tspier2

If it makes you feel any better, my undergraduate degree was bipartite by form -- English and Secondary Education -- and led to my state certification. I applied to and was accepted at my current institution for a doctoral program in linguistics, which is certainly a different beast from what you're looking at, but I still had to tailor my background to the program. You'll find the right fit for you.

Can you even use your GRE scores anymore? A lot of the programs I looked at last year required the scores to be no older than two years from the time of application.

Why not study it, anyway? If you don't get it this year, you might be more competitive next year with the language experience. Plus, at the very least, you had an interest in the country for some reason. If you decide to travel there, the language would certainly be useful.

I'm hoping it will be earlier this year. I found out last year about it on January 29th. Good luck!

This will probably be listed on the website at a later date. I know they listed prices for on-campus housing by night and type of room in previous years.

You're right that it won't replace it, but higher scores on the GRE might compensate for some of the lowness of the GPA. Check out some of the <3.0 GPA threads for other ideas.

I'm at Tulane University right now, and everyone raves about the program. You might want to add it to your list, if you see yourself living in New Orleans. I got accepted here for a doctoral program (not in public health though) with a 3.91 and a 312. The MPH probably shouldn't be an issue in terms of acceptance for you.

I'm in graduate school right now, so I totally forgot about the application for the last week. It's much easier to do when you have a million books and articles to read, papers to write, and grants to apply for...

Do we have a spreadsheet this year?

Maybe someone in the field will have a more informed opinion than me, but I can't see how it would hurt to go to the state school instead: your education will be paid for and you will gain valuable research experience. Remember that you get out of something only what you're willing to put in. The school might not be known nationally, but that doesn't mean its name is worthless. Check with the program to see what their placement rates were like, i.e. what the graduates are now doing. That should give you a good idea about what the end result will be.

What is your end goal -- going into the field or continuing for your doctorate? Although Psychology isn't my field, I'd be weary of people who suggest that state colleges won't afford you the same kind of opportunities. I went from a community college to a state college to a tier one university (RU/VH). It's all about what you do while you're there to make yourself more marketable and better prepared.

Well, it turns out I'm applying again this year for the Macedonia ETA. I applied last year and came up as an Alternate in the final round. I just started a doctoral program and will be ineligible for the ETA once I am awarded the Ph.D. Although that's not for a few years yet, I can only imagine that my fieldwork is going to make the ETA nearly impossible as time passes. Seize the moment, right?

Why wouldn't you just apply to general linguistics programs? As you can tell by the name, you wouldn't necessarily be boxed into "French Linguistics" or "Slavic Philology." Obviously I'd recommend you figure out first why you want to go and what your interests actually are though, because you should have some related interests that can be discussed in the SOP. Remember that getting funded in graduate school is an investment of time and effort for you, but also of a large amount of money and resources for the institution. You can't do it whilly-nilly.

I agree. My point is that there are so many lists out there that rank schools that the ranking itself should not be the primary consideration, which is the way the comment about UMass and Santa Cruz reads. I understand now what you're saying. The tone just sounded a little bit reactionary to me, which is why I felt compelled to respond. It sounds like you're on the right path.

Bulgaria is right above Greece. You're not confined to your country for the duration of your ETA, i.e. people do travel. If you think you have a good shot at Bulgaria and the odds are in your favor, then apply to Bulgaria and just travel to Greece at some point during your trip. Also: There's no reason that you couldn't work with or at a library in Bulgaria.

There are so many lists for ranking schools out there that this comment just makes me shake my head. Look at RU/VH schools and focus on your fit instead of strictly ranking.

Why don't you make them aware of the circumstances and ask for a one-year deferment?

How can we give advice if we have no idea what your qualifications are? You deliberately avoided stating what you studied, and I'm not quite sure what the reason was for that.

Go with what's required so that you can get a jump on research. My institution requires four courses, but I don't have a TA obligation.

There are a lot of books out there, but I didn't personally have time to study 2500 words that I had never seen before. Check out Tyrannosaurus Prep to practice commonly used words on the exam.

An artifact in a traditional teaching portfolio would be any item that attests to your competence, e.g. lesson plans, formal evaluations, handouts, worksheets, assessments, etc. Beyond that, it sounds like you need to speak with your adviser or professor about the specific requirements and what they actually entail.

I'm not sure if Temple and Penn State are RU/VH, but all of the others are. Although, to be fair, I'm not sure if either of those two schools are even known for English. Many of my colleagues found Lehigh (about two hours from Philly) to be a great fit for English [literature and composition/rhetoric]. I'd personally try to narrow the list down a bit though, because you're going to spend an eternity putting together those materials. You can find a lot of information on this site about how many schools to apply to, how to write each statement, etc. You don't really want to send slightly-modified, but overly generic, statements to the schools out of a lack of time to individualize. In any case, I've sort of derailed your thread at this point, but most have suggested a few thousand dollars and more specifically to look at factors related to cost-of-living.

I'm sure I can't be the only one thinking that applying to thirteen only-RU/VH schools is a bad idea, not strictly in terms of finances but also in reference to prospects and "safe schools."

Although I also haven't had a summer -- until now -- to catch up on reading, I put most of that aside a few weeks ago. With these major life changes about to take place, I really wanted to have some time to regain my sanity from all of the responsibilities of the last few years. I'd say take a break, personally...

Well, are you willing to give a long-distance relationship a shot? If so, I'd tell him that you're committed to making it work, and you want to know whether he is interested in trying it. Although, to be perfectly fair, four hours really isn't that far. I'm wondering if you might be getting a little bit ahead of yourself.