surefire

I would agree with jullietmecredi in that I wouldn't rent sight unseen. Does your grad institution offer any housing? I know several international students in my institution who went with grad housing for the first year of their PhD and then segued into an apartment/house in the city. Grad housing is generally affordable, close to campus, offers the opportunity to get acquainted with the city and visit prospects in person, and also allows you to meet prospective room-mates (if you're amicable to that). Alternatively, I know lots of institutions that "rent out" their undergrad residences in the summer either day-to-day or week-to-week. If that's an option, you could show up in mid-August and hunt for September 1, or something similar! Just some thoughts! It also might be worth either touching base with an international student org in your institution or get your department admin to put you in touch with a current international student, to find out hat others have done. You're definitely not the first person to content with this dilemma, so you might as well glean info from the experiences of others! Congrats and good luck on the impending move!

Best of luck to everyone waiting! I see a lot of conjecture about what individuals in respective institutions/departments may or may not know about results, and I just wanted to draw everyone's attention to this: http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/policies-politiques/f_notification-b_avis-eng.aspx That's a policy from SSHRC regarding the notification of competition results. The relevant blurb states that: "Individuals who apply through a Canadian university for either a master’s scholarship or a doctoral award will first receive notice of the results of their application through their university’s faculty of graduate studies or equivalent. In addition, SSHRC informs these applicants in writing of the outcome of their applications. Those who apply directly to SSHRC receive notice of the results of their application directly from the Council." I did apply through my Canadian university. I think that part of their reason for notification is that they're adjudicating OGS right now as well (part of the message to me stated that, in light of the SSHRC news, my app was being removed from the OGS pool). I know that that's not the most satisfying answer, given that the department/institution-level decision-making seems to vary, but it always makes me feel better to know there's a policy. As for my background: I actually don't have any grades converted to a 4.0 scale, my institutions have all been about letters and 0-100 numbers! Tiny undergrad cGPA: A (85/100) MA: A PhD to date (I'll be entering my third year in the fall): A LOTS of university/private sector scholarships and awards (6 for undergrad, 4 for MA, 4 for PhD), but no OGS or SSHRC awards prior to this one. No pubs (not uncommon in my discipline; I've got two on their way to submission though, and my LOR peeps might have discussed those!) Two years of relevant work experience in between MA and PhD (working with data sector I proposed in my statement). 5 conference presentations (3 refereed and (inter)national-level) At the time of app: two abstracts accepted to two more refereed national-level conferences. I'm on my way to ABD (if this matters): I've got one comprehensive exam down and most of my coursework done, just need one more comp and a proposal! 8 TA-ships and 5 RA-ships. I wanna say two awesome LORs, but I'm not sure how helpful that info is. One letter is from my awesome supervisor, who I've worked with in multiple capacities (coursework, TA/RA, my own research), and one from a department rock-star (I had him for a course and he recommended my term paper for publication, I've presented it at a big conference and it's one of my near-submissions - he's been advising on the article throughout). On the proposal front: my current institution offers resources for SSHRC apps, so I accessed the hell out of those. In addition to the multiple drafts on which I got feedback from my Chair and supervisor and peers and other faculty, I took a SSHRC proposal writing course (4 weeks) and booked individual consultations with the writing center (I actually did all this twice, for the 2012/13 app round AND this round). If I can be of anymore help, do feel free to PM me! This forum has been invaluable for commiserating/advising/supporting and I feel very lucky to have had access to such an awesome community!

Congrats bentharbour and pbaid! I'll chime in to say that I was notified that I'm getting a super (CGS) SSHRC! I'm also immensely relieved and humbled by the news. This was my FOURTH time applying, and my first success, so I've been through the SSHRC app/waiting gauntlet a few times! Good luck to those still waiting!

The deadline in my department at U of T (for domestic students) was April 1; that posting said that we'd hear results in June... phooey! I'm also waiting on SSHRC; hoping for good news on that front in the next few weeks that renders the OGS app moot!

