surefire

I feel like I sort of post this everywhere all the time, but it's SUCH a helpful, succint analysis of the "writing to professors" task! http://science-professor.blogspot.ca/2011/10/writing-to-me-reprise.html Hope that that's helpful!

I hope that you get some disipline-related responses that lead you to some specific areas of thought! In the meantime, I'm in a different realm, but would like to contribute a little bit of general advice. First, don't get too overwhelmed by the seemingly thorough research interests of others. It takes a while for interests that are truly (sorta) "yours" to emerge, and many people retroactively highlight past experiences that display a deceptively linear research growth. People will often draft a research narrative that makes one think, "wow, of course it makes sense that they arrived where they are now"; we are bad self-editors (when it comes to personal narratives) and we grow accustomed to summarizing current research interests for SHORT CVs/abstracts/conference introductions - this becomes ingrained and it doesn't leave room to discuss all of the meandering that got one to that point NOR does it acknowledge the serendipitous "luck" element that often plays a part (that one truly inspiring professor with infectious passion, that foot-note that you happened to read that led you to a book off the beaten path, that conversation in the student lounge that illuminated a potential gap...) See Figure A: With that in mind, I can commit to the cognitive illusion described above and try to give you a glib summary of where I'm at. I did a lot of policy development stuff in undergrad. I started in English Lit and then picked up a second major in Sociology. My interest in policy was, at an ego level, similar to my interests in English areas such as Medieval Lit. - I liked being an interpretive conduit between really loaded material and people that find it incredibly useless/obtuse on first blush. At the MA level, I focused on policy in the legal/health realm (law because of the hefty real-world implications of its composition and health because, honestly, I'd done some specialized Sociology of Health and Illness stuff in undergrad in an attempt to better understand my mum/sister/aunts/cousins who are ALL NURSES) From there, I crafted an MA thesis on blood donation policy and the exclusion of men who have sex with men - a topic that wasn't well-known at the time and I had become well-versed in because I donated frequently and had friends who were barred from doing so. While doing my MA coursework, I read "Just Words" by Conly and O'Barr in a Legal Methods class and was totally blown away. The material dealt largely with how courts appropriate the conflicts of people who bring disputes, the way in which their narratives become so convoluted that they don't recognize them anymore, and the lack of options because alternative courts aren't imbued with the same level of prestige as traditional ones (so resolutions sought by alternative means are thought to carry less authority). The implications for all of this was that NO ONE was satisfied with how they were represented and everything was clogged. This struck me as desperately important and I realized that, in my current MA research, I was most lit-up not by the ACTUAL POLICIES themselves, but by the way in which institutions monopolize the narratives and use power to insulate the policies from critique. This seemes to me to be more "upstream" than just critiquing policies, it was a matter of investigating whether or not policies COULD EVEN BE effectively critiqued given the discursive climate (or lackthereof) that was cultivated. Here's the important part: from here, I read a lot and looked for gaps. I DID NOT look for how I could impose my interests on assorted materials and "make it fit" somewhere. Instead, I kept my interests close and looked for un(der)addressed areas that might benefit from this scope. I recently found this in alternative dispute resolution and some specific Canadian policy contexts. Now, when I reflect on my research trajectory, I often cite my initial English Lit./Social Policy stuff from undergrad in line with my heavy theory courses and interests in Critical Discourse Analysis (this is true, and I have a history of drawing on Sassure/Barthes over the years, but it's a retroactive realization, not a strategically crafted course - as I described above, my interests were earlier driven by fragmented personal interests and an ego). This would be the biggest piece of advice that I would have for you: look to ekk out your interests in this way, do not look to impose yourself and your motivations on existing frameworks, but try to articulate the thought process that you excel at, and look around to see what would benefit from this analysis. In justifying your research to funders (ect;), you have to show that your research is a good investment, which means that it must be, in some way, INTERESTING and NEEDED (either not done before, or not done in the way that you are proposing and will result in something new, even if this is "just" a new understanding). If you proceed in the spirit that I've mentioned above, this will all seem easier and things will come to you. The question should not be: how do I gather topics that cater to my interests?, but rather, what topic needs me, and where do I have to go to address it? I hope that that makes sense, it's a delicate shift in vocabulary, but a momentous one in terms of mindset! As far as practical steps, I would suggest picking out a challenging prof that is familiar with you and willing to discuss your areas of interest. A prof can push you until you run out of answers, when you reach that point, take note of the directions that they are inferring, the scholars that they are citing and the areas where they describe gaps; read accordingly to see if you are lit up by, and able to contribute to, one of these gaps. It's difficult to "latch on" because, right now, even though you've specified some areas, there's a feeling that your research could still BE ANYTHING! The limitless potential feeling is nice, and there's always a mourning period when you place yourself somewhere because, even if what you latch on to is awesome, it can never "be anything" again, it has to be a focused something. EVERYONE feels like this though, don't feel guilty! Best of luck to you!

