Maya

Anyone else here having trouble getting their SOP out of the passive and into the active voice? Bah, I have always gotten away with using the passive in my BA and MA papers, and now I'm mad that my professors didn't get on me for that earlier. I am having so much trouble writing the SOP now because I'm writing in a way that feels so unnatural (using the active), even though it should be second nature by now. The over-use of the passive voice has made it become evident that English 101 needs to taken once again.

Hmm I'm wondering if it is safer to just mention that you have been in contact with those professors, and express your interest in their work in general. I agree with Venetia that saying you have read their works might make the committee skeptical unless you can really tie in the particular works well, which, since you haven't read them, may be tough. It also may use up space that you could be using to emphasize other (and true) great things about yourself. By the way, congrats on being done 3 for 7! I am hoping to have my first one in next week, but I am thinking that hitting the submit button for the first time will be the hardest of all.

I'm having a similar problem, captiv8ed. In fact, I have been avoiding even working on my CV because I think that having to face my lack of publications/awards as well as lack of relevant work experience will just make me feel worthless and depressed, and I need to be inspired while I'm writing my statements of purpose. Eventually though I will have to figure out how to approach the stupid CV. I really can't think of anything that will be worthwhile on there though...anything that is worthwhile knowing (like my one and only essay award) is already on my transcript, as are my courses, grades, etc.

What I did (although I haven't yet submitted my apps) was to use the first and last chapters which, after a lottt of editing, are finally down to 19 pages. On the first page after my title page, I have a note to the committee, which explains that this writing sample is an excerpt from my undergrad thesis, and I provide a quick abstract of the whole paper, so that they can at least somewhat understand the broader context of the two chapters that I included for my sample.

I spoke to Jeannie Loughry, grad program coordinator.

Regarding the UM 'personal statement' requirement: For any of you who are wondering about the discrepancy between the stated page limit (3 pages) according to the Soc dept website, and the supposed 500 word limit according to the Embark application page, I spoke to the graduate program coordinator and she said to ignore the 500 word limit. It doesn't apply to the Sociology applicants; the 3 page limit stands. As an overly wordy person I was very happy to hear this

One thing you might want to do is to make sure you ask those professors who you have spoken with, whether it is alright if you do include them in your SOP. It's mostly a formality, but I think it's polite. Also, it's a good way to 'remind' those professors that you are out there. When I did this, one of them even suggested what to put in the SOP regarding our conversation; the source of advice couldn't be better than that!

Last week, I called the Michigan Sociology dept to ask about a discrepancy between the stated page limit for the personal statement on the dept. instructions website and the Embark website. While the answer doesn't matter, what caught my attention is that the person I spoke to said that the applications they had read so far were of a certain length. The Michigan deadline is Dec. 15, and they are already reading apps...... That makes me wonder if perhaps for some schools it is a good idea to submit early.

peanuttheanthro, I have the exact same information on my title page as you do. I am still trying to decide, however, where I'm going to put my little blurb explaining the thesis as a whole, since I am only including the introduction and the final chapter of the original essay. I originally had it at the bottom of the title page but now the tp is so cluttered!

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Those are some good points. I guess one of the problems I'm having is that I wrote a research proposal for my LSE application, and I am using some of the sections of that proposal for my SOP for one of the U.S. schools; since the research proposal itself is thoroughly cited, it would feel strange just cutting those citations out when I'm basically copying and pasting some sections of the research proposal. I guess that all of the warnings about the big 'P'--plagiarism--really got me scared as an undergrad and grad student.

I have been wondering the same thing. I actually want to mention a few different key ideas by several authors in one of my SOPs, and I'm wondering how to go about citing this stuff...in every other case obviously I would do full citations and then have a reference list/works cited at the end, but that will take up some precious space in the SOP! I already have too many words/pages as it is.

Wow homesickalien2, it looks like your research interests are pretty much exactly along the same lines as mine! I've limited myself to schools in the Northeast, but if I had had better GRE scores I would definitely be applying to Berkeley......sigh I agree with Captiv8ed about Michigan...take a look at their website

Thanks sa854, it's nice to see there is at least one other person in the same boat as myself!

Hmmm, I'm not sure I would agree with you, and certainly the professors I have been talking to at the schools I'm applying for have not emphasized the order you have. But, thank you for your input.

yes that's a good point, my transcript should hopefully rid them of any suspicions! Thanks

Hi everyone, I am currently trying to choose which writing sample to submit for my applications. I have narrowed the possibilities to three, and am strongly leaning toward a paper I wrote during my undergrad--well, a section of it, since it's over 50 pages. This paper is probably my strongest work, and in terms of the topic and methodology, it ties in very well with the research project I want to undertake in my PhD, and which I have been discussing with potential supervisors at the schools I am applying for. However, I wonder if submitting an undergraduate paper, when I have since done a graduate degree, might raise eyebrows among the app committee. I don't want to send a message that I did not improve my skills as a grad student; its more just a matter of not having had the opportunity in my MA to do an in-depth research paper like the one I did for my BA (I didn't do an MA thesis). Mind you, neither of my degrees were in Sociology (they were in PoliSci), but I won't go there right now.... Is anyone else submitting older, rather than more recent, work? Good luck with your applications!

Anyone here applying to the LSE or anywhere else requiring a research proposal as part of the application? I am rather lost with regards to the particular design this proposal is supposed to take. I am familiar with writing research proposals for a class, but I suppose that for an application they may be somewhat different??? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!