Fall 2017 Applicants

[Yanaka]

 

Hey @engphiledu! I tried sending you a pm with the attachment, but couldn't figure out how to do so. Thanks in advance for your help  (I'll delete the post as soon as you've opened the document)

EDIT: I don't feel comfortable having it out there in the wild actually, I'll look into attachments and pm's and send it that way!

Edited December 5, 2016 by Yanaka

[jungThug]

Soooooooooo the deadline for Stanford is 6 Dec and one of my recommenders has just been hospitalized. He did not upload the stanford recommendation. Faaaaaaaaaack. He says he'll try to upload it tomorrow. Do you think that we'll be aight? Apparently, he tripped over his cat and broke his ankle. 

[Yanaka]

That's a really funny story about which you'll be able to laugh once you're not stressed anymore  

I think some schools accept LORs after the deadline, but you need to either do some digging on their website or ask the Grad office.

[WildeThing]

I have no idea if programs will be accomodating, but seeing as this is totally out of your control and can be verified by the recommender (and a doctor's note), perhaps they might give you some leeway. Make sure everything else is done and maybe you can send them an e-mail letting them know that this happened and that you expect your recommender to still send in their submission on time  but because X happened, he might be a bit late and ask whether there that would be an issue. That's what I'd do anyway but my impression is that the deadline's flexibility for special circumstances varied program to program.

[jungThug]

If Stanford says that the deadline is Dec 6, does that mean that I can turn in the application in the morning of the 6th? Or does that mean that everything needs to be locked and loaded by midnight of Dec 5?? I know its a stupid question. But its been a long day and this is an anonymous forum, so I'm going to ask it anyway lol. 

[LouPlease]

2 minutes ago, jungThug said:

If Stanford says that the deadline is Dec 6, does that mean that I can turn in the application in the morning of the 6th? Or does that mean that everything needs to be locked and loaded by midnight of Dec 5?? I know its a stupid question. But its been a long day and this is an anonymous forum, so I'm going to ask it anyway lol. 

Although the specific time can vary, a Dec. 6th deadline means the apps are due on the 6th, not the day before.  For example, one of my apps was due by 5pm EST on the deadline date, while another was 11:59pm.  To be safe I'd try and have everything in by 5pm according to the school's time zone.

Also- not a stupid question  Nothing like unadulterated panic to make you second guess everything!

[WildeThing]

The Stanford MTL site says 11.59 PST. I would assume the other programs are the same.

[jungThug]

27 minutes ago, WildeThing said:

The Stanford MTL site says 11.59 PST. I would assume the other programs are the same.

thank you so much. 

 

33 minutes ago, LouisePlease said:

Although the specific time can vary, a Dec. 6th deadline means the apps are due on the 6th, not the day before.  For example, one of my apps was due by 5pm EST on the deadline date, while another was 11:59pm.  To be safe I'd try and have everything in by 5pm according to the school's time zone.

Also- not a stupid question  Nothing like unadulterated panic to make you second guess everything!

thank you

[piers_plowman]

I received a response today from UCLA about a late rec letter; they said as long as it's in in the next couple weeks or so they'll still consider my application as complete. Most schools are flexible, as it's the end of busy semesters and the letters are out of your control (and no one reads anything until January anyway), but there are stricter exceptions, like Northwestern.

[Dr. Old Bill]

5 minutes ago, piers_plowman said:

I received a response today from UCLA about a late rec letter; they said as long as it's in in the next couple weeks or so they'll still consider my application as complete. Most schools are flexible, as it's the end of busy semesters and the letters are out of your control (and no one reads anything until January anyway), but there are stricter exceptions, like Northwestern.

Yeah, I'm still really worried about OSU. My one LOR-writer said she'll be able to finish sending her letters off tomorrow, though OSU's deadline is (was?) today. Sigh.

 

[biyutefulphlower]

@Wyatt's Terps - You don't have to stress too much.  I called the OSU English Grad office last week and they said they don't really expect all the letters to come through until the 15th or so.  You still have time

 

[Dr. Old Bill]

1 minute ago, biyutefulphlower said:

@Wyatt's Terps - You don't have to stress too much.  I called the OSU English Grad office last week and they said they don't really expect all the letters to come through until the 15th or so.  You still have time

 

AHHHH. Wish I could upvote this a dozen times. Palpable relief. Thank you!!

