Adequate Philosopher

Sure!  I'm not super great about it either.  I literally time (with an online timer) how long I spend working on a single day; the timer has a feature that lets me track which projects I'm working on.  I roughly estimate how long I want each task to take (so like "I want to spend 40 hours on this research paper over the next month") and try to spend exactly that amount of time on it.  
I've found that works the best for me, because "working" in philosophy often feels like you're not making any progress, even though you are, since so much of philosophical work is banging your head against a chalk board.  Tracking hours let's you know that you're actually making progress, even if it doesn't feel like it.
Also find an advisor that you admire / like enough that you would feel embarrassed going to an advising meeting with no work to show her.  Then schedule periodic meetings with that person.  That's definitely worked wonders for my productivity.  (Having at least one moderately scary advisor is a good thing, folks!!)

So, I heard that Western Michigan currently has all of their funded offers out, but they are potentially looking to make a couple unfunded ones as well. When I got my MA at WMU there were a few unfunded grad students in my class, but by our second year they had all moved into funded spots...I'm not saying that that'll happen this time, but it definitely could. But, even if it didn't the cost of living in Kalamazoo is quite low and they're doing some cool philosophy. Just thought I'd pass the word on in case any of you were still looking for a school...I definitely enjoyed my time there.

A high amount of eventual attendees come from the WL. Don't give up yet! Getting two positive responses is great, just hang in there another two weeks. Good luck!

I've decided on FSU out of my 3 acceptances, so if anyone is waiting on Cincinnati (seems unlikely, but maybe?) a spot will be opening soon.

I think we are missing some of the most important information here:
Have you studied a foreign language previously? If so, how did you do?
If you've successfully learned another language before, it will make learning other languages on your own a million times easier. If you have not studied a foreign language previously at all (or were unsuccessful), I think that attempting to learn on your own without any course or guidance would be an inefficient use of your time--it will take you much, much longer to figure it out on your own for the first time.
I have to warn that I am also a classicist, but I would recommend taking Latin first for several reasons:
A) As you mentioned, it's largely taught for reading knowledge right from the start.
B ) Latin has a relatively small regular vocabulary (especially compared to Greek or German) so you'll be able to read texts more quickly with less brute vocab study (there will be a lot of this regardless)
C) Latin is grammar-heavy. The first thing you'll be doing is learning all about the declension system, the conjugation system, etc. This will be extremely helpful when you learn your other languages, like Greek and German, and you're already all too familiar with the dative and future passive participles. It will also allow you to study other languages on your own much more easily.
D) The vocabulary that you do need to learn will translate extremely easily over to French (and Italian and Spanish and Portuguese...). It's extremely easy for me (as a classicist with no formal Italian training) to read Italian. Even if this isn't really a required language, it will open up more opportunities for your own research, and it's great to be able to put down reading knowledge of other languages on your CV with so little extra training.
E) Greek textbooks (and courses) largely assume an audience already familiar with Latin (and therefore can occasionally gloss over important grammar information). Latin courses do not assume prior knowledge of another foreign language. In addition, Latin is significantly more regular than Greek. Ancient Greek is pockmarked with irregularities and is therefore extremely difficult for a first-time foreign language learner (or, frankly, even a second-time one). Much, much more brute memorization.
F) German's structure is much more similar to the structure of English than Latin/Greek/even French are. This makes it easier for you as a native English speaker to teach yourself German than to teach yourself Latin/Greek/even French.

A lot of universities with graduate programs in comparative literature / classics / romance languages, etc., offer intensive summer courses designed to get you from a point of virtually no familiarity to a comfortable reading knowledge in about eight to ten weeks. They can be expensive, but if you're receiving financial aid through your home institution, you might be able to cover it. I took an eight-week intensive in German for Reading Knowledge at Harvard last summer and damn - I recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone who (a) really wants to learn a language, and (b) is willing to spend literally forty hours a week working on it.

I've plucked up the courage and declined Toronto's MA. I hope that'll translate to good news for someone else.

Kant mainly, but also Leibniz and German Idealism more broadly. Kant / Kierkegaard at Cornell.

After a few days of tough deliberation, I just declined UC-Irvine and OSU. That means I've declined all my actual offers except for Pittsburgh. However, I am still waitlisted at UCSD and Cornell and I will wait those out before accepting Pitts' offer. That means that if I do turn down Pitt, it's likely that it won't be until very close to April 15. But I've done my best to make a decision on the options I do have in a timely manner.
Best of luck, everyone!

