withoutdoing

I have been checking it daily, along with Westside Rentals and Craigslist. Lots of good stuff there, so I would second that rec for people who haven't found housing yet! Since I have a pet it hasn't been as helpful for me. If anyone knows of a 2br within 4-5 miles of campus that's cat friendly let me know!

Pretty good! Got some recommended reading from my professor so I'm working through that. Saving up money to move/be a grad student. Still waiting for the official email/latter from the school itself (??) but it appears all settled at the department level. Did you hear from Hawaii about funding yet?

I'm not a current student, @ABCDneuronaut, so I doubt I can be very helpful to you, but I am super excited to start there in the fall -- if I ever get the official email from the graduate school! My department says they'll go out eventually.

I heard about funding the same time I heard about admission at UCLA - fellowship and stipend for the first year, then the next four would include at least one year of fellowship/stipend and three years of either TA/GRA work or funding/stipend depending on departmental need (or whatever I could get by applying for fellowships). A big relief since it was my first choice -- and also because I wasn't admitted with funding anywhere else! Hawaii also let me know about lack of funding when they admitted me to the MA program, but I'm sure their PhD program budgeting is on a different timeline, especially since their application deadline wasn't until mid-January.

I am going to sell my furniture, cull my extra possessions, ship my books media mail, and drive across the country with my TV, clothes, and necessities. Probably going to leave my cat with a friend for a week or two and then fly back for him (he's a really bad traveler and I'd rather subject him to a 5-hour flight than a 50-hour drive). The cost of shipping a car is around 1,000, moving with a truck or Uhaul would be even more...luckily I don't own anything huge that's so valuable I can't sell it.

Thanks @kyjin and @fencergirl!! I may ask you some questions once I get down to the moving details. Right now I'm drawing up reading plans and budgets! Good luck to everyone still waiting on more decisions! I got three rejections in a row before this decision, which was the last one I was waiting on.

I just got my funding offer as well, for East Asian linguistics PhD - I'm so excited! I was also offered a little over 20k per year, which comes to about 1,660 per month for rent, food, etc. It'll be a big drop in income, but I figure I will do some translation work on the side if I need to supplement it. I'll also be moving cross-country, so I'm probably in for the longest road trip of my life. Anyone else looking to move there from the east coast? Congrats all around!

I got accepted to the PhD program in East Asian linguistics at UCLA! I'm so happy - It was my first choice and I've had such a positive experience with everyone I've interacted with there. Now all I have left to do is plan out what books to read before I get there and figure out how to move my travel-anxious cat across the country. Anyone else thinking about UCLA or other LA area schools?

Thanks! Me too! Re: Hawaii - I was only there for two months, but I absolutely loved it. I lived just off campus at the YMCA, the campus itself is gorgeous and an easy walk from the grocery store, a few cafes and restaurants, and some hiking, regular buses to shopping, movies, and the beach. As far as weather, environment, and lifestyle, it's the best place I've ever lived. I have had friends in the military who were stationed there for longer periods and got a bit stir crazy after a year or two. It does depend on your priorities and what you like in a place/program, but I have only positive things to say about it.

Congratulations! I heard from Hawaii as well, on the 13th, got into the MA program. I probably wont be able to go there because of lack of funding, though. Are you considering them? I did their summer intensive interpreter training program several years ago and loved it there. So far, besides Hawaii I have heard from UC Irivine (on the 11th, a rejection). I really hope I hear from UCLA soon. Wishing everyone else speedy notifications and admission to their top choices!

Congratulations!! That's so great! So far, I have only heard from one school, and only informally - UCLA (Asian Languages and Cultures Dept). They have been really friendly and helpful. I spoke with someone there today who said they were preparing the materials and they should go out soon - so if anyone else is waiting to hear back from them, it might not be much longer!

Congratulations fencergirl!! That must feel great! I had also been a bit worried about not getting contacted for interviews, but I'm reminding myself it's still early. While waiting I've been keeping busy with climbing and NEKO ATSUME. Anyone else addicted to that game? It's so simple but in a good way (I think).

I was relaxed for about two days, fencergirl, and since then I have been a ball of nerves. Maybe it's just the push I need to really start getting serious about meditation. Hawaii got back to me and said that their PhD program only takes applicants who already have MAs, which rules me out - after all that combing over online information, I'm surprised I missed that! So I asked to be considered for the MA instead. How are your applications going? Hope you have had a stress-free holiday period! I have been combing through admissions info on this site and elsewhere, and it appears calls for interviews and preliminary acceptances begin to go out in late January and continue through early March. To pass the time until then I've decided to take another stab at writing a fantasy novel, about an orphan who attempts to overthrow the order of assassins that raised her...

