JerryLandis

Yeah, the second one doesn't really add anything necessary. I mean, you should be demonstrating your natural enthusiasm and curiosity through what you discuss in the SOP, not just stating that you are enthusiastic and curious. Think about your word allotment, and whether you really want to use up precious words on an unnecessary ending. I can't remember off the top of my head, but I think I said something vaguely like this: 'The wide range of interests represented by the department faculty, the presence of individual professors who share my interests [wouldn't use "interests" twice in a real SOP], and the teaching opportunities provided by UNIVERSITY X make it the ideal place for me to pursue graduate studies.' Not sure how much better that is, but I think it succeeds at summing things up. Of course, if you want to use a somewhat cliche comment, by all means, this is your personal statement. I have kept some things in my personal statement that other people told me I should definitely remove. But I think that if you're unsure whether something is to cliche or is not really all that necessary, you're probably better off just removing it altogether.

I would say to go for it. Perhaps say that you are acquainted with the other professor and that you have only recently been alerted to this person's presence at the department. Emailing them late isn't going to hurt your chances, unless of course you say something horrible in the email. It may not be the ideal time, but the application isn't due yet, so it's fair play.

I would leave it blank, and try to send some kind of conversion chart with your transcript. If you enter 4.6 in the box, it may be okay, since it would be obvious that you weren't marked on a 4.0 scale. I suppose I would do that if you are required to fill in the box, i.e. if the application program won't allow you to submit your application without filling it out. If not though, I would leave it blank, as the person reading your application will probably understand that your university simply does not use the American GPA scale. I attend a university with a 20 point scale, but there is a conversion chart for GPAs so I just entered my converted GPA into the question box. Just a curious question, does anyone know if there are American universities where you can go above a 4.0? I know that's common enough at some high schools that use a weighted GPA system for honors/AP students. I got a "4.6" in high school due to this curious phenomenon, but I have no idea what my real GPA would have come out to.

I don't know of any history programs with rolling admissions. I am going to do my best to enjoy the waiting period, since I will probably face hefty rejections, and before decision time rolls around I will still be blissfully unaware of whatever failures strike in February/March/April!

Do most departments have regulations about what you are allowed to wear [on your actual skin] when teaching, either as a TA or an actual faculty member? I would assume that people teaching are held to a higher standard of formality than everyone else, as it was in my high school, but then again I have been to some lectures where the professor looked like he or she had just come back from a hike. Not sure, though, how old and respected you would have to be to get away with that. Personally, I'm a bit mad at my teenage self for getting a rather large tattoo on my ankle, because the thought of having to wear "slacks" or opaque tights every day for the next 40+ years is not very appealing! (I know my name here is "Jerry," but I'm actually a female and that is not my real name)

Yeah, I thought about that for a while, but then I decided not to worry. If I manage to get into 2 PhD programs and not 0, I will have no right to complain about anything. My answer in that situation would be to ask my parents and my friends, and let them make the decision for me.

Maybe you can submit a writing sample anyways? Try giving them a call.

I doubt the person is angry or annoyed. A common response from the people I emailed was to encourage me to get in touch with other faculty members as well. It's unreasonable for applicants to be expected to only apply to work with one person.

I didn't really bother asking any questions after the initial contact, when I asked if they'd be taking on students and in some cases what the general language expectations were. I don't really think it's necessary to ask questions unless you have ones you are already particularly eager to ask

I suppose Kahlua would also be a good addition. But I'm still working on finishing off the rum I bought to use in pumpkin pies.

Well I used to have this Turkish stuff called salep to mix into the milk, but I ran out of that, so now I just mix together milk (soya), sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon, microwave it for a minute and a half, then add a little vanilla and rum. A tiny bit like eggnog. If I were in the USA I'd buy the soy egg nog they sell around this time and use that! Hot chocolate and rum also works okay. Not quite as good for some reason, but still achieves the warming effect.

