Preparing for the Round Two: How to Win the Application Game This Time

[morifol]

So this year hasn't been successful for me due to a whole list of reasons: lack of experience (we are talking 1 year of doing truly great things, but just one), no published work, no personal contacts with grad schools.

I am not discouraged, only prepared to work harder, and it looks like I have got 9 months, which is not much if you think about it.

I am sure there are people who are in the same or in a similar situation. Let's come together!

I have created a to-do list, which includes working on my mistakes, building personal networks, and gaining new experience. Hence the first question: when do you think I should contact the programs I have been rejected from asking them what I can to do strengthen my application? Is now too early (+ they are all busy), or is now just right, because they might still remember me? Especially the school that interviewed me?

[CIShopeful]

I think this is a great idea for a thread!

I plan on emailing professos after I hear from the last school. I'm not really sure how to word that email, though! Everything I've come up with so far screams "why wasn't I good enough?!?!" and I feel like that may be a bit off putting.

One thing that I've noticed from lurking is that many of us (those who are reapplying) didn't have much in the way of publications. I think that publishing could make our applications stronger.

I keep telling myself that this experience builds character, but I still just want to crawl into a blanket fort and hide.

[morifol]

44 minutes ago, CIShopeful said:

I think this is a great idea for a thread!

I plan on emailing professos after I hear from the last school. I'm not really sure how to word that email, though! Everything I've come up with so far screams "why wasn't I good enough?!?!" and I feel like that may be a bit off putting.

One thing that I've noticed from lurking is that many of us (those who are reapplying) didn't have much in the way of publications. I think that publishing could make our applications stronger.

I keep telling myself that this experience builds character, but I still just want to crawl into a blanket fort and hide.

Don't hide! Fight! Well, not with them. That's my approach anyway.

Yes, I already have an idea for an article.

I already have all the answers, so I suppose I will start e-mailing soon - to those ones where I want to reapply.

 

[SilentObserver]

5 hours ago, morifol said:

So this year hasn't been successful for me due to a whole list of reasons: lack of experience (we are talking 1 year of doing truly great things, but just one), no published work, no personal contacts with grad schools.

I am not discouraged, only prepared to work harder, and it looks like I have got 9 months, which is not much if you think about it.

I am sure there are people who are in the same or in a similar situation. Let's come together!

I have created a to-do list, which includes working on my mistakes, building personal networks, and gaining new experience. Hence the first question: when do you think I should contact the programs I have been rejected from asking them what I can to do strengthen my application? Is now too early (+ they are all busy), or is now just right, because they might still remember me? Especially the school that interviewed me?

Best of luck in the next cycle! 

A friend has been rejected from most of his PhD programs (in a different social science discipline) as well and emailed his POIs and interviewers shortly after.  They were very open to providing feedback via email or Skype.  If they're busy now, the worst that could happen is they'll postpone the conversation--or say no. 

[morifol]

1 minute ago, SilentObserver said:

Best of luck in the next cycle! 

A friend has been rejected from most of his PhD programs (in a different social science discipline) as well and emailed his POIs and interviewers shortly after.  They were very open to providing feedback via email or Skype.  If they're busy now, the worst that could happen is they'll postpone the conversation--or say no. 

Thank you! That is helpful!

[nashville0808]

For doctoral programs, in my field, it doesn't matter very much whether you have personal contacts with professors unless you advance from a master's program to a Ph.D. program within the same university. Publications do not matter very much either because most of applicants do not have publications in good academic journals. Professors at my program do not expect Ph.D. applicants to have any publications. In fact, I have rarely seen new Ph.D. students come with any publications.

Just contacting professors won't help you very much. And they wouldn't remember you anyway. The only way that I think is useful would be that you present a high-quality paper at professional conferences and have professors of your interest come and see your presentation. When I presented my paper at a professional conference, a professor that my supervisor  and I personally knew from work came to my presentation and aggressively recruited me to his school's Ph.D. program with generous funding. Although I didn't even apply for the program, I think presenting a high-quality research paper would be a good way to sell yourself.

Experience matters a lot here. Many new Ph.D. students come with great work experience. Typically students have working experience for 3 to 10 years in various settings. It is very rare that students come straight to Ph.D. programs in education from undergrad.

Finally, the statement of purposes makes a big difference. It demonstrates your passion for a Ph.D. program, fit with the program, and writing skills. If you write a long SOP, this is a bad signal. SOP should be short and succinct. Don't use tricks to put more words or sentences in a 2-page SOP.

All of this assumes that you have very high GPAs, high GRE scores, and great letters of recommendation.

[morifol]

On 16/2/2016 at 11:39 PM, CIShopeful said:

I think this is a great idea for a thread!

I plan on emailing professos after I hear from the last school. I'm not really sure how to word that email, though! Everything I've come up with so far screams "why wasn't I good enough?!?!" and I feel like that may be a bit off putting.

One thing that I've noticed from lurking is that many of us (those who are reapplying) didn't have much in the way of publications. I think that publishing could make our applications stronger.

I keep telling myself that this experience builds character, but I still just want to crawl into a blanket fort and hide.

