englishmuffin

I got a half-tuition scholarship to the CMES program - shoot for the moon, land amongst the stars etc. - and I've accepted it. I can just about afford it but I'm going to hustle over the summer in any case.

Has anyone who was accepted heard anything further? I had some brief contact about the course but I've heard nothing about the open day - anyone got info?

I don't think any of us know enough to infer or conclude anything at this stage. Official confirmation is the only thing to wait for.

I didn't get the FLAS e-mail but I'm an international applicant so I'd be ineligible anyway. Isn't it conceivable that some applicants might have gone straight to the admit pile? I'm absolutely not saying I'm one of them, I just would rather cultivate a little hope in this tense time, not least for myself.

Just U Chicago.

Still not heard anything - I'm not reading anything into it, either. I still think it's too early for admissions committees to have made any decisions.

Yeah I did see that after I posted but it seems a bit bizarre? Might be for one particular discipline within NELC if it's oversubscribed? Who knows?

Nope not yet. But it's probably still quite early isn't it?

Sorry full disclosure - she said she didn't expect me know a thesis title, rather than topic, but that a general area of interest would be good to mention. Does anyone know if the NELC department does interviews?

Yeah I have no idea either. The website says a thorough grounding - which I have? - as well as French and German, which I definitely have. I asked general questions about the course - I assumed the POI would have said if they weren't taking students. She did say also she didn't expect me to know a thesis topic, so I indicated a general area of interest in my statement.

I think I'm actually going to change my username, it sounds ridiculous and not that whimsical any more. I e-mailed Profs Pat-El and Huehnergard who said they couldn't really offer a focus on comparative Semitics from the outset of the program, and that I'd need to be ready to weight my studies very heavily towards one language, which I'm not really willing or able to do since I'm in it for the truly comparative aspect. So Arabic is the language I have but Prof Hasselbach said new languages - which the Chicago course emphasises - can shift your focus, so I'm ready and willing for that to happen. I would have liked to apply to U Texas but my academic profile and orientation don't really support it.

Maybe there just aren't any this year? *crosses fingers*

Yeah I absolutely bombed the math part of the GRE (I'm British, haven't done any mathematics in 11 years at the age of 27) but I did great on the other parts. I don't have a GPA as such but I got good degrees from good universities in relevant primary and secondary languages and I think my sample and statement were compelling. U Chicago is literally the only place that offers a course like this so I have a lot of eggs in that particular basket.

I've been looking for this thread for ages! I applied to a NELC PhD program (in Comparative Semitics) at U Chicago, now waiting to hear in late Feb I suppose.