***Official Fall 2011 Application Sweat Thread***

[ZomgRogged]

Just started opening grad apps and I thought this would be a fun thread for those of us applying this cycle. Come here to hang out and piss and moan about there being no difference between a personal statement and statement of purpose. Hopefully this will create a bit of a sense of community with people applying this cycle who don't have a ton of threadworthy questions.

 

I want to start with my strategy for apps.

 

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[brickcitie]

Haha I love that strategy man. Unfortunately mine will be quite different as the probability of my acceptance to MIT is, according to my refined calculations,

 

First step: bang out that 800 quant on the GREs. Next step: grow a pair and actually look at apps.

 

Good luck with MIT!!

[mscbuck]

I have definitely been freaking out just in the past week or so. I tried to tell myself I would set up a big spreadsheet with all the schools, ranking, recommended GRE/GPA, math classes, fields of expertise, and funding, and it just got so huge and so daunting. I realized that so much of the top 20-50 is an absolute crap shoot.

 

Then I've been trying to get into a certain math class that is full here so I'll probably have to attend it in the meantime and hope someone drops. Couldn't get into Real Analysis so I'm taking a Theory of Single Variable Calculus that is proof based that is a prereq for Real Analysis, so I'm hoping that by demonstrating that I can do well in the first, they will look much better on me for not taking Real Analysis (due to some prereq mess-ups), or at least not being able to see my grade in it if I take it in the second semester of my senior year.

 

Got my GRE in 2 weeks so I gotta start studying up for that too. I am going to will myself to get at least a 790 on that thing.

 

Good luck to everyone who I'm sure will join up in this thread!

[ZomgRogged]

Good luck on the GRE guys. The practice tests available on the web are really helpful.

 

I know starting apps feels pretty daunting. What I did was sit down and just put together a rough list of the schools I wanted to apply to and set up a spreadsheet with a link to the website and all the materials required. I felt like this went a long way in getting me going.

[The MAN]

I've noticed that schools seem a little behind this year (maybe they had to let some people go due to budget issues). A quick survey of applications for "my" schools shows the following:

 

UCSB - grad application for 2011-2012 was supposed to be up by "mid August" and it is September

Texas - stated that application will be up on 9/2/10

Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) - Will be up in October :eek:

 

Is it that hard to have an application ready by August? What about those of us who like to get as much done before school starts back up as possible?

[ZomgRogged]

Hey the MAN, please forgive the totally unsolicited advice. UCSB managed to find funding for this year's whole cohort but the money situation there is very uncertain. Several of those students matriculated without funding. UIUC brought in around 12 students in this cohort and the next one should be similarly sized. They over admitted for a few years and have to readjust.

[Pedxs]

A piece of advice for those freaking out:

 

Listen to your Professors. If they say you will get into XXX school and not YYY school, trust them and apply accordingly. Don't over think. If your professors say you will make top 5, they will make it happen (through the LOR). They know you very well, and at this point there is nothing you can do to change your profile. Just ace the GRE like everyone else. The application is not scary as you might think. When I was applying I had so much anxiety about the application that I it was not until December when I forced myself to look at them, and as a result had to rush through the process. Just get it done with early on, its not scary at all, just filling in biographical info + the SOP, which has such a small weight you should not spend more than a week on it.

[Elliephant]

Thanks to Zomg for starting this thread. I've had the jitters since last year's admission cycle (so March-April 2010), when I watched older classmates and TMers ride the notorious emotional roller coaster of Gmail - Inbox (1). And the nerves are not getting any better, especially since my application cycle stretches well into 2011 (Canadian schools be damned!).

 

Pedxs, thanks for your very encouraging words. It really helps to hear that from someone from Cambridge, even if it only makes for one very anecdotal observation. Sort of an existence proof, if you will.

If your professors say you will make top 5, they will make it happen (through the LOR).

I so hope you're right! One of my LOR writers cocked his head in indignation/surprise/whatever when I told him I was afraid I couldn't crack the top 10.

 

TM rules :) We can do it!!!

[AREStudentHopeful]

I have the added benefit of having done this before :). I already applied 2 years ago and got locked out of all PhD schools I applied to. Thus, it couldn't be worse! Seriously though, the stress people (and I'm including myself here) put themselves through in the application season really isn't worth it from my experience. The only time I think a little stress may be worth it is when you have all decisions in hand and you're deciding where to go; and that's not a bad stress to have!

[jeeves0923]

If your professors say you will make top 5, they will make it happen (through the LOR). They know you very well, and at this point there is nothing you can do to change your profile.

 

First, I totally agree with the sentiment that there is nothing you can do now, so freaking out isn't really helpful.

 

Second, I don't necessarily agree with the first part. If your professors regularly send people to top 5, then yes, it is probably true. If they haven't recommended someone for grad school in several years, they may have unreasonable expectations for you. One of my professors thought I shouldn't apply to more than the top 5. It all depends upon who they can compare you to in the LOR.

 

Also, good luck everyone! I feel all grown up now that I'm done with first year...

