wassermelone

I'm curious about this one too. It's the last school I have to hear back from, but the four acceptances on the results board probably don't bode well.

Out of curiosity, have all those accepted at Stanford also had interviews this year?

I think $27,000 must be a special fellowship or something. Their standard package (according to the department's website) includes a stipend of $1650.

I got the same offer. Not sure what it means either.

royo, any word on funding?

Why not just add "Personal Statement" to the header? I did this on some of mine. Something like: Name | Personal Statement | Program

December 15 is the deadline for the online application. They will accept the writing sample and other supporting materials later!

You can upload supporting materials up to about a week late, according to the graduate school. The English department says to upload everything by January 10. So I wouldn't worry about having everything in on time. Just make sure your application is submitted.

I applied for direct entry PhD. I haven't seen the transcript form either. But thankfully we have until January 9 (I think) before transcripts have to be received. When I went to upload my SOP, it prompted me to use the department's form, which contained instructions and a place to write your name and program. It's not a big deal, but it did take up space. And since I was operating under the assumption that one page (standard margins and font) would reasonably satisfy the 500 word limit, I ended up having to cut it down a bit more -- which is probably good since that's what they asked for.

Surprise! They have a form you have to download and then copy/paste the text of your SOP into that document. Which means you have LESS than one page. I had sort of ignored the 500 word limit thinking one-page, single-spaced with standard formatting would probably do. Anyway, I was able to fit 550 words onto their form. I also used size 11 font, since that's what they use in their instructions on the top of the form.

So the University of Toronto asks for a writing sample of "not more than 5,000 words (15-20pp), inclusive of footnotes and endnotes." I have a writing sample with standard formatting (12 pt., TNR, double-spaced, 1 in. margins) that's 19 pages. I just realized that its about 6500 words, though. Is this okay? It is within the page limit but not the word limit. And in fact, to cut it down to 5000 words, I would actually have to reduce it to under 15 pages. Maybe I just use really short words? Does the page limit trump the word limit? Or will sending in my 19 page, 6500 word sample make people angry?

Well, my score is above 600 (not much). I still have to send the General Test scores anyway, so it's going to cost me an extra $23 regardless. Just don't want the test score to hurt my application when it's not even required.

For schools like NYU, which recommend but do not require the Lit Subject Test, how high should the score be to be worth sending along? NYU's website states, "Scoring well on the Subject Test may strengthen your application, but not taking the Subject Test will not adversely affect your application." I scored just above the 75th percentile. And while it's not atrocious, I don't think that it would necessarily help my application. Since I'm not sure if it could be viewed negatively, I worry about sending the score at all. Should I just send the General Test scores? Thoughts?

V: 720 = 168 (98%) Q: 770 = 161 (87%)

It would be helpful to know what your professor's concerns with your list of programs were. Faculty, reputation, funding, coursework, etc. . . . ? Or was she not specific?