Shari A Williams

I'm just bumping this thread to see if anyone has additional info on Calgary...any would be appreciated!

Agree with this one! People tend to not do both- for instance people I know tend to focus on diet and ignore exercise. I've heard that changing eating habits will really drop pounds but exercise is what would tone/build muscle etc. I don't know how true it is but ...I find that someone who is slim but not toned generally will look odder than someone who's a lil bigger but toned. That said, for me, watching what I eat isn't even just about size...it's about how I feel afterwards. It may be because I'm not used to it, but junk food always leaves me feeling kind of gross inside, and ultimately not satisfied. Also, it doesn't properly fuel me for or after a workout either. So I can't reeeally afford to eat junk food even though my metabolism is also great. ....of course that's not saying I never ever do though....sometimes I really just want a burger and crispy fries...

LOVE IT! This pencil pushing thing....the more time I spend writing, the hungrier I get...so it MUST be burning some calories!!!

You guys are SO RIGHT about exercising regularly being a way of regularizing your schedule overall where studying and other things are concerned. I find that when I work out first thing in the morning or when I know I have to work out in the evening, I'm more likely to be super productive during the days. I dance at my current university, and that ranges from about 4-9 hours a week depending on whether or not there's a performance. Dancing generally tends to improve flexibility and strength along with cardio for me. Normally when I'm not dancing I try to do a combo of jogging/cardio, yoga and some strength training at LEAST 4 times a week. This year I actually kept doing those things WHILE dancing seven or eight hours a week, in addition to trying out capoeira...and even though I hurt my knee and lower back in the process (my fault for not easing into everything), it was worth it in the long run. Not only were the results ok, but it greatly improved my energy levels and my mood in general. Those are things that I DEFINITELY need in grad school..so if I can't dance at my new university I'll find a sport or something to complement the other activities. I think a very important thing people sometimes underestimate is the importance of moving throughout the day...for weight loss and general fitness that can help a great deal. It's really hard when you're spending long hours sitting down at work/in class/in the library but whenever you can it helps to get up and move around, take a brief walk, take the stairs where possible and so on. The key is just to get the metabolism going whenever possible. Hope everything goes well for you, and thanks to everyone else who posted for the tips!

Something that I try to remind myself is that while I don't always have the inspiration/motivation to write for many hours a day, some writing is STILL better than none. So I try to do some writing regularly, even if it's just a paragraph or two. Sometimes I might just write a vague-but-structured paragraph of musings on my subject, and add examples and analysis later. Other times I might deviate from my schedule and work backwards or on random points in random chapters in the thesis, rather than just going from point A to B to C every day. The way that I've kept off the overwhelmed feeling (for the most part that is!) is to just make sure I work as consistently as I can, because I feel productive and more confident that way. Also, I don't know if you have, pump out that FULL first draft as soon as you can. Or as close to a full first draft as you can. As long as you have your intro/proposal/lit review, chapters and conclusion- no matter how incomplete- it'll give you a much better idea of where you are. And you'll feel much better and much more accomplished. Good luck to everyone here! Hope we can all submit on time =)

I'm going to try to address everything you said in order. Personally, I think you need to stop thinking so negatively. Noone is perfect but it sounds like you've managed to turn things around for yourself, school-wise. REGARDLESS of what other scholars may or may not have done, that's still something to feel good about. Don't beat yourself up just because people have possibly done better than you. There are probably more persons who have performed WORSE than you. Yes, things are competitive when it comes to applying to schools, there's no question about it. But YOU need to convince yourself of your OWN self-worth and be confident in your abilities, and your capacity to learn and grow. Until you do that, you're going to REALLY struggle when it comes to coming up with the content and structure of your SOP. -Yes, it IS possible that you can get into a top school after attending a less "prestigious" one. It all has to do with what you do there and how you network and market yourself. Don't assume it'll be miniscule to them. -I HIIIIGHLY doubt that they sit around laughing at people's SOPs, so you can relax about that. These people are human after all. -I felt stupid during the appliaction process myself. I ended up writing my SOP a ZILLION times. Between that and the rewriting writing sample (I dunno how it is for IT but it's pretty important for other applications) I was literally in TEARS approaching application deadlines. The field I was applying for was different from the one I was doing, and the one I did my Bachelors in, so I was extremely insecure about everything. But in the end I just tried to focus on my positives and sell myself well enough in my application. -I think if you search the forums in the Applications section (if you haven't already) you'll find posts to help you with writing the SOP in a way that will adequately highlight your achievements. Here's a link I used: http://www.statementofpurpose.com/ Good luck!

