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Bukharan

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Everything posted by Bukharan

  1. Bukharan

    SSRC 2014

    I was notified of being awarded an IDRF fellowship on April 15, 2014. "Eighty provisional awardees, selected from a total of 1,081 submitted applications from graduate students at 131 universities." I am over the moon! The very best to everyone in this application season!
  2. Speaking of Stanford, from what I understand, the Islamic Studies Program is more of an umbrella organization/forum for all Stanford scholars interested in the Islamic world. It's not a degree program. You would have to apply to one of the established departments: History, Political Science, Anthropology, Comparative Literature or Religious Studies, depending on your interests. The very best deciding where to apply. You have some excellent schools there! I would recommend you to consider less well-known schools in the USA but who may have excellent scholars in Persian Studies (I expect some UC schools, apart from UCLA and Berkeley, may be great at that). In the UK, for Iranian-related things check out Durham, Exeter, Edinburgh, St Andrews, maybe Manchester. U London contains many semi-autonomous schools now, so I guess you're looking at SOAS.
  3. I just presented for the first time as well. It went well, and that feels great!
  4. I am flying into Cali on 9/15. Now need to book a room in some hotel near SFO. Will be at Stanford on 9/16. So excited!
  5. As much as I like your name and the overall advice you gave, I respectfully disagree with that phrase. Absolutely not.
  6. The answer is too obvious to spell out. ... NO? Why would you? Ask your best friend(s) to read your SOP. Or someone you know already in the Ph.D. programme or in academia. For free!
  7. I sort of see your point. However, LGBT people throughout U.S. and world history took so much sh*t from numerous 'Christian' groups that you can't really blame some LGBT people from having a negative reacting whenever they hear the C word. If you really didn't like what you heard, you could have spoken up back then, in that room. Everyone's free to speak up. As for discussing political opinions, I'd say that if you believe you have nothing to be ashamed of in your views (your views are not biased towards and do not discriminate: people of different race, different socio-economic standing, different gender or sexual orientation), then you could and you probably should make your voice heard.
  8. Similar situation. I got a 2-year visa only. (The maximum I could get considering my citizenship... EU, mind you.) The length of the visa, from what I understand, depends on reciprocal agreements between the USA and one's country. That sucks. However, hopefully, this does not change anything. I plan to visit my parents every summer anyway, and once in a while I would have to reapply for a visa then. Good to luck everyone who is still waiting for their visas.
  9. I agree with bhikhaari. It is a good idea. I also thought it was rather standard. I attached CV to all my 'introductory' e-mails.
  10. I'd put its importance like that: 'It can't get you into your dream school but it can keep you out'. I don't think it matters much after the 'screening' process. Unless it's a public school and it plays some role in funding applications. But... yeah, schools and departments are different. E-mail your school.
  11. Don't worry too much. You still have 3 weeks. The only advice I can give (and that really should be given) is focus all your efforts over the next few weeks on studying Maths! A lot! Do Maths exercises several hours a day every day. Keep track of your results, analyse what you are good at and what not, review the weaker themes, go online and do as many exercises there as you can, then study some more. Study until you are sick of Maths. 3 weeks should be enough to improve your current preliminary score, so don't worry!
  12. No one cares about that score. 5 or 6 makes no difference whatsoever. Surely, 6 will 'impress' adcoms but this 'impressed' feeling will last 1 second and will probably (I really want to say 'definitely') have no impact on admissions or funding. The only applicants for whom it may carry a wee bit more weight than to the rest of us are, perhaps, those doing Creative Writing. But even then, this is debatable. Congratulations on your score!! 5 is awesome!
  13. OK. I am sorry for saying this (not really, I am not sorry at all) but the very idea of pulling this off is evil. This in unfair to the potential adviser and the rest of the faculty, and this is deeply unfair to the 'serious' applicant who will miss out on his/her Ph.D. position because of your 'plan'. So, technically, you can try and pull it off. We leave in the free state after all. Ethically, I would say you cannot and should not do this. (You can apply for Master's degrees. You know that, right?)
