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

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. editi

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

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

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, rath

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

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