avflinsch

My basic approach (based on advice from my LOR writers) is going to mention my particular area of interest and to show where it overlaps or parallels the current work being done by Professors Cool, Awesome, Famous and Great, without specifically attaching myself to anyone of them.

Rutgers New Brunswick - taking advantage of employee tuition benefits.

With those types of systems, the document can only be opened by the recipient. What you will need to do is have the transcripts sent directly to the school. Unfortunately this sucks, since you will probably be charged for each transcript that you sent to each school.

The internal email list for LIS students at Rutgers usually has 5-6 announcements of new jobs & internships weekly. Most are local libraries and corporations, but there have been several amazing ones outside of the NY/Philadelphia metro areas also.

I am in the process of applying for the Information Science PhD right now. Just about everything is complete, all I need to do is finish the SOP.

Safe - Rutgers Master of Information with the Data Science concentration Moderate - Rutgers Master of Business and Science - Analytics concentration

There is probably an anti-Descartes quote in there somewhere. I'm not thinking, therefore I'm not ?

MI is Master of Information, it is the new trendy name for the same degree, as it incorporates more than just traditional Library Science. The ALA basically states that they are all different names for the same degree. Rutgers changed the name of the school from "School of Communication, Information and Library Sciences" (SCILS) to "School of Communication and Information" (SCI) a few years ago (basically they changed the sign on the main building). It is part of an overall trend to turn the traditional 'library school' into a more interdisciplinary 'information school'. As for career options, it probably opens more doors than the MLS/MLIS it would really depend on the concentration within the degree (if you did one of the optional concentrations).

If you ever get a chance to go to one of Richard Kogan's concert/lectures - do it, they are all fascinating I have been to his Schumann, Gershwin, Mozart, Bernstein and Rachmaninoff concerts/lectures - all excellent. Unfortunately I am going to miss this year's Scott Joplin concert.

The program at Rutgers is now a MI (Master of Information) instead of MLIS. My statement about the limited offerings in archives/preservation was based on what was going on the past 2 years. There is a new Archives & Preservation concentration which just started up this fall. I don't know that much about it, but you might want to check out the requirements, and see if that is what you are looking for. http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/master-of-information/concentrations.html FWIW - I'm in the Data Science concentration.

It ends up being both. In my case, I found out that one of the papers that I wrote as an undergrad is being used as an example for the equivalent grad level course, so I get the "why the hell are you even in this class" question from other students, and the expectation of an even better paper from the professor. Apparently he selected the example papers prior to looking at the class roster. After I pointed this out to him, he stated that while I could turn in an expanded and updated version for the assignment (and he would accept it), it might be better not to do so. BTW - History of Science / MLIS sounds like an awesome combination.

As someone currently in the Rutgers MI/MLIS program, I will verify that the archives specialization is somewhat limited. The department is in a transition from "Library" to "Information" focus. That being said, a number of folks in the program already have a MA in either history or literature before applying, it seems like a popular combination.

Interesting question. A bit of background as it applies to me - your sitiation is similar, but different. I am a fulltime employee of the university that I am applying to for a PhD. I am currently in a master's program (as a prerequsite for the PhD) right now, and finished my undergrad at the same school. I am currently getting 50% of the tuition as a employee benefit, (it was 100% for my undergrad, and the first 3 terms in the masters, but I tipped over the salary cap for 100%, and now only get half). I have been chasing the dragon's tail with respect to the salary cap for a while, unfortunately I finally caught it. When the cap gets raised again, I will probably qualify for the 100% tuition again. Two of my LOR writers mentioned that the amount of personal funding does somewhat affect the admissions decision, but more so in deciding how many applicants to admit during the admissions cycle. The implication given was that applicants with outside funding would have a bit of an edge in the final determination, and that they would get some funding, but not a free ride. Nothing was mentioned about adding this info the the personal statement, but there is a general question about funding requirements on the application. I will be referencing my professional affiliation with the school in my statement, but not mentioning the levels of required funding. So to answer your question - mentioning that you have some level of external funding may not only help you get admitted, but may also help someone else get admitted.

Send both sets, the schools may look at the best of each which would be 165v/149q/5awa

I see that your location is Germany, if you are applying to US (or non German) schools, then I would go for a LOR from one of your German professors (assuming that the other 2 were from the math department), Doing it this way, you show yourself to be proficient in multiple areas, and that you are more than just a math geek. if you are staying in Germany, then the A- from the topology professor might be a better option, the professor knows you, and would be able to write a better letter on your behalf. BTW - where in Germany? My daughter was taking political science classes in Kassel over the summer, and is considering going back to Germany for her PhD.

