gollux
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Posts posted by gollux
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UW does have a PhD, in interdisciplinary studies, which combines the Near Eastern Languages and the Middle Eastern studies program. It appears to be a great program.
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Congratulations on your acceptances, cooperstreet! i wish that i could help, but i'm sort of in a similar spot, and could use some advice....except that I'm really not sure how to rank the programs I got into. I can't find any kind of comprehensive ranking, I just know that the schools are good, but I also know that a school's great overall merits and reputation don't necessarily translate to a strong program. I got into Chicago with half tuition, which makes it just slightly less expensive than Michigan and UW, to which I was also accepted (still waiting on funding info). All the programs have courses and faculty that match my interests (Turkish, with the hope of beginning another Turkic language; this is probably more true of Chicago and UW than Michigan). It seems a little bit like a no-brainer because Chicago is generally such a great school, and they gave me a significant amount of money. But I'm worried I'm missing something. I didn't start out on this track, so I don't really know an authoritative source to ask about how the various programs in this field are regarded (and by whom, and why, and so on). I've heard lots about the Arabic programs (basically that Georgetown and UT have very strong programs, but come to think of I heard this about UT mostly on UT's website
), but I don't know about Middle Eastern/Near Eastern programs as a whole.Any thoughts? Sorry I'm such a windbag.
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Sibil, during my obsessive viewing of previous year's grad cafe results, i remember noting that people heard from Chicago over a period of about three weeks, with the latest date being March21. Their website also seems pretty stern on the subject of giving out results over phone/email "We will never, ever, ever do this," or something to that effect, so I would give it a little longer.
I hope you get good news!
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I applied only to MA programs.
Rejected: UT Austin, UC Berkeley, Princeton (assumed, no invite to short-list weekend)
Accepted: UW Seattle NELC (I think with no funding), U Chicago with half tuition
Waiting: Michigan, NYU, Columbia.
UW and Chicago were my top choices so I am trying to figure out what to do next.
What about you? Were you the person waiting for UT?
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The argument about affirmative action is always filled with ridiculous straw men. I really get a kick out of the one about the poor white person! and the rich black person! and the rich black person is super lazy and just coasting long getting awesome opportunities because he/she is black! and that white person has been eating shoes every single day and working so hard! And they will accept the lazy rich black student! And throw the hard-working white student into the dungeon! They are LITERALLY TAKING FOOD FROM THE WHITE KID'S MOUTH.
Yeah, that's not how it works.
- red_crayons, ExeterRiceNowwhat, Apricot and 1 other
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No proficiency interview, nothing. I wonder if that should make me more concerned. *I* believe I'm a strong candidate and *I* think it would be a fantastic fit. But who knows what the adcomm's vision of the newest cohort should look like? I think I will call tomorrow and see "if all the decisions have been made". I bugged the grad advisor a bit pre-deadline and have been trying to show a less hyper side since then.
I do think I could be shortlisted. My application and experience is a bit unusual; they could be trying to verify it.
Well, congrats on the good news! Here's hoping to get some myself tomorrow (or at least something I can work with).
I think that trying to decipher the meanings behind the few scraps they give you throughout the process only leads to madness. Through their lens I doubt that I was a strong candidate, so I don't think the proficiency interview indicated elevated status on my part.
Go for it and good luck!
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Hi friends,
I want to do an MA program in the Arabic language. I basically want to use a FLAS to study abroad as much as possible (dream would be CASA in Dimashq). I have been searching for a while but have been unable to locate just a website listing all the possible MA programs do use the FLAS to study Modern Standard Arabic. Does anyone have a link to such a list?
Has anyone else looked into this and found outstanding MSA masters programs? Any advice would be much appreciated.
BTW, Stanford graduate on a Fulbright in Jordan here, would be applying for MA programs starting summer or fall 2011.
Thanks!
Hi, I am probably not telling you anything you don't already know, but I think basically all of the major Middle Eastern Studies/Near Eastern Languages programs list FLAS funding as an option. When I was researching MA programs I can't think of one I saw for which FLAS was not named...I think any program offering an FLAS languages will be eligible (think, don't know).
For Arabic/Semitic languages specifically, I think UT Austin is very highly regarded, Georgetown, Chicago, NYU. Arabic isn't my primary interest, so I can't tell you much more! Good luck!
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Thanks, MiddleEastNerd! I got some good news the next day, so it worked out. I'm interested in Turkish, so I probably shouldn't have applied there to begin with.
