gdala
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Posts posted by gdala
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52 minutes ago, angesradieux said:
Is there a train station near by? You may want to look into what train tickets cost and what the schedule is. You'll have less flexibility, but at least that way you could read and get work done on the trip to minimize the time lost in the commute. It may not be feasible depending on the expense, but it's just another thing to consider.
No train station. There's nothing much in the way of public transit. The area relies really heavily on cars. It's a shame because it would be convenient to cut back on the tired driving.
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12 hours ago, spectastic said:
any 1 hour commute is a pain in the ass. I did this for a while when I was in industry. lost 10% of my waking hours being stuck inside a box listening to npr. would never do something like that again so help me god
on busy days, when I was tired and overworked, I found myself wanting to doze off at the wheel. a coworker told me he would sometimes take micronaps on the highway
there are better ways to chill and relax.
12 hours ago, cowgirlsdontcry said:I have lived a 45 minute drive for both my undergrad and MA, plus parking and getting to the English building. Trust me when I say it gets old. I don't stay long at evening events because it's very rural all of the way and pitch black driving on a curvy, hilly 2-lane road. I don't want to live on top of campus for my Ph.D. but have found an apartment about 3 miles away, which according to Google Maps is a 10 minute drive in traffic, plus another 10-15 minutes getting around campus. be sure to add in the parking and travel time on campus. I had to be at an 8:00 a.m. class with my professor last semester and it was a nightmare having to get up by 5:30 and drive in.
These are my biggest concerns really. Early mornings (when traffic is heaviest, making it even earlier) and then having to be there all day is just going to be exhausting. Thanks for your input, and I definitely didn't think to factor in the extra time getting around campus.
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14 hours ago, cortisol said:
When I was in my masters program, I commuted 1.5-2 hours one way. The time spent driving honestly wasn't bad- it was the only "break" all day I had to myself where I was forced to do nothing but listen to music and chill. I was super busy because I worked full time, in addition to being a full time student and doing grad research. The only thing that sucked was that I had to drive into Washington, DC, where traffic and a-hole drivers were a daily nightmare. So if your school is in a high traffic area, I hope you have more patience than I do haha. My social life suffered a decent amount, but I made a really good friend, whom I'd frequently go to Happy hour with after class, so its not that I had no social life.
i don't think my academic life suffered much since I typically got my reading done during the day, and would sometimes stay at school until it was all done- this usually meant I would leave my house at like 6am and get home around 10-11pm, but I didn't mind since I just sleep when I get home.
i also second what fuzzy said about the weather. Sometimes an unexpected snowstorm or insufficient plowing increased my commute to 3-4 hours one way, which blew.
I'm assuming you have a good reason for living far from school, but I definitely feel your worries, 1) because I've done it already, and 2) im bracing to do it again for a year- my S/o is willing to move to a new state with me for my phd program, but postdocs are limited for him there, so we'd have to live in a halfway point between our two institutions
Tldr; as others said, there are many external factors that may get in the way, but my personal experience was that it wasn't that bad.
Best of luck!!
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just saw the reason for your commute would be because of your husband. Me personally, I decided that my quality of life would be much higher living with my S/o and commuting, rather than living apart and being close to school. Good luck!
13 hours ago, That Research Lady said:@gdala Im actually working out the same issue with my partner now (who is thankfully willing to drive a little further than I am). I commuted for undergrad and during the drive I often listened to recorded lectures, text books on audio, or just my recorded voice going over course content. I'm an auditory learner so it worked well for me. However, I'm still having similar concerns as you, since I'm beginning a PhD program and haven't been in school for years. Thank you for bringing this up on the forum!
Wow, 4 hours every day has gotta be rough. I don't know if I could do that, but your posts give me some hope! Thanks for the ideas!
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I appreciate the feedback, everyone. The reason for this is because my husband is most likely going to be working about two hours away from my university and we were gonna split the difference. I'm still looking into other options, but you all gave me some things to consider.
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So long story short, I'm starting a master's program in the fall, and it's looking like I'm going to have to move to a city about an hour's drive away from campus. I originally thought it wouldn't be the worst thing, but other grad students are essentially telling me it's an unreasonable option, and I'm getting increasingly nervous about it. Does anybody have any experiences with this situation? Did it affect you, your academic work, or your social life at all?
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7 hours ago, lfguzman said:
@gdala Congrats on your other opportunity! To which program are you applying at Pitt?
Thanks! I applied to the intelligent systems program. I expect a rejection is coming, but at least it wasn't my first choice.
It sounds like you still have a chance with Pitt based on that response, so don't lose hope just yet!
