morifol
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Posts posted by morifol
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8 hours ago, rising_star said:
I'm having trouble understanding why you want to do a summer school somewhere, especially since you're currently applying to grad programs. If you get accepted, a lot of your summer will be spent preparing for, dealing with, and actually undertaking a move to wherever your grad program is. It would be better to work on research you actually plan to work on in grad school rather than finding a random research project to work on for 1.5 months, if you really want to do something. Most people don't want to take on someone for such a short period of time because there aren't really any benefits for them.
No, I am applying again this year, so the summer is free.
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10 hours ago, fuzzylogician said:
You might want to tell us what field you are in, otherwise this is impossible to answer.
In general: summer schools will usually be advertised several months in advance to attract students. Some will also have fellowships you could apply for.
If you want to visit some other institution, usually you will have to pay your own way, as they will likely not fly you out. You could always email out of the blue to ask, but I wouldn't count on that working. You might also have your advisor make the introductions, and then chances are higher that it could work. If you have the funds, you might write a professor to say that you're going to be in town during [dates] and would love to meet with him/her while there. As a young student, it's not too likely that more than that will happen. As you become better known, you might get invited, or someone might be interested in arranging for you to have a desk or other privileges at the host institution. Again, if your advisor is making the introductions, they might assist with these logistics.
Beyond that, I don't have too many ideas. Maybe your home institution has funds that you could access for a semi-long summer visit, or your department might. Funding doesn't grow on trees and isn't easy to come by, and it's rarely just laying around waiting for random relatively unknown students to visit.
Sure! I am in Education. Higher Ed. A little problem: not a grad school student, an applicant. Currently I am working as a researcher in a think tank.
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Hello, Grad Cafe folks!
How do you spend your summers? I will have 1.5 months of free time that I would like to spend researching away (or, alternatively, participating in a summer school). I am looking for summer schools, and I am also looking for opportunities in different research centers. Hence the questions:
1. Say, you have connections in a research center. How do you write a letter? 'Hello, I am a researcher in... Looking for summer opportunities. Have you got any?' or should I go into specifics? Aka 'I am researching ..., and you have this professor, and I would like...'
2. Do you happen to know any not-so-expensive summer school in Europe?
3. What other opportunities are there?
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So, for all the people out there who have been rejected from their programs of choice and are planning to go for it again, here is my letter (all identity revealing info erazed) to the professor who interviewed me:
Dear ...,
I had a pleasure to talk with you on the 26th of January. I was shortlisted for the PhD program in .... However, I was not offered a place in the program.The program at ... is still my program of choice, and I am planning to apply again next year for the 2017 cohort.I hope you don't mind me getting in touch again, but I wanted to ask whether you have any recommendations on how I can strengthen my application for the next round.To remind you of my background ... (a bit about that, and a bit about the topics we discussed during the interview).I understand that you must be very busy, so I will appreciate every bit of advice you can give me very deeply.Have a wonderful day! -
On 18/2/2016 at 10:00 PM, emilb34 said:
Definitely connect with faculty if you can, but perhaps consider contacting the program's coordinator first to chat about the program and be connected that way to a faculty member who is interested in your area of interest/research. I also think (depending on your specific program) that at some institutions you might not have a faculty member who is interested in your area, but I think it carries weight when you say that program coordinator X encouraged you to reach out.
As others have said, experience (especially practical) is everything, particularly in the field of education! Yes, related and research experience is wonderful, but the more experience you have in the field you want to study in (particularly unique experiences in that field) the higher the likelihood of you being accepted with funding! I really discounted my application in this cycle. I applied to a few really top schools but I think I could have applied to better considering my practical experience. The things that held me back from applying to a program in the top 5 were my GRE scores and so-so GPA from undergrad and masters. Knowing what I know now, I'm considering applying to even better schools next year and capitalizing on my experience even more. Everyone is different, but I think practical experience is everything in the field of education.
Oh, I have forgotten to reply and thank you! Thank you! Especially for the first part.
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4 hours ago, ZeChocMoose said:
I also disagree a bit with what nashville0808 has written. I sat on the admissions committee for one cycle each at my master's school and my current PhD school both in higher education. While each admission committee did the process slightly differently, it was clear to me how much faculty contact mattered. So yes, I would reach out to faculty and/or the department chair to ask how to improve your application especially given that you were interviewed at one school. That means that you were really close and it would be helpful to have those insights whether that be they didn't see you as a good fit or if you need to improve x, y, z in your application to make you more competitive compared to the other people in the pool.
Publications. This is tricky. It is not really the case any more that no PhD applicants would have them or they would be rare. I sat on the committee 2 years ago and the more competitive applicants would have them or at the very least would be presenting at education conferences. Although the type of publications that would usually have is a chapter in an edited book or a lower level education journal. No one really expects that you would have a publication in one of the top education journals. Also, one year is a tight time frame to start writing an article from scratch and expect that it would accepted in time to be in on your C.V. next year.