GAH! I know! My department's OGS app was due last week and as I sat with the stupid online application trying to format scanned copies of transcripts it KILLED ME to think that I may actually be totally ineligible from holding that award anyway... SOMEONE OUT THERE KNOWS whether or not that effort was moot and I am driven to distraction in the meantime!

Hey milkman, Congrats on your offers! I can't speak to Waterloo/McMaster/Queens. But, I did my MA at York and am in the 2nd year of a PhD program at U of T, so if you're crafting some neurotic pro/con lists and want some input, feel free to PM me with some questions!

E-mail. It can be quick and concise for those that you just want to let know (a prospective supervisor as onehardtaco has mentioned) AND it leaves a necessary paper trail for those that need it (grad secretary/administrator). So yeah, it's not clear who exactly you're thinking of contacting, but when I turned down offers, I sent quick e-mails to prospective supervisors and anyone associated with the department who spent more than a standard amount of time finessing me (grad chair who hosted a recruitment, a grad student in the program whom I took out for a coffee). AND I sent e-mails to the grad admin, who needed to know for the purposes of moving along on offers and the like. IN ADDITION the welcome packages I got with acceptances CAME WITH a form to fill out that had ticky boxes for "I accept the offer" and "I do not accept the offer". Check to see if you have received similar forms, and send those to the right people, where applicable. Congrats on the offers!

Hi Dustin, Congrats on your offers! Like the others above, I would rule out Windsor. I don't know jack about Carleton, but is the York offer for the socio-legal studies program? If so, I actually did my MA in that program back in 2010 and can speak to that! I was also accepted to the PhD program in 2012, but declined in favour of Sociology at U of T. The pros of the program: I felt very well supported in the program, academically and financially. York has seen some great gains in union-related benefits since their strike in 2009, the health benefits plan is ballin' and they've got tutorials capped at 25 students per (you may not have thought as far ahead as the TA obligations and stuff yet, but it definitely impacts your life, so these benefits are worth considering). I also received a heap of money in additional bursaries and such that I applied for while there. While I'm not sure if this holds for the MA, at the PhD level, they actually don't do any clawback if you get SSHRC or OGS, so you're prospectively very SET for monies (at least while you're in the funded cohort) at that level if you can arrive at that arrangement (there's also something to be said for a academic climate that doesn't "punish" students for bringing external awards). The faculty are fantastic and clever and frequently cross-appointed to other departments, so odds are you can get your needs met regarding your interests. There are also great connections to resources at Osgoode, which harbours quite brilliant legal minds and a bitchin' library. I was given A LOT of latitude for my MA MRP; I had the freedom to write on an awesome topic in a unique way, and my supervisor helped to guide me in this endeavour BUT she didn't take over the project, which can be a common trap that fledgling grad students end up in. The cons: If you live in the grad housing at York, you can feel a little cut-off from the "hub" of action in Toronto, but if you live somewhat closer to downtown, the commute is miserable. I know that they're making strides on getting the subway extended to York, but I don't think that's happening before the fall. It's a sucky commute. Full stop. Also, the program is quite new; as no one has graduated from the PhD program yet, you can't really divine placement statistics OR time to completion (I don't know how that compares to Carleton, but it's something to think about). Finally, I've found it a bit difficult to translate some of the foundational socio-legal methods/theory stuff to my PhD endeavours; this is, in part, because I've switched over to Sociology (though my specialization is in law and socio-legal studies). Some of the foundational elements in socio-legal studies are difficult for other disciplines to recognize, so it's sometimes a bit of extra work at conferences and in publishing pursuits to make yourself, and your research, understood BUT this is a component of being part of a burgeoning field! If you have some specific questions or want me to elaborate on the above, feel free to PM me (I'm actually from Northern Ontario as well, and can speak to the transition to Southern Ontario, if you have questions on that front)! I would suggest opening up some correspondence to current students in both programs (maybe ask the grad secretary/administer if they can refer you to someone). Sorry that I can't compare to Carleton!