Pre-emptive welcome to Canada! 11 does kind of strike me as a lot; some of us in a Toronto thread were discussing the how there seems to be a discrepency in the "typical" number of American apps vs. Canadian ones (a dozen-ish compared to a half dozen-ish). HOWEVER, the funded international spots in Canadian grad school programs appear to be hyper-competitive, so the "wide-net" mentality might not work against you in your case, as long as each program is a viable choice and the breadth doesn't muddle your focus. I had three letter-writers on deck, and two of them did about 8 letters for me. 4 of these were for apps, and 4 were for awards. In Canada, and in Ontario specifically, current and prospective grad students more often than not apply for the SSRCH/NSERC and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship. These apps are due October/November and require LoRs. So, my recommenders mostly had their letters ready to go by the time December/January grad program deadlines rolled around (I think deadlines are a bit earlier in the States yes? So there's a plus!) It seemed to me, that while the task of writing that first letter requires some back-and-forth, it's not too much effort to repurpose it for different apps. But good on you for thinking of the workload of your writers and anticipating that this might make things sticky, here's my advice: 1. Be clear with everyone what number of applications you are looking at and what that will entail from them and make sure that your expectations are all aligned. I know it seems simple, but from what I've experienced (as someone who has also WRITTEN LoRs), It's the "oh-there's-just-this-one-more-thing" that might cause writers to shut down. I had stipulations about whom I wrote letters for, and I never wrote for a student that I didn't, you know, like and want to write for... but what SUCKS is when you finish/submit a letter, mentally move on to the next thing, and then the student asks you to do the letter again for a new program, or the timeframe shifted and they never told you and now you only have 3 days to submit it, or for whatever reason the school never got the letter that you sent TWO MONTHS ago and the student didn't keep tabs on it and the school didn't tell you and could you please do it again ASAP IT'S URGENT!!! I like knowing what I've committed too, if the task is more onerous than what I agreed to, then, yeah, it's frustrating. If you're clear about the committment, most writers probably won't mind keeping your letter "on deck" and re-purposing/submitting it as needed. It's less effort to keep it at the forefront than to finish it and put it out of your mind and then realize that you need to dredge it up again. 2. Provide things that will make their lives easier. Ask if they want to see your statement/CV/transcript so they can write in an informed fashion and GET THIS TO THEM EARLY. As ILovePsych2013 mentioned, pre-addressed/stamped envelopes are good. If LoRs need a sheet that accompanies them, fill out (only is you're allowed!) the sections that need your personal info/details OR make sure that you provide all of this info in one clear coherant place for writer reference. Don't make them scratch their heads and hunt for your student number or mailing address. I just wrote these details out clearly in an email; "The [univeristy/program] app requires a cover sheet to accompany the letter. My info that needs to be provided on the form is as follows: Name:_____ Age:_____" ect; 3.Make a spreadsheet for WHICH PROGRAM needs WHAT by WHEN and via WHAT MEDIUM. Have columns for each letter writer/school. Stipulate dates by which things need to be done (account for mail times/weekends and periods when maybe the writers are away from their e-mail and LEAVE ENOUGH TIME for things that might go wrong). Check things off as you finish. E-mail writers and keep them in the loop as things change; something that worked for me was having each correspondence acknowledge something that just happened and what is due next - "Hi Prof. so-and-so, I see from the [university] online portal that the letter for [program] was received on [date] Thanks so much for getting that in! The next deadline on the horizon is for [university/program] which would like to receive the letter via [e-mail/mail] by [date]. Please let me know if I can clarify or elaborate on any of this!" If you haven't heard from the letter-writer in a while and a deadline is looming, you can e-mail them to "double-check that they received the instructions" or whatever; offer to re-send if required and gently re-iterate the deadline. Your spreadsheet can have columns that stipulate WHEN you will contact writers if they fall off the map a little (I found that this helped me feel less guilty about sending reminder e-mails if I stipulated a date in advance). 4. Keep a "Sent Mail" folder on your e-mail just for your writers to keep tabs on corresponcence and for quick reference. 5. E-mail them when they are all done to say "Yah, you're all done!" Promise to let them know the outcome. 6. Let them know the outcome and, if possible, your decision! They put a lot of effort into your app too and would be gratified to hear what the fruits of their labour hath bought! I e-mailed them right away when I made a decision and, after the dust settled, everyone got a personalized hand-written note and a mug from the school that I had chosen to attend! TL;DR: Just, be clear, be on top of it, keep the writers in the loop if things change, let them know when they're done! It's always worth it to take considerate steps; if writers have a positive experience working with you, then you become known as a student that is easy/rewarding to support, which is a great rep to cultivate! Best of luck!

