whirlpool4

My letters are not sealed. They were just stacks of papers given to me.

This is odd to me because all of my recommenders sent me a copy to read over and asked if they were okay. I have said "no" on all my apps so far, BUT I have not submitted them. It wasn't my fault or my credit that I saw my own letters, so should I have put "yes"? It doesn't really matter to me personally - I had full faith in my recommenders from the start so it's not like I annoyed them to the point that they just let me look at it.

Thank you for this post. I asked for my letters before I graduated and I swore that would be the last correspondence with my recommenders - once I had them, I'd send them in and that'd be that. I only had hard copies and then I found out some schools only take online versions, and I know each school has their own system and I didn't want to put my recommenders through that... then I'd actually have to contact them again. I've been trying to see if I could work around this mess by snail-mailing them in where I could, and then scanning them and emailing them myself. I mean, they wrote the letters, so it's not like I'm forging anything; it's just that I'm sending them in and not them.

I have heard that an SOP for a PhD should be 60% future (what you want to do) and 40% past (what you've done). We all want to talk about how great or inspiring our lives were to lead us up to this point, but you want to get INTO the program so you can keep moving forward. Personally, I think you should lightly touch on the fact that you found out 9-to-5 work wasn't for you - tie it all back to the fact you want to continue the learning process, be intellectually stimulated by admittance into the PhD program, and be innovative with your ideas in the field, given proper training and support. Make it clear that your interpretation of higher education is not "drudgery," but creativity, progress, and optimism. Granted, I am still working on mine as well, but I definitely have not written the bulk of it in one fell swoop. I've had the document on my computer for a few months now, only pulling it up when I feel especially motivated or if I happened to remember an awesome phrase / concept that I could work in there. Lucky that we have digital word processors that you can type whatever and drag it around afterwards. Maybe it would help to not write it beginning to end; just start typing, really get into the meat and potatoes of your interests, and you can edit it to your liking after. Good luck!

I currently work as a tutor at a very small state college and I love it so far! My experiences in research as an undergrad were short-term and scattered, so my interest in a life emphasizing research over teaching does not appeal to me as of yet. I look forward to being a TA, and, after much deliberating between a Master's and a doctorate, I have decided on going for the PhD to eventually teach at the university level. With that being said, I guess I should have looked into schools that weren't R1... We all have been inspired by someone - and I want to go on to be that someone for others! Not as a stodgy undergrad-hating prof, but one who lives "love what you do and do what you love"

Having read those in addition to what I've found online, I realize my writing needs to grow up! Embellishing a story worked for undergrad admissions, but I see now I need to start writing like a college-educated adult. They really need to offer a course for writing in the hard science fields.

I don't know about mentioning in the SOP, but take time to qualify your strengths. You have already taken steps to treat your depression, so it's obvious you want to feel normal and function at your best. Are you a slow learner because you are "too" detail-oriented? Or maybe you think through concepts in non-traditional ways? You have an opportunity to use this to your advantage as a science student if you word it right, I think. Your "slow learning" could have also been influenced by depression, so maybe if you notice it's easier to learn now that you are on medication, you will be well on your way. You also have significant research experience that has been recognized, no less, and your passion for research should shine through. Ask an adviser about formulating justification for the SOP. Good luck!

Plan: immunology / microbiology PhD I was going to write a generic SOP for all my schools until I found out about the "fit" portion, so now I'm going through and seeing what I like about each individual school and with whom I'd like to work. How much research should I do about their research? I am planning to scroll through all the faculty, pick out all the ones whose topics seemed interesting, read some of their papers, and mention my interest in the SOP, but it seems like it would take forever!! I am taking a gap year, so I have a lot of time to do so, but it sounds dreadful to take on. I've also read that you're not supposed to mention specific professors in the SOP? Would I also be expected / encouraged to talk about papers I've read in the interview as well? Thanks in advance