GreenEyedTrombonist

@mintless that's awesome! Congrats! I've been keeping busy with job apps and a show I'm on that just launched last month. My next few weekends are pretty crazy though, so hopefully I won't be thinking about apps as much.

Congratulations on the job @samman1994 ! Yeah, places sometimes do that (offer less than they originally said) and it's really annoying, but I guess it makes the decision easier. Also, a 3.5 hour drive sounds horrible. I'm still doing the job search grind. :/

Not in SLP, but I did attend SJSU so take that for what it's worth. I received a grant and only took out 5k in loans my first year (and got a job as a student researcher which helped me start paying that off). The next year, I became a TA (in a different department than my own) which covered all of my school tuition/fees. However, I'm also from San Jose and had a free place to stay while doing my MA, so my other expenses were extremely minor. It is important to note that San Jose is the worst housing market for renters in the entire country. There are places outside of the city that are relatively cheaper, but this does increase your commute by a lot. If you plan to drive, be aware parking can be a nightmare on campus. Do not buy a permit for a parking garage, get one for the park and ride lot (cheaper and easier to get parking there). Or, do what I did and memorize where all the free parking is near campus (there's also free parking around park and ride). There are definitely ways to make San Jose affordable, but you will have an easier time affording things in Fresno. As much as there is an undergrad rivalry between SJSU and Fresno, I do think Fresno has some pretty cool things (apparently the town has a ton of cool graffiti art and street murals, if that's your thing).

Agree with the above posters. Instead of taking it out completely, you can just change it to say you noticed on the website they are accepting students and then follow it with your request to discuss whatever more (their interests, your interests, the program, etc). I also left the method of continued communication open to the prof by ending this sentence with something like "through email, Skype, or by phone." This actually led to a few phone conversations (though I was emailing earlier and in a different field). You are in the busy season for profs getting emails, so some may be willing to speak with you and others just won't make the time. IMO, it's still worth it to email and get on their radar.

Ok, yeah, the situation sucks, but do not confront him about the breach. You're already on rocky footing, but he's writing you a rec letter so you might be able to get to a good working relationship again. Given how he's reacted to insinuation before (mainly jumping on the point that you are free to work with others instead of him) I would not bring up any accusations, even insinuations right now. I don't see how doing so will benefit you in any way nor will it reverse this breach.

I was fairly specific. Didn't go specific on methodology, but I mentioned what I want to study (who, what, when, where, why). I also mentioned my research background, how I thought our work aligns (mentioning something I've read from them that connects), and asked if they would be willing to answer some questions/plan to accept new students in the fall/etc. If you are comfortable including your CV it can cut down time for them if they do reply, just approach it as an "if you have time" rather than expecting a response/review. If you aren't set on a particular project yet (which you don't have to be) mentioning a couple avenues you're considering pursuing, especially as they connect with that professor's work, would be fine. For me, I emailed all programs I was interested in and mentioned my specific research interests, but chose not to include my CV in the first email. Only one prof mentioned wanting to see it and another just wanted to know my GPA and GRE scores. However, I should mention that I think it is good to be more specific about what you want to study (not necessarily a research proposal, but something that shows you have an idea of what you want to study and why). When I emailed anthro professors with my interests, they suggested I look into Comm programs. I'm now only applying to Comm programs this year. Being specific early saved me time and money since I wouldn't be applying to anthro programs where I couldn't do what I want in my research.

I'm not sure, but one quick way to figure this out is to put in a school to send both the general and subject tests to (start the ordering process) and see how much the subtotal is before you submit the order.

If I get in this season I'll be 28. I did an MA and started at 25. Most of my cohort were in their 30s. I know people much older who have gone back to school. Age is not a barrier and you would, in fact, be quite young for a doctoral student (across the averages).

