[Letters of rec]

They should defintiely type them! To do otherwise is very unprofessional. If they can't send them on-line (which most schools prefer if the option is available) they should send them snail mail. they should be printed on school or company letter head , sealed and signed across the envelope flap. Often times schools won't accept them otherwise.

Tailored letters are best.

[Plan B if rejected]

Apply to many more schools! Getting into grad school is more competitive than ever. I know many who have been rejected from all schools the first and even second time they apply to get in. There must be more schools somewhere. Ask your professors for advice on where to apply. But again, I'd recommend applying to many more and at different levels (reach school, match and safety). Again, when you apply to grad schools you must remember you aren't really applying to schools but departments. It's the department that has the rep so research some places.

If you need to go to plan be consider some of these options:

Work full time.

Temp full time to try different things.

Peace Core.

Teach English in a foreign country.

Travel.

Intern.

Try getting a fellowship or residency in your field.

Gear up for the enxt round of applications.

Or do a combo of all of these things.

Good luck.

[personal statement]

Does sexual orientation 'count' as diversity in general, do you think? I have to write the diversity statements for a couple of UC schools, and at a visit, a professor advised me to write about anything at all that might count, as it is a good way to get funding. I'm middle class, American, white, with college-educated parents, etc. so I'm not sure what to write otherwise. The professor's words were that "any group that was traditionally less likely to go to college" was game, so it doesn't seem like sexual orientation would qualify by that standard. Also, my research is completely unrelated to gender/LGBT studies, so it really has no bearing on anything there.

I think it counts. Gays and lesbians are still often times minorities and treated unfairly. If you have something to say about how you've helped them or whatever it would really be good. Diversity affects everyone, males, females, blacks, whites, rich, poor, disabled, able-bodied, married, unmarried, singles, couples you name it.

I also don't think they are taking this statement literally, Like, what specifically have you done. Anyway in which you have helped someone succeed or open a door for them that might not have otherwise been opened is fair game in these statements.

[Applying to Gallatin M.A. Program- Feedback]

I don't think anyone can really rate your chances. Admissions are a weird and confusing world and that's why we need forums like this, to try to make sense of it the best we can. It's anyone’s guess as to whether or not you'll be admitted. I’ve work in admissions and it’s really up in the air and kind of a luck thing a lot of times.

I think the important thing is to decide if Gallatin and NYU is right for you. I graduated with an MA in Individualized Study from Gallatin in 2008. As of right now, I've been unemployed for a year and now work as a receptionist at a metal company. My focus while at Gallatin: dance and film. It's a competitive field but my friends who did the straight film programs are working in jobs at least slightly related to their majors.

You mention something really important in your post. You want to teach. If you want to teach media, you pretty much need and MFA or in your case, since it sounds like you are doing theory, you will need a PhD. MA’s get hired but it’s rare now with all the competition and you can’t get tenure. I forgot to mention that despite my 4.0 GPA, high GRE and stellar SOP, getting into PhD programs has been challenging- no one likes someone with a degree in "Individualized Study", no one even knows what it is. The more you explain it to them the more they get confused.

Now, while so far I've talked Gallatin down, success in Gallatin depends on one thing: you. Gallatin is a program for highly motivated people who have a dire need for degree in which no school in the world offers. You MUST be highly self-motivated and most of all self-disciplined to be in this program. I don't know anything about you so I'm not sure why your GPA etc. wasn't where you wanted but was it because you weren't self motivated or disciplined enough to earn higher grades? I'm just asking because I don't know you. I'm not assuming. Actually, you appear to be motivated since you do a lot of outside work which I found really impressive. I think Gallatin likes people who still get good grades, but I think you recognized that they also like people from untraditional backgrounds. Both are highly important for this competitive program.

Anyways, what you wrote in your post about how no other schools offers you the opportunity to preserve new media was very convincing. I'd still check out Rochester and UC Irvine (Visual Studies). They are very interdisciplinary, slightly less competitive schools and focus a little more on new media. It's kind like Gallatin but actually, probably more better for you since the focus is on media. Gallatin is one big independent study for a hodge podge of majors and where you are all alone with no one to help or guide you. Anyways, back to what you were saying in your post. You clearly mentioned you felt there is no other program for you and you mentioned why your research idea is so important and helpful to society. Perfect! Put this in your SOP. I also really felt your passion for what you want to do.

Anyways, I know I’m jumping around here but I’m really passionate about my time at Gallatin. I can’t decide myself whether I liked it or not, or if it was worth it or what. It’s hard to tell with this horrible economy. It’s hard to think about what if I went to another program...

I guess the main things about Gallatin are this:

- Most people don’t like it. Strangely enough they say there is not enough structure in Gallatin. Of course there isn’t...you got to design your own degree! If you know EXACTLY what you want and how to get it then I encourage you to apply to this program.

- I found Gallatin to be awkward in ways because you are in a program with other people who are studying stuff not related to you. All the teachers at Gallatin say this is good because you can see different points of view. I left bored and feeling unprepared and like I didn’t have enough exposure to what I really wanted to study. For example, a class we all have to take is this thing called Proseminar. There are 16 people in the class and 16 weeks of school. Each week we read literature related to someone’s topic who is in the class and discuss it. So for weeks I had to listen to stuff about queer theory, Evangelicalism, children’s book theories etc. Again, my concentration was on how to film dance. I was bored and did not find the other topics helpful to my research.

