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minnares

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Posts posted by minnares

  1. Hi ~ I've been lurking this season after getting railed 0-6 last season. But... I got in to Wisconsin this year! I'm thrilled. In response to the post above, I also received the email with the 16-page packet, and in today's mail, a BIG envelope (at last!) with the same information. The letter says we will get a schedule for the visiting days via email. I will be attending and am extremely excited. Congratulations to the others who were admitted!

    ~ minnares

  2. I understand what you're saying, but I think this sort of misses the point. Of course your accomplishments matter - but not for the reasons you seem to imply. They matter inasmuch as they attest to what sort of scholar you are, what sort of writing you are capable of producing and what sort of ideas for projects you are capable of conceiving. But it's the writing itself that matters - if your writing "consistently won awards," shouldn't it be able to speak for itself? First and foremost, your writing sample and SoP have to impress them, independent of knowing anything else about you. Then, they can look at your C.V. and say, "oh, okay, this awesome piece of writing was not a fluke - she consistently produces this level of work." The awards and pubs are ornamentation, "icing," as lily calls it, perhaps derived from something substantial (the quality of the work itself) - but without concrete evidence of that substance, it seems pretty hollow. Icing without cake (blech)!

    And it's not about false humility. Presumably, you didn't spend time away from your kids' band concerts and games because you wanted to get an award, but because you were deeply invested in your work, the substance. The awards or the fact that you got it published are offshoots of that, but even without the decoration, the substance of the work would be the same. So that's what your SoP should mostly be talking about. But they do have your C.V., so it's not like it's totally absent from your application! It's thinking that it should carry more weight than that that seems problematic. Being too invested in what you got as a result of the work is perhaps what comes off as "arrogant" because it indicates that you think what matters is the icing, rather than the cake (to stretch the metaphor). Frankly, when I've gotten awards, I've been like, "Oh! Cool!" but what I really cared about was the piece I had produced, and what I said, the process I had gone through, and what I had gained as a scholar. That's the part that matters, and I suppose that is inherently more humble, but not falsely so - it's just less about the competition that you beat out and more about the inherent value of what you did. I mean, there is a good reason that people dislike arrogance: it indicates a focus on the wrong things.

    This is actually one aspect of the admissions process I like - the part where they look to the substance itself, the product, rather than things that could be evidence of substance (grades, scores, awards, etc.).

    With publications, I can see how it's slightly different in some cases, because it speaks to some sort of professionalization. If it's important to your narrative, I think it would be fine to discuss what you learned from preparing an article for publication and it wouldn't necessarily look arrogant. But it just can't be all about the end game.

    Jae B's suggestions are good because they re-focus it back to the substance and content itself, not the ornamentation.

    Once again, all well said and diplomatically (gently) so. I'm grateful, intextrovert. And you're right that I made the choices I did for the intellectual challenge and the process rather than thinking there would be any award at the finish and certainly not every time (not just a fluke). And, in fairness, I did say "awards or no," so I think that it's interesting every focuses on the awards part of my mini-rant rather than the TA/RAship, publication, etc. part of the rant. When I mentioned skipping my kids' activities, I meant for things like TA and RA jobs, which also apparently do not matter much in this process except in the sense that I gained teaching experience and experience supporting larger research projects for myself and others. I've just got to focus on what I learned in each instance, how the work furthered my thinking or interest in my subject and then leave it to them to *glance* at my CV (hopefully). I've been keeping notes on all of your excellent input, so I hope to do this right and not shame myself twice rolleyes.gif .

