A friend of mine recently compared writing statements of purpose for law school to online dating. She says that folks are given limited space to outline their best qualities in order to "sell themselves." Now, I don't know about online dating (I'm too chicken to try it -- I'm afraid I'll wind up in a steel drum, the victim of the next John Edward Robinson), but I do know that writing a statement of purpose for graduate school is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I sweated and toiled over those things for days, and it seems I didn't do a very good job. So far, of three schools to which I applied, I have received two rejection letters. So, I'll be spending the summer reworking those statements and trying to turn on the charm with other faculty members at other schools, all in an attempt to gain a coveted position in a PhD program. Yes, I'm going to try, try again, mostly because I want to and partly because I have another friend who said she'd forge new apps for me if she had to. I'm not sure if my pals are just that confident in me, or if they are just ready to get rid of me. :-)