The positives thread

[coffeeandtoast]

Yep, another chemE here.

Yayyy! What program are you applying to?

[gazelle]

Well, I WAS chemE as an undergrad (and a chem major thrown on top for shits and giggles) at the University of Minnesota (massive grade deflation FTL...) and now am going into international relations programs at UCSD and Columbia.

[coffeeandtoast]

Well, I WAS chemE as an undergrad (and a chem major thrown on top for shits and giggles) at the University of Minnesota (massive grade deflation FTL...) and now am going into international relations programs at UCSD and Columbia.

Very cool! I'm also changing drastically my direction and going (hopefully) into either sociology or theology.

[gazelle]

Where did you do your undergrad?

[coffeeandtoast]

Where did you do your undergrad?

Very small school in the South that nobody knows It is very well known in the deep South for engineering though or at least regionally. Hey, it got me excellent jobs, but grad school... doubt it

[sahiya]

Hello, everyone! Newbie here (just registered today in a moment of utter boredom at work). This is a great thread! Here are the reasons I'm going to get into the German Studies/Comp Lit programs I've applied to:

• 3.96 undergrad GPA
• Fulbright Grantee
• MA with Distinction
• 1.5 years living in Germany + 3 years of German as an undergrad
• Proficient in Spanish (or would be again, with some work)
• TONS of teaching experience and other relevant work experience (managerial and administrative, mostly)
• An article (single author) published in a book
• 3 book reviews published
• What I'm certain are glowing recommendations
• 730V/660Q
• Strong SOP (I think)

Go us!

[juror#1]

Well man, after reading all of these I am now worried for myself because I have seen the other applicants. All of you are amazing!

Okay, so after discovering this site, especially the results list, I think this is a good thread haha. I am applying to 8 PhD programs for Psychology and Law.

Here it goes...

-3.83 overall GPA, 3.96 Major GPA

-Have been conducting research with two different labs for about 2 years.

-I have 2 publications in peer reviewed journals

-I have 7 manuscripts in preparation, including my senior thesis which I received a $5000 grant to conduct the research

-I was just recently invited to be an author on an Encyclopedia article because of my thesis

-One line of research that I am involved with has been in the national news

-My lab won a Research award last year for our poster presentation

-This year I am an author on 5 studies at AP-LS, 3 of which I am the presenter, and one of those is a talk on my thesis

-Three great LORs (I hope, I got to read one which made me cry so here is to hoping the other two were good)

-I have been the lab manager for one of the professors for a year and a half now

-I had an incredibly eye opening internship with the local police department

-My GRE scores were decent haha

-I am the TA for the statistics course this year

-That is it haha, essentially I am gunning on shoving my massive amounts of research down their throats

So that was hard, but it felt kind of nice. Now I just have to stop checking the results page.

[ResPublica]

I have to agree with the last poster - so many of you have such stellar qualifications, and I am consequently rather anxious about what I might be up against in my field (Classics, Ancient History). In any case, I figured I would post here as an exercise in confidence boosting.

- Double Major, Double Minor BA, 3.9 and 3.8 GPA in majors

- First Class Honours from Cambridge University's International History Summer School

- First Class Honours from University College Cork's Intensive Greek Summer School

- Three weeks field excavation at a Roman villa in England

- Post Baccalaureate Certificate in Classics

- Six years of Latin, three years of Greek, one year of French

- Hired as a Latin tutor to the son of the Economics chair at my current school

- TA for Roman Civilization, Classical myth, Word Etymology courses, and lectured in all of them

- A writing sample of significant scholarly merit (or so I've been told)

- Solid LORs from professors who are well connected in the programs to where I am applying

This is all balanced out by completely mediocre GRE scores and a handful of Ws and even few 1.0ish grades on my transcript during my first two years of undergrad.

Edited February 3, 2010 by ResPublica

[chocker]

they should understand ..

this loser has nothing else to do except being a grad student and

being a 24/7 bitch.

[Branwen daughter of Llyr]

Oh, I'll play this game!!

I've applied to 4 top-tier English PhD programs.

I have a great GPA, 3.66 overall, 3.78 in the major. (and the B's were from the toughest grader in the entire department).

Dean's List 6 out of 7 semesters.

Only one C in my entire transcript (damn that Psych 101 class).

National Golden Key Honors society member.

My GRE second time around is 720V, 670Q (don't know the AWA yet, only took the GRE again yesterday, since the first wasn't too great).

I was in the honors program, and wrote an honors thesis (45 pp long), which I got an A- on.

I can read Middle English.

I lectured an overview of the Arthurian Cycle (from Geoffry of Monmouth to Monty Python and the Holy Grail) for a Sci-Fi / Fantasy convention.

