<p>Thank you very much WilliamC. You’ve eased my worries about the LORs.</p>
<p>What would that “package of materials” include? I can’t think of anything beyond what I’d put in my application.</p>
<p>is the name of your college matters? do you think that graduating from a prestigious college can help you gain admission to a good graduate school?</p>
<p>transistor311 - that’s pretty much it - just your application materials plus a note reminding them of the classes you took with them and your grades. This time of year professors are really busy and, sadly, might not bother to look at your transcript to figure out where you came from.</p>
<p>hughxu - not directly. More important (usually) is how strong your undergrad <em>program</em> is (which will sometimes correlate with the university’s “prestige”) and how connected your recommenders are. Most academic disciplines are relatively small, close-knit groups where most everyone knows one another.</p>
<p>You want to have professors who can go to bat for you, not only during admission season, but later as well, for invitations to conferences, publishing opportunities, and as job references.</p>
<p>And of course what YOU do is vital - you need the grades, GREs, some independent work/research, good writing samples, strong LORs… Read over the first page of this thread - everything you need to know is there.</p>
<p>If you are otherwise a good PhD student candidate - great GRE scores, high GPA, master’s degree in process - how important is already being fluent in Russian to whether or not you have a chance of getting admitted to a top school for Russian history? </p>
<p>I’m learning Russian, but wanted to apply to programs for Fall 2009. I work full time also, so dropping everything to fully immerse myself right now isn’t really an option.</p>
<p>By fall 09, will you be able to translate texts from Russian to English using a dictionary? By fall 09, will you be able to translate texts from French to English using a dictionary? </p>
<p>If you can answer both questions in the affirmative, you should be a very good candidate for admission.</p>
<p>And if I don’t think/know that I’ll be that far along with Russian, and won’t have even had a chance to start a 2nd language by fall 2009 will I have a chance at a very good program? </p>
<p>I want to apply now to begin a PhD program in fall 2009, since I expect to have my master’s degree in Spring 2009. </p>
<p>But I do have to work full time also (which isn’t a problem with the master’s program, but not much time for two languages. hard enough to squeeze in a bit for one) until I can quit my job and join a PhD program.</p>
<p>You’d have a much better shot with more language preparation. I’d suggest taking a year to work on your languages before applying.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if this question has already been asked, but mollie (i’m interested in neuro as well) and a few others have talked about establishing a great relationship with a few professors. I would like to be “friends” with my professors even if I wasn’t applying to grad school, but how does one go about doing this… Like were you guys at the point where you were having dinner parties with them, or were they just your research overseers?</p>
<p>I’ve been invited to the house of all the professors I’ve worked for during group parties or when they have large get togethers, but other than that I’ve never really gone out with them. When I visit campus (or, in one case, when they came to give a lecture here) we’ve gone out for lunch/dinner to catch up. A lot of it depends on the professor and how they feel things should be kept between themselves and students.</p>
<p>I meant more that I had professors whose offices I was able to burst into unannounced and talk about a lab/class/grad school application problem – that I had close academic advisors who were familiar with my background and invested in my welfare, not that we were buddies.</p>
<p>Though my husband was buddies with a few of his professors (they all have the same hobby), and it worked out pretty well for him.</p>
<p>I attended a law school for a year before i was academically dismissed. i am now applying to a top school in ca. i basically got the thumbs up to start the grad program from the program director. but i never mentioned about my year in law school on my application. i’ve heard that financial aid of this school can’t see my students loan from law school since it is school specific. and on the national clearing house how will the school know which school to search if i didnt state on my application?</p>
<p>I was wondering, do engineering MS and PhD applicants have to interview during admissions, either on the phone or in person?</p>
<p>I read that you need to be interviewed to receive funding, but I thought that came with your acceptance letter…</p>
<p>It depends on which school and which program you’re applying to.</p>
<p>The only school I’m aware of in Materials Science that requires an interview is Caltech, which they flew all of the prospectives out for, and, from what I understand, they admitted nearly everybody that made it through the initial screening. The schools I know that don’t require an interview in MSE are: Carnegie Mellon, University of Michigan, UC Berkeley, Stanford, UCSB, MIT, UIUC, Drexel, U Penn, and Cornell.</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I am applying to interdisciplinary/terminal M.A. East Asian Studies programs this fall and haven’t found much information (outside of school websites) about what each programs specialize in or are particularly known for. I have a list of about 13 schools but do not know enough about them to whittle it down. The Ivy standards of course (Columbia, Cornell, Yale, Harvard, and then Berkeley, Stanford) are highly rated for “Asian History” but does anyone have any specific insight into a particular school? Ie: what disciplines they favor, what the dept is known for, what sort of research areas they are interested in, etc. I plan to focus on some aspect of contemporary Chinese culture, and I am also looking at the profs and what they have published but if someone has some firsthand knowledge - that would be greatly helpful!</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>do ivy league schools emphasize on extracurricular activities? …for hummanities majors.</p>
<p>No schools emphasize extracurricular activities for graduate applications, unless they are directly related to the subject you are applying to study.</p>
<p>Also, it’s more useful to talk about “top” schools in a particular field rather than Ivy League schools – many of the top programs in any given field are located at schools that don’t have cachet as undergraduate institutions.</p>
<p>How should I approach my professors to write me a LOR if I have been out of school for some time? I could only end up contacting one of my professor because he left me his email. He’s in Paris on sabbatical leave. But for my other ones should I go back to school and ask them in person? </p>
<p>I’ve sent numerous email to one of them which I’ve done research for, but she never replied. The dilemma is, she was having babies when we were working on a project for her graduate student. I was wondering if getting a LOR from the grad student would be good enough since she got her Ph.D already.</p>
<p>LOR doesn’t have to be from profs in ur major right? i’m thinking of applying to ivy and i don’t know how much they focus on ur dedication and association with ur major.</p>
<p>and i want to send 4 LOR…is this allowed for ivies that normally require 3?</p>
<p>You can usually send a supplementary letter of recommendation, and your letters don’t have to be exclusively from professors in your major. You would like them to be in the general area you’re planning to study in graduate school, however.</p>
<p>I just want to mention that saying “I’m applying to Ivy League schools” is no more meaningful or illuminating than saying “I’m applying to schools in the state of Florida”. Ivy League schools are great for undergrad, but in any particular field some Ivies may be good and some may be quite mediocre.</p>