In most cases, the only chance of getting full funding is to apply for a PhD program. So if you're committed to the discipline, do that. The flip side is that programs tend to be more permissive about admitting masters students, simply because the reality of funding, etc., means that a smaller percentage of those accepted will be able to attend.

So basically: don't stress out. If you want to go to University of Chicago, London School of Economics, Harvard, etc., etc. -- you totally can, as long as you can pay.

Hard to say without knowing about the program. If it's related to recent work, letters from professional contacts might be ok.

*If* you need letters from college professors, they've long since forgotten you. When you contact them, it's worth offering to send copies of grades, papers, exams, whatever, if you still have them, so that the author can reconstruct a detailed letter about your work, rather than saying generic things about your grades.

Note to others: if you're in school and thinking about grad school after a break, have people write letters and put them on file with a department secretary/coordinator. Your professors will forget you, and, if they've written letters for you and stored them on their computers, they will manage to destroy the hard drive before you apply. Don't ask me how I know this.

As for the personal statement, I've always told students to demonstrate (show, don't tell) professionalism. In philosophy some people have a desire to wax romantic about the love of wisdom, which is so, so lame. Instead, show that you're motivated and dedicated enough to succeed in a professional training program. (I'm nervous about Friendly Aunt, because I think it encourages a PS that's too informal and enthused! to do something! rather than the no-nonsense plan to study issues X and Y. This might be because in my field there's a tendency to go wrong in one particular direction.)

What else is included in the application? A writing sample? Evidence of past achievement in the area? Anything you submit should be proof-read by three people who are qualified to do this, i.e., people in the field or people who have served on these sorts of admissions committees.

1: mrh is looking at Master of Public Policy programs, so the PhD thing won't help him; it's a terminal degree.

*If* you need letters from college professors, they've long since forgotten you.

I was quite surprised a couple of years ago when I needed a letter of recommendation, and contacted a college professor from back when I was in school (maybe '93? I think so) on the off chance she'd remember me, and she did. And then a similar thing happened earlier this year, where I was rereading a book that I had read in a college class back even further, like in '87 I believe, and I contacted the professor to ask something about it, and he too remembered me and exchanged a couple of letters with me about the book and about our lives since then. OTOH I contacted another professor from '87 and he had no idea who I was.

it's a terminal degree

Jeez, that makes it sound so ominous.

In my case, it would be a total career change, so my current professional contacts are pretty useless, except insofar as they can rhapsodize about my unparalleled brilliance.

The applications seem to want just a personal statement, no writing samples or anything like that. Is emailing a professor in the department a good or annoying idea?

Anything you submit should be proof-read by three people who are qualified to do this, i.e., people in the field or people who have served on these sorts of admissions committees.

So, so, so true. I recently looked at my statement of purpose from when I was applying to grad schools, and honestly, I don't know how I got in anywhere. Track someone down who knows the field and is willing to help.

Is emailing a professor in the department a good or annoying idea?

Can't be that annoying. I say do it.

And I agree with 6. When responding to you in the other thread, I looked at my law school personal statement, and god, it is teh cheesy. Actual excerpt: "But as I came to an undergraduate-level mastery of the subject, and started working on graduate-level material on my own, I realized that for me, mathematics was mere mental gymnastics. While it was difficult, and I enjoyed the satisfaction that came with mastery, it wasn't important, didn't feel as rewarding. I found myself wanting to tackle issues of greater value, of more social significance than whether or not there are infinitely many twin primes."

Teh Cheese.

Also, your personal statement should demonstrate familiarity (if not fluency) with the current state of the field. Check for some online syllabuses for courses you'd be likely to take and spend some time in the library reading reviews of them. Programs would much rather accept students they already know are committed to the work than take a chance.

Heh. "Mere mental gymnastics." Thanks for your response in the other thread, which I'd missed.

Is emailing a professor in the department a good or annoying idea?

Can't be that annoying. I say do it.

No way, man. Email? You've gotta nut up if you want to get in to grad school.

Interviewers like chocolate, flowers (especially roses), and compliments.

*Recommenders* like thank yous, flowers, chocolate, and being nagged, frequently and with a fair bit of lead time, about deadlines.

As to email a prof in the department, for god's sake be specific about it. "I'm interested in studying X and wonder how often classes are offered in that subfield" is good. Something people can respond to pretty much immediately and off the top of their heads. Vague messages go into the "maybe I'll reply to this later, when I have more time" file. Vague, long, and sycophantic messages get deleted.

Insincerely sycophantic messages not accompanied by tastefully expensive bottles of wine get deleted.

Chocolate rose wine would seem to kill three birds with one stone, but no.

