Strangefox

audience breakdown

television audience

color bleeding

eclipse blindness

solar activity > sharp cookie

solar activity

Do they follow this rule?

solar day

Hug Day

By the way, in one of the schools I applied to they do not specify the length so I asked them if 1,090 words would be fine. Their reply was very nice: "If your statement is how you want it, then you should submit that. If you can tighten it up a bit, that would be fine too. We don’t pay close attention to length, but rather look for statements which are well-written." So you can also ask a grad coordinator about that.

Unfortunately, sometimes even if you make it short and crisp, it's hard to squeeze it all in 1,000 words. It depends on what you have to say. You may need to explain some important things in your SOP about yourself and your life choices - and I don't mean by telling anecdotes

Yes, I guess it's too much. The standard length is around 1,000 words so you can make it a liiiiitle bit longer, say 1,050 or 1,070, but I would not make it longer than 1,100, that's for sure.

Wow, that's impressive!

teddy bear

Wow, three offers!! *envy*

So you have already got offers? That's great, man! Congrats

That's cruel! I hope they'll reconsider.

Is there a field where contacting your POI after you submitted the application but before you heard any news from the program not awkward? I am not sure... EDIT: I mean, even if OP has contacted a POI before applying, I believe the general opinion about this issue on this forum was that contacting profs after you have submitted documents but before the program has made a decision is not a very good idea...

I agree that it would be a good idea to include the link to you blog in your application. But letting them know about it now would be a problem... I would not send an email to adcoms, because that seems a bit strange. How many applications do you have? Have the deadlines already passed? You could add the link to your CV, for example, or include it in your SOP and ask graduate secretaries if you can send them a new version (of CV or SOP). What do you think?

Love that!

However some people on this forum seem to think that simply outlining strengths is not enough. That is what makes me confused! Like, there must be a very very special way to write these letters that can really impress adcomms. And other ways are trite and won't have positive influence on them. Like the OP said: "<...> which are all great things to say about somebody, but I'm wondering if maybe they all sound a bit too... typical..? Like, yeah, heard that shit a thousand times about all kinds of students." I mean, what else can be said there, in what way can it be said to make an impact???

Big Brother

Who's stretching the truth like that??

So good letters are long and personal?

I noticed that for some people (for me, for example ) it's kind of difficult to take a detached look at oneself and say: "Hey, man, I am cool! I am talented! I have accomplished so much!". Once you have done something great and important, even if it had been quite a difficult task, it starts to seem like everybody can do that, - but it is so not true! And it really helps to have supportive friends who can explain you what a great person you are, and luckily I have such friends and I feel much more confident because of them. If you have self-doubts, try to list all your accomplishments, everything that made you happy and proud of yourself and I am sure there will be a lot of things on this list!! And I know it is hard to be detached about these great things. I know that from my own experience. I know that there were times and times I overcame difficulties in my life, but sometimes thinking of them I ask myself: "So what?". That is a bad bad attitude. You must make yourself think about these things over and over again (sounds crazy, but it helps me ) and make yourself see that what you did was great, that it makes you special and definetely not worse than all those grade students at the schools you have applied to!