wine-ing

Okay, that's fair. It does make me feel slightly better about my Canadian choices though, so it's not all bad. (And, I mean, I did know I picked two competitive programs with no GRE in the US, it's just that those numbers are really sobering.) Here's hoping that my decision to do the MA first in Canada will give me an advantage! (Thanks for the reply.)

Oh holy shit. I did not need to see that site. The two US schools I picked are 7% and 11% acceptance rates. My Canadian ones are unlisted, 25%, and 35% though... I hope that the difference comes from Canada schools requiring a MA... Oh no.

I know I should be focusing on my MA thesis/classes- but I've been obsessively checking the results page for my apps due mid-December to the 20th of January. Even though I won't get results until last week of January at the earliest... I'm so nervous.

I'm on my last app too. So nervous.

So, two of the schools that I'm applying at are ones that I've attended for graduate and undergraduate studies. I figure that I need to have a more personalized statement, but I'm wondering whether it should just be tailoring "that one paragraph that mentions specific professors" or if I should be rewriting the thing to be more specific to the school. But, on the other hand, how seriously would they take a SOP if they knew the student well? I know I have to put the effort in for the application, but I'm wondering if it's worth spending the extra time rewriting my SOP if they might pay less attention to it.

There really are a lot of other factors. I mean, my undergrad GPA was just above A- (which is around 85%) but I didn't get into a grad program based on that. It was, without question, my research experience. I don't know a ton about those schools though.

You heard back from them already? When was the deadline?!

Oh, well, for one: I'm Canadian. If I wanted to do a PhD (which I may) in Canada, I need the MA. Additionally, I went straight from high school to undergrad, meaning that I finished my classwork for my BA at 21 years old.Though I had a relatively strong application coming out of my BA, there were a lot of gaps in terms of my exposure to theory and I wanted an extra year to strengthen my application by taking extra year of graduate studies before starting the PhD. (It's actually helped a lot!) Also, I didn't do an undergrad senior/honours thesis, which many of my classmates have. This way, I have a MA thesis and some graduate coursework to make up for that. This being said, I probably could have applied in the states for a PhD. One of my references suggested it to me. But, then we talked about it and he helped me realize that an extra year of studies after my four-year BA would help me mature as a student. I don't regret it at all. I'm funded for the MA and loving my research. The coursework is filling in some major theoretical gaps too, which is great. I'm also building some great academic connections and getting teaching experience. I think my first choice is a certain school in the states and my second is in Canada, so I'm hoping that my choice to do the MA will help. (Hopefully it doesn't make me look bad for taking longer to get to the PhD for the states.)

Haha, don't freak yourself out about it too soon. (I know it's hard, when I applied for my MA, I checked my email every day at least 10 times in Feb.) And, I mean, think about it this way- your recommenders have recommended people before. They know you and they know what makes for a good applicant. If they have faith in you, that's a good sign.

It's that time of year, I'm thinking about applications yet again. I think I'm doing UCLA, UMichigan, UBC, Simon Fraser, and Toronto. I have no idea how I'm going to deal with waiting until February/March.

I've paid for all five of my applications and I'm still waiting on virtually all my reference letters and I still have to mail transcripts to one school/upload two SoPs for schools with January deadlines. I feel so much more on top of this than when I applied for my MA! (Though, unfortunately, I noticed a typo on one of my submitted SoPs... argh.)