THS

I remember when I applied for my MA and was just so ignorant of the chances of not getting in...I would love to go back to those days.

And to the initial post...this is what grad school looks like.

King Kong

Hello! So my advice would be to try to get on a research project of some sort during this year. This can be done by contacting local professors at universities in the social sciences and just finding out if they need help. You could explain that you will be applying to MA/PHD programs and want to have some research under your belt. You can also find field schools to fill this box/help with this professional development. Doing this on top of working on getting a good GRE should all help get you into a program. I would also say that if you don't know what subfield you are interested in you might consider doing an MA first. This will help you narrow your ideas before jumping into a PHD. It might be harder to get into a program if you don't identify and pursue a subfield. I think if you are able to get on a project that would help. That's my advice. Best of luck!

Deplorable basket (basket of...)

Yup, pretty much me too. Tomorrow is the first day that one of the schools I applied to sent out news last year. I spent an hour yesterday figuring out which schools I applied to will have an interview process since people have been posting about interviews and that made me crazy. This whole process is nuts.

You can use the search results tool to find out when people have heard back in the past! That's what I've done for the schools I applied to- should (if they stick to the patterns) start hearing back between tomorrow and mid Feb). It is gunna be a long month!

Tiny man

Thanks for posting this! I don't really have any advice because my only skype interview was for a job last year and not for a program so I too would like to hear what others have to say! (I'd assume dress like you should for an interview in person and be in a quiet/clean place.)

wise owl

late night

silver mine

@kris10mb I did the same thing this morning! Woke up, checked my e-mail, moved on to read the morning news and realized it is a holiday...it looks like some people got news today though on the results page (I shouldn't have looked).

Be yourself. While you want to get into the program, you also want to end up with a good match for your advisor. In my first program I didn't heed this advice and went with an advisor who I didn't click with for more funding than one I did who offered less and then I ended up switching advisors half way through my MA (which is do-able, but why put yourself through it).

Hidden picture

I think snow would have done me in...just dealing with the Cali rain/flooding this week was too much house time. I went from "ok" last week to "what takes them so long" (I know why it takes time, I am referencing the feeling I have about it all right now)

Almond latte

Christmas joy

accepting admission

Mixed-methods was my goal as well as I am coming from a qualitative background and want to do more work with quantitative stuff on my next project. Most programs have at least someone doing qualitative work (from what I found in my search). There are some schools that do more than others but then that depends on the type of qualitative work you want to do (ethnography?). At any rate, I agree overall with everyone above. Just look for people who do what you are interested in doing and then apply to those places. When it comes to the types of projects in the subarea/topic you are interested in that will be more useful than just a methodology. I can't say that this method has worked out for me yet, but I'll let you know in a couple months...

I shouldn't say that there's no hope for making time. The truth, however, is that some things will slip. The best I can say is that at the start of each class make a list of big assignments and then plan to get as many done early as possible and then schedule your other obligations into that. I am not great at work/life balance, but when I wanted to be human getting things done early and having everything planned out for each term really helped.

bad boy

toy gun

Checking my e-mail every 2 hours! It has been raining constantly for the last couple days where I am which isn't helping with my usual attempts at distracting myself...and I too am more anxious because of the interview posts. Bah! Waiting is the worst!

laser show