coffeeplease

Also quitting my job. I can't wait.

Plan B: If I don't end up in grad school, I will move to Hollywood and write a script about a zombie admissions committee.

First of all, this draft is a vast improvement over what you had before. Secondly, writing the SOP is a process and many of us went through 23539845 drafts on the way to applying. Well, I did anyway. I've put my comments directly into the draft. I'm pretty nit-picky, but don't be put off by that. Like I said, this draft is better and you're headed in the right direction.



I think you should take some time to think about your specific research questions. I know they can be hard to articulate; maybe look at old papers you've written, or articles you find interesting for inspiration. It's a very important element of the SOP, and I don't feel like I know what your exact interests and plans are after reading through the essay.

Hope that helps -- keep at it! You're making good progress.

The Alchemist. Had to read it in high school. Awful, awful book.

Plan B: If I don't end up in grad school, I will move to Hollywood and write a script about a zombie admissions committee.

Plan B: If I don't end up in grad school, I will move to Hollywood and write a script about a zombie admissions committee.

Plan B: If I don't end up in grad school, I will move to Hollywood and write a script about a zombie admissions committee.

I turned in a paper whose title was [TITLE GOES HERE].

My prof wrote next to it, "Yes, it does."

The Alchemist. Had to read it in high school. Awful, awful book.

"Relax."

I will relax when I am good and ready!

Plan B: If I don't end up in grad school, I will move to Hollywood and write a script about a zombie admissions committee.

This week my school posted fall classes. I did this:



I am so freaking excited.

This week my school posted fall classes. I did this:



I am so freaking excited.

I think you'll have to tell us more about the discussions taking place in your classes and why you find them problematic. But your last question leads me to believe you're not really interested in engaging with critical pedagogy at all, and fail to see how the act of writing itself is tied to questions of power and privilege.

First day of classes is September 4. Here's the academic calendar for 2012-2013.

Williams in general...I just read Politics of Modernism and will be reading another by him (as soon as I find a used copy that's not $35!!).

Right now I'm reading some Jung--it's a sort of anthology of his important writing on dreams. Really good, very accessible. Will be reading more by him in the near future.

It's really important to know some Marx. While not everyone is willing to tackle the thousands of pages of Capital, it is certainly worthwhile to pick up a copy of The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844--it's not too lengthy and sort of works as a good summary of his main ideas in Capital. Of course it differs, but I believe it can serve as a good introduction to Marx's philosophy.

This week my school posted fall classes. I did this:



I am so freaking excited.

This week my school posted fall classes. I did this:



I am so freaking excited.

Agree x 1000. I think many GradCafers confuse being supportive, and being sycophantic.

People telling you you are a special little snowflake and YAY you'll get into all your schools and WOOO aren't we supportive does absolutely nothing to improve your chances of getting into grad school, which I maybe mistakenly assumed is the main goal of most posters. There is no box to check on grad apps to indicate MPAGrad87 quoted you and said Nice job! : )

People identifying what you are doing wrong, and telling you about it DOES improve your chance at grad school success, as long as you are not so sensitive that you can't accept any negative feedback. If your SOP sucks and someone identifies this, you can fix it and improve your chances. If you are not competitive for the schools you're applying for, and someone identifies this, they maybe just saved you from an oh-fer. Whether the advice is kind or blunt, it is still helping you in ways the sunshine+puppy kisses of "supportive" posters do not.

I would 10 times out of 10 rather have someone rudely but accurately tell me what I am doing wrong (so I can fix it), than someone kindly but inaccurately cheerlead for me (so I can stumble into failure.)

And how do either of you know what these experiences are like?

I think that some of the members of this BB who are dog piling on the OP are using the anonymity of the internet to practice habits that are going to lead to profoundly unhappy moments in graduate school.

Here's the deal. Everyone (including tenured prize winning professors) has buttons they'd rather not have pushed. Almost everyone (including tenured prize winning professors) are going to get those buttons pushed. Most of the time, the buttons are pushed accidentally. Sometimes, the buttons are pushed to see what you're made of. Rarely, the buttons are pushed because someone wants to make you look bad.

How are you going to respond when you don't have +1/-1 buttons in front of you? Are you going to make a public statement about pulling back? Are you going to get snarky with someone face to face? Or are you going to laugh into your sleeve? How will you want to be treated when you're the one whose buttons are getting pushed? Will you want sympathy, empathy, or callous snark?

And my counterpoint would be that the original post in this thread did not foster a respectful environment. It did not invite discussion and discourse, but rather was phrased as a slightly paranoid-sounding rant following an ultimatum.

There were several posts in this thread that weren't particularly respectful, granted, but I'm referring more to other recent threads. See ANDSI's responses in the thread posted by the OP. They were not rude, or overtly harsh. Slight bit of biting sarcasm, perhaps, and fairly blunt. And they had an emmense snowballing of downvotes. Perceived "unsupportiveness" on these forums at around this time of year results in a dogpile effect unlike any other, and I'm not just talking about this thread.

The board doesn't have to rain sunshine and rainbows to foster a respectful environment. I only down vote when people are extremely rude and inappropriate...NOT when I merely dislike an opinion I didn't want to hear. For example, I don't like your posts on this thread, but I didn't down vote them. I don't see what comments above (about the thread being pathetic and the OP needing a therapist) accomplish.

This week my school posted fall classes. I did this:



I am so freaking excited.

This week my school posted fall classes. I did this:



I am so freaking excited.

Whatever. Dokkey is a dickhole and Two Espressos is awesome. So whatever.