I hope it works out for you! Did you have a language proficiency interview at UT? I had one a week or so before I was rejected (wherein they learned that my Arabic sucks), but I don't know whether it was a short-list situation or a "you sound like you might suck but let's check" situation, or something every applicant went through.
At this point I think you're well within safe territory to just email the department and ask.
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I only found out by checking my status on the website, the spot where it used to say "your application has been forwarded to the graduate committee for review..." I still haven't gotten an email or letter (I was rejected).
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I just got into a great program at a great school with a 2.68 undergraduate GPA, so I'm here to tell you it can be done! Of course, I'm in area studies, and I only applied for an MA (unsure if want Ph.D/unlikely to get one with said GPA) and thus, I was up against a lot less competition than a PhD applicant or someone in an insanely over-populated and cutthroat field. Still, though, it's not a completely obscure field, and a fair number of people want to be in it.
I know facts are facts and acceptance rates are low for the good programs in any discipline. Nonetheless, it is preposterous to imagine that someone wouldn't perform well in graduate school because he or she had a poor showing in college, and I find it hard to believe that Admissions Committees always believe that is the case. I started college when I was 17. I didn't know what I wanted to do, and I didn't particularly care, and stuff happened, and it shows on my transcript. But then I got older, developed interests, had life experiences, pulled my head out of my ass and supported myself, and evidently, became a strong candidate. I did, it must be said, study hard for the GRE, and I did well. I figured that I had to, to compensate for the ol' 2.68.
I've gotten rejected to a couple of programs so far, and I'm sure my GPA was a factor. But then I had the good news. Some programs won't make you pay for your youthful indiscretions forever. So don't lose hope.
Then again, some programs will shun you over and over with a perfect GPA/GRE/experience combo. I only know my story, and it has (knock wood, spit three times) worked out pretty well so far.
Good luck to everyone. This process is awful in a really specific and nerve-shredding way, and it can make you feel worthless. But no one (expect someone who kicks kittens, and a few other kinds of villain) is worthless.
This ends my little PSA.
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i should add that some people obviously take out only what they need to pay the tuition, because they either have savings or family contributions. you are not required to take living expense money or anything.
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Will the US Dept of Education and other lenders actually let you take loans just to cover living expenses? I always thought it would only be just be enough to cover tuition/fees.
i also used to labor under that misapprehension. but i have learned. they definitely cover living expenses. my sig. other is doing a professional degree. even though i work full time, i don't make a ton of money, and we have counted on the semesterly infusion of cash to make ends meet. i suppose it just depends on how much you take out in loans, but most loan packages assume that the student will not be working (or not working enough to pay rent, etc.), and there are a few extra thousand dollars after the school has been paid. that's my understanding at least.
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Hi yall!
I just graduated from "waiting it out" to "decisions, decisions, decisions" when I received my acceptance from Carnegie Mellon. I am very excited about coming to Pittsburgh to study, although I've never been (but I plan to visit before I accept). I appreciate all the advice so far, but perhaps the Pittsburgers (or is it Pittsburghers? looks a bit odd) out there could offer their views on a few things:
* How easy is it to get by without a car? Obviously it's possible to get by without one (it appears to be a fairly dense city with a bus system like any city its size), but I guess I'm really asking if there are any compelling reasons to get a car. This brings me to my second point
* What's there to see or do nearby? I would love to be able to drive to New York, Philadelphia or Chicago when I get bored, but it seems quite far! Then again, Pittsburgh seems quite big, and I might never get bored.
* Outdoors activities. Things like skiing, hiking, camping or bike tours nearby.
Any thoughts?
I am in Pittsburgh while my beloved does his MA, and as far as visiting New York, Philly, Chicago, you can basically rule it out for a quick Saturday-Sunday trip. I thought we were moving to the East Coast and would get to see friends all the time, but it turns out this is the Eastern Midwest. This is what I hate about Pittsburgh, but that's just me.
If you are going to school and live near campus, don't worry about the car. If you have a partner who is going to work, he or she will probably need a car.
There is hiking, skiing, and canoeing nearby. Lots of great museums in the city. Fallingwater is close and it is beautiful. Gettysburg not too far. Although, for the outside-pittsburgh stuff, you need a car. Rental?
