Article: Kisses of Death in the Application Process

[Lantern]

I came across this article today and thought it may be of use.

http://www.humboldt....viceArticle.pdf

It is geared toward psychology students, but I think it is applicable to all. It may be too late for a lot of us, and maybe general for some of you, but I thought it couldn't hurt to post it.

[Lauren the Librarian]

I came across this article today and thought it may be of use.

http://www.humboldt....viceArticle.pdf

It is geared toward psychology students, but I think it is applicable to all. It may be too late for a lot of us, and maybe general for some of you, but I thought it couldn't hurt to post it.

Totally useful. Good link!

[jon cocktoe]

This is interesting. I wonder if all the the info about SOPs applies to LORs? One of my recommenders gave me a copy of their letter, and there were two minor typos in it. Do you think this would reflect badly on me? The deadlines are coming up quick (Jan 5), and if I ask her to rewrite the letter, it will be late. So, is it better to submit a letter with typos or late?

Edited January 2, 2010 by shutterbug

[alexis]

This is interesting. I wonder if all the the info about SOPs applies to LORs? One of my recommenders gave me a copy of their letter, and there were two minor typos in it. Do you think this would reflect badly on me? The deadlines are coming up quick (Jan 5), and if I ask her to rewrite the letter will be late. So, is it better to submit a letter with typos or late?

No. It might reflect badly on them, but not you. And two minor typos? As errors in LORs go, that is nothing. Definitely do not ask them to rewrite the letter, in my opinion. If the letter is late, your app might not be considered.

OP: good article, thanks for posting it!

[coyabean]

Uh Oh. Guess my gratuitous name-dropping of Obama's cousin, twice removed, that I met once in an airport was not a good idea? j/k

[Serric]

I don't know what to be more stupefied about: the idea that someone actually wrote a letter of recommendation for themselves, or the idea that somebody asked THEIR TRAVEL AGENT to write one.

[mudlark]

My favorite is the 10 page SOP that portrayed the applicant as Dorothy on the road to grad school. AWESOME.

[t_ruth]

interesting. The LOR section is not really relevant to those of us who had been out of school for a number of years, especially as stay-at-home moms...I had to be a little more creative when it came to rounding out my letters, and I don't think it hurt me

[rainy_day]

This is interesting. I wonder if all the the info about SOPs applies to LORs? One of my recommenders gave me a copy of their letter, and there were two minor typos in it. Do you think this would reflect badly on me? The deadlines are coming up quick (Jan 5), and if I ask her to rewrite the letter, it will be late. So, is it better to submit a letter with typos or late?

For what it is worth, when I was applying to undergrad, my letter writer a) wrote the letter on a typewriter spelled my name wrong and c) when he noticed it, hand wrote the correct spelling above the typed misspelling. It looked ridiculous! Forgot about that until just now.

[tskinner]

Totally.

As I waved goodbye to my newfound friends--the trigonometric tin man, the calculaic cowardly lion, and the social science strawman--I click my heels together three times and said, "There's no place like home." And that home is your institution.

[nycrican2]

Awesome article, thanks for posting this link.

[minnares]

This is wonderful! Thank you for sharing. (now I'm off to cringe if any of the things I did crop up in this article).

~ m