Fall 2015 Applicants

[smg]

Chicago is in.  WUSTL is the only one left and I have a month before its due. 

[trogdorburninator]

Chicago is in. WUSTL is the only one left and I have a month before its due.

Color me done. Cripes. I really, really hope I dont have to go thru this again :-/

[museum_geek]

I have 9 out of 10 applications submitted.  Just one pesky essay on the role of museums in today's society and then I'll be home free.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions on gifts for letter writers?  I plan on sending each one a nice hand written note, but I've heard it's sometimes a good idea to get them a modest gift.  Would something from the museum gift shop I work at seem cheesy?  We have some cool stuff that's reasonably priced, but I am planning on leaving this job to attend grad school, so I don't know if a gift from there would come off as tacky.  I feel like I'm over-thinking this, but that would be par for the course for me

[grad_wannabe]

Does anyone have any suggestions on gifts for letter writers?  I plan on sending each one a nice hand written note, but I've heard it's sometimes a good idea to get them a modest gift.  Would something from the museum gift shop I work at seem cheesy?  We have some cool stuff that's reasonably priced, but I am planning on leaving this job to attend grad school, so I don't know if a gift from there would come off as tacky.  I feel like I'm over-thinking this, but that would be par for the course for me

 

I have the same dilemma. I was considering making a donation in their name to a local food bank with a nice thank-you card, but I'm a bit concerned this would come off as sanctimonious or overly earnest ...

[Daisy123]

Hello! I just wanted to say congratulations to our first admit for this year ! i hope everything goes well for you and as you have planned! 

Also, good luck to those of you who have submitted or are in the process of just saying "bye bye" to your applications after a last look. 

 

I submitted my first application a few hours ago to Notre Dame, where they have a new PhD program in Anthropology . After 30 minutes passed i decided that i am going to stress about the fact that my SOP is too long....ugh. How long is too long according to you guys.? 

[Meglet]

One minute I think I wont get in anywhere and the next I worry about having to choose where to go cause I'll get in everywhere.  Ultimately, I'm just tired, just fucking tired.  I tried re-reading my SOP an hour or so ago.  It made me ill.  Not cause it was bad I just couldn't handle it anymore like looking in the mirror on a BAD morning. I'm relieved by tomorrows deadline. UCHICAGO is done cause it has to be regardless of how I feel about it.  I tried.  I gave it a go.  That's all that can be expected at this point.  Who will do this again if they don't get in this round?

THIS is exactly how I feel.  I guess I'll try again if I don't get in this round, but just at the moment I don't feel like I can handle this whole process again.

 

And Daisy123, it's really hard to define 'too long'.  The requirements for my applications were between 750 words and 5 single-spaced pages.  Ultimately, I did 2 single-spaced pages for everywhere but the 750 words (CUNY).  As long as you didn't go over the requirements for that school, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

I think I'm going to send my recommenders a card, green chile (the state specialty), and cookies.

[NOWAYNOHOW]

The requirements for my applications were between 750 words and 5 single-spaced pages.  Ultimately, I did 2 single-spaced pages for everywhere but the 750 words (CUNY).  As long as you didn't go over the requirements for that school, I wouldn't worry about it.

I actually sent a SOP to CUNY that was way over the limit. I also sent a writing sample that was too long to Columbia.

 

I get that these schools are busy, but I think it's a real dick move to ask applicants for requirements that diverge significantly from the 'standard' parameters. Last year I played by the rules and everything was the right length, yadda yadda, and it got me nowhere. So this year, I sent in a solid statement and writing sample, but for a couple places (CUNY, Columbia) it wasn't what they requested. They can either throw it in the trash or just stop reading when they want. A 750 SOP wasn't going to be something I felt was my best work, so I just didn't do it. Same with the Columbia WS (they ask for 10-15 pages, and I sent 25). 15 pages of my writing sample was going to be stupid, so I sent the bigger document that I stand by as solid scholarship.

 

Anyone else do this? I mean, it feels risky to not follow directions, but it felt just as risky to send in something potentially incomplete or sub par.

 

ETA: This plays into a larger part of my issue with the applications process, which is also an issue with graduate students and adjuncts, which is the minimization and discrediting of our labor and skills. We might be applicants, but we also have a right to fair treatment and part of that, I think, is doing justice to our research. They can ask me for a clipped 750 word statement, but I'm an adult, I have years of research under my belt, and if they want a good proposal it's gonna be a bit longer.

