Russophile

Conventional wisdom on this issue seems to be that you should not take out more in loans than you can make in one year at the job you will get following your new degree. I have violated this conventional wisdom mightily, but overall it seems pretty sound. I suspect that for MPP the advice would be to take out no more than $60,000 including your undergraduate debt, and less is always better, but it also depends upon where you want to work afterward. Good luck with your decision making process.

I have only been accepted to one school for my MA, but because it is a FLAS renewal year, my school will not know until July what kind of funding they will be able to offer me, if they are able to offer anything at all. What kind of risk would I be taking by accepting their offer of admission? I cannot afford to go without some sort of assistance. I have significant undergraduate debt and am nearly certain I would be unable to secure a PLUS loan. I know I have until April 15 to make this decision, but just in case...

I dealt with something similar, most of my programs wanted 1000 word SOPs, but one wanted 400 words. Ultimately, the shorter SOP was in my opinion the best because it was compact, interesting, and required me to choose my words and content carefully. I had to create a list of content that I felt was necessary to a good SOP, and then amend it to something that I could fit into three short paragraphs. Finally, I ended up with one paragraph on my interests, one paragraph on my background, and one paragraph on why the school was a good fit for my interests and background. Hope that helps at least a little.

I wouldn't worry about rejection yet, especially if you are applying for a master's, a lot of people are still waiting to hear back. Additionally, if you live in India and the schools you applied to only send messages by post, you might not hear back from your schools until a week or so after your US counterparts. Good luck and don't lose hope, there is still time for good news!

I'm not studying religion, rather I study Russian, but I thought I could give you some advice on some things you could do that will help you pick up languages a bit easier before you head off to graduate school. The first thing I would suggest, is if you are planning on studying a language like Hebrew, learn the alphabet before you start taking classes. Somewhere online I am certain you can find a tutorial on the Hebrew alphabet. Knowing these letters before you start class will help decrease your stress immensely during the first few weeks of class. The next thing you can do, if you have time, is pick up some basic words and phrases you know are going to be essential either for your class or for your future research. While language classes are always a bit overwhelming, at least for me, memorizing some important foundational words and the alphabet before hand really got me off to a less stressful start. Someone in your field might even be able to suggest some software to help you get started, or you can email a professor who teaches the languages you are interested in at one of your potential schools and ask for a past syllabus. Best of luck!

I would consider waiting a few another week or two to hear from George Mason. All things considered, they should have the same deadline of April 15, which means that they should notify you by then. You could contact George Mason if you are getting impatient, but unfortunately MA programs notify later.

I would wait a week or two before I would start panicking. You have until April 15th to notify them, and if it is finals week, the chair of your program is probably busy trying to finish end of the quarter grading. Just be patient. It is a stressful time, but the most stressful time is over. You have been accepted into programs and decided where you are going to attend next year. Things will fall into place with contacting your department soon enough.

Thanks for the headsup. I have been looking at Regency, so it is good to hear that they get a vote of confidence. Craigslist makes me a bit nervous, though I have known a few people who have ended up with really great places that way. Did you choose an apartment during your visit?

I suppose it really depends on your historical area of interest. Do you know who you would be working with at each school? When I was looking to apply for a history PhD, Dr. Lyandres' current research regarding the provisional revolutionary government seemed to have a lot of potential; however, Notre Dame is a lower ranked school. That being said, I am under the impression that the whole North Carolina university system is suffering more than a lot of systems. Notre Dame is a smaller department, and seemed a bit more friendly when I communicated with them. Then again the partnership between UNC and Duke's Russian departments could give you more funding options in the future. Both are good schools and it seems like a dilemma a lot of people in the grad cafe would love to have at this point. Good luck wherever you decide to go!

I don't know if anyone is interested, but since we were discussing languages, I found that http://www.aatseel.org/intensive_language has a list of intensive Slavic summer programs including Belarussian and Romanian, as well as a lot uncommon languages like Yakut.