Just responding to say: I would not contact either of those! SGS will say it's the department's problem and the grad CHAIR probably won't know details and/or may be annoyed! You could try the grad secretary or administrator. An e-mail might clear it up quickly if, like my own department, the department you applied to has set up an auto-reply to state where they're at with admissions (I only know this because I e-mailed our admin assistant a few days ago to RSVP to the open-door part of next week's recruitment and I got an auto-reply from the e-mail address that (politely and more elaborately) stated that they were done with admits). If you don't want to leave a paper-trail, you could call and say you're sitting on another offer and they may give you a straight-up answer. But yeah, grad admin/secretary/assistant is who you should touch base with, I would think, if need be. Good luck and congrats on your offers thus far!

Repping the Canadian front! A U of T Creative Writing rejection (via postal service) from 2009: "To ensure their rejection would land enough punch, they addressed me as Ms. instead of Mr." A rejection for U of T Philosophy from 2007: "I don't want to become a Canuck anyway". Ouch dude. This other person (who, granted, got accepted) has the right idea (U of T Econ 2009): "Canuckonomist!" Yah! There's a playful little back-and-forth on the UBC page for Architecture from 2010. One person with a rejection wrote something to the effect of: "Well, I guess I'll go with plan B and sell ice cream" and then another rejected person wrote: "I will be joining my friend in their ice-cream selling endeavour". (Side note: that's not a bad plan B! Canada is cold, but we still like our ice cream!). BUT THEN there's a late acceptance (April 2010) for Architecture at U of T where someone wrote only: "Does anyone want my ice cream truck?! I won't be needing it anymore!" That's awesome! Nice to know that the story for at least one of those applicants had a happy ending!

I'm with efs001 on this. I'm not sure what you intend to get out of the grad school pursuit; there seems to be a mis-alignment of expectations. Many parts of the grad school enterprise are characterized by collaboration. To be successful in apps, you need to establish both what you can contribute and what resources you will draw upon to grow and thrive. The attitude that you are a customer and the institution is providing a service does not establish this. The attitude that you are arriving as a complete package that they should be grateful to have and the biggest thing they can do for you is provide access to equipment does not establish this either. Your anecdote about bringing your own reading materials to class actually makes me cringe a little bit. If what you've conveyed above is indicative of what you wrote in your app, then I think you needn't bother anyone at the institution to itemize why your application was unsuccessful. Perhaps you should view your experience with this application process as an exercise in ascertaining that your expectations/ideologies are not compatible with the program. You might be best served sticking with the private sector pursuits.

I'm Canadian, so different context. I didn't qualify for our provincial loan system (OSAP) in undergrad. I was on a scholarship that paid half my tuition and I worked throughout. I took a 20k student line of credit. At this point, I've paid it down to 14.5k. I intend to pay it off while in grad school and accrue no further debt in the meantime. While I'm still in my grad program, the interest is very small (works out to about $60/month), so it would be great to knock it out while I'm still in the program!

Goffman! Yes! I'm doing some socio-legal stuff on remorse and apologies in medical malpractice and Goffman's notion of "remedial work" from Relations in Public has been really conceptually helpful of late! For those who like Howie Becker: his Writing for Social Scientists, while a bit dated at times, is a great read for those of us figuring out how to write (and rewrite, and rewrite again) in the discipline. To the OP: if you like the Adlers' studies on drug dealers, you should try Righteous Dopefiend by Phillipe Bourgois, it's an illuminating piece in both subject and method. I'm also a big fan of Durkheim. Despite its problems, Suicide is an amazing text for its early conceptualization of the potential of sociology! Also: Garfinkle totally lights my fire! Reading pieces on the breaching experiments STILL totally ignites my imagination/makes me squirm. I think it would be a neat endeavour to re-conceptualize some of those projects and try to get them through an ethics review (anyone working in "the sociology of sociology" who wants to give that a shot?). Oh! And Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I KNOW, I KNOW, there's some problematic racial stuff there, but have you read "The Yellow Wallpaper"? I've been known to assign it for extra credit readings, it generates GREAT discussion from the undergrads who often find some of the older theorists to be inaccessble. That is fun! Good thread!

