practical cat

I spoke about my writing sample a little bit, mostly to contextualize it within a larger project. However, I wouldn't waste words describing the writing sample or doing anything else that is unnecessary (basically: don't turn the SOP into an abstract for your writing sample) given that they actually have that paper in front of them.

I'm now <6 hours away from being able to register and that's making me kind of nervous, even though I've had my classes picked out since before I was accepted. Still about 1.5 weeks out from orientation and >2 weeks out from classes starting but I have Big Plans (making jam and canning tomatoes, mostly) as well as reveling in my remaining 15 days of allowable lethargy. That and reading my first Dickens (for class). Theoretically.

Love. I stand by what I said in that despair. My writing sample needed another month of really solid work because I think that was the major difference between outright acceptance/waitlist in all three cases. I would've applied to fewer schools -- 7, I still have the list I made when I made my original post in this thread -- but they all would've been better fits.

Best of luck to those driving with pets, oh man. I'm getting on a plane next Wednesday. Pretty nervous, pretty busy packing and saying goodbyes.

Living alone since I didn't really want to live with 3-4 strangers (I'd live with maybe one but a two bedroom in Boston does not do much to decrease rent) as I've had nothing but horrible roommate experiences in the past. I've also lived alone for the last two years and I really don't think I could go back to living with people now. I am way, way too used to having my own kitchen. I've also found that, as an introvert, I am actually more social and less lonely if I live alone because I am able to actually get the alone time that I need to recharge enough to handle socialization. I realize I'm VERY lucky to have found a(n amazing) place I could afford on my stipend.

I'm about 10 miles from my campus. (But I'm MUCH closer to Tufts, ha.)

Just got my one-way ticket to Boston.

I started with the fairly cheap rhetorical trick of a simple declarative statement that I would later problematize: "I like what other people like". I quickly framed my interest in popular culture in terms of a hybrid interest in democratic theory and identity politics, moving through my undergrad thesis (on the discursive potential of a genre) to how I see myself looking more at individuals -- celebrity -- in the future. I think if I had to do it again, I would've liked to have barged in less abruptly with my opening line but, oh man, I spent so much energy on that and nothing good came. I'm not confident more time would've been it softer. I wish I'd had a slightly more concrete research topic to offer too. As others have said, it helps to show that you can come up with a viable topic, regardless of whether or not you use it. I would've benefited from starting in June instead of September FOR SURE. General SOP advice: be confident in your potential as a scholar (EVERYONE STOP UNDERSELLING YOURSELF OR APOLOGIZING FOR HOW NOT GREAT YOU THINK YOU ARE OK), be cohesive in your story, be honest about your ideas and interests.

I have an apartment and the kitchen is magnificent. (As is the pizza place around the corner.)

This gif. So much this gif. I'm in Boston RIGHT NOW trying to find an apartment for August before I leave tomorrow and I kind of just want to curl up somewhere and cry. IF I find a place though, I think I'm gonna like it here. :-)

Your school should have an academic calendar online and this info should be on there. If not, check with the grad school. This varies tremendously. I don't register until August 15, but I know people who have already registered.

Breaks! We will need them! But I agree. I kind of feel like I don't really have anything to contribute anymore/yet (other than the occasional upvote, I guess). Things'll pick up in the next couple of months.

Thank you for this. I have been following this thread and wanting to say something very similar but couldn't figure out how best to accomplish it. In addition, a lot of the comments that write others off as idiots is illustrative of why, precisely, people might be "anti-intellectual." I wouldn't want anything to do with us either if my entire sample were people who treated me poorly and made me feel stupid. People who don't read (for whatever reason) are still actually valuable members of society and should be treated just as well as we treat people who do read -- I don't even think that should have to be said...

As always, go blue. (I guess?)

I've never done it myself (I always had a car) but I know others who do/did use the service fairly regularly and I've never heard of them having any trouble.

Also, the statistics are not even a little comparable. The odds of winning the lottery are more equivalent to the odds of your one vote making a difference in a US presidential election though STILL more slim, theoretically. The odds of getting into grad school, on pure math alone, are more roughly equivalent to being pulled on stage at an improv show (and most of us think we're going to be the ones that happens to, right?). Further, if you calculate the number of combinations of possible outcomes based on the number of schools to which you're applying (allowing only two possible outcomes: accept/reject), the probability of being shut out entirely can be even slimmer than your 1/75 chance of being one of the 10 people in School X's cohort. Of course, the real world (and thus the real math) is messier than that and all sorts of things, including/especially merit (it's more palatable to me to argue that pure chance becomes a little more relevant once you hit the schools's top 25 or so applicants), mess up those numbers but it is actually possible to take some comfort in the idea of the numbers game too.

It's possible I'm the last person to declare themselves in this thread but I have officially accepted Brandeis' offer. I'm not sure there was EVER another option for me but the school named after the Supreme Court justice.

I heard you guys are contractually obligated to fight to the death for your football team's honor should your paths ever cross at a conference......

Yaaaaaay! Congrats! What a long 24 hours for you!

I'm so sorry, this breaks my heart. I bet you'll do exceptionally well next year!

Congrats!

I have good feelings about this for you. I hope you get it!

Omg

Yay! I've really been looking forward to seeing which school you would choose. Congrats, datatape!

I'm REALLY happy for you, bfat. You're going to do great and be very happy there, I'm sure.