  14. Hi! I got in but ended up not going to Cambridge back in the day. My current Masters course is year-long, this is the reason this has been the second year in a row I have been applying for schools. Regarding personal statement, it can be 'unconventional' in form but you then may be going for some risk there. After all, you will be applying for Ph.D. Political Science in top schools and do not want to appear as 'not serious' or artsy or 'too unconventional'. I'd stick to a strict plan for the personal statement. So much must be fit into that 1,000 words: your academic background, previous research, languages and qualitative/quantitative skills, academic interests and, finally, why that school and that programme and those professors. My general (and probably obvious) advice for the personal statement is to make yourself look very competent: know what you are talking about, project the persuasion that you are serious about the academia as your life career. As for contacting the faculty, it always helps. Establishing personal links and putting your name out there should not be underestimated. You won't get replies from all faculty you contact but it's not the goal after all. I recommend e-mailing people closer to the application deadline: you don't want them to forget your name by the time they review your applications. Also, make the e-mail short. The point of that e-mail is to introduce yourself but courtesy requires that you do not make that goal too obvious, so you probably need to ask some question at the end of the e-mail (something you won't find on the school website).
  15. Hey! I feel compelled to answer to your post. I actually remember you from the Student Room two years ago. You were then applying to Oxford and I was applying to Cambridge. Look, I think you definitely are a very strong applicant. What you need to do now is try get the best possible GPA at Oxford and score highly in GRE. For the universities you are looking at Quant 770+ and Verbal 650-700+ would be ideal. Spend a lot of time preparing for the test - just learn those damn words and relive the entire high school Maths curriculum. As for your 'eclectic' academic background, don't worry. The rumour has it they still like Europeans who studied in different countries and speak several languages at ease. After you get your GRE test done, focus on two very important things for admissions: (1) write the killer personal statement, tailored to each school. It really should be a very good statement that will make you stand out; (2) contact the faculty you want to work with. The very best to you.
  16. I was advised by one of my professors to contact professors shortly before I submit my applications as then my name would still be vaguely familiar to them a couple of months later when they get to look at applications. I contacted all professors in late November/ early December.
  17. Hi there! I have my interview in a few days. I am not sure whether what I say is valid but here's what I think: 1. I often heard that once your funding is in place and the school you attend is reputable, the chances of crossing over stress-free are quite high. I am praying this actually is the case. 2. The fact that your family lives in Canada and you went to school and university there, should be more than enough to prove 'ties'. If you want to be 'super-safe', perhaps bring some kind of document proving that your family owns property in Canada. I think that not everyone can actually prove such strong ties to their citizenship country as you. So, hopefully, you should be fine. Don't worry. The very best!
  18. This is probably irrelevant to your question; I just wanted to say that I am super-excited for my new e-mail, and I will only be using my new schools e-mail for the next 5+ years. For absolutely everything. Fail. With regards to your question, surely, using your gmail account is absolutely fine. Just get everything forwarded there. I know lots of people using their gmail account instead of the school one. For God's sake, my current school (which has apparently been implicated in a massive scandal with regards to that 'Syrian gay blogger') assigned me an e-mail with numbers rather than my name.
  19. 16 seems like a lot. Although more and more people apply to 10+ schools. I applied for eight this last season. I agree with natsteel: apply for schools of different rank, spread the risk. I would recommend applying for six-ten; definitely, include at least 2-3 safety schools (yet safety ones to which you would happily go). Do not apply to schools to which you wouldn't go - this is a waste of money on applications!
  20. Due to my citizenship/residency status, I researched the procedure of getting the US visa in two different EU countries. I haven't heard of the post-visa fee of $200 either. Just $140 and the SEVIS fee.
  21. I checked out the website. It actually looks pretty cool - very neat, and all the information is right there - good design, I say!
  22. 1. It definitely depends on the school - on their bureaucracy, intake of international students etc. 2. In most (?) schools, one needs to apply for I-20. So the acceptance is not enough, you need to apply for it. I would think that the information of how long it takes could be covered on your school website. If not, just e-mail them or call them up. It shouldn't be too long. 1-4 weeks (depending on the school) + mailing time?
  23. Nope, nope, nope. As I said, I don't know much about the IPS - in fact, I had to google it for the full name. I am enrolling next year in History. So, hopefully, by the time you are 'in' (fingers crossed) and I am done with the busy first year in my own (History) programme, we may attend some joint interdisciplinary workshops or something. The very best to all of you applying.
  24. Hi! I don't have much to comment as I don't know about that programme. Your internships, obviously, look awesome. Regarding the GRE, aim higher. 650s in Quant is about 60th percentile. Quant should probably be 770-800. Just study hardcore for the test; unfortunately there is no other way - and trust me, GRE is very doable.
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