Okay, there is a lot of info on the forums to address some of the concerns you bring up here, but you need to articulate a few missing pieces first (narrow your search to specific topics based on your answers to the following): 1. When you say that you are "about to apply", does this mean that you're looking to gain entrance for Fall 2013? The Fall 2012 application session is largely concluded (and undetermined/in flux program slots, from here on, will mostly go to those on waitlists). However, rolling admissions are not unheard of. Programs with this admissions process may still be willing to consider apps for Fall 2012 (it is possible that Guelph is one of these and that's what the reply meant). But, yeah, when did you hope to start? If it's Fall 2013, applications for Canadian schools will largely be due in December 2012 and January/February 2013, which means that you've got some time. 2. Are you looking for an MA or a PhD program? In Canada, you need the former before you can do the latter. Are you coming straight from a BA (or MA)? Or, were you off working for a bit? Where you're coming from will help to determine your next step. If feasible/appropriate, I would advise you to chat about your interests with professors whom are well-acqainted with you and are potential recommendation letter-writers. They will help you articulate your interests and can advise you on where you should apply to in order to cultivate these interests. 3. What's your field/discipline? What are your goals and where do you want to end up (do you want to work after an MA, go all the way through a PhD?) The answers to these should inform where you are looking to apply. You need to articulate this to yourself first, before you can expect profs that have never met you to entertain the notion of advising you. I'm intrigued as to why you decided to start e-mailing potential profs as your "first step". And they said "no"? To what exactly? In my application seasons, I never had a prof JUST say "no", with no further advice on how to proceed. I had some say, "You should contact my colleague Professor so-and-so, she is more available/suited to your interests" or "let's meet in person/on the phone to chat more in-depth about this". You might want to re-assess how you are approaching these e-mails before sending another one (also, your timing; most profs are less accessible in the summer and, if you are in fact angling for Fall 2013 entrance, I have a hard time imagining that most profs know for sure whether or not they are available to supervise in a year and two months from now). This article has been cited on grad cafe many many times, but it might help to illuminate how you can proceed on the e-mailing front: http://science-profe...ting-to-me.html As I've said though, I don't think that e-mailing profs should be your "first" step. I think that introspection (ascertaining answers to the above questions) should be your first step. Your next steps should involve a lot of focused research accordingly as well as contact with profs that are familiar with your work. This should consume a lot of your summer. As you are in the Canadian context: In October/November, SSHRC and OGS (Canadian National/Provincial Funding bodies) applications will be due, so you will need to have transcripts, a statement of interest, a CV and letters of recommendation for those. These apps are a good "dry run" for formal grad school applications (which, as I said, will be due in the following months).I would recommend that you proceed with these milestones in mind. Grad Cafe is a good resource, and you will get the most out of it with informed questions, a capacity to articulate your goals and a specific focus. Good luck!

xaeem, I'm not in your field, but I'm Canadian and familiar with U of A. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering spells out its minimum grad applicant requirements here: https://civil.sitecore.ualberta.ca/en/Graduate/HowtoApply/AdmissionRequirements.aspx The good news is, you don't actually need a GRE (this is true of many Canadian institutions/programs). The bad news is that the department specifies at least a 3.0 on the 4-point scale for consideration. Some of the other engineering departments within the faculty (like the Dept of Mechanical Engineering) mention that: "If you do not meet the Academic minimum standards, consideration may be offered on a case-by-case basis to applicants with exceptional or tenured work experience", but the Civil/Environmental program does not. The admission standards for the department draw on broader mandates set by the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research (FGSR). They have a great chart here that shows that there is consideration given to the variance in outside degrees, see here: http://www.gradstudies.ualberta.ca/applyadmission/reqintlcountries.aspx In Pakistan the requirement appears to be: First Class/Division or 65% The site invites interested applicants to contact FGSR to find how U of A recognizes international institutions, you might want to start there to see how your experience will be received. Good luck

^ I would agree emphatically with this! When I was on an adcomm, this is what I was thinking when I saw something to the effect of "You're my first choice!" It often looked as though the applicant's SOP was used across the board with a couple of AdLib spaces where school/prof names were switched in-and-out. The exasperated eye-rolling was exacerbated when it was CLEAR that the student was not a good match (my department has a prevalent legal element that sometimes attracts the attention of aspiring law students, who have applied to a grad school program as "a back up"; this could often be inferred from the tone of the SOP, and yet the applicant insisted on the "You're my #1", ugh) eltoro89, I know that this might not seem to apply to you because X school really is your first choice, but I think that the "first choice" statement should be avoided anyway, it just gets the adcomm's dander up and will make your sincerity suspect. As TakeruK mentioned, emphasize the fit. If you want to work something functional AND flattering in, cite specifically how something at the school/dept. will allow you to grow/contribute as an academic/researcher/future whatever. Instead of saying, "You're awesome, you have the best things!" try "The working relationship that program X had with research institute Y will bring an apt perspective to my research in Z". Since you've already identified unique components of the program that you've got your eye on, this shouldn't be too tricky! School's that want to be told whether or not they are your first choice will sometimes ask you outright in their general application form. But if you're not invited to rank, I'd avoid it. Suerte!