It's freezing here so either coffee or some kind of hot drink with rum and nutmeg in it, closer to bedtime when I can't have the caffeine. That's good imbibing.

The Mamas and the Papas help. Also the Rascals, and David Ruffin. Got to keep the positive sounds coming, to harness the manic energy.

It's just because the coursework/assessment system is different here. I'm an undergraduate, but we only have 1-3 pieces of coursework per semester in each course. Some departments only require one essay (3500 words) per semester, whereas mine requires two 3000 words per semester plus an assessed presentation. Whine insertion: yes, that means that I get the same number of credits as people in other departments for doing 3x as much work!! Anyways, the coursework only accounts for 40% of my grade, with the exam counting for 60%. So coursework isn't as important over here - we have less of it, i.e. fewer but longer essays. As such I have never written anything under 2000 words, and in my final two years (i.e. when I've written all my better work) I don't have anything under 3500 words. Makes MA applications asking for under 10 pages a real pain! But in the end, I'm okay with word/page limits, because it means that I can submit my dissertation as a writing sample without actually finishing it first.

If I am accepted to PhD programs this year, I will be 22 when I start, as I'm currently finishing a 4-year undergraduate degree. I thought about taking time to do other things, like maybe getting an MA and teaching at a private secondary school for a while to earn some money before doing anything else, and to prevent myself from going insane from constant research and educational stress. But I decided not to do that because I know that eventually I will want to get a PhD, and I'd rather get that qualification under my belt sooner rather than later. It would be great if I could be on my desired formal career path before the time I'm 30. Although I know that working as a professor is extremely stressful and that my life won't become magical and breezy after getting a PhD, I think it would be beneficial to have the insanity and insecurity (intellectual and financial) of being a student out of the way by the time I have kids.

I think that I have a good chance of admission at all the masters programs I am applying to. I think that since I am applying to both MA and PhD programs, the focus and research ideas necessary for the PhD applications have had a positive effect on my MA applications, making me come across as being more confident and sure of what I want to do. Of my MA applications, I think that I will be accepted at at least 3 out of 5, if not all 5, hopefully with considerable funding at one of the 3. My statistics are well above what they look for, so I guess it comes down to what they think of my personal statements. Of the 3 PhD programs I am applying to, success is much less likely. Just like everyone applying to these, even the best candidates, I cannot say that I actually have any verifiable chance of being accepted. There are just too many people competing for the few spots available (in my case, for one solitary spot at each place). If I were accepted at 2 or all of these 3, it would blow my mind. I think there is a hope that I will be accepted at one of the three, but if I'm not I won't be surprised.

If I were you I would submit the first one, and mention the second as a publication in your CV. That way they can read the second one as well, even if it's not formally submitted as a writing sample. If the first one is excellent, then by doing this you will be allowing the admissions folks to read two great writing samples, without necessarily submitting two. I thought about using my one published work as a writing sample, but then I worried that doing so would create the impression that I have only written one decent piece of work over the past 4 years. I am submitting four different writing samples to different departments. This has required (and is requiring) lots and lots of editing! All my essays are far too long, so I have had to completely restructure a couple of them to allow for editing them down by several pages (I took one from 50 to 25 pages). If your sample has been looked over by an advisor and you have received positive feedback about it, then as long as it is the appropriate length you probably won't need to edit it too much, if at all. For mine, I have tried to go back and make the introductions simpler. When I initially wrote the essays, they were for specific professors who I knew would understand the basic issues at hand, so I did not explain everything as clearly as I would if I had been writing for a wider, less specific audience. So I changed this in my writing samples. I also wrote abstracts for each writing sample to facilitate reading/skimming the work with a fuller understanding of my main arguments.

I am having trouble keeping myself from submitting my applications before doing more fine tuning. I don't really care anymore. This is, of course, bad in the opposite way - normally my fear of seeming like an idiot and disappointing people is what drives me to do my best in my work. Now that I've kind of stopped caring, that motivation is gone!