    ~ m

  3. Round 2 for me, as well. Writing a new SoP. Swapped out two of my referees. Retaking the general GRE to try to get my scores into the stratosphere (LOL! laugh.gif ). And I spent the last three weeks reviewing programs for fit. I'll be contacting DGSs and POIs in a few months. This is my game plan to patch all the holes in what I did wrong this time rolleyes.gif . I'll echo lily's kudos to you for the positive attitude. And also like lily, I'm hoping that the extra year will give the economy time to turn around. I've already had one DGS tell me that they couldn't fund students this year at their "usual level," but next year they are "hoping to increase the offerings." I took that as a great sign and am trying to soothe myself with it a bit. Also, maybe it'll give my family more time to be stable about the move, get the house prepped to sell, etc. I'm looking for positives here. If nothing else, it's giving me an opportunity to present myself to these (hopefully) future colleagues in a better light. I bought that SoP writing book several folks have recommended and hope to avoid all the kisses of death (KODs anyone?) I threw in there this year. Egad.

    ~ m

  4. Thank you lily (and can I just say that you're consistently very kind and diplomatic on these boards). Well put. And yes, life's so far from fair, no surprise there. I'm looking at this process as a continuation of my ongoing learning experiences. I'm constantly trying to find a way to be softer with my approach and consider others and how they might respond. So this is another opportunity to try to think in those other shoes and see myself however a stranger might. Your point about the end game (icing) is likely very accurate (though it didn't do me a heap of good this year). We'll see how it goes as I try to approach the process with a humbled aspect next time wink.gif .

    ~ m

  5. Wow, thank you, fuzzy, intextrovert, and Jae B. Excellent advice and input all around. I will do it differently this time. Writing a new one from scratch.

    And intextrovert, I've had several people tell me this after reading my SoP, a professor I know at UCLA (in Psych, but on an adcomm), a recent PhD friend of mine, and two professors who know me. Of course, I didn't think to have any of these folks read for me in advance rolleyes.gif . Smart, right? Learning the hard way. Also, Duke has an excellent page on what they expect in the SoP, it specifically lists striking a balance between arrogance and accomplishment. Actually, the Duke page is the best one I've seen, though the DGS at University of Wisconsin also sent me a very informative .pdf that mentioned arrogance as a killer. And then there's a incredibly interesting link on this website to a Kiss of Death article about statements of purpose that also lists arrogance or sounding arrogant.

    Mini arrogant rant wink.gif (be forewarned): It's so frustrating to me this notion of expecting folks (and I mean just about anyone who can hope to get into the schools on these boards) who are, in broad comparison, well-accomplished, awards or no, to act as though those accomplishments are "less than" or not worth caring about or omit mention of them in an attempt to get into a program. I would think that adcomms would care if someone's writing consistently won awards, every time they wrote a research paper. I would think that would give them a track record of success in writing that indicates a possibility of continuing in that vein in graduate school, especially if the awards were out of a broad sampling of thousands of other writers. Otherwise, why wouldn't we all shoot for good grades alone? Why put out the extra effort if not to distinguish ourselves? If all the TA/RAships, publications, awards, etc., don't matter, then why submit a CV at all or seek out those opportunities? I suppose Jae B's suggestions do cast this in a different light for me, and I'll be giving this further thought. I gave up a lot of time with my family (and I mean time away from my kids' band concerts, games, etc.) in order to go after those "extras," so finding out that they don't really matter makes me sad.gif .End rant.

    Le sigh. Again, thank you, each of you for giving such sound advice. I'll do my best to put it into practice, and I love Jae B.'s suggestions about showing how these experiences have motivated me to each "next step." All great input. I'm grateful!

    ~ m

  6. minnares,

    My understanding is credits from a decade ago are considered expired in many institutions. So maybe it's unnecessary to report such information. It might be best to first check the policies of the institution to see if such credit can be considered in the application. I highly advise contacting the admissions office of the institutions you're applying to.

    Anyways it is usually the case:

    • 1 semester credit is worth 1.5 credits. So take semester credits * 1.5 = quarter credits.
    • 1 quarter credit is worth 1/1.5=(2/3) semester credits.

    Hope this helps.

    Yes, that helps. Thank you so much. I will contact the departments and ask. It'd be excellent if they didn't care to see that one miserable term worth of credits. One less thing to put a black mark on my apps.