I am coming from a completely different area, so take this as my experience, and possibly not what you should do... I am finishing my masters now, and will be applying to the PhD program for Fall 2017. The program requires one of a specific list of masters degrees before applying. -Begin working on your SOP? When did you feel you were "finished" (if you ever did)? In general, was it months of redrafting and tweaking, or a solid week's worth of work? For my undergrad -> masters, I wrote most of it in a weekend, let it sit for a week, then revised it twice. After the second revision, I sent it to a few trusted friends, and had them look it over, made a few tweaks then sent it in. For my masters -> PhD, I took the undergrad->masters version and started to make changes. Currently making changes (as to what should be included) based on suggestions by prospective LOR writers -Ask for letters of recommendation (is it ever too early)? undergrad -> masters, the program required a minimum of 2, a maximum of 3 to be included in the admission packet. Long story, but I had 3 in the packet, and 2 unsolicited letters sent in after the packet was submitted. Masters -> PhD, the program requires 3, no more, no less. letter #1 - first day of class this semester, asked the professor for a letter, since he knew me from prior classes as an undergrad, he said he would be happy to do so, and stated that he was on the adcom. He also let me know that he would be retiring in May 2018 (which I took as code to mean, don't reference him as a POI). He asked for me to send him a reminder when I submit the application - the application process automatically sends the reminder. letter #2 - saw prof in parking lot, we were both in a hurry, asked if I could meet up with him later in the week. Met with him later the following week, he agreed and gave me quite a bit of advice and insight on how the admission process worked. He also asked about what kind of funding I would be looking for (see below), and hinted at not letting him know ahead of time if he was a POI, but to specifically list POIs in the SOP. letter #3 - still trying to figure out who to ask. I am leaning towards someone who has been in the department for a while but is outside of my area of interest, as I haven't had any classroom contact with others in my area of interest. -Finalize your list of programs? I am only applying to a single program, so nothing to finalize. This is unusual, but there are specific reasons - I am a full time employee of the university, so I get 100% tuition assistance (or did until my last pay increase, now it is only 50%). This obviously limits the amount of funding that I would require. Looking at what the past history has been for the 100%/50% cutoff changes, compared to pay increases, I will probably need to pay 50% every other year. -Reach out to POI? See LORs above. One is retiring, so he is not an option, the other hinted that he would not want to know ahead of time. This may just be the culture within the department, other folks I know within the same university reached out to their POIs. -Begin revising your writing sample (if you did indeed revise)? No writing sample is required for this program at submission time. LOR #2 indicated that they somewhat lean towards applicants who had some involvement with the department (undergrad or masters) - and not to stress out too much on the application. My assumption is that they already have my writing samples. I know that one of my undergrad papers is used as an example for one the corresponding course within masters program, so if one were required, I would just submit that one (or one of the followup papers that hinged on it)

Not sure if this counts as a vent or a self pat on the back - Currently taking a Data Analytics course online, and getting emails from other students in the class. It seems that one of the papers that I wrote for the undergrad version of the class is being used as an example for the grad version, now they asking me for advice. I'm both annoyed at them asking and kind of happy that the paper was chosen as an example (I did give permission to use it several years ago, just never thought it would actually be used). I just emailed the prof for the class, asking if I can update and expand the original (since I have done more independent work on the topic) or pick a new topic. Hoping for the update and expand, this way I can self-cite..

How is the SOP being submitted? If it is plain text, then the font size will not make a difference, as if they actually print it, it will probably be 12pt TNR or similar. If you are submitting a formatted document/pdf then the size difference will be noticed as 1 inch margins and 12pt TNR double spaced (unless single space is specified) is pretty standard. The best you could do on fudging the typography is a double space after a sentence ending period, and that probably won't make much of a difference. If they are specifically looking for N pages, then anything in the range of (N-1)+0.5 to N+0.25 should be OK. In your case that would mean somewhere between 3.5 and 5.25 would work.

The Kindle Fire tablets are Android based and can be connected to the Google Play app store. You can do this with the Fire line, but not with the dedicated E-Readers. http://www.howtogeek.com/232726/how-to-install-the-google-play-store-on-your-amazon-fire-tablet/

Grab the Tableau Student License - http://www.tableau.com/academic/students Then find some public data and just play with it.

If you are limited to 2 letters, I would go for the advisor in this case. If you need at least 2, but are allowed to submit 3 or more ask both.

Since you need more than one letter, ask both of them.

Many times references aren't checked until just before a decision to hire is made. If they never contacted your references it usually means that you did not make the final cut for some reason.

Firt check with your department, they should be able to supply a copy. If they can't (or won't) then check with the publisher and ask for a review or instructors copy, they should be willing to do that also, as it will lead to more sales for them.

They are school dependent, each school will open their admissions applications on their own schedule. Check with the admissions department website for each of the schools you are interested in.