My profs remembered me after 8 years and fondly, and were extremely happy to write me letters of recommendation.

My writing samples kick ass (every single one of them a strong A paper).

I'm 38 and applying with the ultimate, grown up realization that what I want to do is research, publish, and teach in my field (English Lit).

I can recognize Chaucer, Shakespeare, Spenser, Dryden, Pope, and Swift in the pitch black, when you wake me up out of a deep sleep.

I'm a dual citizen - American / Israeli and bi-cultural and bilingual.

Teaching experience (ESL).

I'm currently working on a children's novel.

I taught myself to read when I was 4 from Sesame Street and the Electric company, because I loved books so much (and I made sure I mentioned that on my SOPs).

(I hope that's enough, compared to the other posts here...)

Edited February 3, 2010 by Branwen daughter of Llyr

[blon19]

* 3.5 UG GPA

* 2 B.S. Degrees (Computer Science & Computer Engineering) w/ a minor in Math (all done in four years. hopefully this should offset my GPA)

* GRE: 790Q / Did well enough on the verbal and analytical

* 3 very strong LOR (one from a well known researcher in my field)

* Was asked to enter my school's senior design fair as a freshman because of a project I had done

* 2 summer internships related to my field of study

* 1 year of research experience directly related to my field of study

* Officer position in 2 computer science organizations (V.P. in one of them)

* Strong, very personal SOP

*sigh* I do feel a little better now. I've applied to 9 programs, but haven't heard back from any yet. If I get accepted to even one of them I'll be perfectly happy.

Good luck to everyone!

[WaitingImpatiently]

Here goes . . .

• 3.723 overall undergrad gpa and above 3.85 in major (haven't recalculated it yet)
• Received award from Modern Languages and Literatures dept.
• Presented a paper at a conference and won best paper, currently preparing another paper to present
• Working on an honors thesis that makes a relatively original argument.
• Created my own major and found a way to learn Chinese with very few courses offered at my school (independent studies, went abroad, attended Middlebury summer school, hired a tutor, etc)
• I have 2.5 years teaching experience
• At least one awesome recc and 2 really good ones
• GRE 680v/700q/5aw
• Deans List every semester
• Very high language proficiency (Advanced High on ACTFL scale)
• Served as TA to my professor last semester and created worksheets and communication activities

this is really an awkward feeling, but it does boost my self-confidence a little!

[Ari*]

Such a good thread! I applied to 4 Phd programs in Philosophy and 4 Masters Programs. Here is why I am getting in to these programs:

- 3.73 undergrad major gpa

- 3.8 phil PhD level gpa (taken during my masters program)

- A Masters degree in a related field.

- 6.0 AW GRE (1200+ on the other sections combined)

- Great rec letters from 3 profs + one rec letter from a prof who is famous in the field

- good feedback on my personal statement

- I applied to programs that were a good fit for me, instead of blindly applying to the top 20 in the discipline.

- A good start on language study (3+ years of Greek, 1 year Latin, 1 semester German)

- A revamped writing sample that got good marks from aformentioned famous prof showing "high levels of philosophical engagement"

- Some teaching experience.

- The assurance that at least one Masters Program was "impressed" with my application. (Man, does it feel good to get any kind of positive feedback!)

Congratulations everyone for being so awesome! We can do this!

[pietjekanarie]

I like this topic! Here we go:

- Did two studies at the same time (no double major or something, just two full time studies) in completely different fields (Neuroscience and languages, I hold a BSc, BA and Msc)

- Studied abroad four times in three different countries

- Two independent research projects abroad

- Presented the results of one of them on an international conference and received a travel grant to do so.

- I have a real high GPA for one of my studies. I am not from the US and we have a different way of grading. If I try to calculate it, it would be 4.0 out of 4.0 (I graduated with distinction), but I'm not sure whether that is possible. It should be fairly high at least. For my other study: my GPA is around 3.7 overall, in my major it is higher.

- One glowing LOR from a professor of King's College London. Three glowing letters of LOR, but from professors of less known institutions

- I'm an international student, I might contribute to the diversity!

- I speak 5 languages, of which three really good

- Nice volunteer work and relevant extracurricular activities

- Good and relevant writing sample

- And the best thing: University of Cambridge requested a phone interview. I had that today and it was so positive. The interviewer didn't say I got admitted, but said that there would be just one last meeting to check if the people that were interviewed would meet all requirements and that, when looking at my transcripts, there shouldn't be any problems with that. I could answer all questions and the interviewer complemented me on the fact that I really knew what I wanted to do in grad school.