    ~ m

  7. So here is my situation. I went to college for one term wwwaaaayyyy back in 1992, then got pregnant, then left college. I didn't get to go back until 2006, after which point I earned only As. However, the one term back in 1992 was wretched with morning sickness and family upheaval (mostly caused by me), and my GPA was 2.76. Given the different point values for courses and the difference between quarterly and semester, I am wondering how to integrate those 17 credits into my other 126 in order to be more honest or as honest as possible (and yes I've had people suggest I just not send that one transcript). The way I calculated it, that would bring my cumulative down to a 3.75. My UG institution, the one I did the other 126 credits at, just accepted the credits and then "wiped the slate," only counting my 126 at their institution toward my honors and cumulative there. Does anyone know of website that does this, calculates it out taking into consideration the differences in semester v. quarterly, etc.? Also, how would those of you who were successful this year or in years prior address this? I tried to touch on it briefly (and in less depth than above) in my SoP by saying I had to leave school after one semester due to an "unexpected life change." I'm not sure if I should even mention it, and I"m getting such conflicting information on how much personal/life detail to include.

    Appreciate any suggestion(s) or help offered. Thanks much.

    ~ m

  8. Here's my major question about writing the SoP. If you have many awards and/or publications, do you bring that up in the SoP at all or just leave it in the CV. This year, I explained the work I'd done and told at the latter end of the paragraph that the work resulted in X, Y, or Z award. This apparently was deemed arrogance (kiss of death). Since I will be trying again next year, how does one strike the balance between arrogance and proper assertion of strengths? Or again, is it more appropriate to leave that sort of detail out of the SoP and only have it listed on the CV where the adcomm can hunt for it if they decide you interest them post-reading of the SoP?

    I appreciate the help, as always!

    ~ m

  9. Hey all, since I'm going to have to reapply next year, I'm starting to hunt for information on programs. I really like the look of Northwestern (no idea why I didn't look at them before). Would any of you mind sharing information about the program, what you drew you to it, anything else you've learned or would care to share that maybe isn't available via the website? I'm in touch with the DGS and a professor already but would appreciate a peer-perspective. Thanks!

    ~ m

  10. @ woolfie and anyone else interested, I cannot recommend highly enough Mark Noll's The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. Noll looks at how fundamentalist Christianity in America became so heavily anti-intellectual, and, more importantly (and more fun), he expands from that to explore the effects of that entrenchment on broader American culture. (That book description completely leaves out that second part, I know, but Alibris often has better deals than Amazon). During the 2004 and 08 elections, when "elite" and "intellectual" were being tossed around like they are some huge insults, I felt like quoting entire passages of that book to various acquaintances of mine.

    Thanks for this recommendation, Sparky. I just added it to my GoodReads, sounds right up my ally.

    I have a similar situation to many of you. My inlaws (who hate me) and my own father, stepmother, and stepsister all have masters or PhDs in the sciences. Then here I am wanting to get a PhD in English. They all think I'm an alien, wasting my time, being frivolous, incapable of pursuing "worthwhile" academic study (read: sciences or math). So, yeah, I get it. And Sparky, my dad's a fundamentalist Christian on top of being a physicist (how's that for a combination). So get the double wammy from him.

    ~ m

  11. On 3/6/2010 at 8:25 AM, diehtc0ke said:

    So, those mysterious e-vites from last year are back. I just received one about two hours ago from Jennifer Fleissner (who is really sweet. I've spoken to her on the phone) and I can tell you all that 27 people have been invited to Graduate Recruitment Day which takes place on March 24th.

    I haven't been invited yet, but I've visited the campus several times (my dad lives just north of there). It's a lovely campus and every interaction I've had with faculty, staff, and other grad students has always been welcoming, helpful, and generous. Just my two bits. Bloomington is just a tiny town in the middle of an Indiana valley, so it is kind of the middle of the nowhere. However, the culture is there if you look for it. There are some decent performance companies, an excellent area of town with good restaurants, etc.  Last time I was in Indy on the 4th of July visiting my dad, the congregation of his church sang God Bless America 4 times during the same service (no joke) tongue.gif .

