kaputzing

All LORs submitted. Final draft of SOPs done for 2/3 schools due this Saturday. Writing sample NOT DONE. (If it makes anyone else feel better about their situation. Needs a lot of cleaning up too.) ;; Need to rework CV and write a personal diversity/history statement for Berkeley too. And oh yeah, it's finals week, just to top it all off. But at least all the LORs are in, so it's all on me now.

I agree with your mentor. If you don't have someone who'll make you out to be, I dunno, the next Hobsbawm in the making (not that I know what period you're interested in ), don't go for the fourth.

Listing schools is fine. It's when they ask you (in say, an interview) where the school ranks on your list that you should be more worried and ... well, perhaps a bit evasive if it's not your top choice (and if you have issues being dishonest). Yes, you're competing for a spot, but they're also competing for you with limited funding; in some departments, when they accept a student who ends up not attending their school, the department loses the money, and it goes back into the school-wide pool of cash. Not only are you sitting there twiddling your thumbs worrying about whether or not they'll accept you, they're sitting there twiddling their thumbs worrying about whether or not you'll accept them!

I guarantee you that the admissions committee isn't going to run a word count on your SOPs. What will happen is they'll print them out and eyeball it; if it looks like it's within the proper length (1-1.75 pages), then you've got nothing to worry about. If you want to make it easier on the committee to read your writing without going against the "DON'T DOUBLE-SPACE" rule, then you should just add an extra space between paragraphs. I actually think this is a good idea, if only so that things don't look too cramped; they have a ton of these to read, so make it as easy as possible for them.

Because I don't want to make another thread: I'm applying to the school I'm current at, in the department I'm already in, and my letter writers are all in this department. I want to send them small gifts as a sign of thanks, but I'm afraid it'll be seen as a bribe, since at least 2/3 of them are on the school's admissions committee! I suppose in this case just a simple card would be best (and I am thinking I'd just toss it in their school mailbox since I don't have the home addresses for most of them)? And then after results come in, I'll send them an additional something I suppose.

Yes, it does make a difference, sometimes negative, sometimes positive. I know someone who says that his advisor told him he was accepted specifically because they met, so he had someone to bat for him during admissions, which is a huge plus. Of course, then you get people who decide they're not interested in working with you after having met you, so something to keep in mind. I do think you should go for it if possible, even if you've already sent in your application. Just send them another email asking them if they're attending, and if they are, would they mind setting aside a few minutes to speak with you, but be sure to have relevant questions/discussion points ofc.

1. Yes, but only if you have some sort of relationship with her already. 2. I think the best thing to do would be to start an email correspondence and try to catch her at additional conferences to chat.

Some schools will take unofficial transcripts though (and ask for official after they accept you). If you have one from your academic advisor, you can just scan it into a pdf form and attach it to the application. Or, better yet, just order an electronic (official) copy of your transcript, which typically takes 1-2 business days to arrive in the inbox.

Ask your profs when they want your SOPs as references for your LORs. Some profs are willing to write very quickly (one of mine says she will take an afternoon to do it), while others might require a few days (again one of my recommenders just wants a three-day advance warning) or weeks (and my third takes 2-3 weeks). When in doubt, just double-check with them.

One blasted school on my list only wants two LORs instead of three. 1.) Prof. A: Taken three classes with him, did well in all of them. He expressed very great enthusiasm about writing a rec for me for this particular school, so I am keeping him though he knows me the least well out of the three profs. Fairly big name in the field. 2.) Prof. B: My advisor, am currently working on a BA thesis under her. Have taken three classes with her, did well in all of them. The only one who can attest to my research skills, but she is an upcoming scholar in her field (though she does very good work). She also knows me the best out of the three. She has said she wants to attempt to tailor her letters to my SOPs and has been super supportive through the entire process. 3.) Prof. C: Huge name in the field, everyone loves him (though he has not published recently and is retiring soon). Have taken two classes with him, did well in both of them. I also work as a volunteer on one of his projects (but not in any research capacity, consider me one of those house elf slaves ), so he can speak about my professionalism in addition to my academics. Has stated that he will pretty much write a generic letter for all the schools (by generic, I mean pretty much the same letter), but also asked me if I have any requests about what to emphasize in the letters. I still have to get back to him on that; it was a little bit out of left-field, lol. Comes down to B and C, since A is superrrrrr enthusiastic about my applying to this particular school. I have actually asked both B and C about what they think, and they just settled on, "It's your choice." Opinions?

