Meglet

So I think when I apply to OSU I'm going to take a day off to drive to Columbus and hand-write everything.

Anthro pages say application is due December 2nd, grad page says December 1st.

Note to self, always check the year.
Note to Berkeley, really?

Somebody is calling in sick today

Hello all!
 
I thought I would inject an element of humor into this awful process and start a thread about the logistical/technological blunders we encounter while applying to these programs. Other than being a place to vent, it could also end up being helpful to people who encounter the same issues. I'm pretty sure Ohio State is the earliest deadline (for fellowship consideration), so I'll just share what I've experienced. Good luck out there!
 
The Ohio State Blunders:
 
1. Scans of official transcripts must be uploaded!
          No problem! I'm well prepared, so I've already made PDF files of these guys. Except that they want scans of the front AND BACK of each page. And of course I don't have those, or the originals anymore, so it becomes a two-day errand of going to my old schools and buying a whole new set of transcripts.
 
2. List previous schools and upload transcripts!
          Ok, front and back pages scanned, transcripts uploaded....application won't save. Fine, I don't need you to save, I'll just submit...application won't submit. Error messages that reveal nothing about the actual source of error. Through a two hour process of trial and error I finally figure out that if you went to the same school for your MA and your BA, and you list them separately, you break The Ohio State. So you have to list your start date for undergrad and your end date for grad school, making it look like you've been in the same school continuously for the past decade or so. Not a good look, but that's cool, at least the application saves now.
 
3. Upload your statement of purpose!
          Don't look for the "Upload statement of purpose" button though, because you won't find it. What you'll find is a request for your "autobiography", that should be three pages long. What you'll need to keep in mind, however, is that buried deep within the Anthropology pages is zero mention of an autobiography, but a requirement that you upload a statement of purpose that is two pages long, max. You will default to the anthropology request, and take your chances. 
          So you upload your statement and then decide you want to make a few last minute changes, now that you've figured out that whole transcript debacle. Well good f&c%i#@ luck, because when you click on the trashcan icon to delete it, nothing will happen. You will click it again and nothing will happen. You will exclaim, violently, and then decide that you know what?, it's fine. I don't need to make any changes after all, it's fine. So you'll hit submit. Error message! You must attach an autobiography!
          A cold sense of dread will spread throughout your body. But....it's there! You will say, as you point to name of the attached file that you tried, unsuccessfully to delete. So you click on the icon of the paper with the glasses superimposed over it to take a look. File missing or deleted! It will tell you. Your statement will now be Schrodinger's SOP, as it both has and has not been deleted. There's nothing there, and yet because "something is there", you can't upload anything new.
          You will walk away for a little while, hoping that it's a temporary problem. You will come back to exactly the same problem. You will continue trying for an hour until you remember The IT Crowd, and metaphorically, "turn it off and turn it on again".
 
4. Create new user log in and do the whole damn application again!
          Drop one letter from your previous username, triple check every document before uploading, acknowledge that you have spent the past four and a half hours essentially doing two tasks, hit submit and then just WALK AWAY. 

I sent all my applications in yesterday.  Maybe it looks good to get (some of them) in early?  Also, I just couldn't stand to look at them anymore, and if I changed something on a later one it was going to make me paranoid about submitting another application the other way.  I should be more relieved to be done, but I just feel...empty.

This is actually great advice, but it is also making me LOL a bit -- "No more than a sentence should be devoted to your undergraduate career...You are a Chicago graduate now" and "We will not jeopardize the the cachet MAPSS has achieved with the major social science doctoral programs across the country by appearing to support half-baked applications" and "This is, after all, Chicago."
 

I am SO sick of looking at all of my application materials.  I'm hoping that's a good sign - that they're pretty much ready.

I've just started all the applications I'm planning on submitting - I have time while I wait for feedback on my SoP, and I want to make sure there's nothing extra that's going to catch me off guard.  I'm glad I did, by the way, because I need to submit a short essay for FLAS with my Berkeley app.  And also because applying to BU for undergrad WAY back in 1998 is creating complications in creating an application account that may take a few days to resolve.  So start all the online applications early, even if you're not going to upload your statements until the last minute!  Anyway...
 
