GradQuest V- Beneath the Planet of the Apes
It was late last night that I finally scurried to bed. After staring at the computer screen for hours and hours and not being able to finish my letter of Intent, I was about to give up when....
Brrrrrrrrrrr-ring!!
Brrrrrrrrrrr-ring!!
Brrrrrrrrrrr-ring!! (Imagine the two monsters from Sesame Street doing the skit)
It was my friend Z and her hubby N. They decided to call me to give me a hand in completing the Letter Of Intent. It was really nice that they thought it was pretty good! I felt good that they said that. So we spent about 45 minutes going over the Letter again but this time they were giving me feedback on certain points.
They gave me some excellent suggestions and we ended up playing with the structure and made it even more flowing. That was a great relief! I knew there where some really glaring errors but I really could not see my way out of fixing them. It was good to have two people who were able to help and give me alternatives.
I still was not able to come up with a sufficient Closing statement.
I slept on it.
I tossed.
I turned.
I snorted.
I merengued.
Still by morning, nothing had come to me... Did I panic???? Of COURSE! What?!?!? Are you dense?
Hell, the damn thing was to be handed in in a few hours and here I was wondering if I could just close it up and leave it dangling.
Then inspiration hit me. I decided to give the ole GOOGLE a shot. Lo and Behold! (I always wondered where that saying came from??) I managed to find a Psychological Letter of Intent AND a description of what should be on a good Letter. Thank goodness for small mercies.
You see, the problem with the closing paragraph was that I had not really given any thought to what I wanted to say OR how to say it. Thankfully the NET provided me with a few important points.
1.LIE!! Joke- try to mention some of the Professors and their research if you can. (More on this later)
2.LIE!! Joke(honest)- Tell them how you will contribute to THEIR Department (LoMedHi had been the one to emphasize this, but I had trouble seeing how I could do this-thanx LMH). When I saw the example, it made things clearer.
3. Tell about your future professional plans. I had not even considered this! However with an example in front of me, I was able to construct a reasonable and honest statement (honest!!).
I finally got all the printing done and the specific order to put everything in and made it to OISE to present my documentation, where there was no fanfare and a surly receptionist.
Addendum: As I stated in point 1. you should look at the profiles of some of the professors to get an idea of what they are researching. Some of the stuff was excellent! I had a bit of a revelation. In the Programme I am registered in, there were only 2 visible minorities?!?!? This programme contains a section teaching International Education and Multicultural Education.
I should add however, that there are 3 sections in the Education Graduate programme so their may be a number of visible minorities. That being said, this was the only section that did anything on International and Multicultural education. Go figure!!
Reach your own conclusions.
Brrrrrrrrrrr-ring!!
Brrrrrrrrrrr-ring!!
Brrrrrrrrrrr-ring!! (Imagine the two monsters from Sesame Street doing the skit)
It was my friend Z and her hubby N. They decided to call me to give me a hand in completing the Letter Of Intent. It was really nice that they thought it was pretty good! I felt good that they said that. So we spent about 45 minutes going over the Letter again but this time they were giving me feedback on certain points.
They gave me some excellent suggestions and we ended up playing with the structure and made it even more flowing. That was a great relief! I knew there where some really glaring errors but I really could not see my way out of fixing them. It was good to have two people who were able to help and give me alternatives.
I still was not able to come up with a sufficient Closing statement.
I slept on it.
I tossed.
I turned.
I snorted.
I merengued.
Still by morning, nothing had come to me... Did I panic???? Of COURSE! What?!?!? Are you dense?
Hell, the damn thing was to be handed in in a few hours and here I was wondering if I could just close it up and leave it dangling.
Then inspiration hit me. I decided to give the ole GOOGLE a shot. Lo and Behold! (I always wondered where that saying came from??) I managed to find a Psychological Letter of Intent AND a description of what should be on a good Letter. Thank goodness for small mercies.
You see, the problem with the closing paragraph was that I had not really given any thought to what I wanted to say OR how to say it. Thankfully the NET provided me with a few important points.
1.LIE!! Joke- try to mention some of the Professors and their research if you can. (More on this later)
2.LIE!! Joke(honest)- Tell them how you will contribute to THEIR Department (LoMedHi had been the one to emphasize this, but I had trouble seeing how I could do this-thanx LMH). When I saw the example, it made things clearer.
3. Tell about your future professional plans. I had not even considered this! However with an example in front of me, I was able to construct a reasonable and honest statement (honest!!).
I finally got all the printing done and the specific order to put everything in and made it to OISE to present my documentation, where there was no fanfare and a surly receptionist.
Addendum: As I stated in point 1. you should look at the profiles of some of the professors to get an idea of what they are researching. Some of the stuff was excellent! I had a bit of a revelation. In the Programme I am registered in, there were only 2 visible minorities?!?!? This programme contains a section teaching International Education and Multicultural Education.
I should add however, that there are 3 sections in the Education Graduate programme so their may be a number of visible minorities. That being said, this was the only section that did anything on International and Multicultural education. Go figure!!
Reach your own conclusions.