I think that a number of SOPs are formulaic in the sense that, they are trying to accomplish a set amount of tasks under stringent formatting guidelines and limited space, which may give them a "stilted" look... it certainly doesn't seem to lend itself to creativity! I think that you're right to infer that "boring" SOPs are kind of a liability. As someone that's been on an admission committee, I definitely appreciated the ones that were a treat, rather than a chore, to read. However, it was more CLARITY that I prized, over humour. That is, SOPs where I don't have to "hunt" for the author's points (it should be clear, for example, why it makes sense for the applicant to continue her studies at THIS institution, rather than elsewhere, I shouldn't have to read the SOP more than once and then infer this info) I was certainly amicable to "funny", but here's the thing: not a lot of people are funny, and in tiny spaces, poorly executed attempts at humour are irritating, not endearing. I would caution against anything that may come across as an attempt to be "cute", "snarky", or too smart for your own good. I remember one applicant cited "liberal legal scholarship" and was punning on the "liberal" to mean both left-leaning and abundant/lavish and I was like "OMIGAWD SHUT UP!" When you read literally hundreds of these, anything that is inserted with the specific goal of "winning over" the readers reeks of disingenuousness and disrupts your narrative. The general rule, I think, is this: if the humour lends insight to the research(er), then it is likely to be well-received. If the goal of the humour is to try and show that you are clever, then it's more likely to result in rolled eyes.

AH! My high school GUIDANCE COUNSELLOR said something to this effect... to my mum... in our town's grocery store... (I'm from a tiny village!) "Oh, so she's elected to hide from the real world for a few years eh? It must be nice to prolong the undergrad experience... if you're going to be too smart for your own good, you might as well have a piece of paper to prove it!" Well, hello there high-school trauma, I see that you're still crushing dreams? How's that going? Yeah, I don't get back much either. Also, my mother is a saint.

hey canteaus! Congrats on your entrance into the 1-year MA! I did one of these myself (in a different department), and you have to be very disciplined and a little crazy to make it through. There were people from my cohort who applied while still in the midst of the MA (that is, as you say, 4-ish months in). A few of these people were successful; the easier acceptances/transitions seemed to be with those who were shifting to the PhD but staying within the departmart or institution in which they were getting the MA, so it might be a little tricky since you're going elsewhere... I didn't take this route (it will have been a 2 year break between my MA and PhD when I start the latter this September), and I feel good about that decision. I feel more secure in my PhD commitment because of it - and not because I wasn't pretty sure, during the MA, that I wanted to do the PhD (I was!), but rather because I was better able to articulate my place in academia, my goals and my research interests after the MA. I found it best to be able to reflect on MA projects after the fact, to make sense of them in my academic narrative, rather than trying to predict where they were going to end up. Anyway, I have a few concerns for you: - First, you should be aware of the time crunch that you will be under. I'm sure that you have considered that you will have little to no break between the MA/PhD, but consider this, there may be A BIT OF OVERLAP between the two. For my one-year MA, I started in September and I was finished all of my technical requirements by mid-August of the next year. However, I was still doing paperwork and tying up loose ends into SEPTEMBER to make sure that I had all of my required signatures and red tape, and then I didn't convocate until MID-OCTOBER! If I had had to start a PhD on top of that...(shivers). Just know what you are getting into and what you are prepared to do. - the publishing pressure varies across disciplines. In mine, there was little expectation that you had something done on your way out of the MA. I never really worried about it and spent my time on other things that would boost my profile and experience (TA and RA-ships, lots of conferences, an MA thesis). I can't speak to history though. - Remember that schools outside of Canada don't necessarily requisite an MA, so expectations re: experience/age are also varied. - I think that it might be tough to wrangle a great LOR after only 4 months, but it would also look odd if you didn't have an LOR from someone involved in your MA! This can be a tricky obstacle! Same goes for your writing sample, which should be an example of "your best work", and you should be outperforming your undergrad self at the MA level (and thus using MA-level work for your sample), though imposter's syndrome will ensure that you don't FEEL like you are doing good work right away... - I don't really understand the thesis-aversion. I really think that, to be competitive and get a taste of PhD expectations, you would have to do the thesis. As well, your MA thesis supervisor would prove to be a go-to resource for LORs, advice, opportunities and networking (all important for PhD apps). In my MA, with the thesis, I had to secure a supervisor by X-mas. If I had been inclined to do the PhD apps, I think that I would have still leaned on said supervisor for some advice/an LOR (she could say something with regards to her confidence in my potential and my sound research planning and her high expectations yadayada). I've heard that it looks irregular on PhD apps if your supervisor doesn't have your back! - with all of this in mind, my general tips for competitiveness would be to do a wide variety of things during your MA, even though you will feel like you don't have time for any of them! Nail down an easy bursary, take a TA-ship, join a low-commitment committee (I applied to a post as student rep for our department's admissions committee, a spot that I secured in October and got to brag about/put on my CV all year although there was no actual work until February). GO TO A CONFERENCE! I presented at my first one in December; you have to be organized to submit abstracts on time, and you will not feel ready at this stage, but they are great experiences and glowing ticks on your CV that you can accomplish in a few prep hours and then one afternoon! As well, you can COMMIT to some during the fall (even if they are not sceduled until the spring or something) and you CAN STILL USE THESE on a PhD app by mentioning that you've had abstracts accepted and are scheduled to speak. And, finally, unless you have a really good reason for doing otherwise, do the thesis option. All of these things show that you have an interest and capacity in not just performing at a high level, but also contributing to the culture and profile of an institution (something that will be very important for the top schools that you are looking at) Good luck!

