platonetsocrate

I’ve only heard of spring semester start dates for unfunded MAs

I second that 15-20 pages is generally a good length. I would caution against going over 20, though. Professors have a LOT of writing samples to read, and it’s not very likely, I think, that any given writing sample is so well-edited that it can’t be made more concise at all. Further, it seems that we tend to act like conciseness is just a matter of removing things until nothing can be taken out without losing content to the argument. But really, many papers (especially student papers like the writing sample) take on too much, in terms of argument, in the first place. I’d say that if one is in a situation where they have a 21+ page writing sample, and feel that they cannot take out anything else without losing argument content, they ought to seriously reevaluate the arguments they make in the paper and whether those arguments really make the paper better.

Just to respond briefly to this part: it’s not clear to me that this is all that unusual. Most professors that I had, as an undergrad, from whom I took upper-division courses in my major would say something at the end of the course along the lines of ‘should you ever need a recommendation, I’d be happy to’. It is my understanding that some professors may make such an offer to any Of their students for whom they feel they could write a good recommendation. However, I agree with the rest of your advice, namely, that OP ask their other letter writers about the situation. editing to add another thought: There were a few places where I knew one specific professor’s recommendation would help a LOT. So I had one letter-writer send their letters to just a few places. Perhaps this professor has something similar in mind. My advice for OP a would be to show the professor the list of programs and ask, directly, ‘where is your letter likely to help me the most?’. Then have them send the letter to those programs.

I applied to 23. I got 6 acceptances and 3 waitlists, the rest rejections. So, yeah, I definitely would apply to as many as possible, provided each school you apply to is one you'd be happy to attend. The one I am going to attend is one that if I had narrowed my list more, I wouldn't have applied to (because it felt like a long shot in terms of whether i could get in, not because it wasn't a good fit - it is the BEST fit). My letter writers were happy to do it but I met with them beforehand and showed them the list and talked over my decision about whether to apply to all of them or not. They were all supportive about my decision to apply so widely. As in, they agreed that given the competitiveness of admissions, it was best to apply to as many as I could afford.

