hopefulPhD2017

Deep well

@pupperoni nicely done! I'm sure you're not the first to encounter this issue. I think it'd be helpful to focus on 3-4; 6 interviews sounds like an awful lot to me. You want to give your best to your top choices, and you might be stretching yourself thin. Mind you, this is based on my experience with online dating, not grad applications, so take that with a grain of salt. ? Good luck and I hope you land the program of our dreams!

That happened to me too. Also, sometimes I learned the correct definition for a word I'd incorrectly inferred the meaning of decades before. ?

I can't remember because I stink at memorization.

I wish I wasn't out of upvotes! +1

@Forest Owlet I commend you for your bravery and common sense. ? Did you ask the admissions folks or faculty directly?

I noticed that biology and psych are dominating the results board, too. I just assumed that different programs had different deadlines and notification processes and that, logistically, graduate schools must space out admissions tasks. Certainly a campus couldn't withstand every program having interviews at the same time? I have no idea whether this assumption has any validity, mind you, but its consideration is passing the time as I REALIZE IT's 2017 and this is the year I may trade in my 72k salary, uproot my family, and go into debt in pursuit of higher knowledge. ??

It's ok! We all do it. We also tend to read 2-3 letter words quickly and that is why you missed it; rest assured that some of your app readers will, too. If it helps make you feel better, I co-authored a book several years ago. I combed through that thing a zillion times. We had publishing and marketing folks on it. Yet, on p. 81, there is a @"$&!?! typo. A 2-letter word missing, to be exact. Argh!! I learned a lot from that experience. If you're not done or there are others reading this who have yet to submit their statements, I'd like to share my process FWIW: For my 9 unique PhD statements, I had 3 levels of readers after I had finished a (what I thought was) solid SOP. Reader 1 (2 apps per reader): general feedback, confusions and clarifications needed, proofreading. I did serious revisions, then, Reader 2 (4-5 apps per reader): proofreading only. I was really surprised by how many errors they found. I revised it again. I also read it OUT LOUD to listen for flow, and revised for that. I highly recommend doing this part if you have not. You'll be surprised by what you catch when you read your work out loud! Finally, just before I submitted it, I sent it to: Reader 3 (one person): final proofreading only (no content comments, please). Reader 3 caught a few missing words and simple typos, as well as looked up what I should have in my headers (i.e., PhD vs Ph.D., which varied by program, and not something I caught or thought of on my own). This whole process took a week and involved 10 people. I created a timeline and deadlines for each reader. Reader 1 was given 2 days, reader 2 had 2 days, and reader 3 just 1 day. I asked their permission ahead of time and explained which part of the assembly line they were in ? Finally, I converted the final SOP Word doc into a PDF and checked it one last time before I submitted it. This is important because sometimes the formatting was lost/changed when uploaded into the online applications as a Word doc. I noticed this with my CV as well, so while I'm pretty sure one tiny formatting error wouldn't disqualify us from acceptance, I do believe presentation matters. This system worked well and I feel really good about the way my statements turned out. I haven't gotten any official acceptances yet, but I do have an unofficial acceptance and an interview coming up. For readers, I asked my willing Dr. friends to edit my top choices, and then asked friends who'd finished a master's or were great readers. Everyone was happy to help! I have already earned two graduate degrees (MA, Ed.M.), am a writing teacher, published technical author, fiction writer, and I earned a 6.0 on the GRE writing, and yet I still make careless errors. I've just learned that this is something I do, so I need help. I feel all of those experiences really helped me structure this SOP writing journey and application process, FWIW. I hope this process helps someone going forward. Good luck everyone!

Well being

@DBear Excellebt point and not something I have experience with so I wouldn't have thought ask. Thanks! Love this forum and feeling much calmer about the chat.

@Forest Owlet, I'm absolutely going back to grad school for the mentorship so that's a great way to phrase it. Appreciate your response!

Thanks @fuzzylogician! Lots of great points and advice. I'm making a list and adding these to it. Appreciate you warning me--I was already asked that by a POI and it did catch me off guard. Now I'll be ready!

Just found this. Worth a read, IMO http://penngseadmissions.blogspot.com/2016/02/q-doctoral-edition.html?m=1

Wow. That is super competitive. So I'm hoping that 195 or so of the apps were for higher education, right? Seriously though, wondering what ya'll think are the top reasons this program is so competitive? That's the same as asking why you applied, I guess.

Award finalist

Wow that's great news! Best of luck!

Anyone have any advice for chatting with current grad students after the application is already turned in? I applied for fall 2017 PhD programs last month and can expect to get news starting in January. While I haven't gotten any official acceptances or rejections yet, I have a Skype chat set up with a current doctoral student; they reached out to me. Is this typical? Besides trying to evaluate whether this is a good sign of potential acceptance, I'm also curious: what are the top five questions you'd ask of a current student in one of your top program choices? Thanks!

Partner dance

Up sell

Would hope so too, @Kilos Appreciate your sunny perspective--of course, I immediately catastrophized the GRE misplacement, but as you point out it is probably not that big of a deal. Thanks!

Belly ring Lol @DBear

I know exactly what you mean. No one seems to understand the process. Also, don't know if anyone else has gotten this reaction, but nearly everyone I know thinks I'm nuts and cannot understand why I'd want to go back to school. ?

Both the blessing and curse of this site is the sfarung of bee information and areas for concern, and out of a multitude of racing thoughts, I had never considered this possibility. Eek! Several of mine also say "under review" and I just assumed everyone's said that once it was released to the AdComm. Now I'm wondering. Can any pals on here illuminate?