margaretlouise

I turned 26 in my first year of my PhD, and almost everyone else in my cohort had taken a couple of years off (if not 5-6) after undergrad as well. At school visits (in the decision-re:-where-to-go process), I found this to be the general trend as well. But straight-through folks seem happy, too! I think it just depends on the person. (For those of you going straight through, be sure to take care of yourselves; burnout is a lot more common, understandably!)

Ah, yes. I remember this. Wacko, right? For what it's worth, I was accepted at Berkeley, so my approach was probably not totally off-base (not a deal-breaker, anyway). Here's what I did. I gained the most clarity about the genre by defining the OTHER essay required (Academic statement of purpose or something? I forget what it's called): this one was a pretty straight construction of the problems I'd like to tackle with my PhD work and my past research, along with fit, etc. So pretty "just professional," if that makes sense. For the personal essay, think of it as YOUR LIFE = GOTTA GO TO GRAD SCHOOL FOR X. That is, what will make you tick as a grad student? What about you and your history compels you to do X? In short, why are you going to grad school? What do you think needs to be addressed in the academy, and why? As a gentle chiding: maybe you haven't been discriminated against as a white, middle-class, hetero, able-bodied male, but you inhabit that position somehow, right? Diversity (or "lack thereof") doesn't have to be experienced as despair or as guilt. And I don't think that this particular essay is a "diversity" essay per se-- more a life experience one.

Here's another thought: unlike applicants, the application process does not organize most professors' worlds (except if they've been selected for the admissions committee, and maybe during "recruitment time" after people ahve been accepted). Maybe you can email this prof (even AFTER the deadline, since all schools spend a week or two just organizing the sheer number of applications and divying them up between members of teh committee for the first round of read-throughs) as an academic. You work on stuff she works on, and you would like to talk to her about X. Don't make it about fit anymore, as this will likely become apparent if it's there (sounds like it is!). I think it could work to your advantage as a scholar *and* as an applicant to get in touch. Does that make sense? Make it about the academic inquiry, rather than about the rat race of applications. Even if you don't get in at this particular place, it'll be good to have this mentorship/connection in the future. (And, as far as admissions chances, it's probably never a bad thing to demonstrate that you're an engaged, thoughtful, go-getter.) I say email this prof but focus on your common interests, not her(?) position as a prof at a school you'd like to be admitted to. If (s)he brings that up, by all means talk to her/him about it. Either way, I would email with a relatively specific question (maybe after you've read the intro to a recent book they've written?) rather than saying "hey, you do American Lit! Me too. Let's get together!"

Hi guys. I'm in English, and since my sample was listed as my MA thesis on my CV, I just put the following on my cover page: (Another thought: make sure you put a footer or a header on each page with your name as well as the page number so that if pages get scrambled up in the shuffle, readers will be able to figure things out) My Name Imagining an Idiosyncratic Belonging: Representing Disability in Chris Ware’s Building Stories (excerpted) 1234 Address Street Chicago, IL 60657 (773) 555-1234 email@email.edu (25 pages, exclusive of appendices and bibliographic material)

Hi everyone! I'm sorry to be joining in on this conversation so late (Dec. 15 deadlines, right?)-- here are some thoughts and suggestions, given to me by some ABD friends. If you are excerpting your thesis, DO NOT send it in in its entirety with a list of pages to read. Committees might see this as you asking them to do too much logistical work to read your sample. Instead, add "(excerpted)" to the title of the writing sample and then actually go through and take out the pages you think can be omitted. You can also put in square brackets/italics something like: "[Omitted for this sample: Discussion of how the protagonist’s disability is often explicitly connected to her barren amorous life. I show the ways in which these visual connections work with the grain of typical representations of disability, and the ways in which the epilogue—in which she returns to her neighborhood with a baby in tow, cooing that they must go pick up daddy—and certain moments of the narrative work to undercut this loneliness and uncertainty regarding her own sexual desirability.]" The sample should itself be within the dictated page limit, and readers should only have to read it (rather than also figuring out which pages to read). When figuring out what to cut --and for those of you summarizing your main points-- keep in mind the fact that the writing sample serves as a showcase for certain writing skills: developing a cogent argument, sure, but also (and this may be something that summarizing may cut out) analysis of a text/close reading, handling theoretical material or secondary literature, etc. It's probably a good idea to determine what skills you feel you should be able to demonstrate and to make sure you've included something in your writing sample that covers each of these bases. This may be reason, though, to cut or summarize the second or third piece of evidence and its analysis (given you've got a strong, fully-fleshed-out first one). Hope this is some help. Good luck!