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DespSeekPhd

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  1. Well, now I know (at least some). Guess my app wasn't as mediocre as I thought Accepted at UMass (funding decisions to come) and Tufts (funded) Rejected at Pitt Waiting on BU, BC, Temple, and Georgetown Yay!
  2. I'm not worried about my GRE - 680V is actually slightly above what Berkeley lists as the average for their grad history students (PhD). And I'm only applying for MA. I very truly cannot pull together any prof letters besides the one. I went to community college for 2 years (a long time ago), and as you know, the turnover at a CC is very high. Most of the profs I had are gone, and the couple that are still there could not say more than, "She got an A" even if they did remember me. I had a small undergrad uni, and of the 3 profs in my major I had classes with, 1 has written a letter, one has left the country and cannot be located, and one has died. Of my other profs, one has left academia and cannot be located and the other has died. That's it. So I really had no choice in the letters I got. By the time I apply for PhD, I will have letters from my MA program, so that should be vastly improved. Thanks all for the comments!
  3. Nah - many people post chances on there, but few are well thought out. I was hoping someone had insight into any of these unis particularly or history generally.
  4. I'm stressing a bit. I originally got a funded MA spot a a particular uni, but because of my husband's change in job location, I had to give up the spot. So this is round 2. I'm applying for MA to: UPittsburgh UMass-Amherst Boston University Boston College Trinity College (CT) Tufts UConn We will most likely be relocating in either Springfield or Pittsburgh, hence the geographical locations. I have absolutely no control over which place we go, so that bugs me a bit - if I get a spot in one region, but not in the other, and I have to move to the other, well... My area of study is medieval European history. Here's my stuff: *Undergrad BA in social science-history at small LAC *GPA 3.83 *Taught secondary school social studies for 5 years *GRE: 680V, 620Q, 5.5AW *Good writing sample and personal statement *3 letters: one from undergrad advisor, who supervised my thesis and allowed me to teach a couple of his classes as an undergrad; two from coworkers (no choice there - I've been out of school 6 years and went to a small school - other 2 profs I worked closely with are unavailable for letters) that did speak to my academic abilities in researching for lessons, etc. (I tended to treat my class prep like prepping for a term paper - what can I say, I like to research) *Finished first semester of Latin as self-study, will be continuing it and taking classes in French (2 semesters) before beginning MA in fall Not stellar, but I'm applying for MA, so, hopefully I'll get in somewhere. My first choice would absolutely be UMass - because of the 5 college, there are a lot of profs that match my research interests. Anyone have any comments? Do you think I have a shot at UMass or any of the others? Thanks!
  5. That's a question you would have to ask your institution. You can ask your grad office if they can access the GRE score report when it is sent to your undergrad office. Some will, some won't.
  6. It depends - are you taking it overseas? Is it paper-based or computer? If you're taking the paper based test, the score reports aren't mailed until 4-6 weeks after the test, so it probably wouldn't get there on time. for the computer based test, scores are supposed to be mailed 10-15 days after the test. if they are mailed on time, they should get there, but many, many people have had delays and problems with ETS getting scores out in a timely manner. I would also guess that if you are taking it in another country, it will slow it down as well. If you do take the computer test, be sure to stay on top of ETS - check with them 10 days after the test to see if they have been mailed. If not, check again in another 5 days. No matter what ETS says, check with your programs 20 days after the test to see if they have gotten it yet or not. If not, nag ETS again. Also with the computer based test, you can self-report the verbal and quant sections to your program awaiting official results.
  7. For physics in a top school, I would try hard for a 3.5 at least. The general rule of thumb is a 3.5 for sciences and a 3.8 for humanities. Being Hispanic will not help you at all in grad school applications. Unlike undergrad, grad schools do not base decisions on a "mix" of students or boosting minorities. It's just straight "who can do the research better?" You're a rising sophomore - you have plenty of time. Boost your GPA, but don't forget that you will need good research experiences (your junior/senior years, likely) and excellent letters of rec (ask people who have supervised research).
  8. No, there isn't one website that sums it all up - you have to look at each individually. Usually the financial aid section for the department website will list it, otherwise you will need to contact them to find out. As a grad student with 2 kids, it would have been absolutely impossible for me to stay afloat on grad school money if it wasn't for the additional salary from my husband. Even at that, the financial aid was necessary.
  9. Well, most people used to learn languages by themselves, until the 20th century. We as a society have gotten used to people "teaching" us and seem to have forgotten how to "teach" ourselves. That having been said, some people just struggle with languages and need extra help. I'm generally pretty good at teaching myself as long as I keep up with it. But again, if I'm struggling with it, I can always take a class as a refresher. Plus, French is notoriously difficult to learn on one's own, because the pronunciation is so difficult to master. Most languages (at least the European ones I'm familiar with) are far easier.
  10. I have to learn Latin for my MA in medieval history. I'm going the independent learning route, though - at least for now. Wheelock's is great for self-teaching, and the advantage is that you can fit it in where you want. The entire book is supposed to be equivalent to a year of college Latin, so I figure that I'll learn it, test myslef, and if I still need help, I'll take a class (which at that point will be review and hence less stress). I have the book and workbook, but I didn't get the guide, which some say is helpful, but I haven't needed it yet. Just as another option...
  11. I just looked at the readerware site, and they currently have free bar code readers if you order the software. So I would guess that would save you a lot of time.
  12. That's your decision. I didn't feel obligated in the least - as far as I'm concerned , it's not their business until I'm ready to mention it. At the same time, if you feel at any point you would like to share the information, given a particular coversation or professor, go for it. I mentioned it to my advisor, because it was ftting in that converstation. A general rule of thumb, I think, is to not give them something arbitrary to hold against you, but not keep it a closely guarded secret, either.
  13. I just looked at that delicious library thing - that is really cool! That would have been especially helpful to me when I was a teacher, because it was a pain in the butt to keep track of all the classroom books my students borrowed. It almost - ALMOST - makes me want to get a Mac. I said almost.
  14. Ah, the mark of a true academic - books and books and books and the dream of a home library. I'm darn close to it, too - yay! I think PhD programs should skip all the rigamarole, visit an applicant's house, look at their books, ask them to design their dream home, and from there can probably tell whether they'll be accepted or not. You can't walk into a room in my house without books visible - they're stacked everywhere. We've run out of bookshelves, and that's saying something, because we have a bunch of those, too. Visitors sometimes seem rather intimidated - it's kind of funny. The bonus is that my kids think this is normal and have good-sized book collections of their own (my 1000 book count doesn't include their books - they each have probably 50-100 books - one kid's 9 and the other is 3!). The most excited reactions I get from them is when I say we're going to either the bookstore or the library. They're going to be crazy academics too, I fear.
  15. Wow. That's far too much work. We own approximately 1000 books in all different catagories. They're looosly grouped, but ther's still a lot of scatter. I know what I own, and I know where it is, and if it isn't, I check the other places it might be. Inefficient? Probably. But it never takes me more than 10 minutes to find something, and usually less. You'll probably find that you know exactly what you have and where it is. Incidentally, I have bookshelves EVERYWHERE. Can't wait to get bigger house and centralize everything in one room.
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