[triple_sec]

A piece of advice for those freaking out:

 

Listen to your Professors. If they say you will get into XXX school and not YYY school, trust them and apply accordingly. Don't over think. If your professors say you will make top 5, they will make it happen (through the LOR). They know you very well, and at this point there is nothing you can do to change your profile. Just ace the GRE like everyone else. The application is not scary as you might think. When I was applying I had so much anxiety about the application that I it was not until December when I forced myself to look at them, and as a result had to rush through the process. Just get it done with early on, its not scary at all, just filling in biographical info + the SOP, which has such a small weight you should not spend more than a week on it.

 

Fair enough. I would argue only with the first piece of advice. "If they say you will get into XXX school and not YYY school, trust them and apply accordingly. Don't over think." However, I suggest that you should NEVER BELIEVE ANYONE, no matter how experienced LOR-writers they are, who says you won't get into a specific school. My experience: one of the profs I knew and asked for advice (but who wound up politely refusing to write me LOR's) told me that it would be impossible for me to make it to Yale, which I eventually did. The same professor wrote LOR's to a schoolmate of mine and told him that he would never be admitted to Columbia, which he eventually was.

 

You will have to deal with self-confidence issues anyway (I did) if you go for such a huge undertaking as applying to top universities and you don't want anyone to discourage you. You can never know whether adcoms at YYY look at your file, and for some reason you manage to catch their attention, if you don't even bother applying. Yes, the odds are unpredictable and the competition is very fierce, but I think it's worth a several hundred dollars' additional marginal cost (application fee, GRE and TOEFL reporting fee, mailing, transcripts, etc.) to apply even to YYY university if you feel like it—it's probably the most important investment in your whole life after all and the outcome is of truly stochastic nature. Just my two cents. Good luck guys, I wish you all the best! :-)

[tsimonoce]

Just joining in on the thread as I will be applying this cycle as well.

 

I'm currently figuring out a way to convince a professor to let me into his grad micro class...

[tm_member]

Good luck everyone...!

[The MAN]

Texas - stated that application will be up on 9/2/10

 

Now Texas is saying 9/3/10. I guess they'll just keep bumping the date until it is ready. I wish they were as punctual as I am.

[ZomgRogged]

I think I have my list settled. 12 PhD programs and however many RA positions I can fit in.

[The MAN]

Hey the MAN, please forgive the totally unsolicited advice. UCSB managed to find funding for this year's whole cohort but the money situation there is very uncertain. Several of those students matriculated without funding. UIUC brought in around 12 students in this cohort and the next one should be similarly sized. They over admitted for a few years and have to readjust.

 

Thanks for the advice! I'm probably going to drop UCSB for Mich State. UIUC is staying on the list (my wife already works in Champaign and it would be an easy move, plus they have a pretty good reputation). Here's my updated list of schools, any more advice?

 

UIUC, Texas, MSU, Cornell, U of AZ, Duke, UNC-CH (maybe), Iowa (would be the first I would drop for a different school), Kentucky (safety), Tennessee (safety)

 

Thanks!

[petecheese]

I have a preliminary list that needs more work. Besides, i am just too afraid to start looking at those applications.. Hopefully will be courageous by tomorrow..

[ZomgRogged]

One of my advisers just this morning suggested I apply to Iowa. Apparently they invest quite a bit into their students and have sent people on to NW and Princeton recently. I suppose they are a poor man's PSU.

[The MAN]

One of my advisers just this morning suggested I apply to Iowa. Apparently they invest quite a bit into their students and have sent people on to NW and Princeton recently. I suppose they are a poor man's PSU.

 

On their website, they show that last year they sent a guy to U of Chicago. On the other hand, 5 years in Iowa... I once spent one year there, it was rough.

[blockRed]

One of my advisers just this morning suggested I apply to Iowa. Apparently they invest quite a bit into their students and have sent people on to NW and Princeton recently. I suppose they are a poor man's PSU.

We should start on thread on schools that overinvest and place students well (relative to their rank)

 

I agree 5 years in Iowa would be rough in some senses...but the people are really friendly!

[Olm]

I applied in the 08 cycle and failed spectacularly. I'm going to be applying again this year... if I again fail to get into PhD programs, I'll settle for a life as a professional bureaucrat.

[AREStudentHopeful]

Good to see there are more old faces other than me applying this cycle :)

[Pedxs]

One of my advisers just this morning suggested I apply to Iowa. Apparently they invest quite a bit into their students and have sent people on to NW and Princeton recently. I suppose they are a poor man's PSU.

 

Wow, this is unexpectedly impressive. 2 top 5 placements in 4 years! Some top 10 cannot even manage that.

[The MAN]

How many safeties are people applying to? Is there any benefit to applying to more than one?

 

I'm trying to trim my list to 9 schools (so it'll cost under $1000 total) and I am thinking of dropping one of my two safeties.

[AREStudentHopeful]

I would suggest keeping your two safeties. Unless you can't imagine actually attending the school in question, I would keep it in there as the admissions process can be a cruel and unpredictable mistress.