arkel

writer's cramp

Thanks, Kathiza! I think that is what I will do. I'm glad things worked out so well for you!

I was in the middle of an interview for another school... I was visiting the lab, and something came up, so my POI was talking with his students for a few minutes to fix a problem, and they said I should feel free to check my email on the computers... so I did and it was there, with she subject line "Good News from X University"! Needless to say, I had to contain my excitement for this one, and I had to save my re-reading of the email for later

I'm pondering this question as well. I've been getting a lot of advice from co-workers and friends (some of whom have been through grad school and subsequent job search), and many are saying that I should prioritize rankings, as a PhD from a highly-ranked school will help me in a future job search. Yet, I've visited a few schools, and I'm finding that I'm least excited about a top-5 school and most excited about a lower-ranked (but still great!) school (I'm not sure exactly how it would rank - probably about top 20 or 30). Also, the POI at the school I'm excited about is very young, and I would be one of his first students. Some people are saying I should be wary of this as well. I think the reasons behind my enthusiasm about this school are the people, as well as the research fit. Interpersonal factors are incredibly important to me, and the grad students, staff, and faculty here were genuinely nice, and only had great things to say about my POI. Also, every time I think about the research I could be doing with this POI, I get a flutter of excitement about the possibilities. In the past, I've always made my decisions based on what "feels right", and I don't think I would be happy with a decision that wasn't made this way. I've tried formulas and lists, but I don't think they will get me any closer to a satisfactory choice. I'm pretty stubborn, and taking other people's advice at the expense of my gut feelings usually leaves me feeling unhappy. I just don't want to worry about my job prospects 6-10 years from now. Am I being impractical? I want to go where I will be happiest. (Of course, different people make decisions in different ways, and I'm sure lists/formulas, etc. lead many people to their most satisfactory choice!) Also, as an anecdote, which might not be representative: My undergrad school interviewed 3 candidates for a faculty position last year - 2 were from top-ranked Ivy League schools and one was from a lower-ranked school (maybe top-50?), but had a TON of publications. And the one from the lower-ranked school got the job... From this example, it seems like productivity trumps all...Although perhaps at a lower-ranked school, one would need to have greater self-motivation to be really productive, as expectations might not be quite as high?

I agree - different things are important to different people. For me, weather hasn't been much of a factor - I'm from a relatively cold part of the continent, and I really don't mind it (well, maybe I will if it's still snowing in April, but...). Nice weather is more of a bonus, since winter has always been a given. I've actually been getting kind of sentimental about winter this year when I realized it could be my last for awhile! lol. But maybe for others, living in a cold climate would be a miserable experience. I didn't really put much emphasis on the size of the city either. I did my undergrad in a big city and loved it; however I often found I was too busy to take advantage of all of the big city things. I can imagine things will only get busier in grad school... I do think that the prevailing political attitudes in a location were an important factor for me. (At risk of sounding judgemental/ignorant), I didn't think I would feel comfortable living in a place where people's leanings were radically opposite my own, so I filtered out some places before even applying. Unexpectedly, I've found that aesthetics also kind of matter to me. I would probably be miserable going to a school with prison-like concrete buildings. Fortunately, I haven't come across too many of these , although nicer-looking campuses have left me with more positive impressions. I've been to a few of interviews so far, and I've found that the most important things for me have been the people and the research fit. Friendly faculty and students who are doing research I want to do are much more salient factors in my decision. Although narrowing it down to one school might be difficult... Good luck with your decisions!

tongue twister

strike three

turn tables

Good point! My response worked in the field of psychology, but it might not be applicable to English...

It's definitely a great idea to contact professors before you apply, and I think email is the preferred method. On the other hand, a lot of professors are really busy and many do not want to read through a long email and answer detailed questions from potential applicants. When I was looking for potential professors, I sent a very short email, telling them that I was planning on applying to X university, and would be interested in working with them. I summed up my interests in a sentence or two, and then asked them if they were accepting students. I also attached a copy of my CV.... I've heard different things about adding attachments. Some people say not to use attachments in these emails, as they make more work for the professor. To avoid any annoyance, I didn't refer to the CV in the email (eg. please see my attached CV), but just attached it so that if they were interested they could look at it without requesting it from me. I would judge by their responses whether or not to proceed with more questions. Some responses were very brief, one-line responses letting me know whether they were accepting, whereas others were longer and encouraged me to ask questions. Others didn't respond at all (don't get discouraged if that happens). I would be more inclined to ask questions of someone who invited them, or someone who was friendly in their response. In terms of building a relationship... I think this really depends on the person. Some profs might be really keen to get to know you before you apply (one was interested in talking to me on the phone to tell me about the program/answer my questions) but it seems like most prefer to wait until after they've seen your application. That's just my approach...maybe it's a bit passive, but it worked well for me. Good luck!

I would actually recommend writing it in an essay format. I've never come across one that was written in a letter format, and I definitely agree that it would be awkward. Good luck with your writing!

butter chicken (also yum!)

Congratulations! Open sesame

I'm worried too! I'm planning to fly from one blizzard zone to another blizzard zone this Thursday Hopefully everything will be cleared up by then!

first place

blow up

I was asked this in a phone interview, and I focused on briefly outlining my "journey" to realizing that I wanted to attend grad school in my field (for me it started in university so I didn't have to go back too far), and it kind of led up to "so now I am applying to the University of X for grad school". I really emphasized the pivotal moment(s) that made me realize how much I love my field and why I would be happy to study it for many years to come. I took a lot of the content from my SOP and elaborated on it a bit. I think it's a really good opportunity to show your enthusiasm for your proposed field.

white lie

I don't know my left and right either! But I'm pretty good at absolute directions (N,S,E,W), so I don't usually get lost. I'm envious of everyone with synaesthesia! I wonder if there is a relationship between synaesthesia and having academic interests? Also, I'm afraid of my balcony. There was a time (thankfully over now) that I couldn't sit in my own living room where I could see it!