I am not wild about P-burgh, but it's because I have the breadwinner position and I work a job I don't like, and also work on weekends. If I had a little more free time, or was a student with a built-in community, I think I would find P-burgh sort of enchanting. Wouldn't want to live here forever, but a good place to spend a year or two. That said, people who are from Pittsburgh love this place beyond reason and seem never to leave.
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*performs tentative happy dance*
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I know, I'm being a weirdo. This process has made me into kind of a paranoid monster. Still, i think it's weird that it was two sentences long and seemed to be missing some key elements! Thanks for the support!
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I received an email from the department to which I applied saying "Congratulations on your acceptance," and asking me to contact the professor with whom I'd like to work. But I haven't received any other notification of acceptance. It seems like the kind of thing you'd send someone after they know they've gotten in.
At first I was ecstatic, but now i'm worried it's some kind of error. I called the department, but they seem to have left for the afternoon.
Which leaves me the weekend to freak out about it.
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I didn't get anything, but I applied to the MA program, and I see from the results list from last year that some MA candidates were rejected in early March. So I'm assuming I'll be getting that letter in a couple of weeks. Here's hoping for some good news for both of us elsewhere!
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Thank you for replying, and congratulations! I'm bummed not have gotten one, but I knew it was a long shot. Best of luck to you!
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Does anyone know whether the Princeton Near Eastern Studies department has invited short-listed candidates to the end-of-February interview weekend?
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Well, I haven't ever done a language proficiency interview for a school, per se, but I have done a Japanese oral proficiency interview over the phone. This interview was meant to establish my relative level of conversation on a scale from beginner to advanced.
First my interviewer explained what we'd be doing - in Japanese, because I was at a decent level of understanding, but I imagine she would have told me in English if I'd asked - and then we started the interview. She asked me some generic questions about myself - who I was, what I was studying, what had first made me interested in my field of study, and questions about my family. Then she asked me to explain, step by step, how to cook my favorite food. This, she told me later, was because being able to explain a process is generally required in order to test at an advanced level. After that, we went through a few role-playing scenarios - how to order food and asking a friend for a favor. We did these in both formal and informal speech, since that's an important distinction in Japanese. For another language, an interviewer might choose different linguistic aspects to emphasize, though.
What my interviewer looked for in my OPI was a variety of syntactic structures, a wide vocabulary, a general ability to carry on a conversation, and a bit of specialized terminology. I guess your interviews will probably be different, since they might be testing for whether you know field-specific terms or something, but hopefully this will tell you something about what to expect. Don't get too nervous and you'll be fine. Don't worry about making small errors in pronunciation or grammar - just keep talking. Good luck to you both!
Just saw this response. This is great! Thank you, ColorlessGreen.
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I wish I could offer answers, but I can only offer empathy. My "language proficiency" phone interview is tomorrow and I'm desperately trying to think of ways to prepare. My plan is to have a few basic answers casually planned, but the most powerful weapons in my arsenal will probably be a good night's sleep and a state of mind that is as calm as possible under the circumstances.
Best of Luck!
Good luck, Nightingale! I'm sure you'll do a wonderful job. I think your right about the sleep and the calm!
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I was directed to pick a time to have a twenty-minute proficiency interview for a language relative to my proposed course of study next week. Has anyone done this? When the fellow calls, is he going to just launch right into it in the language in question, or will he begin in English, describing what is about to happen?
I apologize if these are stupid questions, I'm just anxious. I didn't claim to have any great level of proficiency in the language, so I'm not worried about them thinking I misrepresented, but I would like to make a decent showing, for obvious reasons.
*breaks out in hives*
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as far as i can tell, this seadub character lives to rove around grad cafe looking for people who are fretting about their weaknesses, solely to belittle them and make general bootstrap-related commentary. it's weird. this is a forum for anxious applicants, not an ayn rand fan site. yeesh.
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I just got one of these as well, extended to all applicants for the program. I imagine that they tell you it doesn't hurt your chances not to go, but I'm so paranoid that I feel like I have to. And it's going to be a real pain in the ass, since it's on a weekday, and far away. Would love more insight into the Open House phenomenon... is it the kind of thing where you need to go and gladhand and have a winning personality and shiny ponytail? Or can you miss it without penalty?
Choosing between two equally good Middle East Studies programs
in Interdisciplinary Studies
Posted
Malumat, thank you so much for this. I am actually just back from the Chicago prospective student's day, and the experience was overwhelmingly positive. Now seeing your response makes me feel sure that it's the right place!
Thanks again and congratulations on getting into Chicago (I assume NELC?)!