- If Cambridge is positive, some other schools might be positive as well

Good luck everyone!

[Chuck]

I'm applying to interdisciplinary programs in several different related departments- mostly in Environmental Sociology:

Pros-

Undergrad at top liberal arts college- Phi Beta Kappa (top 3% of senior class).

2 highly competitive scholarships and research fellowships

Official major not in my field, but I took (and did well in) many related classes.

3 Excellent LOR's from undergrad, 2 with information along the lines of "best student/project I've ever had"

Senior thesis with presentation at regional conference

Professional experience in the field, both post-BA and Post-MS

MS from a top program in the field.

Named scholarship + 3 prestigious university-wide program fellowships during the degree.

Secured $50K grant and named scholarship funding for MS degree, international research and conferences

Edited a scholarly journal during the MS.

TA'd and assisted with publication of a book for one of the biggest names in the environmental field. Excellent LOR from this person.

Presentations at 3 international conferences (including 1 keynote), and 2 national conferences.

Book written for major publisher after completion of MS (still in press).

Cons-

* BA largely unrelated to PhD field of study, 2 of the 3 undergrad LOR's are also from recommenders outside the field

* MS was officially ungraded. I aced most of my classes, but some of the classes I did not perform so well in (B+ ish). My "excuse"?: I was busy with the excellent opportunity of working with one of the top people in my field.

* My MS advisor had a mental breakdown and left the school in my last semester and I am unable/did not think it wise to get a recc from him (also, because of this, I barely finished my thesis). Hence- I am relying more on my (out of field) undergrad reccs than I would like.

* Most spots in this field are highly competitive due to very few established research programs, lack of funding, and the interdisciplinary nature of intersecting fields in which tons of applicants potentially have lots more experience.

* I neglected to re-take the GRE and instead submitted my pre-MS scores from 5 years ago. 780 Q, 620 V, 5.5 A. Very respectable numbers, but not tip-top for what some of these programs are expecting (or perhaps what I could score today- seriously, who wants to spend months studying for and re-taking the GRE? Maybe this would have been a good idea, but I couldn't bear to do it!).

* I haven't made as many personal connections with potential advisors as I should have.

Edited February 10, 2010 by Chuck

[Summit_Bid]

I've contributed so much to the "negative thread" but I decided that to get me out of my rejection depression I should force myself to contribute to this one. Perhaps the positive energy from this post will send cosmic cyber rays of good thoughts to the schools who are reading my apps now. PhD Admissions committees, feast your eyes on this!!!:

- Clear, focused, tailored and PERSUASIVE SOP

- Scholarly and professional writing sample demonstrating abilty to properly research topics

- 4.0 GPA from #1 grad school in my field

- 3.799999999999 GPA from undergrad school

- Improved GRE scores

- Fair amount of language ability

- 4 great recs

- 3 major department scholarships for grad school

- 3 major department scholarships for undergrad

- Well-drafted resume showcasing professional field-related affiliations, 3 internships in a related-sub field, "portfolio"

of research conducted, field-related jobs, membership in 2 honor societies

- Some TA and teaching experience

- Presented at two school conferences

Take that, adcoms! Ha!

[alizarin]

This is a good idea, I haven't really been thinking about my qualifications anymore amidst all the stress, anxiety, and loss of confidence I started to feel after my first rejection from Yale. I haven't seen an MFA applicant post, so I'll participate.

These are positive things I can think of:

Overall GPA: 3.84 (boosted it from horrific GPA's when I first started college & had no idea what I was doing. My GPA was 1.something..)

Recognized for "Outstanding Academic Achievement"

I passed the AP exams for Calculus & US History in high school (I immigrated to the US from a foreign country when I was 14)

Fluent in 2 languages. (I don't know if these are relevant for an MFA at all, but what the heck..)

Awarded a bunch of prestigious scholarships (no financial help from family)

Did a bunch of group art shows

Got a painting award

Awarded the "Community Arts Fellowship" from my school for my internship at a local non-profit art org

Very happy with my Artist Statement, w/c I edited for a year & a half

Happy with my recommendation letters

80% satisfied with my portfolio (not sure if this is a good thing, I've only worked on it for a year & a half. I wish I had more time)

I know this is supposed to be a positive thread, but I can't help worrying about my experience (or lack off compared to many, older applicants). I just got my BFA last year, and I am 24 (they say the average MFA age is 27-28). Also, I just found out I wanted to major in visual arts 3 years ago. Public high schools did not expose us to art so I didn't even think that was a possibility. Okay, I'll stop now before my confidence goes down the drain again. But one more positive to close this, my mentors said (from the art school I transferred to from a community college), that from a complete, clueless novice that I was, I became one of the best painters in school, and my artistic growth within a year was exponential.

