Hello all,
Feels good to be back on these threads again after such a long time! Granted, it would feel better if I was returning as a grad student in my program of choice, passing on wisdom to all those new folk applying...but I guess I shouldn't complain. Anywho, my question is simple.
After being denied last round, I am currently in the process of gathering up application material for this year's attempt. But in doing so, I started to question just what I should and shouldn't change. It's of course impossible to know why you were denied from a program (frustratingly), but should you just assume everything you did was junk? Should one throw it all away and start anew with your samples, statement of purpose, letters of rec, etc? Or is it perfectly okay to include things that you already sent before, just slightly touched up a bit?
Obviously I don't intend to just send the exact same material, and fully plan on changing the writing samples and such to new, fresh material. But do I have to find new people to write letters of recommendation if I'm comfortable with the ones who already did it? Do I have to find a completely different subject for my statement of purpose, even if I don't think I can come up with a more compelling subject? Can I just improve the things I liked, rather than junk it all entirely? Or will the commitees frown on something like that?
Huh. Guess that question wasn't as simple as I thought, since I devoted like two healthy paragraphs to it. Oops.
Anyways, I would of course love to hear from people who got in to their university after a couple attempts, although I imagine not a lot of them are probably still around the site at this point. So I'll open the floor to everyone else who is reapplying for a program this year: how do you intend to tackle this issue?
Feels good to be back on these threads again after such a long time! Granted, it would feel better if I was returning as a grad student in my program of choice, passing on wisdom to all those new folk applying...but I guess I shouldn't complain. Anywho, my question is simple.
After being denied last round, I am currently in the process of gathering up application material for this year's attempt. But in doing so, I started to question just what I should and shouldn't change. It's of course impossible to know why you were denied from a program (frustratingly), but should you just assume everything you did was junk? Should one throw it all away and start anew with your samples, statement of purpose, letters of rec, etc? Or is it perfectly okay to include things that you already sent before, just slightly touched up a bit?
Obviously I don't intend to just send the exact same material, and fully plan on changing the writing samples and such to new, fresh material. But do I have to find new people to write letters of recommendation if I'm comfortable with the ones who already did it? Do I have to find a completely different subject for my statement of purpose, even if I don't think I can come up with a more compelling subject? Can I just improve the things I liked, rather than junk it all entirely? Or will the commitees frown on something like that?
Huh. Guess that question wasn't as simple as I thought, since I devoted like two healthy paragraphs to it. Oops.
Anyways, I would of course love to hear from people who got in to their university after a couple attempts, although I imagine not a lot of them are probably still around the site at this point. So I'll open the floor to everyone else who is reapplying for a program this year: how do you intend to tackle this issue?