Old thread but I'm bumping it... This actually happened to me for York University....apparently their music department gets a certain quota a year and it was essentially 0 for the 2012-2013 year. Even if this wasn't quite true, I'm sure they'd be more likely to take PhD students than Masters students.

I'm also not from your field.... but I've asked professors at my university, and the thesis based route may be better. It will show you're already capable of research, as Eigen said. Also in addition to that, it would possibly make doing research at PhD level a little bit easier for you, as you would have had experience in that area.

Because I'm in the writing stage of my research, this reeeally applies to me. I'm like, "Yay weekends! Yay summer holidays!" and then I remember....they'll be spent in front of my computer anyways....ah well lol

I definitely plan to go home in Christmas...not sure about summer because I may be working but it'd be nice to go home even if it's under two weeks. I'm actually starting to save for those plane trips home from now.

Anyone else headed there this fall? I'm going for an M.A in Musicology

If they were willing to work closely on your application the first time around, I'm pretty sure they'll be glad to help you out this time too. As SeriousSillyPutty said, as long as you give them enough notice, they'll be ok with it. I had to not only add extra schools to the letters I'd requested from my referees, but essentially ask them to do them over their references because I decided to apply to Masters programmes instead of PhD ones. They were really nice about it, and pretty accommodating. So yeah, I'm pretty sure you'll be fine. Good luck!

Went into my current Masters at 22 after working for a year (here the average University bachelors is three years, not four). This other girl and I are by far the youngest in our programme...everyone else is in the mid 30s or older, with children and tons more work experience. We all got on really well though, even though there was a little teasing as far as the age thing went. I actually think that this environment was very refreshing, because being around people who were more mature and focused was very beneficial for me. Anyhoo, I will hand in this thesis a few days b4 my 24th bday, and will be going into another two-year Masters programme a few weeks after. I'll do my PhD right after hopefully so I guess I'll be 30-32 when I'm done with everything. If things go SUPER well that is...

I don't remember seeing this in any of the posts but I thought it was pretty funny: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1185

I think it's a bit of a leap, but again it's dependent on the factors persons have listed above, along with things like self-discipline etc. I'm finishing my Masters at the same university that I did my undergrad in (which may be the reason why I personally feel like grad school is only a little harder than undergrad). Also, even though I was going out and having fun, I still worked hard because I was considering doing my Masters at the time and I had heard from other people that a good degree gave you a better chance of getting funding. So now it's just a matter of trying to up the ante where that's concerned for grad level work. Another reason is that you-control-your-workload thing someone above me mentioned. For me it was less of a time issue and more of an enthusiasm issue. In undergrad I spent my first two years doing a bunch of courses I had limited/no interest in because they were compulsory or because I had free credits. At this level, although I obviously have far more reading to do and it still sometimes takes me places I'm not accustomed to (had to spend a few hours getting my physics friend explain some concepts to me for my research), I am pretty much doing EXACTLY what I want to do. I've gotta say, this definitely helps me to sit down and work in the library for 6-7 hours without moving. I'm doing an M.Phil incidentally, which would mean that I only had two full courses to do, which I got out of the way in a year. My next Master's will apparently be by thesis, but I'm anticipating more courses there...so we'll see what I say a year from now!

I've given mine one (even though it's just a draft) and I've kept a bounded one for myself. For me, it was the easiest, neatest way to keep everything together, and I'm sure my supervisor appreciated it as well. It's completely up to you though, because I understand the money issue.

My undergrad was in Spanish (did no minor), the M.Phil I'm finishing is in Cultural Studies and I just got accepted into a Masters in Musicology- which I'll also do my PhD in. I guess from Cultural Studies to Musicology isn't much of a leap..but from undergrad to this current degree certainly was. I decided to start reading and note-taking a month before classes started and I passed all my coursework in the end, so it all worked out. =)

So I'm a lurker so I may have missed you talking about when your deadline(s) were, but the deadline for the programme I applied to at Calgary was January 15, and I didn't hear from them until late last week - an acceptance roughly nine weeks later. You just never know.

Hi guys! I've been stalking this forum for maybe a few months but never posted before now. I applied for the MA Musicology programmes at University of Calgary and York University. I've been accepted to Calgary with some funding and am yet to hear from York. (They pushed their deadline so that it came about a month after Calgary's) My research generally focuses on the development of Caribbean (English and Spanish speaking) music from pre-emancipation days all the way to popular music today. Indeed, I'm hoping to learn more about other countries (Western and otherwise) and their popular music forms, and how they can be compared. Does anyone know which of these departments would be a better fit for my research interests? Which would be more likely to look at a wide variety of countries, and which would put as much emphasis on popular music as it does on other areas? I hope this post makes sense and that someone can give me some feedback. Thanks!