peguim, I can only predominately speak to the Canadian schools. There are several universities in Canada with exceptional Sociology departments, including McGill, York, UBC and U of Alberta (I have a friend at Alberta with cultural/political sociology interests and he is quite happy there!) I see from your above post that you have placed some priority on the name recognition (so, U of T makes sense in that regard), but, to what end? It's not worth going to U of T just to go to U of T if you might have your interests better served elsewhere. Where do you want to end up? Look at where alumni from these departments go - academia? government? private sector? - and consider this. Also, keep in mind that we don't necessarily need the GRE here. Also Also, you usually need to do an MA before you can do a PhD at most Canadian departments. All this being said, I'm on my way in to the U of T Sociology PhD program! I was rejected from their MA program two years ago (3.9 GPA from undergrad, scholarships, lots of theory and social justice work - with letters accordingly). U of T is a tough nut to crack... This time around, for PhD applications, I think that the difference was that I had a MA thesis and some conferences under my belt, and, most important, I had really great prospective fit with the program and a handful of supervisors. I wrote about these prospective supervisors and my capacity to contribute to the program and (this is an informed guess on my part!) one of the supervisors confirmed with the admission committee that they would be willing to supervise me - this is what made the difference! You mention the potential funding arrangements (and I'm glad that you are giving that due consideration! It's important!) I totally wouldn't take an offer sans funding, ESPECIALLY if I was an international student! My general impression is that the funding is more taken-for-granted at Canadian schools than U.S. ones... the reason for this is that no funding usually equals no offer in the first place. So, many Canadian departments only have 2-ish international spots... thus, while they are sweet funded spots, they are hyper-competitive. You need to show that you are a good investment (as I mentioned above, this might translate to exceptional supervisor fit and a strong capacity to contribute) You need to craft your narrative as such that the schools that you are applying to look like common-sensical fits with your experience, capacity and goals. Look beyond the departmental websites to the faculty ones, what are their CURRENT research directions/interests? Are they carrying some external funding (like a SSHRC) to carry these out? Does any of this info suggest that there is a place for you and your interests to contribute and grow? Good luck!

Going to send you a PM

Damn... no dice. Oh well, considering my funding package and prospective clawback, OGS would've complicated my life more than assisted this year. But, yeah... Ow, my pride... Congrats to the successful applicants!

Hey AmandaC! I'm not actually attending Trent for grad school, but I did my undergrad there and wanted to chime in because it's a GREAT school (and I'm afraid that you might not find any immediate colleagues on GC because Trent is so TINY!) I'm attending U of T for Sociology starting this fall. My undergrad at Trent was a double major in English/Sociology, so I'm familiar with the English resources, though not specifically pertaining to the graduate level... I always felt very well-supported at Trent, and Peterborough is a lovely community with a large representation of activists/artists/musicians and an awesome corresponding "scene", given the size. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to take a shot at answering them! Feel free to PM me! Congrats!

Whoa! I worked in rare books myself (still go in for the odd stint from time to time)! Abebooks is defintely a go-to for taking the "pulse" of a book's availability/worth; though, as with most things on the internet, it's as helpful as the people that utilize it (so, every so often, a bot will price a fairly pedestrian book at several hundred dollars because it happens to be the only one available at the time). Regardless, it's a good resource! Because it hasn't been mentioned yet, I'd like to plug Biblio: http://www.biblio.com/ While I'm most familiar with Abebooks and Alibris and Amazon, Biblio has a special place in my heart because they don't suck the booksellers dry on commission (and they have special sections for rare books/text books to help you find some of the more elusive material). What a nice list! Good thread!

For my MA, I took three in the fall session and three in the winter. This included the mandatory MA thesis seminar (which can also take the form of research practicuums ect:), a mandatory theory course and a mandatory methods course. So: 6 classes in total for two semesters, 3 of which I was able to pick. Good luck!

