Danger_Zone

I'm surprised I did so well in my summer classes since I was home (although all the roommates I've been stuck with have been very noisy too so I'm surprised I got any work done at all)! I'm wanting to move to the US soon as well but I guess I am waiting on a visa to do that, but I think that should be finalized soon! When I've gone to the US it honestly doesn't feel too different to me than Canada, except the US is cheaper and has better food. That's great though! It's really good to be proud of your accomplishments and things you set out to do. With a good attitude you are going to do well.

@Neist Cultural history is great. I also love social history, it's always really interesting to read about individual experiences. I'm a bit picky about writing style I guess, though. @BlackBear50 Unfortunately I know next to nothing about ancient/medieval topics or I would recommend something! I've only learned a bit on early modern Europe. I'm a very modern history kind of person I guess. Still in the middle of The Plague but I'm also reading Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It by Gabriel Wyner. Hoping to apply the information in the book to my German language learning.

I'm so jealous of people moving right now (well, I guess not all of you sound particularly enthused about it, sorry!). I have to share a bedroom with my sister and her stuff has taken up the whole room. I have my computer in our basement but it's super cold down here and it's difficult to be alone with the rest of my family around all the time. I'm going to miss them though. But I feel like I finally get to start my own life soon?

I probably have about 30-40 unread books, so it's nothing ridiculous but I don't know how I ended up accumulating so many (probably all the book buying sprees I have? ). I really wish I could get into e-books. They seem really convenient but it just doesn't feel the same to me. I might give the Kindle a chance one day, though, as I've only tried reading from my computer. @hippyscientist I also have a goodreads account. It's very helpful for keeping track of books I want to read as well, although I try to keep the amount of books I want to read around the same as the books I have read so I don't go crazy and wishlist a thousand things.

I think I will contact her then, thanks! I know publishing is competitive so I don't expect to immediately have my paper accepted or anything, but this still might help me get exposure to what the process of publishing a paper is like. I recently submitted another paper to an undergrad journal, but that didn't really have many requirements.

I think I have the perfect journal in mind but its website is a bit messy at the moment so I'm not even sure what the submission dates are. But I know she had a student publish in it for her Master's so I can probably ask her about it. I have been reading over my paper and I'm surprised at how many things I found that I could fix (mostly small grammatical things, but things I never noticed when I was proofreading it last year.) I haven't written much since graduation so it's nice to know I'm still improving, even if only by a little.

I recently got my stack of books out that I had in my closet and sorted my books by "read" and "to read" on my bookshelf. Not only have I run out of space, but I have so many "to read" books it's ridiculous! I'm overwhelmed but at the same time I love how much my book collection has grown. I'm excited for when I move to my new place so I can buy a giant bookshelf to hold everything. But I really need to get to reading things I haven't yet. (Not complaining either, though. )

What scores did you end up getting? I'm very weak at math too, so I understand how you're feeling. If you have the money to do so, it may help to get a subscription to Magoosh. The website has tonnes of practice questions/tests and video and text explanations for each question's answer. It also keeps track of the kinds of questions you answer, which is separated into each type (the quant and verbal sections each have their own subtypes of questions, which you've probably noticed), so you can see where your weaknesses lie. For example, I did quite well on the Data Interpretation section, but struggled in other areas. If you are unable to subscribe to Magoosh, you can always look up free practice questions and note which types of questions you get incorrect and why: are you struggling at a particular type of question or are you generally weak in quant across all sections? This will help you figure out where you need to focus your study efforts. Pay attention to why you are getting questions incorrect and remember this for the next time you approach a similar question. This may help you avoid the same mistakes in the future. Hope this helps at all!

Those are actually pretty cool. I don't really wear a lot of graphic tees but I like quite a few of these designs. Unfortunately, though, I haven't read too many classics (I probably should do this more but there are just so many books to read!)

I have been considering trying to submit one of my undergrad papers to a history journal. I won an award for it and was told by a professor that it was a potentially publishable paper, but it would need a lot of work - this was mentioned a little while after I graduated. I was pretty burnt out from school at the time, so I didn't really work on the paper, but now I'm considering trying to get it to a publishable quality. Should I maybe contact my professor and ask if she could help me with this? I feel like this is a bit of a last minute project, considering I would be starting grad school in a few months, so I don't know if it's worth going to this trouble or if I should just wait until I have a Master's level paper to publish. I've been trying to fix the paper up on my own but I find it really difficult to judge my own work and find others better at pointing out flaws than I am. I'm just wondering if anybody has done this successfully (I am sure this is more common in the sciences but I don't know of many History undergrads publishing papers.)

