bdon19

WAIT. WHAT? IS THIS REAL??????????????????????????????????????????????

@Timshel, I'm right there with you. My writing sample is in pieces, and I haven't looked at my SOP in days. How this will be ready in two days boggles my mind. At least my top choices have much later deadlines, but still... lkajs;lkjd;flkjas;lkjd;lkjf;lkajsdf

I know some schools specifically state when they want everything in. I remember one of mine said something about 5 pm EST on the due date, where another said by midnight that day. Others don't say anything. I'm going to try to have everything in on the 30th for my Dec. 1st deadline, though.

@Rose: I submitted my app yesterday afternoon and received my UT EID last night. Not sure why it happened so quickly, but I'm glad it did! @ruby: Thanks for the reassurance! I went back and forth with putting M.A. or Ph.D. on my app the first time and ultimately settled with M.A. since I'm applying with just a B.A. Just wanted to make sure that would be okay. This application business is so stressful, I'm starting to second guess everything I do! I'm also super worried with UT, because the way my term fell, I won't be able to get an official transcript for upload until Dec. 5. I'm planning on uploading an unofficial one for now and then uploading the official one as soon as I get it (it may be sooner...crossing my fingers!), and I'm hoping that will slide by unnoticed...wishful thinking? Perhaps.

Okay, so I submitted my UT-Austin application yesterday so that my professors will get their e-mails about submitting recs. I logged on to the UT Austin application management page thing-y, and it has everything on there I've submitted so far. However, it says that I'm applying for the Masters program. I realize this is because on my application I said my first degree I want to pursue is a Masters and the ultimate degree would be a Ph.D., since this is essentially what an M.A./Ph.D. is. But now that it says I'm applying for a Masters I'm freaking out that they'll think I'm dumb because they don't have a Masters program per se, and reject me off the bat. God, why is this so frustrating/difficult??

Blah. This. I've been told this innumerable times, and so I'd been going with the most recent stuff in my paper. Then my letter writers go around telling me to add this and that, all of which are books from the late 80s. These letter writers are killing me. I love them dearly, but they're slowly beating me down, bit by bit. ...Why am I getting this feeling that grad school will do the same?

I was going to suggest this, too! Even though Google Books sucks and never gives you whole chapters in their previews, it's saved me good chunks of time going through hard copies of books by knowing where certain things are in the text. I've come to adore Google Books, really.

Haha, I'm exactly the opposite. I was in a library for about an hour today and that was all I could take. I can't handle too much quiet! Yep. Of course I decided less than a week ago (with very solid prodding from two of my letter writers) that my writing sample wasn't even close to ready, so I'm now using a different paper. Now, I'm desperately trying to make it less "undergrad-y". Gahhhhh. Note to others: Never agree to go to lunch with two letter writers at the same time. They will double-team brainwash you into thinking your brilliant paper is a piece of crap. ;akjs;dljfl;kjas;lkjd;lfj;alksjdf

I've been spending a good chunk of everyday at Starbucks since Friday. It's been really hard for me to get much done, since I'm home for winter break now and, well, my family's house is not the most study-friendly space! Thankfully, I got a bunch of research done yesterday, and I've been scouting out nearby university libraries where I might find a few more things that Google Books was only half able to provide for me. First thing up for today is submitting my Texas app so that my profs have time to upload their letters, now that I know I can upload documents after submitting. Sheeesh, this is hard, though. I've been talking to one of my friends who's a first year grad student now, and she said this application process was the most difficult thing she's done in her life. I really, truly think they make it this hard just to weed out candidates before they even start.

Thanks! Yeah, I got right up to the last step and then freaked out about actually submitting! Haha. Hopefully they won't have an issue with the fact that my official transcript will be four days late... At least everything else will be on time!

For purposes of my own sanity, Ryzhaya or someone else, will you please vouch for me that you can still upload documents after submitting the Texas app?? I'm not ready to submit everything yet, but I want my letter writers to get their e-mails asap. I'm just afraid to submit without reassurance that I'll be able to still upload my documents!

I'm still in the process of dealing with some writing sample issues--I'm using a different paper than I'd planned, at least for some of my schools. This one is definitely seminar-style, and it really doesn't have a ton of sources. Two primary texts, one theoretical text, and four or five critical sources. I was advised to not add any more than that--even if I use other sources, I should replace some of the ones I already have. That being said, I'm still in the process of dealing with my other writing sample, which has one main primary text, a TON of primary texts used as background sources, three main theoretical texts, and a whole bunch of other sources. It's kind of a mess (which is why I'm not using it anymore...even though it kicks way more ass than the other paper. It's just not ready yet. )

I'm having a similar issue with my statement. Essentially, there's one professor who's at my dream school whose scholarship basically says everything I want to say about what I want to do. She'll be showing up in all of my SOPs, not just the one for the program where she teaches, so I'm trying to think of ways to make this not seem like I'm simply brown-nosing at her own program (which is, ironically, Brown ). Luckily, that's one of my later deadlines, so hopefully I'll have fine-tuned my statement by then. What I think I'm planning on doing is integrating this professor in with my introductory paragraph (which kind of goes through and mentions some of the contemporary scholarship on my field and why it's relevant), and then when I get to the "fit" part of the statement going back and referencing her. Of course, this statement as yet remains unwritten, so I'm not sure how it will turn out! ...I need to go write that. Literally right now.