Leaving: August 10th Motivation: (1) My supervisor is awesome. I've been able to be honest with her for the through-out this process, like, since September; she understands why my motivation is flagging and she throws me some stimulating work when I'm in a little grad school-related mental rut (doing the apps, waiting on app decisions, waiting on grants ect;) (2) I moved down to part-time this month and picked up a not-well-paid-but-fun gig to supplement (3) I give grad school and/or discipline-related names to my private drivers/folders/files, so that I'm smiling when I open up the work, knowing that there's an end in sight. I wish I could leave earlier than the 10th of August, I'm apprehensive about entering the program and not being well-rested (I've been working multiple back-to-back contracts and, for the last two years, have never had less than two jobs - for a couple of stretches I had as many as four). Yeah, so, I'm wary of burn-out... That being said, I live in an expensive city and have set a goal of killing a significant portion of my debt before entering the PhD. I'm also obligated to a partner who is very hard-working and also in school, we kind of go into survivalist mode when living/working arrangements are in flux and tend to shore up as much money as we can. Finally, though I'm well funded (still waiting on some scholarship decisions to determine HOW well-funded, but it's at least full tuition remission, a stipend I can live on and TA/RA opportunities), my experience (as a student AND as a faculty member) with academic payments suggests that I will not see my first pay-out until end of September/beginning of October... So, when my current contract is done, I have to save money for my cost of living, my debt, my partner obligations and prepare to pay for these for almost all of August and September. On top of that, is my grad school "start up" money (supplies ect:). I'm not even MOVING or anything to attend, but I'm still erring on the side of saving... Anyway, I feel as though Theasaurus, robot_hamster and theologyofyourface all have the right idea... I think that knowing oneself and the imprending challenges well enough to allocate some time to recover, is probably wise, and I really wish that I was doing that! We're going to make it you guys!

I kept a bound copy for myself and gave one to my supervisor and one to my second reader. I also bound one to give to my folks who live really far away (my mum, bless her heart, actually read the bloody thing). I had to submit 2 bound copies, and thus had to go through the ringer to learn all of the formatting/submission rules anyway, so it wasn't too much effort to ask for a few additional copies. Also, binding only cost me $10 a pop, and I was able to fill out a form from the Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS) and get re-imbursed. Have you checked to see if that option is available? Giving copies to my committee, at minimum, definitely felt like the right thing to do! I'd seen, in my supervisor's office, a whole shelf of bound copies from students over the years. For my second reader, my MA committee was her very first, and even though it's not necessarily "standard" for readers to get a bound copy, she was totally thrilled to get one! And, honestly, I like having a physical copy too! It does "look nice on the shelf", and it's nice to have a physical item with some HEFT to consult when reflecting on my MA period!

Hey nicolemc! Welcome! I'll be living a 10 minute commute (20 minute bike ride) from U of T! I'm sure that you're already aware, but just in case, I wanted to emphasize that U of T has Housing Services to help out under/grad students, post-docs and faculty: http://www.housing.utoronto.ca/ It's probably a good place to start! General advice: - Try viewit.ca - I find it to be FAR superior to Craigslist or Kijiji! You can check out neighbourhoods and customize your search to find out what you can get for your budget! As I'm sure people will tell you, Toronto can be expensive in terms of cost of living, it's said to be the most expensive city in Canada, second sometimes to Vancouver (so, depending on where in BC you are from, you might be familiar...) - Some trendy neighbourhoods that are pretty downtown-ish and student friendly are: The Annex, The Junction, High Park, Little Italy, Cabbagetown and Kensington, so keep an ear out for these if they're mentioned. I live in Roncesvalles Village (near High Park, 2 minutes from Dundas West Station); it's awesome - little bookshops and coffee joints and organic everything, and a speedy commute to whatever I need downtown, including U of T! - As ktel suggests, something on the subway line will make your life WAY easier! - Here's a link to The City of Toronto housing: http://www.toronto.c...ing/housing.htm Not a lot of practical advice, but some good context stuff! - Here's a link to the Parkdale Tenant's Association Golden Cockroach Awards, a tool for denouncing city slumlords: http://www.goldencockroach.org/ Other organizations to consider for tenant advocacy/rights are ACORN, Parkdale Community Legal Services and Toronto Slum Tourism. I don't want to freak you out (I've had a handful of landlords/apartments in Toronto and no duds/slumlords yet, *knock wood*), but it's always best to know your resources! The Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations is also a good one: http://www.torontote...resources/links, check out their Tenant Survival Guide and Guide to Tenant Rights under their "Resources" tab to get familiar with your rights in Ontario! Doing the apt hunt cross-city is awful! The vacancy rate is very low in Toronto and landlords often won't advertise (IF they advertise) more than a month or two in advance and places can often be snatched up within a few hours AND it's never an ideal option to gamble and agree to a place without seeing it! I would recommend, then, something like milam1186's approach: come visit the city and try to snag something in person. If you've got family/friends around here, they can put you up. If it doesn't go well and you trust them/can give them a good idea of what you want, you can get one of them to secure something for you while you're still in BC. Again, this is not ideal, but it can work... the place I am currently in, with three room-mates, I checked out/paid for/signed for without any of them even seeing it, because I was the only one available to go look at it and it was apparent that if I didn't throw down right then and instead waited to gather the roomies, it was going to get snatched up! It is stressful, but it can work! That's all I can think of for now, but feel free to post/PM me if there's something that I can elaborate on! Oh, and don't forget, you cheer for the Leafs now Welcome!

