Garyon

Hi guys, I'm cleaning up the SOP for my first group of applications (deadline mid december) and I have some formatting doubts. Clearly, the hypothesis here is that They do not give any specific instruction on the application guidelines. So, should I put a title? Is "Statement of Purpose" good enough? More importantly, should I put my name of every page of the sop (like an header)? I am hesitant because most of them ask us to leave 2-inches on the top of each page for them to print an header. So, since I am guessing they'll print in it my ID etc. , is my name on the page really necessary? If so, having to leave such broad header I wouldn't know where to put it without the layout of the whole essay looking weird. Finally, I've written the SOPs as essays but I've read somewhere on the forum that one should close up by thanking the committee (something like "thank you for your consideration"). It really feels strange to me, since I am not writing a letter but a - almost - scientific essay. Should I do it? Or is an effective closing paragraph good enough? Ops, I know my posts looks a bit like streams of consciousness, but I am writing them during my short breaks at work. Please forgive me. And again, thank you all for your help.

Hi, I am finishing most of my applications in these days and, as others have already said, it really depends! I am applying to 9 schools and 4 of them require official transcripts to be mailed directly to the department (Stony brooks asks for two copies, sigh!). I found out the departments' site (or in some cases the graduate application instructions) is usually very clear about this. So, hopefully, you shouldn't have to waste too much time in checking our the requirements for your schools.

Thank you! @onzeheures30 I noticed I'm applying to most of the schools you tried last! season I hope I'll have the same admission rate

HI guys, kind of a silly question maybe but... is any of you applying to Stony Brook? I am trying to figure out if they have any specific requirements for the length of the statement of purpose, but I cannot find any info on their web page. I've written to their graduate coordinator but I haven't got an answer back yet. I am sure they have put some indication somewhere and this is just me being unable to find it! I'm feeling stupid... Do you have any info about this?

Hi! You're right : this IS super interesting stuff! Language processing is not my core interest but I believe it can lead to powerful insight on so many linguistics issues! Could you point me toward some good paper on phrase mental representation?

Thank you guys!

Hi guys, I have a question about my GRE scores. I've read a couple of posts in the general GRE section of the forum, but once again I'm posting here because I'd like some advice from people in the specific field I'm interested in. Also, I've read so many different opinions that I'm starting to get over agitated. So, I decided to post here, wait for your always kind answers, and then stop reading random posts about GRE scores. So, my gre went...blah. I've got a 162 on the verbal (90° percentile, but maybe the fact that I'm not a mother-tongue english speaker counts for something?), 155 on the quant (60° percentile, sigh) and 3.5 (yes,I know, I messed up) on the AW part. I was wondering: are these scores enough to pass the cut off or will they seriously undermine my application? Some considerations: I'm really bad at this kind of tests, but my mathematical background is pretty solid. I've taken several undergraduate and graduate courses in logic, mathematics, statistics and data analysis with great grades (almost always A - approximately of course, since italian grade system is quite different from yours). I was hoping that these grades in my transcripts would somehow balance out a mediocre quant score; I messed up with the AW section, I know. Even if I don't know how and It is frustrating, I'm usually a decent writer. However, I got a 28/30 in the TOEFL writing section and I was hoping that me being a non-native speaker would be taken into consideration . More importantly, I'm sending over a writing sample I'm quite proud of (my Master thesis). Also, I had a Professor of mine, who is also an English native speaker, check out my SOP and she said it was very well written and organized. I even asked my advisor to point out in his recommendation letter my contribution in writing several peer-reviewed papers we published this year. Again, I was hoping these examples of my actual work would be taken in consideration more that the score I got for writing two random essays in 30 minutes. So...what do you think? I don't know if I have the money, the time, and the concentration to successfully retake the test, but I would really appreciate your inputs. Thank you all.

Hi all, just let me thank you for this useful (so useful!!!) discussion! It is proving incredibly enlightening in revising my final (of course, who am I kidding) draft.

Thank you all guys! Your answers helped me clear out my mind a lot! I won't mention the Italian College structure and I'll keep my background story short, both if I start with it or if I use it later on in the SOP. I'll use t just to point out how my interest was born and why it developed in a specific direction. @mncz thanks! you are very kind @onzeheures30 thanks! of course I should (I will!) ask my advisor to read my SOP! @fuzzylogician your last comment is very helpful! I will definitely focus on the faculty's works of the department I'll be writing to, but your comment was helpful in making me understand how to do it in a smooth way. Thanks again to you all!

