coffeemachine

Instead of trying to recruit a permanent tutor, you might have better luck just going to the instructor's office hours. If you really need to use an internet group to help with problems, you might try asking a question on http://linguistics.stackexchange.com/, which is a website designed to produce a collection of asked and answered questions. Good luck.

How many faculty members are qualified to serve on my dissertation committee? How many fellow PhD students are there (in my cohort/program)? How many meetings do I have weekly (lab meetings, reading groups, "coaching" sessions)? What technical equipment does the program provide me with access to? How many interesting or relevant courses are on offer? Does an incoming cohort take a common core of classes? Does the city require me to buy a car for transportation? How much of the stipend does rent take up before groceries, etc.? Do graduate students have their own desks? Can you find a recent graduate who has a job you would like some day? Is the school (geographically) close to other research groups? Does the faculty have a backup adviser in case yours leaves/retires? Does the possibility exist for interdisciplinary advising? Do your prospective fellow students have publications? How many PhD students are in the department?

I suppose it goes without saying, but what holds on average for a class of schools (public vs. private) does not necessarily hold of individual schools within those classes. That is, even if private schools have better funding than public, you just might get accepted to a pair of schools --- one public, the other private --- such that the public school has better funding than the private one. So while it is interesting to know what private and public schools are like on average, knowing what is true of public and private schools in general doesn't really affect your choice when deciding between a given pair of schools, provided you have reliable information about the funding situations at these schools.

Can you indicate whether you intended this statement to apply only for the CUNY linguistics program or rather more generally for the whole CUNY Graduate Center?

Also, if you do end up going, I'd suggest focusing on one course, maybe two, and just auditing the rest. I would have gotten more out of it that way. But I'm sure reasonable people can disagree about that suggestion.

Yeah, if you think about it too hard, not knowing how it will turn out can make a person kind of restless.

I am not going this year, but I looked this up in my email inbox. I was informed that I was going to receive a fellowship on March 5, 2013.

A positive possibility is that you are a very good fit for the program. Without more information, its pretty tough to say whether the department is desperate. But what department would want to delay seeking out good students? I would take this early interview as a sign of high energy in the department; they are seeking out the best people to train. I personally was contacted about two weeks after submitting an application, which is still kind of early. In my case, I knew the faculty member who contacted me because I presented to her working group last year, and so it was clear that it was a good fit for them. They just wanted to give me information about how they would be a good fit for me as well.

Thanks for the input. I suppose it is relevant now to add that Univ. A will only pay $150 for a visit on another day. Nevertheless, it's pretty clear that from a financial point of view, Univ. A takes it on this one.

You live in Europe and are invited to two recruitment events at two US universities (Univ. A and Univ. B ). Both are happening at the same time. Univ. A is on the west coast and Univ. B is on the east coast. Univ. A has not accepted you yet, you have had no contact with their faculty yet, and they are paying $500. You have the impression that Univ. A requires you to come to their event for them to accept you. Univ. B has accepted you, you have had extensive contact with their faculty, and they are paying $1000. Which recruitment event do you attend? Thanks for your help in advance! Edit: I made a mistake in the details. Corrected now.

Congrats, wuglife. Does anyone care to guess how likely an applicant is to be admitted after going (from halfway across the globe in my case) to one of these open houses? I didn't apply to Maryland, but I did get a couple invitations, and at one of these schools I haven't been admitted yet. An earlier poster mentioned that at UCSD the open house is mostly to make sure that the applicant isn't insane before admitting them. Is this the general modus operandi, or do departments differ on what the purpose of their open house is?

Our talk was exciting for me, and this POI gave me some very good reasons that I should work with them and their group. But we already knew each other, and I know them to be a quick person. I suspect that others whom I sent the application to are a bit slower. If you PM me, I will give you institution and department names.

I suppose many people haven't submitted their January applications yet, but how many of you have had a chat with a potential supervisor from a program whose deadline was in December? I have only been contacted by one so far. Are any of you initiating contact through email? I have considered doing this, but really my SoP already lays it out well, so I suppose they'll just make contact if they like the application enough.

Thanks for the input, you two. It seems sensible to concentrate on the other aspects of my application, considering that it still needs some work. I've got a lot on my plate, and adding a serious amount of study time to the GRE might be counterproductive.

Hello all, I have took the GRE in 2013 and got 165 V / 158 Q / 4.0 W. I am finishing my master's in linguistics and have been focusing on my coursework and doing research. I am applying to North American programs in a couple months now. Should I retake the GRE or do keep focusing on linguistics?

Hi, I'm looking for some input regarding letter writers. I have two of my three figured out (my current adviser, and a professor with whom I have written a roceedings paper, conference submissions, manuscript, etc.). Both these will be strong recommendations. But it's less obvious who should write the last one. There are basically two options: (i) a young researcher who received her PhD in math five years ago who collaborated with my adviser and me for four months or so while she was at my institution. She is now at another institution. She can attest to my knowledge of the math relevant for my research proposal. Having her letter would further show that I am able to work with an interdisciplinary group, as I am not in math. The obvious disadvantage is that she is not a professor yet. (ii) a professor in my field and at my institution whose course I took last semester and wrote a good term paper for. However, his research is maybe even less closely related to mine than is the research of (i). The advantage is that he is far more senior than (i). I have more positive things about (i), and I am leaning towards asking her. What do you think, should I ask (i) or would it look weak to get a LoR from a postdoc/young researcher?

Thanks for the responses, guys. It's good to get some further perspectives.

I am an American who came to Europe last fall to do an MS which would complement my BA, since the field of study for my BA was different than my current one. My original plan was to apply to PhD programs in the US this fall, but recently I was offered a PhD position by my current adviser. I have until the summer to decide, which means I can either stay where I am now or decline the offer and cast the dice in the US application process. In itself, my current department is not particularly well known in the US, where I would ultimately like to work. However, my field is small and my adviser is somewhat influential. Moreover, the advising is high quality. My adviser and I generally meet for one to three hours a week to discuss my work. I genuinely like my adviser, her insight, and the work I am doing. If I stay here I would also have connections to a lab in the US which is among the best in the world for my field. I would thus spend some time there and develop a wider network of contacts. There are several US departments where I originally planned to apply. They have good faculty, have a large number of students in the same subfield, are close to other institutions doing related research, etc. In short, if I were accepted to one of these schools, I might sleep sounder knowing that many others have tread my path and had a good outcome (solid reputation, tenure-track position, etc.). My situation can be problematized as follows. The offer from my adviser is obviously an opportunistic move on her part. As a friend of mine put it, “she sees a talented young scientist and wants to snatch him up before someone else does.” Regardless of whether the talented part is true, that's a way of looking at the situation. My task is to decide whether the move is the best one I could make for myself. Has anyone had a similar experience or just care to share some insight?