Grad Skool Rulz: Everything you need to know about academia from admission to tenure Author: Fabio Rojas Don't let the playful spelling fool you, this is a very pragmatic and comprehensive piece! I would nominate this book because: - As I said, comprehensive. - It addresses how to meet the stipulated requirements of your program AND ALSO how to contend with the "unspoken rules", the stuff that you generally have to learn the hard way. - Author's orientation is social science, like me! As well, the book is specifically framed for doctoral students (so, not so much the professional degrees) who are going in gunning for tenure-ish track. Less fortunate for me: the context is mostly U.S. - Everything is blunt, the first chapter is called, "Do not go to Graduate School". The book discusses, in a straight-forward way, a lot of grad school aspects that are awkward to ask/think about or plan for: like departmental conflict, the job market and knowing under what conditions you should consider "getting out". - It's recent. - You can get it as an e-book for two bucks here: http://www.smashword...ooks/view/93455 Thanks for the suggestions guys! I'm definitely going to do some proactive reading in the next few months!

Hi there U of T friend! I'm starting to come around to the idea that second-guessing app decisions accompanies the gravity of the occasion! Every choice I made is buffeted by a trail of correspondence with trusted friends/faculty and a litany of neurotic pro/con lists; in documenting the application journey, I can actually re-visit my thinking and rationales, and I realize that the narrative - and my final destination - makes sense in this context! Like ktel, not only did I not apply outside of Canada, I didn't apply outside of Toronto. The decision was deliberate and steeped in prior plans and commitments. My partner is in a specialized program in the city. When I convocated from my MA in October of 2010 (and he had 3 years to go for his degree), we decided that I would work for the completion of his degree (fair's fair, he won the bread during my MA). I figured that I could try my hand at some "real world" work in policy development, pay down my debt, and make an informed decision about pursuing the PhD. If I decided to pursue a PhD, my app season would be Fall 2012, so that I would start a program right after he finished his! But, after a year and a bit of working, I couldn't wait, so we compromised: I'd have a go at apps in the city in 2011 and if it didn't go well, I'd "cast a wider net", if you will, in the previously designated 2012 season. Aaaand, then the season went really well! I woke up one day and sort of loved Toronto; after almost two years of living here and feeling ambivalent about it or worrying about turning into a cold city-dweller because of occasionally wanting to harm people in the subway for walking too slowly in front of me, I found that I could suddenly picture living here long-term. Not only that, I discovered that U of T wasn't the stuffy behemoth I thought it was and I could also picture myself IN a department there! And then they sent me an offer, and I was stoked! I'm so grateful that I had the opportunity to (re)discover this city and the academic opportunities here; I might not have seen it without the scrutinizing focus, and I might not have had this tight focus if I had cast a wider net! It's funny, my situation is a little different from yours. I'm not really regretting not looking south of the border, but part of that is because the specialization of my discipline is better served here AND I wasn't interested in the cost AND I didn't have any advisors/faculty/friends nudging me in that direction. I did pine briefly for some BC schools with intriguing restorative justice elements, but I'm quite happy to align myself with the exceptional program/resources/awesomeness of U of T! For my discipline, U of T is top-notch and the department's placement rate internationally is spectacular, so I can choose to boot around with the name recognition after (if that's a similar perk for your department, that should assauge your "what if"s slightly...) Ultimately, like me, there wasn't really a "bad" decision for you. Being accepted across the board, I think, compounds the hypothetical self-interrogation (I'm not trying to be presumptuous and I'm NOT complaining about having no rejections, of course, I'm just saying that it might've skewed our perception of the app process/opportunities out there) Let yourself mourn the "could-have-beens" (the offers you declined and the ones that you didn't seek out); and best of luck! Your advice is always so pragmatic ktel! Thanks for sharing!

I got this e-mail this morning: "The results for the 2012-13 OGS competition will be released beginning to mid May 2012. Once the results have been released, you will receive an email notification, letting you know that your results are available, and you will be able to check your status by logging into your OGS account, from the OSAP website. In addition to your results being available online, a letter will also be mailed to you, conveying your results for the 2012-13 competition." So, there ya go. My heart jumped for a second, as the subject line of the e-mail read: "2012-13 OGS Competition Results" Dear OGS, if the subject line reads "2012-13 OGS Competition Results", ONE MIGHT EXPECT THAT THE BODY OF THE E-MAIL WILL CONTAIN COMPETITION RESULTS! Geez... it's like they do this on purpose... I hadn't thought about OGS for, like, two weeks, and I was prepared and perfectly happy to carry on not thinking about them for another month or so. There may be a batch of applicants out there who are comforted by the reminder that OGS does, in fact, still exists and still intends to process the competition, but I am not one of them. I adore you OGS, but I think that we need some space! Good luck fellow OGS prospectives, the next time we compare notes, it will hopefully pertain to communication that offers a bit of closure!

