GreenEyedTrombonist

How's everyone doing? Anyone pulling their hair out yet?

@maxhgns That's an interesting difference! Thanks for pointing it out. I wonder if there are other differences between journal publication across disciplines and between academic and professional publication.

Thanks for bumping this! One of the problems I see with the "fix and submit to lower tier" technique (that I don't think has been mentioned yet) is: If a publisher (of any kind) is giving you feedback on what needs to be improved for acceptance, it's not really a rejection. They are taking the time to tell you what they need to see in order to publish you so fix it and resubmit to that publisher. I speak a lot with published writers (in a variety of contexts-comic books, games, fiction, nonfiction, etc) and have attended many writers/publisher panels and this is one of the pieces of advice I've heard time and time again. Stop thinking of rejection as rejection (unless they tell you no or don't say anything at all). If they take the time to give you feedback (outside of "consider this publication instead") they are interested in publishing you. Your work just isn't there yet.

Possibly and possibly not. You haven't mentioned specific research interests, strength of SoP, supplemental materials (do these programs require writing samples or other examples of work), letter writers, etc. It's tempting to focus on the purely quantitative aspects of your application, but these programs are most likely looking at more than just you as a set of numbers. The number one indicator of admission is goodness of fit. As long as you have multiple faculty whose interests align with yours and you are able to convey how perfect you are for the program through your SoP, yes you have a chance. However, if you want to look at quantitative, some programs have GPA and GRE cut-offs. This information should be available if you look around their websites enough.

It's too soon. As long as they agreed to write this letter for you before you sent the request, don't freak out. Do they have all the information they need from you? When is the deadline for the app? Remember that your writers are busy people. Part of the reason we request letters months in advance is so they can work it into their schedules, not so they can finish our letters weeks before the apps are due. From my own experience, I have one writer who has finished and submitted all her letters because she's got her own personal deadline (going on sabbatical so needs to finish all her tasks by a certain date). I have another who will probably submit all of his in October or November. My third submits each letter on the day of the deadline. I know this because they all submitted letters for me last year (so I know what to expect). The point is that all letter writers are different and it's best not to assume the worst case scenario. I tend to freak out as well. I think my plan will be to resend the unanswered requests Nov 1st and then send an email a week before the deadline asking if I should resend the request or if they need any other info from me (phrasing this in the nicest way possible, aka not asking why they haven't submitted yet).

Without knowing more details, it is hard to give advice, but no professional should ever call someone a weasel and a scoundrel unprovoked. If that's their response to a retraction maybe you shouldn't care if you are blacklisted. If you are blacklisted, it'll probably only be until that editor moves on though.

Thought I'd add my two cents: I've had extensive conversations with people at large programs and small, but a couple of the programs I reached out to replied with more standard information (go to our website for more) than others. Typically, these were larger programs. Regarding time with your PI, it absolutely can extend beyond the classroom and class sizes. One of the faculty at a smaller program mentioned that she currently is adviser to two doctoral students while her colleague at another program is juggling 16. This does impact the amount of attention and care you will get and is something to consider. Big programs typically have more resources (more labs, money, and better-known faculty), but that doesn't mean you should exclude smaller programs. Faculty I've spoken with have specifically mentioned some smaller programs making pushes to increase their presence in my field (by hiring more well-known faculty, pushing for more funds, etc). These are smaller programs now, so you can still get personal attention, but they are putting in a lot of effort to not be small for long. That means you could be at the forefront of their efforts; having first access to some of their new resources and getting a lot of support in your research and presentation circuit (conferences, talk shows, etc). At the same time, there can be growing pains in these situations. One thing I want to mention: definitely go where the culture is correct for you, but don't assume that small programs all have friendly collaborative cohorts. It is possible for these programs to be just as competitive (if not more so) as the large programs as students compete for limited resources. Some cohorts are friendly and collaborative at either size of program, but this atmosphere is less dependent on size of program and more dependent on the specific department culture. I also want a cohort that is more collaborative, so I'm going to make a point to personally visit any schools I'm accepted to and speak to students in addition to faculty. In fact, I've had the pleasure of speaking with some students already and it has really helped me get a sense for the positives and negatives of the programs they attend. If accepted to multiple schools, my decision will be based on cultural fit as well as financials. I want a program where I feel I can succeed (and not by cutting the necks of the other students) and one where the financial package will be enough to keep me from going in debt to survive. As part of cultural fit, I'll look at job placements and how supportive the program is in helping place their recent graduates (at least one of the programs I've talked to mentioned they put a lot of effort into making sure their graduates find proper positions shortly after graduating). As per the environment I like (area wise), I'm kind of up in the air. I like attending concerts, musicals, and other events, but I usually have to get dragged out from my house before I'll go. Ultimately, I think I can be happy as long as I have a decent place to live, can get fresh fruit and veggies, and stable internet access with minimum 6mbps upload (Twitch streamer). I don't really mind driving, but I don't have a car right now and don't want to pay for it/insurance/gas/upkeep so I'd rather live somewhere either walking/biking distance from school or with good public transportation. It's not something obvious, but because of the car situation I would also need to pick a place to live that is either close to a grocery store (walking distance) or has weekly farmer's markets (also close by) OR pick a program where I have enough funds to afford grocery delivery (whether that's Blue Apron, Eat Fresh, Amazon delivery, or something else). Food deserts are a big deal and I want to try not to slip into eating ramen (or something else I'm not supposed to consume) every day.