Have you figured the wording out already? I am still toying with different options. For one: 'Dear ... I was shortlisted, but not accepted, planning to apply again as the program remains my top choice... What can I do to strengthen my application?'. Yet, I keep thinking - should I remind him of who I am - mention the key features of my profile?

[morifol]

On 17/2/2016 at 8:03 AM, nashville0808 said:

For doctoral programs, in my field, it doesn't matter very much whether you have personal contacts with professors unless you advance from a master's program to a Ph.D. program within the same university. Publications do not matter very much either because most of applicants do not have publications in good academic journals. Professors at my program do not expect Ph.D. applicants to have any publications. In fact, I have rarely seen new Ph.D. students come with any publications.

Just contacting professors won't help you very much. And they wouldn't remember you anyway. The only way that I think is useful would be that you present a high-quality paper at professional conferences and have professors of your interest come and see your presentation. When I presented my paper at a professional conference, a professor that my supervisor  and I personally knew from work came to my presentation and aggressively recruited me to his school's Ph.D. program with generous funding. Although I didn't even apply for the program, I think presenting a high-quality research paper would be a good way to sell yourself.

Experience matters a lot here. Many new Ph.D. students come with great work experience. Typically students have working experience for 3 to 10 years in various settings. It is very rare that students come straight to Ph.D. programs in education from undergrad.

Finally, the statement of purposes makes a big difference. It demonstrates your passion for a Ph.D. program, fit with the program, and writing skills. If you write a long SOP, this is a bad signal. SOP should be short and succinct. Don't use tricks to put more words or sentences in a 2-page SOP.

All of this assumes that you have very high GPAs, high GRE scores, and great letters of recommendation.

Well, I consider my SoP to be pretty good. And it IS long, but not longer than 1000 words they ask for. GRE scores are fine, letter of recommendation - superb.

I don't think a professor who works on a similar topic will not remember me if I contact him/her through a personal network.

Publications are one of the ways to prove one's worth given one is an international student who is not coming from a top-100 institution. So I would disagree with what you said - they not expecting me to have good publications does not mean I should not use this tool to carve a better image of myself.

[ZeChocMoose]

I also disagree a bit with what nashville0808 has written.  I sat on the admissions committee for one cycle each at my master's school and my current PhD school both in higher education.  While each admission committee did the process slightly differently, it was clear to me how much faculty contact mattered.  So yes, I would reach out to faculty and/or the department chair to ask how to improve your application especially given that you were interviewed at one school.  That means that you were really close and it would be helpful to have those insights whether that be they didn't see you as a good fit or if you need to improve x, y, z in your application to make you more competitive compared to the other people in the pool.

Publications.  This is tricky.  It is not really the case any more that no PhD applicants would have them or they would be rare.  I sat on the committee 2 years ago and the more competitive applicants would have them or at the very least would be presenting at education conferences.  Although the type of publications that would usually have is a chapter in an edited book or a lower level education journal.  No one really expects that you would have a publication in one of the top education journals.  Also, one year is a tight time frame to start writing an article from scratch and expect that it would accepted in time to be in on your C.V. next year.

I do agree with nashville0808 that experience is critical.  Everyone in my PhD program had either worked in education or an education adjacent field for at least three years -- usually a lot more with progressing levels of responsibility. Personally, I had 4 years of full-time experience in higher ed and 2 years of part-time experience in higher ed (when I was a GA as a master's student) before I applied.  I ended up being on the younger side of my cohort too!  

Since you only have one year of experience (I think?) -- you might want to hold off for a couple cycles and then apply.  You'll be much more competitive and you'll have better postgraduate outcomes too given how the field values experience so much.

[morifol]

4 hours ago, ZeChocMoose said:

I also disagree a bit with what nashville0808 has written.  I sat on the admissions committee for one cycle each at my master's school and my current PhD school both in higher education.  While each admission committee did the process slightly differently, it was clear to me how much faculty contact mattered.  So yes, I would reach out to faculty and/or the department chair to ask how to improve your application especially given that you were interviewed at one school.  That means that you were really close and it would be helpful to have those insights whether that be they didn't see you as a good fit or if you need to improve x, y, z in your application to make you more competitive compared to the other people in the pool.

Publications.  This is tricky.  It is not really the case any more that no PhD applicants would have them or they would be rare.  I sat on the committee 2 years ago and the more competitive applicants would have them or at the very least would be presenting at education conferences.  Although the type of publications that would usually have is a chapter in an edited book or a lower level education journal.  No one really expects that you would have a publication in one of the top education journals.  Also, one year is a tight time frame to start writing an article from scratch and expect that it would accepted in time to be in on your C.V. next year.

I do agree with nashville0808 that experience is critical.  Everyone in my PhD program had either worked in education or an education adjacent field for at least three years -- usually a lot more with progressing levels of responsibility. Personally, I had 4 years of full-time experience in higher ed and 2 years of part-time experience in higher ed (when I was a GA as a master's student) before I applied.  I ended up being on the younger side of my cohort too!  

Since you only have one year of experience (I think?) -- you might want to hold off for a couple cycles and then apply.  You'll be much more competitive and you'll have better postgraduate outcomes too given how the field values experience so much.

