Scarecrow24

So what is the likelihood of acceptance without an interview? I know many programs do not require interviews, but I notice many posters have already heard back from some schools regarding interviews and/or admission (either acceptance or rejection). Granted, I did reach out to faculty from most of the schools to which I've applied and exchanged emails/phone conversations and Skype months ago, but that doesn't replace a formal interview, does it? Side note: While I still have yet to hear any official responses, 3 programs did contact me asking me to submit additional material for funding opportunities. I understand that does not equate to acceptance, but how common is that prior to an acceptance? Were any of you asked to submit a proposal for a Mellon Fellowship or encouraged to apply for a FLAS, etc.?

That's awesome! Congratulations! Who is your POI and what are your research interests?

That's awesome that they said that to you! Well, one thing I did this year that I hadn't done last time was that I had emaild profs (1-2) from each school that I was planning on applying back in September to get more information about their research and how my interests fit in with the program. Most got back to me via email, I spoke on the phone with about 5 of them and even skyped with one. I think that may have been a huge asset for me this go around because I was able to directly implement their feedback into my statement of purpose. Also, it helped me gauge which schools I'd be most at home with due to the different personalities of the faculty. I've kept in touch with a few and hope it leads to something soon

That's awesome! It's always a relief to get some sort of positive, thoughtful comments from schools/students. It's like a validation of you and your interests. Did they say anything about when to expect to hear back? Your work with Canadian varieties sounds interesting, especially variation and contact (since that's more up my alley ). I'm not familiar with the movie as I have very limited experiences with French, although I'll check it out when I get some time.

That's exciting! Bloomington is supposed to have one of the most beautiful campuses in the country! How did it go? Get any good feedback from profs/grad students? This is my third round applying for the PhD. Last year only to 7 depts (some duplicates) but I heard nothing at all and was rejected by each. Since then I've done a lot of research and whatnot so hopefully the third time will be a charm! Based on your schools, I'm assuming your pursuing more of a dialectology path? I'm primarily focused on language ideologies and identity (based on indexicality of linguistic features pertaining to style), but I'm also interested in endangered languages and less common dialects and how their use is perceived by other speakers.

Ah! Which schools? Did you have to set up a formal tour, or did you just do your own thing?

Hey guys! So, I'm also super nervous/excited/anxious (nerexcious?) about everything. While I still haven't received any formal news regarding an interview or acceptance yet (of course it is still early), within the past few days I received one email from Chicago inviting me to apply for their FLAS, an email from Washington informing me of my eligibility for a diversity scholarship and one directly from my POI at Pittsburgh that I was selected to apply for the Mellon Fellowship (which includes a three page essay). While I know these should be amazing signs (I applied last year to 7 schools and nothing like this happened), I'm super stressed out to make sure I don't screw things up. I submitted the FLAS form (pretty straightforward) and the one-page diversity essay already. But I'm really nervous about the Mellon Fellowship. Pitt has become my top choice because of the POI and now I feel like their decision is going to ride solely on if I do a good job with my fellowship application paper. I'm freaking out!!!!

Thanks for the vote of confidence! This process is nerve-wracking to say the least, and sometimes it's hard to think objectively when so many external factors make you doubt yourself. I've been working super hard on apps and feel much better now that I've gotten all kinds of feedback. Thanks, but could someone define "significant change" for me? Since last year, I received a research fellowship grant, conducted fieldwork in Greece and Turkey (in addition to other fieldwork abroad I had already done in the past), will be a member of a panel to present on my findings, made connections in foreign academic institutions, joined the LSA and SLA (and other professional organizations), made my own website where I blog on sociolinguistic/ linguistic anthropological issues and even proposed to teach a new course on Greek linguistics at Rutgers University (which is accepted providing enrollment of a minimum of 15 students). Is that enough?

I am applying to both linguistics (sociolinguistics specifically) and linguistic anthropology programs. Because I have an extensive background in Spanish linguistics, as well as Greek, I might have the flexibility to collaborate accordingly, as some schools are more interdepartmental than others. Right, that makes sense. I guess then for my third letter I'm on the fence whether it would be more persuasive to have an undergrad professor who knows my academic background well (3 courses) and is familiar with the linguistic community or a history professor who directed a research fellowship and can attest to my abilities to conduct fieldwork and present at a conference.

I've drafted a few emails, but am hesitant to send them because I had reached out to one 4 years ago and he never responded. I don't know what the best course of action is, meaning, should I be honest and say that I've read some of their articles, am a fan of their research and would love to work with them? Or more along the lines of could you provide me more information regarding the program? As an undergrad I studied abroad in Salamanca and did an independent study concerning language ideologies there. Then, my MA was in NYU's Madrid campus, so all of my coursework and thesis dealt with conducting surveys in Spain. This summer I finished a research fellowship in Greece and Turkey on the endangered Greek dialects of Asia Minor. I've spent a good amount of time looking into programs based on specific professors' research. Because my primary focus is related to language and identity/ideologies, I figured Chicago is great (due to Silverstein's work on indexicality), Stanford (Eckert and Podesva on sexuality/identity), Georgetown (Tannen), so on and so forth. I'm just worried because everyone keeps telling me that I need to open up the pool because there is so much competition (last year Stanford had funding for only 7 ling candidates but close to 150 applicants). So, I figured that I do have a large interest in diasporic relations and the impact on linguistic variation (which ultimately ties in with identity), to broaden my scope there. Even the schools that are not necessarily "top-tier" all have good departments with professors that have similar or related interests. I'm afraid because I took the GRE November of 2010, so this is my last chance to make use of it (unless if I can somehow apply super early next year), because I don't have the energy or money to learn the new version of the test.

Thank you all for the comments! I am a heritage speaker of Greek (Istanbul dialect) and Syriac (Aramaic), although I am fluent in Spanish and conversant in Turkish, Portuguese and learning other languages. Spanish linguistics is essentially an applied/sociolinguistic approach to Spanish (dialectology, bilingualism, ideologies, etc.). For the letters of recommendation, I have my thesis advisor (who also taught two of my MA courses) and one of the program coordinators of my MA, both of whom wrote me letters last year. My third was an undergraduate professor with whom I took three Spanish ling courses, however maybe I should have the coordinator of my research fellowship write me one? The problem is that he is a historian, but can attest to my fieldwork, etc.?

So, I'm a little nervous because this will be my third round of PhD apps (first time was to just 4 socioling programs straight out of undergrad, second was last year to 7 socioling after finishing my MA). I feel like I'm a much stronger candidate since last time because not only do I have my master's (from NYU in Spanish linguistics), but I just completed a research fellowship in Greece and Turkey and have a bit more experience under my belt. Somebody recommended branching out to ling anthro since they tend to have more funding, so I'm going to give that a shot. My undergrad GPA was a 3.65 grad 3.81 and GRE (old test) was V650 (93%) Q630 (40% ugh) and 5 on the essay (92%). My primary research interests are on language and identity, language/dialect ideologies and Spanish/Greek dialectology. My MA thesis was on the diminutive in Spanish as an index of gender in Castilian Spanish. Sociolinguistics: Chicago (unsuccessfully applied last year) Pitt Washington UI Urbana-Champaign Linguistic Anthropology: Arizona UCLA USC UT Austin Virgina In the past I've applied to Stanford, UPENN, UC Berkeley, Ohio State, Georgetown (x2), NYU (x2), CUNY, Michigan and Chicago and not sure if it's worth reapplying. Sorry for the long post, but I am in knots. Any advice?