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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by alexandra_k on December 7, 2004, at 1:36:51
Well, I'll just pop this here so most people don't read it and so that even less will respond.
I thought humility was supposed to be a virtue?
Apparantly Kiwi's are bad at writing mission statements.
I am sick of it.
I had to work on a conference paper and then conference was exhausting
Now I need to work on my applications
and that has turned out to be an absolute b*tch.
I spent a day filling in the form (form, ha! small book more like) only to discover the next day that you can't save alterations to PDF's.
I feel sick.
How is it relevant to anything how many close relatives I know who have graduated from that institution?
How much time am I supposed to have for extra-curricular activities when I have devoted all that time to my work.
I refuse to buy into this b*llsh*t.
Though, I have to to a certain extent...The system is designed to root out people like me.
And I'm not that hard to trigger.
I do not cope with stress well.
I have a major inferiority complex (which passes off as humility).
I will not fit in at all.Then there is the average of 250 applications per year for 3 or 4 funded places. Not likely, I know. Not even likely to make it through the first cull. They end up with absolutely stacks of very good applicants. And all of them are fairly much comperable really. It is very rare that someone really stands out. So any reason, no matter how slight, is a reason to narrow down that pile.
We don't do mission statements / personal statements in NZ. I don't really know what is expected. But have been kindly donated a couple of successful ones so as to get the general gist.
To do them properly you need to get your heart into it. You need to figure out why you want to go there so bad, and then tell them. Figure out what people are up to over there, read there work. Show how what you are into is relevant. Tell them what you can offer them, a new slant on a topic they like.
I am afraid of getting my heart into it when my chances are so slim. I am afraid that if I get my heart into it then I will be devistated in the likely event that I don't get accepted. But if you are going to do this, it has to be done properly. So I have to research and write and hurry the hell up.
Oh, and then I have one month to write my thesis.
I know I can do it, but I will have to get my skates on.I am exhausted.
I need a rest.
Posted by alexandra_k on December 7, 2004, at 4:38:45
In reply to MY RANT, posted by alexandra_k on December 7, 2004, at 1:36:51
how about
'when I was at primary school my teacher used to give me logic puzzles when I had finshed my work early. I discovered my love of logic then ... blah blah (Spew spew)'.
Over the top, or expected?
There has got to be a middle ground...
Posted by alexandra_k on December 11, 2004, at 21:04:54
In reply to Re: MY RANT, posted by alexandra_k on December 7, 2004, at 4:38:45
Time to go to bed
Time to go to bed
To curl up under the covers
And disappear
For a night
A day
A week
A month
A year
So tired so heavy
There is nothing to be done
I'd say I'd be better tomorrow
But I'd be lying to everyoneI can't do this anymore
The facade
The pretense
Pretending to be something I am not
Pretending I have moved on from
my family and personal issues
(to my credit)
But that is just so much crap.
I haven't moved on.
It is just that it happens in my head now
And nobody else can see it
My life is perfect on the outside
But why am I dying and screaming and hurting
so g*dd*m bad inside me.
It will never go away
How can it
I can never talk about it
How can I
there is a huge unbridgeable divide
Between me and others
Between me and other bits of myself
I can't close the gap
And I don't even want to
I just want to lose time forever
Why can't they just take all the time there is
Why must they torment me by throwing me back
A pancake not quite done
No no no we are not friends enough yet.
Posted by gardenergirl on December 26, 2004, at 19:18:34
In reply to Re: MY RANT, posted by alexandra_k on December 11, 2004, at 21:04:54
Ugh ugh ugh. I remember applications. I had no idea what I was getting into when I decided to go to grad school. The thing I remember hearing about personal statements is to make them personal, but not cheesy or weird. There is a "magical balance" between saying something to make you stand out and saying something that makes you be weeded out for being weird or not having good boundaries. I wish there was a good way to know where that line is. Do you have a trusted faculty advisor or someone who can read it for you and offer feedback?
gg
Posted by alexandra_k on December 27, 2004, at 14:40:48
In reply to Re: MY RANT » alexandra_k, posted by gardenergirl on December 26, 2004, at 19:18:34
> There is a "magical balance" between saying something to make you stand out and saying something that makes you be weeded out for being weird or not having good boundaries. I wish there was a good way to know where that line is.
Yes. I would have liked to have known whether my statement would have triggered 'weirdo' bells... The trouble was finding someone who wanted to help me and who was also knowledgable about the US application process. Not many people stay in NZ to do PhD's (especially not in philosophy). Most of ours have gone on to England or Australia, however, and so it is hard to find someone who knows about the US system. Then it is hard to figure how much of what they say is superstician(?) and how much is not.
I have been told that mission statements are taken very seriously indeed. That bit about the discovery of logic in primary school was a bit much for me, but that was the start of a mission statement I was given and the applicant got in absolutely everywhere (and was even flown over for a visit to help her make up her mind). But not many females have done both a BSC and a BA and are really into phil of physics and logic. She also attached a very stunning picture which may have had something to do with it. I did find myself wondering whether she got in because of or in spite of her mission statements. (Oh please god don't be reading here!!)
It was helpful, though. I followed her structure but toned it down a little. Also researched the faculty and pitched it at certain members. Said which things that they were into interested me the most and told them about what I was up to, relating it all the while to what they are interested in.
Fingers crossed. Etc Etc.
Don't hold your breath, though :-)
Posted by gardenergirl on January 2, 2005, at 12:01:29
In reply to Re: MY RANT, posted by alexandra_k on December 27, 2004, at 14:40:48
Doing that research and pitching to certain faculty you want to work with is an excellent idea! Good for you.
gg
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