Isaac Freeman

I made sure in advance that all the required material have reached all schools prior to their deadlines for the application. At least from Georgetown, I received an answer on a different matter, and they mentioned that two of my recommenders did not yet submit their recommendations, and that they should do so before the reviewing committee meets. if by the end of this weeks there will still be a missing letter, I will go and see these professors personally.

So I need to contact each school separately?

Hello everyone, I would like to know if there is a different deadline for submitting letters of recommendations, and how late it is comparing to the application deadline. So far, only one of my recommenders has submitted his letter, but the other two take their time, saying their deadline is still ahead. Last year, I applied to some program in a European institution, and this was indeed the case. My recommenders had about 2 weeks extra, after the application was submitted. Is this the case in American graduate programs as well? For two universities I applied to (Princeton and Georgetown) the deadline was yesterday. For one (the University of North Carolina), the deadline is today. The application submission deadline that is. Do I still have a chance to get admitted to these institutions, or will they see it as an unprofessional behavior and reject my application? Thank you all, Isaac

@AP, yes, that is exactly what I had in mind. A general template of self introduction, and then a personal reason for writing, research interests and reason for contacting a professor specifically, based on the information I have on each etc. Thanks. @AnUglyBoringNerd thank you on the very thorough reply. I will review the links later today. And it's good to hear what I'm doing so far is a step in the right direction.

Hello everyone, I would like to hear your thoughts and advises on my upcoming application for a PhD in the US. Please share your thoughts, and if there are relevant any links to other discussions on some of the matters I will ask here, please feel free to attach them (and I thank you in advance for doing so). Due to financial reasons, I plan on applying to only 5 grad schools: NYU, Columbia, Princeton, Penn and Cornell. I chose these schools due to their location, on the east coast, and since I will have better chances to have a place to live in, for the first few weeks at least, as I have family living nearby to most of them (except Cornell). My BA (history, 91) and MA (European studies, 95) are both from the University of Haifa in Israel. My first question is: How, if at all, the fact I am coming from a less known university, would influence my chances to be admitted to any? In addition, I wrote a thesis, which was graded 95 (so the total degree score is 95), and I've graduated with honors. Is this fact has any influence on my chances of getting into one of these schools? I got an advice from one of my history professors, that contacting the future professors who may teach me, could be a good tactic. Would you agree, and if you do - how long should my letter/email be? I thought that about 3/4 of a Word document, double spaced, telling about myself and why I want to work with the addressed professor, should be sufficient. Is it too long? Too short? The same professor, mentioned above, told me that he had heard these schools prefer to read recommendations from their own graduates. One of the people who read and graded my thesis did her PhD at Princeton. Would that be an advantage to ask her to write me a recommendation? The person who directed me to this forum, told me there is a place where I can get information on how much each of these institutions gives grants to its graduate students. Where can I find it? This information could seriously affect my application. Last question: Where could I find a template of the right form to write the CV? I've prepared it based on something I saw online, but I'm not sure if this form is correct. That's all for now. Thanks again to anyone who would answer.