Hi SiSI26, I'm currently in my second year of a PhD program at UofT (not in poli-sci or geography, but I am in the social sciences). I only applied to places in Toronto, so my choices came down to two different programs at York (one of these programs was where I did my MA) and the one from U of T. I'm not sure what "seriously considering" means (whether you have an offer that you're weighing or if you're thinking of applying this fall for entrance in the fall of 2015). But, I can give you a little insight on my experience of the "cultural" thing and if you want some more details, feel free to PM me. Generally, I'm really enjoying my stint at U of T. I feel well-supported and awesomely stimulated by the abundance of incredibly smart people (both students and faculty). I did have concerns on my way in about the "cultural" element of U of T generally, mostly because I didn't much care for overt competitiveness either, so I empathize. Here's what I've found: - There are competitive people. But I have found them to be a slim minority. Moreover, in a PhD program, you can sort of choose to what extent you engage them. I mean, there's the mandatory classes where you probably see everyone in your cohort, and there are some circumstances that will bring certain people in to your orbit (maybe you share a supervisor or a sub-field interest), but beyond that, many of your pursuits are independant and you set your own work agenda and YOU CAN CHOOSE whom you engage with. There is a lot of solitary work, but there are also many occasions where you can do stuff with other people (you can do conferences, writing or editing circles, co-authorships, socials ect; with colleagues - because U of T is big and prestigious, there are lots of opportunities for funding and facilitation for these kinds of interactions, but you also need to be okay working independantly and taking on the initiative of forging many of these). - That being said, I do find sources of pressure independent of competitive peers that, in part, has to do with the high expectations of a U of T program. There are expectations about publishing and conference attendence and awards (and within this, there are hierarchies of preferable conferences and journals and awards that it takes some time to get acquainted with). I am mostly grateful for these pressures, as it helps to hone my energy to accomplish things that will hopefully assist my CV appeal. But yeah, feelings of inadequacy can spring from that. - Again, I feel well-supported in my program. Financially, U of T has a good core funding package and a good Union (so good benefits and protection); there is an abundance of TA and RA work in my department (though you will have to check with students in yours to ascertain if that is the case). Academically, I have a great supervisor and we work well together; the faculty in my program are awesome. YOU will have to do some leg work to find someone that will support your interest and, ideally, will compliment your working style (you will probably want to look into this before you apply though, and have a prospective name to cite on your app). Here's the thing: I didn't do my undergrad at U of T, I did it at a tiny Canadian Uni. I REALLY enjoyed my undergrad institution, and honestly, I don't know if I would've enjoyed an undergrad at U of T. Classes are way too big and the institution's priority is research, more than teaching. The thing is, this priority BENEFITS you as a GRAD student at U of T. - You might also want to consider the "academic incest" thing. It depends on what you want to do going forward, but there are different camps of thought on the implications of doing all or most of your degrees at the same institution. - The bureacracy at U of T sucks across the board. That's just a thing that you need to contend with; you can't sneeze at U of T without needing to fill out a form for it. Once you understand the fundamentals of your funding package and the "major" application deadlines, this becomes easier, but you need to be on your game because things can change (say, if you get OGS or a SSHRC, this changes the administration/amount of your funding). I find my department's grad administrators to be invaluable; they only deal with our department, so I feel like less of a "number" because there's only about 100 of us in total (rather than the beleaguered registrar dealing with thousands of students). You also have Union reps to formally help with stuff, and senior students/candidates who will help less formally. - I would recommend talking to current grad students in your program of interest (informally, over coffee or something, ideally). Ask them about the culture and believe what they say (that is, refrain from a tempting train of thought like, "Well yeah, that person said this was a problem, but he strikes me as too sensitive, it's probably not like that"). More importantly, as you do this recon, check with yourself and craft a little list of things that you "need" to have to feel supported versus thingas that you "want", within that, have a little list of "deal-breakers" and be honest with yourself about what you think you can deal with. For example, I mentioned that I work really well with my supervisor. There are a lot of great things about our working relationship: she knows my sub-interests and talks me up at socials and conferences, she doesn't micro-manage and really "trusts" me to process her data as well as my own (this last thing was on my "need" list). When I was considering my offer from U of T, I asked another student under her supervision what she was like as a supervisor. One of the things he told me was that the supervisor will go "off-radar" (like, won't answer e-mails or anything) in the two or three weeks leading up to a journal submission (and she publishes a lot). While I work well independently, I needed to decide if I could "deal" with periodic radio silence; would I be able to push through a mini-emergency or conceptual block if one arose during these periods? When I met with the supervisor early on, she affirmed that she was not a "hand-holding" type; Oprah is right: when someone tells you who they are, BELIEVE THEM. That's what I've got for you! Feel free to send me a PM if you want to ask specific questions or want elaboration on the above. Good luck!

