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Issue Prompts: Claim: In any field — business, politics, education, government — those in power should step down after five years. Reason: The surest path to success for any enterprise is revitalization through new leadership. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based. In each field of study and society, those in power are in control of high-level, high-pressure issues. They are experts in their fields and they have spent, sometimes decades, working to get there. The ones who last have gotten where they are have done so on merit, skill, and knowledge. Cycling through those preeminent in their field every five years would lead to a lower level of success overall, constant, chaotic change, and ridding institutions of one of their most valuable keys to continued success: trust in their leader’s abilities and judgement. The adage, “knowledge is power” holds true for many fields, especially ones as prominent as business, politics, and government. Most fields benefit from people in power who have deep knowledge of their area and are experts - scientists who have spent decades researching the same topic, teachers who have specialized in one area of study, and CEOs who have spent their careers with the same company. Having wells of knowledge creates leaders who can draw on their own stores and their personal experience to solve dynamic problems and forge strong entities, such as businesses, governments, and universities. There is also the opposite side of the adage, which says that “power corrupts” - a phrase that looks over a fundamental element of high-powered, high-performing entities and institutions. Namely, if there is corruption (moral, financial, or legal) it will not be tolerated on the scale of CEOs, Presidents, and scholars. Suggesting that those in power should change every five years also cuts out one of the most valuable aspects of having a seasoned, veteran member in a leadership role: losing that much industry-specific or company-specific knowledge, and arguably more important, the trust that is built over 5 years, is tantamount to firing and hiring all new people every five years. The intrinsic knowledge that is gained with experience is not transient from one leader to another, as is not their leadership style or the trust they have built over time. These factors are more crucial to the success of companies, the happiness of employees, and the performance of the leader than anything else they do. Getting rid of someone after so little as five years would certainly add new leadership- whether that new leadership would “revitalize” is unlikely. Five years is not much time when talking about the life cycles of companies, educational institutions, and certainly not governments. Leaders set the culture and the style of their organization, which takes time to do - and undo. Changing leaders so quickly would likely muddle the culture, create backlash among employees, and be slower in reality that many would think. A change in leadership is also not guaranteed to revitalize the company. It would keep things in a state of flux, never allow for the normal flow of things to be establised, and detract from the important work being done. Ultimately, Trying to revitalize an organization is better acheived in strategy than in leadership changes. Talking about central institutions such as government and education, and changing something as important as their leadership is unwise and unreasonable to do so often and five years. Argument Prompts: The following is a recommendation from the Board of Directors of Monarch Books. "We recommend that Monarch Books open a café in its store. Monarch, having been in business at the same location for more than twenty years, has a large customer base because it is known for its wide selection of books on all subjects. Clearly, opening the café would attract more customers. Space could be made for the café by discontinuing the children's book section, which will probably become less popular given that the most recent national census indicated a significant decline in the percentage of the population under age ten. Opening a café will allow Monarch to attract more customers and better compete with Regal Books, which recently opened its own café." Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation. This argument from the Board of Directors leaves many unanswered questions that ultimately lead to flawed logic. Primarily, their comparison that adding a cafe would allow Monarch Books to better compete with Regal Books relies on basic assumptions that the two stores are the exact same. the question that needs to be answered is: what is Monarch’s customer base? They have a well-established customer base that relies on them for their wide selection of books, but we need to know how many of their customers would spend money in their cafe and how many more customers the added cafe would attract. If their customer base is more frugal, the cafe could fail; if their base is a significant portion of the town, can they expect the cafe to attract more customers to their bookshop? If Monarch Books’ does not make much money from their kids’ section, if their customers are affluent, and/or if they have a smaller portion of the town as their customer base, adding the cafe in lieu of the kid’s section could add to their success. Another question needing an answer is how much of their sales/how much of their client base is geared toward kids? If their kids’ section is a large part of their store and their store’s profits, getting rid of the section all together could make them less profitable. If their base is family-oriented, parents and their children may stop patronizing the store wholly. A cost-benefit analysis needs to be done comparing the kids’ section sales to the cafe’s projected sales in order to make an informed decision about whether to install the cafe and get rid of the kids’ section. If Monarch’s customer base is not family oriented and children do not frequent their store, adding the more profitable cafe could help Monarch compete better with Regal. Lastly, we need to answer the question of if Monarch adding a cafe will allow it to more directly compete with Regal books. The assumption made was that Regal Books and Monarch Books are the exact same and the only differentiating factor between them was Regal’s cafe. We need to establish other differences that could account for Monarch’s need to compete with Regal. We need to know the location of the stores - if Regal is closer to a university than Monarch, if they are in a wealthier part of town, if Monarch is outside the city, etc. Knowing the size and selection of their collections would help us see better the difference in clientele and spending habits; finally, we need to know if Regal Books’ success is in large part due to their cafe, or some other factor of their store. If Regal has a large kids’ section and their cafe has been wildly successful, as well as establishing that the two stores are similar, Monarch could let go of their kids’ section and put in a cafe to avoid fighting for sales in both areas. Overall, we need to answer these questions in order to make an informed decision about Monarch’s next business decision. With the forthcoming information, we cannot accurately decide whether or not a cafe is the right choice for Monarch. **I didn't edit at all, so it's very raw

