beccamayworth

I was totally fine with your original version. I didn't think it was TMI at all, but maybe it's a cultural thing since I'm not American. Or an age thing, since when you get older you get used to gruesome health details. Anyway, I agree with everyone that just mentioning the surgery should be totally fine. I'm glad you're ok now!

Indeed! I applied to MAs and PhDs in 2010, got into an MA program, then applied to PhDs again in 2013. There was a world of difference between the application cycles. I was pretty happy to see most schools are asking for scanned copies, although it was slightly annoying that each school differed on their uploading requirements (school X asked for 10 MB max, school Y asked for 1 MB max, school Z asked for transcripts and translations to be uploaded separately, etc...). Still - much easier than having to mail all the original stuff.

It was that way for most of the schools I applied to. However, there was one (out of 9) that required us to mail a copy for the application... so it could be a good idea to verify the information.

If you're having questions, you should probably ask the specific school what it is that they want (since different unis have different requirements). My guess would be that yes, they just want you to scan and upload it for the application. However, once you get accepted, you'll be required to submit the official transcript (mailed by the institution, if possible).

If you haven't found anyone else with whom you share research interests, would you even accept the offer in case you get admitted? I think that if you don't think you're a good fit for anyone else in the department, then they probably will feel the same way when they read your application. If you think that any professors there even marginally match your research interests, I'd say contact them and ask about it. Did the professor you talked to suggested any names in particular (for joint supervision)? My experience was that I contacted at least one person in every institution I applied to. I actually had a case similar to you; in one of the places the prof I was interested in was about to retire and there was no one else I thought was a good match. This was one of the places I didn't get accepted to, and I think it made complete sense why.

I don't think asking will hurt your chances. As far as I know, most programs in the U.S. do require letters to be sent electronically these days.

Hi there, The structure of the courses depend on whoever's teaching it. Some can have a lot of homework, others will have no homework at all, exams, group projects, etc... it varies a lot. How big the classes are depend on how many students are interested... I think the bigger they can get is around 50/60 students. Some only had 10 students. The courses are intended for both; the introductory courses are more oriented for undergrads and grads with no background in that topic, while the more advanced classes are in general geared towards grad students. Hope that helps!

The introductory courses are pretty introductory - I don't think they require any background on the topic.

Hi OP! This subject has been discussed here in the forum many times, and as far as I can tell (I'm sure others will come to our rescue) this is a very field-specific matter. Would it be possible for you to also ask any of your current/past Professors? They might be able to give you valuable advice on this. In my experience (I applied to Linguistics programs), e-mailing POIs beforehand to ask if they were looking for new students and whether they believed I was a good fit with their research interests turned out to be a great idea. I got nothing but positive replies, and managed to strengthen my relationship with many of them throughout the application process. Hope that helps - good luck!

Oh I see! Yes, they will probably offer some sort of on-campus housing; whatever price that is, it will be in addition to tuition. At the last institute I found housing through craigslist and it was less than 1/3 of the price of the housing options offered by the University... so it might be worth to look for stuff on your own (since it's summer, there are a lot of students subleasing their places)

You can take up to 5 classes officially. No minimum. If you want to take more than 5 classes, you can ask Professors if you can sit in in their classes (but those won't be in your transcript). The price won't vary - tuition is X, and X will allow you to take up to 5 classes officially. You can chose if you take these classes for a grade, pass/fail, or audit. Sorry - I don't know what you mean by birthing. Besides classes, there are several institute lectures, workshops, and small conferences that you can attend. If you visit the last institute's website (http://lsa2013.lsa.umich.edu/) it will give you a good idea of the kind of stuff that goes on during the institutes. You also meet a bunch of linguists from all over the world so there's a fair amount of socializing as well.

Hi guys! I was at the last institute so feel free to ask any questions. If the units you take at the institute will count or not depend on your home institution... ask your department chair or your graduate advisor about it. My program at the time didn't accept units from the institute at all. I definitely want to go to the next one. Fingers crossed!

Hi Ergative! Have you tried reaching out to these programs and asking them about it? They might be willing to give you some leeway for the deadline concerning the GRE... I mean, it might be worth asking, at least. (I had to ask a couple schools the same thing for the TOEFL and I was very lucky because they were all very accommodating).