I do the same thing - judging based on their communications with me. Sometimes I don't know what to do when they sign with their first and last name (because it would be kind of weird to start an email: "Dear John Smith...". This happened the other day and I started an email "Dear Professor Smith...", and he responded saying "you should definitely be calling me John." A bit awkward, but at least I know now... As a general rule, though, it's probably safe to be more formal when in doubt, and wait to see how they address themselves in future communications.

I'll be 23. I'm taking a year off between undergrad and grad school, which was a really good thing...but now I truly miss being in school and can't wait to get back and run some studies!

What a great topic! Exercise was supposed to be part of my plan for managing stress, but I've fallen off the wagon in the last couple of weeks! Thank you for the reminder!! For a long time now I have wanted to get into running more seriously, and I even resolved to run a half marathon this year (although I have a LONG way to go before I will be able to do that!). I started out trying to run 4-5 times a week, but now I'm down to once or twice I'm hoping to maybe increase that to 3 times a week, but probably put off any race training until after the application season is over. Maybe now that I've announced my goal on the internet I will have to follow through? I haven't really put much thought into strength training, but I probably should. I usually just add some pushups to the end of a run...acknowledging that I should do some weights eventually but not actually starting. I also started taking beginner ballet classes this month, and they are amazing! They really help me to relax, because the body positions are so precise that I can't really focus on much else (aka grad apps) while I'm trying to do them.

Thank you everyone for the great advice! I was pretty much thinking along these lines... At this point I really have no intention of working with Prof. Y, and I don't think anything that happens during the recruitment weekend could possibly change my mind. I am fortunate enough to have some other options, and even if this was my only option, I wouldn't want to take the gamble of possibly being completely miserable for the next 5 or so years.

Today I met with one of my profs from undergrad, and the conversation turned to my grad applications. I mentioned that I was interviewing at School X to work with Prof. Y, and he promptly informed me that Prof Y is "crazy" (his words, not mine). Apparently Prof Y has been known to use his grad students and take credit for their work, and he mentioned 2 of his previous advisees (now successful scientists) who now do not have contact with Prof Y and actively avoid him. I really do trust this prof to have my best interests at heart, and he has been incredibly helpful in giving me advice about schools before. I wasn't really excited about School X because of its location, but I didn't want to rule it out because Prof. Y is a huge name in my planned field and I was looking forward to meeting with him. I'm a vey impressionable person... I typically assume the best of everyone, but when I hear things like this I have very strong emotional reactions... When I hear that people I admire are actually terrible to others, I immediately feel like I don't want anything to do with them anymore. I just know that if I do visit School X my interactions with Prof Y would be coloured by what I've heard...even if he is nice to me, I will think it's only on the surface. To complicate matters, another school has invited me to their recruitment weekend at the same time, and now that I've learned this about Prof. Y, this other school's weekend is looking more and more appealing (The POIs are letting me come another time, but I would prefer to come to the official weekend). My prof's comments obviously raise a huge red flag, but I just want to make sure I don't act rashly based on my strong feelings about this... Also, if I completely reject Prof. Y's invitation for an interview, do you think it will affect me later on? He is the editor of the biggest journal in the subfield... Ugh... If anyone has any thoughts on this situation, it would be much appreciated!

I'm sorry you're feeling this way. When I was studying for the GRE I had these scary chest pains, and when I went to a doctor he told me there was no medical cause - it was just anxiety. I know it's not as bad as what you've been experiencing, but you're definitely not the only one who has had problems. Obviously I'm not a psychologist (but I do study psychology!), so this advice should be taken with a grain of salt...but often how you frame a stressor can be a big determinant of how it affects you. You are framing the GRE as a threat to your ability to get into grad schools/your future success in life. Instead, you could think of it as a challenge, which will be difficult and will require a lot of hard work, but that you are ultimately able to overcome. An example from my own experience...I went to a particularly soul-crushing school for undergrad, and in my first year of life sciences there were many times when I did poorly on a test or felt I would never understand, but I never attributed my poor results to a lack of ability. Rather, I always concluded that I had not worked hard enough, or not prepared in the right way and it made me even more determined to succeed next time. Maybe I was deluding myself, but it worked - I never really despaired like so many of my peers did. I think this kind of relates to your situation, because it sounds like you have sort of concluded that you will not be able to succeed on the GRE, and when you don't meet your own expectations you attribute it to some personal failing, rather than something you can change and improve upon (I hope I haven't misrepresented your posts, but that was just the impression I got). Also, if you're stressed about the the verbal, I don't know if anyone has mentioned this already, but FLASHCARDS! When I was preparing for the GRE, I made probably over 1000 flashcards with words from the Barron's word list, and my scores improved a great deal from my first practice tests (400s to 700s). It seems ridiculous that rote memorization should play a role in graduate school admissions, but sadly it does. And this kind of studying can be done pretty passively and is not too stressful. When you are eventually writing the GRE, try not to worry too much about how you're doing while you write it - just focus on the question at hand. This might sound easier said than done, but when I was writing, I was convinced that I had ruined my chances of attaining a high score by messing up on some of the first questions. I could have lost my composure, but I was determined to at least "finish strong", and to my great surprise, I did pretty well. Good luck, and remember that you can do it!