Issue Prompts: Claim: In any field — business, politics, education, government — those in power should step down after five years. Reason: The surest path to success for any enterprise is revitalization through new leadership. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based. In each field of study and society, those in power are in control of high-level, high-pressure issues. They are experts in their fields and they have spent, sometimes decades, working to get there. The ones who last have gotten where they are have done so on merit, skill, and knowledge. Cycling through those preeminent in their field every five years would lead to a lower level of success overall, constant, chaotic change, and ridding institutions of one of their most valuable keys to continued success: trust in their leader’s abilities and judgement. The adage, “knowledge is power” holds true for many fields, especially ones as prominent as business, politics, and government. Most fields benefit from people in power who have deep knowledge of their area and are experts - scientists who have spent decades researching the same topic, teachers who have specialized in one area of study, and CEOs who have spent their careers with the same company. Having wells of knowledge creates leaders who can draw on their own stores and their personal experience to solve dynamic problems and forge strong entities, such as businesses, governments, and universities. There is also the opposite side of the adage, which says that “power corrupts” - a phrase that looks over a fundamental element of high-powered, high-performing entities and institutions. Namely, if there is corruption (moral, financial, or legal) it will not be tolerated on the scale of CEOs, Presidents, and scholars. Suggesting that those in power should change every five years also cuts out one of the most valuable aspects of having a seasoned, veteran member in a leadership role: losing that much industry-specific or company-specific knowledge, and arguably more important, the trust that is built over 5 years, is tantamount to firing and hiring all new people every five years. The intrinsic knowledge that is gained with experience is not transient from one leader to another, as is not their leadership style or the trust they have built over time. These factors are more crucial to the success of companies, the happiness of employees, and the performance of the leader than anything else they do. Getting rid of someone after so little as five years would certainly add new leadership- whether that new leadership would “revitalize” is unlikely. Five years is not much time when talking about the life cycles of companies, educational institutions, and certainly not governments. Leaders set the culture and the style of their organization, which takes time to do - and undo. Changing leaders so quickly would likely muddle the culture, create backlash among employees, and be slower in reality that many would think. A change in leadership is also not guaranteed to revitalize the company. It would keep things in a state of flux, never allow for the normal flow of things to be establised, and detract from the important work being done. Ultimately, Trying to revitalize an organization is better acheived in strategy than in leadership changes. Talking about central institutions such as government and education, and changing something as important as their leadership is unwise and unreasonable to do so often and five years. Argument Prompts: The following is a recommendation from the Board of Directors of Monarch Books. "We recommend that Monarch Books open a café in its store. Monarch, having been in business at the same location for more than twenty years, has a large customer base because it is known for its wide selection of books on all subjects. Clearly, opening the café would attract more customers. Space could be made for the café by discontinuing the children's book section, which will probably become less popular given that the most recent national census indicated a significant decline in the percentage of the population under age ten. Opening a café will allow Monarch to attract more customers and better compete with Regal Books, which recently opened its own café." Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation. This argument from the Board of Directors leaves many unanswered questions that ultimately lead to flawed logic. Primarily, their comparison that adding a cafe would allow Monarch Books to better compete with Regal Books relies on basic assumptions that the two stores are the exact same. the question that needs to be answered is: what is Monarch’s customer base? They have a well-established customer base that relies on them for their wide selection of books, but we need to know how many of their customers would spend money in their cafe and how many more customers the added cafe would attract. If their customer base is more frugal, the cafe could fail; if their base is a significant portion of the town, can they expect the cafe to attract more customers to their bookshop? If Monarch Books’ does not make much money from their kids’ section, if their customers are affluent, and/or if they have a smaller portion of the town as their customer base, adding the cafe in lieu of the kid’s section could add to their success. Another question needing an answer is how much of their sales/how much of their client base is geared toward kids? If their kids’ section is a large part of their store and their store’s profits, getting rid of the section all together could make them less profitable. If their base is family-oriented, parents and their children may stop patronizing the store wholly. A cost-benefit analysis needs to be done comparing the kids’ section sales to the cafe’s projected sales in order to make an informed decision about whether to install the cafe and get rid of the kids’ section. If Monarch’s customer base is not family oriented and children do not frequent their store, adding the more profitable cafe could help Monarch compete better with Regal. Lastly, we need to answer the question of if Monarch adding a cafe will allow it to more directly compete with Regal books. The assumption made was that Regal Books and Monarch Books are the exact same and the only differentiating factor between them was Regal’s cafe. We need to establish other differences that could account for Monarch’s need to compete with Regal. We need to know the location of the stores - if Regal is closer to a university than Monarch, if they are in a wealthier part of town, if Monarch is outside the city, etc. Knowing the size and selection of their collections would help us see better the difference in clientele and spending habits; finally, we need to know if Regal Books’ success is in large part due to their cafe, or some other factor of their store. If Regal has a large kids’ section and their cafe has been wildly successful, as well as establishing that the two stores are similar, Monarch could let go of their kids’ section and put in a cafe to avoid fighting for sales in both areas. Overall, we need to answer these questions in order to make an informed decision about Monarch’s next business decision. With the forthcoming information, we cannot accurately decide whether or not a cafe is the right choice for Monarch.

