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Saad91

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  • Location
    Pakistan
  • Application Season
    2014 Fall
  • Program
    Religion

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  1. I have a question regarding English proficiency exams for incoming TAs. I will be attending a Phd program at UCLA this Fall. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any department funding, so I applied for TA positions in other departments and luckily one professor agreed to hire me. Now, the department staff just told me that they can't extend me the official offer letter since I haven't passed the English oral proficiency exam ( UCLA only accepts it's own exam). Has anyone else been in this position before? I have a Master's degree from US and have no doubt that I'll easily pass that exam but I'm afraid that the position might get filled by the time I give the exam in September. Should I talk to the professor to hold the position till then? Is that a reasonable thing to ask? I'll be super grateful for any help!
  2. I'll be starting my MA this Fall and I plan to take out some privates student loans as I don't qualify for the federal loans given that I'm an international student. Could anyone please share their experiences with the lending companies? I've heard all of them are terrible but let's put it this way, which one is the least terrible lending company? I'll be really thankful for your help!
  3. Actually getting a job isn't be my first priority. I want to move on to a Phd after completing my Masters degree. But just in case I can't make it to a Phd, or can't make it right away to it, I just wanted to have an idea if I'd be able to make my loan repayments in that scenario or not. I can land a job in my home country, but the income here would be too low as compared to the US, and given that my repayments would be in dollars rather than my home currency, I'll be at a big disadvantage.
  4. Hi everyone, I'm in a fix right now regarding my financials and I thought I should ask for advice here. I've been admitted to Graduate Theological Union for MA in Islamic studies with a 45% tuition waiver. This means that I'm left with an amount of about 17,000 in tuition fees for the two year program. I plan to take up around $22,000 in private student loans ( I'm an international student, so don't have access to federal loans) which will cost me somewhere between 8-9% over a period of 10 years. I just wanted to know if it is a wise decision to take up this much amount of loan for this degree? Given that this is a very academic oriented degree, what exactly are the job prospects after completing it? Plus, given that GTU might not be that well known, how would that effect my chances for employment? Moreover, being an international student, I'm assuming it'll be much tougher for me to find a job after my degree. What are your thoughts on it? I REALLY want to go for this option but at the same time, I don't want to end up in some financial crisis later on! I'd be really grateful if someone could guide me, especially if they have any personal experiences. Thank you so much for your time!
  5. Got into Islamic Studies program at GTU. After two earlier rejections from Duke and Washington, this brought a sigh of relief! Still waiting up on HDS though like most people here.
  6. Apparently, yes, everyone got that mail. Although my wishful side desperatly wants me to believe that this is some sort of hint
  7. Thank you everyone! I submitted the application yesterday. Apparently I was fretting for nothing! Now, the waiting game begins. Wish me luck!
  8. So, I am applying for Harvard Divinity School, and today is the deadline and one my recommenders has still not submitted my rec letter although he promised he would do so by the deadline! I still haven't submitted the application and the fee. And the admission office says they are very hard about the deadline, which means no document should reach them after the stated deadline. Now, what should I do? I am probably not getting my LOR today. Should I even bother submitting my app? Would the adcom even consider it given that they are so particular about the deadline? Or I'd be just wasting my app fee here? Need your suggestions please, especially from some HDS person!
  9. So, I am applying for Harvard Divinity School, and today is the deadline and one my recommenders has still not submitted my rec letter although he promised he would do so by the deadline! I still haven't submitted the application and the fee. And the admission office says they are very hard about the deadline, which means no document should reach them after the stated deadline. Now, what should I do? I am probably not getting my LOR today. Should I even bother submitting my app? Would the adcom even consider it given that they are so particular about the deadline? Or I'd be just wasting my app fee here? Need your suggestions!!
  10. First of all, thank you so much Sarah and furtivemod for such detailed responses! Well, firstly, I am applying for Masters only right now. I do plan to pursue a Phd in future but I don't think I have the required credentials for it or for that matter not even the precise focus about what I want to do in my Phd exactly. Scondly, I graduated this spring so I do not have a lot of post-graduation experience on hand right now. Languages can be a plus point for me as I am fluent in Urdu/Hindi and even Punjabi and plus I'm taking German classes right now. I know I somehow have to convinve the admission committee that I am serious about joining their program and I have the required competence too. As far as the GRE is concerned, I know it's good but perhaps not too good. And plus, I thought I could do better on Verbal, hence the retake next month. I checked the George Mason program Sarah and the faculty there seems quite promising! In fact, a couple of them I have read quite extensively for my undergrad thesis. I'm most probably gonna apply there. Lastly, I need some advice on funding. Which places are known for providing good funding? Without funding it'd be simply impossible for me to attend graduate school. Are student loans available for international students too? Once again, thanks a lot for writing such helpful replies! It really helped me regain my confidence to some extent!
  11. So, here is some basic info about me. I've completed my undergrad majoring in Pol Sci with a very dismal GPA of 2.76 from one of the best universities in Pakistan, although it doesn't stand anywhere in international rankings. My GRE scores are V159 Q163 A4.0 and I plan to give another attempt next month to improve my Verbal score. Currently, I am working as a Research Assistant with one of the professors at my university on a project related to a contemporary religious movement in Pakistan. I've also completed a 12,000 word thesis during my undergrad which is also related to a transnational Islamic movement. Firstly, I want to know whether I stand any chance at all to get into any kind of religious studies program with such low GPA, given that it was mainly due to my own negligence and no outside factors were involved which could explain it? Secondly, if I do stand any chance, I'd probably have to find a second or third tier ranking schools. Can anyone of you suggest any such schools? My main research interests are around Islamic studies, Inter faith dialogue, religion and conflict and religion and modernity. I'd be really grateful for any help in this regard!
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