I'm in a different discipline, but thought that I'd chime in anyway! I spent a year in between my undergrad and MA cooking in an industrial kitchen, attending every social event that I was invited to, and doing some sustained social justice work. I worked full-time during my undergrad, so it was nice to have the "year off" to 1) give my MA app the time and consideration it deserved 2) have a balanced social life and 3) see big volunteer projects through from beginning to end (I had a lot of extracurriculars from undergrad, but mostly stuff that involved limited time commitments like monthly meetings, not the exciting front-line social justice stuff that I got to do in that gap year). I took two years between my MA (1 year program) and PhD (well, it WILL be two years by the time I start the PhD this September), for a different reason: I didn't want to do the PhD because I didn't know what else to do. I wanted to do the PhD after eliminating some other hypotheticals. I decided to commit to this by promising myself a WHOLE year where I wasn't 1) attending school or 2) applying for school. School would not be my fail safe, my back-up. I would get work that I approached with an open head and heart and see if there was something that I could picture doing forever. I was willing to let myself be passionate about something else other than academia. Obviously, I found my way back to academia - or, it found its way back to me! Now, I feel as though I'm entering with some real world experience and a firm certainty that this is what I want (and I know, because I tried a bunch of other stuff!) I've had six contracts in total. I feel as though a few of these were beneficial to the admission process and/or were positively recieved by the adcomms. I spent 4 months working as a workshop leader for a 2nd-year class in my discipline at my undergrad uni. This was beneficial because 1) I got a conference gig out of it 2) I parlayed the conference thing into an RA-ship and 3) the prof in charge of the second year class was also one of my instructors from my own undergrad classes, he wrote me an awesome letter, apparently, discussing my positive trajectory and growth. I spent 4 months doing a part-time UNPAID internship with a NGO as a research assistant. The references from this period helped me to land another position, also as a research assistant and policy developer, at a prominent, international non-profit. I'll have been in this lattermost post for a year and a half when I start the PhD in the fall. One of my POIs, who is very entrenched in social justice work, policy and the role of non-profits in law, was VERY enthusiastic about my specific non-profit/NGO experience. Other POIs were generally receptive to the fact that I'd been getting PAID, in the "real world", to do RESEARCH in the social/policy realm, which I guess inplies that I'm pretty well-acquainted/capable when it comes to the dynamics/demands of this type of work. Other benefits of having been away: I had a go at some government/private sector gigs and disliked them PROFOUNDLY. Being aware of the type of work in which I do not thrive is the other half of the "knowing thyself" exercise, and I'm glad that I gave myself the time and space to experience these, even if they made me unhappy for a time. Anyway, my experience and capacity to positively "spin" my time off as relevant and "well-spent" might have something to do with my discipline and the value placed on social justice work (and practical/policy-motivating research therein). I do think that the research experience carries though. I think that some short-term research projects during gap periods equates to time well-spent; you've developed some skills, but you haven't been away long enough to develop bad habits or to have forgotten the rigor that academia demands... As well, giving yourself some space to "test" some other sectors will help you to answer the "why (or, why not) academia?" question for yourself, and you can use that articulated self-awareness to craft an informed SOP, where appropriate! That being said, I had one app that demanded that my SOP be PhD-research-proposal only AND the app didn't call for a CV, so in that case, the work experience didn't really have a place to shine. I think that the experiences helped me to distinguish myself in some cases (interviews with POIs) and not so much in other contexts (short, content-restricted SOPs). I guess that you could start with looking up the places that you want to apply to for the PhD to get a sense of what they prioritize in applications. Generally, from my experience, I would say that time away doesn't need to be justified or actively explained (like if you had to take some space to address an erratic GPA), but it can help you to distiguish yourself if you utilize and then frame it in a relevant way! I think that the question of how you spend your time should be prefaced by considerations of WHY you're taking the time off in the first place (that is, what are you hoping to acheive)? You don't mention a specific reason above. If the reason is finance-related, then your time is best spent working a job that will help replenish your funds. If the reason is burn-out related, then you might want to do something low-key or low-commitment (kind of like what I did betweeen the BA and MA, work a whatever job, ideally a fun-ish one, and make some time for fulfilling endeavours and try to achieve a healthy work-life balance). If the reason is about some variation on "finding myself/my purpose", then you could do what I did between the MA and PhD and make a serious commitment to throw a bunch of stuff against the wall to see if anything sticks! That ended up being a longer answer than I intended, I hope that some of it helps! Good luck!

Sorry I don't have something more insightful, I'm incoming! Best of luck to us!

Hi there! Happy first post! That's an interesting question, one that I have wondered myself as a domestic Canadian applicant who has not had to contend with the GRE... There's a thread over here that might be a good place to start: Maybe there are some geographic/discipline-related patterns that you can draw on? Good luck!

I'll be at U of T in the Fall, in the Sociology Department. I'll have been in the city for about three years come September (did my MA at York and then worked NGO/academic gigs). Toronto grows on you, it was a bit of a slow take for me, but I'm good to commit for the PhD time-frame! Goodness yes, the library! I visited their rare book rooms the last time I was on campus and totally geeked out! One of my contracts post-MA involved rare book appraisals, so I was completely enamoured with the opportunity to peruse! Having access to U of T resources is one of the biggest draws for me! Stoked!