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@Moods Thank you so much, that's exactly what I needed to hear. I think I'll avoid connecting it to my research topic and just explain my reasons for pursuing grad school. Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it!!

Hi all, I have an application that asks for both an academic SOP and a Personal Statement that goes into your reasons for applying to graduate school. Does the Personal Statement also need to be connected to my research question, or since it's a separate document, can it just be a more generic document about my personal journey for going to grad school?

@screamingacrossthesky Thank you for your reassurance! It is definitely much harder for letter writers that deadlines often fall close to finals, I know that makes it a lot harder on them so I definitely don't want to bother the professor! I worry that a phone call would come across as pushy, and I've been out of school a while so office hours aren't an option. Maybe I'll wait a few days and then follow up with a phone call. Thank you for your help!!

@Bopie5 Thank you! Me too!

@Bopie5 Unfortunately I don't have any backups- I've been out of school for about 5 years and I feel lucky I even got 3 to agree in the first place. Certainly don't have anyone who could write one for me with 5 days notice!

@Bopie5 I used that with another prof and it worked great, but this prof hasn't responded to my check-in email I sent yesterday and I don't want to risk alienating them. Really unsure what to do at this point.

That's true, I guess you never know until you're at that point. My third letter writer is currently MIA so at this point I might not even be considered for this year's cycle anyway! Maybe this is a sign from the universe that a PhD isn't for me.

One of my letter writers has gone MIA 6 days before my first deadline. Cue the total panic!!!

I admire those of you who have been through this process multiple times. If I get shut out, I'm giving up. I can't put myself through this again!

I am so incredibly stuck on trying to write a personal history/diversity statement. It's the final thing I have to finish before I can submit my first app, and it's driving me crazy. My first draft is terrible but I don't know how to pivot to something better.

Got word that my first letter of rec was submitted so I'm going to finish up my first few apps this weekend and submit! Crazy that 6+ months of work is finally coming to an end. Hardest part for me now is the personal history/diversity statement. I spent so much time on my SOP and worry this is going to come across as an afterthought. Good luck to everyone in the final push!

Just got my first ever conference rejection. Glad it happened sooner rather than later so I can get used to the feeling but it's definitely a bummer.

I don't think you need to be apologetic at all. I would send an email and just frame it as "Hey, just wanted to see if you received this link that should've been sent to you, please let me know if you need anything else from me, etc." Serves as a reminder while also making sure she received the link.

@dangermouse Thank you so much for your help! That echoes what I've been told, so I think I'll go with that instead of my MA advisor's advice, since it seems to be an outlier. I have a slight follow-up as well- I've been told mentioning the names of individual scholars and how I used their research comes across as name-dropping, but I feel it's important to use their names so I can be specific as to the scholarly conversations I'm familiar with. These aren't scholars I'd be studying with at the program, but just scholars in the field who have contributed and whose work has influenced me. Is it "name-dropping" to mention these names? Thanks so much to everyone for this forum by the way. It has really kept me sane throughout this process haha.

I have an oddball SOP question perhaps you guys can help me with! I'm struggling with the merits of mentioning specific papers I've written as I describe my research interests. I was advised to do this by my MA advisor, but I've since received feedback that I shouldn't include the names of papers. I'm a little conflicted and don't know what the best course of action is. Do you guys mention your papers by name in your SOPs?

Unless you have a super compelling hook that ties into why you're interested in your topic, I am anti-hook. I agree that it comes across as hokey, and I feel like your qualifications can often speak for themselves. At the same time, I'm still wrestling with how to make my personality come through without sounding silly, and a good hook could do that, so there's certainly reasons to use one as well.

My advice is to touch on it but not spend too much time. I've been out of school for a while working in an unrelated field, and my advisor has suggested I just mention how I used that time to research and narrow my interests, not mention much about what I was doing. In your case, I would weave it together with your MFA, and say you took time to write creatively and determine what theoretical approaches you were most interested in pursuing, etc. I would steer clear of mentioning the finances or that you wanted to write your novel first (unless the PhD is in creative writing)- focus on how your experiences make you more prepared to pursue a PhD.

I'm getting a ton of conflicting information regarding my SOP drafts and it's making me really stressed out and unsure how to proceed. I'm nearly at the point where I'm even questioning my decision to apply.

I actually really don't think that's going to happen. I think he's really interested in working with you and is trying to get other relevant faculty also interested. Normally the suggestion is to have about 3 scholars at your program with similar interests- not to supervise you, but to guide you and eventually maybe serve on your committee. This is a really good sign for you.

Now that I'm actually filling out applications, I'm finding it relatively painless. No different than applying to jobs, and far less stressful than applying for teaching positions. Now I'll have more time to stress out about finalizing my SOP, I guess! ?

While disheartening to hear, this wouldn't surprise me based on some of the stuff I've read online. And it does make sense that most of the funding should go to domestic students. I guess I'll try my best but stay realistic. Thank you!

That's wonderful to hear about the tuition reduction, thank you so much for sharing! I'd be applying to the English department. I did finally hear back from them and it does sound like they offer funding to all accepted students, so I feel very relieved. Thank you very much for your help!!

I'm answering this as someone who weighed the pros and cons for almost 5 years before deciding to apply for a PhD- and I've had everyone from an executive recruiter to my very first boss (who held a humanities PhD from Harvard) try to dissuade me from applying. My boss told me she was lucky to even have a job, as many of the other people in her cohort were still unemployed. That freaked me out a lot, but here I am trying to get a PhD anyway. The short answer is yes, a PhD will probably hinder you. However, there are a lot of other factors that go into this. First of all, am I correct from your post that you're currently working (assuming since you wrote 40 hours a week)? That experience will already make you a better candidate than those who have gone straight to a PhD, which is good. But having a PhD does make you overqualified in a lot of people's eyes (I only have an MA and I have multiple rejection letters from my first job hunt several years ago that used that dreaded word), and it also means you will be 6-7 years behind in your career compared to other people your age. When you're competing against those people for jobs outside of academia, you can imagine who will probably get the job. For a lot of employers, a PhD can also be considered a liability- you might expect to be paid more, or they think you will leave as soon as something better/higher paying/more in your field/a teaching job comes up, etc. To be fair, this makes sense for an employer, as hiring anyone is a huge investment, but it's immensely frustrating for the PhDs who truly do want to work hard in the corporate world. My biggest advice is to network. If you get to know people in your field during your degree, maybe work or volunteer at an organization, and make sure you keep all your options open, you might be okay. This means informational interviews, reaching out to any PhDs in industry you know of, or even getting an internship during the summer. These things all make you a stronger job applicant afterwards. It really is who you know more than anything else. Networking is key. In the end, I think it's your call. Weigh the pros and cons and see how prepared you are to enter the job market after your degree. For me, while teaching is my ultimate goal, I fully recognize that statistically it probably won't happen, and I'm prepared to end up right back where I am right now, in a totally unrelated field- and I have a pretty decent resume/network/job experience to leverage in order to obtain one. But that's something I had to decide before spending the time and money to try for a PhD, and it's something you also have to decide. It's certainly not an easy decision!

I agree about how different they all are- one of my schools wants 1,400 words and another wants 500. It'll take more time to revise than it did to write it in the first place!

Hi everyone, I did some searching on past topics and only found one topic on this from about 6 years ago, so I was hoping someone could provide some more updated information. Does anyone have experience with international funding for a PhD at U of Toronto? It's my top choice school in terms of scholars to work with, but I emailed the department asking for information about funding for international students and didn't receive a response. Hoping someone could shed some light, as their website doesn't give much info. Thank you!