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nathdep

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  1. @TMP I did confirm with the school that if I were to be a TA, they would consider me to be an in-state resident and pay in-state tuition (if the assistantship doesn't already pay for everything). I plan on looking into apartments in the near future but I don't want to get my hopes up if I don't get the funding. @rising_star When I talked to the assistant director, she did say I should check into the Spanish and French departments to maybe get funding through an assistantship with them. I haven't yet because I would imagine that they already have their own students to give funding to. I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea to ask though. I know that it is very possible I'm getting anxious for no reason but after getting rejected from 3 schools already, I'm entering panic mode and getting more pessimistic. Another possibility that I meant to ask is whether or not it would be worth going without funding with hopes of getting it after the first semester. I know that, after reading the funding information on the department's website, taking certain courses allow students to teach more classes through teaching assistantships. I also know that on the site it states that research assistantships are reserved mainly for incoming students. They also say in another section that they reserve money specifically for new students. I'm still unsure though that I might not make the cut. I know I shouldn't be so anxious and be more optimistic since there are quite a few things working in my favor but it's my nature to be anxious about everything. Hopefully I'll get another acceptance letter in the near future to compare my options. Essentially, I fear that I might have to make the very hard decision of either paying $25,000 a semester to go to Iowa or not go to grad school at all.
  2. Hello everyone! I have some questions about funding in regards to the University of Iowa MA program in Linguistics. I've posted to the Decisions forum recently but I thought it might be a good idea to post here as well. In a nutshell, I have been very anxious about the whole grad school application process. I've applied to seven different schools and have received rejections from three of them already. I did, however, get accepted to the University of Iowa for Linguistics. To give some background, I was contacted much earlier than expected (3 days before the deadline) and also before all of my letters of recommendation were in. They couldn't, however, make any promises on funding and wouldn't be making any decisions until early March. I ended up calling the department and was referred to the director of admissions. I sent her an email expressing my concern about receiving funding since I come from a low income family and because I am a French and Spanish major as opposed to a linguistics major. I am aware that they give most of their aid in the form of assistantships which require a background in linguistics which I do not have. That was a week ago and I have not received any emails back. I am a novice when it comes to understanding funding for grad school. i'm not sure at all how much of a chance that I have in receiving funding considering I will be entering into the MA program. Considering it costs nearly $25,000 a semester to attend there, it would be next to impossible for me to afford to join the program. This makes me nervous considering I've received rejection letters from other schools and because I'm very interested in the Linguistics program at the University of Iowa. I spoke with one of my professors about what he thought my chances were in getting funding and he seemed hopeful. He thought it was a good sign that I was contacted so early without my application being complete. He said that being in the first wave of students alone boosts my chances of getting funding. He also told me that I shouldn't really have to worry as they may have funding later on. I'm very unsure about this because of the fact that even one semester costs so much. My main question is whether or not it would be worth calling the director of admissions again. I'm not really sure if it would necessarily change the committee's decision if I described my situation to her considering I'm sure the majority of accepted people are in the same spot I'm in. Also, I don't want to annoy her considering I've already been told that funding is competitive and that decisions will not be made for about another month. Is it possible that I might just be getting anxious for nothing? I don't want to expect to get funding if I'm not because I don't want to get my hopes up/run into problems from assuming I'm more than likely going to receive aid. I'm so new to all of this and am also the first person in my family to go to college so I rely on people on here and my professors to give me some advice. I also need to keep in mind that even though I've received some rejections, I'm still waiting on a few other schools. My professor seemed to think, though, that the ones I'm waiting on don't usually give out too much financial aid. Here are the other schools I applied to: U of Indiana - Bloomington (PhD French Linguistics) - rejected Middlebury College (MA Spanish) - rejected U of Maryland - College Park (MA French) - rejected U of Wisconsin - Madison (MA Spanish linguistics) - waiting U of Missouri (MA Romance Languages) - waiting SUNY Albany (PhD Spanish Linguistics) - waiting
  3. Hello again everyone! I recently posted a thread on here about getting an early acceptance to the MA in Linguistics program at the University of Iowa before all of materials were received. I ended up calling the school to check in on my application and to ask about how they would be awarding funding. I knew already from the emails I've been getting that they do not make funding decisions until mid March. I talked to the assistant director in graduate admissions for the linguistics department and explained to her that I was concerned about funding considering the funding was awarded mainly in the form of teaching assistantships. I'm a French and Spanish major with no training in linguistics whatsoever so I wasn't even sure if there was any opportunity for me. She told me she was unsure because she didn't deal firsthand with the assistantships and referred me to someone else. She did say though that they only give away aid to the most qualified students but they try their best to get as many students as much aid as possible. She also referred me to the general financial aid department. I then called the financial aid department and spoke to a representative. He told me that there was nothing they could give me in terms of aid outside of the department. He then advised me that I would have to take out subsidized student loans to cover the tuition. I then learned the final amount I would have to borrow is about $50,000 a year. There is no way I could ever afford taking out enough money to cover this especially considering I have a sizable amount of debt from undergrad I then tried to call the director of graduate admissions for the linguistics department and she did not answer. I decided to send her an email explaining my concerns. Here's what I said: I have two different concerns. The first being if the message I sent above was acceptable in tone or if I sounded a little too demanding. The second, more important issue is what to do if funding is not an option. Like I said, there is no way that I will be able to join the program if I don't have funding. Is there any more I can do? Thanks so much!
