serpentstone

Cross-posting this from the Letters of Recommendations sub-board because it is relevant. Hi, all! I am a first-gen student across the board and I have never met someone who has applied for a scholarship before, so I am coming to gradcafe for advice on etiquette regarding asking for letters of recommendation. When I applied for schools, I didn't yet know about any scholarships because they might as well be fictional with how little I know about them. However, now that I've identified some that I am extremely interested in applying for, I'm back at needing letters of rec again. Is it appropriate to ask the same three people who wrote your school LORs to also write your scholarship LORs, or should you refrain from asking the same people again? I am always extremely nervous to ask for recommendations and references as to not strain someone's good graces. Because my school application was finished months ago, should I re-introduce my intended topic of study or should I expect them to remember what my grad school goals were? For one of the scholarships, I cannot access the LOR page until after I've written my statement essays - this is the most time-consuming part for me. Should I reach out to my professors now, even though I haven't yet reached the recommendation part of the application? If they ask where to send the letter, I am truly unsure of how to answer because I just don't know yet. Any help you can offer would be insanely phenomenal!! I feel so worried and lost in this process. EDIT: Had the first part of my post answered in the cross-posted thread. Thank you!

Asking people for reference or recommendations is one of the most nerve-wracking aspects of applications for schools/jobs ever for me ? I have no experience in seeing how other people do it, or have done it, and I have no idea what the etiquette is surrounding recommendation requests. That being said, I finally got the courage to ask three amazing professors for recommendations back in August which they each submitted to my schools very promptly. I thanked them profusely, took my GRE, finalized applications, and several months have now passed since then. However, I discovered a scholarship I would really like to apply for, which also requires three recommendations. Is it appropriate to dive into another request from them? Should I choose other recommenders? The anxiety of asking them to write another recommendation after they have already done one for me is petrifying. Like, what kind of wording could I use so it doesn't appear that I just wantwantwant from them? Should I make it part of a larger letter, or just have the email be an outright request? Maybe I am overthinking this ? Any advice would be so absolutely phenomenal. I keep putting off asking and the scholarship end date is drawing closer and closer from my stalling.

I am so, so sorry that you experienced these horrible circumstances. As someone who currently works in transcripts and records, I’d like to offer a little hope! Before applying to any graduate programs, try reaching out to the college where you received your Q grade and see if you can petition for grade forgiveness. Grade forgiveness is incredibly common, ESPECIALLY if you have any sort of paperwork from an overdose hospital admittance to sort of help your case. It may take some immense vulnerability on your end but, with fingers crossed, you might be able to have that class wiped from your record entirely. At the very least, you may be able to change your Q to an I on your transcript. Good luck!! And don’t give up!

I would do a little google-research to see how competitive these programs are; you can usually find a page with the average student scores/GPAs/GREs for admitted students on each school website. I'm personally very familiar with FSU because it's my hometown university and I've considered attending a few times. I know some programs at FSU are nationally ranked as being incredibly competitive while others are lacking in applications and are easy to get into. Don't forget that a very strong statement of purpose as well as some glittering letters of recommendation can make the difference when a student has a poor undergrad GPA. I know that FSU has waived their GRE requirement for all graduate programs, but if you think you'd be able to score well, it can only help you to add it to your application package. Good luck!

I took the GRE about two years ago without any studying beforehand (idiot!) and I've been preparing to retake it in about a month. I've sunk about 44 hours into Magoosh so far this summer and I'm struggling to see my scores increase more than one or two point increments. I feel so much better with several people mentioning that they feel Magoosh is more difficult than ETS. Once I retake the GRE in Sept., I'll post more about my experience with their service.

From the sociology side, I think that a math background (with those extra soc classes that you're planning on) will greatly appeal to the Sociology PhD committee, being that math competency is a vital aspect of doing sociological research. In fact, low math scores are often what disqualifies many sociology BA graduates from moving forward into grad school since we really only take one or two math courses the entire time we're in soc undergrad, so I think you have a great case there for changing subjects. However, I would investigate slightly more on what your exact "math-sociology connections" ideas ARE; what is it exactly that you are trying to research? By having a clear and exact idea of your research topic(s), it'll really drive home the conviction of your decision to focus on combining STEM with humanities on the level that you've chosen. I think you're making a great choice! There are so many truly fascinating topics that haven't yet been uncovered by research. Whatever your decision ends up being, I think you have a great groundwork laid already.

Resurrecting this topic for the 2022 application cycle. Hello, Seattle applicants!! ??

Mildly resurrecting this post in hopes someone can help-- I have a general grasp on what the two are and how they differ, but I guess I'm now struggling with which information should go where. For example, I went to college several years ago, did poorly, then returned to college recently and worked my ass off for a 4.0 gpa. I quit my job to go abroad, specifically to work in an environment that gave me experience aligned with my graduate research goals. Would these be SoP items or personal history items, both, neither? When I look up examples, I have a hard time finding anything similar in terms of adding life experience ?

It seems like it would make sense to take on a student that faculty is already familiar with. However, when browsing the admissions reports on the GradCafe main page, I've noticed a few people attribute their rejection to applying to the same school as their previous degree... I can't say I know too much about the reasoning or if that is an actual issue for rejection, I just wanted to report what I've seen. It might just be best to ask your professors directly, "This is something I've been wondering about..." Good luck!

Hello, all! I'm a first-gen college student and the process of trying to move forward with graduate school is becoming an incredibly difficult and confusing set of tasks. I see that this board has some really amazing resources and tips for the Statement of Purpose, but I can't find too much about Personal History essays other than "let's swap" posts. I have no idea what the best way to tackle a PH essay would be, what to include, how whimsical to be. All of it is a total mystery to me. Does anyone have any advice, tips, tricks, etc. for Personal History essays? ? Thank you!!

I've noticed that my programs of interest have been removing their "GRE waived" notices from their admissions pages and the average accepted scores have returned. IRT how the GRE doesn't actually predict performance, I can't help but wonder if there is monetary incentive for requiring the test... ?

Similar question as above - does Miami have reliable public transit? I'd really like to sell my car to cut down on large payments while in school, wherever I end up going, and public transportation is a big factor in my decision.