I'm listing mine, although it's also listed at the bottom of my transcript. My department doesn't give any awards though - there is one award given at graduation to one person within the wider department, but since the department contains 3 sub-departments, there is only a 1/3 chance that someone from my actual (sub) department will get an award in any given year. My point here is that I don't have a bazillion awards overflowing all over my resume, so I am mentioning the Deans List to show that I'm not completely bereft of awards.

I also recall seeing other people's posts about this and thinking "gee that sucks, I'm glad I asked my professors so early and that they seem to be on top of it." Now it's almost a month after when my last LOR writer told me he would write my letter, and my first (and top choice) application is due next week. I'm telling myself it will all be fine - the guy is a really friendly, responsible, professional person, and has been handing things in for deadlines for the past 40 years or so. He is probably just taking his time before the deadline. But still, it's nervewracking to think that maybe he has forgotten, or that maybe the more recent emails I sent him went into the spam folder or something. I think that his generation is not really used to email communication and this might explain why professors often don't bother to respond to emails for weeks at a time. I don't want to be rude and pester him to do this favor for me more quickly, but then I also don't want to be too nice and complacent, and have incomplete applications.

Actually, I've found submitting to be the easiest part! In fact I'm having trouble forcing myself to do my coursework lately because every night I start thinking to myself "You know, I could get another application out of the way if I just work on this section tonight..." I'm actually very tempted to submit applications with weaker writing samples because it will be a while before I finish the piece I plan to use as a writing sample for a few places. Submitting is the best part, except when little things like scanning a transcript take longer than you expect.

Right, so I am working on my fit paragraphs, and while some of the places I am applying to are stocked with people whose work I have read, one place has people with whose work I am barely familiar, and at another place I have read nothing by any of the current professors in the department. I have corresponded with them by email, and they are interested in my research area, but they have not published anything directly about it themselves. So there aren't any books or articles that I can marvel about without sounding like I just picked out a random work from their CV to claim to have read. Because, of course, this is pretty much what I am doing at this point! Is it standard practice to talk in your SOP about specific works by potential supervisors? I am applying for PhD programs, bear in mind. I am very enthusiastic about attending these schools, but I don't want to come across sounding like my reasons for choosing their particular department are only an afterthought at the end of my SOP. If you were in my situation, would you claim to have read something you did not read, or simply skimmed while writing the SOP, or would you dodge the publication issue and just talk about how their interests are generally similar? I think I already know the answer to this question, but I'm just looking for general advice. P.S. I have submitted 3/7 applications thus far, with 3 others being almost completely ready to send! Starting to feel like there is an end in sight.

I don't think the sew8d was tying the civil war in with García Lorca. 'In the same vein' is supposed to mean 'another popular peninsular topic that could do with more detailed research' or something like that. Personally, I think that's clear, but maybe if it causes confusion here you (sew8d) may want to rephrase that sentence slightly? Overall I think this SOP is much better than the last one, and not just because you went with some of my suggestions! It's much more organized and easy to follow. I won't go into depth criticizing it because I'm desperately trying to work on my own SOP at the moment, but I just thought I'd point out typo you may have missed: 'examply' in the first paragraph.

I wish my schools asked for that stuff! I feel like I wasted my time trying hard in high school because I don't think it made much of a difference anyway in my getting in where I am now. It's annoying that none of that stuff counts anymore - I can't put certain jobs I had before college on my resume despite having earned that work experience!

Yes, I too have just finished the somewhat grueling task of cutting my writing sample down from 50 pages (1.5 spaced, appx 14000 words) to 23 pages (appx 8000). It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but I did have to restructure and rewrite several parts in order to make it flow after I cut out a lot of the transitional parts. I'm not sure if it's better or worse now - don't have anyone willing to read it for me just now. But the benefit of doing this is that it makes it usable for different universities, some which require a shorter sample, some which require a complete piece of writing.