So I've been following this thread for a while and I hope, OP, that you take the advice of these responders to heart. It's good to want to change a corrupt system, but we must make sure we are not doing more harm with our actions. Think through every possible outcome and realize that, in such situations, it is far more complicated an endeavor to solve than what a third-party, non-professional website can fix. It's ok to want to act and figure out how to solve these problems, but the problems must be considered in their entirety and, most of the time, one umbrella solution will not solve such a complex system. Do not take action without considering its effect on the victims of these crimes. It's ok to want to improve a corrupt system, but taking action that could potentially lead to further harm to the victims is not ok in my opinion. Furthermore, if this risk is undisclosed, it is also unethical and will lead to potentially negative consequences for you, on top of the additional harm/trauma to the victims (sidenote: I want to call them survivors).

@mintless I ended up turning in all my apps early because one of my programs has an internal earlier deadline for additional funding and one of my LoR writers needed to turn in everything before Dec 15th. Now I'm freaked out thinking I messed something up or could have looked over everything once more before submitting. On the plus side, one writer has submitted all the LoRs and another has submitted all but one, so that's nice...

Mostly, I'm just curious how you determine what comprises intelligence. However, it is important to not equate intelligence with success. Plenty of intelligent people are not successful and plenty of "dumb" people are. There's a pretty good Ted Talk where they looked at successful people and determined the number one factor of success isn't intelligence, education, etc. The number one determining factor is drive. If you are tenacious and keep working towards success, whatever that looks like for you, you are more likely to be successful. Basically, never stop pushing to improve yourself and your output.

How are you quantifying intelligence?

In the US at least, many programs do not have application deadlines until December or January, so no, it's not too late to apply. This season I ended up not applying to any anthro programs (research interests were better aligned with a different field), but I can say I chose to reach out to PoIs around the start of the semester because I figured they wouldn't be as inundated with emails and student requests yet. Some profs have time to email with a student and others don't while some programs encourage early communication and others request no emails until after acceptance. The best thing you can do is research different programs and find those that are the best fit for your interests. Reach out to faculty, but be aware they might not respond. Then, write an amazing SoP to really indicate you belong in whichever programs you apply to.

I felt like that when I got married young. Turns out, definitely shouldn't have married that guy. It may just be a case of "the grass is always greener." People tend to want what they don't already have, but it does sound like you are making strides to attain what you want. You are working on your dating game and you are in a program that teaches you skills for a career. What jobs would you get if you stopped now? Would you have to completely start over in a new field? Could you live comfortably? If you're honest with yourself, will you be happy doing this? Not if you'll be happy taking trips, but if you'll be happy doing whatever job you'll get with your current experience. Could you potentially be happier following through with your doctorate? It's ok not to know the answer and it's ok if the answer is not staying in your PhD. Since it is your first semester though, I suggest sticking it out a bit longer. Does your intended research schedule allow enough time off to go somewhere? There are some cheap trips that can be amazing if you can get a week off.

You may notice other posts on this forum from current doctoral students who have had advisors retire or leave the program a year or several after that student joined the program. So, even if they aren't leaving this year, life can still interfere with your plans. In your case, I would do what fuzzylogician suggested and make sure you're applying to programs where you have several potential advisors. When a program encouraged it, I contacted professors and spoke with them about my interests. However, I wasn't able to do this for all programs (some explicitly said not to contact faculty until you were admitted). For these, I still listed faculty I was interested in working with as part of the fit section of my SoP. I made a point to not apply to any program where there were less than 3 faculty who connected with my research interests. I also have a research interest set that crosses major subfields in my area, so I also made sure that the programs I applied to offered people with specialties in the subfields I'm interested in, in addition to the basic research project connection. In short, I looked for programs where my current research interests matched multiple faculty and where I could learn the tools I need for the research I want to do in the future.

@iceman007 These points still matter for someone going into an MA/MS. I went through an MA program and have spoken with multiple professors on the adcoms about how they make cohorts. They all spoke first about making a balanced cohort so they 100% pay attention to your SoP (Letter of Intent at my school) as one of the most important elements in an application. None of them mentioned GRE and GPA as the important factors for admission; it was all about admitting people they thought would work well in their program. Although I'm sure GPA and GRE scores hold some place in the process and may be more important in some programs than others, you should still be aiming to pick programs where you think you are the perfect (or nearly perfect) fit.

