daykid

I've had one interview that I never really had a chance to prepare for. It was mostly just me talking about my project and the POI asking me questions about it as we went along. I have another interview coming up on Thursday with 3 POIs at once. I'm not really sure how to prepare for it. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd also be up for hearing them. Namely, what kind of questions have you been asked and what types of questions did you ask?

Dana - I honestly don't know but I think at this point it might be best to wait it out. Like Colorless said, people absolutely get in without contacting POIs before hand. I think contacting now might come off poorly.

Hey Dana of Doom, My advisor told me to contact POIs as it gets you on their radar. In the best of cases, they ask to see your statement and maybe give you some feedback (This happened to me with Illinois, Texas and Michigan). Some Universities have a policy of not reading anything before the committee meets (this is what I was told at Chicago). Contacting a POI at UPenn got me invited to the campus for an informal interview, while Brown and Indiana gave me some insight on other professors who may be interested in my work. All and all, I'm really glad I did it and I think it has been beneficial to my application. That said, I'm sure you are not the only person who didn't do it and I can't imagine that it can be held against you if you don't. What I was recommended to do that I think is worth passing on is NOT automatically attaching the statement. Present yourself, talk a bit about your work, and offer to send over your statement if the POI is interested. I thought that was really good advice.

If Illinois is any indicator, they seem to be pretty on target. Last year people from Illinois started hearing around Jan 16th. I heard January 17th this year.

Congrats NoSleep!!

Hey, the Ling Anth was me. They sent it out about 20 minutes ago. I'm thrilled!

Exciting! Congratulations. Meanwhile.... I'm dyyyyyyying for news. I've never been so impatient in my life.

I got an email last week that the Michigan selection process has started. Before the storm, UPenn said they wouldn't make any announcements until February. Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything concrete from any other of the weather affected schools.

Hey All, I just got an email from Michigan saying that the review process has begun and inviting me to apply for a FLAS (which I'm already doing). They say decisions announcements will be made mid to late february. It's all officially starting!

I had the same UPenn issue and when I called the girl flipped some sort of switch and changed it to complete. You may want to call for your own peace of mind.

I got the Chicago letter as well but none of the eligible languages through the CLAS are relevant to my project. I'm getting the impression that they just want to bring it to applicants' attention as a potentional source of funding.

Well yea, I don't have Quechua language experience yet. However, what I understood was that they want a letter to demonstrate your language abilities if it is a new langauge. Perhaps I misunderstood. I'll have to call the departments tomorrow.

Is anyone aplying for a FLAS fellowship after having been out of school for a while? I am applying for the FLAS in Quechua at Michigan and Illinois. I have been out of undergrad for 5 years and haven't taken a language class in 6 years. I spent the last 4 years living in Argentina, so I am fluent in Spanish, but I have no one to write my Langauge Recommendation for me. The best option I have come up with so far is to get a local spanish teacher at the high school where my father works to do an evaluation. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Hey All, Just joining the waiting game here at Grad Cafe. I'm applying for Phd in Ling Anth at 7 schools! Good luck to everyone