Hey all, It has been a long time since I've been to this forum, but I thought I would write this post to share my experiences as an anthro major in undergrad to getting my MA through the MAPSS program at UChicago, and where I am now, in case any of you are wondering if it's worth it, or are just looking for some perspective in a field that is only getting more difficult to make something of, both academically and professionally. Please note that this review/perspective is from someone who decided *NOT* to pursue a PhD, but instead chose a non-academic career path. Maybe you can relate to this feeling, but when I was in undergrad, friends and family smirked when I told them I was pursuing anthropology. "What will you do with it?" and all other questions ensued. I myself wasn't too sure what I was going to "do" with it; I believed college was for pursuing what made you feel whole, and the "job" aspect of it was only an afterthought. Immature and naive, especially for a student going some $25,000 into debt at an unremarkable California State University. I did it, and considered going into the Peace Corps and made it through the final interviews, but ultimately didn't go. I was working in customer service at a tech company, answering phones all day. Personal things in my life made me move from NorCal to SoCal and I was in my second round of applying to graduate school after being rejected by the seven programs I had applied to the year prior. That second cycle I was only admitted to UChicago's MAPSS program and after a month of anguish over whether I should take out more debt (I had 50% funding), I decided to do it. I'm not really a strong proponent for MAPSS. I had spent hours and hours researching the program, talking to professors before I accepted, to educate myself on what my day-to-day would be like there. I found that the experience did differ pretty significantly from what I was told. It really was a grueling time, but that isn't to say it wasn't worth it. Lowlights / Highlights of the Experience -While I wouldn't call the program a "Cash Cow" program like so many LOVE to quip, there were aspects that made it feel that way, like the forced "Perspectives" course. That was far and away the most useless university course I've ever taken. It is a surface-level course that goes over different major concepts/canonical works of the various social sciences. It's bad enough we had to waste 2.5 hours of our lives once a week in the dreadfully boring lectures, but to make it worse, the grading for the midterm/final is so severe that it is set up for students to fail. Out of my cohort of about 240 people who were forced to take the class, only 17 people received an A or A- on their midterm, and the figure was lower for the final. I was told that anything less than a B+/B in graduate school is considered to be failing, so a B+/B is considered a C or C- in terms of GPA. I have no idea what the program's logic is to forcing you to take a class and then taking a blow to your GPA right out the gate. Seriously. ????? The fact that students are forced to take this course makes it feel like the program does it just to make more money off the enrollment or something and then kicks you while you're down on top it all. -The MAPSS cohort is sadly what many have described. Most MAPSS students are not very intellectual--that's not to say they weren't "smart" in their own right, but they did not compare to the level of the other graduate students in terms of how intellectual they were. You could tell right away who was a MAPSS student in your classes versus PhD students. MAPSS students weirdly tend to have a sort of braggart, or pretentious, way about them when the things they would drivel on about were inane topics that you might find a newly-minted freshman undergraduate might talk about. I knew many MAPSS students who thought they were just so smart and would constantly, CONSTANTLY whine about the workload and how everything was so 'unfair'. It was insufferable to listen to because no one forced them to do the program, and the workload, while difficult, was not impossible (and, I had a part time job!). This being said, I made no friends at MAPSS. They lacked the maturity that I seem to find in PhD candidates or even some undergraduates. -I did very well academically only because I lived and breathed the program. I had a part time job, but I was able to work from home which was a huge part in why I could dedicate myself wholly to the program. I spent almost all of my free time in the Regenstein library and it got to be depressing sometimes, but I found ways to make it somewhat positive (like always treating myself to hot tea or coffee and taking little breaks to draw). I think to be successful in MAPSS you have to be very independent and self-motivating; otherwise, it will be easy to lose sight of what you're doing/why. I think others have mentioned this, but do make it a priority to go downtown and explore the other neighborhoods of Chicago. I would "treat" myself to a bus/El ride and just go anywhere, to see something new, to see something that wasn't UChicago. It helped immensely. -I had read about the difficulties of finding an adviser/establishing a relationship early on with a potential adviser, so in my first quarter I zeroed in on the faculty member I really wanted to work with. I made sure to take at least one class of his every quarter, participated in all discussions, did all the readings, and did very well when it came to group projects. He would take smoking breaks and I would join him, or I would walk with him to his office after class. I didn't ask him to be my adviser until much later; I just built a relationship with him and got to know him and his work, and allowed him to get to know me. If you aren't a go-getter in this way like I was, I think finding an adviser is very difficult. I knew many people who had to have preceptors assigned as their advisers because they couldn't find anyone willing. -One of the saddest moments I had in the program was during the office hours with said adviser of mine. He told me that he didn't expect much in terms of quality from MAPSS students, but was sympathetic to their plight (earning a master's and doing fieldwork//research/composing a thesis in 9 months) and sort of graded based on that, which was very disappointing to hear. I had hoped I would be treated like any other PhD student who was completing the MA portion of their candidacy, but that's not the case. He also revealed to me that he knows of some professors who ban MAPSS students from taking their courses because of the inferior quality of discussion that MAPSS students bring to the table, which was heartbreaking to hear as well. -While all of these things are really disappointing about MAPSS, I will say that the academics of UChicago seriously changed my life. I am also someone who takes academic matters seriously, so maybe this isn't saying all that much, but the classes I took were some of the most amazing and beautifully taught courses I've ever taken. I was exposed to wonderful academic literature that will stay with me forever. If you are someone who appreciates knowledge and academic inquiry for its own sake, I think you will be hard-pressed to find a more rigorous university than UChicago. If MAPSS is the only option you have at this moment to experience that, I would say it's worth it for that alone. Where I'm at Now All this being said, I did well and graduated in Spring with only 20% of my cohort (the rest graduated in August). I earned an A on my thesis, but it likely was inflated because of my adviser's sympathies to the MAPSS program, which I struggle with when listing that as an "accomplishment". After graduating, I worked full time for a bit for the company I had been working for during the program, and took 3 months off to live in Hungary. While abroad I interviewed for market research positions/firms and landed a position at a very prominent global market research firm, I'm 25 years old and my starting pay is 75k which exceeded my hopes and expectations for earning potential as someone with a "useless" undergraduate and graduate degree in anthropology. I will be able to pay off my student debt and live decently on that income, which is what I personally could only have hoped for in taking such a huge risk to pursue what I loved, anthropology. This is just one experience among many. I'm nothing/no one special, but I did work very hard in the program and I worked hard to secure a job that is related to my degrees and research interests. I did not "like" the program in the least, but I don't regret doing it. It was the most difficult academic year of my life and I did have to seek counseling in the Winter quarter which helped a lot- the student mental health services are very easy to access, so please avail yourself of that if you need it. I hope this review helped!

