Warelin

There are a few things that might be worth considering here. 1. There will be a number of courses outside of your research interests that you'll be required to take. It's possible that you'll have little or no interest in these courses. How will you assure the committee that you'll excel in these courses? It might also be important to note that individual departments often have higher GPA requirements (than that of the grad school's) that have to be met or you'll be kicked out of the program. I know of several programs that have the minimum set to a 3.7GPA. If you fall beyond the minimum, you get kicked out of the program. 2. Publication isn't a major factor for Ph.D. applications. Though if you do publish, make sure it's from a known journal and not one that you paid to get published in. 3. Being a good Ph.D. student is about more than just doing well in classes. 4. Why do you want a Ph.D.? Does what you want to do absolutely require you to earn a Ph.D. or are you unsure of what you want to do? 5. I think it's also important to note that the purpose of a Ph.D. Committee is to make you a better scholar. Grad School can be an incredibly supportive place. However, it can also means your work will be heavily criticized. You might have to rework a lot in a short amount of time. This will be stressful no matter how interesting others may find your project. Being able to handle criticism will help you make it through. Depression, however, is common in Graduate School and is a leading factor of why people drop out of their programs. 6. I'm sure you're aware but many Ph.D. programs have a low acceptance rate. It isn't uncommon for people to get into 0 schools during their first round. Some people manage to get in during their first round; others might never get in even with perfect scores. The admissions process is a mystery and "fit" can change from year to year. 7. I think it's important for you to talk to your professors to see what they say about your hopes of pursuing a Ph.D. Ultimately, they'd be the ones writing the letters and it'll be important to have a strong backing of support from them.

There are very few schools which allow you to import recommendations from a previous cycle. My understanding is that schools prefer that your letters are fresh (even if it's just an updated date on the letter) because it ensures that you're interested in them as opposed to applying to every school you can. The process of chasing (and obtaining) recommendations also helps to prepare you for grants, fellowships, opportunities, and the job market later on. I think they want to make sure that you're partially prepared for that.

FWIW, one of my recommenders turned in their letters about 2 weeks after the December 1st deadline. I was accepted by said school.

Are there any journals or individuals in either that you enjoy more? Are there potential gaps that you think you could help fill?

I think it's also important to state that some elite private high schools now require you to have a Master's degree or higher to teach at their institution. I think the best advice one can take is to study the period that they're most interested in. Don't try to game the market; it most likely wouldn't work. If you study what your most interested in, you're more likely to stay committed and take an interest in wanting to do more research on your dissertation.