It's actually quite funny in the case of Asian-Americans. I have heard that some don't report their race, but an overwhelming amount of them do simply because they figure their family names will give them away anyways -- excluding the ones who were adopted or who have last names romanized as, for example, an innocent "Lee" as opposed to the dead giveaway "Li." (Lucky Koreans? Perhaps ...) Back on-topic, I'm also unsure what the "diversity test" actually means. I heard from some that it's a university requirement, not a departmental requirement; that it doesn't determine admissions, only funding and only in the case of Truly Diverse Individuals; etc.

Running near my final draft of my SOP (still need to edit for individual schools), and have started sending out those automated email requests for LORs. I'm meeting with (hopefully) two profs who'll be in town for a conference, which incidentally might knock one school off my list due to funding/retirement problems, dropping my grand total to four schools. Writing sample is ............ not yet started (cutting it super-close, hope to get a decent 15-page paper out). I have a backup sample I need to edit that's decent but unoriginal, so I hope it doesn't come to this one. We'll see. GRE taken. I know one school got the scores, but can't check on the three other schools I sent them to. One of them requires me to call their office, so I'll do that this weekend...

Is there a good way to approach this? For past emails, I have used: "May I politely inquire about your status?" and/or "Are you taking any students this year?" It worked well for one professor, who said that he had to make decisions regarding retirement, and absolutely horribly for another professor, who evaded the question, said that he didn't "take" students, the department did (okay, fair enough), and continued to be mildly sarcastic and deliberately unhelpful throughout the rest of our exchange (while also CCing the conversation to the other professor I was interested in working with in the tiny department). Now I no longer plan to apply, regardless of the research fit of the program, simply because I would not be able to avoid him. Most of the professors in my current department are fairly open to people asking them about retirement, as far as I can tell, so I didn't see anything wrong to my approach, especially since it also opens the floor up so they can say they're going on sabbatical, sorry, not this year, but now that I've offended a professor, I'm wondering if there is a way to do this apart from contacting current grad students in the department and asking through them. It seems like a roundabout procedure.

The advice I've seen from most people tends to be 25% background, 75% interests/future projects/fit, with the final ideal length being around 1.5 pages. I went and talked to another professor in my department, and he advises that I take the middle road and mention the courses and the professors I took them with (since the profs. aren't on my transcript) and use that to kind of flow into a "and that's how I am where I am right now" narrative. This might unfortunately take two paragraphs, and I still need to add another paragraph for more refined research interests. I'm still waiting for some of the other profs to get back to me on this too, so we'll see how horrible my execution was.

Be careful about correspondence. I think I actually offended one of my POIs in my tiny, tiny field. (This is what happens when you try to politely inquire if they are retiring due to the numerous rumors floating around, and they not only don't answer your unspoken question but also take it the wrong way.)

Field: Ancient Near East. I have been getting conflicting responses to this question. In general, I understand it is not wise to list out classes you've taken, because they have the transcript right there, so there's no point wasting precious words on them. However, I just received the first draft of my SOP back from my departmental advisor, and she explicitly told me to list out all the courses I've taken pertaining to my field of study. When I brought up my concerns with her, she told me my background was the strongest part of my package and that admissions committees in my field are primarily looking for 1.) a strong philological background, 2.) enough determination to get through grad school and not drop out, and 3.) fit. "Fit" in my field is apparently quite broad. My first draft more or less states my interest in [GENRE] from [TIME PERIOD], while sketching out what I would like to explore within that text corpus, and she said that was narrow enough. I must've sounded or looked very dubious, because she clarified and said that nobody going into a PhD program in my field has enough background to know what they really want to do yet and that it was important not to sound like I have a dissertation topic in mind already. Because you can't be too detailed (might seem arrogant, as if you think you know enough as of right now to pursue a topic), and because language background is so damn important, I might as well spend my words on listing out the classes I've taken and talking about how they've brought me to where I am now than in discussing my research interests in too much detail. Now, this goes against pretty much everything I've heard about writing SOPs; in general, it seems to be "say as little as you need to say about your background, focus on looking ahead," but as she understands it, because this isn't a modern field and because so much background study is needed to even know what the hell is up in this field, it's not like the more modern programs where you can discuss what you'd like to do. Which makes sense. Additionally, she's served on the admissions committee for two very, very good schools in my field, so I don't want to disregard her advice. Not to mention, I am applying to study under her for the next year as well. Any input? Would especially appreciate advice from people more on the ancient side ("ancient" = pre-Medieval Studies) to know if this is sound advice. Will be getting opinions from other profs as well as soon as the weekend passes. Thanks!