I wanted to share my experience with the University of Chicago’s MAPSS program. I know that when I applied to the program, and when I was deciding whether to enroll, I found it difficult to find reviews online. I’m hoping this post will be of use to others. I was excited by the program because of its claims of offering a flexible curriculum and strong access to UChicago’s resources. I also was excited because the program bills itself as both a degree to prepare for a PhD, and, if students change their mind, as a versatile credential of employability. However, I was extremely disappointed with this program. What was told to me by faculty members and by MAPSS staff during my April visit day, and what is advertised on the website (at least as of Nov. 2018), does not hold up in reality. Indeed, I made the challenging—but correct—decision of withdrawing during the 3rd week of the first quarter. Why exactly? INABILITY TO ENROLL IN CROSS-SCHOOL COURSES: One of the appealing aspects of MAPSS is the purported ability to design a customized course of study. Indeed, UChicago bills itself as an interdisciplinary university that encourages cross-pollination among disciplines. One lecturer described the university to me as “America’s original think tank.” On the MAPSS website, the FAQ reads: However, as I learned, UChicago is unique in that there is no centralized university administrative structure; each school only reports to itself. That has its benefits. It results in a degree of intellectual independence, and perhaps contributes to the university’s heterodox atmosphere. But it also means that each school has its own unique and distinctive policies. Indeed, because each school reports to itself, there is no incentive for schools to communicate with each other about these differences. I learned this the hard way—twice. PART I: For instance, I tried to enroll in a business school economics course at Booth, given that my research interests center on industrial organization. However, it was never communicated to me that the deadline for Booth registration was a week before classes—despite preemptively e-mailing MAPSS in September, two weeks before orientation, asking how I could enroll. After attending the second course and submitting the assignment, I then went to the Social Sciences Dean responsible for registration. (Business school courses required in-person registration, and cannot be completed on the online student portal.) The Dean then told me that registration was closed. I asked why this wasn’t communicated to me. Surprisingly—and I’m unclear why he shared this—he noted that MAPSS administrators intentionally decided not to share the deadline with students, because there was an “internal discussion” that students would be unable to enroll at all in Booth courses during the first quarter. Naturally outraged at this, I then escalated this issue to the Dean of Students. I first told him that the course had 33 open seats and that I had since gotten the business school professor to petition on my behalf to the Booth registrar. However, whereas other schools assign more power to faculty than to administrators, at Booth, administrators manage faculty, to such a degree that they direct them in what courses to teach. While the Dean heard my frustrations and was helpful, he suggested the only course of action would be to petition the Booth registrar, using his influence to try to sway the Booth Dean. When I asked for a timeline, he said it could take 3-5 days! I was thankful, but I shared this would leave me in a hard and unsustainable position. Was I to complete assignments for a course I may ultimately not gain admission to, while also shopping for courses in their second-week, trying to catch up on their assignments? He advised I speak with the MAPSS Director (more on that later.) And sadly, this was only one course… PART II: I also enrolled in a public policy statistics course, as was suggested to me by my preceptor (an advisor to MAPSS students, who is either a current PhD student or postdoc.) The course was billed as being open to any student, regardless of division. But as I learned at the end of the first week of classes, Harris (School of Public Policy) students were required to complete a 2-3 month summer module on R, a programming language. Again, I was frustrated this was never communicated to me. And frankly upset at the position I now found myself in—two courses I would be unable to enroll in, and two-weeks behind in all other classes. I tried to see if I could make the best of the stats course by trying to gain access to the R module. I wanted to have, at the very least, all the necessary resources so I could try as hard as possible to succeed. Understandably, but disappointingly, Harris did not grant me access to this online module as I wasn’t a Harris student. When I asked the MAPSS director to subsidize the $300 cost, I was told I could attend a weekly R course in the computer science division. Again, this was a deflection that didn’t address my issue. I was then advised to consider enrolling in an undergraduate statistics course. I was shocked that a school as reputable and as esteemed as the University of Chicago oversold the ability of MAPSS students to enroll in professional school courses, nor was willing to work with me to find worthy substitutes. INFERIOR PERCEPTION OF STUDENTS: I also was disappointed that some faculty and many students from professional degree programs perceive MAPSS students as inferior. This creates a strange dynamic between UChicago graduate students, and limits the ability of MAPSS students to partake in UChicago programs, find a research advisor, and seek out extracurricular opportunities. This perception, justified or not, traces to the belief that MAPSS students are either (1) not smart enough to have gotten into PhD programs or are (2) wealthy students with the money to ‘buy’ the UChicago name. This was not something I would have known until I was on campus, but it quickly became apparent that saying I was in MAPSS made me a less appealing candidate to thesis advisors. In some respects this makes sense. Faculty have limited time and are more likely to benefit by taking on a PhD student, who is more accomplished and less ‘risky.’ Regardless, these perceptions add an additional obstacle for MAPSS students trying to take advantage of UChicago's resources and opportunities; there is additional energy necessary to "earn respect" as a MAPSS student. PIGEON-HOLING STUDENTS: MAPSS’s tendency to pigeon-hole students into pursuing one means of study, or to focus in one discipline, also was disheartening. When I expressed the above concerns to three deans from separate schools and to an ombudsman, I received some advice and tools to help me get back on track—despite it now being near the end of the second week of classes. But the Director of MAPSS suggested to me I was “doing the degree wrong—that MAPSS was not a professional degree.” He suggested I pivot my interests to Political Science, even though that was adjacent to my research interests. The lack of support in helping me achieve my academic and professional goals was disappointing, especially when I had proactively sought help and advocated for myself. If the program had been upfront in saying social science courses are encouraged, that there are limited options for cross-school enrollment, and that the degree is largely and exclusively an academic research degree—which does not double as a fall-back professional credential—I would have understood. And I would have known the program wasn’t for me. However, this is not how the program is advertised—currently, at least. - - - My advice is to stay away if you have a career, live in a different city, and believe the degree can be leveraged to advance beyond an entry-level position and/or lay the groundwork for a career-change. The website uses a lot of embellished marketing to convince students of the degree's value, and it is very much geared toward attracting students who have an unclear sense of their next steps. I admit I myself sat a bit in this latter camp. On the other hand, if you’re a recent college graduate (1-2 years out), 100% committed to academia (and, seriously, I mean 100%), are looking to gain ‘basic research’ experience, or come from a ‘non-brand’ school, the degree I think could serve its purposes. Whether it's worth 30k to 50k, is a personal decision. OTHER NOTES: I do disagree with the conventional critique about the program: it’s a cash cow that offers sub-par learning. Even if it may be a cash cow for the Division of Social Sciences, the academics at UChicago are strong. And the amount of resources the university wields is impressive. It’s just hard to access those resources as a MAPSS student. The MAPSS Career Office is growing, I believe, but was constantly overbooked. Two staff members are responsible not only for the 200+ students in MAPSS, but also for students in a program called CIR and for another Master’s program whose name I forget. Appointments starting from mid-October 2018 were booked one month in advance. The quality of preceptors varies. They have a huge caseload of advisees and also are responsible for teaching a mandatory 2-hour section of the “Perspectives” class each week. My preceptor had limited English abilities and did not drive strong conversation among students. I have heard students who were satisfied with their sections (even if from 5:30-7:30 on Friday!), so I think this varies preceptor by preceptor.