I wish I had my own graduate school application handy to share my personal statement. It featured a meteor shower, symbolic of my desire to continue my studies. Meteor showers (I discovered about the time every program to which I had applied rejected my application) are surprisingly irrelevant to literary studies.

There's no better advice to be had for personal statement writing than that which comes from someone who reads them all the time. Heed the advice in 2, 6, etc.

Some general points to keep in mind for writing that PS, though:

1) Your personal educational narrative is generally irrelevant--a paragraph is usually too much.

2) Simple to-the-point introductions, which neither rely on anecdotes nor superlatives nor idealisms, are difficult enough to pull off that a lot of writers fail at it.

3) Changing careers isn't bad. Combining your past with what S.E.K. recommends in 8 could give you the kind of "unique perspective" (translation: diversity of ideas) that other applicants might not be able to muster and that readers might take into consideration when putting together a class of first-year students.

I talked about my experience studying dance in my personal statement for grad school in literature. People told me it was kind of irrelevant, even with my spin on it about how dance had developed my most contemporary aesthetic tastes (or whatever it was); I kept it in anyway. I later learned that the professor who'd recruited me had been a professional dancer before she went into professing. Even though she never explicitly said that the dance thing in my statement caused her to pick me, I have to think it played a role.

(Course, she didn't get tenure and was crazy-neurotic anyway--typical ballet perfectionist--so this was not exactly a fairy-tale.)

I guess my point was that it's hard to predict what personal details are going to stand out in a statement. You do want to stand out though.

I agree with 15; I should probably clarify that by "personal educational narrative," I only mean the rote "I went to school and studied history, and I liked it a lot because..., and I want to continue to do more of the same." I'd've been better served had I said, "be specific."

I'd also recommend, if possible, ask the department secretary or chair about whether you could sit in on a class with a prof in your area. Don't be obnoxious, but sit in, take notes, and introduce yourself to the prof afterwards, thanking him/her for letting you sit in. Like as not, the prof will want to know your name, talk to you, and maybe be an advocate for your acceptance. This is also a good way to find out if you like the way courses are run in the department. It has to be a good fit for both you and for the school, after all.

This is something I did when applying to undergrad schools, but didn't do when applying to Ph.D. programs. I've seen other applicants do it since, and I've never known any of those people not get in, though we take a smaller and smaller percentage of applicants each year.

7 Do you still feel that way about mathematics?

Pretty much, yeah. Although I miss it anyway.

I visited the department and let them know I was interested in gender studies + classics and had lunch with the prof with whom I subseqently wrote my diss. It all worked out extremely well. Professors are looking for people who are interested in what they are. It cannot help but be a selling point. (I was an older student too.)

RE: #10 Whoever it was that proclaimed there was none more dour than Ben is exactly right.

In philosophy some people have a desire to wax romantic about the love of wisdom, which is so, so lame.

I'd add to this that if you say that all you think about is your undying passion for the discipline since you read Thomas Nagel and that it's all you think about, be advised that a) we know you're lying and b) it's likely that the DGS will be so amused he won't mind much if he shares it with a graduate student who happens to be wandering near his office.

I pretty much botched everything about the admissions process, so I'm a bad person to ask, but I'd recommend that, if you haven't done so already, sit down and write the answers to two questions:

1) Why do I want to pursue this degree? (Here: why the career change?)
2) Why do I want to pursue this degree at this institution?

Also, don't ignore the GRE. Most places don't weight it highly, but those that do, ime, seem to be brutal with the cutoffs.

Otherwise, I second FL.

Also, don't ignore the GRE.

No problem.

This is great advice, folks. If I don't get into my first choice, I'm totally blaming you all.

I was pretty lucky when I had to get recommendations after graduation. The TF I'd had for biology had been a Tutor in my House. He'd moved back to Poland, but he was glad to write one. My thesis advisor also wrote one. I can't go back to the latter, since he died a few years ago.

When I was in college, the deans' offices told us to ask professors and teachign fellows for general letters of recommendation to be kept in our House files. These were nto always for specific programs, but they were useful material for a Tutor who had to write an overall recommendation.

My sister went to a small liberal arts college, adn I advised her to do the same thing, but her professors were only interested in writing recommendations for specific programs, e.g., schools or the Peace Corps etc.

19 Do you think you were unduly encouraged to pursue a graduate degree in mathematics? Why did you switch to law (instead of something else)?

2) Why do I want to pursue this degree at *this institution*?

Oh Jesus, that's an important consideration. Never assume that just because it's a good university, each department and most subfields will be good.

21: you know you want me, Sommer.