victoriana

On behalf of NCAtlanticist and all of my fellow North Carolinians, I expect, I cannot resist saying that I found this comment to be pretty condescending. Yes, please, do enlighten us ignorant, Make America Great Again hat-touting Southerners as to "the culture of the profession" so that we may make no further faux pas. Free advice from someone with more experience in academia is a wonderful thing, but snobbery is not. On another note entirely, I would be happy to chat with anyone who has been admitted to Vanderbilt.

As a junior who also knew that I wanted to apply directly to PhD programs the following fall, I was able to persuade my advisor to let me enroll in the two semester research seminar/thesis writing sequence in my junior year so I would have the thesis to use as a writing sample. This worked out for me, so I definitely think you should go ahead and start the honors seminar in the spring if it is offered in the spring semester at your university. As far as revising and preparing a writing sample from an honors thesis... I was fortunate to have a bit more time for this than most applicants applying directly from undergrad. However, I will second what Neist said about working closely with your advisor to do multiple revisions. I also asked members of my thesis committee to read over some revisions and make suggestions on certain points. They will already know your thesis, so this probably should not feel like too much of an imposition on their time. Or, you could ask your letter of recommendation writers. One other thing to keep in mind, and that you probably already know, is that many (though by no means all) PhD programs will ask for a writing sample of 20-25 pages rather than accepting your entire thesis. I don't know how lengthy an honors thesis typically is at your instituition, but for me that meant I submitted a few well-polished chapters from my thesis rather than the entire thing. It could be very useful to go ahead and look at the application instructions for each program where you intend to apply, and note how many pages they will accept for a writing sample. This could help as you are planning thesis chapters and thinking about organization, etc.

Yes, I second this!

Committed to Vanderbilt last Friday! It was a difficult decision, but I knew after visiting that it was without question the best program/place for me.

I'm not sure yet if I will be attending Vandy or another school, but I'm going to visit at the end of March. I can't wait, and have heard that the campus is beautiful! Glad to hear that you had a good experience there.

Wow, congratulations!!! ? I also struggled to act semi-normally in front of my tenth-grade English class after I heard good news from Vanderbilt.

As far as improving your French reading comprehension skills, Duolingo has a great "Immersion" section where you can read French articles of varying levels of difficulty and practice translating them. The site has really helped my speaking/listening skills as well, but the articles are great for learning vocabulary and practicing the skills you will most likely need for language exams and research. The articles are also generally fairly interesting--more so than most French textbooks, anyway!

I sent a very brief email to graduate admissions to the effect that I was writing to inquire about the status of my application, but appreciated that the committee may still be making their decisions, in which case I would be grateful for any information as to when applicants might hear some concrete news. Probably I jumped the gun a little in emailing so early, though in this case it worked out ok. I'm not sure if the message which the DGS apparently sent out to at least a few other applicants about an hour later was related to my having emailed or just a coincidence. Either way, I am glad we are not completely in the dark anymore!

Hi nightfarmer and anyone else who is still anxiously waiting to hear back from Indiana University, I just received an email from the DGS in response to the inquiry I sent earlier. Apparently the department is very much still working on admissions and funding, and probably will be for "several weeks." Happily for me, the DGS wrote that he expects IU will be able to offer me admission and multi-year financial aid(!), but to judge from his email, most of their decisions and especially funding details are not yet finalized. In short, in this case no news may in fact be very good news and, on the other hand, we can anticipate up to a few more weeks of waiting.

I definitely will. Thanks for the telepathic karma!

I just bit the bullet and sent them an email inquiring about the status of my application!

Yes, could not be more appropriate! ?

I am currently working up the courage to email my POI there. At this point, I just want to know one way or another.

Is it likely that IU have sent out all of their acceptance notifications at this point? I only see a few rejections and 3 acceptances, and have not yet received either, so my mind has been racing!