fuzzylogician

Some of the programs I applied to would only consider scores from the last two years. If you are willing to keep an open mind about it and you have the time, you could try taking the test. As long as you don't let a recent-GRE-requirement constrain your choice of where to apply (=you'll be willing to take the test again, if needed). Else, don't take the test now, because eliminating a potential school just because of old GRE scores is not very wise. Your interests may shift in the next two years (you can't be that far along into your program), so you may inquire about schools that interest you now--but there may be others that interest you later. But really, you're probably over thinking this right now, it's a bit early to be worried about things like the GRE. Anyway, from all I hear, it should be better, not worse. And, as you say, research will count much more than your GPA or GRE scores. Re: research, you have more than enough time to gain more experience. If you still have 2 more years ahead of you and you are already presenting at a conference, it sounds like you are doing very well. Besides, you're aware of what you need to do, so you won't let opportunities pass you by until it's too late. If anything, I would say you started worrying too early. If you're going into classics, your time will probably be much better invested in mastering languages that will be required by your programs. That would be something to start early, if you are looking for ways of improving your application.

For what it's worth, it's the content of the letter than counts. It'd be nice to have a reference that can talk about your work within your area of specialty in particular, but a strong reference about your work in another field will be very good too. As far as the original recommender goes, have you tried searching online for another email address (e.g. on a cv, on old syllabi, on publications, or through acquaintances who worked with her too)? You could also ask your department secretary if there is another email address for her on file. If all else fails, you could try facebook; in any event, I wouldn't call someone who just had a baby about an issue like this, given that you have another very good option available to you. One thing that completely wasn't clear to me from your post is - have you talked to this person before about writing you a letter? if she agreed to write you a letter and then because of special circumstances you had to reach her through facebook that would not be the worst thing ever. But approaching her for the first time and asking for a letter via facebook is not advisable. Again, your other option is also very good. If you can submit an extra letter (most schools will allow that) I would say, go ahead and ask your internship supervisor for a letter anyway. That way you at least know that your application will be complete, and who knows, maybe the original writer will write her letter too after all.

What you write sounds familiar; I think most (if not all) new grad students ask themselves these kinds of questions. I know I did. There are several issues here that you may want to address. First of all, can you take classes with the other first-year students next semester? Make an effort to get to know them. It may depend on the particular department, but at least in my department (and actually in all other programs that I know anything about) we definitely make an effort to include new people in our group. Don't assume that the other people in your year won't welcome you. To the contrary: it's very easy to find things to talk about (complain, gossip about). Once you have a better social network, your situation will improve significantly. It's very hard to work all day and have no one to talk with, go out with, or even have lunch with. That alone is enough to make you feel like you're not doing well in your program. There are many things that you can do with friends from your department that don't take a lot of time - anywhere from lunch to a half-hour coffee-and-gossip break. I completely understand what you write about older/married people; they are in a different place in their life. If you can't find friends within your program, maybe seek out a club or some other on-campus activity? It's very important to have something else in your life beside your work. now, in terms of your work, it sounds to me like two things are in order, but they are connected. it's all about expectations. Both on a personal level with your advisor and re: workload. You are working with an up-and-coming advisor, which I assume means that he doesn't have a great deal of experience guiding students. You may want to have a serious conversation with him about your expectations. If you don't feel that he is encouraging enough, let him know. It may be a bit awkward, but it's important to be clear about what kind of mentorship is useful to you. You may find out that he thinks that if he only comments on small stuff that means that you should understand that he is pleased with all the important stuff. Some people are naturally very sarcastic and may not even be aware that they are saying anything offensive. If you talk to him, you'll know better where you stand and then you can think again about whether or not your advisor is someone that you can work with for the next 4-5 years. Another, more important issue, is dealing with the workload. Here again it's partly a matter of your expectations, and partly it's a matter of you making a very clear decision about how much you want to invest in your work. As long as you don't say anything, he may think that you are handling the workload. Or, he may just be (ab)using you and the fact that you suffer in silence. Either way, different people have different ways of solving this problem. I am the kind of person who has to be verbally clear about what is expected of me, so I will let a prof know if I think I'm assigned too much work and can't handle it (or if I could, but it would take up ALL of my time, which is more often the case). Other people I know just don't meet their deadlines. It's probably a much better way to go about it, if you can do it. Just start slowing down and being late. If asked, say it was too much work and you couldn't meet the deadline, or otherwise say nothing. Many times no one will even comment if you're just a few days late, and those few extra days can make a big difference. At this point, before you try to actively improve your life, I would say you shouldn't be considering changing advisors or programs. The first semester is hard regardless, there are many adjustments to be made, especially if you came straight from undergrad. I would say it took me until (at least) the summer after my first year to find my stride. I think you need to develop a social aspect to your life and start better defining your work life in terms of how much you invest in it. After you do that, and find a rhythm that works for you, if you are still unhappy with the research after a while then you should start thinking about switching concentrations. First within your program, if possible (it'll be much easier), then maybe elsewhere. But right now I don't think you're there.

