SOP Whining and Complaints

[rems]

I started another tread about SOP's the other day, and I realized very quickly that I really wanted to do was COMPLAIN about SOP's. So here's our place.

A lot of us are writing these right now, and a lot of us are probably completely pissed off about it in some way or another. I think it might be downright therapeutic to vent a little bit.

I'll start:

The issue of "fit." Like, how the hell am I supposed to prove to you that I want to work at your university? Then especially when it comes to the ivies because obviously I want to go to Yale because it's awesome. But if you skim through the profs at the ivies, they all have the same experts in everything. So which one do I pick? I've found prof at Brown who studies what I do, but she's the only one so far. I could apply with "fit" instantly but then my GRE's suck and I'm not from a good school so will they even "seriously" consider me? Am I wasting my f-ing time here?

Then will this professor even respond to the emails I haven't sent out yet? What if they don't? What if they respond saying they're not taking students, and I have to start all over? I know this is part of the process and research of finding a good school for yourself, but I mean seriously why is it so hard to just find a school? Why can't profs just have their info on their websites? Why do I have to search high and low to find one obscure article they wrote that they don't even care about anymore just so I have something to say to them to mention in my SOP? Why doesn't every English PhD department have a print out of their profs explaining their interests, whether or not they're going on sabbatical (why did I have to google "sabbatical" to learn how to spell it? What kind of English major am I?) this year, what their current research is on, what students they're already working with so we contact them, etc. etc. How awesome would that be?

End rant. Thank you for listening.

Edited August 22, 2012 by rems

[TakeruK]

My application season was last year but I'll join in anyways

Last fall, I was wishing many departments would update their websites to not look like they were made in the 1990s. Mouseover navigation bars = bad. Long complicated navigation tree with many headings of similar names = bad. One super long webpage with all the information in one place but no sectioning = really hard to find something you saw before = bad. Contradicting information on different webpages = bad!! Oh, and I wish every school had a big shiny red "APPLY NOW" button on their pages that links to the official application page or something!

I really think around August of each year, every department at every school should get all their profs to answer a very short survey. The survey should consist of two questions: (1) Are you planning to take students from the (upcoming year, e.g. 2013-2014) cohort? (2) Describe your research interests in 5 sentences. The first question should be a scale of 1-5 where (1) is not at all likely, and (5) is most likely or something. Then in September, a table with every prof, their answers to these two questions, their departmental email address and a link to their research webpage (by clicking on their name) should appear on the department website. It could be a PDF or on a printer-friendly page. It could even be sorted by their response to Question (1). Profs who don't respond to the survey should also be listed, with no response attached (so that the list is complete). Every year, this list should be updated! Both the schools that I've been to have their department members do this for undergraduate students looking for summer research work. Why not do it for graduate students too?

Finally, I was very frustrated to find that almost no departments list their financial support packages. I was hoping to find something like my undergrad institution: http://www.phas.ubc.ca/graduate-program-financial-support . I understand that each student might be funded differently based on the scholarships received, but that link handles that nicely. It lists the most common grad fellowships in the province/country and where your money would come from (i.e. what your TA requirements would be). Even in schools that later told me that every single student is funded the exact same amount didn't put this information on the webpage! This would be very useful because there was at least one school that I turned down simply because the stipend wasn't enough to support us. I don't need to be making a ton of money, but if I have to take a loan/dig into my savings, I'm not going to attend that school, no matter how much of a "fit" they are. This information does not have to be a promise -- they can just list the current stipend amounts and note that they are subject to change from year-to-year, just a guideline/estimate would be enough to save a lot of time for both students and schools!

[rems]

Yes! That would be perfect!