rahel

I came to check out Grad Cafe after a classmate suggested this might be a good place to find questions to ask departments while visiting, but I felt incredibly moved by the support and camaraderie that's been here and felt compelled to leave my two cents in case it may help or hearten anyone. Just to reiterate one more time how much of a total, utter crapshoot this process is, I am a straight BA>PhD applicant with only one forthcoming publication, no conferences or fellowships, but I did my undergrad at an "elite" institution, had wonderful letters of recommendation from faculty who I'm sure have crazy connections in academia, and took two years after graduation to work full-time. To be honest many--if not most--of you sound like you have much more impressive resumes than I do - especially those of you applying with an MA already (you guys sound so much more focused and have-your-shit-together than me!). Those worrying about their GRE scores - my subject test was well, well below 50th percentile and I was afraid that would end up hurting me, but I find myself stunned to have three offers from top 10 (if US News is to be trusted) programs this season, and this is also my first time applying to grad school). Obviously there are a lot of other factors at play; I am applying through a recruitment program for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds that helped me workshop my SOP extensively, so that probably helped my application a lot. They have a consortium of schools (many top 25 programs) that have promised to recruit from this pool of applicants, so that may have propelled me forward despite my low subject score, and given how small some schools' cohorts are this could certainly have played a factor in shutting out highly qualified applicants who aren't affiliated with these recruitment programs. I also know there are many of these programs out there for all kinds of students, and many have agreements with these universities to waive application fees, allowing us to apply to upwards of 12-13 programs (which is a LOT of money if you are paying out of pocket yourself!). There are so many if's and but's and I'm by no means suggesting these are hard and cold reasons for acceptances or rejections, just trying to add some more information about factors that might influence adcomms and this ridiculously opaque process. In all likelihood I will be bad about checking back in this forum but if anyone has any specific questions (i.e. advice I got on my SOP, recruitment programs available to students, etc.) feel free to message me privately. You are all so accomplished and such lovely people; I'm incredibly excited that some of you may end up in my cohort this fall. ETA: Apologies if this is the wrong thread to be posting this in!