flagler20

What is wrong with professors?????? After reading all these e-mails about applicants failing to hear back from LOR requestees I thought "pity those folk, I don't have anything to worry about". Afterall, I'm requesting LORs from my commitee members for my masters thesis, which I just completed only a few months ago. So I send two of them e-mails 2 weeks ago and wouldn't you know it, I'm cursed as well. Must be something I caught by coming here. Seriously though, one professor missing the e-mail I could understand. But both of them....? And hearing how common this is from other applicants on this board? If it's not some cruel etiquette recently adopted to ignore students who you'd otherwise say no to then I think it certainly calls for some completely new paradigm of email interface and rules for sorting that important messages aren't so easily lost. I'm dumbfounded.

If there is a common number of words per paragraph it is only incidental to a common structuring and degree of detail or depth for a given word limit. That is, don't worry about it. Think about what you want to say, how succinctly you think you need to say it, and how it breaks down into different sections. The number of words that end up being in your paragraphs won't matter if it's well laid out.

I just finished a rough draft of my SOP. It's for a natural resource/geography/social science doctoral program. PM me if you're interested.

To piggy back on this thread: If funding is competitive in the department, should the SOP be used to explicitly state what type of assistantship you want and explain why you are qualified for it? For example, if TA-ships or RA-ships are available (how) would you indicate your interest in one?

You mean look to see where a POI has studied? I don't think that would help. They're much too old for the most part. How specific are your interests anyways? I'm trying to study a certain phenomenon in the management of natural resources that's confined to southern Africa. And when you're only looking at US schools it's pretty limiting.

I'm still struggling to find another school to apply to. For a masters program I wouldn't need to be so worried about the fit of my research interests with a professor or department. But mind you this is for a PhD. In addition to the program I'm applying to I've researched 9 other programs and for multiple reasons have had to rule each one out. There simply isn't another professor with the geographic and disciplinary focus that I'm interested in. Is it that I don't have enough research interests? Those of you who've applied to multiple schools, do you have a different planned focus for each school? Or will you be able to pursue the same research questions regardless of where you get accepted?

Glad to know I'm not the only one struggling. I've written about 600 words so far, and know exactly what I need to say in the remaining 400 or so, but I just don't know how to say it. If it were a personal e-mail I'd get everything across with ease. But to do so artfully and persuasively causes me to second guess myself the whole time I write. And you definitely want to mention professors. Most departments require you to identify a professor who would be a suitable adviser. Even if no requirement is stated it shows that you have researched the department and know what you are applying to. I would say the SOP should be all about your strengths. Never draw attention to something like poor grades. What you need to do instead is advertise something about your experience or background that makes up for the poor grades and hope that they see it as compensating. For example if your poor grades were in a particular subject, but your work experience or professional accomplishments prove good knowledge or proficiency in that subject then talk that up.

Wheeww, big sigh of relief! My #1 school will accept the scores as long as they are still valid by ETS standards. And even Michigan, which states a policy of "no greater than 4 years" has agreed to accept them. Not that anyone but me cares...

I'm working on my first paper to be published, but I'm going to be submitting my application with CV before I submit the paper to the publisher. Can I still include it on the CV? Would I just say "in preparation" or something like that?

This is just a general etiquette question. Did you give any hint of how soon you'd appreciate their feedback in your original email? If not then it depends on how urgent it is to you. If it's not urgent but you just want to make sure they haven't forgot, then tell them as much, but don't act annoyed. Just ask them when they might be able to review it and let them know that they can still take their time. Simple as that.

Even if an application isn't reviewed until 2012 I think the 5 year rule applies to when an application is submitted, not when it is reviewed. Anyways, I'm trying to allay my concerns by e-mailing departments I have no interest in. If most of them respond positively then I might e-mail the appropriate department again. It's just that I e-mailed two separate people (grad sec. and grad coord.) a while ago about the issue, and even though I mis-stated the problem at the time, I never got a reply. If they're that annoyed and uncaring about such concerns then I press my luck to persist, lest they decide on a hard and fast rule on the spot.

