Caien

Another update: at one school the words are missing even when the file is downloaded

Is it saying that you have writing samples or SoPs 'Missing' @othersamantha? In my Columbia app it wouldn't let me submit as I had clicked the box to be considered for the MA, so there was a requirement to upload a sample and statement for my 'second choice program'. I just uploaded the same sample and sop as I did for the PhD and it went through then. Also, if it was apply web you would know. Apply web makes itself known.

Just updating for any future panicky applicants that may be reading this thread. After being passed around between different admin people (the director of grad studies passed me back to the original admin who blew me off ) and eventually being told to go to applyweb themselves, it looks as though the files are fine but the viewing tool in applyweb is buggy. As I have a few apps in via applyweb I've contacted the different schools, some of which say there is no problem, some of which are seeing the missing words. None of this is very reassuring. At this point I'm just hoping they all download the files to read them rather than skimming in the system on the first run through, because regardless of what the first admin person says, missing words is not a small issue.

Okay I received a reply from an admin which said yes there are blanks in your application but its 'complete enough' to do. This is completely unacceptable to me, I've been working on these materials for months and I'm an English major for christ's sake. A missing word is a fairly slopping proofreading error. Does anyone have any advice on what do do? Politely ask the admin to reattach the docs via email? Go over their head and email the director of admissions? I don't want to seem like a pain but... MONTHS of work! I proofed those materials so many times and I can recite the first four pages of my writing sample by heart! (and possibly more, I've just never been bothered continuing for longer than that) ...

Hey guys, I just submitted an app via applyweb and I noticed when I used the 'preview' function to check my SoP and writing sample some words had gone missing. Literally just blank spaces where words should be. It was a problem in both PDF and Word. I'm hoping its just an issue on Applyweb and I've emailed the grad office to ask them to check if everything came through okay but I was just wondering if anyone else had this problem?

Anyone else experience the sudden certainty that their materials are simply mediocre and there's absolutely nothing you can think of to do about it? I am the left guinea pig:

7 PhD programs in the US, 3 Masters courses in Europe. So 10 but sort of 11 as I'm considering my BC application a dual application.

They were going to spam; my prof and I just had a live gmail chat to sort it which, considering some of the horror stories I've been reading on here the last few days, makes me think I do not appreciate my professors nearly enough.

That's a good idea @Wyatt's Terps. My transcripts are just random numbers, and due to the education system here I've been taking English classes almost entirely for the four years of my undergrad, so while I've highlighted one or two particularly pertinent courses in my SoP I've also included a courses section in my CV to show the depth and breadth of my training in English. I also wanted to show how some courses, particularly those I took while on study abroad, that may not be that obviously linked to my research interests are actually tied in, but I really don't have space to go into it in my SoP. I think I will add an extra document with the course summaries, that way they only have to look at them if they're interested and the CV stays short. I think I'm at a point where all my materials are basically ready, but every time I look at them my mind tries to find something to worry about/fix. Tis making me crazy.

Anybody have any idea how long it takes the NYU application checklist to update with a new recommendation? My Prof says she submitted all my references but it isn't showing up on the application. I know it may take a while but the NYU deadline was last week and I'm a bit antsy.

Are people including course descriptions on their CVs? I have a relevant courses section, but the titles of some aren't very illustrative. For example I took a course in Tokyo called 'American Religion', which was sort of a politics/cultural studies course. Its relevant to me as it peaked an interest in the narrative of the US, city on a hill and all that, but that's not really apparent from the title.

Can you clarify if this is Comp Lit or English and where you saw it? (I ask as I'm applying to Princeton English but I haven't seen this anywhere)

I applied last year and it was early Jan, you'll need every extra day for the second writing sample!

There are theory suspicious professors, and in the UK and Ireland the default is basically old historicism. A major reason I'm applying to the US is that you guys are much more theory friendly. I'm a narratologist (right now anyway) and the options are severely limited for me here. I had one professor (whom you would call a new critic) tell us outright he didn't like theory, and that his strategy since the seventies had been basically to bury his head in the sand and hope it went away (as of 2015 he had concluded it had, I don't know about that). On the continent literature departments are so theory orientated from our perspective they would more closely resemble philosophy or linguistics departments than English departments, and its more common to have programs like cultural studies or European studies rather than separate out disciplines like we do in the Anglo-American world. The Irish case particularly is quite historicist as WB Yeats (and others, but Yeats had an ability to impose his opinions on culture at large) wrote a great deal of literary criticism in the late 19th century in which he essentially analysed Irish writers based on their worth as accurate portrayals of some vacuous inherent Irish 'spirit' or 'nature'. Since then critics have tended to read Irish lit almost as historical sources.