I think there are a few things this thread ignores. Yes, people from a "top 20" school might get a second glance at their resume, which might make it easier for them to land an interview. No, it doesn't automatically mean that they'll get the job over someone else. No school can guarantee you that you'll be viewed equally at every school you apply to. Yes, some schools might make it easier to get published in certain journals. Different countries have differing opinions on which schools are considered the best. Schools rich in finances might be able to provide more resources. Some schools are lowering cohort sizes by 1-2 spots in order to better provide resources for current students and to increase the percentage of students they place. Advisers are important. Advisers can move from school to school which can impact placements. Some advisers might have contacts at certain journals which might make it easier to get a piece looked at. Not everyone wants to be placed in an R1 school. Some students would prefer teaching a 3-3, 4-4, or 5-5 rather than doing research. I don't think it's proper to say that one system is better than another. Some schools are really good at "placing above their level" when it comes to fellowships. Sometimes, the connections from those fellowships are what allows them to move up the chain. The majority of people on this forum will not land a tenure-track position no matter where they go. There are schools currently outside the top 20 that have made dramatic changes in recent years which may or may not impact them. (Prior to these rankings, I think Chicago was previously ranked 10th? Indiana and UC Davis were not considered to be top 20 schools. And Michigan was outside the top 10.) Rankings can change According to the USNEWS:" "Rankings of doctoral programs in the social sciences and humanities are based solely on the results of peer assessment surveys sent to academics in each discipline. Ipsos Public Affairs conducted the surveys in fall 2016. U.S. News conducted the survey of doctoral programs in criminology and criminal justice in fall 2017. For the surveys conducted in fall 2016, Ipsos sent each school offering a doctoral program two surveys per discipline. Questionnaires were sent to department heads and directors of graduate studies in economics, English, history, political science, psychology and sociology – or, alternatively, a senior faculty member who teaches graduate students – at schools that had granted a total of five or more doctorates in each discipline during the five-year period from 2011 through 2015, as indicated by the National Center for Education Statistics' Completions survey. These rankings were published in 2017. The questionnaires asked respondents to rate the academic quality of the programs at other institutions on a 5-point scale: outstanding (5), strong (4), good (3), adequate (2) or marginal (1). Individuals who were unfamiliar with a particular school's programs were asked to select "don't know." Scores for each school were determined by computing a trimmed mean – eliminating the two highest and two lowest responses – of the ratings of all respondents who rated that school; average scores were then sorted in descending order. These are the number of schools with doctoral programs surveyed in fall 2016: economics (138); English (155); history (151); political science (120); psychology (255); and sociology (118). And these were the response rates: economics (23 percent), English (14 percent), history (15 percent), political science (24 percent), psychology (14 percent) and sociology (33 percent)." It is unlikely that every grad program is paying attention to every other grad program. Different schools excel at different areas. It's up to each individual to figure out whether a school can ultimately help them out in reaching a goal. A student who excels at a "top 20" school does not necessarily mean they're more talented than someone who went to a school outside the top 20. It just means they were a better fit for that one school. Some recent job postings have recently required applicants to have taught a certain amount of classes. Sometimes, that number isn't possible for someone whose only experience has been in a PHD program. Some universities do better placing students at nearby universities or nearby states. Some students refuse to enter the national job market. Some people are open to the international job market. This number isn't the same at every university which further impacts numbers. If you're purely interested in an R1 school, your chances increase if you go to top 10 school. However, there are no guarantees ever. Find a school that appreciates what you can do and that can help you excel in. A degree is useless if you have to drop out because you don't feel supported and/or are suffering from depression. Depression is very real in grad school. Not all top students go or are admitted into a top school. Some do manage to work their way up but the cards are stacked against them. Be prepared to work hard no matter where you go. But don't be discouraged if you don't get into a top 10 or top 20 school. There are a number of schools in the top 50 who are doing some pretty cool things. Also: Find a school that has a stipend you can live on. Don't be afraid to ask how students live. (How far do they live from the university? Do they live alone or with roommates? Is it by choice? Do they need an additional job to survive? Do they need to take out loans?) You won't be rich by going to grad school but you shouldn't have to worry about where your next meal is coming from. Don't go into debt for a degree which has no guarantee of a job at the end.

Yes. I can't think of a single school which requires letter of recommendations to be in before you could submit your application.

Or possibly exactly what the job market was looking for at the time. A top school does not mean you'll automatically get the job over someone else. This. Rankings do not equal placement rates. Rankings do not mean better funding. Rankings do not mean best professors. Rankings can also change based on certain fields. Placements can change based on what changes have been done to improve the department. I'd also like to add that some people not at a top 20 are discouraged by their peers from even attempting to apply to tenure track positions. Others realize that they don't want to teach. Those outside the top 20 who take grad school seriously though often land very lucrative tt positions though. As such, it's hard to accurately measure placements especially in smaller cohorts. It depends on where you live. I've spoken to a fair number of graduates from outside countries. Certain schools might not even have programs in their field or might be ranked poorly for their field. Despite that, they say it is more valuable to go to that university because their country values it more.

Universities are aware that professors have busy schedules. Some of the admissions committee may even be writing recommendation for their own students. As such, most universities do grant grace periods. Some programs will even reach out to you if they're missing a letter. What I found was helpful was providing the professors a list of schools I was applying to. I wrote them each a personal e-mail. This helped them to know how many schools to expect and which schools they'd be writing letters for. I also noted who had submitted what to each school in an excel file.