The CSU uses a standardized app. It's up to programs to set additional requirements. Unfortunately, this sometimes leads to weird things like having to write an SoP for the department and then answering the same information in a different way in the school app. Typically (to my knowledge), the school app is used more to make sure CSU-wide standards are met (a program could feasibly accept an applicant who is later rejected for not meeting the minimum requirements on the school app) and for things like financial aid. Weird system and I ultimately blame bureaucracy, haha. Just as an fyi, though we're not in the same field, I did spend 4 years of undergrad and 2 years of grad in the CSU system, so I know how odd applying to it can be.

I'm not in sociology so I'm not sure, but will 3 points really make that big of a difference? I suppose it's a 10% difference in percentile, but I don't think studying for a month to improve 1 section of the GRE by 3 points is necessarily the best use of your time. Remember, to get an average admitted score of 160, they accepted students with scores both above and below this threshold (unless they're basing it on mode, and that would just be weird, or if they only accepted students with scores of 160...). Instead of worrying about 3 points, I would focus on making my SoP, CV, and writing sample shine. In my not completely informed opinion, your scores are good enough they won't exclude you from a program, but no one ever gets accepted on the strength of their GRE alone.

1. Yes, you have to do both. You don't want to be accepted to a program but rejected from the school because you failed to turn in a completed application. 2. CSUs may have additional need-based funding and may just be trying to estimate how many students they'll have with need-based funding. Is there a reason you don't have your tax information from the previous year yet?

You may want to consider reaching out to the potential advisor as well. I reached out last year to an advisor whose interests closely matched my own and is well-known in my field. They told me they'd love to work with me, but no one else in the program does our kind of stuff so there was no point applying there. Then they gave me a list of programs to check out that were more embracing of my research interests and goals (note: I did not request that they do this, but thanked them after they did). Bottom line, the professor will be able to tell you if it's a waste of time applying or if their program is a good fit despite what the (potentially outdated) website might say. Also look at the dissertations from recent graduates of the program. See if any of them are doing research that aligns with your interests.

Yes, the Diversity Statement is fairly tricky as an optional doc. It's one of those things where it could either help or really hurt and I don't know if there's a way to be sure which way it'll go. Have you been in contact with the DGS of each program? Maybe you can ask if a Diversity Statement would be welcome.

I would be interested to hear what others think about the Diversity Statement. Short answer to your last question is that it could hurt to provide more, but it depends on the program and the adcoms. If a program says something like "no writing sample required but highly encouraged" you should submit it. If it makes no mention of the optional supplemental material, well that's trickier. For me, many of my programs do not require, but "highly encourage" a writing sample so I'll be submitting a sample to every program. Only two of my programs require or mention a Diversity Statement, so I don't know about including it for the others.

