fuzzylogician

Your SOP should stand on its own. Don't assume that anyone will look up your MS application file and read its content--say everything you want the adcomm to know in your new SOP. Since it's a 500 word essay I'd suggest concentrating on the more recent development of your interests and not on the past. Hopefully if you mention having been previously accepted to the MS program the adcomm will know that you were a strong candidate back then, and are probably an even stronger one now.

I suggest you remove any identifying details from this post (your name+details of your publication, school names). I'm not sure you want people to be able to find this post when they google you.

From one of last year's threads: "I had far worse typos in my apps. In one of my essays the word hitch ended up as b**** and makeshift became makeshit. Needless to say I am still deeply mortified."

Ugh, seriously, stop tormenting yourself. One typo is not going to make any difference in your application whatsoever. If anybody notices--and that's a big if since none of your friends noticed it when they reading--people are just going to think your sop has a typo in it and move on. No one will deny your admission because of a single missing word.

There are two general approaches to the opening paragraph. One is to use a hook/anecdote and the other is to dive right into the details of your work. From the structure of what you already have it sounds like the latter approach may suit you more. Maybe you could lead with one or two of the questions you're interested in working on and have that lead into your "intro to research topic" paragraph.

There are conceivable ways of working that information into your SOP that I think can contribute a layer of maturity and understanding of the field to your essay. I mentioned something similar when I talked about spending time abroad at a university that was in a city where a lot was happening, and how that changed my perception of the field compared to my knowledge beforehand at a university that was pretty isolated.

I would cut that sentence out altogether since it's stating the obvious and is therefore a waste of space. If you insist on having something there then I'm conflicted - on the one hand I'm leaning towards the least obvious option, which I guess is the last one, but on the other hand that sentence is long and kind of awkward so maybe the first option is better. The second certainly isn't contributing anything. Again, I think the best thing is to not have this kind of sentence at all.

I'd remove the heading, it's irrelevant in that context. If you mention this course in your SOP, you could add a line saying that you're submitting the paper you wrote for this course as your writing sample. Another way to go is have the professor you wrote the paper for mention it in their letter, if they're writing you one.

A personalized letter is much better. Think of the LOR as extending and supporting the fit paragraph of your SOP; if it argues that you are a good match to a specific program (and gives good reasons, of course) then it's much more convincing than just saying you're generally a good student. This is all the more so true if the letter writer is a famous person whose opinion the admissions committee is likely to trust. ETA: if you're on good terms with the prof you could either offer your help filling out online forms or putting the right forms in the right envelopes; or you could just tell them your concerns. In any case, if they send the wrong letter to the wrong school it'll reflect badly on them, not you (and you'll never know...)

I don't see a reason why you would want to do send anything via post. If a school allows its applicants to submit the WS online, then it must have some kind of procedure whereby these files are printed out and attached to the applicants' files - the same as must be done with the portion of the app that you fill out online and the other documents you attach (cv, sop, etc). There doesn't seem to be any advantage to printing and sending the paper in yourself. I'd save the money.

I didn't have a cover page for my writing sample at all. I put "Fuzzy, app for PhD in Linguistics" on the top margin of every page of the WS and "writing sample, page nr#/total" on the bottom so nothing could possibly get misplaced or lost. On the first page I also put the title of the paper. I basically had this same format for the headings of all of my supporting materials. For stuff that I sent via surface mail I had a general cover letter that contained my name and personal info, the degree&dept I was applying to (in case the letter was sent to the grad school) and a content list of everything found in the envelope.

I had a similar situation with a course I was TAing in spring semester and with a presentation. I just wrote 'expected' (and the start dates) next to those entries and put them in the relevant sections of my CV. I also think my LoR writers mentioned these things in their letters, so it should have looked convincing enough.

I dealt with a similar situation last year - one LOR writer who I seriously worried wouldn't write the letters in time, if at all. I ended up contacting a 4th person who agreed to write me a letter last minute. The original prof also came through (submitted the letter at like 11:59 on the last day, ugh!) so in the end I had 4 letters. I didn't contact the schools beforehand to make sure it was OKIt didn't seem to do any harm because I was pretty sure I was only going to have 3 letters, but it didn't seem to do me any damage. Maybe try this method..do you have anyone else who could write you a letter last minute?