 

Edited December 16, 2014 by NOWAYNOHOW

[FaultyPowers]

I inadvertently ended up doing the same thing to Tulane last year. The fact that your SOP was supposed to be 500 words was BURIED somewhere in the grad school pages, not the department pages. I emailed the DGS and he said it didn't matter. Of course I then didn't get accepted...but when my POI discussed why I hadn't been accepted with me that was not in any way part of it. 

[Meglet]

I get that these schools are busy, but I think it's a real dick move to ask applicants for requirements that diverge significantly from the 'standard' parameters. Last year I played by the rules and everything was the right length, yadda yadda, and it got me nowhere. So this year, I sent in a solid statement and writing sample, but for a couple places (CUNY, Columbia) it wasn't what they requested. They can either throw it in the trash or just stop reading when they want. A 750 SOP wasn't going to be something I felt was my best work, so I just didn't do it. Same with the Columbia WS (they ask for 10-15 pages, and I sent 25). 15 pages of my writing sample was going to be stupid, so I sent the bigger document that I stand by as solid scholarship.

I really admire this approach.  I definitely got irritated about the 750 word-limit, and Berkeley's 6 page writing sample.  I sent them what they wanted, but yeah, it's not as solid as the longer stuff.  I also got really irritated with this on the Ford Fellowship application - all the statements were limited to 2 double-spaced pages, and there is a LOT they ask you to address in each statement.

[NOWAYNOHOW]

I really admire this approach.  I definitely got irritated about the 750 word-limit, and Berkeley's 6 page writing sample.  I sent them what they wanted, but yeah, it's not as solid as the longer stuff.  I also got really irritated with this on the Ford Fellowship application - all the statements were limited to 2 double-spaced pages, and there is a LOT they ask you to address in each statement.

 

Woah - I didn't know about Ford and Berkeley. I think if I had other applications that required different materials (for me, only CUNY and Columbia really diverged in a serious way) I may have been more likely to shorten certain things, but all my other schools asked for 1,000 word SOPs (or 2-3 pages single spaced) and WS at least 20ish pages long. So. I admire your willingness to write so many versions of things!

[FaultyPowers]

I really admire this approach.  I definitely got irritated about the 750 word-limit, and Berkeley's 6 page writing sample.  I sent them what they wanted, but yeah, it's not as solid as the longer stuff.  I also got really irritated with this on the Ford Fellowship application - all the statements were limited to 2 double-spaced pages, and there is a LOT they ask you to address in each statement.

 

I sent in I think a 4 page writing sample, because I figured if you want brief, this is brief, it's from my MA thesis so it's clearly part of a larger body of work and it was a complete section in and of itself. At that point I was like, you got my SOP, you got my personal history statement, I doubt at this point you're going to be on the fence about whether I'm an adequate writer. You've either determined that I am or that I'm not.

[Daisy123]

i also did not follow any limit requirements.....5000 word writing sample???...no, the whole MA thesis. I did not have stand alone chapters that i can send, i am not enrolled anywhere currently and cannot afford to write something that wont be edited the way this needs to be. So, of course i am going to send in my best work. As it has been said, taking risks is what this is alll about. Every sentence we write is a risk. Do i address a weakness in my record in my SOP? Should i not? Should i mention this thing that I want to study , should i not? Does this need to be explained? ect. ect. ect. If you do is a problem, if you dont its a problem. Catch 22. Last year i discussed my weaknesses (a sudden shift in my GPA during my undergrad, or my amazing GRE scores), this year, i have not heard anything and i know nothing  

[smg]

UCDavis's SOP and Personal Statement where 4,000 and 2,000 characters.  Not words, not pages but characters.  It was annoying adapting my SOP and PS to fix their little totalitarian boxes.

 

I used excerpts from an essay I wrote a million years ago for my writing sample.   It might have been too long for Davis and too short for Chicago but doing custom edits for each school seemed ludicrous.  If I'm rejected from a school cause I was a page short or a page long I dont want to be there anyways. 

 

NACHO TIME

[smg]

I actually sent a SOP to CUNY that was way over the limit. I also sent a writing sample that was too long to Columbia.