[Yanaka]

Dear all,

I'm not really sure if I should create a new thread, but here is my question: in my SoPs, I dedicate one or two paragraphs to POI(s) from each department I am applying to. However, I am in France and not that many ressources from said POIs are available at my school's library (and at another library I attend). I have found a few publications for a couple of faculty members, but I really want to blow Princeton's adcomm's mind and tailor my SoP to a professor who is a really good match for my research--unfortunately, she is also one of the faculty whose publications (other than a few from the 80s...) are not available. What should I do? Is it absolutely inconceivable to send her an email and ask her advice? i.e. where could I find some of her publications, if she has links with excerpts etc.

We've already had a few exchanges and she's been very nice and helpful. Thanks guys!

[museum_geek]

I would check to see if she's on academia.edu - that's where I found some articles written by my POIs.  Failing that, JSTOR, Ebscohost, ProQuest, Google Scholar, etc may all prove useful.

[engphiledu]

I always check the MLA International Bibliography, if you have that database available. It often links to full-text on other databases, or at the very least, shows abstracts.

[Yanaka]

Thanks guys, I'll check it out. This forum is awesome  

[Caien]

Anybody have any idea how long it takes the NYU application checklist to update with a new recommendation? My Prof says she submitted all my references but it isn't showing up on the application. I know it may take a while but the NYU deadline was last week and I'm a bit antsy.

[Yanaka]

@Caien My NYU app showed the submissions right away :/ 

[Dr. Old Bill]

59 minutes ago, Caien said:

Anybody have any idea how long it takes the NYU application checklist to update with a new recommendation? My Prof says she submitted all my references but it isn't showing up on the application. I know it may take a while but the NYU deadline was last week and I'm a bit antsy.

I didn't apply to NYU, but that's the sort of thing I'd double-check on right away. Most programs (not all) send you automatic notifications when your recommender has uploaded his or her letter. If a day or two has passed, and your letter-writer thinks she's done, then check everything again.

The other day, when I noticed that one of my writers had submitted all but one letter, I looked closely at the app again, and it turned out that I had transposed letters in her email address. Very easy mistake to make, but also an important one to catch...

[engphiledu]

1 hour ago, Yanaka said:

@Caien My NYU app showed the submissions right away :/ 

@Caien Mine showed up immediately as well. I will say that I did have an issue with another school's application where my recommender said the letter was sent, but somehow the system hadn't accepted it. I'd contact NYU for sure.

Edited December 6, 2016 by engphiledu

[Caien]

20 minutes ago, engphiledu said:

@Caien Mine showed up immediately as well. I will say that I did have an issue with another school's application where my recommender said the letter was sent, but somehow the system hadn't accepted it. I'd contact NYU for sure.

They were going to spam; my prof and I just had a live gmail chat to sort it which, considering some of the horror stories I've been reading on here the last few days, makes me think I do not appreciate my professors nearly enough.

[LouPlease]

Fellow Applicants,

How are you handling citations in your SOP?  I lead into each of my two references with the title and author but am wondering if I need to go further... Also, I've heard mixed opinions on using any sources whatsoever in your proposed research section, but that seems absurd to me.  I would think you'd want to situate your thoughts in the ongoing academic conversation. 

Apologies if this is addressed elsewhere but I couldn't find a thread on it and Google has been horrendously unhelpful. 

[Dr. Old Bill]

1 hour ago, LouisePlease said:

Fellow Applicants,

How are you handling citations in your SOP?  I lead into each of my two references with the title and author but am wondering if I need to go further... Also, I've heard mixed opinions on using any sources whatsoever in your proposed research section, but that seems absurd to me.  I would think you'd want to situate your thoughts in the ongoing academic conversation. 

Apologies if this is addressed elsewhere but I couldn't find a thread on it and Google has been horrendously unhelpful. 

I have a quotation near the top of my SOP. I introduce the quote, then put the full citation information in a footnote. I've seen it done this way in successful (i.e. accepted) English Ph.D. SOPs, so I just did it that way in my own.

[Yanaka]

Now I have a predicament: is it PhD of Comparative Literature? In? I think I'm lost in translation...

[WildeThing]

Pretty sure it's always 'in'.