and it’s dragging behind me like a bag of bones! Arizona State is my last application and I need to get it in the mail tomorrow. I’m 40% done.
And these have gone out since Christmas, phew:
- Vanderbilt
- Arkansas
- Texas State
- Alabama
- Montana
Overall, I’m pretty proud of myself. I paced them out well so that each didn’t feel too exhausting. I wrote a personal statement that fit almost every program perfectly, with only a few lines adjusted for specifics. I also wrote a separate teaching statement that came out nicely for three school’s TA applications. My rule this year was no more than 1 page of text for each essay. By keeping brevity, I was able to get to the point immediately and appear more passionate about it…I think. I guess we’ll see!
The thing that made me stop working on the Arizona State application last night is this: they ask for 20 pages of poetry. I’ve been sending out the same portfolio to all my other schools, which is about 10-15 pages of poetry (with 15 being the standard, and removing a few for the schools that asked for simply 10). This is the first application this year that asked me for more than 15 pages. I’m torn between sending them my 15 page portfolio – which I feel is tighter and more succinct, transitioning between theme/style/subject almost seemlessly – and sending them that portfolio with a few more poems added in to reach the desired 20 pages. I started to write a manifesto/disclaimer last night stating that I indeed have more than 20 pages of polished poetry but that I wanted to give them my best in reduced version. After some sleep, I think that just makes me sound like an arrogant prick. So, I will either give them the 15 without a peep or throw in some other poems and cross my fingers that the entire portfolio reads just as strongly for application purposes. I recall that of the 4 schools that accepted/waitlisted me last year, 3 of them were the ones requested MORE poems in their sample (roughly 15-20 pages). Odd, isn’t it? But then again, I think when asked for more, I actually threw in the poems I considered staples this time around, so all my schools would be seeing those anyway. Bleh. I am too much of a nerd about all of this.
My other nagging regret is that for the schools that asked for only Teaching Statements in their packets – not Goal Statements or Personal Statements – I wonder if I should have thrown both statements in there for good measure. But then I remembered what the Michener site said, which was something like “we’re not looking for additional reading material.” It sounds so snooty, but I totally understand where they’re coming from. I probably wouldn’t have read an extra statement if I was buried in mail, either. So I need to just shove that worry under the rug.
I haven’t quite stepped into nervousness yet, but I will confess that I’m starting to wonder when/what school I’ll hear from first. I had 3 applications that were due in early December and therefore I think it’s a possibility that I could receive a notice by February, which would be earlier than I heard from schools last year.
Best to not get too concerned just yet, though. Or at least until I get this last one out the door!
