wintergirl

HaruNoKaze, while it boggles my mind that you wrote your friend's SOP for him (and he didn't want to write it himself), you are not alone in struggling with the SOP. It's a piece of difficult writing on its own, but what tripped me up in the beginning was just what it symbolized: It's your LIFE. In 1000 words. This is you putting your cards on the table, and we're all here because we know just what the odds are for us right now. Scary stuff. I don't know what you've tried so far, but to help me get started I used this "template" from the UC Berkeley website: http://grad.berkeley.edu/admissions/state_purpose.shtml Basically, I pasted this template and the verbatim SOP instructions on my first deadline's and top choice's application instructions into a word document so I had somewhere to start. Then I started by just answering the questions and filling it in. Then I removed the training wheels (the questions and instructions themselves) to see what I had left. I edited that, then rewrote it from scratch. Twice. Now I'm on revision #7 and it ain't getting any easier... Take some of the pressure off yourself and just answer the questions. That might help you conquer the white blank page situation! Good luck. We ALL need it right now, I think. : )

Sorry if this is obvious, but have y'all tried logging in with a different browser? I use Firefox almost exclusively, but two of my apps (maybe also on ApplyYourself) only respond to my input password and PIN if I'm using Internet Explorer. I smell a Microsoft/Skynet conspiracy.

This is exactly why so many of us were furious about the October test: with 65% of the test as long reading passages with 6-8 questions attached, there were NO identifying character or place names to help you out. I did all of that prep work you suggest, and more, yet a majority of the lit on the test seemed completely obscure to me. On top of the obscurity and lack of identifying details, many of the questions seemed to depend on an understanding of how that passage fit into the meaning of the entire work--or even the author's entire oeuvre. For what it's worth, I ended up with a 630 (better than I thought I'd done, worse than I hoped to do). Luck of the draw as to which test you get, since I think some other people from that day or the November tests reported a much more expected format/content. /My 2 cents.

Use the Princeton Review book: http://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Literature-English-Graduate-Preparation/dp/0375429719. Skim the Norton British lit anthologies. (I wouldn't even bother with the American, there's so little of it.) For theory, try something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Literary-Theory-Basics-Hans-Bertens/dp/0415396719/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322530228&sr=1-2-fkmr0 Read previous posts about this fall's torture session test. Pray. Sharpen your pencils. Trust no one.

p.s., TripWIllis, this is my favorite. CLEAN ALL THE THINGS. WRITE ALL THE THINGS. READ ALL THE THINGS. Watch Friday Night Lights marathon on Netflix? I permanently have CLEAN ALL THE THINGS written on my little whiteboard, much good it does me!

Ha, this is the opposite of my not applying to any schools in the southeast because I couldn't bear to go back to humidity. One of these days I'll get the cajones to post my list of schools, once I think I won't be laughed off the board or condemned to rejection by virtue of posting them. : ) Things I needed to accomplish today: - revise SOP, cut down to less than 900 words, send to LORs/reviewers - rework my main writing sample (seeing what others have been posting about adding textual citations, YEP) - grade 19 papers - skim book by my thesis committee member in prep for my proposal defense on Wednesday Things I've actually accomplished today: - revising my SOP by ADDING length (what.) So who knows a physics or engineering brainiac who's working on a time machine?? I'll tithe 10% of any future stipend money...

Bdon, are you doing research for your writing sample? Good luck! Agreeing with the "weeding out" idea: I mean, if you aren't super organized and on top of it, how on earth would someone be able to keep track of all the individual requirements for each application? Applying to my MA program was a cakewalk compared to this; granted I have 12 applications now vs. 1, but still. Thank god for good music, wifi, sunny cold days, and my long-needed tea. Time to power through!