@ Litvak: I actually live in Idaho. I went to visit UW because it was the only school close enough to really justify a trip before applying. I should be in Seattle sometime next week though... @ pietjekanarie Thanks for the heads up on Lingvo, it looks like it could be very useful.

Romanian is taught at IU and about once every ten years at the University of Washington, at least that is what I was told when I met with their Romanian specialist. He recommended IU for interest in Romanian. I haven't found a school that offers Belorussian, which I am also interested in learning. A lot of programs seem to push the abroad aspect of study, so perhaps you could do an exchange in Belarus? Romany is probably a bit harder to come across, but there might be a summer program somewhere. I never really thought about looking at the diaspora, but it could be quite interesting especially in Venezuela, and it would be a great excuse to someday visit Venezuela. Having my Spanish be more useful than just for translating signs in video games for my boyfriend would be nice.

Litvak: I'm in the same boat with deciding on a concrete discipline. I enjoy both history and political science, and can really do the research I would like to in either, I guess I am just trying to use the MA as a way to solidify which I like better. What was your undergrad in? Mine was REES and history. pietjekanarie: I've just been using some computer programs to learn Ukrainian. My undergrad program had a pretty weak Russian department and certainly didn't have additional offerings. The reading is not to bad simply because I extrapolate a lot from the Polish and the Russian I know. How long did you live in Ukraine? Reading knowledge does seem to be more important than the spoken languages, but I really would like to be able to get around in country. I suspect I will never be truly fluent in any language but English.

@pietjekanarie For the history work I want to do, I will likely need French, German, Russian, Polish and Ukrainian. I can read French, Russian and German with some success, but I have to keep a dictionary handy. My Ukrainian is improving and I can understand spoken Polish, but I can't read it. I also speak Spanish because my parents really pushed it in high school, but it is pretty much useless for what I want to do.

pietjakanarie- Congrats on your admissions! I actually applied for an REES MA instead of a PhD because during my undergrad I ended up with a couple of illnesses that ultimately left me with only two full years of Russian courses. As a result, I decided to apply to MA programs to improve my language skills beforehand. Also, my area of research will probably require proficiency in 5 languages, so extra time to focus on developing language skills will likely make me far more competitive. litvak- I didn't end up applying to Columbia, though their late deadlines and Ukrainian program made them appealing, living in NYC is expensive and I was under the impression that for MA programs, Columbia doesn't offer much aid. JustChill- Congrats on your PhD offers. Have you decided where you are going to go?

I would like to work with Dr. Kuromiya in the history department. I plan on focusing on historical memory and Ukraine's relationship with Russia, especially regarding energy. Are you waiting to hear back from anyone else, or is it simply down to Harvard and IU for you?

I actually experienced something similar to your eating issue with migraine medicine fairly recently. As previous posters stated, I suspect it will improve for you, just as it did for your sister. To help with the eating and weight-loss issue, you could try protein shakes or fruit smoothies with protein powder. They are usually pretty packed with nutrition and fairly easy on the stomach. Best of luck and congrats on your acceptances and enjoy your break!

It looks as if I will be heading to IU as well; I will be pursuing an MA in Russian and East European Studies. I should be moving in June because I have been accepted into the SWSEEL summer language program. Housing is a bit of a concern because I'm not going to be able to visit before I move. Any suggestions?

Congrats on the great offers! IU is my only offer and I'm yet to hear back about funding, so I'm still playing the waiting game. Apparently, even though FLAS decisions are usually made by early March, they are not going to be finished for another week or two. Were you offered an assistantship at IU?

Revolution

Congratulations! That is so great for you! How many more are you waiting to hear back from?

I just finished The Red Prince by Timothy Snyder. I am also reading Lolita and an array of articles on Ukraine. I should probably find another lighter book to read as well that would keep me better distracted, but so far Lolita has been engaging.

A Russian history PhD is my goal as well; unfortunately, my foundational language skills are not where I would like them to be for research.

I'm applying to Russian Studies programs at Indiana and Yale. The waiting game is really trying and I'm starting to wish I had applied to more schools.