Request for a second writing sample

[MVSCZAR]

I asked this a few days ago and it seems to have gotten buried in another thread. I got an email from Toronto asking me to send them another paper I had written (my Classics thesis). I'm just wondering if this has happened to anyone else and/or what could be deduced from such a request. It's making me anxious. 

[philstudent1991]

1 hour ago, MVSCZAR said:

I asked this a few days ago and it seems to have gotten buried in another thread. I got an email from Toronto asking me to send them another paper I had written (my Classics thesis). I'm just wondering if this has happened to anyone else and/or what could be deduced from such a request. It's making me anxious. 

Seems like a really good sign to me. They obviously are taking your application seriously. 

[lisamadura]

My intuition is the same as @philstudent1991. If your application was unworthy, would they bother reading more of your work? Hell no. 

[MVSCZAR]

I guess you guys are right. Unless, of course, they thought my first was entertainingly bad. But the papers were 40+ pages each, and that seems like a long way to go for a bad joke. 

 

But it I guess what I'm wondering is what they could be looking for in the second paper. I mentioned the second paper in my SOP and I use Lloyd Gerson as a main source, so perhaps he wanted to see what's up? And now I'm afraid I accidentally plagiarized. I'm pretty sure I didn't, but like... What if? I think I may have reused one of my own paragraphs in both papers and now I'm thinking omg, what if that's totally not allowed? I mean, I doubt it is, but what if they hold it against me? 

[lisamadura]

5 minutes ago, MVSCZAR said:

I guess you guys are right. Unless, of course, they thought my first was entertainingly bad. But the papers were 40+ pages each, and that seems like a long way to go for a bad joke. 

 

But it I guess what I'm wondering is what they could be looking for in the second paper. I mentioned the second paper in my SOP and I use Lloyd Gerson as a main source, so perhaps he wanted to see what's up? And now I'm afraid I accidentally plagiarized. I'm pretty sure I didn't, but like... What if? I think I may have reused one of my own paragraphs in both papers and now I'm thinking omg, what if that's totally not allowed? I mean, I doubt it is, but what if they hold it against me? 

I understand your concern. If there is anything in your second paper that concerns you, edit it (unless you've already sent it to them?). I don't think reusing your own work is an issue. I'm sure people do it all the time. If you are dealing with overlapping topics and you've already articulated an idea, why not re-use it? Have you spoken with your own faculty advisors about this?

[MVSCZAR]

2 minutes ago, lisamadura said:

I understand your concern. If there is anything in your second paper that concerns you, edit it (unless you've already sent it to them?). I don't think reusing your own work is an issue. I'm sure people do it all the time. If you are dealing with overlapping topics and you've already articulated an idea, why not re-use it? Have you spoken with your own faculty advisors about this?

My advisor, who happens to be cool with Gerson (they've worked together a lot) gave me some advice but I had already sent the paper in. He told me to stall for a few days. But I got nervous when I saw the predicted release date and edited a few things and sent it out the same day I got the original request email (one week ago). The next day, my advisor have me the detailed list of things I could do to make my paper better, but it was too late. To be fair, he just said to add more scholarship, and I already have a 3 page bibliography, so it wouldn't make too but a difference. 

 

Another thing is that that paper turned out nothing like how I originally wanted it because my classics advisor was somewhat unsupportive. My friend read it recently and laughed because apparently the ending (42 shallow pages into the paper) reads something like , "It's just bullshit, okay? So let's not." 

[majorshake]

3 minutes ago, MVSCZAR said:

My advisor, who happens to be cool with Gerson (they've worked together a lot) gave me some advice but I had already sent the paper in. He told me to stall for a few days. But I got nervous when I saw the predicted release date and edited a few things and sent it out the same day I got the original request email (one week ago). The next day, my advisor have me the detailed list of things I could do to make my paper better, but it was too late. To be fair, he just said to add more scholarship, and I already have a 3 page bibliography, so it wouldn't make too but a difference. 

 

Another thing is that that paper turned out nothing like how I originally wanted it because my classics advisor was somewhat unsupportive. My friend read it recently and laughed because apparently the ending (42 shallow pages into the paper) reads something like , "It's just bullshit, okay? So let's not." 

Predicted release date for Toronto?
What is it?
Please?

[MVSCZAR]

8 minutes ago, majorshake said:

Predicted release date for Toronto?
What is it?
Please?