To understand the most important characteristics of a society, one must study its major cities. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position. The true characteristics of a society can only be found in small towns and villages where heritage and traditions sill in extant. The most of urban cities are diversified by people from different societies who came and settled in for various reasons such as education and employment. Urban cities are developed mostly with benchmark of cities from western countries. In major cities of India like Chennai, Bombay and Bangalore, we can see the population of non-natives are more than natives, due to this the birds-view study of a major city will not produce an accurate result of its true characteristics. In contrast, small towns and villages, we can still see a vast number of people still holding their customs and traditions for generations- the traditional festivals, foods, Old Gods, martial arts etc can be seen celebrated there which were long forgotten by urban community. However, due the amorphous development of internet and media, the small towns even getting changed. As per saying “change is the only thing will never change” – the characteristics of the socity will also will not be constant. The one which is considered as rule may considered as taboo in future. Still, the results collected from the any one developed urban part of a vast nation will not reflect the character of the bucolic village next to it.

In Applyweb, my application states that it is "Ready for Review." My question is does this mean that my application has not been opened yet? I was thinking that once someone has opened up my application it would go to "Under Review." I wanted to check because two people got an interview invite at the program I applied to and the suspense of knowing whether I got eliminated or not is killing me! ? Thanks!

Hello! I am applying to Ph.D. programs in History (Modern South Asian Legal history) and hoping to have my Statement of Purpose reviewed. I have a few people from my previous school giving me feedback, but I'm hoping to get a few more opinions. It's currently 4 pages double-spaced (1140 words). Reply/PM if you're willing to help me out! I'll swap if you have an SOP you want to be reviewed.

Hi there! I could really use some input on two practice essays I recently wrote, one for the argument and one for the issue prompts. If anyone has 20 minutes to spare, it would be a huge help! Feel free to be as critical as needed, any help is appreciated! Thanks! GRE Practice Essays.docx

Hello everyone! I'm in the process of applying for a Graduate program which requests I submit a Statement of Purpose. This is my first time doing one so I would really appreciate any advice on how to make mine better before I submit it. If you are up for reading what I have so far please send me a PM and I'll send you a PDF of it (unless you want a .word or .Page file instead). The program I'm applying for is Aging and Neuroscience so if you happen to have any advanced education in either topic then I would especially appreciate your advice! I look forward to your help, and I appreciated you taking the time to look it over.

Hello, may I have some help with having my practice essays reviewed? Thank you for your availability and help. ISSUE People's behavior is largely determined by forces not of their own making. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position. Human beings are very complex creatures, reacting and responding in a myriad of ways to our surroundings, thoughts, emotions, and others. Although, humans have an astounding ability to adapt, physically, emotionally and mentally. This allows humans to behave in such a manner that is not entirely subject to forces not of their own making. Firstly, there is a mind-bending lens called perspective. Perspective is one of the abstract advantages that humans over any other species. One of the characteristics about perspective that allows us to overcome external forces is that it is largely conceived in the mind. The things that are seen are not always as they wholly are. If all behavioral judgement is founded on what people see, we miss the profound elements of the human experience. Much of the potency that external forces carry, find their strength in the human mind. For instance, if I had a negative experience with dogs all throughout my childhood, I could grow up thinking all dogs are vicious – unless I came to understand that dogs are used to aid the blind. Furthermore, this point gives credence to the power of choice. Attitude, a sister of behavior, is a choice. Because of this, people have another arm to battle external forces with. The power to choose behavior is what drives the focus of military officials and soldiers through moments of extreme distress, and fuels their humility in serving their beloved country when these soldiers are viewed as heroes. The human mind is a powerful component of human being that can channel external forces for its own advantage. Although, this is not to say that environments and upbringing do not play some role in a person’s behavior. A child may very well take on the behavior of a father or mother in moments of much stress or joy. These complex, influential relationships in the home are the birthplace of phrases like “a chip off of the old block”. The yet-present weakness of this position although is that the child may move to a college education later on in life and adopt many different habits and perspectives. The issue at hand remains that our behavior does not have to largely be determined by forces not of our own making. While external forces are a part of the human experience, our brains are constantly responding to them, the human’s behavior does not have to be subject to them because of the power of perspective and choice. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ARGUMENT The following appeared in a memo from a budget planner for the city of Grandview. "Our citizens are well aware of the fact that while the Grandview Symphony Orchestra was struggling to succeed, our city government promised annual funding to help support its programs. Last year, however, private contributions to the symphony increased by 200 percent, and attendance at the symphony's concerts-in-the-park series doubled. The symphony has also announced an increase in ticket prices for next year. Such developments indicate that the symphony can now succeed without funding from city government and we can eliminate that expense from next year's budget. Therefore, we recommend that the city of Grandview eliminate its funding for the Grandview Symphony from next year's budget. By doing so, we can prevent a city budget deficit without threatening the success of the symphony." Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation. The recommendation presented in the budget planner for the City of Grandview possesses some assumptions that deem it questionable. To begin with, there is a claim made that the citizens are aware of the want the Grandview Symphony Orchestra is suffering in its success. These terms of success are not defined. What does make for a successful Grandview Symphony Orchestra? Is there a lack of ticket sales? Involvement? Promotion? These are vital questions to ask, in order to determine what the city deems as a successful Orchestra. The orchestra may be very popular amongst student musicians, but have its position in a conference center next to a basketball arena. Likewise, the recommendation assumes that having attendance doubled at the concerts-in-the-park series, is a weighty factor for an increase in popularity. This too, can be considered fallacious because the higher attendance may have been due to the fact that the concert was providing free food. Many of the local students may have joined the orchestra as well. It is difficult to justly conclude that there would be a rise in lasting popularity for the orchestra. Lastly, to remove government spending because of an influx in private contributions is a weak force in the argument as well. In the last year, private contributions may be defined as the soup can-sized container next to the ticket window. In a whole year, contributions could barely exceed $200. If the government provided the orchestra with $20,000 while the private contributions hit a ceiling of $600, a 200% increase. Then, this would still only leave a proportion of 100:3, the government being a very vital contributor over the private contributions. The orchestra may very well need to raise the prices of their tickets, to hold larger events and have more support. While the recommendation does strive to present some knowledge to support it’s argument, the judgment is not wise. There are assumptions made out of ambiguity in the citizen’s awareness, private contributions, and doubled attendance at the concert.

