grad_wannabe

Another commiserator here. Two of my writers were great. Got everything in a week before all the deadlines. The last guy I had to nag and nag. He was so late with one letter (even though I emailed him like 5 reminders in the week leading up to the deadline) that he actually caused my app to get bumped back to the next round of decisions in January. When I sent an email expressing that my app had been bumped (possibly damaging my competitive edge for admissions and funding) and requesting that he upload as soon as he can, his secretary (with whom I had never corresponded up to that point) wrote back and told me my writer no longer had time to deal with me and that she was going to be handling all the letter stuff from now on.

I think they're implying that anxiety caused them to give a lot of time to an activity that was not necessarily fruitful. I do find those old threads really helpful though. It's nice to see things unfolding in almost "real time" especially during interview/acceptance season.

>the GRE requires you to know all these cute quick tricks to answer questions correctly and quickly, rather than taking the time to examine how many different ways there are to solve a problem. preach.

Same here! I'm applying mostly to comm/information studies programs with ONE anthro department thrown in. While the topic is only around 30% different from the rest of my apps I feel like I'm starting from scratch.

I'm trying to stay cautious. And not even cautiously optimistic. Just cautious. There is one program on my list that is relatively unknown and really small, at which I spent a full day talking to professors, admins, and students. I'm pretty sure I've got a decent shot there. The rest? No clue in the world.

this x100000. I've been coaching my parents on the importance of FIT. "Mom, it's not about who is BEST, it's about who is the best MATCH for the program, faculty, and their goals that year. Come February we have to drum that into our heads." "Yes, dear, but you're such a hard worker I bet you'll get in everywhere." sigh.

Mine took exactly 7 days, both times.

I recommend calling the letter writer, on the phone, and if you can't get them then call their assistant/secretary.

Yup. Between "people are being so encouraging about this program, I think I have a real chance" and "I need to prepare myself for reality and all-but-guaranteed crushing heartache."

Funny enough, although my name (first, middle AND last) is really common, for some reason most us who share the name are hardcore academics.

This is going to be me for the next 3 months. Refresh ... refresh ... refresh

Grad. I went to a very decent public undergrad, but somehow wiggled my way into one of best schools in the world for my MS. changed my entire life.

I wrote mine about my uniquely diverse academic background, and the social implications of my research for young women.

Congrats, Lencias!

You just made my heart drop through my stomach. I've had the "December 2nd" date in my head for so long. Just went to double-check on the Comm page -- PHEW December 2nd, 2014.

As far as I know, they're just changing the school titles. They're so frazzled as is, I doubt they have time to personalize.

Hey all, I'm coming over from the Communications board but wanted to chime in on this FAILS thread. I decided to double-check two bits of information in my stanford SOP just minutes before submitting. Thank heavens I did - not only had I spelled an author's name wrong on a paper I was citing, but I also got wrong the title of my POI's book: I'd written something like "Dr. X's book, 'Holiday and Happy' was very influential on my interests...." when the actual title was "Happy and Holiday." Yikes.

Stanford's in. This is the half-way mark: three down, three to go.

Same here. I have a 3.66 undergrad GPA, a 3.95 Master's GPA, two years of research, 95% on the verbal GRE and 98% on the writing. If my 44% on the quant portion of this single standardized test is what sinks my applications, then so be it. This is not the path for me. Luck to us all. Let's all keep each other posted.

I'm having the exact same problem! ONE school asks for a "personal history" statement about overcoming obstacles. It doesn't help that my background is awfully white bread -- upper middle class white girl from the suburbs. No divorce, no diversity, nada. My academic career, however, has followed an odd and wandering path, so I'm using the "personal history" space to explain how this path has brought me to applying to this school.

Done -- thanks! I sent a very gentle "is there any way the attached PDF can be included in my file?" email.

Hi all, I'm preparing to submit my Stanford app and have a question on their online form (getting ready to email their admissions people, but figured I'd ask here real quick first). Their page for listing previous educational institutions has enough slots for only three schools. If you have more than three, you're supposed to just write out the names of the rest in a little text box. There's no option to upload more than 3 transcripts. Anyone know where I can upload this fourth transcript? Thanks!

>I got 168V and 164Q This is a great score on the two sections that they actually care about, and seeing you're not applying for humanities or writing-based programs, I wouldn't bother retaking at all.

My prof told me to eliminate anything that might make me look "unfocused" or "distracted." Reluctantly I removed a ton of exhibitions, publications, and work experience (all of which had to do with my previous line of work in the fine arts, whereas I'm now applying to communications programs), which was tough, but I think that helped bring focus to the experience the adcomms actually need to see. I vote for careful whittling.

Boomerang, let us know how your apps shake out. I have an equally horrendous quant score and I'm still shooting for the moon.