I do agree with nashville0808 that experience is critical. Everyone in my PhD program had either worked in education or an education adjacent field for at least three years -- usually a lot more with progressing levels of responsibility. Personally, I had 4 years of full-time experience in higher ed and 2 years of part-time experience in higher ed (when I was a GA as a master's student) before I applied. I ended up being on the younger side of my cohort too!
Since you only have one year of experience (I think?) -- you might want to hold off for a couple cycles and then apply. You'll be much more competitive and you'll have better postgraduate outcomes too given how the field values experience so much.
I do have a Master's though... And I will have 2 years full time by the end of this year... Maybe I should stress my three years working in an education camp, too (part-time, not higher ed, but adjacent for sure)? Also, I am working as an expert/researcher now - I can maybe ask my recommender to stress the intensity of the work we do (he is my supervisor in the think-tank).
Luckily, I've done so much researching for the government and so on, that I will not have to write from scratch.
Or so I hope.
Most importantly - thank you so much. You've definitely shed some light on this.
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On 17/2/2016 at 8:03 AM, nashville0808 said:
For doctoral programs, in my field, it doesn't matter very much whether you have personal contacts with professors unless you advance from a master's program to a Ph.D. program within the same university. Publications do not matter very much either because most of applicants do not have publications in good academic journals. Professors at my program do not expect Ph.D. applicants to have any publications. In fact, I have rarely seen new Ph.D. students come with any publications.
Just contacting professors won't help you very much. And they wouldn't remember you anyway. The only way that I think is useful would be that you present a high-quality paper at professional conferences and have professors of your interest come and see your presentation. When I presented my paper at a professional conference, a professor that my supervisor and I personally knew from work came to my presentation and aggressively recruited me to his school's Ph.D. program with generous funding. Although I didn't even apply for the program, I think presenting a high-quality research paper would be a good way to sell yourself.
Experience matters a lot here. Many new Ph.D. students come with great work experience. Typically students have working experience for 3 to 10 years in various settings. It is very rare that students come straight to Ph.D. programs in education from undergrad.
Finally, the statement of purposes makes a big difference. It demonstrates your passion for a Ph.D. program, fit with the program, and writing skills. If you write a long SOP, this is a bad signal. SOP should be short and succinct. Don't use tricks to put more words or sentences in a 2-page SOP.
All of this assumes that you have very high GPAs, high GRE scores, and great letters of recommendation.
Well, I consider my SoP to be pretty good. And it IS long, but not longer than 1000 words they ask for. GRE scores are fine, letter of recommendation - superb.
I don't think a professor who works on a similar topic will not remember me if I contact him/her through a personal network.
Publications are one of the ways to prove one's worth given one is an international student who is not coming from a top-100 institution. So I would disagree with what you said - they not expecting me to have good publications does not mean I should not use this tool to carve a better image of myself.
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On 16/2/2016 at 11:39 PM, CIShopeful said:
I think this is a great idea for a thread!
I plan on emailing professos after I hear from the last school. I'm not really sure how to word that email, though! Everything I've come up with so far screams "why wasn't I good enough?!?!" and I feel like that may be a bit off putting.
One thing that I've noticed from lurking is that many of us (those who are reapplying) didn't have much in the way of publications. I think that publishing could make our applications stronger.
I keep telling myself that this experience builds character, but I still just want to crawl into a blanket fort and hide.
Have you figured the wording out already? I am still toying with different options. For one: 'Dear ... I was shortlisted, but not accepted, planning to apply again as the program remains my top choice... What can I do to strengthen my application?'. Yet, I keep thinking - should I remind him of who I am - mention the key features of my profile?
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1 minute ago, SilentObserver said:
Best of luck in the next cycle!
A friend has been rejected from most of his PhD programs (in a different social science discipline) as well and emailed his POIs and interviewers shortly after. They were very open to providing feedback via email or Skype. If they're busy now, the worst that could happen is they'll postpone the conversation--or say no.
Thank you! That is helpful!
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44 minutes ago, CIShopeful said:
I think this is a great idea for a thread!
I plan on emailing professos after I hear from the last school. I'm not really sure how to word that email, though! Everything I've come up with so far screams "why wasn't I good enough?!?!" and I feel like that may be a bit off putting.
One thing that I've noticed from lurking is that many of us (those who are reapplying) didn't have much in the way of publications. I think that publishing could make our applications stronger.
I keep telling myself that this experience builds character, but I still just want to crawl into a blanket fort and hide.
Don't hide! Fight! Well, not with them.