In that case, try emailing her early in the week and maybe drop by her office or call later in the week if she doesn't respond. I suppose the winter break just started so she's not slammed with classes anymore and may have even started catching up on some of her work. Give her the benefit of the doubt.

Dec 15 schools and definitely Jan 1 schools will still be sifting through the all materials that have been sent to them. Some schools take a long(!) time to update their online systems, and some never do; some of my schools never updated all of my LORs when in fact they were all received. If you're unsure try calling or sending an email, but be aware that some things may not have been filed yet.

Hmm, I don't really know what is (extra)ordinary for poli sci applications. I would say, interpret the prompt in the most favorable way, which to me would be to provide explanations of your work and how it's pertinent to your application. I always attached a CV to my applications because it seemed like a good way to sum up everything that the app contained (and usually every app did not ask for some thing or another that was on my CV). None of my apps actually required a CV, but they all had a place to upload additional documents ( it was a "add anything you think may be relevant here" type field). If you really don't have anything to add, then you're right, a CV may be unnecessary.

Some profs almost never answer their email. Do you know this prof well enough to know if she is one of those people? I've always found that for those profs who ignore their email, the best solution is to come by their office and ask them whatever I need in person. That way they can't ignore me.. Otherwise, a phone call could be a good idea. Again, I would wait at least until Monday afternoon or Tuesday; that way you'll know that she has gotten through the most important business that has been unattended since before the holiday and your request will have a higher chance of being addressed. I'd only send an email if this prof is sure to answer it, or else you will have to give her the courtesy of waiting a few days before you bother her again. With the new year coming, that means that you may have to wait until the following week before you can contact her again and you'll be left not knowing where you stand until then.

My guess is that your application materials are not going to be lost just because the application has been frozen. I assume they do that because people may start applications and leave them unfinished all the time. If they can unfreeze your account then probably the best thing to do would be to complete the app that contains the LORs and not count on the school to link the two unfinished apps to each other. Better have one fully completed app than two unfinished ones. Otherwise, you seem on top of things and know what to do -- ask your writers to resubmit the letters to the new app as soon as the school gets back to you about your options. You should have plenty of time to get it all done. It's a bit of a hassle for your writers, but it shouldn't take them too long since the already submitted the letters once. It's entirely possible that they can still access their part of the old application and just copy-paste the content to the new app, even though you've been blocked. It really doesn't sound like anything has been deleted.

My guess would be that "describe" means to do an actual writeup with details. I would even go as far as saying that it invites you to include things that may not be straightforwardly regarded as "relevant experience," as long as you can explain how they are pertinent in 1-2 short sentences. You may want to include a CV/resume regardless (assuming that you have enough things to put in it).

I just looked at other students' websites that were already online and followed their lead. Mostly we just talk about our interests and give a link to a personal website where we have our full CV and publications. But, I'm sure that changes from department to department.

Well, how many other parts of your applications are "mediocre"? In general, yes. A strong SOP can make up for blemishes like lower GPA or GRE scores -- much more so than higher numbers can make up for a mediocre SOP, in fact. The most important parts of the application are the SOP, the LORs and the writing sample (with different emphasis in different fields, those are in general the parts that count most). Just one strong component may not be enough; if your 'intangible' components are strong, you stand a good chance even if your numbers are not stellar. On the other hand, if just one component stands out as strong it may be regarded as an outlier and therefore not be taken seriously.

My classes are usually 3 hours in class and about 10 hours of additional work every week. I wouldn't take more than 3-4 classes a semester. Then there may be additional duties like TA or RA work, and at some point you have to start investing time in your own research. As others have said, it's much less structures than the way you describe your undergrad. Generally, no one will tell you what to do when, just what's expected of you. ETA: I work about 70-80 hours a week on a normal week. They get more intense the closer it gets to the end of the semester (who decided to put conference deadlines and squib deadlines at the same time?). I spend 5 hours in different reading groups and colloqs; 2 hours in a weekly lab meeting; I proctor 1-2 days a week for different experiments that we run in the lab; I am currently involved in 5 different projects; I have weekly meetings with 3 profs, and I spend some time preparing for each of them; I usually have 1-2 other meetings with different people throughout the week; and there is normally 1-2 other odd events. Classwork is not how I spend most of my time.I don't even TA or RA, and I've definitely long since given up trying to do all of my reading. I'm happy if I have time to skim the assigned reading before class; but then, we're not a reading-intensive program, one can get by without doing all of the reading, though of course it's always better to do it all.

