I've been secretly lurking on gradcafe for about a month and have never posted anything, but I thought that this topic would be a good place to start, since all of these posts have really helped me through the process of waiting for results without going crazy!
One thing that really helped me when starting the application process was to solicit help from my MA and undergrad advisors. My MA advisor gave me some good, straightforward advice - take some time to try and present your work at conferences. This was extremely helpful for me. I’ve been out of my MA program for about two years now, and have been working in the nonprofit world. Getting parts of my MA thesis ready to first apply to conferences and then to actually present at a conference put me right back into academia and really allowed me to familiarize myself with my research again, as well as really think about what I wanted to pursue for my PhD work. When I actually presented my work I was pleasantly surprised by the responses I got from people, which boosted my confidence and made me ready to put all of myself into the application process. Plus it gave me time to hone my paper into a suitable writing sample for applications. My thesis had already undergone LOTS of revisions, but cutting it down to presentation size and getting feedback from people at the conference made it stronger.
I would recommend emailing professors that you’d like to work with at PhD programs. Although I agree that it isn’t truly necessary, I think the responses I got back from professors really gave me a good feel for the programs I was applying to. I got several enthusiastic replies, plus several professors gave me names of graduate students to contact. I would definitely not recommend sending out a form letter, but it can’t hurt to show the professors that you have read their work and have thought about how it corresponds with your own research. Most professors emailed me right back. One told me that she was retiring the next year, which gave me a heads up for my SOP, so I didn’t wax on about how I wanted to work with someone who wasn’t even going to be there when I arrived.
My last piece of advice isn’t suited to everyone but I wish that I would have heard it back when I was an undergrad: take your time! I applied to one MA program and got accepted right out of undergrad. Grad school is really hard. It was a total shock to my system. And it did take me a semester or two to really get into the program, to find a good rhythm and to bond with my peers and establish good relationships with my professors. In the end I think it was a great choice for me, because I really found an area of research that I love, and I made some great connections. But I definitely went through phases of feeling completely disillusioned with academia.
Now, after going through the PhD application process and deciding where I’m going next year I am really happy I decided to do the MA first. I was able to find a thread of research that I wanted to pursue, and able to write an MA thesis which is more polished and well-researched than anything I ever wrote as an undergrad. In addition, working outside of academia for two years after my MA has made me a more well-rounded person and really gave me the time to make a thought-out decision about what I want to do for my career. I know that everyone is different, but speaking from my own personal experiences, both my MA and the time I took to work after I graduated helped me to come to an informed decision. A PhD takes a long time and is a lot of work! I wanted to be sure that I really really wanted it.
Good luck to everyone applying next year!
