Quickmick

The "how much is too much" question is one only you can answer, but I would play around with some loan calculators to get a sense of how that loan actually translates to impact on your life. E.g. 40k borrowed over two years accruing interest at 6% means you borrow about 45k. 45k at 6% means you pay 500 a month for 10 years to pay it off, and end up paying 15k in interest. here is the website: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/scripts/loanpayments.cgi another option might be to plan on working for the federal government in a capacity that offers loan forgiveness after a period of service (10 years I think) good luck, I hope this helps a little.

Asking seems the best route... you can search the gradcafe for some info: http://thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php?q=mdiv&t=a&o=&p=2 not a lot of data in your area, but it looks like in years past they made an admit in each of Jan/Feb and Mar.

Has your experience living in Vietnam, in the context of the of current relations with China, shaped your thinking on the importance of inclusion/tolerance/diversity? Did living in S Korea and possibly feeling how the people perceived the North affect your thinking? There might be something there. Of all my app requirements my diversity statement for UC might have been the most challenging component. Good luck.

It is certainly not too late, just don't lollygag, some programs have Dec 1 deadlines. I thought I would chime in as I noticed in your laundry list you didn't mention writing sample. You may have a well polished piece in the can from UG work, but you might want to give it peek, or--if you don't have something ready to go--find something nearly ready you can bring up to snuff.

I ran into this, too. I am not sure @avflinsch is correct, as I was able to find an end around. Just google strip PDF security and you will easily find the steps to do this in Google and you should be fine.

Just a thought, if you love the teaching aspect (as opposed to the research), have you considered teaching other age groups? In some states you can pick up a teaching cert over the course of a summerm and you would be in business. You would have less time in school, and probably a greater shot at employment--employment which would keep you on the same future schedule as your baby. You could even make the case that by avoiding the years of additional school, and spending that time teaching, your efforts may have greater impact (in terms of sheer numbers of students you taught).

This reality makes the decision to move forward a difficult one. I do have some other possibilities (both in school and out) and they are looking more and more attractive in terms of the prospects. A TT professor at a tier 2 told me it took them 3 years to get the job--and they didn't think that was uncommon. An emeritus (who still sticks around) told me that applications at the same level are in the 100's with every level of university grads (by some ranking) represented in the pool. That being said, Forbes suggests that for every job opening there are 118 applicants.http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/04/17/7-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-your-job-search/#2f339e564e67 I am just pointing out that it is--to some extent--tough all over. For me, the apps are out, the die has been cast...I am not going to worry about problems I don't have. If I am fortunate enough to garner some admits I will worry about it then. It would have to be something very attractive for me to be able to justify the risk. Who would have ever thought I might tell my little girl that you can be anything you want--even President--anything you want...except a History professor.

The further up the educational ladder you go, the higher the degree of specialization often become. For example there are people who spend a lot of there time looking at microbial communities in a couple of inches of the benthos. If you are looking for something to give you a broader understanding you might want to start by looking at Environmental Science or Environmental Studies. In either case you should be able to find highly interdisciplinary programs that may give you the broad picture, and more specific elements of the subject matter you see yourself covering the most in your profession. This is pretty general, but I hope it gives you a place to start.

This has been pretty well hashed out, but I will add my experience. I applied to 8 schools, only one of which required 'official' transcripts, the rest allowed an upload with the provision that I send certified copies if I get in. So that was 12.50. I got fee waivers at 6/8 schools so app fees were $125 and I had to send out 6 GRE reports so 162ish. Looks like about 300 bucks. I did spend some money that was not required. One overnight visit was about 200 bucks and I attended a conference where many of my schools had people presenting/attending so I could meet a lot of people in one shot. That cost about a grand. Even counting those trips is comes in at like 1500. Trying to keep things in perspective, I probably wouldn't have squirmed until the bill got over 2500. For whatever reason any number under that sounds reasonable and over it sounds (to me) like a big number. I would try to remember the value of what it is I am trying to obtain. If we are talking 5 years of tuition for 200k+/ttl, and 20k+/yr to live and 5k+/yr for health insurance we are well north of 300k. That means even if it cost me 3 grand it is only 1% of the payoff. Makes pretty good financial sense to me. Oh, just a thought, in lieu of putting these costs on a credit card at 10+%, if you have money left on your aid package, there might be another way. You could amend your fall aid request and increase the disbursement by the amount you need to cover apps. By doing that you will finance your app fees at 6ish% which will be deferred as opposed to the higher interest rate alternative. I had considered applying to closer to 12 programs, then pared it back to 5 before settling on 8. Something I have read here, and repeated, made a lot of sense to me. Increasing the number of applications won't increase your chances (as it doesn't make you look better) but it does serve to decrease variance.

Yes, and I got the feeling it was more due diligence/eyes wide open type of intent so more of the 'know what you are getting yourself into' variety than the other.

Something I read here made a lot of sense to me: applying to more programs won't increase the chance of success, but will decrease statistical variance. I was between 5 and 12 and ended up sending out 8. When I got in to my current program, I sent 3 MS apps and about 7 law school apps.

