fuzzylogician

Do you have any research experience? Conference presentations, publications, honors thesis, MA thesis, work as a research assistant, etc.? Also, do you have well-defined research interests? As you mentioned yourself, a large part of grad school admissions is fit. I know nothing in particular about English PhDs but in general you'll have a hard time getting accepted into top programs without any kind of experience because it's then difficult for schools to determine whether or not you have strong research abilities. It also makes it difficult to determine just how well thought out your research interests are, and whether you understand what you're getting into by applying for a PhD. I think it's difficult to give you good advice without knowing more about these factors. As for the other parts of your application, assuming you GRE scores are high and you have a good writing sample and strong LORs, if you have some research experience then it sounds like you should have a good chance at decent-to-good schools, assuming that they fit your research interests. In general, my advice is to choose where to apply based on what best fits you interests, not based on rankings. But if you still need to hang onto that notion, my guess is that with some research experience and a strong and focused SOP, you could choose some top schools and some somewhat lower ranked schools and do ok (disclaimer: I know nothing about you in particular, etc). One thought that came to mind is that for an English PhD it's not clear how much a letter from a commanding officer will help you. I understand that this is someone who knows you well, but they can't speak to your research abilities or potential as a researcher and teacher, so maybe you should look into having a fourth supporting letter from this person. I think that a letter from a second grad school professor will probably help more, since we're talking about an application to an academic program, not a professional one.

I assume that by diversity the OP meant access to different ways of thinking, methodologies, etc (academic diversity). Otherwise, there is no necessary correlation between where one went to school and one's ethnic diversity, one way or the other.

He's a jerk. There are jerks out there. Unfortunately you are not currently in a position to do anything about this particular jerk (that is, you could try if you feel strongly about this, but I think it's likely to hurt you more than him), but generally I think the best way to fight jerks is go to school, be present (and loud) so they don't forget that girls can do kickass science, then graduate, train, and support other women who want to go into science. The more of us are out there, the harder it is for the jerks to do any damage. That said, I'm sorry this happened to you and I hope things work out for you.

My best advice is: don't do it. You have absolutely no evidence of favoritism in the hiring process. At the end of a hiring process, only one person can be left standing. If you want to interpret that as "giving preference" to that person, then well yes, that's how these things work. Obviously, the person who gets the job will beat the other students from their own department and anyone else who applied for the job. There is no apriori reason why hiring a former student should be prohibited--in fact, human relations are a very important part of the job and if there is someone who you already know you get along with and who does great research, why would you not want to consider them for a job? Moreover, I don't think the "diversity" issue is really something you can comment on. In hiring, a department may choose breadth - hire one person each working on very different questions, different methodologies, etc., to give students a chance to dabble in lots of things - or it may choose depth - hire several people working on similar problems using similar methodologies, to create a strength in that area in the department. Both are valid choices. If you go with depth, you want to create a concentration that will appeal to the best students in that area; you want the people who you hire to get along and work together well. In that case, it's not strange at all to look at former students who have been trained at your school, since they will have exactly the qualifications you're looking for. The fact that you don't get along with this person has nothing to do with where she went to school or why she was hired there. If you clashed with this professor and your advisor took her side instead of yours, that probably has very little to do with the fact that he was also her advisor (I mean, he is your advisor now, why is this one former student more important than all his current students?). Honestly, it sounds to me like you're unhappy and looking for reasons to blame this person and the people who hired her. I don't think that that's a good reason to complain, and since you're not giving us much to back this up, I don't think that your complaints are reasonable, either. If there are specific cases of mistreatment or problems with this professor, I'd try and work those out either with her or with the involvement of your advisor or someone else in the department (e.g. the DGS). I'd advise you to leave the hiring issues out of the complaint because they are not relevant. Your current thinking of leaving and then writing to complain about her hiring sounds like the wrong way to go about it if you want to see any kind of result. The only place where you have a standing is if you can address specific cases where there was an unresolved issue between you and her; hiring issues are just outside what you can reasonably complain about.

There is no way to estimate. If you want to know these kinds of details, you'll have to contact the schools on your list and ask.

This post has been locked because it has been crossed-posted in another forum. To reply, click here. OP -- please stop cross-posting so many times.

This post is locked because it has been cross-posted in another forum. To reply, click below.

Relax, travel, read non-academic books, get a tan, enjoy time off with family and friends. If you feel seriously behind or lacking in one (or more) of the key subfields you'll have first-year classes in, you could write the graduate student coordinator and ask if there is anything in particular that you should brush up on. Otherwise, I would advise against cramming or trying to learn things in advance. Things will happen fast once you start your program and honestly I think it'd be a waste of your time to try and prepare too much for that. You don't know which way your instructor will take things, and besides they accepted you with your background and therefore they must believe that it's sufficient for their program. If you have an assigned advisor and you haven't done this yet, I'd suggest you write, introduce yourself, and thank them for taking you on as their student. Ask if there is anything in particular they suggest you do over the summer. Follow their advice. If there is nothing in particular that they recommend, just say you'll be in touch later in the summer when you have plans for when you'll be there, and wish them a productive summer. Normally, grad schools won't expect you to be there or work/study as part of the program in the summer before you begin.

Oh, my BA diploma took about 9 months to be issued. I finished my requirements in August and was officially awarded the degree in September. Commencement was in June of the following year, and I could pick the diploma up from the registrar's office after that, since I didn't attend the ceremony. They wouldn't mail it to me.* Point being, these things vary quite a bit, so you need ask. * And because of that, I don't have my BA diploma. Looking forward to my PhD diploma, though.

I'm not an English student and can't help directly, but I ran a quick search and some thing popped up. Maybe this thread could help: There are other thread that might be useful if you search for "note-taking."

