snes

Nope, not sleeping tonight. Why is Dec. 15 such a popular deadline?

I might consider putting the note in a section for additional information instead, but I actually don't think it matters (not that I've tried to do such a thing before).

Aww, that's weird. If all else fails, I would fill out the PDF, scan it, and upload it onto an additional documents section.

I did the application last year. It was a button on the left-hand column at the bottom that you could access at any time. It basically took you to a separate application just for finaid. I think this is what you're talking about and I can't imagine they'd change it up this year without being more instructive about it!

Wow, sorry to hear your predicament. I actually don't think you need to address the speeding -- from my experience schools don't care about traffic/driving matters. But of course you have to address the drug charge if the application asks about any pending charges, but do you have any applications that only ask about convictions? I don't see any need to mention the charge if any schools only ask about convictions. Was it a rental car? Was it a used car? Was it a car not registered to you? (Even if it's a car you used but maybe is registered to your parents, or something) I've heard more than one story of this happening to someone who had just bought a used car. Anyway, sorry I don't have more advice but I'd say explain the situation with careful detail, be honest, and I think it will be okay.

I meant 24 hours to spare. WOW. (My verbal GRE is much better than my Quant)

Did anyone else apply to Duke? In my grand Excel spreadsheet I erroneously put Dec. 31st as the deadline instead of the 8th (the 31st being the final but really not preferred deadline). I started casually working on my application on December 7th and realized around midnight. Cue mad scramble! At least I realized with 36 hours to spare.

It certainly confuses me because most of the programs I'm applying to do not have terminal master's programs, only admitting those whose end goal is the PhD.

PhD (with the idea of getting the master's en-route, although I am applying to a terminal master's as well. I already have a few years of research experience and conference experience but I still realize I'm at a preparatory disadvantage). Anyway, good luck!!!

Haha chrisp, anyone who already has a master's makes me feel WAY not confident. I got two in for Dec. 1st (on Dec 1st, as that is how I slowly roll), 10 more to go. Dec. 15th is next for me too! Trying not to cry about what I now think are application-breaking writing samples. At least my Statements of Purpose are shaping out to be WAYYYYYY better than last year's.

I've seen schools specify 5pm but I always assume midnight (as in 11:59pm). I myself will be freshly reading an application tomorrow before hitting submit. (It seems the online app is down right now anyway. Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap.) Edited to add: maeisenb has a point. I would adhere to the school's time zone or your time zone, whichever is earliest.

Dang, who voted me down? It's just advice I've heard from everyone else, but here's more detail: Really, I think if you had to choose between a paper right in your research interest vs. something that's better but somewhat outside your research interest, send the better one! But I wouldn't send anything outside of your FIELD, for example. Anyway, I've heard the advice from a professor on an admissions committee of a highly selective humanities program that they read the statement of purpose first, then references, and then writing sample, which might not even be read carefully. This professor suggested I get into detail about my methodologies (of my primary research interest) in my statement of purpose....this info is also in my writing sample, but again, they're more likely to see it in the SoP.

Unless you find programs with really specific requirements, send your best work. And bonus points if it's only slightly tangential to your research interests.

A lot of them don't. I wasn't interviewed anywhere last year, and while maybe it could have been because I was not in the final cut, I remember reading on their websites specifically than they didn't require an interview as part of the admissions process. But it DOES seem that in some cases you can request to be interviewed, which definitely confuses me a little bit. Columbia at least is one such school.

We are almost in the same boat! First of all, 10 pages is TOUGH. Two of my programs want 15-20, and I've been struggling with that. My advice would be to submit the chapter with a cover page. I once tried to get my 150+ page thesis down to 20 pages, and it's really impossible........you end up losing a lot of the interesting detailed analytical work that I feel they might want to see. So I'd recommend trying to get a chapter down to 10 pages, and include a good abstract. You might want to ALSO submit the full bibliography for your thesis, though I've heard mixed thoughts on doing this. I feel like it can't hurt. (In my case, I'm preparing a 20 page sampling of my thesis that includes an abridged intro, and abridged chapter 3, and an abridged conclusion...this totally omits the 4 other chapters, but I have a summary in my conclusion AND my abstract, and chapter 3 can stand alone, analytically). Second of all, the unlimited option is also tough. I emailed a program directly about it, because they actually said "submit your thesis if possible" but I doubt they'd read my entire paper or even want to. In response to my email, they said I could either submit an excerpt or submit the whole thing with a cover sheet sorta pointing them to the good parts. Moral of the story is: they are probably not going to have the time to read your full thesis, so give them the best part or point to the best part. (For this option, I am submitting an edited but still pretty full Intro-Chapter 3-Conclusion from my thesis, which will amount to 40-50 pages) Do any of your programs require more than one sample? Almost all of mine do. I'm basically writing a new sample and capping it at 15 pages.

I'm doing 11 with most if not all being extraordinarily competitive. The possibility of being universally rejected at that many this year shoots my anxiety level up to the stratosphere. Also, yeah, EXPENSIVE. My one waitlist is the only thing I'm holding on to that I COULD be qualified, considering I haven't changed much in one year other than doing a better editing and selection of my writing samples and a much better Statement of Purpose. Anyway, I spent October figuring out and finalizing my recommendation providers, requesting GRE and transcript sendage, and writing a generic SoP. Now I'm really into the meat of my two writing samples, and find I'm pretty much rewriting one of them. I'll hopefully be done those two soon and then I'll be in a good place to spend the rest of November preparing and individualizing the SoPs that are due in December. Just writing that out helps with my brain. I want to hear where everyone else is at w/ apps, too! We need more music people in this forum!

Well, I think it would be a problem if they had instructions about not including any supplemental material beyond what is asked for. Otherwise, I can't imagine a normal human putting your application in the reject pile because you thoughtfully provided a CV/resume to help them make their decision. They can easily just not look at it, right? Anyway, that's my justification for including a CV with every application.

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