If you have sent the email already, be aware that it's likely that many professors will not check their inbox until after the new year. By then, they will probably have several dozen emails that need their immediate attention and yours might get lost or disregarded. You may want to resend your email next Tuesday, to give everybody a chance to get back to their office and work through the initial load of emails.

Provided that you meet the minimum grade requirements for your program (provided those exist), grades don't matter(!). It's research that will make the difference success and failure in graduate school. Don't worry about not hitting the ground running. Grad school is can be a big adjustment. In fact, it sounds to me like you are really doing quite well. What you may need to accept is that you CAN"T do everything perfectly all of the time, and that you really SHOULDN"T be doing so anyway, for sanity's sake. I think it's very important to learn to prioritize, and specifically to learn that it is OK to do no more than mediocre work part of the time, particularly on class projects. Your time and energy should be devoted to getting your own work off the ground, not to solving problem sets perfectly or to having nicely formatted graphs/figures/whatnot.

I left behind my boyfriend when I moved to the States for grad school. The distance made it really hard for us -- time zone differences made it difficult to find times to talk, and we could only see each other once or twice a year, given flight costs and our schedules. We tried the LDR thing but gave up after about 6 months. For us, there was no end in sight, certainly not for the 5 years of my program and possibly more (he had just started a PhD program in another country and his advisor was really one of very few people who could advise him; none of the others were particularly near where I am now). I think it would have been very different if there was more hope. Although it was hard, to me, having a concrete plan to reunite would have made all the difference. Sorry I don't have better news, but I hope that in your case distances are shorter and the amount of time you have to spend away from your girlfriend are shorter too. Hang in there!

I, and many of my friends, wear MIT merchandise. Most of us bought [whatever it was] because we were really cold! Many undergrads wear MIT stuff too, and I don't think that's corny either. I do draw the line at school shorts, though..

Before the April 15 deadline you can go back and change your mind without repercussions. You would need to get the department's consent to defer, which is not always automatic (at least in some fields) but if you've made up your mind, the sooner you act the better. Give the department as much time as possible to act; they may choose to admit someone else to take your place for the coming year, so you want to give them time to choose that person and inform them.

In terms of finding topics for papers, I find that aside from going to the instructor it's also useful to discuss class material with other members of the class. Some of my best ideas come from coffee-break discussions with friends. In terms of getting motivated to do the work, I try to set *small* and realistic goals for myself that I can achieve in very small amounts of time. For example, write one paragraph, then take a break and surf the internet for 10 minutes. Or, read one section of a paper, or just do the references section. It helps to have a buddy system in place. If you tell a friend what you plan to do today (or better--in the next 30\60 minutes) it sets a goal and it makes it harder to make excuses later. It's like a mock form of accountability, but it works. Sitting with someone in a coffee shop, each with their own laptop, and having a work-like environment helps too. But mostly it's just breaking the work down to very small tasks that seem realistic and achievable. Time-wise it helps to break the day up to correspondingly small bits -- for me it's 15-20 minutes. On some days if I can get myself to do something even one 20-minute bit out of an hour+, that's more than I would otherwise do if I'm just sitting there having a not-so-great day.

Though in general I am not a fan of hook openings, I think this one is pretty good. You can probably tweak this a bit later on; two things that I found disturbing were: - the often-bewildering differences between two seemingly similar nations -- The US and which other nation?? - The sweetie-obsessed pre-teen may have blossomed into a twenty-something with a love of politics and history -- twenty-something year-old? Also, how is a four-yr-old pre-teen? If you have space issues, as always, I think the fluff should go first. But otherwise, I actually like this. Of course, I know nothing about how History SOPs usually look, but I'm guessing that this is unusual enough to catch someone's attention. Just my $0.02.