First time taking it after two weeks of studying: 170 V, 166 Q, and (shame on me) 4.0 AW. My study method basically consisted of me going to the bookstore for 2-3 hours Mondays through Fridays for two weeks and doing as many practice tests as I could find on the bookshelves; I think I went through Kaplan, Princeton Review, Barrons, and one more that I can't recall. The day before the exam, I searched up GRE verbal flashcards on Google and went through some of the mini-games. It is not much different from the SAT, and if you are "good" at standardized tests, it's perfectly possible to walk in with little prep time and do well.

Thanks for the replies! You two have given me more to work with than I'd expected. I actually initially wrote off JHU despite its reputation; I've heard that it's a great place to go if you're interested primarily in heavy philological study (i.e. grammar), which isn't necessarily what I'm gung-ho about -- not to mention Lauin but hearing that they're actively expanding their faculty is going to put it back on the map for me. Thanks for the warning about Michigan (and for the heads up about UToronto's MA prereq)! I actually wasn't aware of that, but that is definitely good to know. (Incidentally, I've also heard that Stolper and Farber are retiring soon at UChicago.) Penn State was actually on my list due to Rubio's research interests and his overall versatility, which may make it easier to change directions a little bit if I suddenly find myself chasing down some other idea for a dissertation, but it's another one of those schools like Yale where I end up thinking, "Well, great scholar(s), but I don't really hear much about this place ... why? Resources? Lack of support?" Will be keeping Leiden in mind! I'd actually thought of applying there for Hittitology rather than Assyriology, but Kloekhorst's fascination with Hittite grammar far outstrips mine, unfortunately.

Trying to fish for information on some schools I'm unfamiliar with but am interested in applying to. I know everyone says that UMichigan and UChicago are the Places to Be if you want to pursue graduate studies in Assyriology, but I gotta cast the net wider here since I'll pretty much be applying straight out of undergrad. (If it's no funding, then it's no go, so MAs are pretty much out of the question.) Yale: The faculty pretty much consists of, as far as I can tell, Foster and Frahm. But, hey, if you're going to have a faculty of Assyriologists, that's a great duo to have! But Foster, though I admire him greatly, seems to be more of a translator these days. Frahm does do very interesting work on a wide variety of subjects, esp. text commentaries. They are both excellent imo, but it seems as if Yale isn't a popular place these days even so. Is there any particular reason for this except for the relative lack of resources? (I say "relative" though tbf it's not as if many places have a ton of Assyriologists on staff minus UChicago,) This is probably one of the places I'm most interested in since my interests line up with both profs. for the most part, so any details would be appreciated. UPenn: So a few years ago, this place was a powerhouse. These days, I've heard there are some weird things going on within the department that may make it difficult to graduate in time, but I admittedly know little details aside from that. I am unfamiliar with most of the people on their staff outside of their emeritus list. Harvard: Similar to UPenn. Machinist apparently has a veritable horde of grad students he is supervising due to a lack of faculty, and then there was that era where everyone was just deserting the place (Huehnergard, Seri, Beaulieu, etc.) and it seems that it has never recovered. I have also heard some gossip about how it's just not a good place to be if you want to leave mentally unscathed. UToronto: Has Beaulieu and Grayson (retired). That is all I know. I know next to nothing about overseas schools; my German really isn't up to par to attend any school in Germany so that knocks most places out of the running, and I'm not very certain about the status of schools in the UK and whether or not it's worth it to really up and move out of the country to study there. I have taken a look at Leiden though, since Dercksen does remarkable research on the Old Assyrian period (and Veenhof's there too, but not teaching anymore afaik), and I don't see any "must know Dutch!" requirements floating around their website or pages written in Dutch either ... Thanks for helping!