plmgis

Whoa now I feel like I made my SOP way too long.. 3 pages and almost 890 words. I thought 2-3 pages was ok and then couldn't help but go towards the longer end of it, I hope that doesn't come off across as too obnoxious

I also went through the Emerson site.

Just checked the Emerson portal (like the anxious applicant that I am) and an interview spot had magically appeared for me as well! This is the first ounce of news I have gotten from any grad school since completing my applications so I am very excited. I also didn't get my spot until today, so if anyone is still waiting, it is true that there is still hope.

I second Water for Elephants! Such a fun light read. For some reason I've gotten into Jane Austen again, which is obviously not speech related but so good.. Pride & Prejudice, Persuasion, Sense & Sensibility. Now that I think about it it's probably filling the hole in my heart for the past left by Downton Abbey's season ending. The suspense of waiting for my favorite shows to come back is pretty close behind the suspense of waiting to hear back from grad schools. Ok not that close, but still!

Ahhh yes definitely nerve-wracking! I hope they email everyone regardless of interview/no-interview status just to give some sort of update. Fingers crossed that that email comes tomorrow, especially since they said they were going to send it out today but didn't get to it.

Is Emerson only starting to do interviews this year? Looking at the results page for the last couple of years no one seems to mention anything about them.

I don't think it's an invitation. That's the exact wording I got in the email confirming that they had received my application from CSDCAS (I had to double check since I freaked out a little too). So while it's probably not the interview invitation, I would give them a call if your application is marked as "Mailed" on CSDCAS but you still didn't get a similar email since they should have emailed you upon receiving your application at the BU office.

This literally could have been written by me. Every time someone asks me about my plans for next year I am nervous to say "grad school" because it still feels so uncertain. And when I get the "don't worry, you'll definitely get in somewhere" I get a knot in my stomach from the mix of anxiety/excitement/dread/anticipation of waiting for decisions. It's gotten to the point where I'm excited just to get an email like "your transcripts have been received" because at least it feels like something is HAPPENING, which is better than being in limbo with no news for yet another day.

I think you're right that admissions committees are reasonable enough to know that students come from different backgrounds and that GPAs can't just be compared at face value, at least for out-of-field applicants. I suppose it makes some sense for Communications Disorders majors, and of course GRE scores are also useful for comparison (in some ways). Once applications move past the GPA cut-off, it makes sense that committees would look at applicants holistically. If it were as easy as comparing grades and test scores and taking those at the top, we would probably be sorted by computers instead of people!

Hello, newbie here. I have just read through this forum and am now completely intimidated! Everyone seems to have such wonderful scores and experiences that I no longer know where I stand.. Although as someone else mentioned, those intense enough to seek out a forum like this probably skew towards the more competitive end of the pool so I'm trying to keep that in mind. Something I've been wondering about though.. I see a lot of GPA and GRE listing and comparison and such, but never any mention about academic differences in undergraduate programs. If someone has a 3.6 GPA from a nationally top 10 school, doesn't that hold at least as much weight as someone getting a 3.9 at a lesser known school? Doesn't it count for something if someone has a 3.2 but majored in an intensive engineering program (where GPAs are notoriously lower)? Based on what I've read it seems like GPAs are just compared at face value as though the same number means the same thing everywhere. Thoughts?