I thought it was Feb 18, no? Anyway, the email was sent one week ago and she said they won't be deciding for "several weeks". But several weeks is 7 weeks or thereabouts and that seems like a looooong time.... So she probably meant a couple of weeks... which is 2 weeks! Which means this coming week!!! Eeeeee. This was a message from CPAMP, btw. I suppose that could mean my app went through the normal department already? dunno. So much speculation... 

[psm1580b]

39 minutes ago, MVSCZAR said:

I guess you guys are right. Unless, of course, they thought my first was entertainingly bad. But the papers were 40+ pages each, and that seems like a long way to go for a bad joke. 

 

But it I guess what I'm wondering is what they could be looking for in the second paper. I mentioned the second paper in my SOP and I use Lloyd Gerson as a main source, so perhaps he wanted to see what's up? And now I'm afraid I accidentally plagiarized. I'm pretty sure I didn't, but like... What if? I think I may have reused one of my own paragraphs in both papers and now I'm thinking omg, what if that's totally not allowed? I mean, I doubt it is, but what if they hold it against me? 

Conciseness? I don't want to sound dismissive but I've never heard of a program wanting a writing sample anywhere near that length? Unless that's what they asked for, I guess. My understanding is that's the kind of writing that they want to train you to do.

[majorshake]

14 minutes ago, MVSCZAR said:

I thought it was Feb 18, no? Anyway, the email was sent one week ago and she said they won't be deciding for "several weeks". But several weeks is 7 weeks or thereabouts and that seems like a looooong time.... So she probably meant a couple of weeks... which is 2 weeks! Which means this coming week!!! Eeeeee. This was a message from CPAMP, btw. I suppose that could mean my app went through the normal department already? dunno. So much speculation... 

I didn't know.

In any case, eeep! so soon! fingers crossed

[MVSCZAR]

2 minutes ago, psm1580b said:

Conciseness? I don't want to sound dismissive but I've never heard of a program wanting a writing sample anywhere near that length? Unless that's what they asked for, I guess. My understanding is that's the kind of writing that they want to train you to do.

Hm. That's a good point. But they didn't ask for it to be concise. They just said "send over the paper on active intellect." And it's a thesis so I guess it's gonna be long. 

 

I provided guidelines for the initial writing sample so they would only have to read 15-20 pages of they wanted to. But I sent the whole thing because I couldn't think of anything to take out. 

[MVSCZAR]

1 minute ago, majorshake said:

I didn't know.

In any case, eeep! so soon! fingers crossed

Let's hope "eeeps" don't turn into weeps!! Eeeeeep! 

[majorshake]

12 minutes ago, MVSCZAR said:

Let's hope "eeeps" don't turn into weeps!! Eeeeeep! 

I'm used to that already. These schools are rejecting me left and right. Soon, I'll be writing a proposal for a non-US uni it seems.

[psm1580b]

20 minutes ago, MVSCZAR said:

Hm. That's a good point. But they didn't ask for it to be concise. They just said "send over the paper on active intellect." And it's a thesis so I guess it's gonna be long. 

 

I provided guidelines for the initial writing sample so they would only have to read 15-20 pages of they wanted to. But I sent the whole thing because I couldn't think of anything to take out. 

Good point and good luck!

[oldmanPhDStudent]

18 minutes ago, majorshake said:

I'm used to that already. These schools are rejecting me left and right. Soon, I'll be writing a proposal for a non-US uni it seems.

I feel the pain here. I've only been rejected from one, but with some schools having extended offers of admission already, I have some presumed rejections...

[MVSCZAR]

19 minutes ago, majorshake said:

I'm used to that already. These schools are rejecting me left and right. Soon, I'll be writing a proposal for a non-US uni it seems.

 where are you gonna apply?? 

 

I I was thinking that if I struck out this year, I'd apply to university college Dublin for an MA. 

[majorshake]

21 minutes ago, MVSCZAR said:

 where are you gonna apply?? 

 

I I was thinking that if I struck out this year, I'd apply to university college Dublin for an MA. 

University of Sydney and University of Queensland, both in Australia

[MVSCZAR]

53 minutes ago, Abendstern said:

Just to clarify this for you, 'several' actually means 'more than two, but not many.' It's not seven. So I think she means you will hear more in 2-3 weeks.

I didn't remember correctly anyway. It said several rounds, anyway.  

[tarofang]

I'm from Toronto. From what I heard, it's not uncommon for them to request a second writing sample, especially if your area of interest is ancient philosophy.