[pietjekanarie]

I've always understood that admission committees love improvement Alizarin. So I don't think you should worry about your lower GPA when you just started college. You clearly made up for that.

[Pamphilia]

PhD Admissions committees, feast your eyes on this!!!:

Take that, adcoms! Ha!

Haha, these two comments cracked me up for some reason. My partner thinks I've gone insane--I was laughing for like five minutes.

Edited February 11, 2010 by Pamphilia

[varekai1018]

So this wait is making me more and more insecure, and I'm in desperate need of an "I'm good enough, I'm strong enough, and doggonit, people like me" style pick-me-up! This thread is a brilliant idea. Here goes:

- despite a rough start (i.e. partying) at my top tier undergrad, I improved my GPA heaps, and have great grad school GPAs (MA - 3.76; MPH - 3.83)

- several years of international experience in three countries, including work with UNICEF regional office as well as with local NGOs

- domestic (US) work experience with a large health & human rights NGO and with a federal agency

- presentations and posters at professsional meetings and national conferences

- developed a city-wide refugee health program during my MPH practicum - it's still in existence, and now includes salaried staff from different agencies!

- recipient of two fellowships (academic and community service)

- took charge of my education, including relevant electives at other schools (

- elected into my discipline's national honor society

- both MA and MPH theses relate to my proposed research

- while I need to brush up on my Spanish to do the type of research I want, I have a decent foundation (and I also speak Thai like a 3 year old )

- I'm 100% committed to improving the health of underserved communities, and I'm positive this came through in my SOP and great LORs

OK, that made me feel heaps better about myself! Even if UA decides they don't want me, someone in this great big world must! Off to check the mail...again.

[mobicat]

Not knowing whether I'll survive this weekend without hearing from any school (applied to seven), here goes,

-All three of my recommenders are TOP profs in TOP schools, and at least two of them even called colleagues in the schools I applied to!

-Am currently a full scholarship student at a top grad school

-My essay is extremely strong, or so said everyone who read them

-Have nearly a decade of work experience doing extremely interesting projects

-Mum, who passed away earlier this year, is lobbying hard on my behalf to get me in.

[varekai1018]

-Mum, who passed away earlier this year, is lobbying hard on my behalf to get me in.

Mobicat, so sorry to hear about your mother. My dad passed away a couple of months ago, and I absolutely believe this is true! Lots of luck with the process - and I'll keep my fingers crossed that you hear before the weekend! We have good people lobbying for us.

[Summit_Bid]

Haha, these two comments cracked me up for some reason. My partner thinks I've gone insane--I was laughing for like five minutes.

lol

Now I'm laughing that you're laughing.

I didn't think it was funny but when I looked at it again I started laughing too. I don't know why. I actually think it shows just shows how bitter I am I guess....and actually that's kinda funny....HaHaHa!

[jhenry0501]

I'm doing this as an exercise in catharsis, because it is beginning to seem that ALL the programs I applied to have lost my application or some such. Furthermore, a good friend with a 3.95, stellar GREs and a Fulbright just got rejected from his top program and I'm beginning to truly panic. Here we go:

• 3.83 major GPA from good liberal arts.
• Second major in environmental science (can't hurt, right?)
• 1 publication in field, 2 out of field
• 1 national conference
• 4 years of solid work experience in the sciences (also can't hurt)
• Fluent in Russian and American Sign Language, Proficient in German and Norwegian, Reading Proficient in Latin and Old English, Beginning Ukrainian
• A lot of extracurriculars (leading alternative spring breaks, vice president of big-name sorority, head coach of high school lacrosse team)
• Unusual foreign study, complete with geopolitical conflict and volunteering teaching english to disabled children

My GREs were perfectly average. But c'mon, I'm awesome, grad schools! Please let me know you think so, too!

Edited February 16, 2010 by jhenry0501

[Tiglath-Pileser III]

With no acceptances yet and one rejection, panic is setting in. So, I'm going to do the same thing as everyone one else and stating why I'm a good candidate.

• 3.8 overall GPA in my graduate studies from a well-respected college
• Two masters degrees: a MDiv and a MA in Archaeology.
• GRE 1360
• A solid master's thesis
• 1 out of field, peer-reviewed publication
• 10 years of work experience in computer engineering
• My letters of recommendation are well-known experts
• Reading proficiency in French, German, Middle Egyptian, Hebrew, Greek, Akkadian, and Japanese

My advisor thought I should shoot for the "big colleges" over the sure thing. I hope he was right. Meep!