No institution can guarantee you a job. Any college who says they can is lying. I rejected a school which is well-known for a field similar to English Literature and has an incredibly high placement rate for a school in the 30s. I have no regrets. There have been opportunities offered to me here which would not be offered at the majority of schools. Other members of my cohort rejected Rutgers, Indiana, Brown, Northwestern, Wisconsin and Penn State to come here. People who do well here and go beyond the requirements tend to do very well on the job market. A number of students choose to not enter the job market because they rather stay local due to the low cost of living. Recently, someone got offered a postdoc at Cornell and another got a tenure-track position at Columbia. Most people who go on the job market get placed at liberal-arts colleges/teaching-oriented college. Those who put in the work for a prestigious publications and an additional certificate often get rewarded. Certain professors have better placements. I think it's important to also remember that schools in the 30s and 20s flop at times. As a sidenote, I think it's also important to remember that some schools really push their students to teach at an institution classified as "R1". As such, they might not understand how to prepare your CV or provide you with the support needed to be placed at a non-r1 institution.

@NowMoreSerious, would your advice regarding conferences/journals stay the same for someone hoping to use their academic degree outside of the United States? If the end goal was Ireland or Germany, would you recommend that they target journals or conferences in those countries? Or do you feel that a journal's prestige goes beyond any borders? I ask because individuals I've talked to from outside of the US have a different ranking system they use and follow which has its own set of values they follow.

I think @NowMoreSeriousdoes a great job of explaining this. No school can guarantee you a job. There are some schools (at all levels) which might also disqualify you from being considered at other schools because they fear that you'll leave them as soon as a "better" opportunity is available elsewhere. Also, just because a school is in the "top 20" (which changes every few years), doesn't mean a school is strong in ALL fields. There are schools in the top 30-40 which are stronger in certain fields than schools in the top 20. I know of several recent graduates from my own program that received fellowship offers from Cornell and a Assistant Professorship offer from Columbia over people that graduated in the top 20. The university offered them plenty of resources. They put in the extra work to earn an additional graduate certificate.They published in multiple journals and presented in multiple conferences. They worked incredibly hard to demonstrate that they were an expert in their field. I think it's important to realize that the connections that only certain schools may have had are disappearing because their graduates can often be found at nearly every school. It also isn't uncommon for professors to leave a top 20 school for graduate studies for a school that is ranked in the top 20 for undergraduates. Often, what these professors bring with them is their placement rate which the current rankings don't use as part of their calculations. I think it's important to realize that even the top 20 has a very different range of strengths so it's extremely rare that any one person would find a fit into all of them. There have been several people I know who have graduated from a top 10 school and have received no job offers. Some of these people have been published and still have no job offer. @NowMoreSerious: I do have a few questions for you though that others might shy away from but I think are important considerations to any schools one is applying to. What's the living situation like at UCLA? Do most students live alone? Are they able to afford 1 or 2 bedroom apartments on their stipend? Is a car necessary to live there or could you get by on public transportation? Are students allowed to teach or perform research outside the department? Do stipends raise each year to keep up with inflation?

I never said you weren't a great student. However, Academia requires you to be more than that. It requires you to be unafraid of the job market. It requires you to be okay with possibly not being able to attend everything you want to attend. It requires you to be okay with living on a limited income. It requires you to be okay with not having access to a retirement plan until later. It requires you to value critique and advice even when it might not be what any of us want to hear. It requires you to be comfortable with rejection because we'll often hear more 'no' than 'yes'. (From applications, to conferences, to fellowships, to jobs) It also requires us to be find the right pace for ourselves, learn to say no, and realize that the majority of graduates will not land tenure-track jobs. It's important to realize that you'll need to be just as driven (if not more driven) to succeed as everyone else in order to stand a chance of surviving the job market. It cannot feel like a second choice and one can't apply to grad school because they're unsure of what they want to do next in life. Applications are draining but you'll want nothing more if it's the right choice for you. Only you can decide what's right for you but you also should know that being in a Ph.D. program is very different from being a great student in an MA program. If you're serious about applying, I'd advise you to have a serious conversation about it with your professors. It might be to your advantage to apply next year as otherwise you'd likely be competing with individuals who have spent their summer revising their SOPs and Writing Samples and who have had long conversations about "fit", college strengths and atmosphere, and their end goals with professors. Because you have (or will have) an MA degree, it's likely that schools will require you to have a deeper understanding of the field and it'll be to your advantage to demonstrate that as much as you possibly can.

This. Grad Schools are looking for someone that they feel have a good base and can grow in their program. If you're already a developed scholar, there's no point for a grad school to accept you. Grad School exists for the developing. That is the goal. Not everyone will make it there. However, great programs will work with you to develop the article and to provide valuable feedback to try to help you get a peer-reviewed publication. I think it's also important to remember that the majority of people will be rejected by journals. It's important to keep your head up even when you face rejections.