Hey all, I'm starting to draft my statement of purpose and was wondering if any of you had any advice about the general structure of how the statement should look. It'd be great to hear any other advice as to what you believe the the essential aspects of a successful statement are Applying to sociology PhD programs and a couple of MA programs in theology, but would be happy to hear advice from those outside of these disiciplines as well. Thanks in advance!

hi, I'm preparing for GRE to apply to study abroad. Can anyone here help me by grading my essays? Please let me know if you can help and i will send you my essay. PS: I'm new and not native English speaker. Thanks in advance. I appreciate the help.

Hey guys, I just found this forum, and I have to say it is really great that there is something like this. I was wondering if somebody would be willing to review my SOP? I am currently applying for various PHD programs in Information Systems. I am German, and I could redo the favor or help you with other stuff, just let me know! Thank you very much in advance best regards

Hey all, Anyone willing to review the first draft of my SoP? I will send you a message of my SOP text. This for Masters in Human Computer Interaction and Design. Cheers,

Hey all, Anyone willing to review the first draft of one of my SoPs? I can offer an exchange and/or virtual brownies. This is for a Communication PhD program.

Hi, I’m a Dutch computer science major. Over the last couple of months, I have been developing my statement of purposes for the universities which I will be applying to. I'm finally at a point where I feel confident enough about my SOPs that I am willing to share it with people outside my family and references. My transcript and GRE scores aren’t anywhere near what I had hope so a solid SOP is really important. My average is a 7.6 on a 10-point scale which translate to roughly a 3.4 – 3.6 GPA. My GRE is V:155, Q:163 and W:4.5. For my letter of recommendations, I have found the following references: 1. Associate Professor whom I will be assisting in research starting next month. He gave the project I did during his course last year a 10. 2. Lecturer of the courses “Computer Architecture” and “Information Security”, I received good grades in both. He is not a professor but he is well known for his course on C++. 3. Associate Professor in machine learning. He is well known for his work in Vector Quantization. Did part of his MS. at the University of Washington. I am mostly interested in the research areas of CS Theory and AI/ML. Ideally, I would like to combine them both. I will be applying to the Ph.D. or MS. program at UCB, UW, GATech, UCSB, Toronto and Montreal. If all my applications would be unsuccessful I will probably continue with a master’s degree at my current university in the Netherlands. This is a top 100 school with a solid machine learning track, since I am guaranteed to be accepted here I decided to aim high. I’m looking for as much feedback on my SOP as possible, but I understand that it might nog be beneficial to post it here directly. I would be very appreciative if I could DM it to some people. Additionally, does anyone know of more platforms that could assist me in getting feedback on my SOP, free or paid? Thank you.

Hey, guys! As a foreign student, I've never had the need to write anything like a statement of purpose. Well, now that I'm applying to Grad School, I just finished mine. I would like to know if there's anyone here willing to take a look at it and give a few comments on how it is. Thanks!

Applicants are asked to provide a 1 - 2 page, double-spaced personal statement which includes the following: Why do you want to undertake graduate work? Why do you qualify to pursue a graduate degree at Virginia Tech? What do you expect to derive from your program of study? If you have a concentration or area of interest in mind, briefly outline your interests in this area. What do you expect to contribute as a student and subsequently as a member of the profession? If you have not previously indicated in your application the names of faculty members you are interested in working with, please include that information in this statement. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE Seeing my father drive, the concept of mobility in machines, shifting gears, accelerating, judgment to take a pass or to turn & all this controlled by a human seemed like magic to me. Since I started driving this fascination grew into a passion. This passion has been responsible for my inclination towards engineering. I have been an automobile fanatic right since my primary schooling days. Shows like Super Cars & Mega Factories gave me motivation. Motivation and passion, in my opinion, have a strong correlation. This correlation led me to pursue undergraduate in Mechanical Engineering. I have completed my undergraduate course in Mechanical Engineering from Manipal University Jaipur, India. My undergraduate course has given me numerous opportunities to learn what I enjoy. However, moving ahead, I desire to study Mechanical Engineering further by undertaking graduate work as it would give me more insight into the field, do something constructive in the field with much better understanding as well as provide me with more career opportunities. During my undergraduate subjects like Mechanical Engineering Sciences, manufacturing processes engineering, Theory of machinery, Internal Combustion Engines, gave me a clearer view of what I wanted to do. I seek to design and engineer something new in a developing segment of mechanical. But sadly there were very few subjects relevant. So whenever & wherever I got any chance to follow my passion, gain more knowledge and practical skills I took it. I chose Automobile Engineering, micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS), Computational Fluid dynamics (CFD), sustainable development & optimization technique as my elective courses even when only as much as 10% students of the department chose to study these subjects. The final year project considered in my undergraduate program was titled “Long Stroke Engine Development” & it gave me the opportunity to be a part of a team to design and develop something new. It was one of the most original, challenging & insightful project & was appreciated with good grades. We developed a 4 Cylinder Vertical In-Line Engine to achieve higher horsepower than all existing engines at MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA. Being the only student selected for project & I needed to have a thorough knowledge of most of the operations and structure of the IC engine. Working toe to toe with experienced Industrial Experts has improved my knowledge & skills in engine assembly, engine testing, time management & teamwork. I have attended several workshops, seminars and internships organized at different institutions which helped in having hands on experience of the various machines that are the backbone of mechanical engineering. Having these valuable experiences have shown me the value of practical exposure. To learn what other institutes offer I joined and completed many MOOC courses like Machine Design from Georgia Institute of Technology & I am currently finishing A Hands-on Introduction to Engineering Simulations from Cornell University using ANSYS Mechanical & ANSYS Fluent. It has increased my knowledge in structural mechanics, fluid dynamics and heat transfer through finite-element analysis, computational fluid dynamics and structural mechanics simulations. I did my summer internship at NBC. This training at undergraduate level has helped me identify the various manufacturing processes, issues underlining each sector of the industry. Apart from the academic learning at the university level, I was elected as member for Student Council of the University by the university students & at the departmental level, I was voted as Class Representative. These two huge designations have given me a sense of commitment and responsibility toward the community of which I am a part of. I had been a part of organizing teams of the annual technical festival, cultural & sports festival of my university. I was campus and hostel committee member of University's joint admission counseling & have worked 210 hours each summer for past three years. These all have helped me in building my organizational skills, management, reasoning skills, team management & problem-solving skills & this helped me overcome my social barrier. These developed skills proved to be the foundation for many other skill developments. I have also worked as customer care executive for two and half months during my summer break of the 3rd year of undergraduate, giving me command over my communication skills and various quick problem resolving skills. My academics declined when I met two life threatening accidents. I had to be away from lectures for months due to prescribed bed rest, progressive surgeries and was dependent on others for attending classes for a substantial period. I had to miss 2 midterm examinations in different semesters resulting in my inferior GPA. Those were massive emotional, physical & mental setbacks for me. I have overcome those now. I have been trying with all what is within my capability & capacity to compensate those setbacks. I got certified in diesel management system and vehicle dynamics from BOSCH, developed a Go-Kart vehicle with a primary objective to design a safe & functional vehicle based on a rigid and torsion –free chassis, I was the design & material coordinator of the team & worked really hard for my project. These have enhanced my skills and knowledge even further. Research is a very important part for the growth and sustenance of both the university and its students. It allows us to give something back to the society in terms of new findings or better solutions to a potential problem. Virginia Tech has pioneered this area. We all know where the power supply for Intel chips was designed. The accomplished research work of department professors like Douglas Nelson, Joseph Meadows fascinates me, and if provided with the opportunity I would like to work under the combined guidance of both of them in investigating CFD &combustion systems application in hybrid vehicles. Also, other factors to be considered for choosing Virginia Tech as my top choice are that the faculty to student ratio is good, the campus looks very institutional and what I have gathered is that the institute is focused on preparing the student for a lifetime of service no matter their academic discipline. With my Master’s degree in place, I would want to pursue a further in-depth research where I can find novel ways and techniques that would help the industry to develop, for this I need to have a thorough knowledge which is possible at your institution. Once I have the field proficiency in the job I wish to make an impact in the field. For me to achieve this, education and experience are the stand up pillars. I can then combine my experience and knowledge to develop a stable & prosperous future. Learning in a well-organized institution in the USA with powerful pedagogical resources, vibrant intellectual environment, and a comprehensive curriculum will be a great step for me to achieve my aims and through working in a community having very large number of international students will give me a chance to interact with people from different & diverse cultures. It would give me a wider perspective of the world. I would be honored if you decide to accept my candidateship for Master studies. At the same time, I am aware of possible challenges and the high investment of efforts which I will have to put in order to successfully complete this course. I am looking forward to new experiences at the university. I am sure that the university will give me chances and challenges which will assist me in my all round personal growth GAURAV SHARMA

