rising_star

I'm not sure how you'll pay housing on a credit card since many landlords aren't equipped to accept them. Shopping and online transactions are definitely purchases. I think utility bills count as a purchase but I'm not sure as I've never done it. A cash advance is when you use an ATM (or the checks they send you in the mail) to get cash on your credit line. There's a fee for doing the cash advance, a higher APR, and, as you already mentioned, no grace period on the transaction.

I would apply for primarily master's programs, since your academic experience is so different. Do you have any experience doing archaeological work? If so, you'll definitely want to highlight that in your application. The best way to find programs that offer archaeology would be to google or find an archaeological association (http://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/arc ... arch_orgs/) and look at their members. This link may help too: http://www.gradschools.com/Subject/Archaeology/21.html.

They want an academic writing sample. It doesn't matter if it bores them. The purpose is to show them your ability to do research, write well, and present information to an audience. I would NOT write a wholly new paper unless you plan to get feedback on it from the same professors writing your recommendations. I would give them an electrical engineering paper. They'll understand that it's your background. P.S. I don't think a literature theme would necessarily go over any better with a social sciences admissions committee than a paper on circuits or programming. This is more about the ability to do research and less about the specifics. But, it's your life. If you want to write something new, do it. But make it the best damn thing you've ever submitted.

The balance is how much you owe. The grace period is how long you have after the billing date to send them a payment. It ends on the due date. The company that issued the card. It's what you owe when you don't pay at least the minimum payment by the due date. You should get a notification in the mail or online. After the bill has been generated (on the billing date), you can pay any time up until the due date without penalties (though this can vary). Payment options vary. You could go to a Bank of America branch and pay with cash or check. You could go online and pay directly from your bank account. Generally you can't use your debit card per se. Instead, you give them the routing and account information on your account online and authorize payments. Don't do one. It's transferring one debt balance to another place. As a side note, Bank of America can be sketchy and may hold your check for upwards of 8 days before posting it, if you mail it, which can then trigger a late fee and interest.

I did seven applications last year. They are surprisingly different, having just taken a glance at each of the seven SOPs. They vary by more than just the last few paragraphs. I play up different aspects of my past experience or future goals, depending on the school. I connect to other units on campus throughout, rather than just at the end. I didn't change my research interests but I did stress particular aspects, methodologies, etc that fit with particular faculty. I truly believe that doing more than just doing some cut-and-paste changes in the final paragraph is necessary to do well, but that's based on my experience with what I did and how it worked for me (accepted with full funding everywhere). I think skeeterjo's note about funding is quite important. State governments are trimming budgets and this does and will continue to have an impact on the funding and resources available to graduate students. My former university's library has a $1.7 million budget shortfall and is going to cut journal subscriptions dramatically in order to not bankrupt itself. My current university will probably offer fewer students funding in the upcoming year, just because the university has already mandated 10% budget cuts and may demand additional budget cuts in the next few months. Now, I'm not saying that you should therefore focus your attention solely on private universities. My point is just that it's something to make sure you're aware of when comparing offers, particularly since many will make future funding conditional in some way.

In my opinion, mass producing your application is a terrible idea. Admissions committees can tell if someone is just cut-and-pasting the same thing to each school. If you don't seem interested in them, why should they seem interested in you? If the match is "somewhat less solid" as you say, I'd think about saving your money and not applying to that school. Especially for a PhD, you're going to need to demonstrate that you are a good, if not great, match for the faculty at the school. If you can't/don't, you're unlikely to get in. (And don't think you can fake it. They can usually see through that too!) As far as funded MA programs, I think a lot of larger universities have them because they use MA students as TAs, especially for grading in lower-level courses. For example, I have heard that the University of Georgia funds MA students.

I would ask the departments you're applying to.

1) I think you're applying to too many programs. Especially if you don't have a top GPA or the master's that many schools want (as you said). 2) You don't want a letter from someone that knows you from a conference. You want one from someone that's familiar with your academic work. 3) You focus here a lot on economics but barely mention political science. Make sure your interests in political science are concrete, so you can convey them to the admissions committee.

I would provide a writing sample that's a research paper from class.

You should keep in mind that department chairs are very busy and may not have time to be extensively involved with grad students. Definitely ask before you apply.

Highfructose, have you considered applying to some funded MA programs? Or maybe some less highly ranked programs? Have you made sure you're a solid match with the faculty at each school?

twip, if anything, address it in a separate letter. Your SOP should be focused on your preparation for the graduate program and the research that you'll do in it. Nothing negative at all.

I wasn't saying not to consider MA programs. I was saying that you should consider MA programs that actually support their students. Unless the Turkish institution is giving you upwards of $60K, it won't be enough money to pay tuition and living expenses at NYU, for example.

You've still got time. You just need to sign up for the GREs soon and start drafting your personal statement.

If you have four years of funding, why even apply for the Javits?

I would definitely NOT submit six. You could maybe vary the 4 recommenders, by giving them fewer letters to write total (a subset of your total application list). That said, I would do some serious thinking about who you think will write the best letter in terms of touting your qualifications, demonstrating your ability to work at the graduate level, and for their ability to do things in a timely fashion.

Two things of note here. 1) Chouchou, I recommend that you NOT follow this advice. It is a terrible idea to antagonize the admissions committee and place them on the defensive. It will make them question your maturity, which might sway them into making an unfavorable recommendation on your application. Definitely not ideal. You should focus on the positive in your application: why you're passionate about accounting, how an accounting degree will help you with your career plans and how your background has prepared you for this work. 2) Ferrero, stop making such outlandish statements. This forum is about offering advice (well meaning/intentioned generally) and support. You are not doing either in your posts.

I have to agree with Nofia. You shouldn't address your grades in your SOP. The SOP should be tightly focused on your background and what you want to study as a graduate student. Everything else shouldn't be in there. I wouldn't mention the grade unless asked.

Do you have any internship or work experience that you could reference?

Doesn't matter that he's not in the same field. The admissions committee will be able to see that you majored in polisci so it won't seem odd to have a letter from that as obviously professors from your major will know you better than those from outside of it. I really don't understand why people seem to think and say that all of your letters must be from profs in the field when that's not what works best for lots of people. For the record, when I changed fields for my MA and all three of my letters were from my undergrad major. I got into 4 of the 6 programs I applied to.

Chicago MAPSS and NYU Humanities and Social Thought may admit you but they only rarely offer their students any funding. Are you prepared to pay out of pocket? If not, I wouldn't have so many master's programs on the list. Apply to the PhD programs at those schools if you really want to go there. Obviously, admission to Yale, Columbia, and other Ivy League schools for a PhD is going to be very competitive so you may want to diversify your options a bit. I would focus on schools that have good financial resources for international graduate students and whose faculty are a good match with your interests.

Personally, I would get a couple of the books, work through them, and maybe find someone else taking the test to study with. That way, they can ask one another questions and teach one another solutions.

17 is way too many. It will be very difficult to put together that many outstanding applications where you sound enthusiastic about the program and its offerings. I would apply to maybe 12 max, with a mix of MA and PhD programs (as there are MA programs out there that offer funding).

In English, there's really no point in working with faculty before you're in the program.

Explaining it will only draw attention to it.