Bumblebee

mobile library

best man

Congratulations!!!

My intended primary areas of specialization are Second Language Acquisition and Sociolinguistics, with a sub-specialization in Phonetics/Phonology. All of this in Spanish, since I'm going to be in a Hispanic Linguistics program.

I don't know about other schools, but Florida State asked a score of 1000 in the GRE for Hispanic Linguistics. I got 1250 and got admitted in very good schools. But, I'm international, so maybe their less strict with foreigners.

I'm in Hispanic Linguistics, but Linguistics after all. I just made my decision and accepted Indiana's offer. I was rejected by Ohio State, Florida State and Penn State, and got admitted at Georgetown (without funding) and UMass Amherst (with full funding). Indiana offered me full funding+summer fellowship. And they guaranteed funds for 2 years of MA and 5 more years if I continue to PhD (which I will). Soooo happy!!! Congratulations to those who already made their decision and good luck to those in the waiting list or those who cannot make up their mind. I'm sure you'll end up somewhere great!

runner up

direct flight

Continental breakfast

No sé si alguien la ha puesto ya, pero esta página también ayuda: http://www.phdcomics.com/ (O hace llorar, según se vea) Advertencia: Crea adicción y fomenta la procrastinación.

I know, I told my parents that I needed their support, not their weeping. And I definitely think I will be happier in IUB. At Amherst apparently they don't have a phonetics/phonology professor, since he retired a couple of years ago and hasn't been replaced yet. Phonology is one of my intended areas of specialization.

Actually, the same day I was told I was accepted without funding, I got a phone call saying I did have funding. It was just a little bit less than Indiana (although cost of life is higher in Amherst), guaranteed for less years than in Indiana and without a summer fellowship (I got one from IUB).

my goodness

I simply have no words! How do they sleep at night?

Thank you! I also think going to that school wouldn't be such a good idea. The treatment in the school I've chosen was extremely good since the first moment. Several professors contacted me the moment I was accepted and when I went for the campus visit I wasn't supposed to meet one of the professors, but he saw me in the corridor and insisted in meeting with me. He told me not to be surprised if I received something else, apart from the TAship. That they had received some extra money from the school for recruitment and that he and another professor had strongly recommended me for something. It turned out to be a summer fellowship for next year. Oh, and one of the grad students already got me in touch with one possible roomy. And in the other school, total chaos and 3 days to make a decision. Well, it was very clear where I would be treated better. Plus, in this school the professor who teaches in one of my areas of interest retired a couple of years ago and they haven't hired anyone new yet. No brainer here!

Teller machine

In my case, there was also some confusion concerning my application from one of the schools. At the end of March, I asked about my application status and was told that they had sent me an e-mail on Feb. 5th telling me that my sample paper was missing. I never got that e-mail. It was the end of March and, therefore too late in the game, but I sent my sample paper again, just in case, telling this person that I hoped it wasn't too late for me. Never got a reply. A week later I asked this person if I should expect a decision from the school or if I had already been rejected due to my incomplete application. The answer was that they were reviewing it that week and that I should contact someone else should I have more questions. Well, that's what I did. I sent an e-mail on Sunday evening and on Monday I got an e-mail saying that I was not accepted at the school. So, well, since I was to hear from this school to make my decision, I contacted another school and told them I accepted their offer (a really good one, BTW). But, to my surprise, yesterday I received an e-mail from the same person who told me that I was not accepted, telling me that he made a mistake and that I am actually accepted but that they didn't have funding for me at the moment. Oh, well, too bad, but I'm heading somewhere else. But, wait, that's not all. Yesterday evening, a professor called me to tell me that I am accepted and... with full funding. Seriously? In two days I've been rejected, accepted without funding and accepted with funding. And after making me wait for months (I got the e-mails exactly 5 months after applying) they give me until this Friday (that is 3 days) to make a decision. Well, I simply don't have words. Now the problem will be to tell my mum that I'm sticking to my decision of attending the other program (she is obsessed with the idea of me going to this school that rejected/accepted me, even when it's because it's one flight closer from home, it's in the East Coast instead of the Midwest, therefore more renown and better, and the Linguistics department is one of the best - doesn't really care if my degree would be from another department).