Zhaonini - I honestly have no idea. Some professors I contact, I thought would be a good match, but they suggested I apply elsewhere, while others I thought were more long shots were surprisingly receptive. I've decided I'm just not going to have a good idea about things until the results come in. As for applications, I mailed in the final envelope of materials yesterday (to Hawaii) and am looking forward to relaxing a bit over the holidays. I saw on a previous thread that some programs began to contact students as early as January, and others as late as early March. Fingers crossed for hearing as soon as possible. How is everyone else doing?

I've been continuing to send out emails, even though it is getting closer to turn-in time. I contacted two professors yesterday and both got back to me within 24 hours, which is much quicker than any of the earlier replies I got. Maybe it's a good time, since it's after midterms, before the end of the semester, and later than most other applicants are sending out feelers? Although I definitely feel like I should have started this whole process sooner. GRE was OK, and most importantly, it's over! Good luck, fencergirl! Hopefully funding is negotiable - I know someone who said she talked to her preferred school about better funding she received elsewhere and they were able to find her something to match it. I think we overlap by two now (USC and UCLA) so maybe we'll meet in LA someday!

So far I've taken the GRE, reached out to potential advisers, got the go-ahead from about half, and more or less finalized the list of schools to apply to from there (either 5 or 6, still debating about one where a prof hasn't gotten back to me yet). For my sample I'm just going to use an excerpt from something I've already published, and I've started thinking about my SOP now but haven't actually typed anything beyond the title ("Statement of Purpose", ha) but that's on my to-do list today. Are you leaning toward any school in particular, fencergirl? Looks like we overlap by one (UCLA). I'm leaning west coast, but I'm going to wait to pick favorites until I know where I'm admitted.

I don't know about grad school applications, but a while back I added "Able to run 26.2 miles without stopping and lift moderately heavy boxes" under the "skills" section of my resume right after Microsoft Office proficiency - it came up in two different job interviews, in both cases the interviewers seemed to find it funny and it was a bit of an icebreaker! I've been doing a lot of emails and it seems to be a learning process - machacreampuff was totally right, I should be looking at more interdisciplinary programs. So far I have made some headway finding a good fit at one school but I'd like to find at least 2 or 3 viable options, so the emailing continues!

You're ahead of me, fencergirl! I'm taking the GRE in a few weeks. Right now I'm relearning all the math I've forgotten over the last 11 years (since my last formal math class...). Contacting potential professors has helped me narrow down the list of schools too, which is good. I've also been emailing some students I know who are already in programs, to ask if they have any advice about the process as people who've experienced it - I got recs for two books, Get What You Came For and The Unwritten Rules of PhD Research. I'm going to try to finish both over the next few weeks so I can let you know if they have interesting advice! One professor I contacted suggested I check out UBC and SOAS, which both have professors doing cool stuff in my field, but I can't really live outside the country so long or my boyfriend would lose his green card. A lot of people have encouraged me to consider only the quality of the program, not the location, but at least for me I need to be somewhere I like in order to get the most out of work or school.

Hello all! machacreampuff, I'm interested in your area of focus, since mine is similar, at least in terms of time period. Have you thought about what you want to research/write on eventually? And did you have any professors in the field you really liked at UC Berkeley? That's one of the places I'm going to apply. I'll be applying for 2016 PhD programs, and I want to study Chinese Internet culture with a focus on Internet language/humor and how it is evolving with modern technology/networking sites. I'm also interested in speculative fiction and other less "established" fiction genres, like web literature and fan fiction. I did Asian Studies (focus Chinese) for my BA, lived in China for a few years and also did the first year of a three year masters program in Chinese language and (contemporary) literature at Peking University (I left because I was ready to be back in the US at the time, but my grades were decent so they may count as some kind of credit, I hope!). I have (or had) conversational Japanese and studied it through the 4th semester, but I'll probably need to relearn it for any kind of grad school use. Right now I'm trying to narrow down the list of schools I apply based on which professors might be good research fits, but tentatively: Columbia, UC Berkeley, Stanford, UC Irvine, UCLA, Harvard I'd be interested to hear from current students who are at any of those schools, or elsewhere, about professors who focus on the Chinese Internet. I know of a couple whose work I've read at UC Irvine and Berkeley, but as far as the rest I only know of Lydia Liu (Columbia), who doesn't do Internet stuff exactly but does really interesting work on language evolution in other time periods. Best of luck to everyone and I look forward to going through this process together!