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People in my life who think like this:

Phew. Glad to know I won't be looked down upon. And to teafortwo971, it may even appear to your benefit. Not that you put the fact that you're taking time off front and center in your application, but I have been told by numerous faculty members from all different schools (as it has been an anxiety of mine) that time off often correlates in their experience with more mature, committed and level-headed students, something that you can use to your advantage. My 2 cents.

Yes, very lucky indeed. I'm a Canadian citizen and it's been a long time since I applied to a Canadian school but I don't recall there being fee waivers there (at least not at my alma mater, U of T). This lack of waiver is probably offset by how dirt-cheap Canadian education is in comparison to American.

I remembered this thread and started googling myself to see what may come up. Luckily just my LinkedIn account!

All you lucky American citizens and your fee waivers! Us internationals get no love

You would want to avoid using any words like "grandiloquent." A good rule of thumb is if you really have to think about how to use a big word, spend that time thinking of a simpler one to use in its stead. The key to SOPs is clarity and precision, not fancy vocabulary. Remember your audience: these are professors who, yes, should understand all these big words, but have to read through possibly hundreds of statements and will very much appreciate something clear and precise over something wordy and flowery.

All the schools I'm applying to except UCR allow letter submissions before payment.

Thank you! I took your advice and contacted the editor and she said she had meant to inform me weeks ago that it had already been sent out to readers. I'm ecstatic!

The UCR statement of purpose is only 3000 characters. I think my brain is about to explode.

(I'm sure this question has been asked before but a search turned up nothing. Apologies!) I submitted a paper on October 31 and didn't even get an email back saying "received." When's a good time to follow up on this? Obviously the professor/editor is very busy during this time but I want to ensure that they received it otherwise I just may never hear back about it ever again. This is a yearly publication, so I think their timeline is quite a bit more stretched than the usual quarterlies. Thanks!

Conversely, this is going to be me by the mailbox around February.

Soooo... how the heck does one do MLA format headings if it's not for a class? I've scoured the handbook and can't find any information on this and have settled with just Name Date in top left hand corner, then the title center align and the usual page number, last name thing. It just looks so bare now.

The answer, as always: it depends. I spoke to one school the other day that said that GRE scores are quite important in terms of what the wider graduate admission committee wants before they send the application to the individual departments. Another school I spoke to said that the GRE scores go directly to the department only and, in his words, they couldn't give two hoots about GRE scores. So, your best bet is to call the graduate admissions department and ask them yourself.

Thank you! Out of curiosity, are these guidelines set out anywhere in the manual or are these mostly unspoken, stylistic choices?

Thanks, Molloy and Wyatt (I ran out of upvotes for today... have a gif?) You guys are right. I might as well roll the dice. It would be dumb for someone looking to get into gender/sexuality not to apply to Berkeley.

Interesting. So if my paper is on Paradise Lost, obviously it would receive parentheticals. But the paper also deals at length with Metamorphoses and some other texts too. What to do then?

I've had MLA drilled into me from a young age so trying to make the leap now to Chicago (as per a journal's guidelines) has been disconcerting. I am using Notes-Bibliography style. I can't seem to understand how to distinguish between moments when I should use an endnote to cite something that I have quoted and when I should use a simple in-text parenthetical. I've seen Chicago-style papers that use both and it also seems like it would be excessive to endnote every single citation I make in the paper. (PS. I have the Chicago guidebook but I couldn't find a simple answer to this question.) Any help is appreciated!

Agreed. I know the mantra around here is to stress the holistic approach to evaluation to which many adcomms adhere, but an F in a master's program is severe. It's basically the equivalent of a "DO NOT HIRE." I think the most helpful thing that we should communicate to this person now is the trouble that they are in. It really would take another MA degree to even come close to having leeway to explain away an F.

I'm curious as to how folks feel about this: I was originally intending to apply to those tippy-top programs in my field as kind of a "hail mary pass," (which is not to say that I wasn't going to put effort into the application). I already spent some money sending GRE scores and transcripts to those programs but now I feel as if I've had a change of heart, mostly about my chances of being accepted. Would you just continue on with the application and sink more money in for the app fee or would you cut your losses and save some money/time?

Hi, I'm currently in my 2nd to last semester of my MA (2 year) and applying to Ph.D programs. You send your transcripts that include all completed work. The courses you are currently completing will say something like "in progress" and Ph.D programs know to expect this. There are some online applications that allow you to enter (unofficially) courses in progress to supplement a transcript. Some programs may ask for grade updates after the completion of the semester in which you applied. Some will even ask for updated transcripts after you complete the MA altogether, just to make sure you didn't completely bomb after you were offered acceptance!

May I lead with a gif? CONGRATULATIONS!!!

As I understand it, your application goes to the graduate division of any school and then is sent to the specific department to which you are applying. I have a really crappy Q score and I was just told by one POI that the graduate division may not look kindly on that, even though my V score is 99th percentile and I'm applying to the English department. I looked on the school's graduate division website and saw no information to that end. Is it kosher to email them and ask about that?

They wanted your SOP? That sounds kinda strange... are they on the adcomm? They want to look at it in advance? Or they aren't and want to offer feedback on it? Good to know! Do you know if that POI is on the adcomm?

I seem to be having a lot of anxiety with this particular aspect of applications. One professor was very warm in his reply, encouraged me to apply and asked that I send him samples of my work and a CV. Is this normal?