I think @punctiliousdoes a great job of explaining the decisions that goes into applying to graduate programs. I would like to add that even if you did everything right, there is still a possibility that you can spend 6 years (or more) in a graduate program (at any college) and walk away with 0 job offers even if you publish in the best journals and do well in your program. It happens every year no matter where the person graduates from. There are many professions that benefit from the skills one learns from graduate-level research (which includes archiving) as well as from teaching. Many of these positions wouldn't require you to constantly attend conferences, be pressured to publish constantly, worry about not obtaining tenureship and move again (if you can land a tenure-track position), or be involved with multiple committees. It's likely that Professors spend 60-80 hours of the week working. In order to be really successful, you have to want to do nothing else and then be okay with failure. If this sounds like you, I'd recommend applying but realize that being a professor is more than just teaching/researching. Who are these people that are discouraging you? Are they professors or someone else? Have your professors encouraged you to consider applying to grad schools? Have they discouraged you? If they've discouraged you, I probably wouldn't consider asking them for a recommendation letter for grad school.

My information is based on conversations I had with programs when I was applying a few cycles ago. There are several programs that will consider your MFA to be equivalent to an MA because you've had additional years to hone in your interests, attend conferences and become professionalized. While I can't think of an MFA program that requires a critical final project, not every MA program requires you to complete a Master's theses either. Some programs offer you a choice to do an alternate project such as a field exam.

I think the majority of MFA programs at reputable schools are funded. Originally, a fair amount of MFA programs were unfunded, but universities have gotten better in the past 10 years about funding their students. There are still unfunded programs, but most have moved on to funding their students through a variety of means. Did you mean April 15th here? Side note to those that this might cause worry too: The April 15th resolution only applies to universities that signed the agreement and only applies to funded offers received prior to this date. I cannot emphasize this point enough. Wherever you apply to, please make sure you know your funding situation before accepting an offer. Some programs might count the degree as the equivalent of a Master's. If they do, you might be put in a pile with other students with Master's degrees and be ranked with students who have been given more exposure to be professionalized. Often, it'll also mean that they'll expect your writing sample, SOP and scores to be higher than if you were applying with just a BA because you've had more time to develop your writing and interests. Graduate Schools don't expect a lot from your CV if you're applying straight from undergrad. And they don't really expect much but a few conferences (or a few classes taught) if you're applying with a Master's. Unless the work is related to the degree, I wouldn't recommend putting it on your CV. Tutoring at the Writing Center might be worthwhile to put down; a summer job working retail is unlikely to be something they'd be interested in and would be seen as padding. Overall, they don't put much weight into your CV though.

Most of the top 50 schools guarantee funding. Some might not guarantee funding in their first year. Most programs don't require a separate application for funding. Some programs require you to teach during your first year. Some programs don't require you to teach during coursework because they want you to focus on writing seminar papers that you rework and turn into publications. Some programs require you to teach 2 courses per semester; some only require you to teach 1 course per semester. I'm not sure if UMass goes much into this on their website. What percentage of people get accepted by the English program and hired by the writing program? What happens if you're accepted by English but rejected by the writing program? Are there other ways you can apply for funding? Are you given a fellowship or would it be an unfunded offer?

I'd like to bring up a counter point to this because I think this is a very important thing to consider. Some assistant professors might not be assistant professors by the time you graduate. It's possible that they don't receive tenure. It's also possible that they're associate professors by the time it's time to write your dissertation. Some might bring a lot of intensity because they know the job market well. Because they're also pushing to get published, it's also possible that they can help guide you through the publication process more smoothly. Feel free to mention assistant professors if their work compels you. There are schools where I only mentioned one (assistant) professor who I was interested in working with and I was accepted by said school. I think one of the good things about focusing on assistant professors is that there isn't an overload of people hoping to work with the same individual. It allows you to form a stronger working relationship as they understand what it takes to succeed on the job market.

