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BeatrizBear, ¡Ánimo! No te han dicho nada. ten paciencia. Veremos.

I'm not sure I can top the esoteric and positive nature of the previous post. When I thanked my mentor for writing me an LOR she admonished me to not celebrate until an acceptance is had. Previously, I had made a video of an indigenous interviewee speaking about their language, which I showed my mentor. There was a bottle of wine in the background, but well on-camera. After viewing the video, she commented "I see a bottle of wine in the background. Wow, great, let's drink the wine. Bring the wine right over and we'll drink it." So I know what to get her.

CONGRATULATIONS to all who got interviews!

Don't worry BeatrizBear, certifications aren't as important as my missing literature classes!

FingersCrossed12, Bom dia! There, I've now exhausted my Portuguese vocabulary. I'm so used to waiting that it doesn't seem so bad. I'm a little amazed that it only takes a couple of months to hear back on an application. But it is a little anxiety producing. Hi Natiyrm, Yes you are probably right about other students, you are unique. Have you already taken the DELE? I think it might be a little late to take it for the Fall 2015 cycle. I took it right after it was updated to the EU common model a couple of years ago and managed to pass at level C2. It did, however, take the Cervantes Institute 3 months to grade the thing! In my SOP I do mention that I have it. It's not a major part of my SOP, in my opinion. Doesn't UAB require B2 as a minimum of all students in order to attend?

Hi Natiyrm, Welcome and tell us a little about yourself. Why the interest in Spanish and where are you applying? I wouldn't say you are unique, I do notice some Chinese surnames in the departments, but not very many!

Hi GeoMex - Come on, the US is a great place to study, don't worry about keeping up, that won't be a problem. ¡No te hagas bolas con las ansiedades!

The Professors I've met have been really nice people and it is incredible how quickly and accurately they can read material. But it is a lot of material to go through and they know how important their decisions are. I'm a little amazed that in just a couple of short months we'll probably know more than half of the decisions and by May it will be over.

I applied to 9 schools. Now that I have gotten to know them a lot better,I have to agree that 4 or 5 more focused apps might have been better.

Thank you Professor, that is really helpful information.

Good question about the LORs. I only took regular classes and I have at least one LOR that is glowing, from my mentor, who also told me her GRE scores were pathetic. (Point being they aren't that important except maybe when scholarships and other goodies are handed out?). Actually, in reading the OP again, I'd say that there is little in the post that indicates what kind of candidate they are. I scored 168V (we shan't mention my Q), but by far the biggest improvement in my app was from the various reviewers that told me how bad my Writing Sample and SOP were - caused a lot of stress and several re-writes, but I'm much happier with them now.

Hi Professor, Is that the normal circuit, the apps go to the admissions office and then to the specific department? What would cause an app to die in the admissions office, something simple like incomplete transcripts or low GPA or do they get scrutinized for content? And if I may ask one more question, how much of a factor is age? 40s, 50s, 60s? Is that much of a factor? OK, I'm editing in one other question if I may. Does it do any good to contact the departments in January to offer a transcript with the grades for the just completed semester which wasn't available at the time of submitting the application?

Hi dazed, you seem to be saying that, yes, there are fewer applicants, not just a perception of fewer? GC certainly is not perfect but I find it a useful source of information and way better than most web boards. I wouldn't consider it toxic, it has some really fantastic moderators that try to be upbeat.

HI klader, I see that the previous responses were a little negative or at least they questioned your commitment, and I understand that. I've had professors say to me that a PhD in Spanish (or any language) is equivalent to accepting a life of poverty. So I understand the quasi-negativity. But I also see you are committed and are getting a lot out of your French program. I say, as the saying goes, follow your passion. Just be aware of the downside. In regard to your doubts, ANYONE can learn to teach French. The professor most knowledgeable in Spanish that I have had was not a native speaker! Driven, yes, maybe to the point of being a little weird, but he got the job done! So you can do it too if you want.

Plan your applications WELL in advance. I gave myself 6 months and it was not enough time. The applications are not trivial and you want your written documents to be publishable quality

I've got a similar situation with that one, last letter not yet submitted. But the professor has been submitting the letters that were needed on the last day. It is god awful stressful but like others have said, I've just let it go for now, I'll remind her in another week or maybe in the new year.

Cite it. Put it on your CV and anywhere else where it might be relevant. It seems significant to me.

Fingers, thanks for that clarification. I was curious because I have been flagellating myself over the schools during the application process. I'm in waiting mode right now and just went back and looked at my application material - it really needs a lot of additional work! At least that's what I thought, but I suppose that's true of any writing. I'm applying to UT Austin, UCLA, UCSB, USC, UA, UNM. It's great to see some activity in this forum. My interest is in language contact, especially little languages fighting for recognition against a much larger language.

Keeping with the Latin theme, Francisco Jiménez.

Good luck to you too and welcome Fernando. Fingers, are you applying to UT Austin and UCLA in the Linguistics department? I didn't think they had a Spanish MA. I'm applying to those schools too.

I feel like 0% chance of acceptance. No wait, I have an early acceptance but it's sort of an outlier and funding won't be decided until January. That raises my confidence to 0.001%

I, too, think perhaps apps are down this cycle. But I really don't know. hypervodka- For the life of me I cannot see anything in your post that would cause me concern. Your POI responsibly did what they said they would do - comment on your WS. It is very positive.

I would add that you ARE done! Your letter writer do not bear on whether you have submitted all your apps or not. I've got one LOR writer that waits until the last day to submit, then sometimes mixes up programs. Fortunately, the graduate coordinators are generally a very forgiving lot and straighten things out.

juzaib, the schools themselves can probably provide you with that information, or at least a lot of it. No one on this board can tell you your chances however (assuming you meet those minimum keep outs) because that really depends on your SOP and Writing Sample and maybe other things like the interview, which of course we know nothing about. However, you should apply everywhere you would like to attend, you shouldn't doubt yourself, because it is a bit of a crapshoot anyway. Bom día!