- You might not think this next part is important but it is. Not having really a major or home base makes Gallatin feel like you don’t belong anywhere and it’s a weird horrible feeling. If you go to a regular master’s program you will be with the same students for 2 or three years. You’ll make great connections. At Gallatin, you see everyone once and are lucky to see them again since everyone is doing their own separate thing. They try to create classes like Proseminar to make the program more cohesive but it doesn’t work. At Gallatin, other than those core course you must take (Proseminar etc.) you have to get permission to take courses in other schools and not only is it a big hassle but I felt a lot of people hated Gallatin students since we were “visitors” in their program and were “intruding” kind of. Tisch folks never made me feel welcome.

- Remember that at Gallatin, there are no real classes for grad students (other than Proseminar, and Master’s Thesis (Review of the Lit you do alone as does the actual Thesis “class”). This means you have to take classes outside Gallatin. If you are doing media, more than likely that means Tisch classes. Tisch classes are practically all off limits—despite what Gallatin says. Here’s an example. I wanted to take a film production class. They said I could take a Tisch class—just not a graduate level one. That meant I could take an upper division undergrad class but have it count towards grad credit. I was mad but thought, “whatever”. My mistake. They told me I could take an undergraduate level class “as long as you’ve taken this class before when you were an undergraduate” . By the way, they told me after I had accepted admission. So, half of my work at Gallatin was a repeat of what I did as an undergrad myself and to top it off, the undergrads at NYU Tisch were a little snotty. ..Just my experience. There is this thing Gallatin talks up called Tisch Open Arts. Again, before I enrolled in the school they said “there are many opportunities to take Tisch grad level classes in film and screenwriting with Tisch faculty if you are a grad student...you just got to do it through Tisch Open Arts” I looked at the Tisch Open Arts thing. Apparently this is a set of classes anyone in the University can take. I saw a graduate level course I liked, signed up for it, showed up and realized it was cross listed with and undergrad course. I was the only grad in the course, everyone else in the class was a sophomore or junior just taking the class as a “fun” elective, the teacher-who was an adjunct with no experience in the subject treated like that: not a serious grad level class.

- Gallatin is what you make of it and if you carefully design your degree, know what you want to do, are motivated and focused and willing to work hard then maybe it’s the program for you. Just remember that you still have to do a full out Master’s Thesis and oral defense and its hard!

- Make sure you get an experienced advisor who is passionate about your work, has experience advising grad students and believes in you all the way until you graduate and beyond when it’s time for that PhD which you will need to tech like you said.

I chose Gallatin because like you I had a very specific goal. I wanted to study dance and film. I wanted to combine both theory and production too. No other school would let me do this. A dance program would focus on dance and neglect the technology and a film program would not support my desire to combine film with dance. Gallatin did. I think I accomplished this very specific thing I had in mind but it was specific now it’s hard to find a job...and we have a crappy economy.

Keep researching programs. Gallatin is not the only choice. Apply to a lot of schools. Win them over with your SOP and be confident. In your SOP mention actually classes you want to take (include the course number) so they can help you decide if your proposed course of study is even feasible (if you get rejected maybe it was only because what you wanted to study there was not feasible—not because of you).

I wish you the very best of luck. Anything is possible. Go for your goals.

Feel free to message me if you want more info on NYU in general or even NYC, living in NYC or whatever.

I’ve got lots more to say about NYU, Gallatin and the big apple but I’ll leave with this post for now to ruminate on.

Have a very happy applications period!

[Outside Funding Question on Aps]

Some applications (I'm applying for PhD in Cinema Studies etc.) ask what outside scholarships I have applied for or are applying to. How important do you think it is to mention your are or aren't applying to any? Do you think if we are applying to one then it looks like we are more serious about getting in, appear more resourceful or helps the schools since they won't have to fund you as much should you be awarded this outside grant? I suppose if you already have won a grant it looks great.

[Ready to contact professors...]

I feel the same way as everyone. I emailed two professors last night. They emailed me back in about an hour all curious about my research. The only thing is that I used up the intelligent stuff to say in the first email so now I'm stuck.....lol

[Hire a professional admissions consultant?]

I also mostly agree with the above poster. I think generally they are rip-offs as well. I was lucky enough to easily afford a consultant however when applying to undergrad. The person I worked with was very vague and did for the most part tell me stuff I already knew. She did tell me a few key things I think really helped but I'm not sure if it was really worth the price. I got into all the schools I wanted but I'm pretty sure I could've done it with out her.

I applied to grad school and also could not get in two years in a row. My first two years I did aps on my own. The third year, like you, I was tempted to get a consultant but couldn't afford it. I was told for my field (cinema studies) the most important thing is the statement of purpose so instead of getting a full on consultant to go over everything, I got one that specialized in reviewing SOPs. The service was cheaper. I got in after doing this. I don't think it was my work experience during that time off that helped me get it. Maybe it was but I thought it was my SOP that got me in.

While I feel like the person who review the SOP was ok and the admin consultant mediocre one thing I really did like was the feeling I had after working with them, I felt like I had left no stone unturned and had done the best job I could. After I turned in my ap I wasn't like "Oh, I should've done this on my cv and I should've written that in my SOP". I was confident. In a way that was worth the price.

Keep applying and do your own thing. You know yourself better than anyone. Never give up on your dreams.