rems

OH I feel like I could have guessed that. This literally made me laugh out loud. Like, literally.

Not trying to be the totally ignorant one, but what's "B.Q.S."?

Mine too. My writing sample is from my MA thesis, and my SOP talks about how I want to expand that idea into x,y,z. So, long story short, my SOP and writing sample match pretty much exactly.

I would reply with a thank you. I did this for one prof email, and he actually emailed me back AGAIN saying good luck with my applications. I didn't respond to that email though -- I just let it go at that point. A "thank you" is just manners, really. You initiated the convo so you should end it too.

I took it last year, and I took ALL the practice tests I could find and they didn't help that much. Just FYI that I think you'll do fine with or without the practice tests. BEST OF LUCK TO ALL OF YOU TAKING THE TEST TOMORROW!

bfat -- that's great! Thanks for the info! I find it kind of strange that they have so little information on their webpage about it, and I only found out about the two statements by signing up for the application software and clicking through it until I found the page asking for the two documents with very brief descriptions of each one. nada.am -- If I hear back from them in an email (still no reply! It's been over 48 hours! grad school panic attack!) I'll post it on here. I'm assuming their SOP's are no different than anyone else's, so I just need a "fit" paragraph tailored to them which I've already written. I'm hoping that it's not "too" late to really work on that SOP because their apps are due, gulp, Dec. 1.

I think it depends on how "final" or "finished" your writing sample is. If you have more to do with the work you submit as a writing sample and you have an idea of how you want to do that work, I think your writing sample can demonstrate your familiarity and know-how in the field already. There's nothing wrong with already knowing a lot about your field as long as you indicate that you're going somewhere else with it, like a tip-of-the-iceberg proposal.

Has anyone or is anyone applying to Minnesota? I can't seem to find any information about what they require for SOP's. The actual application software stays to upload two "statements" and gives generic information for each one, but this is for the graduate college at large. I emailed them about it Tuesday night, but I still haven't heard back. I'm trying to do the polite thing, and give them a few days to get back to me, but I'm starting to do the graduate student thing instead and freak out about it. Does anyone out there have any experience with their admissions process? And/or does anyone have any experience with what they're looking for regarding their SOP's? It appears as though they require two -- one statement, one personal statement -- and an option to write an entirely separate document explaining extenuating circumstances to explain rough patches in your application. Long story short, WAY TOO MUCH WRITING. A huge THANK YOU to anyone out there who has any advice about this situation.

Thanks everyone for their advice and input! I'm thinking about not mentioning teaching specifically in the shorter SOP's, and just letting my CV do the talking. When I mention my goals for the future, I have a sentence that begins with, "As I am in my third year of teaching freshmen composition, blahblahblah..." to at least give it a nod but not focus on it. I wasn't sure it is "expected" for us to mention teaching if the department doesn't immediately specify mentioning it. proflorax: I admire you for doing rhet/comp! It's really big in the department I'm in now, and I hear a lot of talk about the current field and keeping up with the theories. At least literary theory moves kind of slowly -- rhet/comp seems to change every month or so! Best of luck to you!

Yet another "SOP" question. I appreciate everyone's patience. For those who have already taught at the college level, how are you going about addressing your teaching experience in your SOP? I'm just interested in what different people are doing for this. I currently have three different "teaching" paragraphs written up. One simply states that I'm in my third year of teaching and addresses what I teach, one addresses the specific classes I teach and my interaction with the graduate teaching program at my undergraduate, and one address my teaching philosophy. I'm not sure which one I want to use yet... I think all three have their place. Also, some schools ask that you specifically address teaching experience in the SOP while others say nothing about it. Wisconsin-Madison, for one example, SOP is max 500 words -- should I waste space on addressing teaching while it states it in my CV? This isn't necessary asking for advice (though it's always welcome), but, rather, I'm just wondering how people are approaching this aspect of the application.

I'm been debating this recently. I took the subject test last year, scored pretty bad (55%), and didn't plan on entering my score. But I had a prof tell me that sometimes it looks good that you even attempted the test no matter what the score. I second this question.

I think length and what to talk about is a case-by-case thing. Some schools call for 1-3 pages, and some call for 500 words. The ones that let me write 3 pages are gonna get 3 pages all of which will be significantly trimmed down for a 500 word-er. That's kinda where my original question came from: In 500 words, how am I supposed to address past intellectual pursuits while equally addressing future intellectual pursuits AND fit? ONE MORE BC I CAN'T SHUT UP ABOUT IT: When writing about the future, do we need to "promote" our study? Like I think this is relevant because of x,y, z? How do we balance that and not sound like we're bragging? OR should we be bragging?

I didn't think about that! Thank you for your advice -- I'm already leaning towards NOT doing this. In criticizing myself for what I wrote, I think it may sound gimmicky... Almost like "Look at how quirky and fun I am! I'm "different" than those other SOP's" which isn't all the different at all. In fact, reflecting upon this I'm realizing that it sounds kind of tacky, and a little annoying. Thanks everyone for your input!