I'm still finishing up my undergrad, but I am finally really starting to see why professors were recommending taking a year off. I've been committed to the process throughout, so they're supportive of my decision to apply now, but I had to prove that I was committed in order to convince them. I just finished my term last night, and so I now have some time to work on my applications. It was ridiculous trying to squeeze in time for them while having a full course schedule, working three jobs, and attempting to maintain some sort of social life (as it is, after all, my last year of college!). I will get this stuff done, but I'm having a hard time motivating myself to get a substantial revision of my writing sample/SOP done by tomorrow. I'm meeting with two of my letter writers on Monday to go over my materials before I go home for winter break. Blah. We'll be done soon, though. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, however dim!

I don't want to take over this thread, since it's specifically about Minnesota, but I have a related question and didn't think I should start a whole new thread. I was going through Brown's application last night and noticed that you can have more than three recommenders--it gives you space to have up to 6. The English department page doesn't give any information about letters, so I'm supposing that it would be okay to include a fourth? Since Brown is quickly becoming my top choice, I've been trying to do everything in my power to strengthen my application there. I have a fourth letter writer in mind; he was close to being my third, in fact, but because he's in creative writing and has been super overwhelmed this term (he has a huge book deadline and is up for tenure, so he's been pretty stressed), I decided to ask someone else. The one I chose will be writing a great letter much more pertinent to my strengths, but the creative writing prof has known me for a really, really long time, knows both my academic and creative work, and I know would write an amazing letter. I feel like I'm answering my own question here--it does sound like I should probably just go ahead and ask him, yes? At least with this single letter I wouldn't feel guilty for eating up his time, especially considering Brown has one of the latest deadlines. Does anyone have any experience with Brown's application in particular, or know anything about how they might perceive an extra LOR?

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I realize that personal anecdotes just don't seem relevant in most cases in the SOP. And, fwiw, a friend recently sent me two SOPs from last year, one successful and one "semi-successful" (she got into the MAPH at Chicago). The "semi-successful" one started out with, frankly, a horrendous personal anecdote--one I might actually call a "kiss of death" type story. It was super generic and cheesy (involving rain beating down on library windows), and I can see how it would have immediately shouted "red flag" at the adcomm people who were reading it. On the other hand, her successful SOP was a lot less focused as I had expected it to be. It was very scattered and didn't really show off her skills as an applicant. Which gives me hope that, if she got into a top-25 program, I might stand a chance as well. Also, I second the advice to show your SOP to a prof or two. I'm going out for lunch with two of my letter writers on Monday to go over my SOP and writing sample. While I haven't gotten a ton of concrete advice from them as of yet, even just the pressure of setting a deadline for myself (I have to have a draft that I'm not ashamed to show to them) is really helpful. We can do it, guys! I'm actually sort of excited (as well as terrified) for February/March to roll around, so we can (hopefully) all congratulate each other on our awesome acceptances!

Holy crap. Good for you. I'm not even close. Once I get a final paper done, then I'll be on my way. But until tomorrow at 5 pm, there's no chance. It's been nearly impossible trying to do my normal coursework and work on this stuff. Thankfully, at the very least, my independent study this term was designed to help me along. But still. I have a ton of stuff left to do.

Haha, yeah, Bon Appetit is amazing! We actually had this local food service provider my freshman year, and it was awful. And our cafeteria at the time was called "Downer Commons." Worst ever. But then my sophomore year we transitioned to a new building and the new food, and it's wonderful! I really shouldn't ever complain...Bon Appetit is committed to sustainable practices and trying to use local food whenever possible, which is really awesome!

All I have to say, is sometimes I feel really lucky to go to a school that has decent food. The students, naturally, complain about it, but really it's pretty amazing. @user_name, you wouldn't have any issues finding vegan food at my school. Bon Appetit is the best!

I know this might not be super helpful or pertinent to your situation exactly, but for what it's worth, the first few times I attempted to draft my SOP, I tried to tie personal things into my academic interests and something never seemed to work. This weekend, I finally had a breakthrough and was able to really hone in on my academic interests--I'm hoping to have a full draft finished in the next few hours, but what I have so far is already much more compelling than anything I've tried to do with my personal history. In my case, I'm using my very field as my "hook"--it sounds weird, but I do think it works much better than anything I came up with before. So, my suggestion would be, definitely try writing both...and when in doubt, research! Just reading a few articles did a WORLD of difference for me (okay, maybe it was more than a few). Nothing helps me figure out how to write something original and interesting like more research, even if that's somewhat of a paradoxical idea!

Yep. Although in my case it took about 10 phone calls before I could actually access them--my confirmation number and social didn't work; I had to use the registration number on my admission ticket (which was buried in a desk drawer). But now I know. I felt like the $12 was worth it, even if only so I can stop refreshing the score page every hour.