ridgey

Still going crazy from waiting over here. I've almost convinced myself it would be completely rational to buy some kind of iphone/pda device that would alert me to incoming email, thus allowing me to step away from the computer for more than moments at a time. And it's SO ridiculous because I won't hear for another month.

I won't go into my interests or schools because it's easy enough as it is to match the info I've put up here with my applications. I'm sure the adcomms have better uses of their time than checking how prospective applicants conduct themselves in anonymous internet forums, but I have a decent bout of application stress and paranoia right now. No application to Wharton from me.

The winner so far of "stupidest online admission"(ok, application) has to be UMich's version of Embark. There were certain questions that said in big, bold letters "only answer if you are a US citizen or permanent resident". But then, the @#$%'n thing wouldn't let me submit the application until I answered the question. I even went backed to check that I had ticked the "dirty foreigner" box, which I had. Frustration!

Yeah, that is a pretty odd way of doing it, though the GSAS at least points out that's what they do. Though they say it takes 3-5 days, when the reality was 3-5 weeks. That could be because I submitted my application late afternoon of the deadline...

Sounds like a plan. It's not really drinking alone if you're doing it with virtual others, right?

I'm public health too, but health policy (ish), not epi. I'm not sure there are non-reach schools in the field - there are, what, 30 accredited schools in total? Still, I think our odds are better than the English or History folk. Going by the results page from last year, mid-Feb is when things start to happen. Only 4 weeks to go...

Me too! I'm plotting who can write my letters next year so that I don't have to face this year's ones again!

I like the fake name/ fake voice idea! I don't know that I want to call the department on the day of the deadline and ask what they require/expect. It gives the impression that I'm a disorganised person. Which is absolutely the case, but probably better if they don't know that!

My discipline is health policy. The essay is a critique of a particular theory in international development. I guess my question really is: Which is better (or less bad)? A very well written (imho), somewhat short sample from the wrong discipline? Or a reasonably-though-not-brilliantly written, longer, not quite polished, sample from the same discipline?

How important is it that the writing sample is in the same field one is applying to? I discovered an old essay for a class I wrote that is actually pretty good and will need just a few minor changes. C.F. the writing sample I used for my last few aplications ( :cry: ) that still has a long way to go. Now, I'll need to do some work on that anyway because eventually it will be a part of my thesis. My advisor wants to see this particular chapter soon, in fact. But I don't know if I can get it to where I'm happy with it before the applicaiton deadline tomorrow. The thing is, this old essay is in no way related to what I'll be studying for my PhD if I get in anywhere. It shows that I have can get a pretty good handle on theory and apply it to the real world, but this topic is a lot less complex than what I will eventually study. On the other hand, the adcom, being from a different field, might not know that. It's also pretty short - 2500 words or 8 pages plus refs. The school gives no guidelines on length, and the writing sample is optional. So my question: will using this other essay as a writing sample be OK?

Going....slowly...crazy. Don't know if it's the first coffee in several days, or just generally waiting, but I can't sit still and certainly can't do anything useful. I'm almost contemplating going for a run, which is INCREDIBLY out of character.

I hear you! Mine is more of a OOOOOOOOHHHHHHLOWGROOOOOOOOOOOOANOFPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAINOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH

Waiting is better than applying. Or actuallyt doing any work that still has to be done - who forgot to put the world on hold until late Feb? I have an app due tomorrow. Well, in two days, thanks to time differences. I can't bring myself to work on it; the big cluster of mid Dec applicatins (which I screwed up) has drained me. So instead, I spend the day at the Gradcafe. If you can't handle waiting anymore: go camping. Seriously. For New Year, I was in almost the middle of nowhere for a week, and had enough company that I didn't even think about applications or notification. At home, when I'm in front of a computer at work all day, if I even go in - recipe for poor mental health!

