sit rep

Ok, it's time to give a situation report....

I have submitted 4 applications as of today: 3 to Tier A schools, and 1 to a Tier B school. I should be submitting another Tier B app this week. Actually I can also submit my app to my last Tier A school now, except that one of my recommenders is facing some problem with the online recommendation. I like to resolve that before I do the submission.

God willing, I should be able to send out 6 apps by end Oct (or mid-Nov at the latest). I will hold on to 2 other schools' app to maybe end Dec or early Jan, depending on whether I hear anything from the schools that I have already applied.

The last 2 to 3 weeks were mainly used to customize and refine the essays to the different schools. It is not really an easy task, and I'm glad that I started drafting my SOP and getting LORs, etc., early. Going forward, I have 3 other essays to work on - should be able to complete them by end Oct. Thereafter, I think (and hope) that I will be a free man....

app #1 - out and ouch!

After going through the online form numerous times, checking and uploading the essays multiple times, I finally submitted the application for a Tier A school. Pressing the "Submit Application" button was really a nervous event, for you know that there is no going back. No more checking and vetting. No room for errors.

But error there was. As Murphy says, "If anything can go wrong, it will". Within minutes of submitting the app, I noticed a typo in one of my essay. It must have happened when I was trying to save the doc. Instead of Ctrl + S, I might have only pressed the S before I converted it into pdf. Ouch. Although the extra "S" didn't change the context of the point that I was making, a typo is still a typo.

It hurts. Firstly, it is the first application that I am submitting. Secondly, I have done checks after checks for each of the essays. For me to make the typo error just before submitting the app, all my previous efforts have gone down the drain. Thirdly, this is a submission to a Tier A school. Silly as it may sound, if the school doesn't admit me in a few months' time, I am sure I will be questioning myself "Is it because of the 'S'? Is it?"

Anyway, I'm trying to see if I can update the essay thru the school's PhD office.

[Update, 7 Oct: The PhD office allows me to update the essay through them. Thank God! It is not the end of the world, yet.]

kpi for october

Counting down - 6 more months...

All my recommendations are in. And so are my transcripts. Have already started to fill in the application forms. Doing a final vetting of my SOP, after that will complete the customization of the schools' essays. Need to certify my finances for at least one of the applications.

Objective for the month - send out applications for at least 5 of the 8 schools: 3 Tier A and 2 Tier B.