That's my approach anyway.
Yes, I already have an idea for an article.
I already have all the answers, so I suppose I will start e-mailing soon - to those ones where I want to reapply.
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So this year hasn't been successful for me due to a whole list of reasons: lack of experience (we are talking 1 year of doing truly great things, but just one), no published work, no personal contacts with grad schools.
I am not discouraged, only prepared to work harder, and it looks like I have got 9 months, which is not much if you think about it.
I am sure there are people who are in the same or in a similar situation. Let's come together!
I have created a to-do list, which includes working on my mistakes, building personal networks, and gaining new experience. Hence the first question: when do you think I should contact the programs I have been rejected from asking them what I can to do strengthen my application? Is now too early (+ they are all busy), or is now just right, because they might still remember me? Especially the school that interviewed me?
- SilentObserver, CIShopeful, Vulpix and 1 other
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1 hour ago, nicolemae said:
Welp... just got my official rejection for my PhD application. Pretty bummed out but relieved that there's closure!
I am sorry to learn that! Well, looks like some great universities like you
I, too, got a rejection. Closure, yes. One more year for me.
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I have some questions:
people who got admitted - was there an interview for each of you? people who were wait-listed - what about you?
and - has anyone been rejected so far?
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6 minutes ago, carol64 said:
Is today the day?!
Every day since Monday has been the day.
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3 minutes ago, Escussel said:
@morifol sounds like we are in the same boat with one broken paddle.
Oh come on.
It's not that bad. I consider myself a strong candidate. One more year will only be growing in a different way in the worst case scenario.
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9 minutes ago, Escussel said:
New to this thread, I'm not sure how I missed it before. I only applied to two schools. Anyone else for policy?
Me. Goodness, I am about to offer to hold hands and be anxious together. I applied to four, but 2 rejects (one painful, post-interview) so far.
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Just now, Escussel said:
No ? you?
No...
Still hoping though.
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2 minutes ago, Escussel said:
Saw two people accepted! Congratulations ? I just tried checking my online application portal (some other programs indicated their rejection letter was there) and the message box was empty. Still holding on to hope!
Yes, mine is empty too.... Were you interviewed?
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I have a weird question. How does a wait list e-mail look like? What does it say? Does it have to say 'wait list' there somewhere?
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Just now, juanmesh said:
I stopped overthinking it some time back. I just tell myself these things are absurd black boxes then spend time refreshing grad-cafe
. I had a fantastic (in my estimation) interview at Penn yesterday but now I have no idea what that means for admissions purposes.
Good luck!! I am definitely applying for Penn next year if this year's round leaves me in tears.
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9 minutes ago, juanmesh said:
I thought you got an interview at Michigan? I just go (are we allowed to swear on here) f*%#ing Michigan whenever I see the name
. It makes me feel a little better about things.
I did!!! And it went well! That's e x a c t l y the thing!!! How c o u l d they?! After we had such a connection! An academic lady in me feels betrayed and finds comfort in Michigan's lack of good social standing (21st in THE rankings).
OK, so I checked. Given that the boxes are the same in terms of size, the following is true: in Education, you better have 4+ AWA (but that guarantees nothing), 152 or so + Quant. GRE (I've got 154, still proud, having relearnt all that Maths in 2 months), 153+ or so Verbal (I am my own hero here with 165). So the q I keep asking myself - if I am not admitted to anything, should I pass GRE again? - remains unanswered... Looks like anyone who has 152, 154 and 4.0. and above is fine, and the reasons for rejection lie somewhere in CVs and SoPs.
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Just now, juanmesh said:
All right @morifol. I'm hoping it works now on your browser :). And yeah, never turn off adblock
. Whenever I use a browser without adblock, I spend half the time whining about how horrible the internet is.
I'll give it a try. Offtop: I see you were rejected from Michigan, too... I am so sad that I don't have a signature anymore, so that I don't start sobbing each time I post anything.
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1 minute ago, juanmesh said:
Nah, ad block should be fine. PLEASE NEVER TURN IT OFF. I think I know what's going on! You're probably using Firefox, I just got a "NOT FOUND" page, easily fixable.
OK, sure, I will NEVER turn it off.
haha
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3 minutes ago, juanmesh said:
Errrr, it should move on by itself to a page with about 4 charts - column charts and box plots. That's about it, nothing else. It needs JavaScript to work right so if you're using an older browser maybe(?) or blocking scripts(?), it wouldn't work right. I'd say Firefox and Chrome should be fine, I think.
Aha, I am using ad block. I'll turn it off.
Update: nope.
Summertime Research in Remote Locations
in Research
Posted
You know, it is actually superhelpful. Especially given that 'Northwestern University will pay for lodging and for course materials' - it's way better than any European option out there.