Ah, okay. That makes sense. Yeah, I only have one school that seems to allow four LORs, then two other schools that require separate teaching application materials. Ditto on the teaching needs. My class's big paper is due on Wednesday, and I still have a set of papers to grade and return plus another assignment. I should at least be grading this weekend if nothing else, sheesh. Good luck with your teaching/grading/apps this week! : )

Timshel - How are you determining when to send a fourth LOR? Some of my schools' online apps technically allow a 4th letter, but the dept website instructions specifically say not to send more than 3. I'd love to send four if possible... Thanks for reminding me to check and see if LORs have been submitted. That might help me motivate! And I hear you about the teaching. I'm in the same boat, but I've only got one section (compared to your many) so it's at the bottom of my worry list for this week. Sorry, students!

Tea is also my caffeine delivery system of choice, and something definitely missing from my low-mo weekend. We'll get 'er done, Timshel! Glad you've had a productive weekend. I was working my ass off right up until Tuesday night then pffffffffffft. Like a deflated balloon. Ha, glad to hear I'm not alone. I've got a whopping FOUR apps due on the 1st, then another due on the 5th. Woe/Whoa. Oh, and my MA thesis proposal defense is now scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Plus my teaching supervisor's coming to observe me the same day to write me a teaching rec (due on the 15th). What.

T-minus 4 days until my first round of apps are due (!!!!!), but you wouldn't know it from my lack of motivation this weekend. Yes, I still have SOPs to edit/polish/individualize, personal histories and diversity statements to come up with, and let's not even talk about the work my writing samples need. At least all of my scores, transcripts, and LORs are taken care of and my online applications themselves are 85% complete. So how are you guys doing? Who else has Dec. 1st deadlines? What tricks are you using to help you stay motivated?

Checked the My GRE page to see if I could find my registration number for online apps, and I noticed that it showed score reports going out to my 4 requested schools as of today's date. So I called the number and ... yep, they're ready. Mine: 630 - 79%. I think the number score is fine -- yet that percentage??!? UGH. Curious if it's actually as bad as it sounds. Relieved to have my score, but I'm still pissed about how unnecessarily obscure and difficult the test was. Hope other people can get their scores too. I know it's been on my mind every day since we took it.

So I spent the entire weekend in the library working on two things: program research (to find POIs, none of whom I've contacted...yet) and my SOP which is killing me. I know y'all can relate! Today I saw my advisor, who is also writing LORs and chairing my MA thesis committee. I told her that I hope to get her and my other LORs an info packet tomorrow. Surprise surprise! She says she doesn't want to write my LORs until after I've defended my thesis proposal. Which I hadn't even started writing yet. :| Fast forward one major freak out and here I am, writing my thesis proposal in one window and my SOP in another. Ack. Bottom line: my thesis chair is (fairly, helpfully) "blackmailing" me to get my thesis proposal when my first applications are due Dec. 1st. I want to know who here has really mastered this whole time management and/or time travel thing. Any advice? Applying to PhD programs is a full-time job all by itself!

Just do it! Prepare a list of questions before you call if you're nervous. That's what I did for my lone MA program application, and it worked fine. : )

Huh. See, that's kind of what I thought too. But then I talked it over with my advisor (and DGS of my MA program) and she thought it's becoming expected for you to contact at least someone at each school you might want to work with. But I hate it too. It feels so rude and intrusive. I've only sent one so far--for multiple reasons, including work-related--and it felt awkward as hell, even though I knew this scholar's work pretty well on my own. It doesn't help that I sent it almost 10 days ago and haven't heard anything back yet. :| So you're not contacting anyone, bdon19? Are you just judging fit by what you see of the faculty's work and interests on the website? And how are you working that into your SOP? Can it just be April 15th already please??!

Any American Studies applicants around? Out of the 10+ PhD applications I'm doing, I'm only applying to a few AmStud programs so I usually hang out in the Literature forum with the other English program applicants. But I'd love to hear other AmStud applicants' thoughts on schools, the application process, fields of study, etc etc. So holler if you're here! : )

Hahaha, this is me to a T. It goes from "Hell yeah, I'm a future academic rock star!" to "I wonder if In-n-Out is hiring..." Yeah, I had the same experience last year watching this board--except I wasn't even applying. I was just PREPARING to apply. So I can't imagine what it's going to be like this year... Feels like I'm stalking you, cquin, but can I ask the kinds of things you did to revise your list by fit? I hope I'm going about it the right way, but I'm not sure what else I should be looking for besides relevant faculty (and funding, and location, etc.). What am I missing?

