The pointless complaining thread

[profound_g]

Also known as whining.

I have identified three profs. to ask for recommendations. Only one of those knows me well; the other two agreed to give me a rec., but I expect them to be just OK at best since they're not that familiar with me.

Now, all of a sudden, the one who knows me well says that he might not be able to do it (out of the country bla bla). Frankly, the reasons are not relevant. The point is that I'm potentially going to be left with 2 lukewarm recs, and my writing skills are not that great, so the SOP is probably going to be not stellar either.

Argh!

Please tell me that my really good GRE along with a really good GPA are going to compensate. (Yes, I know that they're often described as being least important ) Oh, and research exp is also good.

[johndiligent]

Calm down.

[socialcomm]

You can only control your own actions. Make sure all the things you have direct control over are as good as they can be. Have you gotten feedback on your SOP? Can you talk to your other LOR writers to provide them with more information about you and your goals so they can write stronger letters?

[cheesethunder]

ahhh ilike this thread

then i told him i would have to ask someone else because i needed strong letters and he looked very put off

weird.

also annoying one of my profs seemed very willing to write a letter so i brought him the information the next week along with my cv/sop/ etc and i wanted to go over with him my research experiences/ how their applicable so he could mention them correctly in the letter and he told me he was too busy to talk and shooooed me out of his office! and then said not to worry cuz everyone applying to grad school has weak letters!

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

my brain. i was thinking why did i ask youuuu ahhh regret.

you are in contorl of how good your SOP is!!!! do it up as much as you can, get your friends to read it, find your journalism/english major friends, use the writing/editing service at your school

get every prof youve taken a class with to read it and ask them for their honest opinion but fight for it so many of mine just told me mine was 'fine' but it was only when i ....politely demanded an explanation they gave me real pointers.

reserach the school! reserach the research at the school! passion man! in words.

[rbaker]

Pointless complaining? Why, that's my specialty! I absolutely feel your pain about the rec. letters. I picked up a couple of letters two weeks ago -- one from my M.A. adviser, and one from another prof with whom I worked closely. Both letters were very sweet, complimentary, supportive ... but contained careless grammatical errors! I just don't understand it. Both profs are meticulous about writing, and both have been urging me to apply to PhD programs, so HOW COULD THEY GIVE ME LETTERS WITH ERRORS? I had to turn in the letters as-is, because there was no time to ask for corrections -- postmark deadline for that application was the next day. But I'm also applying to a bunch of schools with Dec.-Jan. deadlines, and I'm hoping the letters I get for those apps can be error-free (is it too much to ask?!?). So my question is, how do I get these profs to correct their errors ... without sounding like a rude, self-centered, anal-retentive jerk?

Aargh.

[rising_star]

and I'm hoping the letters I get for those apps can be error-free (is it too much to ask?!?). So my question is, how do I get these profs to correct their errors ... without sounding like a rude, self-centered, anal-retentive jerk?

You can't. I wouldn't even worry about it. The most important thing in the letter is what it says *about* you. If there are grammatical/typographical errors, that reflects poorly on the prof but not on you.

[coyabean]

Edited for whining...in the whining post. Point taken. THanks.

[profound_g]

I've switched to care less mode. It's nice.

This forum is great.

[rogue]

Coyabean, you might want to be careful what you're putting out there about this "underachiever" professor. (I'm not quoting your post in detail here in case you want to edit it to remove specifics.) You never know who's reading things on the internet, and if you still have to make it through his class, it might not be good to post identifying information on a public forum. Per the posts on KieBelle's "random thoughts" topic, it's pretty easy to figure out who people are and who they're talking about. Just some food for thought...

[fuzzylogician]

Coyabean, you might want to be careful what you're putting out there about this "underachiever" professor. (I'm not quoting your post in detail here in case you want to edit it to remove specifics.) You never know who's reading things on the internet, and if you still have to make it through his class, it might not be good to post identifying information on a public forum. Per the posts on KieBelle's "random thoughts" topic, it's pretty easy to figure out who people are and who they're talking about. Just some food for thought...

Seconded. I thought the same thing upon reading your post, coyabean.

[joro]

Where here's my complaint:

After completing my SOP, I still have a Personal History Statement to write. I'm still unsure how to approach this, but I do have a vague idea of what I want to discuss. I always have problem starting a process, but have no problems keeping the momentum going forward once it is started. Here's hoping to finishing it by the end of this week and submitting all applications online.

Then there's also my portfolio which I need to work on. I need to take high resolution photos of my artwork and submit it online to a site for them to create an old type of slide. I can't do any of that yet because I'm still missing 3 pieces of artwork!! I don't mind drawing, but it's the whole starting process that gets to me. I'm just afraid of not starting it the "correct way".

My goal is to finish EVERYTHING by the end of this month; all applications submitted, portfolio complete, transcripts requested, and Professors alerted to submit the LOR. So much to do, so little time!!

[thepoorstockinger]

Seconded. I thought the same thing upon reading your post, coyabean.

He also may want to try not being an asshole.

The guy might very well be an "underachiever" (in so much as a person with a PhD from an Ivy League school and a tenure track university job can be deemed as failing to achieve) teaching at an R2 school but if that is true then it means coyabean should be aware that if the school is crummy and has shitty professors then she/he is attending a crummy school full of underachieving faculty.

[LateAntique]

From what I know, grammatical/syntactical/spelling mistakes in letters of recommendation don't really matter. I know someone who got into a very prestigious program and they had a foreign recommender. The recommender's letter was not what we'd call 'stellar writing', but what was important was what they said about the applicant.