I've got some time on my hands, and I had good results getting fee waivers at most of the programs I applied to - in fact, it was entirely the reason I applied to as large a number of programs as I did - so I'll type out a longer reply about fee waivers in general based on when I applied this past year, in case it is useful to anyone reading this thread. I will start by saying that fee waiver applications are often due BEFORE application deadlines. At some programs, you submit your waiver application with your graduate application, and at others, waivers are first-come-first-serve and you have to email to request one, so it is a very good idea to start working on everything VERY EARLY if you plan to use waivers. It is a lot of work, but it can save you hundreds of dollars, and is well worth it, in my opinion. The Process of Applying for Fee Waivers For UChicago, UIUC, Indiana University, U of Iowa, U of Maryland, U of Michigan, Michigan State, U of Minnesota, U of Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, and UWM: - By November 15, submit the FreeApp request form here: https://www.btaa.org/resources-for/students/freeapp/introduction. - This is one waiver request that serves as a waiver request for each of these programs. In my experience, the schools I applied to followed up with a waiver code. It was incredibly simple and easy. For pretty much every other program: - I started in September by going to each program's website and taking note of the fee waiver application process. Unfortunately, almost every school was different. (I'd list names with specific examples, but I don't want to be misleading in case the procedures for those schools change or have changed already.) In general, though, each program would have had one of the following procedures in place: (1) a graduate school level policy in place, with something like (1a) instructions to submit required documentation showing your parents' annual income is below a certain threshold (1b) instructions to submit required documentation showing you receive the Pell Grant (1c) instructions to submit required documentation showing you are an independent student and your annual income is below a certain threshold (1d) instructions to submit required documentation showing you receive need-based financial aid (1e) instructions to submit required documentation showing that you received or were eligible for a GRE fee waiver (1f) an email address for someone you can contact to request an application form (1g) instructions to submit a separate application to the graduate school for a merit-based fee waiver (1h) instructions to submit required documentatino showing you are a McNair scholar (or similar) (2) a departmental policy in place, with something like (2a) an email address for someone you can contact to request an application form (2b) instructions to submit required documentation showing something along the lines of what's in 1a-e (2c) instructions to confirm that you attended one of a list of eligible programs (normally a minorities and philosophy type of program) (3) a graduate school or departmental policy against granting fee waivers (4) a graduate school policy against granting fee waivers, but a departmental policy granting them for certain extenuating circumstances if the student emails to ask and submits required documentation (5) strict requirements for who qualifies for a fee waiver based on income, AND a separate application as in 1g for those who do not qualify (6) graduate school policy granting fee waivers based on certain criteria, AND a departmental policy granting fee waivers for those who do not qualify for graduate school ones but still find the fee to pose financial hardship in some (documentable) way Many programs have some sort of combination of requirements - for example, that you attended undergrad continuously and will not have taken any breaks in your education prior to grad school AND got need-based aid, or whatever the other requirement may be. The Required Documentation First, the way in which each program wants you to submit required documentation differs, too. A few places had Google Forms to fill out and attach documents. At a few others, there was an email address (I would just send a form-like email and attach the documents). At many others, you had to submit the documentation at some point in the application portal - sometimes before submitting it, other times after. Normally, when it was meant to be submitted in the portal, there was some sort of important instruction about how to ensure things went correctly, so be careful with those. As for what you can submit - and to finally address your main query - I will list below some forms of documentation. As you can tell from what I've said above, though, simply having completed a FAFSA wouldn't be sufficient - what counts is that whatever you submit - FAFSA or otherwise - proves that you are eligible for a fee waiver. So, I'll list some examples of documentation that might be useful at one or more places, just to help people get an idea of the sort of thing they could end up submitting. (1) a letter from your financial aid office, on the financial aid officer's letterhead, confirming [insert eligibility requirement here]. This one is the best, in my opinion, because if you start by looking up the policies at each program, you can use the same letter to apply for a waiver at multiple places. (2) your FAFSA Student Aid Report (3) an undergraduate transcript (4) a Financial Aid Award Overview from an undergraduate institution (5) written confirmation of a GRE fee waiver receipt (6) written confirmation of a fee waiver acceptance at a different educational program or institution (7) a tax return* (8) a W2* (9) a letter from your advisor or department chair *just a note that some places might say they do NOT accept documentation that contains sensitive personal information, or that they will accept such documentation if and only if the sensitive information has been omitted. Some places are exact about what you need to submit (as in, they name the required document). Others give eligibility requirements, and leave it up to you how to confirm you meet them (for these, I like the financial aid office letter best). Actually Doing It If you want to fund your applications using fee waivers, you absolutely must start early. Get the list of where you're applying over the summer, or at least a list of the maximum number you're applying to, with the caveat that you may take a few off the list after further consideration. Create a new document. Go to the Graduate School website and the Department website for each school. Find what each entity says about fee waivers. Paste it into your document. Once you're finished, read over it as a whole. Use it to figure out what documentation you'll need, and try to maximize your ability of using the same form of documentation for multiple programs. Send emails to representatives at each school asking about any part of the fee waiver application process that is unclear. For every place you are not eligible, politely inquire whether they grant exceptions (if, that is, you are in circumstances that would warrant an exception, and be honest with yourself here about your privilege relative to other applicants). Aim to be among the first applying for the waivers, since there is normally a limit on the number of waivers that can be granted in a given application cycle.

Sure - my AOS is in ancient. I should note, though, that I was also rejected from 15 other programs, most of which were analytic in the way Michigan is. So I wouldn't characterize it by saying that I applied to a standard continental slate plus this one analytic program. My specific project is one that could potentially be done in either sort of department. But I'm coming from a continental undergrad, so I knew I'd fare better applying to continental leaning or friendly departments, which is why I applied so widely. Basically I applied based on what the ancient faculty are working on, rather than based on whether the program as a whole is analytic or continental. Michigan was the best fit by far, certainly out of where I was accepted and possibly out of the programs I applied to more generally.

My own approach was to read published articles about my topic (I was doing that for a survey of secondary literature, anyway) and use those papers as guides for my writing sample. The one difference I can think of is that I believe, especially for MA applications, that writing samples can be considerably shorter than published articles. But this may not always be the case - there are probably exceptions on both sides. In any case, I think that modeling your writing sample after published papers in your AOI is the best course of action.