Hi, if someone is willing to review my SOP, please let me know. I will PM my SOP. Thanks! (:

If anyone could review my issue and argument essays I would highly appreciate it. It is in a text file. Thank you. Issue Essay.txt Argument Essay.txt

I will PM it to you, anyone with spare time to give a final thought on my SOP please hit me up.

ESSAY ONE PROMPT:The best way to teach is to praise positive actions and ignore negative ones. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position. ESSAY 1: In this day and age, there are many different styles of teaching. Some may believe that the best way to teach is to praise only positive actions and ignore the negative ones. This is a style that I do not agree with for several reasons. Although praising positive actions is a great way to teach someone positive actions, ignoring negative actions does not get rid of unwanted actions. Meaning, just because you ignore the negative action, does not mean that the negative action will stop and the student will know what the positive action should be. For example, a child whom is biting his peers on the play ground wont simply stop doing this negative behavior simply because the other child is ignoring this action. In fact, it might cause the child to bite even harder to elicit some sort of response from that other child. In this example the child is not learning that the action of biting another child is a negative action simply by ignoring it. Furthermore, negative actions may be advantageous to point out, as they are prime learning experiences. For example, when tackeling a difficult math problem that you may have gotten incorrect, it is advantageous to look at the correct answer and figure out what you had done wrong, rather than ignorning that problem and moving on to the next one. Therefore from this example you can see that paying attention and discussing negative actions can lead to more positive actions. Lastly, it is possible that when praising only positive actions, this can lead to a negative action on its own that cannot be ignored. For example, while their children are growing, parents try and encourage their child to eat whenever possible and may praise the positive action of eating. However, this can lead the child to want to keep doing this type of action which can lead to a negative action, over eating. Should the parents ignore over eating, this can lead to serious health problems that the child will face later in his or her life. This clearly shows that although praising positive actions can reenforce positive actions, it can also lead to overdoing this positive action, which can lead to a negative action that cannot simply be ignored. All in all, we can clearly see that learning can come in many different styles and types. However, it is disadvantageous to only praise a student for positive actions and ignore negative actions. ESSAY 2 PROMPT: The following is a memorandum from the business manager of a television station. "Over the past year, our late-night news program has devoted increased time to national news and less time to weather and local news. During this period, most of the complaints received from viewers were concerned with our station's coverage of weather and local news. In addition, local businesses that used to advertise during our late-night news program have canceled their advertising contracts with us. Therefore, in order to attract more viewers to our news programs and to avoid losing any further advertising revenues, we should expand our coverage of weather and local news on all our news programs." Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted. ESSAY TWO: The business manager is under the assumption that increasing coverage of the weather and local news will avoid losing any further advertising revenues and increase viewers for several reasons. The manager assumes that because he has increased national news time during the late night news program and decreased weather and local news coverage, this leads to less viewers. It is possible that simply more people don’t enjoy watching late night news, or that they stopped watching the TV at night altogether. If there are people with less TV’s or people that watch less TV during the late night hours, this could account for why there is an overall decreased number of viewers which does not rely on what is being showing on the TV itself. Furthermore, the business manager wants to expand coverage of weather and local news programs because local businesses have cancelled their advertising contract with him. This assumes that the reason why they are cancelling is because they have decreased the show time of weather and local news, which may not be true. It is possible that these businesses have not been thriving like they usually do, and thus must make certain budget cuts within their business model. From this example, we can clearly see that there may be other factors that can cause the business to cancel their advertising not just what the news station is broadcasting. Lastly, the business manager wants to expand the coverage of local news and weather because more viewers have been complaining of less coverage of local news and weather. This assumes that if the station were to increase their coverage of local news and weather that the views would increase and the complaints decrease. It is possible that maybe those complaints came from people who don’t really watch the TV and just enjoy complaning about anything they can. Or it is possible that a rival news station is making these complaints in order to push the manager to make a rash decision. Also, we simply do not have enough information from the viewers to conclude that should they increase local coverage and weather, more viewers would watch. From the examples listed above, we can see that many assumptions have been made that may effect the outcome of the news stations future. Although increasing the coverage of local news and weather may increase the amount of viewers, it might also have the opposite effect as well.

