AlphabetSoup

Something like this happened with my Chicago application Contact the ETS and tell them that your scores have not arrived. If Cornell receives the scores in batches (which most scores do), you will be given a "batch number". You can then contact graduate admissions at Cornell and they will tell you the status of your GREs. Good luck!

Not really... funding decisions for graduate school are rarely "needs based" though they will occasionally compensate for people in enormous undergraduate debt. $10,000 is a good chunk of money but not enough to detract from a funding package (you are not telling them you have a cool million stashed away -- or even a warm one). Note: this really depends on the school and your status. If you are an international student, you will need to prove to immigration that you have sufficient funds to enter graduate school and the financial information form may be the first part of a visa package that they help you assemble.

Even in those fields, alluding to volunteer and internship experience is enough for a personal statement (especially if you submit a CV which presumably covers the specifics of your past work in detail). The bulk of your personal statement in any academic field (I guess I mean for a research-based program) should be dedicated to answering four questions: What is an interesting problem in my field (research topic)? Why am I qualified to begin solving it(past experience)? How will ____ university help me solve the problem (fit)?

With "non-denominational winter holiday season" right around the corner, most people I know are pretty busy finishing up exams, doing shopping runs, and shoveling snow from their driveway (although, not in my part of Canada where snow is as foreign as 3 days without rain). I, on the other hand, am spending my days researching for my MA thesis and obsessively checking my PhD applications. Good news! All of my letters, transcripts, test scores, and writing samples have been received by my schools of choice. Bad news! This hasn't stopped me from checking my applications once a day for the past 4 weeks (what if I missed something? What if a professor withdrew a letter? What if ____ got lost in the mail? What if the internet conspired to delete my application from existence and crush my dreams??!!" Bottom line: I am a compulsive checker of applications. When there are no more applications to check, I am a compulsive checker of grad cafe (because who knows... someone could be looking for just the sort of unsolicited advice that I happen to specialize in!) Anyways, we have the "Welcome to the 2012 Cycle" forum but I hereby propose a much less useful and much more youthful (read: immature) forum in which we might discuss our no-doubt shared feeling of impending dread as February and March roll around. After all, there isn't anything wrong with arm-gnawing anxiety, it just shows you care. Questions/Topics for discussion: - How often do you check the status of your applications? - How often do you go on grad cafe? - What is the craziest thing you have done or written in preparation for these applications (i.e. spelling mistakes in SOPs? Hilarious personal statement teasers? Nagging emails to letter writers?) - Do you check other people's "what are my chances" posts because you want to help or because you want to know how competitive you are with them? - Have you ever responded to a "help me with my _____" post and then slightly regretted giving someone else an edge? Enjoy!

I suspect the GAO Received Date will be December 15th for all of us (if so, I take this as proof that a. they aren't using a rolling admissions process and b. submitting our applications early gave us nothing but peace of mind (followed by weeks of unavoidable post-submission anxiety). Alternatively, the GAO section could remain blank until admissions recommendations are made by the department (accepted students having their applicaitons forwarded to the university).

They mean two different things. Blank implies you have neglected to fill out that section whereas zero suggests that you are not receiving any external funding (or you have no savings) in the future. Which message do you want to convey?

misspelled BERKELEY as BERKLEY... champ

Three suggestions: 1) I agree that you could focus on one story about your experiences in Korea and then transition into a discussion of your academic goals. 2) I would not break up the last two paragraphs. Decide which is your primary post-graduate objective and focus on that. Then mention how your second choice (i.e. becoming a congressional aide) could also help you achieve your goal of being in the State Department. 3) Do not use the word "apposite" in describing your choice of programme. This is something like "damning them with faint praise." Try a phrase like "has an ideally suited course of study" or expand out this sentence to explain more thoroughly how the school is a good fit at the macro-level.

The beauty of PhD applications is that you won't know your chances until Feb or March. You are obviously a strong applicant or someone (one of your letter writers, perhaps) would have already told you to re-assess your choice of schools. A backup plan is never a bad thing (applying to some MA programs? backups? research fellowships?) but other than that, you just have to keep your chin up, have confidence in what you have done in preparation for your apps, and wait it out like everyone else. Good luck!

MA programs are a great idea for future PhD applicants that want to strengthen their CV (or who want to work out what/if they are REALLY interested in studying at the graduate level. On the other hand, MAs in the US are also great ways to go into debt. Have you thought about programs in Canada? Full funding, high quality professors, small class sizes... sounds pretty great, eh?

I agree with adaptions. It is risky to apply to "safety schools" that a. you don't really want to attend and b. won't offer you funding. Wouldnt it be better to apply to schools within your reach (whatever that may be) that you are excited about and which offer good funding packages and to apply again if you are not accepted during this round. Also consider the fact that "safety schools" still cost approximately $100 to apply to and may require hours of work. Do you really want to spend the time and money on a school to which you would not normally apply?

Try Canadian schools... nothing beats a fully funded MA! I would suggest you take a look at Toronto, UBC, McGill, McMaster etc. etc.

If you are receiving a letter of rec from one of your undergraduate professors, you could ask them to mention it. If they are willing to do so, just give lip-service to it in your SOP. I would suggest talking about how it made you a better (read: hard working) student who had to overcome a real challenge to succeed.

Absolutely! You have the opportunity to prove that you are not applying to graduate school for the wrong reasons (bad economy, no jobs, confusion, post-undergraduate stress (pus), etc.) Instead you took rejection as a sign that you needed to improve yourself, and boy did you ever. This is a strength that you can - and should - play up in your applicaiton.

If you did not correspond seriously with a faculty member, don't fill in this section. If the admissions committee went to that person and said "hey, would you like to supervise Icedance," you don't want that professor to respond: "Who? What? When? Where? Why?"