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14 hours ago, Akash_I said:
Hi. Thank you for creating a UGA 2017 thread. I am an international student. I got into UGA PhD program in Agricultural and Applied Economics and excited to attend UGA.
I wanted to ask regarding the housing. I saw the profile of the University Village and Rogers Road. which is a better place?
https://housing.uga.edu/site/housing_residence_universityvillage
Disclaimer: I've never actually been inside either of those apartments, but honestly I think they're pretty similar. As far as location, they're pretty close to each other. The main difference I notice from the website is that University Village will be open during school breaks like Christmas and spring break. I think there are options for people to stay in other residence halls if theirs is closed during breaks, but you may want to take that into consideration if you would like to stay in your apartment throughout the school year.
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On 4/9/2017 at 2:19 AM, Iykestarcom said:
Hello everyone, newbie to the USA from a different continent too. Got accepted into the food science MS program. How can one get around assistantships in UGA. Has anyone commenced registrations and stuff like that? Thanks.
That'll vary by program. There may be some information on the food science website on assistantships and advising for registration, but you could send someone from the program an email to ask. I'm personally not very concerned about registration just yet. I'd expect some more information in the next few months.
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I actually went to UGA for undergrad so I'm familiar with a lot of the areas, so it makes it easier for me to do from a distance. I don't plan to live on campus, so I keep checking websites like rentathens.com.
If you are interested in University housing, which might be your best option at least for the first year or semester as an international student, you can register on the Dawg House. I'm not sure which site you were checking, but https://housing.uga.edu/site/register_famgrad has some information about it. That website mentions the three areas that are most common for grad students, but I think you can also choose to live in other residence halls if you want. There is a UGA bus that goes to family and graduate housing that makes it fairly convenient to get to campus.
Alternatively, there are quite a few apartment complexes around Athens, some of which have their own buses/shuttles to campus, and some are on the Athens transit bus line.
If you have any questions or want to know about a certain area, I'd be happy to help!
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Hi, I'm going into the MS in artificial intelligence program. I didn't attend the last event. However, I am already familiar with the campus, and I have been told by other grad students that the accepted students day wasn't particularly helpful. They say that they basically tell you what to expect from grad school and that it's a lot of work. I will go to the one in June if I'm able to, though.
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If anyone hasn't yet heard from Brandeis or has been waitlisted, I was accepted and will likely decline the offer. I just declined an offer from CUNY as well as they said they had many applicants on the waitlist.
Edit: I also was not interviewed for either of these programs.
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On 3/22/2017 at 7:30 AM, catsnbikes said:
Hello anyone! I am coming to Athens this weekend to visit (recently accepted to a PhD in Social Work). Is there anything I must see/do? A part of town to tour? I love local book shops and coffee shops. Also planning to hit up the bike shops around town.
Thank you in advance!
My favorite bookstore is downtown on Jackson St. I think it's called Jackson Street Books, or something of the sort. It's one of those secondhand bookstores with books stacked everywhere and a little bit of everything. There's another local bookstore a little north of downtown on Prince, but they sell new books and I don't find it quite as exciting. The local coffee chain is Jittery Joe's and you'll see those everywhere, but to get a different experience, you can check out Two Story on South Lumpkin St. Also, Walker's is downtown and it's a coffee shop/bar, and it's one of my favorite places to go downtown. The downtown area is very small (just a few blocks) but there are a ton of bars and restaurants and some vintage stores, and the Georgia Theater where concerts are held. There are several good parks to go to if you like outdoor things. Memorial Park has a trail and mini zoo; and the botanical gardens have a few trails. There's really not much else in Athens aside from some shopping centers and a small mall.
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On 3/17/2017 at 5:48 PM, ThatSillyLinguist said:
Thank you! Do you know if there are any other prerequisites in math etc? Meaning, if I were to apply and get accepted, will there be courses that are based on the assumption of preexisting knowledge in mathematics/programming etc, or is everything taught?
That I don't know. If you look into the courses in their curriculum you could check and see if they have any math prerequisites. Or send them an email to make sure.
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2 hours ago, ThatSillyLinguist said:
I'm a current (BA) linguistics major and I'll be applying to grad school in December (For Fall 2018 admission) and am starting to look into programs. My top choice is currently University of Washington's MS in computational linguistics; the program looks phenomenal. That being said, I have no previous experience in any type of computer programming and can't remember the last time I took a math test. Are these subjects prerequisites that must be completed before applying? Or can you take them through the university afterwards? I noticed that they had a two year program which I wouldn't mind doing (instead of graduating in one year)... if I do that, do I still need to take other computer or math courses?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
They have a lot of information on their website about admissions and prerequisites. You do need to know how to program to apply for the one year program. The pathway for linguistics majors allows you to complete the prerequisites and complete the program in two years, but you still should know how to program. You have a year, so take an intro to programming course and a statistics class if you haven't already. Focus on learning either Java or C++ as well as you can in the next year, but you don't need to be an expert as it is expected for the 1 year applicants.
