Thank you both for your advice! I'm sorry to say, I'm only nearly done stressing about it. :D Nearly!

I don't know for sure, but I would guess that that's reasonable. Beersheba is cheaper than Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and I would think housing would be pretty inexpensive. If you google "cost of living in Beersheba" a couple helpful things pop up. Do you know anyone currently in Israel?

Hi, forum! I spent some time on here years ago when I was applying for a masters but I never posted. Now that I'm applying for PhDs, I'm back and calming my nerves with the general air of commiseration on here :)

My question is: if you had to submit a writing sample when applying for a PhD, did you take a long paper written for a course related to your proposed area (or a chapter from your masters thesis) and submit it as-is?

I feel like I'm running the risk of taking it way too seriously and investing several days in revising a paper (I mean, my MA work isn't nearly as bad as my guilt-fueled memories led me to believe, but I'd still want to improve on it a little). On the other hand, since a thesis is central to doctoral work, maybe it's entirely appropriate to invest a lot of time and energy in the writing sample. No idea what the correct level of enthusiasm is here :D