ambush of the graduation adviser in my department tomorrow. I gave him 24 hours to respond to my email and voicemail message and nothing. So, it's a full court press. I'm going to totally fight to go in under my original general ed requirements. The worse case scenario looks like I'd have to overload next semester AGAIN -- did it this semester -- and then six hours in both sessions of summer school. I'll just squeak by. *sigh* I'm so tired of this.