bhr

My advisor/friends have told me to include whatever helps (teaching statements, GREs for places that don't need them) and leave out what doesn't (if not required).

Well, with the first major deadline of the year past, I assume some of us are now officially applicants. I've got two down and four to go.

Mazel Tov! I'm still hoping to have a meal over break if you are in town! (as to Hamilton, I submitted a Hamilton-related proposal for HASTAC and quoted "The Room Where is Happens" in my SOP)

Honestly, I think you are being a bit hypercritical (and it's definitely not a problem or a millenial thing). Many programs actively rank students (for competitive funding, fellowships, summer assistantships), so it's no surprise that people try to figure out where they stand. Almost every program ranks their acceptances in some way, and, once people know that, they tend to get a little obsessed in finding out where they stand. As for the "more work" issue, not only do I not think that any of those things are a problem, but they are good practice that should be encouraged. Collaborative studying, peer review, or other types of study sessions have a documented track record of positive results. Hell, the whole point of cohort admissions is to bring in students with complimentary perspetives to work together. If you don't want to participate, that's fine, but you definitely don't need to be critical of them for it (or care). FWIW, I rarely socialize with most of my fellow students, cause of the age difference (outside of large events/gatherings), but I do working teas or lunches once a week, either with a senior PhD (to hear about their research/experience) or with one of my cohort mates. Sometimes just sitting in the same place as someone else gets me to settle down and work in a way that sitting in my office or at my desk at home just can't (especially because we've got some great study spaces on campus). As to #4, I wouldn't care if it didn't directly affect me. Just this week I had a senior faculty member offer to buy me a drink when we went to lunch (knowing I had a class after), and I don't see a problem with someone having a single drink (unless it becomes a problem). TL/DR: Butt out, and don't concern yourself with how other people live their lives.

Garamond is my preferred font, particularly for stuff like my CV. It's highly readable, well sized, and universally available. When universities have a specific brand standard font on their website and no specific font listed for documents, I tend to default to the university brand standard. One, I know it matches the school's standards for accessibility and readability (things I study), but also because I know it will be a font that people at the school are familiar/comfortable with. FWIW, I would always default to shorter. These folks are reading dozens, if not 100s of documents, so the odds that anyone is reading all 22 (hidden as 20) pages of your sample is unlikely. One of my programs wants <10 and the rest are 15-20, so I'm creating a 12 page sample that I can trim for that one program.

That was me with the 2.0. I'm working on my PhD applications now, however, with a 4.0 MA GPA, which helps

That's completely wrong. Being able to write a publishable paper as an undergrad, even for a journal with minimal prestige, still carries a lot of weight on an application. That's particularly true if it's as a first author, or with other students rather than as a second author for a faculty member.

I had a sub 2.5 BS gpa (When I graduated, <2.0 when I applied) and a 4.0 MA GPA. I was told ignore my BS work in my SOP completely

For my MA SoP I named three professors at my current school. One is my chair, one is on my committee and I've had the third for two classes. That said, I didn't bother naming folks at some programs because I didn't have as clear a connection to their work.

I wouldn't retake it, unless you hear from a program that really wants it. At least one program on your list (the one I'm in) doesn't use it at all, and, to the best of my knowledge, it doesn't carry much weight in this field. Universities want a minimum standard, and it may help qualify for university fellowships, but as an MA you likely (read: probably) aren't eligible for them to begin with. Also, and I say this with all seriousness, but I wouldn't expect you to see too many candidates out of undergrad with better qualifications than you listed here.

My field is relatively young, and my subfield is even younger, so family trees are people that I see at conferences. There are two main trees in my subfield (or, at least the general subfield that my sub subfield falls into) and I made sure to have someone from each one on my committee. For what it's worth, no one in my tree is actually listed on that site.

See, the social-professional is where I thrive. I have a bit of a reputation for going into conference mode, where I suddenly become incredibly gregarious and social. It's much easier for me to sit down with faculty from other programs (and my own, for that matter) in a social environment, or trade cards, or do whatever networking type stuff I'm supposed to do, because that's just where my pre-school background trained me.

Peer review and revision (from another student, the writing center, or a professor) should be part of the writing process for anything you submit. The amount of feedback you receive, and how you use it, it up to the reviewers and yourself. It's also important to learn how to give feedback without significantly changing the content (so, no re-writing someone else's work as part of reviewing).

Jeez, when I did undergrad if I asked for a study guide I would have been told to see the syllabus and my notes.

I am going to repeat everything Wyatt just said. I went back and finished my BA (at 36) at a nothing state school (only ranked above the HBCUs in the state's system) and am now finishing an MA at a top 5 program. Making the move up in prestige happens all the time (and down too, fwiw), and it really is about establishing who you are and what you can do as a scholar. I do want to second the idea of waiting for a funded MA, however. Investing $50k ish (tuition and lost wages), not getting classroom or pedagogical training, and the rest will really hurt you long term.

SoPs are done. I mentioned coursework/research, but didn't mention specific professors (except in one case where I met one of them who specifically invited me to apply). Now to create a writing sample (I really don't have a single-authored paper yet)

I can tell you that my program (top 5 ranked, and on your list) doesn't look at GRE's at all, except maybe to supplement. Mind you, we also don't accept direct PhD admits, though the MA is usually fully funded either with WC or Teaching assistantships.

Meeting with my advisor tomorrow to lay out a plan to finish my thesis and phd applications. Thats not scary, at all, nope.

Hamilton? I'm in love with that show. If you are around you, Prof and I should have lunch when I come in for the holidays (I'm likely done before you are). I suggest Franklins

I get feeling like you have weaker relationships than if you were in the same age range. I used to be really bothered by the fact that I didn't get including the in invites for stuff, but I realized I, often as not, would rather just sleep/catch up on work/not do it for those weeknight gatherings. After a year and a summer, I've identified a handful of folks who I enjoy spending time with and try to do coffee/lunch with one of them once a week, just to feel connected. I quit drinking at the start of the spring semester anyway, so I wouldn't be much fun as the wet blanket anyway. That said, the new cohorts seem to have gravitated to me as some sort of mentor, which is a nice experience. I don't know if it's age, or just that I'm chatty, but they tend to come to me for help with the administrative part of being a grad student (funding forms, conference submissions, forming a committee), which feels good. It probably helps that I am clearly comfortable with my place in the program/field at the moment. All that said, PhD applications are due in 46 days and I've got no idea if I want to re-up into my mid 40s or go find a nice CC teaching job.

I would also suggest that you talk to your advisor, or someone knowledgeable about the application process and your chances at each school you plan to submit to. Remember, for each application you submit you are asking your letter writers to do some amount of work, and if they have multiple students applying to 10+ programs they are going to be quite busy getting them all done. If you have someone who can give you frank, honest feedback about your chances at specific programs, talking to them may save you time and money (or force you to expand your pool). In my case, my advisor suggested no more than 6-7 programs, both because it will eat up a lot of my time during the end of the semester, and because he's confident in my chances at a few of the programs we've discussed.

I'm just happy that this is a crazy week and I didn't have time to weigh in

I don't have a lit suggestion, but I always tell people to start with Bogost's Alien Phenomenology. It's sitting on my desk among my first grabs along with Jenkins, Gee and Klosterman,

Honestly, I think you are overthinking it. I don't see why students need to send formal emails to me for simple exchanges (I encourage DMs for that though)

Depends on the field. Rhet/Comp is heavily subsidized by undergrads, but that's because grad students serve as TAs/instructor of record for their own classes. I would imagine that's the case in a lot of fields where grad students teach