Although not in the same area, I've had to write diversity statements for a few of my apps. What I tried to do was tell a story that shows how my unique background as (insert all the reasons I'm a diverse candidate here) makes me want to pursue (insert research interest here). In some cases, I did not dwell on the diversity aspect (I offhandedly refer to myself as a woman at one point, rather than dedicating a paragraph to my gender and preferred pronouns), but I tried to weave all of the things that they might find of interest in a diverse candidate (that are actually part of who I am) into one coherent story that explains part of the passion I have for the work I plan to do.

I write articles as my main source of income at the moment and I do think that experience can be beneficial in an app. However, I do not list each of my articles under my publications. Instead, I've listed each of the websites that have hired me as a writer in my Related Work Experience section. Part of this has to do with space (I've written upwards of 80 articles) and part of it has to do with content (I'm fairly sure adcoms don't want to see how many articles I've written about DnD and Pokemon Go). Given you've written two blog posts that are academic in nature, I don't see why you wouldn't include them on the CV. Just be clear they are not peer-reviewed publications.

Embedded link, like this (the link here is just for grad cafe, haha) @DBear

Thoughts on including a link to the larger work as part of the abstract? @DBear

CV is curriculum vitae (aka your academic resume) WS is writing sample SoP means Statement of Purpose (sometimes called a Personal Statement by some programs)

Hi Aarthi, For some reason, other people are unable to see files that you upload. Consider putting it in a Google Doc and sharing the link or directly messaging any volunteers.

This is a tough one. Are you switching research foci as well? Moving into a different field? Are you having serious enough issues at your current program that it is causing problems with your physical or mental health? How well known is your current program/faculty within your program? The short answer is to not burn bridges unless you have to. The long answer is that, if I'm reading your post right, you are in your first year and have really just started. Why do you think it isn't a good fit? Perhaps the issues you are having now are more about getting used to being in the doctoral program, rather than inherent issues with your fit in the program. If you are staying in the same field, you are probably going to hurt your career if you leave the program after one year (without truly justified reasons for doing so). If this program is really not the best fit for you (but is not causing you mental, emotional, or physical harm) master out of it and then apply to other programs.

So 1 of my programs asks for the entire MA thesis while another asks for the abstract and one or more chapters. I was planning to use my dissertation as the basis of all my writing samples, but two of the samples require much shorter lengths. One requires 15-20 pages and the other "no more than 30." My MA report is 154 pages (including references and appendices; probably ~100 pages of actual report content) at 1.5x spacing. Any ideas on how to reduce it down? Should I include a link to the full report as part of my submission? The report sections are: Abstract Introduction Contextual Information Research Design and Methodology Findings and Insights (longest section at 34 pages) Deliverable Design and Presentation Reflections

@Pencilvester I'm definitely pulling from my MA work as well (two of my programs require it either in part or whole and 3 have no length requirements). For the others I'm not sure. I can't do my entire Findings chapter because it's over 30 pages (my other two have "no more than 30 pages" and "15-20 pages" as their requirements) unless I reduce it to single space (it's 1.5 now). I could submit my Contextual Information, but that doesn't really show me engaging as a researcher. I could submit my Research Design and Methodology, but that's not as interesting. Deliverable Design is nice, but doesn't make sense for a doctoral program that's not applied. Reflections kind of just...gives the end, but none of the steps of the project so meh. This is something I plan to figure out next week, haha.

Hey @nerrysan ! Thanks for the offer! I can always use more feedback. I need to incorporate feedback from my last reviewer before I send it to you, but send your SoP over and I'll take a look.

Thanks @hats ! Yeah, I didn't receive replies to this when I first posted it so I didn't think to update it once I finalized the switch. When I was speaking with faculty from anthro programs, the number 1 response I got was, "Have you looked into our Comm program" so that made it pretty obvious I should stick with Comm apps, haha. Meanwhile, almost all of the Comm faculty who have gotten back to me have given detailed information, spoken with me over several emails, or asked to speak about the program and my fit more over the phone. I'm hoping this bodes well once my apps are in.