Maybe we should make a new topic just about the institute? There's so much to talk about it, and that way we won't get into the way of all the application talk (but long story short: you can take up to 5 classes, but you can take them for a grade, for pass/fail or just audit, so no pressure... )

I sure do want to! But I'll wait and see if I have time/funding.

I'm also in my first semester, I feel tired, overwhelmed... I also have to take classes I have barely no background in (but I am indeed enjoying the subjects, to my surprise), for the past weeks I have had trouble keeping up with the workload, BUT... I feel like everyone else in my cohort is sort of in the same boat... I'm also learning to not stress so much about grades, just work really hard and try my best... Most importantly, everyone keeps telling me that it gets better! I guess we learn how to manage our time/efforts better, and the coursework should get smaller in the next years... Have you considered talking to your graduate advisor? In any case - good luck!

I agree with everything funchaku said, and to give you some peace of mind, OP: I'm also international, and my GRE scores were extremely similar to yours, and I still did quite well on my applications (got into 5 out of 9 programs that I applied to).

Like I said, I do think it is only fair that people who attend pay to register - I specifically asked about crashing "a talk or two". You say you wouldn't mind if someone from a nearby school attended a couple of talks - what do you think would be the best way to go about it? Emailing the organizers beforehand?

Hi! This week there's a conference in town at another university. While I registered for the conference (since I'll be presenting and I plan to attend a fair amount of talks), there are several students at my school that would like to go for a talk or two but will probably not do so because registration is $120 for students. That got me thinking - how bad is it for people to "crash" a talk or two at a conference? I definitely believe that in general people should register because I understand how costly it is to put together such an event, but on the other hand, it is a very expensive price to pay just to attend a couple of presentations. I once helped organize a conference at my old school, and the professor who was responsible for it said that if we saw any students crashing a few talks it was okay by her, but that if we noticed anyone attending crashing a lot of talks (e.g., more than one day of the conference), we should ask them to register. What do you guys think? PS. I've considered writing the organizers and asking if they would possibly consider offering a discounted price to students at the other local university, but figured that might be perceived as rude or as a request for unfair treatment (which it sort of is, indeed...)

All fair points - and you definitely shouldn't apply to a school you wouldn't ultimately want to attend! However, I'd just like to clarify something in case anyone else might be thinking about UC Merced: they are indeed a new school and might not be prestigious in the eyes of many, but their Cog Sci department is absolutely fantastic and their professors have a LOT of "street cred" on the field, which is what ultimately matters in terms of research. So for others that have other requirements and might be interested in Merced, do not feel discouraged.

Jeez that would be horrible. Please let us know if you find out more about it! I'm not attending a public school, but I got admitted to UCSD and the offer included tuition remission for the whole five years (I'm international).

Ziggyfinish have you looked into UC Merced's Cog Sci department? I was under the impression they did some language evolution research there...

Scarecrow, have you reached out to POIs in those schools? Also, I'm not sure about this because socio/ling anth is definitely not my area, but I was under the impression that Ling Anthropology requires students to do field work... do you have any experience with that, or any plans to do so?

Hi! I'm sorry about what you're going through. As an international student, I know what you're talking about. Back home, I am very social and have a ton of really close friends - but it's easy when you've lived in the same city for over 25 years. When I moved to the US, for a while I worried I wouldn't make any friends. I am VERY slow when it comes to being social, going out and making new friends. I'm just sort of awkward and insecure. But, after a while - probably a year - I started making friends. I think being very active in a school club that I was really passionate about helped tremendously. And in addition to that, I just pushed my self to do more social things, to be more proactive in that arena. After a while I was soooo surprised to see I had made incredibly close friends; friends that happily volunteered to help me move, friends whom i've missed when I was visiting my family back home. So yes, it was really slow for me; but I'd encourage you to feel more confident and be more optimistic about it, because it's definitely a matter of time and putting yourself out there. Also, not worrying about it helps, I believe - I forced myself to do things because I wanted to do them, or because I wanted to learn something, and tried not to think that "I was trying to make friends". The pressure doesn't help. (Now I've moved - I'm in a new city for the PhD, so I am definitely starting over. But I'm trying to not worry too much about it. It'll get better! )

It is possible that he's annoyed, but it's also possible he's just very succinct (was he really negative or just brief?). Have you asked any professors if it's common to email POIs in your field? I hear it depends a lot from field to field.