  4. Hello everyone! I was very excited today to receive an email from the University of Iowa that I was accepted into their MA in Linguistics program. While I was overjoyed to have received it, I am a bit confused because the deadline to apply is not until February 1st which, from my understanding, admissions boards don't meet until after the deadline has passed. Not only that, but one of my professors has yet to send in her letter of recommendation. However, the other two letters of recommendation have been received. I looked on my application status page and it still says "in progress" but considering I just got the email, I'd assume that it may not change right away. I did notice that there was an additional requirement added for me to send in an official copy of my transcript (I already sent in an unofficial copy). From what either they told me or from what other grad schools told me, they only require an official copy after being accepted. I'm still so glad that I was accepted but the skeptical side of me is worried it might be a mistake. What do you think?
  5. Hello (again) everyone! Per the usual, I'm growing more and more anxious when it comes to applying for grad school. First off, I'm taking the GRE in less than a month and my verbal scores are no where near satisfactory. I usually only score in the 40th percentile after taking practice exams. That being said, I'm very worried that this will affect my chances of getting into a school in the US. My current GPA is 3.66 (it could be higher if my community college credits are factored in) and I am doing a dual degree program pursuing a BA in French and a BA in Spanish and Global Studies with a minor in music. Unfortunately, my school does not have a linguistics program and I didn't realize how interested I was in linguistics until after I was too far in to transfer. That's why I decided to major in two different foreign languages. Because of all this, I decided to ask my professors for their advice in applying to schools. They know a bit of where to apply for linguistics but they don't know too much because their areas deal mostly with literature. I decided that my area of interest is going to be something to do with L2 acquisition in terms of the language learning process and development. I posted in here earlier asking about different grad schools. I know that Oxford was mentioned but I decided that I didn't really want to travel abroad and it was too hard to get into/too expensive. I know that MIT is at the very top of the list with schools like Stanford and Harvard. What I'm looking for is a school that I can reasonably anticipate having a chance of being accepted and also is rather well known for their program. At this point, I'm a bit pessimistic if any school is going to accept me given my situation. Could you lend a hand? Thanks!
  6. @historicallinguist Thanks for your advice! Regarding your last question, yes, I will need as much aid as possible. I'm a little nervous to take the GRE. I am horrible at standardized testing (I didn't do too well on my SAT). I have been studying however so I'm hoping that'll be enough to get a good enough score. I have looked into Oxford. Is it true that it is only a one year program? Would the degree offered there be something I could use in the US? Also, I would probably look more into L2 acquisition because it would be of more interest to me. I'd like to do research but I'd also like to do something that would directly help people such as teaching. I'm mainly interested in how methods could be developed to make learning another language easier.
  7. Hello everyone! I want to introduce myself. My name is Nathan and I'm currently a rising senior at Hartwick College. I'm doing a dual degree program pursuing a BA in French along with a BA in Spanish and Global Studies. (My GPA is currently a 3.66 if that is needed.) Lately, I registered to take the GRE and I know that I will have to give them some schools to send scores to since you are allowed to send scores to three schools for free if it is from the testing site. Linguistics has always intrigued me. I don't have a very extensive background in linguistics except for what I've learned through language learning. I Unfortunately, my school does not have a linguistics program and it was too late to transfer when I decided that linguistics might be a viable field to look into. I know that linguistics is an incredibly broad field with many different specializations. I've thought some about what interests me most and I would love to go into the field of first/second language acquisition whether it be by teaching or doing research on how someone learns a first/second language. Really, any kind of area that deals with applied linguistics seems fascinating to me. That being said, do you have any suggestions as to which grad schools might be good to apply to? How hard would it be for someone like me that does not have a BA in linguistics to go into a masters program for linguistics? Thanks so much!
  8. Hello everyone! I'm Nathan and am currently a junior at Hartwick college majoring in Spanish and French while also minoring in piano. If it helps, my current cumulative GPA is between a 3.6 and a 3.7. I take great interest in speech pathology as I want to do have a profession where I am working with people hands-on. I have a passion for languages and I believe I could apply this to a profession in speech pathology. I do have a few questions, though. I obviously do not have a degree in anything related to speech pathology. In your honest opinion, would it be worth doing a post baccalaureate program and then begin a masters degree? I don't have very much money and student debt has already become a concern for me. I did some research and found a few online post-bac programs that don't cost as much as on campus programs. If it is worth it, do you have any recommendations for post-bac programs or masters programs? Also, would speech pathology be a viable career in terms of salary? I know that this shouldn't be the deciding factor but it does help to put it into a bit of perspective. Thanks so much!
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