Hi all, I hope you will forgive me for introducing some degree of redundancy in the forum. I have some questions about the Statement of Purpose. Being Italian, I'm not really used to the idea and I understand that it is an essential part of the application, so I really want to get it right. I've read the SOP topic in the "general" application section. I found it incredibly useful, but I also understand (please correct me if I'm wrong) that each field has its different perks and requirements. So, I thought it could be useful to ask you guys for some help. I spent the last couple of months researching the departments I'm interested in, looking at their courses, reading their faculty research etc. So now I (more or less) know why I am applying to said department, which Professors I'm interested in, which labs I'd like to join . I also made several sessions of self-analysis (ok, sounds terrible but you know what I mean) to help me write down what my strengths are, why I really want to go to the other side of the globe to spend 5 years studying syntactic theories, and why they should really really really pay me to do it. And now, writing time, and I am kind of lost. So: I understand that using personal anecdotes is Bad. But I have an unusual academic background (I have a degree in Computer Science and mathematical modelling. Since in Italy we don't have major and minor choices during our degrees, most of my linguistics courses are all "extra" with no grade attached). I really feel I should spend a paragraph to explain how I came into linguistics, how do I know i want to get a Ph.D in Linguistics, why I do think I am ready for it and how I have eventually filled the probable knowledge gap. I don't have a story such as " I always loved languages". A couple of years ago I went to a conference about "Possible and Impossible grammars" (the speaker was Andrea Moro) and I fell in love. I've studied so hard since then to get to understand if linguistics was really what I wanted to do. I feel an explanation is needed, and it is sort of academic related. Would it be a bad idea to start with it and then move to explain my research interests and actual plans for the phd? What kind of style should I use? Personal? Academic? A bit of both? This one could sound strange. Can I use citations (such as a mini-bibliography)? For example can I say something like: " I'm interested in the analysis of overt vs covert movement as done by X in [x]" or even " I find particularly interesting how Y[y] used data from aphasia patients to get informations about said syntactic structure memory load and processing time". Or should I drop the citations? I have this doubt because if I was writing a research project for an italian fellowship I would definitely do it in this way. Finally, I'm a bit embarrassed in asking this but whatever. Is there the chance that I could send my SOP (once done) to any of you to have some feedback? Also, anyone would feel comfortable enough to let me read their old SOP in order to get a feeling of how it should be done? I've found some examples online but they all feel a bit "artificial" to me. I understand I may be asking for too much, so please don't feel obliged in anyway! I just thought it was worth asking. I'd be grateful for any degree of help you can provide (even you just getting to the end of this post will be much appreciated ). Thank you everyone for reading this long babble! And sorry for my English, I'm usually way better that this!

@JD - (0) The first four i listed (Yale, Stony B, NYY, MIT n this order) are my top choices, so i'll definitely apply to them. As for others, I have a couple more in mind from the other list but I'm planning to spend some time in August looking in depth at their faculty/research. Any suggestion, insight, information, consideration is very very very well accepted @tspier2 Thank you! You are very kind! I think I'll exploit your kindness. Well, as soon as the random notes I've collected so far become something resembling a meaningful SOP. Good Luck to You too for the beginning of your Ph.D.

Ok, I guess I'm gonna start. Hi everyone! I'm Italian and I will (obviously, since i'm writing this post ) apply for a Ph.D. in Linguistics next year (wow!). I'm interested in theoretical syntax, formal models of language, (first) language acquisition, and neurobiological foundations of language. Currently, I'm getting ready for my TOEFL and GRE and I've just started working on my SOP. I'm also looking at faculty's research in order to decide which programs would be most interesting for me. So far, also following my Italian advisor suggestion, I think i'll apply to: Yale Stony Brook NYU MIT (yeah I know, top-universities. But I'm in love with their Faculty and programs and research!) An US Professor I've been writing to told me to give a look at: UCLA University of Chicago University of Delaware Johns Hopins University of Pennsylvania University of Maryland University of Massachusetts at Amherst CUNY But I couldn't find the time yet. And...well this is it. Oh yeah, I'm also trying NOT to freak out already

Hi! I'm Italian and I'm planning to apply for a PhD in Linguistics!