Were you able to provide your professor with different times throughout the two days? It might be possible that the time(s) you proposed were filled with other obligations. Asking for advice on applications is very different from seeking someone to write a recommendation letter. May I suggest that you ask if they'd be able to provide a "strong" letter of recommendation? If they're unable to do so, it'll give them the freedom to say that they believe others will be able to provide a stronger letter on your behalf. Departments generally prefer that you obtain letters from people who have gone through a similar program in the past. Would it be possible to obtain a letter from a former economics professor since they'd be able to speak more about your more advanced courses? There are two questions here: Do either of these individuals have advanced degrees? Does what you do relate to Sociology or do you use skills that Sociology would benefit from? Some schools have it listed on their website that they only accept letters from professors. Some might prefer letters from Professors. Some might have no preference.

Reaching out to professors in the humanities is not a requirement. Many have been accepted into schools without reaching out to professors at colleges. Reaching out to professors is more common in the Sciences because students often need to know if certain labs are accepting students.

I would not recommend listing a conference you were unable to attend due to a time conflict despite your proposal being accepted. Graduate Conferences tend to be less competitive to get accepted into but their real value comes from networking and improving your presentation skills. It's also likely that there are records of who presented and having it on there despite you mentioning the conflict might pull into question on how honest the rest of your CV is.

I think it's also important to realize that your definition of "fit" is likely to differ from any college's definition of fit. Schools in the top 20 often have a bigger faculty which makes it easier to fit as if anyone can fit in. However, numbers alone does not mean that the school has strengths within that particular area or are even interested in growing that particular field. It's possible that the department as a whole is leaning towards building a different area of strength. I'd encourage you to think about not only the strengths of the schools but about the culture as a whole. Are most graduate students living with roommates? Is there public transportation available? How far do graduate students live from the university? Is the area rural or urban? If it's a college town, are you comfortable with the summers being silent? You're committing 5+ years to living wherever you wind up. Is the stipend enough to not have to take on additional loans? Are you comfortable with the teaching requirements? Are there external or internal opportunities for growth? Studies have shown that depression is a very common reason why people drop out of Ph.D. program. I think it's also important to mention that there are a number of very fine universities outside the top 20 that might have better placements than those in the USNew's top 20. I think it's also important to remember that the top 20 might have an easier time placing its graduates in R1 Universities, but that doesn't mean that it's impossible to teach at an R1 school if you don't graduate from a R1 school. I know of several people who have gotten tenure-track positions at "elite" schools including Columbia who did not graduate from a top 20 program, but rather a school ranked somewhere between 30-50. I also know that they took advantage of what the school offered and took any opportunities presented to them even if they didn't always succeed in winning every competition. Ultimately, I think schools (both admissions-wise and jobs-wise) are looking for applicants that fit their culture and fill in whatever area they're interested in. I think the USNews does a better job of measuring a college's 'prestige' for undergraduates because they consider a wide-range of factors. However, the criteria they use for programs at the graduate level are incredibly different. More information can be found here: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/articles/social-sciences-and-humanities-schools-methodology "The questionnaires asked respondents to rate the academic quality of the programs at other institutions on a 5-point scale: outstanding (5), strong (4), good (3), adequate (2) or marginal (1). Individuals who were unfamiliar with a particular school's programs were asked to select "don't know." Scores for each school were determined by computing a trimmed mean – eliminating the two highest and two lowest responses – of the ratings of all respondents who rated that school; average scores were then sorted in descending order. These are the number of schools with doctoral programs surveyed in fall 2016: economics (138); English (155); history (151); political science (120); psychology (255); and sociology (118). And these were the response rates: economics (23 percent), English (14 percent), history (15 percent), political science (24 percent), psychology (14 percent) and sociology (33 percent)." 14 percent of English programs determined the rankings of 155 programs. What do you think the odds are that all 14 programs are paying attention to every school? What do you think the odds are of the 14 percent paying attention to placement rates, student happiness and all opportunities being provided to students are at the 155 programs?

I'd like to add on to this. I was accepted at schools where I mentioned certain faculty by name. I was also accepted at schools where I did not mention any faculty by names. In one of the schools I was accepted to, I only mentioned one faculty. They're currently at a different school. So I don't think there is a correct or wrong way of writing your SOP when it comes to the inclusion or exclusion of names.

I'd apply to schools that you think are the best fit. General ranking does not mean that a school is a good match for you.