jalison

They never confirmed with me that they received my application - I emailed (in a mild panic) and they informed me that they had received it weeks ago. Always good to check but it seems that their confirmation mechanism may not be 100%

Thanks for your replies! I think I agree with the general consensus and I'm just going to go for it and deal with that little "employment" issue when I get to it - hopefully my career advisors/connections/higher qualifications can help me out!

I was accepted to a masters program that I really want to go to! But they give me the option to defer my acceptance for a year which is kind of intriguing. I would be going to school directly out of undergrad - so when I graduate I would have no "real life" work experience (except for summer jobs at restaurants). I'm worried that when I graduate even though I have a masters degree I will be less-than-employable due to my lack of experience. I wonder if I should defer and try to get an internship for a year (although I can't guarantee that I would even GET an internship because I don't have one lined up) or whether I should just go for it and deal with my lack of experience on the other side - and hope that the school I am going to can try to help me out in finding a job. I have a week to decide. What would you do?

Thanks guys I got into the University of Glasgow - I am only applying to schools in the EU/UK - many of them have rolling admissions which is awesome since I got my apps in pretty early

I had a really good interview with one school and then this morning I heard from one of my top choices and I got in!!! Before this I actually wasn't convinced I would get in anywhere - now (assuming I get in to other places since I got into this place that is fairly highly ranked) I guess I have to start to weigh my options between school ranking and research interest....

My second recommender got back to me! YAY!

soooo one of the profs that I was going to ask for a LOR isn't replying to my email.... I then googled her and found out she may be working at a different university and there is an email listed - is it weird/creepy/aggressive/impatient if I just copy the email that I originally sent and send it to this new email too and just say something like "wasn't sure if you were checking your other email blah blah" - I can't send my recommendation requests until I have both profs on board and the other prof is ready and waiting!

Everything is done except my transcripts... need to wait until my grades from this semester are uploaded and then get them sent (aka overnighted) to the schools in time. Also one of my prospective recommenders isn't replying to my emails and we live on different continents! I will be glad when this is over

Definitely remind them - profs are busy and they forget things and they will be happy that you reminded them - just do it in a nice way!

Its actually pretty shocking how much harder the SOPs are than I thought they would be! At first I thought it would be easy - just an essay on why you are interested and why you fit - once you realize they are basically the only thing you have control of its a pretty stressful experience! I'm still working through them and currently only sending them to a select few (my siblings, close friends who I can trust) until I get them basically where I want, at which point I will bring them to a professor that has been working with me on my apps. As for typos I would recommend literally looking at every individual word on your SOP - I accidentally typed "ethnic" instead of "ethic" and no one that read it noticed and since ethnic is a word it also didn't get caught by spellcheck - and it would have been a pretty awkward typo to make!

I spoke to a professor about this and they said that it is good to be early but its sometimes annoying for them if you ask TOO early. Most of my apps are due January 15 so they said to approach around the beginning of December - this gives them time to do it and is before exams/christmas break. Because your apps are due earlier, you dont need to give them a month and a half of time. Approaching them now is probably the right time to do it. Another piece of advice I received from multiple professors is to remind them - often. They said they dont get annoying if you remind them fairly often and its more annoying for them if you dont remind them because they have so much else going on that they probably won't always remember.

A lot of programs in Europe also do not require LoRs

Have you emailed any of the people in the department? If you email them saying "hi my name is _______,I'm graduating from _________ with ________ (or graduated from) and I am applying to ________ program. I'm really interested in your research on blah blah blah etc." - try to start a dialogue with people before you do the application. If it goes well then you can mention them in the SoP and say "I've even discussed with Professor Jones about blah research" and they might even talk to the adcomm about how you seem like a good fit to the program. I had an advisor suggest to me to do this for each school and they said I should expect about 50% of profs to reply.

Are you applying to MA or PhD programs? I am applying to masters programs and my advisers said it was not an issue at all. From what I understand (from talking to people, advisers, this forum) it is more of an big deal for PhD programs. That being said, if your application is strong otherwise I wouldn't think it would be a big deal. THAT being said - I am still in undergrad so don't take my word for it!

