(no subject)

[brigdh]

First of all, everyone should go and read the drabble yasminm wrote for me, because Hisoka and Tsuzuki and blowjobs, yay.

And then you should check out Amaranths by b_hallward, because I ded of the pretty, pretty words. Tsuzuki and Hisoka and a ferry ride, everything fragile and under the surface and sort of bittersweetly content.

I quite enjoy being spoiled by having several wonderful new fics to read in a day. You people should keep it up.


I had a meeting with my adviser today, and I am going to be graduating in the spring. Which is comforting, because last night, when I was working on filling out the 'Application for Graduation' thing we have to do three quarters ahead of time, I managed to nearly give myself a heart attack by miscounting the hours I'd taken. But no- all is good.

However, I need to start applying for grad school, like, yesterday. I don't have time to sleep! How am I going to manage to do this, too? know that several of you are in grad school, or went to grad school, or work at one, so give me some advice. How did you pick what schools to apply to, and how many applications did you send out? Is there a website/book/magazine I should really be looking at? My major is archeology - does anyone happen to know what schools are best known for that? Are there any schools that I should avoid like burning?

Basically, anything you would like to tell me, I would like to hear.

Comments

[healing-coyote.livejournal.com]

i had wanted to be an archaeologist a while back... actually, an egyptologist. so one of the better schools would be the American University in Cairo, Egypt.

as for other forms of archaeology, good luck. :P

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, you did? I didn't know that. Cool, thank you. ^^

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I don't know anything about archaeology, sadly. I got my MFA in playwriting, and after reading a few guide books and asking around, I learned that there are only a handful of schools offering that at all, and of those, only about six are considered significant.

I picked four (I would have included Brown if I'd realized what a genius teacher Paula Vogel is, but I didn't, oh well) and visited three (didn't want to travel to Iowa, which did eventually make me realize I didn't want to live there either.) Yale was freezing in December, but I liked NYU and UCLA, and the thought of living in LA or NYC appealed-- LA more, though. Which was just as well, because UCLA was the only one which accepted me. And I had a great time there and learned a lot.

In retrospect, though, four applications were too few given how competitive the schools were. Six or seven would have been smarter.

The moral of the story is that you should visit your top choices to see if you get a good vibe from them and the area. You should want to live in the town or city your grad school is in, or you could end up miserable. If you hate the cold, it's not a shallow reason to not want to live where it snows. Also, see if you can meet at least one of the teachers where you're applying, because you'll be spending a lot of time with them.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

This was very helpful, thank you!

I would adore to go someplace where it's warm year-round. I keep telling myself, though, that I've been dealing with snow all my life, and a few more years won't hurt me. But again, thank you.

[b-hallward.livejournal.com]

I agree about visiting the schools to get the vibe of the place if you can -- certainly before you accept any admission offers -- but unless they're nearby or clumped together, you can wait and see which schools accept you and then go visit your final choices, thereby saving money...

...which you can spend on more application fees (which add up fast). YMMV, but if you can afford it, apply to (what will seem like) a lot of schools -- especially if you have absolutely decided you will go to grad school come hell or high water. Look at various programs' websites and (usually hidden off in some corner) you'll find their media/mean GPA and GREs for students they made offers to and students that actually accepted. You might think about applying to 2-3 school that you know you're over-qualified for; 2-3 where you match their average student pretty well; and 2-3 that are particularly good or you really want to go to, but probably won't get into (since GPA and GRE aren't everything you might as well try). At least that way, you'll have some options come March or April (or whenever).

*reads above* I stated that all very emphatically, didn't I? Oh well. cum grano salis.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Heh. But you're allowed to be emphatic when it's helpful!

Thank you, though. It's not so much the GREs or GPA that I'm worried about- those will be, um, really not much of a problem- as it is letters of recommendation. I just don't know that many professors, and the more places I apply, the more letters I need. And I don't think they'll let you get away with photocopying them and sending the same thing out to each university.

*sighs* Ah, well. Apparently I just need to start accosting grad students in the department here to get their advice.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Really? I sent the same set of letters of recommendation to all my schools. I always thought that was standard-- after all, they're recommending you, and you're the same person no matter what school you're applying at.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh- well, maybe I'm wrong. I just knew that for undergrad applications you weren't supposed to do that. You weren't even supposed to see them, actually, much less have your hands on them long enough to make copies.

Wow. Things'd certainly be easier this way.

[shes-unreal.livejournal.com]

applyingtograd

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you! ^^