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babur

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  • Application Season
    2015 Fall

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  1. I had a lot of stuff that I felt was glaringly awful about my application, and the first draft of my SOP was like 75% groveling shame and apologies for my terrible performance. With each person who gave me feedback on my SOP, the percentage of it devoted to explaining myself got shorter, and in the final draft it was literally one sentence that went something like "I had some health problems as an undergraduate, so I took time off school for treatment before returning to classes." All the bad grades and withdrawals and extra time, etc. ended up being adequately explained by one vague sentence, I had great results, and no one ever asked for details. I honestly think it's less important what you say than how much space you devote to it. If it's a large part of your statement, it will be a large part of how they see you. Keep it short and positive, and say something like "Unfortunately the fit with my previous program and adviser was not as good as I had hoped, and I ultimately withdrew from studies. This experience gave me a lot of valuable information about the kind of program that would be right for me. I want to work in a lab with a high level of cooperation and collaboration, which is why I'm excited by the work being done at X lab on blah blah." People can read between the lines.
  2. The basic situation in the field right now in my experience is that you will not get into a top PhD right out of undergrad unless you are REALLY extraordinary, but you can still get into the top MA programs with little more than interest, general aptitude, and writing skills. The thing with languages is they just take time. For that purpose, UChicago MAPSS is more or less useless; you are strongly discouraged from taking language classes and have to start thinking about your MA thesis in the fall of your first (and only!) year. It can be a great program for students in a very specific situation, but I would not recommend it for learning Arabic or for Middle Eastern Studies in general. UChicago CMES, on the other hand, is a very solid program that will give you a good sense of what the field is like. I got in with the most funding they give, with almost zero background in ME studies before applying, and came out of it with a great set of PhD offers. However, that represents the best case scenario. The worst case scenario is that you have spent quite a bit of money and time on a program that is not at all strong in (for instance) modern ME politics. If your real goal is learning Arabic to use for other purposes, rather than a firm grounding in the field or a better class of job offers, I would not recommend an MA.
  3. Almaqah, I shouldn't have assumed you weren't already getting a Masters! Sorry about that. In my experience and from what I've heard, the MA or MDiv more or less erases the BA. I doubt it will have any effect on your application.
  4. Almaqah, for what it's worth, posting my CV would be meaningless because my CV has got almost nothing to do with Middle Eastern studies -- except for the MA program where I did really well, got great recs and connections, and made enough PhD candidate friends to slowly figure out what my SOP should look like. What got me into the MA program, God knows -- except possibly my writing sample, which was in a totally different field. My undergrad transcript is in a different field and covered in withdraws with a stint on academic probation. What I'm trying to say is: 1) there is no one size fits all candidate, 2) good writing will shine through many sins, and 3) the single best thing you can do to get into a PhD program is a related MA. The BA>PhD route is narrowing more and more every year. Plus, an MA gives you a chance to figure out if this is really the field for you -- many of my friends decided not to pursue their original PhD plans after the MA program, and that is incredibly valuable information to have. I realize it's not financially feasable for everyone to do a terminal MA, and I realize you want to apply for PhDs this year, but it was probably the number one reason for my success. Unfortunate but true. My results: accepted UChicago, UMichigan, Indiana; waitlisted Harvard; shortlisted Princeton (finding out those results this week). All fully funded except Indiana, which is only mostly funded. also, Jebreel: to the best of my knowledge the last time one person did NOT get full tuition the second year at CMES was in 2011. If you've got half-tuition your first year (and especially if you get a FLAS second year) UChicago is going to give good bang for your buck.
  5. YES! Okay, I've gotten through this entire application process as a lurker, but I had to make an account to respond to this because I got an invite, and ever since, people have been telling me the most INCREDIBLE horror stories about what to expect. It sounds like the honest to goodness Hunger Games. What was it like for you??
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