In this case, what it might come down to is theoretical and methodological frameworks (which programs align best with the way you want to do your research and have a breadth of literature related to your research). This will vary by department, so a Comm program may be the best choice at one school and Criminology at another. Also, consider the resources of the programs you're looking into. It's no secret that some departments have more resources than others (both within discipline and within university) and, if finances are a factor, it might be important to know where you might get more financial support. Some universities will let you apply to more than one program so, if you can't choose between two programs at one school, sometimes that isn't a problem.

This is something that is different based on the personalities of the committee members and your own needs. For my MA, my committee was my advisor, who I workshopped everything with, another in my department who wasn't as involved, and a third outside my department who spent quite a bit of time giving feedback on my report.

Realized I should have mentioned, as @DBear did, that all profs who responded to me said my anthro background wasn't a problem and shouldn't hurt my application.

I find the pinned posts on the Statement of Purpose section of this forum (under Applications) is a great place to go for advice. They speak to general structures and information to include that works well for anthro SoPs (imo).

Glad to help!

Saw this on the recent posts, so pardon if my advice isn't the best (different background and all). Why did you apply to so many schools the first time around? How do these schools match not just your ultimate career plans, but also your intended research interests? The first time I applied, I didn't apply to many schools, but I also didn't articulate well how my research interests connected to the programs and professors. In short, the connections just weren't that strong and I wasn't accepted. This time around, I'm applying to programs where my research interests match up very well with faculty work. Last year I applied to 5 programs and this year I'm applying to 7. Still not a ton, but I've made sure my fit at these programs is spot on and have spent quite a bit of time articulating that fit in my SoPs.

Writing Samples often vary depending on the program. For instance, I had one that required the entire Master's thesis, another that required "The thesis abstract and one or more chapters", another that just wanted it to be less than 30 pages, and another that wanted it to be 15-20 pages in length. Still, other programs on my list recommend including a sample but give no specific length or content information as it's not required. First things first, you probably don't want to turn in an entire thesis unless it's asked for by the program. Theses are long and adcoms probably won't want to read through it all. Better to give them a chapter or so that exemplifies your work. In my case, I reformatted my Findings chapter to meet the requirements as it hinted at methodology, research design, and my ability to think analytically about my topic. Since there were no citations in this chapter, I did not include a reference list, but you should if citations are present. Reference lists do not count against your page total. The goal of the writing sample is to show adcoms that you are able to engage in the research process and academically communicate that process. It gives them the best sense of your writing style and the caliber of the work you will produce if in their department, as most academic programs still heavily rely on written deliverables as the main output (articles, papers, dissertations, etc).

You can press submit on your app without the LoRs all in though. Writers can still upload their letters after you submit your portion of the app. I would also request letters before mid-November. If they are profs, you're dealing with holidays, final projects from their classes, and final exams. Then, right after the semester is over, it's the winter holiday season and you don't know if they already have plans for that time that means they are unable to write a letter then. One of my writers said she needed to have them all in before December 15th because she isn't available after that date. I asked her in September. Since my SoP wasn't done, I created a doc for my writers that listed each school, the degree name, the deadline, a bit about the program, the professors I want to work with, and my current level of communication with the program. Where I had it ready, I included sections from my SoP rough draft (and labeled them as such). I also included a fairly quick breakdown of my intended research project in the body of the email.

Speak with someone at each program (probably the DGS) and tell them your concerns. If you don't test well in math it may not be something you can improve with another testing. However, if you speak to the programs and let them know that you don't do well on tests, they may be able to offer advice. That advice could be anything from "still apply" to "apply and address it in your SoP" to "ehhhh try and improve that quant score." Personally, I don't see any point in delaying your apps when you know what the problem is but haven't spoken with the programs about it yet. They're your best bet of learning if a lower quant will actually hurt your app in this case.