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Writing sample topic & PhD/grad admissions?

A reader writes in:

How much does the writing sample topic matter for PhD/grad admissions? Are committees seeing a ton of AI-related papers, and if so, are you sick of it? Asking as someone at a SLAC who advises our undergrads on applications. I’m often unsure whether to have students submit their best writing (which is often on an historical topic or something unrelated to what they’re hoping to work on) or something that’s more ‘research-y’ (for lack of a better term).

Do readers have any helpful insights to share?

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5 responses to “Writing sample topic & PhD/grad admissions?”

  1. Anonymous

    Just my two cents reviewing applications for a UK programme. I’m not on the central committee so don’t know about the final details, but here’s what I know on my end. I have a sheet assigning numbers 1-10 to the following items:

    1. Undergrad transcript
    2. Graduate transcript (with clear emphasis that this is more important)
    3. Quality of letters of recommendation
    4. Quality of research proposal
    5. Quality of writing sample

    and some other recommendations

    a. shall we consider admitting this candidate to phd?
    b. shall we consider funding this candidate?
    c. shall we recommend this candidate go to the masters program instead?
    d. are you happy to be the primary or secondary supervisor?

    and this is just what I know on my end: there’s no question about the relevance between the writing sample and the research proposal. Yet, here’s what I think might be relevant. candidates allocated to me for evaluation typically fall within something I sort of work on, or thought to be understandable by me based on what I sort of work on-ish. So far I haven’t encountered a writing sample that feels so alienated from my area that I’m unable to understand it, and I sincerely hope this doesn’t happen.

    So my recommendation would be to submit your best work as long as it is intelligible to someone who broadly works on what you intend to work on.

    Reply
  2. Anonymous

    I’m in an MA program which might be a bit different from PhD. I’m in North America. The disadvantage of submitting a paper that’s different from the intended area of study is that sometimes the file is just hard to interpret and the writing sample might not demonstrate the needed skills. Having a letter writer explain some of it (e.g. why the difference in topic, if it’s because no course has been offered in the student’s area of interest, do they really know what that area is and do they really have what it takes to do it). I usually don’t place too much emphasis on letters but this is one situation where I do.
    I think sometimes there is a case to be made for sending a second-best paper that’s more on topic when the quality difference is small. I certainly would not advice sending the paper on “hot topic”. It is really obvious when a student is writing a paper on something just because they think other people might find it cool. It’s really obvious when a job candidate does it too. I don’t frown upon it (though I know people who do) but if the work is mediocre, it being on a hot topic can only be a bad thing.
    Somewhat unrelatedly, as someone who is in charge of reading all the AI papers, we actually haven’t gotten that many AI papers. Perhaps because our department isn’t big on that area?

    Reply
  3. dazesensationallye39c0dc2cd

    Based on my admissions experience, and I guess my general experience from roughly two decades in the profession, is that you should submit your best work on something that is methodologically in the ballpark of the work generally done in your target department. In other words, don’t send an excellent paper in the style of Continental philosophy (E.g. ‘Metaphor of a form of useful violence in Beaudrillard,’ or some such), even if it’s your very best work, unless you’re applying to a department that generally does this stuff.

    But if your best work adheres more or less to the style or standard that unifies the main faculty in the department, it’s perfectly okay if it’s not in the subfield you say you’ll pursue. So a paper on mind or language in the analytic tradition is fine even if you present yourself as a moral psychology or political philosophy person (the reverse is slightly less okay but still fine). Indeed, it’s better than sending an almost-as-good paper in your intended subfield, I think. And definitely don’t try to fit it to what’s hot on the job market. Doing so is not only unhelpful but likely to be a liability.

    Reply
  4. recentlytenured

    My department (MA and PhD programs) examines the quality of the writing sample by an anonymous assessment by whoever is in that area (or is closest to it, if there is a conflict of interest). In that case, we’re assessing the quality of writing (clear), of research (does this person know about what has happened recently in the subfield?), the originality of the argument (does this replicate things that have already been published?), and the strength of the argument (is this persuasive?). So, it doesn’t matter what the topic is. A specialist in that area will grade it and submit that assessment to the admissions committee. BUT I doubt that this is how other departments work. I think a balance of best work/novel topic is probably best, but in a case of conflict to go with best work and really work hard in the cover letter to explain what you really want to do and why/how.

    Reply
  5. Anonymous

    I’ve spent a few years on the admissions committee at a mid-ranked PhD program. Based on my experience so far, it’s pretty rare for applicants to submit writing samples that are far away from their areas of interest, so it would probably be surprising to see an applicant do that. I suspect it would raise some questions for me if I saw an applicant do that – if x is their intended area, why don’t they have good work in x to show? (I like Anonymous’s suggestion to have a letter writer speak to the reasons why an applicant chose to do this.) But students do sometimes change their minds about what they want to pursue in graduate school, so it wouldn’t necessarily be a dealbreaker for me.

    I can also report that I’ve seen a few applications that include two writing samples on different topics to showcase their abilities in different areas. That could also be an option to consider. I at least don’t mind it when students do that, though I only ever read one writing sample – I usually just pick whichever one I’m in a better position to evaluate. So I’d only go for it if a student was equally happy with either writing sample being the only one that got read by members of the admissions committee.

    Reply

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