skybythelight

Where are you finding this info once you log into Wolverine? I'm poking around on the "New and Prospective Students" page and must be missing it. Edit: Nevermind, found it.

DFW is on my list: I recently gave Infinite Jest a try and just could. not. do it. I'll also second whoever mentioned Butler early in the thread, and for the same reasons. Her concepts are interesting, her writing style infuriating.

I've never been more jealous of another human.

I would love to read it!

This is a really stupid question, but could anyone post the link/tell me how to actually log back in to the ASF? The only things I can find in my confirmation e-mails are links to the main application. I know I'm probably just missing something obvious, but... help.

I can only speak conjecturally here, but I have a somewhat similar trajectory in that the first few years of my undergrad transcript are mediocre at best: mostly Bs and even one D minus in an English class. My final two and a half years, however, I have straight As. I took a two year break in between. Last year, I didn't apply to any PhD programs because I was too hung up on those first few years of poor grades. My department chair encouraged me by saying that the upward swing trajectory is MUCH easier for adcoms to overlook than if it were the opposite: started really strong and finished only okay. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that it sounds to me like if your more recent work, writing sample and personal statement are strong, I don't think your undergrad record will keep you out.

Might not be so ridiculous: my prof was in California for God's sake, and STILL didn't check his e-mail. Not to freak you out, I'm just saying: it's definitely better, in my opinion, to risk being a little annoying and send the extra e-mails than to lose out on your application fee and chance to be considered for whatever programs you're referring to.

One of my recommenders still hasn't submitted for Maryland. The deadline was the 8th. Thankfully, the woman I've been in touch with at the department has been incredibly kind and has resent the link to him AND just told me that I could have a different professor send a letter to her as an attachment and she will try to upload it for me. SO frustrating. He hasn't responded to any of my e-mails. UGH. I don't know what else to do, so I e-mailed another prof who wrote for me last year in hopes that he'll still have that letter saved somewhere.

I FedEx Express'ed Washington's app earlier today... one more to go. Sigh, so close.

Just a random tidbit: my advisor/one of my rec writers recently graduated from Michigan, as did her husband. I was at their place picking up keys for holiday house-sitting the other day, and they told me that Michigan generally gets their offers and rejections out rather early, as they "feel very strongly about who they want and they go after them." Eek, so intimidating.

Seconded!

I'm so sorry! Is there no one else you can talk to? This seems so unreasonable for something that's completely out of your hands...

I recently received an e-mail from Maryland that two of my letters hadn't been submitted... I contacted both profs, and one submitted it right away: she thought she had, but must have x'ed out of the window before finishing, or something. The other professor is out of state until the 22nd, and he tends to be very sporadic about e-mailing when he's away. I e-mailed the department and asked if it would be too late for him to submit it when he got back, and she responded that he could, but that the committee would begin reviewing applications in a few days. Eek! She also re-sent the link to him at my request.

Congrats! I'm still dragging my feet on my last 3...

Definitely. I have six of my nine in... my remaining deadlines aren't until January 15th, but I would really like to get them done before New Years.

Yeah, makes sense. My boyfriend and I watch the show with a few of his friends, though, and they've all read all of the books. I always feel like such a jerk when they're trying to talk about something and bf or I has to be like GUYS SHUT UP SHE HASN'T READ THEM ALL YET.

I've been asking myself the same thing, especially as we're all obsessing about missed typos (I finally found one in an SoP) and the like.

I still have three apps left to submit, but for whatever reason, I haven't (so far) been too stressed out about admissions decisions. Obviously I care deeply about it, and I'm sure the stress and anxiety will come, but I think I'm just finally starting to breath again from application stress and I'm just going to ride that for as long as I can. Also, my boyfriend and I are planning to move whether or not I get in anywhere, and I guess that's kind of my fall-back plan for not being too disappointed if I don't get any offers. Once my last three apps are in, I plan on painfully restarting and slogging through Feast for Crows... I FLEW through the first three books in the SOIAF series, and came to a dead halt with this one. BUT I really want to have AFFC and Dance with Dragons finished by the time season three starts!

I actually just got in from babysitting for my professor, which I've been doing for over a year now, including when i actually had her in class. My boyfriend and I are going to be staying at their place and dog-sitting over the holiday. This particular prof has also been my advisor through the grad school process, and we've definitely gotten to know each other quite well throughout the process. I don't know if I'd go as far as to call us "genuinely close friends," as it isn't like we "hang out," although we were supposed to go over there for dinner recently but one of the kids got sick. Anyway. Point being, we have definitely developed a personal relationship.

Relatedly: WHY IS MICHIGAN'S APP THE ABSOLUTE WORST EVER IN ALL POSSIBLE WAYS.

Michigan's app specifies "up to two pages, double spaced" for both of their statements.

I did the same thing, so let me know how it goes. :/

I am probably the worst person at stress-management. Mostly I've been getting a lot of headaches, crying, overeating, and last night my boyfriend and I drove a half an hour to a specific bakery because I wanted their cupcakes.

I would recommend logging in to the ETS site, click on "View Scores," or whatever it is. You can take a screen-shot of that, and either upload that or paste it into a Word document, convert it to a PDF and upload that. It depends on what file format your application specifies, if any.

Congrats and good luck! I'm in desperate need of an adult beverage myself.