    ~ m

  12. I just received this from Bev Hankins:

    Some of our more urgent offers (most of our fellowships) have been notified by email &/or phone. But all admissions results will be mailed in hard copy. We just started our notification process at the end of last week and not all notifications (including some of the offers of admission) have been made/sent yet. If you are at all anxious about your status and need to find out where you stand before you receive anything from us, you may feel free to contact our Director of Admissions, Jennifer Fleissner (jfleissn@indiana.edu).

    *************

    And so there's that sticky parenthetical... rolleyes.gif

    ~ m

  13. Anyone have any idea what this means for those of us crazy enough to apply to the MFA/PhD joint program?

    I'm wondering about this too. It appears that those of us who applied to the joint program have not been contacted? Can someone confirm or deny that? Has anyone on the boards who applied to the joint MFA/PhD program at Cornell been contacted, or are all the current contacts for the straight PhD alone? Thank you.

    ~ m

  14. Hey everybody! This is my first post! Yay! Posts! Congrats to everybody who's applied this season, regardless of results. Applying is a feat in itself it seems.

    Minnares - where did you read SoP examples?

    I sent a PM to several posters on these boards who have been accepted to 4 or more schools this season and asked if I could see their SoP. Some said yes (lovely of them). Some said they'd prefer not (understood). Some didn't deign to reply. Can't hurt to ask. The three who agreed to share scrubbed them for identifying information and asked that I not share with anyone, which again was more than fine. I just wanted to get an idea of what was expected and what was successful.

    ~ m

  15. After 15 years of working in both criminal and civil law firms, I'd not only like to echo what Paper Chaser brought up but point out that the process for making partner or gaining advancement in law is as bad if not worse than gaining tenure. In many firms, it's also an "up or out" attitude. There are so many lawyers getting churned out of law schools that we have a revolving door of new associates who get hired, don't hack it (as far as the higher ups are concerned), and get let go. Nice people and hard workers all. That said, I lucked out and have worked for my current firm for almost a decade. Working for the DA's office was brutal. The office was highly dysfunctional and everyone was low paid since it's technically government work ($13/hour for support staff when civil pays in the $25-$35/hr range). So, it's wonderful that you'd like to investigate this as an option. Just a word to the wise from many years spent watching it all from my tiny Cubicle World wink.gif .

    ~ m

  16. However, you also want to consider how realistic your goals are (this has NOTHING to do with the stats you listed by the way; your writing sample and SoP are going to factor most heavily, as I'm sure you know). Keep in mind that top 20 schools receive applications from every English major with a pulse, including those who have 4.0 GPAs from top-tier universities, soaring GRE scores, *and* good writing samples. But if your long-term goal is to teach at a top university, you may as well throw your hat in and see what happens. You should also be prepared for the possibility of coming up 0/10 or 0/15. "Competitive" is not a strong enough word to describe these schools. I always feel bad when I hear from people who are crushed by their rejections, but I can't help but wonder why they *only* applied to top 20 schools. Cruisin' for a bruisin'.

    This exactly. I've met several "department darlings" on this board who weren't encouraged to balance their application group (myself included). If I have to apply next year, I will be doing as others have suggested and focusing more on the fit of each department for my interests and less on the rankings. Also, I had several advisors pushing me toward schools because they would have liked to go there. Kind of like parents, it was about their interests and not my own. I applied in order to keep them happy. MISTAKE. I should have listened to my inner lights and applied to programs that made sense based on my subfocus and research. Also, the only program I was able to visit is the one that I feel I have the best chance at right now. If that falls through as well, I intend to make connections with folks in every program I apply to next year. I'll be casting a wider net, too. The potentials on my list for next year range from #10 to #71, and I'll be submitted 12 apps instead of 6. I've got to put in the time to investigate all of those on my list and narrow it down to the dozen I like. While I don't regret trying for the Ivys (if you don't try, how will you know, right?), I would have increased my chance of success had I found these boards MUCh earlier and been more focused on programs that I would fit in with.