 

I get that these schools are busy, but I think it's a real dick move to ask applicants for requirements that diverge significantly from the 'standard' parameters. Last year I played by the rules and everything was the right length, yadda yadda, and it got me nowhere. So this year, I sent in a solid statement and writing sample, but for a couple places (CUNY, Columbia) it wasn't what they requested. They can either throw it in the trash or just stop reading when they want. A 750 SOP wasn't going to be something I felt was my best work, so I just didn't do it. Same with the Columbia WS (they ask for 10-15 pages, and I sent 25). 15 pages of my writing sample was going to be stupid, so I sent the bigger document that I stand by as solid scholarship.

 

Anyone else do this? I mean, it feels risky to not follow directions, but it felt just as risky to send in something potentially incomplete or sub par.

 

ETA: This plays into a larger part of my issue with the applications process, which is also an issue with graduate students and adjuncts, which is the minimization and discrediting of our labor and skills. We might be applicants, but we also have a right to fair treatment and part of that, I think, is doing justice to our research. They can ask me for a clipped 750 word statement, but I'm an adult, I have years of research under my belt, and if they want a good proposal it's gonna be a bit longer.

 

 

I'm so stoked you wrote "dick move". 

[SSCCATAGAPP]

I have 9 out of 10 applications submitted.  Just one pesky essay on the role of museums in today's society and then I'll be home free.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions on gifts for letter writers?  I plan on sending each one a nice hand written note, but I've heard it's sometimes a good idea to get them a modest gift.  Would something from the museum gift shop I work at seem cheesy?  We have some cool stuff that's reasonably priced, but I am planning on leaving this job to attend grad school, so I don't know if a gift from there would come off as tacky.  I feel like I'm over-thinking this, but that would be par for the course for me

 

I baked! 

[AKCarlton]

I baked! 

 

I wasn't aware that you can or should send gifts in along with your applications. Does that really help?

 

I'm honestly and sincerely curious about this for the future if I plan to apply to PhD programs.

[trogdorburninator]

For your LOR-writers, not with your apps. I think that might be a Lil weird.

[NOWAYNOHOW]

I think a book is a thoughtful gift -- if you know them well, it won't be hard to pick something special (I gave one of my letter writers an illustrated book of medical maladies, for example).

 

Or you could always send scotch!

[grad_wannabe]

I think a book is a thoughtful gift -- if you know them well, it won't be hard to pick something special (I gave one of my letter writers an illustrated book of medical maladies, for example).

 

Or you could always send scotch!

 

i was thinking about a nice bottle of scotch, but worried I might offend if any of them are recovering alcoholics!

[NOWAYNOHOW]

i was thinking about a nice bottle of scotch, but worried I might offend if any of them are recovering alcoholics!

Really good point - another reason why gifts should depend on your relationship. If I'm sending scotch, it's because I've heard the writer mention they like it, or we've drank together and I know they like it (ah, graduate school...)

 

Anyway, if you don't know them that well, safe gifts are often boxes of nice tea, fancy notebooks or pens, fancy hardbound copies of classic books, etc.

Edited December 17, 2014 by NOWAYNOHOW

[grad_wannabe]

Really good point - another reason why gifts should depend on your relationship. If I'm sending scotch, it's because I've heard the writer mention they like it, or we've drank together and I know they like it (ah, graduate school...)

 

Anyway, if you don't know them that well, safe gifts are often boxes of nice tea, fancy notebooks or pens, fancy hardbound copies of classic books, etc.

 

All great ideas, thank you!

 

ps I see that we both applied to HASTS! Luck to us both!

[NOWAYNOHOW]

All great ideas, thank you!

 

ps I see that we both applied to HASTS! Luck to us both!

Thanks! Isn't HASTS amazing? I am thinking of throwing a last-minute application to Cornell STS (a friend of mine is on the faculty) but I'm not sure Ithaca is doable. What is your area of interest? You can PM if you're keeping a low profile!

[smg]

Whats next folks?  Other than waiting? 

[Daisy123]

next comes the nail biting, hair pulling, checking email/ grad coffee every 3o seconds or so part of the application process. 

[museum_geek]

next comes the nail biting, hair pulling, checking email/ grad coffee every 3o seconds or so part of the application process. 

 

All of this.  Everything I've seen in the results search tells me that I won't hear back from any schools until mid-February at the earliest, but damned if I'm not going to check my email 10 times a day and get disappointed all over again when there's nothing new.