Writing Sample

[butler blue]

So I'm trying to decide whether it's worthwhile to submit my senior thesis (which is a concluding section away from being finished, hooray!) with my applications. Very few programs require writing samples, but most seem to leave open the possibility of submitting something. Is this worthwhile? Does anyone have experience submitting a writing sample?

I thought I'd run this past everyone here before e-mailing departments. Look forward to your comments.

[economicus]

HI,

I would say that it depends on how good your thesis is . Now that's a right question. If I were you, I would ask my mentor for advice.

[Corneconomics]

If your thesis is something you'd like to follow up on, a different track would be to ask some questions to researchers looking at the same question. These people might be interested in an abstract of your work, and might have advice about the work. If they are at schools to which you are applying, then talking to them about your research ahead of time is a good thing. I doubt comittees in general will be interested in reading about your interest beyond what fits in a personal statement. I really don't even know if talking to other professors about your interests will help your application, though.