They all want almost exactly the same information - name and contact info, education history, transcripts, a little work history, CV, writing sample, statement of purpose, 3 letters of rec...we really should just move to a common app system where the SoP only talks about your background and research interests/plans, and then for each school you have to submit a short addendum about why their program is right for you.  

Manhattan has some really helpful tips about reading comprehension questions, especially the ones that deal with inference:  They're not looking for you to make any inferences that require any real thinking or reading between the lines.  Correct answers are basically going to be slight rewordings of the text.  If you can't justify every single word in an answer with evidence in the text, it's not correct.

Just like being white or male is a disadvantage with affirmative action, right? Please. 
 
I'll be honest: mentioning it did help my admissions decisions, partially because it helped explain some trouble I had in my first two years of undergrad (depression and other issues), but also because I'd been able to demonstrate an interest in working on LGBTQ issues professionally. For Geology, this second part might not be so important (are there gay rocks you'd want to study? ), but perhaps the first part could if you need it to.
 
Re: hreaðemus' point: I'm not sure this is a universal conclusion, and seems highly field-dependent. columbia09, you could get in contact with the people who did Queer in STEM (http://www.queerstem.org) to see if they have any advice.

You need to look at things differently - 
 
With age, comes experience and wisdom. We old folks have seen what works in the real world, by now we know that there are very good reasons why some things are done the way that they are - it is because they work, and in many cases there is nothing to be gained by making drastic changes, sometimes it is the small tweaks that make the biggest differences. It is the final twist of the lemon peel that makes the cocktail, not the rest of the ingredients - no matter how new and innovative they might be.
 
We need to think of ourselves as a fine aged wine, not as a stale slice of bread.
 
As for the mid-life crisis thing - the best solution is to buy yourself a flashy red car.

Hooray for the over 30 crowd I'm 35 and have been very hesitant about pursuing graduate school because of that. But here I am anyway.

I found the Manhattan tests to be more difficult than the ETS tests, including the actual GRE, and sometimes their verbal questions and answer choices seemed...not quite right.  My actual scores (170V, 156Q) were 2-4 points higher than the Manhattan practice tests I took, so I wouldn't worry too much.  But I found a few of the Manhattan strategy tips helpful for raising my scores from my early practice tests, so if you have time to read through some of that material, that would be helpful.  Good luck!
 
NOWAYNOHOW - I'm also working full time at a school (organizing ALL the tests instead of teaching this year).  And a few days before the GRE, I decided the math could go to hell, because I don't really see what most of the GRE math has to do with cultural anthropology.  Pleh.

I was one of those people who made what are my chances posts because I wanted other people's opinions. It definitely alleviates some angst that people may have about the application process. It's obvious that the users on gradcafe do not have the final say on your chances, but it is therapeutic to feedback from others especially if you don't have someone at your home institution to help guide you or even if you are a first in your family to make it this far. Everyone does not come from the same background or have access to the same resources. I like receiving feedback from people who have been in my position before and so far I have received great advice that I would not have gotten had I not published my post. Perhaps the moderators could make a section in the Application that is strictly for "Chances" inquiries.

I found the Manhattan tests to be more difficult than the ETS tests, including the actual GRE, and sometimes their verbal questions and answer choices seemed...not quite right.  My actual scores (170V, 156Q) were 2-4 points higher than the Manhattan practice tests I took, so I wouldn't worry too much.  But I found a few of the Manhattan strategy tips helpful for raising my scores from my early practice tests, so if you have time to read through some of that material, that would be helpful.  Good luck!
 
NOWAYNOHOW - I'm also working full time at a school (organizing ALL the tests instead of teaching this year).  And a few days before the GRE, I decided the math could go to hell, because I don't really see what most of the GRE math has to do with cultural anthropology.  Pleh.