I do have a Master's though... And I will have 2 years full time by the end of this year... Maybe I should stress my three years working in an education camp, too (part-time, not higher ed, but adjacent for sure)? Also, I am working as an expert/researcher now - I can maybe ask my recommender to stress the intensity of the work we do (he is my supervisor in the think-tank).

Luckily, I've done so much researching for the government and so on, that I will not have to write from scratch. Or so I hope.

Most importantly - thank you so much. You've definitely shed some light on this.

[nashville0808]

8 hours ago, morifol said:

Well, I consider my SoP to be pretty good. And it IS long, but not longer than 1000 words they ask for. GRE scores are fine, letter of recommendation - superb.

I don't think a professor who works on a similar topic will not remember me if I contact him/her through a personal network.

Publications are one of the ways to prove one's worth given one is an international student who is not coming from a top-100 institution. So I would disagree with what you said - they not expecting me to have good publications does not mean I should not use this tool to carve a better image of myself.

You need to evaluate your qualifications objectively. I'm not sure about your outcomes this year but if you didn't get into any of your top choice schools this year, there are some reasons. They may be something you can control or cannot control. You need to carefully investigate them and prepare for next year's cycle.

In terms of personal network, I am not discouraging you to contact professors. Probably it may be better than not doing so but I don't think it would matter a lot. For my case, I was admitted to six top schools and was put on a waiting list for two other top schools (eventually rejected). I didn't contact any professors. Some professors don't like to receive e-mails from applicants because they receive too many e-mails every day. Personal network may matter if a program is small. For example, if a program within a department admits two students every year, personal network matters a lot. I think Stanford is one example. 

For publications, at least at my department, it doesn't matter very much. Most of the students at the department, including international students, were practitioners or junior researchers. I just had one publication. This is not a peer-reviewed paper. It is a non-technical report. On the other hand, I presented research papers almost every year at well-known professional conferences. This might have made me more competitive. But this would depend on which field you belong to. If you are interested in neuroscience and education, probably publications matter more than my field.

In any case, you should do your best to improve your chance of admission. If you are interested in top schools, keep in mind that there are so many Ph.D. applicants for a limited number of spots. My department receives over 200 applications just for 5-10 spots and this competition would be similar across top schools. It is not surprising that an applicant doesn't get admission offers from any top schools. It would be wise to stretch your choice to get at least one admission offer. 

Good luck!

[emilb34]

Definitely connect with faculty if you can, but perhaps consider contacting the program's coordinator first to chat about the program and be connected that way to a faculty member who is interested in your area of interest/research. I also think (depending on your specific program) that at some institutions you might not have a faculty member who is interested in your area, but I think it carries weight when you say that program coordinator X encouraged you to reach out.

As others have said, experience (especially practical) is everything, particularly in the field of education! Yes, related and research experience is wonderful, but the more experience you have in the field you want to study in (particularly unique experiences in that field) the higher the likelihood of you being accepted with funding! I really discounted my application in this cycle. I applied to a few really top schools but I think I could have applied to better considering my practical experience. The things that held me back from applying to a program in the top 5 were my GRE scores and so-so GPA from undergrad and masters. Knowing what I know now, I'm considering applying to even better schools next year and capitalizing on my experience even more. Everyone is different, but I think practical experience is everything in the field of education. 

[morifol]

On 18/2/2016 at 10:00 PM, emilb34 said:

Definitely connect with faculty if you can, but perhaps consider contacting the program's coordinator first to chat about the program and be connected that way to a faculty member who is interested in your area of interest/research. I also think (depending on your specific program) that at some institutions you might not have a faculty member who is interested in your area, but I think it carries weight when you say that program coordinator X encouraged you to reach out.

As others have said, experience (especially practical) is everything, particularly in the field of education! Yes, related and research experience is wonderful, but the more experience you have in the field you want to study in (particularly unique experiences in that field) the higher the likelihood of you being accepted with funding! I really discounted my application in this cycle. I applied to a few really top schools but I think I could have applied to better considering my practical experience. The things that held me back from applying to a program in the top 5 were my GRE scores and so-so GPA from undergrad and masters. Knowing what I know now, I'm considering applying to even better schools next year and capitalizing on my experience even more. Everyone is different, but I think practical experience is everything in the field of education. 

Oh, I have forgotten to reply and thank you! Thank you! Especially for the first part.

[morifol]

So, for all the people out there who have been rejected from their programs of choice and are planning to go for it again, here is my letter (all identity revealing info erazed) to the professor who interviewed me:

Dear ...,

I had a pleasure to talk with you on the 26th of January. I was shortlisted for the PhD program in .... However, I was not offered a place in the program.

The program at ... is still my program of choice, and I am planning to apply again next year for the 2017 cohort.

I hope you don't mind me getting in touch again, but I wanted to ask whether you have any recommendations on how I can strengthen my application for the next round.

To remind you of my background ... (a bit about that, and a bit about the topics we discussed during the interview).

I understand that you must be very busy, so I will appreciate every bit of advice you can give me very deeply.

Have a wonderful day!