Yah! I got my notification from SSHRC today that they have received my application! I got official word from my SGS in mid-December. It's definitely good to have the formal word and reference number. I'm working on a brutal presentation for tomorrow, so it was kind of nice to have the brief moment of: "Oh that's right, I have successfully shanghaiied some SSHRC-minded people into thinking this is interesting and do-able, I can totes convince a random room full of friendlies tomorrow". Now to do the only sanity-preserving thing and try to FORGET ABOUT SSHRC for a few months. Good luck all!

My experience with admittance to Canadian Soc programs and visit days (in 2012) was quite different to what I see described above. (Though I didn't apply to a wide swath of programs, so this may not be generalizable to all Canadian programs/institutions). I attended visit days for Soc programs at both York and the University of Toronto. Both had the following in common: - Invitations were extended to first-round picks who had offers of admission in hand. - The visits took place shortly before the deadlines by which we were asked to accept/decline the offer of admission (U of T sent first-round offers in mid-Feb., held their visit day in Mid-March and requested a decision by end of March, York sent their offers in early March, held their visit in mid-March, and requested a decision by early April). Beyond that, the structure of the visit days had distinctly different vibes. -York arranged to have both a student rep and two prospective supervisors e-mail me before the event to answer questions and arrange meetings with them. The actual event was scheduled to co-incide with a small grad conference that the program was holding, so we got to see a lot of the current students' projects on display. Beyond that, it was quite informal, and we were largely left to our own devices to mingle. Aside from the offer time-line being more compressed than U of T's, the event was palpably "low pressure". - U of T was a more structured affair. All first-round prospects were flown in and put up in hotels for the duration (I didn't ascertain if similar measures were taken at York). There was a strict schedule, including breakfast, speeches from the graduate chairs, Union reps, and head administrators, tours of the campus, lunch, sessions where each faculty member presented on their current projects, an "open-door" session with faculty/grad students in their offices where you could wander in and talk, dinner at the chair's house, and a pub night.

Buzzfeed has some innovative ideas on this topic, though it pertains more to saving your sanity than saving heaps of cash: http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/brilliant-moving-tips

I'm currently at U of T, but I don't know much about that formula you've cited above. It might be easier to start with the School of Graduate Studies minimum admissions calculator that accounts for international credentials: http://portal.sgs.utoronto.ca/current/admission/intdegequiv.asp Hope that helps! Good luck!

In my experience, U of T's Soc department notifies first-round picks, aptly, shortly after Valentine's Day. Scope the Results Search on this forum for your specific schools to get an idea of what to expect when you're expecting (results). Warning: The Results Search page will eat your life/self-esteem if you are not cautious. Good luck!