^ re: my previous comment: I misread the context of that comment, sorry. I actually agree - they definitely will not look down on you for being thorough and double-checking your applications and wanting to correct a mistake.

I respectful disagree and think that this advice isn't sound - why not just email them? You will look more honest. They will find out your GPA anyway when they look at your transcript and this will make you look dishonest, don't forget that they can rescind your acceptance. I understand that it was just your major GPA but the difference between a 3.5 and a 3.7 is actually pretty big when you think about it. Also look at it this way - if you accidentally typed 3.5 and you had a 3.7 you would definitely contact them and inform them.

Hey! I am also applying to grad schools in Europe. It is my understanding that a lot of schools will list the language of instruction along with their program - if you read the information about the program it generally says something about the language of instruction. Another super helpful tool is the "study in ______" websites. Most European countries (and possibly all countries - I just havent looked at any outside of Europe) have a website that is basically a database of all their programs. One example is http://www.studyfinder.nl which lists all the programs in Holland and you can choose language of instruction in the criteria. Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, etc. (the countries I have been looking into) also have these websites!

Like I said, I applied for a different grant (an undergrad one) so there could be differences!!

For my app I had to print everything out and mail it in - so no worries about accidentally sending it. Here's a link that shows you all the possible courses https://www.daad.de/deutschland/studienangebote/sommerkurse/en/ I will PM you my SOP

So I am currently in undergrad so I don't know if our applications are different but in my statement of purpose I didn't write anything too crazy - just talked about how German would be a good opportunity for me and how it would tie into my current studies. If you would like I can send you mine but be forewarned - I sound pretty annoying in it haha (as I think most people do in SOPs). My language evaluation was only written but definitely try to do a small review before this - I had been in France for the 5 months previous and really struggled to switch languages in my brain and kept wanting to write in French! I wrote a note on mine stating this concern so I think that helped me get into a higher level. Something I think should be noted - I chose one "popular" option (Berlin) and one "less popular" option (Aachen) and I think that is a good strategy - I don't know if the choices had anything to do with whether or not you get the grant but I assume they do and if you at least have a less in demand option you may be more likely to get at least that one.

Hey! I have heard lots of different estimates about the acceptance rate of the grant and I think the most consistent was around 20-30%. I got it last summer but I know some of my peers who applied and didn't receive it. It seemed kinda random though because I don't know my grades to be any better than those who I applied against. I did a month-long German course in Berlin after receiving the grant and it was awesome! It paid for my course, accommodations, and travel expenses! And because I was already in Europe doing my exchange I just got to pocket the travel expense money (in the sake of honesty, I told them about the situation but apparently since the money was already allocated to me I just got to keep it). What are your concerns?

Thanks callista, hj2012, and especially bsharpe - I knew someone would understand where I was coming from and I'm glad to hear that the generic letters got you in - this gives me more hope than some of the previous replies did! I definitely now understand the value of having a relationship with a prof but in my first and second years especially I excelled academically but didn't think there was anything I needed to do beyond this. Believe me when I say I have learned my lesson and am turning it around (hopefully just in time!).

Most of the programs I am applying to aren't strictly sociology, but relate to my soci studies thus far and list soci as an acceptable major to come from (among others). Anyone else doing this? Or are most people applying to sociology programs?

Thanks everyone for the advice! I was just having a dilemma over trying to show them that I actually did something with my summers beside sit in the sun and the fact that they were completely irrelevant jobs. I guess they probably assume that people have jobs during the summer haha. I will delete the irrelevant "work experience" from my CV and focus on my volunteer tutoring, etc.

Izs thanks! I am applying for masters programs and not PhD so do you think that makes a difference about my ECs? Also some of my ECs do relate to the Cs - i.e. working with a group that promotes health equity and applying for global health programs. What I meant by "average" was generic - you understood that correctly - just a cookie cutter "they wrote an interesting paper and got an A" and not anything about my actual abilities as a student. Also as far as the research thing goes, this is a masters with a thesis but at the schools I am applying to there tend to be 2 different types of masters: research masters and "selective" masters which tend to have more a focus on course-work and doing an internship. I am avoiding applying to research-heavy masters programs due to the fact that, as stated, I have no formal research experience.