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5 hours ago, TakeruK said:
If you are asked for a number to the tenths decimal place, then the only correct representation of 3.89 is 3.9.
Alright, thanks. I guess I was just overthinking it because it didn't say to round it so I thought maybe I was to truncate it.
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Stupid question but my overall undergrad GPA was 3.89. One application I'm filling out now asks for GPA to the tenth. Obviously they can find my exact GPA by looking at my transcripts anyways, but is it okay to round up in this situation? I don't want to look dishonest but going down to 3.8 seems like a foolish thing to do.
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7 hours ago, sandipana said:
Hi,
I need some help and advice.I am planning to apply for MS in Computational Linguistics but my toefl score is 80 only, and is going to appear in GRE this month,so I am bit confused about my chances of getting admission in any university.I did my masters in Linguistics and have been working in this field since last two years.Will that help me?
What programs do you plan on applying to? Some will tell you a minimum TOEFL required. My husband is applying for an MBA and needs anywhere from 70-100 for the programs he's looking at. If the programs don't specify, this website can be helpful in getting a general idea of what's expected. though it's not program specific or for grad school admissions. If there isn't a minimum score required, it's less likely that a score of 80 alone will disqualify you from a program if you have a strong application altogether.
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It's not uncommon for people from other backgrounds to go into linguistics programs, and you'll see all of the programs you look at will require you to take courses in syntax, semantics, or phonology, etc., so it's really not that big of a deal that you haven't taken these courses yet. Have you taken the GRE? While it's not necessarily indicative of a strong application, better scores obviously will give you better chances. I don't know much about sign language linguistics programs, but a friend in my undergrad program was interested in Boston University and University of Texas for this. As far as the schools you mentioned, they're obviously highly-ranked programs, but it might not be too much of a reach for you. You already have some research experience and you have some time to put together a strong application.
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I wouldn't be too worried about it. It's one thing to do poorly in an important class or tank your GPA in the last semester, but (depending on the program/number of withdrawals, etc. of course) generally, I don't think a withdrawal in an unrelated class would hurt an otherwise strong application. On top of that, after already being accepted to a program, I would think one withdrawal would be even less significant. I would, however, feel uneasy about asking the schools how it would affect things, but of course, that's the only way to know for sure. The next best way might be to find a current student or someone familiar with the admissions process at these schools and see if they could give you any more specific information/advice.
If it's of any comfort, I have several withdrawals on my undergrad transcripts, and none of the grad programs I applied to ever even mentioned them or asked about them in interviews.
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On 2/6/2016 at 9:50 PM, sugarandspice said:
strongly considering UPitt and already looking at apartments in the area! i have never been there though. where do most students live? is it easy to make friends?
I don't have specific places in mind for you to look, but I know the area well. The main campus is in Oakland and there are quite a few housing options there. Shadyside and Squirrel Hill are very close (easily walkable to campus) and often more affordable housing and many students live there. Pitt IDs also function as a port authority pass, so busses are free and fairly convenient in the area. Bloomfield is close enough and there are decent places there. It's got a bit of a reputation as hipster territory. Beyond that, there's Garfield and East Liberty, which I'd generally advise to stay away from. South Side is close across the river but very expensive to live in. It's an area with a bunch of bars, so it's a big party spot on weekends.
It's very much a college town with several large universities in the area, so there's always events or something going on and there's a lot of cool cultural things to see around the city. I'd say it should be pretty easy to find your scene and make friends in the area.
Advice on when to apply for CompLing PhD and writing samples
in Linguistics Forum
Posted
With your business analytics studies, I'm guessing you know how to do at least some machine learning/statistical modelling? If so, I think the most straightforward option would be to find a public dataset (from Kaggle, UCI, etc) that ideally involves language or some form of NLP. Try different types of techniques and models to solve the problems and research the methods you use. Even if you don't come up with a great model, you could still have a quality research paper.
Another idea is to choose a problem in the area you want to research, for instance, problems for computational models for parsing. You could do a literature review and try to implement current state of the art methods and note your results or possibilities for new solutions to the problem.
Neither of these ideas are likely to be groundbreaking papers, but I think they have potential to be decent writing samples in your timeframe.