Three word reply from Columbia to my asking if I was right in thinking it does not matter how early before the deadline we submit our application: 'You are correct.' So that's fairly clear.

Hmm, this is all a bit mysterious. I know its not unusual for schools to send out deadline reminder emails, it was the wording of this one the struck me as odd, as it seemed to imply that the sooner you submitted the app the better chance you would have. And the fact that not everyone got one is also a bit random. Anyway, I was emailing them to clarify another issue on the application form, so I just asked. Will report back when they do.

So true though, so true. Last year I didn't realise until it was too late that while one of my apps required all the letters to be in by the deadline, the automated recommendation requests couldn't actually go out until after you had submitted your application! The deadline was New Year's Day, so factoring in Xmas, realistically the de facto deadline was mid-December, and that's if your professors are prompt and organised! I had a major freak out and ended up on the phone to our department secretary (who, thankfully, is both lovely and was in over the break to get done work done) and she tracked down the prof wherever he was. This isn't too helpful for you @BlackRosePhD as my prof was very responsive, but I second Wyatt's suggestion that you try an admin person if you can, and emphasise (politely as you can) that it's now or never. If it's any consolation, sometimes they are just busy rather than reluctant to help you. One of my profs was not responding to emails and I discovered (because I follow her on twitter lol) that's she was moving house as well as the usual essay/exam period.

Anyone else get an email from Columbia to 'encourage you to complete your application as soon as possible as our applicant pool is quite competitive'? Ament I right in thinking they don't look at any apps until after the deadline? This is making me nervous, the deadline is the 15th and I had been planning on working on my sop for another week or so

That seems to be the norm, but bear in mind that we here are all applicants just like you! The only way to be sure is send a quick email to the grad admissions office at the department in question. I'd recommend doing that, if only to give yourself peace of mind.

I'd say that even programs that just give a max page count allow for excerpts, as long as you don't submit the whole thesis with instructions to just read pages 10-18, for example.

Abridged version of my undergrad dissertation, down from 40 to 20 pages.

Good god. My first deadlines are this week, and while I have some minor adjustments to make for length and to fit paragraphs in my SoP, I'm disconcertingly well prepared. This is contrary to all my life experience thus far (I'm the student who submits essays 5 mins before the deadline), and is making me nervous. I have TWO AND AND HALF weeks until the deadline for my No. 1 preference, there must be a curve ball waiting for me somewhere...

This is something that doesn't come up very much, but I actually had a similar conversation about my SoP last year. The three PoI's I mentioned were men, and an advisor at my undergrad uni told me it would give a bad impression (I'm a female applicant, though I think it would be equally bad for a male applicant in this case) to only want to work with male professors.

So I'm just cleaning up my fit paragraphs for next week's deadlines, and something has occurred to me - should we be putting equal emphasis on what we can contribute to the department as well as how it would be beneficial to our educational goals? I know its implicit that you will be contributing via participation in colloquiums, lecture series etc., but mine are sounding a bit take, take, take to me... On the other hand I don't want to be like, 'Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful for you to have me...'

It seems like you have a lot of options for referees! In my case, I had four professors who agreed to write for me if I so wished. My dissertation supervisor, with whom I get along great and has been very encouraging of my decision to apply to graduate study, was a definite. As for the other three, I decided to try and find a balance between how well they know me, how enthusiastic about my work they seemed to be, their 'fame', and whether or not they are specialists in my area of interest. So for my second two I ended up picking a professor who knew me and my work well, I knew would write me good letter, and works in my subfield, but is a relatively new academic. And then for the last I chose a very famous professor who has friends everywhere, including at many Ivy League unis, but who would not know my work quite as well as the other two. To offset this I provided him with a few drafts of my sop, UK masters research proposal and some essays from undergrad. The second two were profs I had in seminar courses. The prof I left out is actually the leading specialist worldwide in my very specific area of research, however... he's a bit of an odd fish (does not react well when people disagree with his ideas), and to be entirely frank I always got the impression he didn't like me very much, and never seems very encouraging/enthusiatic about my postgrad plans. He offered to write me a letter, but I decided there was a distinct possibility the letter would be very mundane, so I've gone with the other three.