Surely, most of it can be electronic though? If you upload your SoP in AplpyYourself, there can easily be a record that it's there. The system manages to automatically generate notification that electronic LoRs have been received, why not everything else? I'm liking the move on the part of some unis where you can even upload a scanned transcript, and they don't need to see the official version until later - outside of application nightmare stress season. Obviously, having everything automated to this degree could be a problem if/when the whole system crashes, but that risk is present with the rest of the app anyway, and in the meantime it saves a lot of manpower.

I think the ridiculous-ness and hassle seems to be directly related to how much of a hybrid the application procedure is between all-online and all-paper submission. Or if the school has recently begun some "make applying easier" thing, it is bound to be more hassle initially. In particular, there is one scholl that I would hav liked to apply to but the red-tape and cost was prohibitive. They required the PhD application to be submitted to the Association of Schools of Underwater basketweaving. Most Masters apps in the field go through this centralised system, but few PhD apps. The fees for this service are per application, with better value the more applications, eg 1 app is $90 and 2 are $105. But the school required an extra application fee, and the Grad School needed transcripts sent directly and couldn't accept the ones as part of the application. I'm deliberately not calculating how much these applications have cost me - if I don't get in anywhere I'd rahter not know! I decided to definitely apply this year several months ago, when $1 in my currency was worth 80 US cents. It's now worth ~55 cents, so this has cost me far more than I budgeted. Stupid international economic crisis!

Or, How to Send Yourself Over the Edge: One school I applied to, which was my top choice in November gets ~100 applciations in my subfield and admits ~6. Another school that I didn't apply to gets a similar number of applications, and admits 1-2. Ivy-that-is-outside-the-top-15-in-my-field gets 200 applications for all the subfields combined and admits ~15. Highly ranked school that makes me go "meh" gets ~40 and admits 5 (the best odds so far!). Monday: there are probably as many places as there are applicants; I'm bound to get in somewhere, lower ranked Ivy at least! Tuesday: but on the results page last year, someone wrote that Subfield there didn't let anyone in - clearly they won't take the dregs like me! Wednesday: but that professor whose work you love seems to have missed out on having advisees for a few years, and his interests are a bit different than the rest of the department. He'll be stoked to have someone wanting to work with him and will demand that they accept me! Thursday: hello, what about the writing sample? I'm embarassed to have my name on it! Friday: I didn't have to send a writing sample to Dream U, where AMAZING prof is. And that's the top ranked programme. Yeah! Saturday: umm, hello, top ranked is not helpful to getting admitted. And Dr Amazing is about 345 years old and will be retiring any day and he is the only person mentioned on that SoP. Sunday : start drinking!

And a ridiculous one! In my corner of the world, a PhD application goes like this: identify potential supervisor whose work interests you. Write informal email, then have as many informal discussions as necessary to determine 1) that neither of you are psychos who will make the other person's life difficult, and 2) the parameters of the research project. Submit research proposal to department as many times as it takes them to sign off. Start work, and do enough that you don't get kicked out for lack of progress in the first year. Of course, there isn't the same volume of aspiring PhD students here - the system would fall down if there were. There does seem to be the same number of PhD graduates relative to population though. I wonder if having a competitive system in place encourages people to compete in that system, who maybe otherwise wouldn't?

I had nine that I was seriously considering. Three of these are EXACTLY what I'm looking for in terms of faculty interests - and are sadly probably out of my league. The other six I played around with different combinations so that I had a range of competitiveness. I had settled on seven, but one got culled at the last minute. I have two more to go, and assuming I submit them both, the total will be six.

6 applications 1 acceptance 2 waitlist>>1 acceptance, 1 rejection 3 laugh-in-my-face, are-you-seriously-applying, rejections

Oooh, that sounds like a good way for me to waste time! I found the website but clicking "rate my chances" doesn't seem to take me to the section you mention. Can you give me directions?. Does anyone else think, when they can't figure out something simple (in this case how to use a website), that this is evidence that they are clearly not good enough to get in?