Accepted University of Michigan! Declined: Marquette, Stony Brook, Villanova, Boston University, Fordham Took myself off the waitlist: DePaul, UT Austin, Emory (and, of course, rejected far, far more places than these)

Is it considered bad form to ask what the standard funding package is for incoming grad students when you are on the waitlist? I'm deciding whether to stay on a waitlist or give up my spot, but I know that I would only accept the offer if the funding is above a certain number (which I suspect it is not). But I don't want to give up my spot without knowing for sure. Anyone have any idea how to ask or if it's normal to do that?

This won't apply to everyone, but here's my plan. I'm going to aim to talk to a newer grad student, an ABD grad student, and the faculty I'm interested in working with, over the phone or video call if possible. I want to ask them all versions of the same questions. If the answers differ significantly, I will do more digging (e.g., if the two grad students give opposing answers about is the stipend livable, are faculty encouraging, etc.). Here are the questions (off the top of my head) that I think I'll ask: 1- do grad students publish/are there publishing workshops/are faculty encouraging and helpful when grad students want to publish 2- conference travel funding? 3- funding/opportunities for language study? 4- funding/opportunities for study abroad? 5- is the stipend livable/are there additional grants 6- teaching opportunities? (intro, logic, in AOS, in AOCs, self-designed classes, upper-division classes? 7- fellowship years? 8- is there a MAP chapter/what's the climate like for minorities/is the MAP chapter active 9- environment among grad students competitive, supportive, isolating, etc? 10- summer funding? 11- options for interdisciplinary work (courses, etc)? 12- placement? what types of positions? how soon after graduating? placement in my AOS vs overall? That'll be in addition to reading the websites carefully, reading articles by my prospective advisors, looking at their CVs, and having long conversations with my mentors and professors I have now. Hopefully it'll be enough. This is a stressful enough decision already! Edited to add: I also wrote out a list of my goals (aimed at the job market) for while I'm in grad school (e.g., go to X number of conferences, publish Y articles, develop competence in Z language). I plan to share it with my potential advisors and ask their opinions, that way I'll feel out their advising style and hopefully also get some valuable advice while I'm at it.

Oh ok, sorry, I didn’t see that comment when I was looking. Just confused me since I heard from the visit organizers yesterday with a seminar schedule and instructions for making travel arrangements. Guess I’ll hold off on booking things for just a few more days and see.

Are you referring to the post that asked, "since it looks like it may not be super easy to connect with grad students due to visit cancellations, would anyone from Georgetown, CUNY, or BU...?" I don’t think they were necessarily saying that those programs all cancelled their visits. As far as I know, BU hasn’t officially cancelled.

Got that Cornell rejection today

Is the question not whether you should give an accept/decline response, but whether you should reply at all? In that case, I'd say definitely reply to the email to say thanks, and that you'll be in touch later once you've had time to think about your decision. Might also be a good idea to ask questions about the program if you had any.

There are nearly innumerable factors outside of those you list that could influence the decisions of admissions committees: your knowledge of relevant languages, your teaching experiences, how you come across personality-wise in your statement, the degree to which you engage with contemporary secondary literature in your sample, whether you've completed graduate coursework, what professional engagement you've done, your other original research, how you come across personality-wise in the rec letters, how networked you are, how networked your letter writers are, whether the program already has grad students working in your AOI and how many, whether someone you want to work with might be close to retiring.... you get the idea. I think there is absolutely no way that any of us can accurately predict how this might go for you, and there is also no way that any of us can reliably tell you what reason there may be for your rejections thus far. But, re: the fit thing... you don't have any way of knowing whether they want to admit someone to work on Spinoza and Heidegger this year, even if they do have all those specialists. It's depressing, sure, but there's no such thing as a perfect fit. What if there was just one other applicant with the same interests as you and they just happened to be above-and-beyond in some way that you're not? - completely out of your control, but if the department was only making one offer to someone with that AOI this year, that person would be the perfect fit. I know it's a cliche line from the rec letters I've gotten myself, but there really might simply have been exceptionally high competition at some programs this year. The same point, I think, applies to the GRE. I think it is reasonable to assume that there are other applicants who also couldn't afford test prep and only took one math course and had a poor educational background prior to college, and it is probably also reasonable to assume that at lease some of those other applicants scored higher than you. This is not to say that you did horribly, or even that the GRE matters all that much. I just am pointing out that there is way too much unknown about the competition, and that, I think, should give us pause when we start to blame any one factor on perceived lack of success, or make predictions.