sankd

Based on this thread, it looks like they send you the location info after you are accepted. For us Arabic students, I wonder if Cairo is still in the mix!

I'm also taking 6 Thesis credits (more work than two seminars, no kidding), 4 credits of Arabic IV, and a 3 credit directed reading. 14 credits total. I figured, why not golf? It's a nice March morning activity. I didn't know extracurriculars counted as academic activity too, though. That list for me is just way too long to post. Then there's the foodbank volunteering.. despite the 12 hour days on campus, my mother still doesn't think this is a job. It is. Just not a well-compensated one.

I'm also taking golf this semester.

So which one did you put down on your statement?

Conference proposals (GSA!), MA thesis (DC!), organizing our department's conference, building my fourth language, and.. that's about it. Grading quizzes.

Well, based on the numbers it seems to be about 600 out of 2000 now, so 30%. That's after the first round cuts. Not sure about wait list. I am going by anecdotal numbers of total applicants, mind you, and a really rough number of how many they will accept. It might be lower (500) and there may be even more total applicants (6500? 7000?). I think the funny thing about my whole experience with CLS is that on November 4 I had no intention of applying, thinking it was way too late to get recommendations and so on. My advisor yelled at me, told me to just ask her and my Arabic professor to do it, and we could make it happen. I got the recommendations in a week, wrote the essays and put the package together... and now I really hope I get this more than ever.

Are we back to results reporting? Ohio State already started sending out rejections. I didn't apply there, but a colleague of mine (East Asia/Japan) did. They actually sent him a somewhat personalized rejection letter rather than the usual general 'So many applicants! SORRY!' spiel. So far, I haven't heard a thing. Checked all of my status pages today to make sure no materials were missing too.

I am all kinds of nervous.

No FLAS at my school, sadly. I applied to "domestic" FLAS opportunities at a couple of places. Going abroad is turning out to be ridiculously expensive, though I am trying to see if I can find a non-credit/tuition option instead. Unlike most people who take these classes, I don't actually need the class credit, but the experience. The tuition portion for most places is the largest chunk of the expense, and I can get free airfare through miles so all I need is living costs (generally under $1000).

I'm just hoping for at least one wait-list at this point.

Ouch, the pessimist in me says this is bad news for the rest of us. Haha. Oh well. Congrats!

Have you looked at any other programs/funding?

Yeah, just like a lot of other people on this thread I am pretty much assured acceptance at my home institution. All of my recommendation writers are on the committee, including my advisor. It is way too early for a funded offer. Let's wait a month and see.

I didn't even look at the website. The way it is updated, it seems the first round was the two academic readers. I feel optimistic, but we'll see. Good luck to everyone! From the website: Each complete application is reviewed by two language or area experts. The highest ranking applications (approximately one-third) are then selected for review by a national selection panel convened in Washington, DC, and participants are recommended for approval by the US Department of State. Well, it says we were sent to panel so we're in the top third! Hurrah.

That is a pretty heavy list. What kind of LoRs did you have? What was the writing sample? I guess in the end, no matter what happens this cycle do not feel burdened by the name of your undergraduate institution. If things work out or don't work out, there are a host of other explanations for this. You will get past the Graduate School's cutoff, at the very least. Doing an MA is a good medium ground too, especially if you can get funding.

If you don't mind me asking, where did you apply? I graduated from a less-than-stellar undergraduate program myself. Eventually, I went on to get an MA first. I don't really think people are going to disregard your application simply because of the reputation of your undergraduate institution. If that were the case, I would have no chance now or before.

Yes, I am doing interwar Iraqi history. I have some questions for you, though. You have a background in Arabic, but I am assuming no actual classwork? Have you traveled to the Middle East (or anywhere, really) before? I think my LoR writer choices were a strength. The application made it seem as if they wanted one to attest to your academic skills and one to your language skills, so I had the ideal pair for me. I tried to link the CLS experience to my academic goals as well as laying out a road map for future study. Good luck, though. I'm not counting chickens yet, and preparing applications for all of the other summer Arabic programs that cost a bit more $$.

What kind of comparative info did you want? Let's see.. I also applied for Arabic. I am currently an MA student in history entering my last semester. By the start of CLS I will have two years of Arabic completed. My LORs were from my Arabic III professor and my graduate advisor (who also speaks Arabic, of course). Beyond that there were my essays? I'm not sure which phase this is, to be honest. Is this the "cull for minimum standards" phase or is this the "two academic readers" phase? On the website it says that each application receives two readers, then after that is approved and forwarded to the next phase for approval at State.

I got to the next round. Intermediate Arabic (not advanced, as I said previously).

My thesis is half-finished. Need to submit for defense by April, so not a big deal.

A sequel to Gay New York?! Awesome.

Identity and loyalty amongst non-elites in Iraq during the interwar (Kingdom, but probably mandate as well) period. Depending on where I end up, I'll probably do 19th century America and postwar Germany as minor fields. Boom.

Yeah, this list - which I have seen before - is really no good for choosing a graduate program. At most it is a nice indicator of funding for area studies or languages, but from personal experience it is no guarantee that you will find a professor at the university in history that you can work with. Frankly, the poor methodology of the US News Rankings ends up working towards the truth stated above: The rankings perpetuate this being based on program perception rather than quantifiable reality. So in order to get a good shot at a Research I, make sure you go to a program with a big name. It helps, sadly.

Yeah, I applied for advanced Arabic in 2010's cycle.

Don't be worried. The GRE is really one of the last factors in your application, and I say that as someone who got a score over 1300.