A friend of mine started a startup at the same time as working on his PhD. He also participated in several big entrepreneurial competitions at our school (which is one of the schools mentioned in the OP), got some excellent mentorship, and did quite well. That was 3 years ago. Last week, he sold his company to, lets say, a company we've all heard of, for a nice sum of money. I haven't spoken to him in person since it's been announced but judging from his facebook posts, he seems quite happy with how things have turned out. That said, I can tell you that his advisors were always very unhappy with the amount of time he was spending on extracurricular activities and were worried about the implications for his research. And they probably had a point -- instead of graduating 2-3 years ago, his PhD is has been on hold for a while. I don't know if/when he will graduate. On the other hand, I'm not entirely sure if he still wants to, since he has other things happening.

You don't need to have citations in your SOP. The SOP should be a document about you, your interests, and your goals. Even if you did need citations, I wouldn't not cite a CNN article you found online.

Friends, SciencePerson101 has been suspended for a week. Please ignore him/her and move on.

This post is locked because it is cross-posted in another forum. To reply, click on the link here:

A few things worth to keep in mind, in no particular order: - interests change. Even if you have a preferred project now, that may change a year or more into the program. - even if you work on your dream project, at some point you're going to start hating it. - because of that, what really matters is that you have a good advisor who supports you and you get along with. - if you go to this school and change advisors, I'd choose based on who you feel the most comfortable with, so if make sure to meet with them all at least once, not just read their work to find the one that's closest to your interests. Finally, have you contacted the Canadian school to ask if their offer could still be on the table, or did you assume it isn't? It's worth knowing for sure. You never know, maybe there is still a way you could have a spot there.

Assuming that you are talking about journal paper, you do your best and you have some people read your manuscript before you submit it. If you missed anything (and sometimes even if you didn't), the reviewers will let you know if they think there is anyone else you should cite. As a reviewer, I always assume that when relevant work isn't cited i's because of an oversight, not plagiarism. It does sometimes happen that what you thought was an original contribution already exists in other work and in that case you will most likely get rejected because of that. Otherwise, everybody just assumed that it's a mistake or an oversight, and you just add the new citations when you revise your paper. If you're talking about a paper for a class, you again just do your best. I think we need to be careful about what we call plagiarism. There was a discussion about this recently on the board. If you read someone's work and used it in your paper but didn't cite it, that's plagiarism. I assume you're not worried about that, because it's completely controllable. If you come up with some idea that it turns out already exists in the literature then, that happens. Especially in first drafts, which a paper like this would be. I assume you'd do a lit search so you should find obvious things but yeah, it's possible that someone said something in 1982 that you didn't catch. That's (partly) what your advisor is there for. Personally, for a class paper, I think that would be a fine turn of events. If we're talking about a longer term project, you have a responsibility to do a better lit review so you should know what ideas are out there. But again -- I wouldn't call it plagiarism unless you are aware of a paper or idea but didn't cite it. I think it's negligent not to do a thorough lit review before submitting a (journal) paper, but if you get caught by reviewers not citing important works that you should have known about, that mostly makes you look like a fool. You do that often enough, and no one will take you seriously. I don't think that's plagiarism.

This is a question either for your department's admin person or the registrar at your university. I can tell you that if you have your department's support you could have a final transcript within a day (at least, I was promised I would have my final transcript the day after I file my dissertation in July). It probably takes longer if your case is not a priority, especially since everyone is graduating at the same time.

That's what the meet and greet forum is for.

Assuming that you are hoping to receive your degree from the university that you are currently enrolled in, this is something that you'll have to clear with them. My guess is that they will not be happy with the idea of a student not attending any classes (in person) and still being awarded a degree from them. Things could be easier once you're done with courses, but I can't believe they'll let you only do one semester in residence and then basically be gone for 4.5 years. I'd ask about possibilities of being away for some of the time, but I think it's good to be prepared for the possibility that you'll have to spend some time on campus in the next two years.

My guess is: your major GPA should include grades from everything that was required for your major, regardless of whether it was in your department or not. Reasoning: that's what they granted you the degree based on, so that's what counts for GPA calculations.

I can't remember any application that asked to combine ugrad and grad GPAs. That sounds like a very odd thing to request, if you ask me. If I remember correctly, apps asked for a GPA for each degree you had separately.

1. How about "PhD student in X, Y University"? 2. Good like helpful for your CV? Research assistantships or some teaching, especially of the kind where you create your own syllabus. Good for your bank account? Whatever you can find. 3. Having teaching experience helps when you go on the job market, especially if you apply to LACs or schools with large undergraduate programs. If all you do is adjunct for several years after you graduate, and especially if this means that you don't have time to publish, then that will not look great on your CV. I think it's not so much the adjuncting by itself that looks bad, but the lack of research that this tends to cause. In general, if you spend more than a few years drifting from place to place doing anything, that won't look too good on your CV. But a couple of positions at good schools, or a prestigious postdoc and a visiting position, sound better to me than the equivalent amount of time spent at whatever small school where you are the only one doing your kind of research, teaching a 4+4 load.

Good luck. I hope it works out!

No need to double post. Original is here:

I agree with the others -- if you're acknowledged for research contributions, you can mention that project in CV under "research experience" with an explanation of the duration of the project and what you did for it. If you're acknowledged for some small technical support, suggestion, helping to proctor an experiment that you otherwise didn't contribute to, etc., I don't think it should be on your CV at all. Either way, people are thanked in acknowledgements for lots of reasons, not all of which are serious research contributions, so an "acknowledgements" section wouldn't actually tell me whether a particular project actually deserves to be on your CV.