Hello folks, I have put together a statement of purpose for my MBA. I am short on time and wrote this down in a hurry. I have penned it in a different way than usual and hence it would be great to receive some feedback on the same. Let me know if anybody can help me with it. Also, I can review your letters for you. Have uploaded the doc on my drive. Follow the link to read it. You can also comment in the doc itself. Statement of Purpose - https://goo.gl/uz1kAK

Please be kind enough to give you valuable feedback on my attempt. Argument - 1 The following appeared in a memo from the vice president of a company that builds shopping malls around the country. "The surface of a section of Route 101, paved just two years ago by Good Intentions Roadways, is now badly cracked with a number of dangerous potholes. In another part of the state, a section of Route 40, paved by Appian Roadways more than four years ago, is still in good condition. In a demonstration of their continuing commitment to quality, Appian Roadways recently purchased state-of-the-art paving machinery and hired a new quality-control manager. Therefore, I recommend hiring Appian Roadways to construct the access roads for all our new shopping malls. I predict that our Appian access roads will not have to be repaired for at least four years." Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation. ============================================================================================================ The argument presented by the vice president has a number of logical flaws. These flaws give birth to numerous questions that have to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation will have the predicted result or not. A major flaw in the vice president's reasoning that raises questions is the flawed comparison between Good Intentions Roadways and Appian Roadways. To begin, the first question that needs to be answered is whether the traffic on Route 101 is similar to Route 40 or not. If, for instance, Route 101 caters to heavy traffic whilst only light traffic is allowed on Route 40, the presence of potholes on Route 101 can be explained. Therefore, it is not necessary that the deterioration of Route 101 is because of poor quality. The superior quality of Appian's work can only be accepted if the routes cater to the same traffic. Even then other circumstances on the two routes may also explain the difference in their conditions. The fact that the two routes are present in different parts of the state begs the question: are the weather conditions similar or different on the two routes? If, for example, the region where Route 101 runs through experiences torrential rainfall whilst the area where Route 40 passes from has a mild climate, the differences in the road conditions can be attributed to weather as well. This means that it is not necessary that the condition of Route 40 is better because of higher quality work by Appian Roadways. The better road condition can be attributed to favourable weather conditions. Therefore, it is imperative that the above question is answered as it can render the basis of the recommendation illogical. In addition to the differences (or similarities) in weather conditions, it is also important to ask if there are any other alternative companies available than Good Intentions and Appian Roadways. The above argument assumes that there are only two companies available in the market. However, it is important to see if other companies can be approached or not and how Appian Roadways fares against them. It can be possible that Appian performs poorly in comparison to other competitors. Another interesting question that needs to be answered is about the credentials of the new quality control manager of Appian Roadways. The argument assumes that the new manager will perform better than the previous manager and therefore improve the quality of work. It could very well be the case that the new manager was hired on the basis of nepotism and not on the basis of performance. As a result, the quality of the work deliviered could deteriorate. Therefore, it weakens the preditiction that the roads will not have to be repaired for four years, thus, weakening the recommendation. The answers to the questions above would provide a better picture of the comparision between Appian Roadways and its competitiors. For the recommendation to be valid, it is important that Appian and its competitors deliver in similar conditions.

Please be kind enough to rate and review my Issue response for GRE essay. Thank you :-) Scandals are useful because they focus our attention on problems in ways that no speaker or reformer ever could. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position. It is important to keep public attention on social problems to ensure the smooth functioning of a society. Two ways of focusing that attention are scandals and public debates by reformers and speakers. Scandals are usually discarded for dramatizing petty issues, however, therein lies the usefulness of scandals: Scandals capture the attention of the public on problems in such profound ways that may not be possible for most reformers or speakers. Often in public debates the discussions on problems only touch the tip of the iceberg. It may be that the intelligentsia is either not fully aware of the magnitude of the problem or, they do not delve into the details to maintain political correctness. Either way, the reformers and speakers fail to pique the public's interest. On the other hand, scandals have the potential to reveal the depth and the magnitude of the issue in one instant. For instance, the revelations by Edward Snowden regarding mass surveillance carried out by the National Security Agency led to a public outcry against the breach of privacy. Many social activists and critics had been pointing out this issue previously as well, but it never gained as much traction as it did after the Edward Snowden episode. Thus, scandals are useful in grabbing public attention in a way that the intelligentsia can not. In addition to revealing the true depth and magnitude of an issue, scandals can also bring to the fore issue that were not even the part of public debate. Issues such as pedophilia and rape, though prevalent in the society, are not discussed in most Muslim countries. Debate on such issues and their public acceptance is a taboo. In such circumstances reformers and speakers can not discuss these issues in public as the society refuses to lend an ear to them. However, if a scandal about these issues is reported in the media, the public will be to talk about such issues. Hence, scandals prove to be useful in bringing problems to the agenda of public debate. However, some problems are of a nature that can best be addressed by the relentless efforts of speakers and reformers. The Suffrage movement in the late 18th and early 19th century for women's right to vote is a quintessential example of a problem that was solved by persistent efforts of speakers and reformers. Figures such as Eliabeht Caddy Stanton and Alice Paul did not wait for a scandal to break out. They realized the problem, gathered mass support by organizing protests and writing literature, and eventually led to the passage of the 19 Amendment in the constitution of USA that allowed women the right to vote. To sum, scandals are useful, in majority instances at least, because they capture the focus the attention of public on problems in ways that most speakers and reformers may not be able to do.