I didn't apply to any of the universities you're applying to but my experience was - most universities have websites where they update supporting material. It usually took them some time to update things, none were completely updated until after the application deadline and some never were.. The departments' websites had information about how/whether to contact them to inquire about whether your materials arrived; most said they'd contact applicants if anything was missing. I know some schools explicitly say not to contact them, others direct you to someone on the administrative staff. If you don't know, I'd suggest contacting the grad school and asking. This is one of those things you just have to contact the schools and ask. Anecdotal information from people who did or did not have their scores held at the grad school won't help you.

A lot of my schools had that comment and it didn't mean rolling admissions for any of them. For some it meant "if you get the app in before the holidays we might glance at it before christmas (but we'll still wait until after the holidays to really decide)" ; for others it was more that if you do things last minute they are likelier to go wrong - either lost at the post office or at the grad school, or just take longer to get to the department for consideration, because the influx of apps that come in last minute slow down their processing at the grad school. It'll also take longer to notify you if anything is missing; but in my experience, if they're interested in your app they'll let you know if something is missing even if you did turn everything in at 11:59pm on the due date *sigh*.

For the rolling admissions school you want to submit as early as possible if you think your current score is good enough, and then write when you have the new scores and ask to update your app. For the others, as long as everything else already filled out and waiting, you can even submit on the last day--it makes no difference as long as it's on time. I think you should have plenty of time for the Dec 15 deadlines.

Is there any reason to submit now (like rolling admissions)? If not, why not wait until you have the new scores and submit then?

All of the above, plus the advice I got when I did this last year - don't be afraid to say "I don't know" if someone asks you something you really don't know the answer to. It's OK not to know everything, and besides it's easy to spot when someone is bullshitting their way through an answer. Be prepared to say something like "I had never thought about this question; I don't know the answer but it's an interesting thing to think about" or some such. Take your time to think before you decide on an answer - the silence will feel longer than it really is, don't be phased by it. Also, and this is mostly true for phone interviews but also for in-person interviews, don't be afraid to ask the interviewer to repeat or clarify a question if you're not sure what they asked. Good luck!

Don't mention your job at all. It doesn't sound like you have a research related job, so it's not like you'd be fooling the committee into thinking you'll have about a year's worth of experience more than you'll actually have. If it's just an industry job, the committee isn't going to care what it is or when you leave it.

It's not crazy to be nervous applying with however much background you have. Everybody is unnerved by the application process. Your stats are very good; what you didn't mention but will have a bearing on your success is if you have any previous research experience - honors thesis, RAships, independent study - that sort of thing. Travel alone is not enough to demonstrate ability to conduct research, though it will show interest and possibly dedication to the field. You also didn't mention how defined your interests are; maybe the fact that you only have 4 schools on your list indicates that you've been able to considerably narrow down your interests--that's both good and bad. I'd strongly suggest applying to more than 4 schools, because if you strike out you'll have to wait a whole year to have another chance to apply. On the other hand, well defined interests will help you demonstrate good fit with the departments you're applying to and increase your chances of being admitted there. But I'd still suggest finding at least 1-2 more schools to add to your list. Good luck!

I'm confused as to what the poll is asking me to choose between. Is the third rec from someone from your undergraduate or graduate program? How long have you been out of undergrad (this will have a bearing on how relevant the excellent rec is going to be)? Are we choosing any 3 of the 4 options or have you decided on one or more of the recs? I am inclined to suggest going for two excellent recs and one mediocre from a famous person, but I'm hedging because I feel it depends on how seriously the excellent rec from a ug professor will be taken - if it's talking about what you did one year ago or five, if it can attest to your ability to do research at all or in specifically poli sci, if what it says about you as a student can be verified by the other recs as still true and consistent (I assume it can). So, I'm going to go with 3,4 and 2; but if there's a chance the ug letter will be disregarded as irrelevant, I'll go with 1,2,3. That's my two cents.

What people tend to do is have the same basic SOP that's unchanged, plus 1-2 "fit" paragraphs that need to be changed for each school. They're also going to look roughly the same, they'll basically differ in the school name, names of profs you want to work with and maybe a few other things like a mention of the labs, libraries, special programs or whatever else drew you to each school.

I think this is one of those insignificant thing applicants worry about but make absolutely no difference.

Regular paper. I don't think anyone is expecting fancy paper - this is not a job interview - so save your money.

That's what I heard diversity statements were for. I had written them for California schools last year, and as best I could surmise they were only for funding considerations and had no effect on acceptance decisions.