I wouldn't be asking if it was only hypothetical. I just graduated from a masters program. I won't go into the details of the masters program, but it is unique in that after the first year of classes there is a 2 year hiatus during which research is conducted, then followed by another year in school to finish up (making it 4 years altogether). Some of you may know what I'm referring to. But this means that the 5 year mark from the date of my GRE was the end of August. But of course if it's by calendar year then my scores are still only 5 years old and will be until 2012. I am in no mood to study for the GRE at this point, don't have the time to study, and I know I would do worse. Another reason I'm reluctant to continue e-mailing the department or calling them is because I consider the fact that I'm coming out of a masters program, and that I'm an attractive candidate in respects that would only really be conveyed through the application, to be extenuating factors if there was any room for leniency. But they almost surely aren't going to suggest the policy is lenient to some random person who inquires over e-mail or the phone. And if an answer has to be consulted with other faculty, and I get the response that I'm dreading, then it almost rules out the chance of my scores slipping through. By coming here I just hoped to be reassured, but now I'm more worried.

Most (all?) schools require GRE scores to be no more than 5 years old. What's so complicated about that, right? Well, for me at least, it's a bit confusing. To start with, the interpretation hinges on who determines the validity of the scores. Since ETS automatically purges all GRE scores that are more than 5 years old, is it that grad departments everywhere simply assume that if an official GRE score from ETS has been sent in with an application that it must meet the 5 year requirement? Or do departments check the scores for the date of the exam anyways? You might think there's no difference, but in fact there is. I didn't find out until recently that not only is it 5 calendar years that scores are aged by (as opposed to it being to the month or day), but the calendar ETS goes by begins in July, not January. That means that if you took the GRE on July 1 then your scores would be valid a whole 6 years (real time). But if departments check the date then I suppose departments could have their own policies, such as going by the month, and invalidating a score if, say, the 5 year mark was in July and the application submitted in October.... If you're wondering why I haven't asked someone in the departments I'm looking into, I have. And they either don't respond at all, or the question doesn't register with them and they respond with the same standard ambiguous policy statement from their website. Anybody know the deal?

I've found a number of potential advisers by using Proquest's dissertation database. You need to go to a university library to access it, but it's wonderful tool for finding the schools and professors that have guided students with similar research interests. In that way it's more informative than looking up the publication history of a professor, because the research they are willing to supervise may be broader in scope than their own particular specialty, and not all professors list dissertation titles of former students. The hits returned when you search for key words in the title or abstract also tell you the name of the adviser, and clicking on the adviser you can see all the dissertations they have supervised. And most dissertations are downloadable, allowing you to identify other committee members as well. Unfortunately the database doesn't include Masters theses which would be useful to search even if you are applying to PhD programs. Does anyone know of a nation-wide database for Masters theses?

I'd be willing to review SOPs as well. My background is in ecology and sociology and I'm applying to a geography department (with a natural resource interest). I haven't finished my SOP but should have a draft in a week to share.

Ultimately it's for me if it will improve my chances of being accepted, but then the question is will it? If I already know that I would accept an offer of admission to a school I have never visited, is there a point to visiting? Does it make all that much difference to the admissions committee if they have met you? What if your prospective adviser isn't even on the committee?

That makes sense. I guess if they're interested in you from your brief intro they can request more info also

If it weren't for having identified the certain professor I wish to work with, whose research interests I wholly share, I probably wouln't even be considering a PhD in the first place. I just wrapped up my masters degree which I completed at the only school I applied to... I understand acceptance into a PhD program is much more contingent on external and unpredictable factors than is a masters program, so I know not to assume I will actually be enrolled somewhere next year, but I was just wondering how many others have put all their eggs in one basket?

I already read that page. In fact that's why I made the post. It conflicts with other advice I've heard. For example, this is from the web page of Colorado State University's Natural Resource Ecology Lab: "Please feel free to contact PIs you might be interested in working with. At a minimum, we suggest your initial contact e-mail should contain the following: A cover letter (or e-mail) describing your academic and research background, your research interests, and why you think you would be a good fit for a given PIs Lab A copy of your resume. Including academic activities, publications, outreach, scientific activities, and other interests A copy of your transcripts or list of courses and your GPA Copies of any pertinent publications you are an author on PIs receive a lot of emails from perspective graduate students. Please give them a few days to get back to you."

I'm a little confused about how much or how little information to send to prospective advisers. Is the standard approach to keep your e-mail to just a few sentences? Because I've read other advice that talked about sending a resume, and I've come across a few web pages of professors that specifically request prospective students to send information such as a CV for the professor to make a judgment off of.