Wow, I never knew credits were so complicated in "lab fields." I guess the first thing to try and do is concentrate on the positive things that are happening for you - first authorship and recognition of your work. Second, if credit/authorship procedures are not set in your lab yet, you should bring the issue up, if only for future projects. Address not only the question of what kind of work merits authorship credit but also something more along the lines of how much work needs to be put in the be considered enough. It's not an exact science but the case you describe sounds extreme so it's a good place to start drawing boundaries. Third, in your place I would probably not accuse anyone of being chauvinistic or treating you badly if there is no evidence of that; can you find ways to distance yourself from this person? From what you say, you don't have to agree to be in projects with him. My strategy would be actions, not words. Just remove yourself from situations where he is around, but don't address his presence in words. Good luck, at the end of the day it sounds like you have a good thing going!

I am not going to give my advisor (actually, the three professors who I meet on a regular basis, because I don't really have just one advisor) anything. I think it would be weird and out of place in the culture in my department.

From everything I've read on this board and on others, two strong letters and a fairly boring third letter are good enough. If you're applying to a non-professional program, a letter from a professor usually carries more weight than a letter from a non-academic person so the meh-ness of the letter may be canceled out by its better source. I was in a fairly similar situation when I applied two years ago (except that in my case the flaky recommender was my MA advisor!) and what I did was immediately approach a 4th professor. I didn't even bother asking schools if it was OK to submit a 4th letter because I felt like I didn't have a choice. In all of my applications, it was impossible to delete a recommender once I had enter her details, and besides in my case it'd look bad to delete my advisor. So I simply added a 4th recommender to online apps that allowed it, and had him send paper letters to the rest of the schools. In the end my advisor came through (at the VERY LAST MINUTE) and I ended up with 4 letters. No one seemed to mind. Bottom line: cover your bases. Better have too many letters than too few, otherwise your app may be considered incomplete and not get reviewed.

A thank you email or card are perfectly acceptable and I agree that I enjoy getting them from students as well. You should send one after your letters have been submitted and you should also update your writers about the outcome of your application process and where you chose to go. As for gifts, first of all you shouldn't give them *before* all your letters have been submitted. It may be construed as a bribe and could place the professor in an awkward situation. Second, you have to decide if they are appropriate at all based on your relationship with the professor. Personally I think a card is enough. Otherwise people usually give baked goods, wine, a book, gift certificates, or take the prof out for coffee/lunch. Be careful, people may have problems with certain foods or drinks, they may already have the book you got them, etc. I just think it's unnecessary--writing letters is part of the professors' job and saying 'thank you' should be enough.

Especially for someone who has been out of school for a while, there is no need to spend a whole paragraph on undergrad. You have more life experience that you could reference. I like a structure that is more or less like adaptations suggested: 1. Intro - what you are interested in and why (I'd save the "why you are applying to school X" for the fit paragraph later on). List 1-2 specific questions that interest you. For a Masters they can be not-quite-worked-out, but the more specific you can get, the better. 2. Expand on specific interests. How did you develop them? Why do they interest you? Give any relevant background you have that has prepared you for studying these questions in grad school. 3. Fit. Why are you applying to school X? You may want to include - specific professors you would like to work with (and why), any special resources the school provides (classes, certificates, access to libraries or other physical resources, location may be important - e.g. for access to think tanks, internships or whatnot that is relevant to IR), unusual aspects of the program - collaborations with profs or students, social atmosphere - if you know anything about it. 4. Goals. What would you like to with your degree? I think this could be a good concluding paragraph. Otherwise, you should have an additional paragraph for the conclusion. So, the focus is more about the present and future and less about the past. There are different opinions about addressing weaknesses directly in the SOP. The best thing would be if you could have a LOR writer address any issues instead of explaining them yourself. Otherwise, the question is really what the weakness is and what kind of explanation you have (you don't have to tell us anything here). You don't want to be making excuses but if you think you need to explain anything about your background the common wisdom is to keep it short and to the point. Write just one or two sentences that end on a positive note - whatever the problem was, you want to convey that it's been dealt with and won't affect your performance in the future. It would be even better if you could attach this explanation as a separate note; many applications have space for you to tell the adcom additional information you think they should know that didn't come up elsewhere. My personal preference is to let one's record speak for itself and not try to explain away any blemishes (which everyone has, btw), except if there are unusual circumstances like a serious illness, death in the family, etc.

I know some faculty members went on my website and read other papers I had posted there beside my writing sample. However, I don't know if they did this before they accepted me, or just before we met when I was visiting schools before deciding which admissions offer to accept. My advice is this - put your paper on a website and give a link to it in the original paper or elsewhere in your application (or both). If anyone is interested, they will go online and read more.