Would it be application suicide to mention in a SOP that you are not a "typical" student for the school you are applying? For example, if you're applying to an ivy or top ten would it be really stupid to say something like, "I know I'm not your typical candidate. I come from a small, state liberal arts school that no one has ever heard of. My first two and half years of undergrad culminated in a whopping 2.03 GPA, and my GRE scores are not even close to what you're probably looking for. But I think this is what makes me unique..." etc. etc. to list achievements, fit, and all that other good stuff. I'm just wondering what people's first reaction is to something like this. I feel as though if I'm applying to schools the level of Brown and Stanford that I might need to mention that I'm aware I don't typically fit the bill for what they're looking for. BUT, I fear that that might be a really bad idea. Maybe they wouldn't have even thought that if I didn't say anything... I know that we should mention faults and blips on our records, so I'm not sure if it would be okay to mention to an ivy that they're, well, an ivy.

Whitman. When it comes to American literature, everything is traced back to Whitman -- know it backwards and forwards. Emerson too.

Wait a second, I hadn't really thought about this before: I've been making lists of what is needed by each school for application, and I've realized that every school just says "Writing Sample" and the length. SO, are there certain unstated requirements of the logistics of the writing sample? What I mean by this is should it have a cover page? Should I have page numbers? Should I stick religiously to MLA format or APA for whatever or does it not really matter as long as it's consistent? Does anyone have any experience with this? Those of you who applied last year, did you contact depts. ahead of time to ask these questions or does the format of the sample not matter at all really as long as it's the right length, and it refers to the topic? What about font size? Can I make it size 11 to squeeze in a few more sentences per page, or will I get thrown out for that? AHHHHH application melt down!

DITTO

We recently "remodeled" the composition program, and now we do one for each paper -- 3 a semester! It is quite awful.

I've been reading over my end notes in between student conferences today (for those who haven't taught freshmen comp, conferences week is the WORST week of your life and it happens three times a semester), and I think sometimes they're useful and sometimes they're, well, kind of bragging about how much I know. I like the use of end notes because I think it reflects the genre (think articles), and shows I can write on that level. OH WELL. I guess that answer is cut anything that sounds like "fluff" -- like the SOP, I guess. I'm really really bored right now and stuck in my office. Sorry for kind of "wasting" space here.

Haha -- excellent point! Thanks!

What's the word on end notes and footnotes in writing samples? Should we include them because it demonstrates how we're able to utilize them, or is it a useless waste of precious page space that would be better suited to the paper itself? Or do they not count in the page-count? I suppose this is a case-by-case thing, but I was just wondering if anyone had any experience with this..?

It can be really hard to balance the two -- I've been tackling this with my SOP. How much do I want to stress that I like theory while still coming off as though I also still like literature as well? Too many eggs in one basket or not enough? Does anyone else feel as though they're just constantly saying "coulda, shoulda, woulda" with EVERYTHING about their apps?

I didn't go through with applications last year, but I was planning on applying until about mid-October. I don't have much to say about the actual SUBMITTING process since, well, I didn't go through with it, but I did go through a lot of prep last year that I didn't complete. I'm worried that I'm a little overconfident this year because of it -- almost like I've done this tango before and don't feel like I need to revisit the steps. HOWEVER, I definitely do. In fact, today was the first day that I actually said to myself, "Okay, self, during lunch hour maybe I should go through and make a chart of what exactly is expected of each school instead of just assuming you know." So, there's that. (Let it be noted that I'm not doing that -- I'm just on the cafe.) I'm also glad that I don't have a course load right now -- I can't imagine going through this last year when I had my thesis, language exams, comps, teaching, etc. to go through as well. I'm adjuncting right now, so I teach a full load at 4 courses (80+ students), but it's not nearly as bad as having to do actual course work. That being said, I give extra props to those who are tackling apps while attending school -- best of luck to you!!

You can say in your SOP that it's a smaller chunk of a larger piece, and abstract what you cut out. The piece shouldn't read like pieces are missing though -- it should sound like a complete paper, but you can abstract that it's part of a larger piece that covers x,y,z, etc. I'm submitting a thesis chapter, so it's already a "single" piece anyway while I'm abstracting the two chapters around it. I do want to cut down on some of the "example" paragraphs though -- I do go on and on about some aspects of the novel I've working with that could be cut down and you wouldn't really lose the "feel" of the piece. Maybe you could start there with some of the extra paragraphs that are just as used as "examples" of your thesis. One of my profs suggested this stating: "You only need one example of working closely with a text to get your point across." The reason I picked my piece the way that I did was because it's a chapter that deals a lot with theory and text equally. My first chapter is all theory, and my third chapter is mostly a little theory with more textual analysis. My middle chapter is a good balance of the two. Since I can't really cut down on the theory part without losing much, I'm cutting down on the textual examples. Also, I'm applying with literary theory as one of my fields of interest so I wanted a piece that demonstrates how I'm able to understand and utilize theoretical texts with literature. I don't know if your writing sample is more theory heavy or if it's more textual heavy, but this is at least what I'm doing.

Thanks! I saw this picture on tumblr, and thought immediately "That's how I feel about apps!" So I decided it was time, FINALLY, to have a picture on here. Leslie gives me hope in such dire times! THIS EXACTLY. I'm also worried about my opening paragraph being too personal -- where do we draw the line? (What line?)