ImberNoctis

Some country song about a souped up vehicle that this bus driver is blasting, possibly by Brad Paisley

After careful consideration of several factors, I have decided to accept University of Delaware's offer. Thanks to everyone who generously took time to address my questions and concerns. Yay! I'm going to grad school!

I have a partially funded masters offer from Delaware's linguistics and cognitive science program. My other offer is a completely unfunded masters in experimental psychology from my alma mater at in-state tuition rates. I'm leaning toward Delaware but would like to hear from someone who has had personal experience with that department. I'm looking for descriptions of the academic environment, the research opportunities, and the degree to which professors mentor graduate students. Anyone who has something to say on this matter but doesn't feel comfortable discussing it in a public forum may send me their thoughts over PM.

I'm not in polisci, and this conversation isn't about me, but I wanted to interject that this advice seems very sound; I will be adding it to a file to take out and read when the time for transition between masters and PhD comes around.

I was unofficially admitted to Delaware's MA program a couple weeks ago and officially admitted today. Not exactly the Ph.D. program, I know, but at least it means that news of some sort should be arriving soon. Gotta love Pittsburgh making a generic rejection letter special by adding rudeness to it.

Congratulations! No open house for me. One of my acceptance letters mentioned international student orientation -- strange, because I'm not an international student.

2.95 UG GPA, and no graduate experience yet. My GRE scores, from the one and only time I've taken it, are 166V, 160Q, and 4.0AW. My cGPA is so low because of several semesters about a decade ago trying to unsuccessfully balance parenthood, work, and studies. My major GPAs for the last couple years were 3.96 (psychology) and 3.92 (interdisciplinary studies). I just got into an experimental psych master's program, and I'm pretty happy about it.

I think I probably would have started studying for the GRE a lot earlier -- maybe the year before I knew I was going to take it. By the time I was satisfied at where my practice scores were, I only had one chance to complete an actual exam before January applications were due. Ending up with a respectable 166/160/4.0 was nice, but I think I'll probably end up taking it again when I apply for Ph.D. programs in a couple years. I also would have started preparing my personal statements, statements of purpose, and statements of intent a lot sooner. I think I'll start writing the batch that I intend to use in 2017 right now. I guess that what I've learned so far is that there is no such thing preparation too far in advance.

Same, although I am a little bummed about it. That program was the best fit for me.

Money, money, money. (And the GRE, but mostly money.) What's with the financial gateway into graduate school? Between application fees, transcripts, and the GRE, I've so far shelled out $568 for four applications. Some of the schools I looked into are charging between 75 and 100 for domestic applicants. If they waive fees at all, it's only for applicants who were in some types of undergraduate programs. So much for financial need. To me, the opportunity cost -- for what amounts to a roll of the dice -- seems insane. I almost feel like a chump for letting the ETS and various educational institutions use my dearest dreams to gouge my pocketbook. That's why I sound so bitter here. What I have noticed in this thread is that there were very few complaints about money around 2011, but this season alone has netted at least four statements about the cost of the process. Have schools raised application prices drastically in the last four years?

For my part, I regret asking my question in this thread, which is clearly not an appropriate place to discuss the pros and cons of specific programs. I should have taken it to PM immediately. Sorry.

Care to be more specific? It's one of the programs I'm considering.