    Also, from what I've gleaned from those who are being accepted to six or more schools they've applied to this year, the weight that your SoP and writing sample carry is considerable. My GPA and scores right down the line are comparable, but the SoP examples I've read are completely different from what I thought I was supposed to do. Lesson learned. All of your thoughts above about things to adjust next year are excellent. I'll be doing many of the same myself and with a fresh, healthy sense of humility. You seem to have that already, which will only be to your benefit. As Shaky Premise pointed out, applicants to these top tier schools usually all have the high GPA and GRE scores. That's a given. So then it comes down to what else have you got to offer and why are you interested in their specific program? And that's where the SoP comes in.

    ~ m

  17. I emailed Bev on Tuesday, and this was her response:

    The admissions committee is just finishing up the second round of readings and will be meeting this afternoon. We will have more definite results by the end of the week at the latest.

    I feel compelled to say what a downright nice person Bev Hankins is. Anyone that's had dealings with her will probably echo this. Of all of the grad dept. assistants I've had contact with, Bev is consistently the nicest, not to mention she'll actually give information, which is nigh unto a miracle. laugh.gif

    Thanks for this info, VT. Definite results is a good thing. I am so ready to be done with this process.

    ~ m

  18. CONGRATULATIONS, w2010 (insert images of confetti falling from the sky)! Did your online status change at either the application or OneStep? I am really hoping for this school on like a dozen levels now. So far everyone in this thread seems so kind and solid and interesting. I think we'd have some fun together cool.gif

    ~ m

  19. So clearly we should e-mail the DGS and reason with him/her. We're all GradCafe BFFs, and cannot be separated at risk of disrupting the order of the universe. tongue.gif

    Wouldn't it be nice if it worked that way? Plus, I would just like to put it out there that my dad lives 45 minutes north of IUB and he's got a private lake. Hulloh weekends of fishing and swimming laugh.gif . Can you tell my imagination is in overdrive and my hopes are WAY higher than they should be (based on my current status of zero admissions)? LOL!

    ~ m

  20. No kidding. Okay, so we have six spots left. People better hurry up and post before slots run out! biggrin.gif

    Seriously. And the four of us seem to get along well, so there's our cohort. Harvard can suck it. Hoosier Daddy?! cool.gif

    Oh, and keep in mind that diehtcOke already had a fellowship offer a week ago. So that makes five spots if we all get in wink.gif . RING PHONE, RING! This is my #1 hope/school. I even visited there last fall and met people. I desperately want to get into this program.

    ~ m

  21. Completely not worth it! I had to answer like 10 secret questions and enter a four word pass phrase.

    (But yes, thanks for sharing the link. It gave me a distraction.)

    LOL! Agreed (and you did know that you didn't have to answer all of the secret questions, right?). But hey, at this point, we're all twiddling our thumbs and watching the paint dry, so at least this felt like we could be proactive about something. Yes? laugh.gif Chalk it up as one more piece of clothing dropping in what others have called the grad school app season striptease.

    ~ m

  22. I was also starting to wonder, MM.

    Does Columbia usually call people they accept? Or does everyone get an email/check the website, regardless? Anyone know?

    I just ran a search in the results thread. Last year acceptances and rejections were sent via email exclusively. Wait lists received a postal notification. All results were spread over the month of March, including one very late acceptance in early April. So it appears we're just getting started. Let the games begin! laugh.gif

    ~ m

  23. I was going to say I was having trouble with Onestart, but in fact, I was being an idiot. blink.gif

    You're not an idiot. I bet it was because the Guest User link has that notice about grad students not getting a log on that way, right? And the other option looks like you already have to be a student and gives you a link to the admissions computer folks. I actually emailed them and asked. They were very nice about it, said it is confusing, and told me to just use the link for current students. Only then did I notice that it says "potential students" in there too (in tiny print, of course). So yeah. Was this just one more test to see if we're smart enough to go there? tongue.gif

    ~ m

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