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I'm not in your field, but I'd recommend trying another grad school professor. Since you've been working in your field for so long, I think it's fine you have two non-academic references, but it would definitely help to have at least one be academic. 3.5 years isn't that long to be out of grad school, I'm sure at least one of them remembers you and would be willing to write one.

That's super helpful, great advice! Thank you so much!

Hi all, I'm applying for next fall so I know I'm ahead of myself on this, but hopefully people will still have some useful info. I took 8 years of German from middle school until college, but really did not enjoy it by the end. Additionally, once I narrowed down my research interests, I quickly discovered German did not help me in my MA research at all, and French would be far more useful. Because of this, for my PhD, I'm interested in using French to fulfill the language requirement. I'd like to get ahead a bit after apps are submitted, and I was hoping for recommendations on online subscriptions or programs (paid or unpaid) that are geared more towards academic uses. I've used Duolingo pretty extensively, and don't find it super useful because of how random the vocabulary is. I'd like to start more with sentence structure, alphabet, etc. Any tips would be helpful!

I didn't consider rank one bit. Especially for English (also my field!), it's much less about the school or even department ranking, and much more the scholars themselves. The leading scholar in your specialty could be teaching at a lower ranked school, but they'd still be the best scholars in your specialty. With humanities PhDs, the competition will be pretty steep at most schools, and you become more competitive based on how well you fit with the department/faculty. Sorry, I know this doesn't answer your question, but I think you should focus more on finding faculty that would be willing to advise you, rather than overall school rank.

No, I'm just sending scanned copies for apps and will send an official one if I'm accepted.

I think this probably depends on the field, but it's also based on how mature your research is. In my experience, if you go to a general, interdisciplinary conference, you can probably get away with a more general paper because people won't know the intricacies of your topic. However, if you have a really strong and specific paper, then a specialized conference might be good, where scholars in your field can get to know you/your work and you can engage with them on a deeper level.

I have an MA in lit and currently work as a technical writer in the IT industry, but am applying to PhD programs for next year. I know of a few other people who work in similar fields to mine with MAs in the humanities, and even a couple people with MFAs in creative writing (companies really do value people who know how to communicate in writing!). I am so glad I took some time out of the ivory tower, but I miss academia a lot and am looking forward to being in that environment again.

I got some feedback on my SOP draft that I needed to show my passion and personality better. This has always been really hard for me, as I feel that it often comes across as melodramatic to bring yourself into a largely academic document. I go into the development of my specific research interest and then explain how teaching helped me solidify my desire to pursue a PhD. Any general tips on how I should include more "passion" here?

Minus the obvious need for tailoring to specific programs, I don't have any large critiques. I think they're both engaging and specific enough without committing too much to a single idea. Well done!

Jumping in to agree wholeheartedly. I feel the same way but about the quant section. I spent a ton of money on tutoring/prep materials and so many hours studying, and saw virtually no improvement over 4 months. I'm really upset that this one little test might make or break a long-term dream.

Quick update: I ended up sending the rough draft I had, but I emphasized it was a rough draft that would continue to evolve. I'm cringing internally because it was in pretty rough shape, but I didn't want to leave them hanging. Thanks to all of you for your advice, hopefully I made the right choice!

If you're interested in big cities, you might want to consider DC. GWU has some pretty active medieval scholars, and the job market would absolutely support your fiance's career goals. I second the concern about Penn State- it's in the middle of nowhere, several hours from any city or place with a strong job market. Might not be the best location for your particular needs.

Thanks for that! I see from that post that you also gave them your personal statement along with the facts sheet? So you had that document completed when you reached out?

My research project is fairly well-defined in my current SOP draft. I'm mainly still struggling with the other aspects of my SOP, i.e. intro, how much of my scholarly background/accomplishments to include, etc. I've spent hours combing through this forum and google to try and define those things, but I'm still not 100% pleased with my current draft. However, I am pleased with how defined my project is. That's the one thing I'm very confident in. I'd never expect a letter writer to revise a letter based on this, but I guess I'm more thinking about them thinking less of me if I send something that's not perfectly polished. I have 3 months to go until the deadline, so I feel I can't really be expected to have a flawless draft at this stage. At the same time, they certainly need an idea of my project to write their letters, and I don't want to provide that to them only like a month out or something.

Hi everyone, I reached out to my letter writers this week and got positive responses asking for materials for my application materials. I only have an early draft of an SOP done, and it won't be near completion for a couple months. Is that an okay thing to send to give them an idea of my project and let them get started on the letters? Of course I would rather give a perfect draft, but that would make it harder for them since they'd have less time to prepare/write. Thank you!

Pivoting a bit but I really need to vent. I've spent hundreds of dollars on tutors and spent literally months of my life GRE studying and I barely got my math score up 6 points according to the ETS test. I'm just super disheartened and very upset that my lack of math skills will ruin my chances at top English programs.

Congrats on getting it done! I wouldn't sweat it, you'll have it on your CV for applications and it was good practice. I wish I could redo my first conference presentation over, but instead, I just used it as a learning opportunity. Sometimes that's all you can do!

Good luck! I went to GW for undergrad and my MA (different department, though I did know people in the museum program!), so if you have any general GW questions in the coming months, feel free to PM me!

Hi all, From the beginning of deciding to pursue a PhD, my LORs have been the biggest source of anxiety for me, as I have been out of my MA for 4 years now. I am terrible at networking and didn't really stay in touch with professors, though I am confident my MA advisor will at least remember me. I've been told by some people helping me with my apps that it's silly to be worried, and that it's common for profs to write LOR even for those who have been out of their classes for a bit. I guess I'm hoping for some anecdotes from any of you who also took a break and were successful in getting great LORs from past professors. Is it really as common as I've been told? Thank you!

For what it's worth, I spent months trying to decide between the Capital One Venture and the Chase Sapphire Preferred, and ultimately went with the Chase after reading literally every review and comparison on the internet. I agree with @lordtiandao about it- it's a great card and the travel benefits are super duper worth the free. And no foreign transaction fees!

That's so nice of you to offer, thank you! I'd actually rather wait and do a swap because evaluating others will help me better understand the dos and don'ts, but I appreciate your offer!

Hi everyone. Would anyone else prepping for the GRE be interested in an essay swap? I'm going to use the ScoreItNow service from ETS but I'd rather wait until closer to my test date to shell out the money for it.

I would check with each school- sometimes it's listed online or sometimes you might need to email the department. Some schools only require a scanned version until after admission, whereas others require official as part of the application.

Yeah, the culture of higher education in the U.S. is pretty exclusionary, it's really a shame. I'm very nervous about the financial implications of living on a stipend, and will almost certainly need to get some kind of supplemental income during the program if I can. But like you said, there are some benefits to working- in some respects you'll be better prepared for the end of the program than many of your fellow students!

Agreed, this is very frustrating. I met with a current PhD student whose advice to me included having my parents buy me a house at whatever uni I ended up at, since mortgage is cheaper than rent. I've never laughed so hard in my life- for those of us on our own, a PhD is no small financial decision.