If y'all get accepted, I would advise you to do the following during the summer: - Rest: I worked a policy development job all through the summer before I started my PhD (and kept it up for a few weeks into my first semester). The monies were important, but I really came to regret not taking a week or two to chill. - Spend a little time looking at the offering of your new institutions financial aid office and consider throwing together bursary/scholarship applications early. I found that there were several great bursaries available. However, their deadlines were often in September and October; this makes it difficult to complete them because the deadlines coincide with the double-punch of being overwhlemed by tasks (no time for money apps) and imposter syndrom (feeling unworthy of money awards). Do apply for these though, they are nice self-contained tasks and worth doing (and you are totally worthy of them!). - Buy/read a copy of this (it's $3!): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/93455 Some of the advice is context-specific (social science and US contexts, specifically) and it is not super recent, but it is VERY helpful for sussing out some of the nuances that you will encounter in grad school that you will otherwise have to learn "the hard way" (relationships with colleagues and supervisors, for example). - See if you can buy an upper-year student a coffee in the weeks leading up to the start of the semester and ask them what they wish someone had told them before they jumped in. The enthusiasm during welcome days is fantastic, but you might have more luck getting candid "day-to-day survival tips" from someone over coffee! Good luck! PsycD, you appear to be good people! I'm not in your discipline, but if U of T becomes a serious prospect, feel free to PM me with questions about the city/institution!

No problem! Glad to have been of help! Regarding your above statement: my experience was that they sent out the e-mail notifications to your writers very quickly after you pay. I paid them on December 6th and they sent out the e-mail notifications that same day! There generally is a "grace period" for submission of third-party materials (transcripts and LORs), but I wouldn't rely too heavily on it, and anyway, I think that you can still get the notifications out and see the letters submitted well in advance of the deadline! It's awesome that you have such supportive writers, that bodes well! Best of luck with all of your applications! I'm not sure what your discipline/department might be, but if U of T emerges as a prospect for you, feel free to PM me with any questions and I will help to the best of my ability! Bonne chance!

Hi bombilfry, I'm a current grad student at U of T. I entered the program in September of 2012, so I can speak to my experience from the 2011/12 application session. It's entirely possible that U of T has changed the system since my application, but I can tell you what I remember: - I was able to add my letter writers and make sure their notifications were sent out well in advance of the deadline without submitting my full app. My e-mail records indicate that the LOR notifications were sent by U of T on December 6th, 2011, while I submitted my complete application on January 22, 2012 (my deadline was January 23). - I DID have to pay them before they sent the e-mail notifications. I imagine that this hasn't changed. - BUT, as mentioned, I didn't have to submit the full application. I think I was able just to "submit" the LOR section (after you do that you can't change that section). - My U of T app status page listed the date that U of T sent out the notifications (Dec. 6) and then posted the dates upon which letters were submitted by my writers. If you don't see a notification on your app "status" page, then U of T didn't send the notifications. I reckon that they haven't sent the notifications because you haven't paid; U of T, in general, won't do things until you pay them. So, I reckon you need to "submit" the LOR page and pay them, and then the notifications will go out. If you can't figure out how to do this without submitting the whole app, try to find/call a number on the application "help" page. If that isn't fruitful, CALL SGS at U of T (they will be buried under holiday e-mails, they may be irritated by a phone call, but it's the more effective way to resolve it). Before you call though, do comb the application pages to see if you can figure out how to do the partial submission and full payment, if that's what you need. If I recall, each page of the U of T app had a "help" or "more info" button that you could click on for more detailed instructions. HTH! Good luck!

Just a suggestion, to be taken with a grain of salt... What is the sociology department at your CURRENT school like? It might be "easier" (read: feasible/smoother) to switch departments within your school than to apply anew to programs. You might want to talk to a grad administrator that you trust to see if (s)he is aware of such movements having taken place in the past. I mention this route as I know a colleague who recently switched into sociology, at the end of her third year, from criminology. She had a pretty solid justification: sociology was where she had to be to address her project as she had come to envision it. From what I understand, this move required some finessing (POI egos and all that), but she was able to arrive at a nice compromise with the School of Graduate Studies (she was able to "count" one qualifying exam and some methods training courses from crim, but had to commit to another 2nd-year methods course and a fresh ethics submission). While she switched departments, staying within the same School of Grad Studies helped to make the transition easier. You strike me more as a thoughtful student than an "at risk" one (I know a few people in sociology of health and illness with psych backrounds and I personally have worked at intersections of health-policy, sociologists are a very interdisciplinary gorup). However, it is also possible that you've just got some cold feet. I don't want to patronize, but you need to look at some of the reasons that you are hesitating and honestly ascertain whether or not a major switch will help; like I said, my colleague framed the switch as something that HAD to be done to do justice to her research project (this has more focus and teeth than "just" wanting to change because your interests are shifting). A similar, focused, argument might be that you want to switch given that you recognize the difference between where Soc PhDs end up versus Psych-esque PhDs and you want to align your fate with the former. I'd look into a talk with a grad admin or someone at your SGS, to get a feel for how others have worked through such impasses. Good luck!