Got into my top grad school, and now I'm going to Disney World in a few weeks!! This is the best year ever.

Congrats, that's awesome!

The psychology department at my uni sold "Forever Jung" and "Freud is my Homeboy" shirts.

I love planning! I have a really long list of things I need to do before the end of the summer. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment, though. My mind is really focused on moving at the moment, and it's hard to plan for a lot of things that come with that until I'm physically in the country. But I've chosen most of my courses for the fall, I am just struggling a bit to figure out what I want my minor field to be. I understand wanting to do a lot with seemingly little time. I'm really wanting to get a graduate teacher's certificate, as it gives you a lot of extra exposure to classroom teaching, so I'm hoping that works out. I'm also planning my first vacation ever!! I figured this is a good time to plan one before I am super busy with school.

Thanks! Glad to hear you enjoyed it. I loved the campus when I visited, it's beautiful! It's also absolutely huge, so I'm glad that I will be confined to a few buildings for my classes (I'm terrible at navigation.) I've heard really great things about the professors as well, and the ones I met were super nice.

I am tempted to try digestive enzymes. I don't have any life threatening allergies, but am mildly to moderately allergic to about a dozen fruits (apples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, cherries...). It's really frustrating because I love fruit. I can eat them if they are canned or processed in some way, though. I also seem to have random allergic reactions to things so I'm always afraid to try new foods.

You might want to contact your university's financial aid/student loan office and see if they can help. The US has a GRE Fee Reduction Program, so maybe there is something similar in Nigeria. That being said, as @fernandes has mentioned the GRE test fee is a very small amount of money compared to grad school fees. Even if you get a funded offer, it's very expensive to be an international student and you are going to have to show that you have the financial means to support yourself.

I can't not sing every song from the Lion King.

That's awesome, congrats!! My program is offering a class on archival theory in the fall and I've been considering taking it. It sounds really interesting! I'm so indecisive about what my final course for the semester should be though.

@Neist Ether Day is probably worth reading if you're interested in the subject, I know a lot of people like it. There are some pretty fun things to read about (like ether parties!)

Finished Writing Your Dissertation, as well as Ether Day by Julie M. Fenster (very interesting topic but I found the writing style a bit awkward and boring most of the time so it has taken me a long time to finish. There are probably better books on the subject anyway.) Think I will start The Plague by Albert Camus next.

I think there is nearly always some doubt or feelings of "what if" even when you do make the best decision for yourself. When I was deciding between my offers, there was one school which - to me at least - was clearly the best fit for me in nearly all aspects. I recognized the qualities of the other programs but I was really happy and excited about my decision. Yet when I clicked that "I accept this offer" button, I did experience some feelings of doubt, and of the realization that I had just determined where I was going to be for at least the next 5 years of my life (that's a huge decision!) Any decision that big is going to give somebody those iffy feelings, but hopefully a lot of excitement as well.

I wouldn't be so quick to judge somebody who does this while initially learning about grad school. When I was a junior in university I had just begun to think about grad school myself, and was full of a lot of questions, doubt and confusion. I don't think reaching out for advice necessarily means that they can't think for themselves, but maybe that they are overwhelmed or a little unsure of if they have the right credentials. I wondered myself if my grades were high enough for grad school (3.7 major and 3.3 cumulative, the latter of which was caused by some problems earlier on in undergrad). I ended up talking to one of my professors who said I did have a chance, especially if I worked on other aspects of my application. So while you cannot definitively tell somebody whether or not other credentials can offset a bad GPA, it can still be reassuring to ask and know what kind of chances you may have based on others experience.

This sounded like a great idea for my mom! She is really into make up and other beauty products. So I look it up and "We are so sad to let you know that we have made the difficult decision to put our Canada operations on hold. We love our Canadian customers, but with the current exchange rate and high shipping costs, we can't create the Birchbox experience at a price that is fair to you."

The process is far from over but my visa information was approved so I will be receiving my visa documents soon. I've also looked into housing online and some of the places near my university look beautiful, I'm so excited (and scared and anxious) to move in a few months.