Cal State Fresno has a Water Res. Mgmt program-and you might be able to do a lot of it online (I think) and possibly dovetail your current work into a thesis/masters project. I think they have a state of the art treatment facility nearby that is doing something with reclaiming AG runoff (if memory serves). While I don't know if it would be a fit for you it is probably worth looking at. Good luck. oh, I thought it obvious so didn't mention that you may want to look at Cal and Stanford has a neat program the E-IPER that is kind of a choose your own adventure type of thing where you could combine your current skills and your interests...

When I was looking at MS programs they didn't offer funding, maybe it is different for Antho, but the OP was looking for programs with funding and I think USC is north of 30k (+ living)

Agreed, @farflung, and as @museum_geek mentioned I, too, am at the mercy of my committee members' timetable and know that they are busy. If a POI is too busy to respond, I can respect that, but the fact remains I wouldn't sign on without at least a brief interchange with someone I would be working with for years, even if it means I risk missing out on something great.

Im not sure if you mean the audio tech side or music side. In any case,years ago I took a computers/midi and music class when I was at Indiana U who (I imagine you know) has a pretty stellar music program. Anyway, I googled them to see if they had a ma or ms and found this: http://online.iu.edu/programs/view_program.php?program_id=24 but you might poke around the IU Bloomington site to see what they might have in addition to their first rate audio engineering. good luck!

I don't know, maybe? When I was exchanging emails with POIs if I wanted to get a response, I made sure I asked a question in my email. Did you give them a reason to write back? Maybe you sent them what they needed, and if they don't have questions about it, why would they write back?

I scratched a school off because of this. You bring up good points, and I would add another one. Would you want to commit to moving somewhere to work (for years) with someone you have never met/spoken with and who didn't return your emails? While this is a job, I do hope to forge relationships along the way. I don't think I would agree to take a road trip across the country with someone I've never spoken with, let alone be trained professionally for year to come. While I obviously don't "know" someone after an exchange of emails or brief meeting, I can get a sense of if we would get along and that does count when I am looking at things.

Just a thought, you might want to look at the question by asking, "who do I want to work with," and then the "where" piece will become easier to see.

Hi all, I hope you are all well. I have an application out that I am pleased with, and hope it gets into the 'serious consideration category.' Looking over the guidelines at the grad school generally, you can submit multiple apps, but only 1 to a department. One of my POIs who "strongly encouraged" me to apply is in a field other than the one I applied to (they knew this). I have a couple of questions. How common is it for adcomms offer admission to a candidate in a field other than the one they applied to? I was thinking about writing this POI and communicating that if the committee thought I would be a better fit in this other field I would be very interested in attending, I am worried that this might come across as less than confident/wishy washy/etc, but the fact is my interests could be applied in either area and my experience to date might actually dovetail with the second field more smoothly. Thanks a bunch!

You are not providing much information. From what to what? MSc to PhD? Ms to Ms? Same field? Many unis have their own guidelines. Some won't count MS work, some will let you petition to count some of it (after you attend a semester) and some reduce your PhD requirements by a blanket 30 (or something close). I hope this helps a bit, but again your specifics will determine more.

I wouldn't retake it. My score is lower and I kept it (but that is just me! ) In my opinion spending the time on your SOP instead of GRE prep would be more fruitful. Adcomms advertise that they look at the 'whole package' and I get the feeling that in many cases GRE scores will get you through a round of cuts but, beyond that, is not the "go to" metric. Maybe if all is is equal they might, but as a matter of course I can't see someone going to bat for applicant A over applicant B on a "but look at the 3 points on the Quant!!" basis. You might find this interesting: https://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/RR-02-08-Walpole.pdf which is ETS funded report on how GREs are used.

While I don't know the ins and outs of private sector labs. if by research you mean anything funded by an R1--and you want to be a shot caller--you will probably need the PhD, but you can feel out the options as you proceed through your MS....

My MS is funded. The first semester was TA w/o tuition covered, but after that I moved to RA which covers tuition fees and stipend. At my school I am probably in the minority, though, as I am attached to a research institute. A lot of it depends on who you work under, and if they have grants/funding/projects that need and can support you.

@rojano first of all, try to relax a little bit. If I wanted to meet someone, I didn't ask in the first email, but waited to see how my message was received. After that, if it looked like it was worth a trip, then I asked. What I did was have 3 dates that I knew worked for me...something like any Friday afternoon the rest of the month (or whatever) with the option of giving me dates if none of that worked. That way--if it suited them--the could just say Friday the blahblah. Seemed to make the planning easier without a lot of back and fourth regarding dates. If you are currently in Canada, and want to get the most for your travel dollar, you might see if there is a conference you can attend that will be attended by some of your POIs. I attended one in March and got to meet and talk with some interesting people. You could attend AHA, but it falls after deadlines--but might still be before adcomms have things finalized, though it might be a little late in my estimation. In any case there is time to get things done so don't fret and good luck.

I imagine you would look at this as a matter of course, but I would suggest taking a peek at the money and cost of living down there during your evaluation.