In my field it is absolutely expected that you would mention a prospective prof that could supervise you. I have mentioned before that I've been on an adcomm. While I appreciate that some applicants bristle at "the formula" and feel as though it makes their narrative appear "stilted", the point of the word limits and strict structure is that you have to convey a great deal in a tiny, equitable space. Adcomms need to read hundreds of these, and in my case anyway, I prized clarity over attempts to be funny or a unique snowflake or to "cleverly" try to circumvent the formula. If your potential "fit" with the program is apparent right away (and citing a legit prof bolsters that), then I'm hooked and will read the rest of your app with great interest. It can be obvious when the applicant is not being genuine or has not done their homework (I had many applicants who said things like, "Prof. so-and-so is perfect, I shall work with them" and I knew that that prof was going on a lengthy sabbatical next year (which could be ascertained by looking at their faculty page) and would not be taking new students, for example). In these cases, a tiny bit of recon can help a great deal to legitiize your app. Why would you spend the time and application money on a place you weren't excited enough about to research aptly? Why would an adcomm be interested if your enthusiasm (conveyed via your research effort) is lackluster? I... why? Why would you apply to a place where no one is doing work that pertains to what you want to do? I suppose if you're just after the certification, and you can craft a compelling narrative about the certification as a means to an end, then THAT'S your story and it could be effective. You need to have something in an SOP regarding, not just why you want to study what you want to study, but why you want to do it at THAT particular institution. Often, that type of fit is established by identifying the area that you will contribute to and the resources you will draw upon (which lends itself to a discussion of research(ers) in the departement that is relevant to you). If you have a specific goal in mind via the certificate, then that works, but I wouldn't advise your strategy for everyone, because that leads to SOPs where people say vague things like they "want a PhD to help people", which doesn't say much (it gives the impression to the adcomm that the person lacks direction or, worse, is pursuing a PhD to bide their time, because they simply don't know what else to do with themselves).

Oooh! Good thread! I think the worst one I got was last spring, when a student's mum (NO!) at his request, e-mailed me his essay (NO!NO!) via a spam-bot-looking hotmail account (NO!NO!NO!). I agree with the syllabus thing. It helps me to "pick my battles" and stand my ground on a couple of the fundamentals. I know a colleague who will actually write back "consult the e-mail etiquette portion of the syllabus and try again"; I would have a hard time doing that, but he swears by the effectiveness of the technique! I suppose it's better than the hard-nosed "if it doesn't conform to these guidlines I won't respond", approach, I would find that impossible! One of the most miraculous things I did was to prioritize the online "blackboard" system as the first resource for correspondence. I build a forum there and tell students that, if they have a question whereby the whole class might benefit from the answer, then they are to post there first. I then plug the etiquette guidelines right above where one might create a thread, so it's right in their face while they're writing. Between the front and center guidelines, and maybe the fact that many people will be reading the question (they're not anonymous), students seem to take a little extra care to craft messages with the fundamentals in mind. Not only that, it cuts down on the infuriating or duplicative queries; either the student will consult the syllabus first and find the answer, or they'll see that I've already posted a response to a similar question. If the question is personal or individual, then students e-mail me (and, honestly, this is mostly regarding illnesses/deaths in the family ect;, crisis moments where I'm not hung up on etiquette).