So glad you posted this topic, cquin. I just figured out that not only is it not intrusive but it is EXPECTED to contact POIs. So I'm contacting people over the next week, 2-3 a day. Do you think that even if the application deadline is Dec. 1st it's okay to contact them? It just feels so awkward. I'm great about meeting and talking to people at conferences, but cold-emailing a scholar I admire? TERRIFYING. Any advice? I was just going to contact one scholar per school--is that enough? What have other people done?

If this is the question I'm thinking of, then WOOHOO! I just Googled what I remembered of it and that's at least TWO questions I actually got right. Thank you, TripWillis. \O/ (Yes. Am still pissed about this exam. Had a strange reaction every time someone asked me today about my weekend. Wanted to answer, "Yes, crap weekend, got beaten up by the ETS on Saturday morning. They took my money, my confidence, and all my #2 pencils.")

Well, the American poem was from the 1600s, but I get what you're saying. And thanks for reminding me of the long prose passage, which I just Googled and (phew) got right. : )

Agreed. And half of those were for one specific pre-colonial poem: I thanked the universe for my semester of TA'ing for a colonial American lit survey class last semester!

@ WellSpring: This!!! There were at least two questions I remember that just listed British monarchs. Hellllooo! I'm an Americanist for a REASON. I was also a lit major because memorizing stuff like that bores me silly. It just was so heavily weighted towards British history that it made me kind of sad that the test makers think so little of our own history--including very little American lit/history on the test itself. @tripwillis: And critics! Good lord there was a ton of theory on that test. I was not happy about that. @bdon19: Ha!! Me too. (I had that "lean and hungry look" in mind instead.) Been Googling random stuff for the last 24 hours when I remember it, and most of it is stuff it turns out I got wrong. Of course. Yay. Ditto. Wishing I could issue a fatwa on the test writers, so been trying to cheer myself up instead by watching Bridesmaids tonight, finally.

So it's been 12 hours and I'm still mad about that test--even more so after reading that most people had a similar WTH reaction to the obscure texts and overemphasis on long reading passages. It doesn't help that I remembered (and Googled) one weirdo lit term that showed up in no less than three questions as a possible answer. Not only did I have no idea what this term meant but I had never even SEEN it before. That's after studying for a couple of months and getting my BA from a top-ranked English program! Grrrrrrrrr. Viva la revolution.

Well, GRE tests are finally all "done" (though pretty sure my score on today's subject test will NOT be pretty). LORs asked for 3 out of 4 (alternates for American Studies vs. English PhD programs). Online apps begun at a half of my 10+ schools. Transcripts received to scan & upload. Still need to request transcripts to send to those schools that want them the old fashioned way. Now for: - researching faculty at my potential schools - drafting SOP to show to my faculty advisors this month - reworking writing sample (a chapter of my thesis that I'm supposed to be working on too...ha) Trying not to: - freak out - cry - hide until January : )

Exactly. I really felt like laughing once I'd done my first pass through and realized just how little of the material I recognized on sight. I can't believe that ANYONE (even a tenured professor) would know some of the things that were on my test today. I was looking back over my ETS and Princeton Review materials to try to figure this out, since the actual test today was way harder than either practice test I took. So, if our test--assuming we all took the same one today(?)--was deemed to be "difficult", does that mean the grading scale is slightly different? I know I left at least 40 questions blank and can't imagine that I got more than 2/3 of the rest correct. If everyone else struggled too, does that mean we actually have a chance of doing okay in the end? And haha, I realize the irony of asking a bunch of lit nerds to do math. Especially after that brain-blender this morning!