Bumblebee

no kidding

Sorry about that! I'm an international going for Linguistics, and didn't know a GRE Quant score of 700 was not acceptable. But thanks for the info!

box office

two cents

I would take GRE again. The verbal and analytical writing scores are quite low (no offense intended ). I imagine in your field the quantitative score is the most important, but as far as funding is concerned, you want to make sure you have a very competitive GRE. I think in some schools they look at it when they decide who's getting the funding. And as for the TOEFL, although you have more than the required score (and I know of people getting full funding with a lower TOEFL score than yours), I think it would be a good idea to improve it if you have time. In some schools, even if you "pass" the TOEFL you are required to pass their own English exams or take a course, and if your score is high enough, you get a waiver. A professor of the department where I'll be next year told me that I'll probably get a waiver from the department to take the exam, since my score was really good (I honestly was surprised when I received it). That's just my 2 cents.

Wow! I think pangor-ban covered pretty much everything. I would just add a couple of things. For the boots, Columbia has nice ones. I got myself a pair my first winter here and they have lasted all three winters (I've worn them everyday for several weeks in a row). They are so warm that I don't even need special socks for the winter. The normal ones are enough. The boots I got resist up to -25ºF and they didn't get damaged with the salt (they just got a little bit discolored). I would also recommend getting ear muffs, specially for the days when there are extreme windchill values. I had never used them before coming to Central New York, but I'm glad I got them. When it's very cold it really hurts in the ears. You may also try getting a hat with earflaps, but I still think the ear muffs will be better. Land's end has nice ones.

Did the other schools give you a deadline to make a decision? If they didn't or you still have time, maybe you could wait until the end of this week. And if you still haven't received anything by then, then perhaps you can get in touch with them again. That way a month will have passed and you won't risk sounding pushy (although I don't think you would be pushy anyway).

If I ever get married, I won't change my last names. In my country women keep their last names and the children take the father's first last name and the mother's first last name, so we all have two last names. I wouldn't want to change my name because that's who I am, that's my identity. I've noticed having two last names causes some problems here. My students never now how to call me, since they get confused with my last names. And the fact that I always go by my middle name and not by my first name makes things even more complicated. But, going back to the topic of the thread, besides my personal reasons for not wanting to change my name, I think it would make things a lot easier if a woman didn't change her maiden name. Specially if she has already published. If she changed her name, she would need to make sure that people identify both names with the same person. And she would have to deal with all the paperwork derived from the change. But that's just my personal opinion. Plus, I'm still not very familiar with US academia, so don't take my opinion very seriously.

fresh bread

drive wheel

I teach Spanish at a liberal arts college. Yesterday I had my last lesson and this week I'm getting ready for grading, grading and grading. Once I've submitted my student's final grades, and ignored some e-mails complaining about them, I will start getting ready to move to Indiana.

break dance

kill time

summer school

crunch numbers

I've also noticed it goes faster, both when signed in and signed out. Thanks a lot!

winter clothes

Grad school

driving test

go swimming

Sure! Just give me a couple of years

After I sent an e-mail + a formal letter accepting the offer, I waited and waited and got no answer from the head of the department (although I did get an answer from the professors to whom I had told my decision of accepting the offer). I was getting worried, since it was past April 15th and I had rejected two other offers, so I sent him an e-mail. Apparently he thought he had replied to me but he didn't. He apologized and told me that I would get more info at the beginning of the summer. Did the school confirm the receipt of your acceptance? If they didn't, I would suggest you to send an e-mail asking for confirmation. If they did, I would wait a little bit. The semester is coming to an end and the professors must be extremely busy these days. Give them 2-3 weeks until the last days of class and the finals have passed. Then, if you haven't received anything, I guess you can ask.

far away

first lady

Thank you, bgk! I was supposed to be preparing my students' finals, writing my Intro to Linguistic Anthropology paper and reviewing one of the students' senior thesis. Well, I still have Sunday to do all that!