Hi, Switzerland! This is my third year working as a Teaching Fellow in a small Liberal Arts College. Before that I had some teaching experience, but nothing as serious as what I do now. I'm not going to lie to you. At the beginning it is difficult. You're really nervous, you don't know what kind of students you'll have, you're not sure how you're going to teach, you find it hard to grade (specially papers... oh! I hate grading papers! they're soooo subjective!), etc. One of the hardest things that I found at the beginning was planning the lessons. Sometimes I ran out of things to do, and sometimes I ran out of time to do all the stuff I wanted to do. I know this sounds scary, but... I can promise you, it will soon be over. I've made my mistakes, I've screwed up several times, I've had to struggle with students, but I've learned. A lot. I've gotten really good evaluations from my students. Now I don't prepare my lessons that thoroughly (at the beginning I would teach a whole lesson at home to make sure I could teach it again in class). I improvise, I change plans, I accommodate the lessons depending on the students (the same syllabus doesn't work the same for one group and for another). It just takes a little bit of practice. Just be confident, make students feel comfortable at your class and relax. You'll do it. The first two weeks will suck, but then, it'll be over. And, just for you to know, a professor of mine once told me that even professors with many years of experience get nervous the first day of class, since they don't know what kind of students they will have or whether their course will work that semester (specially if they're teaching a new course). Oh, and, BTW, teaching at this college was one of the reasons why I applied to Grad School. I would love to make research, but I would also love to be able to teach at university level. It's soooo much gratifying compared to teaching at secondary education...

Thanks a lot! I'm really happy, or at least I was until a couple of hours ago. I had already made my mind that I was going to Indiana, but my mother was putting a lot of pressure on me because she wanted me to wait to hear from Amherst. Well, when I received an e-mail from Amherst yesterday saying that I hadn't been accepted I was so glad that I could freely accept Indiana, without my mum yelling at me... I contacted Indiana saying that I accepted the offer, I posted everywhere in The Grad Cafe that I was going to Indiana and today I went to work with my IU t-shirt. The problem? I got an e-mail today from Amherst basically saying... Oops! My bad. Ummmm... I... well... I kinda made a mistake. You are accepted in Amherst, we just can't offer you any funding at this moment. We hope to be able to offer you something soon. Well, I made the mistake of telling my parents. Huge mistake! Now they're pressuring me to contact Amherst and ask them about the funding and if they offer something similar/better, to tell Indiana I'm not going. They're obsessed with the idea that since Amherst is in Massachusetts and Indiana is in the Midwest (like going to China for them, basically) Amherst must be a much better school. Who knows Indiana, anyway? Plus, they only think about the Linguistics department in Amherst being one of the best (they don't even care about the fact that I would actually be in the Spanish department). Oh, and they would be taking 2 flights instead of 3 everytime they go to visit me. They just burst my bubble! I was sooo happy this morning, even after getting the e-mail from Amherst. I didn't regret it at all. I just regret telling my parents. I'm sorry for telling all this here, but I just needed to share it with someone. Why can't my parents just support my decision? They're in a different country and have no idea of the US education system.

Decision made. I'm going to Bloomington!!! I'm sooo excited. I had been almost sure I was going there since I went on a campus visit 10 days ago, but I was waiting to hear from another school just in case. But now it's confirmed. I'll be a hoosier in August!

Having undergrads as friends is not a good idea at all, specially if they're current students. You lose part of your authority and it's harder to give a student a bad grade if that student is a friend. The same way, I wouldn't want to be good friends with a professor, at least while at grad school, since I expect my professors to be fair and honest with me. Being nice and approachable to students is great, but there must be boundaries. Having said that, I'm "allergic" to Facebook and all those social networking sites, so I don't have to deal with that problem.

I thanked them before, during and after. I happen to work with my LORs, so when I came back after Christmas, I brought them a little present from my country, too.

Chemical reactor

If you want to try in one of the Baltic countries, make sure you can first. Sometimes you need to be a legal resident in a country if you're going to process a visa there. At least in Spain, you need to prove that you're a Spanish national or resident to be able to do your US visa in Madrid. I'm not sure how it works for EU nationals, but ask first, just in case.

Good luck with your decision, then! You shouldn't worry about the visa. If you're going to be in Amsterdam for the summer, you will have plenty of time until August to get it done, if you finally decide to do it. Oh, I forgot to mention something. Last summer, less than 24 h after I left the embassy my passport was at home with the visa in it. So it's usually fast, but don't leave it for August, just in case. I'm definitely staying in the US, since I got admitted with a really good offer in Indiana. I'm waiting to tell them until I get an answer from UMass Amherst, but, unless they offer me a super-mega financial offer, I will be heading to Indiana in August.