I realise what I said can read like I'm one of the dreamkillers; that really wasn't my intent, and I'm sorry If I was discouraging. RE: report showing that you cancelled your scores - I think you'll have to talk to ETS (shudder!). Speak to someone on the phone, AND ask them to direct you to the url with their policy on it. I'm sure the majority of folks at ETS are competent and helpful, but on these boards we here so many stories of their screwups that, in your positions, I'd be wanting to check that what the phone person says isn't something they made up on the spot.

The way I see it, the various components of the application are trying to convince the adcoms of two things: 1) that you're smart enough, and 2) that you're diligent and dedicated enough. Now, we all know that neither GPA nor GRE actually measure these factors well, but the reality is that they're a reasonable proxy - or are treated as such by the committees that matter. As someone else said, the rest of your application needs to be strong enough to overcome the red flags that your GREs and GPA will raise. I'd suggest also that you address these in your application, or ideally get your letter writers to do so. Put an addendum on your SoP (you could put it directly in, I guess, but it risks turning your SoP negative) explaing about your grades - you were ill/working fulltime as well as study/young and have since matured/whatever. Get your letter writers to say that you've demonstrated incredibly academic ability and that the GRE doesn't reflect your potential. If you have time to take the GRE again, study for it. I am the queen procrastionator (and I'll probably be punished for it in my applications - do as I say not as I do!), but it seems to me that the amount of work that goes into these applications, not to mention money, can be used to sift applicants - those who are dedicated and are willing to work for their goals versus those who are used to doing just enough. Only one of those groups of people generally succeed in grad school. I hope this comes across how its meant, I certainly am not trying to be critical (in fact I'm speaking to myself here too): if you can't make yourself do what you need to do to have the strongest application possible, how much do you really want to go to grad school? Only you can answer that, of course. Anyway, to answer your original question of whether the rest of your application is strong enough to overcome the GPA/GRE: who knows? The 3.1 would probably make it past the first round at least, and since you haven't told us your GREs I can't say. Your whole application will probably be considered and you'll have the chance to shine if you can get past the first big cull. Sorry to not be more helpful. All the best.

I don't think it'll be a big deal. If an admin assistant or someone notices that you have two, the fact that one is more recent and came with a letter will tell them which one you want to keep. At this stage in departmental crazyness, I wouldn't contact them for anything that wasn't REALLY urgent and important.

Nothing new to share, and thanks for listing those ones Linden - I had stumbled across them ages ago but forgotten them. And, thanks for your post on the applications board, now I "recognise" you from applyingtograd. I feel like those of us who are almost living on these forums should get some advantage in the whole admissions process - we are clearly the biggest geeks and the most obsessed!

It seems I'm winning the "who can start the most threads" competition. Probably not a good sign. So four of my applications are in, and there are two to go. I'm honestly not sure if I'm that excited about the applications I have left to do (but, I think I should probably trust my reasoning and judgement from however many months ago when I was choosing schools more than my judgement now). I think I screwed up my applications to three of the four schools I already applied to. Leaving me to think about plan B. Which, at the moment, is finding a job or even an internship in a research group that does exactly what I'm interested in. And travelling. It had been the more generic "find a job" and travel, and that had been less exciting. But the realisation that I can do work I find meaningful - well, that's exciting. And will strengthen next year's applications, which is always a good thing. Now, I'm almost - almost - thinking that only two of the prgorammes I've applied to are really SO good as to trump plan B. Of course, it's highly likely that this is a sub-concious "protect myself from dissappointment" thing. But it's nice to not view this whole time as if it will result in either a good or a bad outcome. This waiting time has felt so disempowering, as groups of people have been getting together to decide my fate. It's good to be reminded that I still get to make decisions about my own future regardless of admission/rejection. For those who have entertained the possibility of across the board rejection, what is your Plan B? Do yo feel even slightly positive about it?