Powerprep software: this gives you practice tests directly from the ETS, timed and untimed. 
From the ETS website: Practice book, Math Review, Math Conventions, Intro to Quant, Intro to Verbal, Overview of the Analytical Writing.
Magoosh: their website gives you free questions and free videos explaining things. They also have free ebooks: general, math, verbal. They have the option to upgrade to get access to more things, but you can use the free options. You do need to register to have access to the free resources.
Manhattan: I’ve heard from multiple sources they have are the best. They give you one free practice test.
GRE question a day: they will send you a daily question to your email, but you can also browse questions from previous days. I like it because it gives you an explanation to the questions if you get them wrong.
Princeton Review: I’ve heard their practice are very easy compared to the real thing, but you can take a free practice test. It might still be helpful.
Virtual Math Lab help for the GRE: This gives you tutorials for all the math concepts covered in the GRE.
My GRE tutor: covers information about all the sections of the GRE.
Number2: Provides you with practice questions and explanations.
Powerscore GRE prep: they have free online seminars as well as other GRE info and even info on graduate schools.
Vocabtest: this site helps you learn vocabulary and lets you create your own vocab tests.
Kaplan practice test: don’t know how good it is, but it’s a free practice test!
 
This list is definitely not complete, if you do a google search there will be lots of resources, but I think this is a good and helpful list.
Feel free to add resources you think are good! Good luck!

I took myself off the Missouri waitlist. Hope this helps someone somewhere.

Declined my offer from Maryland.  My AOI is psych and cognitive science.

I took myself off the Irvine waitlist today.

I appreciate your early decision as well.

Declined UMass Amherst. Hope it helps! 

I took three semesters of German as an undergraduate. Still can't read philosophy in German (haven't done any German in a year) but I have the basic foundation to build off of. I'm planning on working through April Wilson's German Quickly book this summer. I'm pretty poor with languages though (my work ethic could be better in this area too); I know some philosophers who have taught themselves German.
But I think that, in general, the language learning infrastructure (in America) is terrible. We are required generally to take a few semesters of language classes in college and high school. But why so late? Isn't the best time to learn languages when we are in elementary school? And, when we do take language classes in college they are 4 days a week for an hour a day. Obviously that's not the most efficient way to learn a language. Seems like the best way to learn a language would be to live immersed in it for a few weeks—I imagine 8 weeks of German immersion (where you can't use English) in the summer would be more beneficial than 3 semesters of German classes. The problem, of course, is that the immersion style programs are so rare and expensive. I got accepted into Middlebury's language school for the summer (by the way, they have other languages as well), with a grant that covers half the tuition, but I still don't have quite enough to go. But that does seem to be the most efficient way to learn. Would be interested in hearing others' experiences.
 
Edit: One other thing. They say, in philosophy only reading knowledge is important. It's true that reading knowledge in German, for example, is a must if you're doing Kant. I'm skeptical that it's all that helpful to divorce language-for-reading from language-for-living. So yeah, I bet there are a lot of philosophers that can read, say, Kant in his original language, but couldn't speak or live in a German environment. But I'm just skeptical that their reading of German is really authentic when it's divorced from knowledge of living in German. But maybe I'm making a lot of unwarranted language assumptions. Would be interested in hearing others' views on this.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!
I suppose the short answer is: It varies, based in part on the language and the way one learns.

Not sure if I agree with that, or at least I don't agree strongly. While the grammar of Latin and Greek is different, many of the texts I have used both to learn the languages and for teaching them to undergrads and younger children do a decent job at emphasizing how the grammar differs from contemporary English constructions and is similar, to an extent, to non-English, PIE tree languages wrt/ declining and conjugating words (though not with sentence order). I think with a decent enough book, and the internet, some folks at least would be able to grasp the morphological changes in Greek and Latin and discern how the sentence constructions, while different from English, make sense. Personally, sitting in a semester course where you memorize declension charts, how to conjugate verbs, and get repeatedly told that you can't just read the sentence left to right may not be the best use of time (for at least some folks). 
So, maybe Adequate Philosopher would have success on their own with the languages, and maybe they would need an accelerated IS/class. It would just depend, as it does for all of us, on what kind of structure they need to be successful. 

Like MtnDuck I was also originally trained as a classicist, but currently in a philosophy program. I've studied Latin and Greek for about 6 years, French for about 3, and German for about 2. For all of these I've done a mixture of formal classroom study, and informal study (reading groups, independent study, etc.), and I was also able to do a 5 week intensive immersion program for French.
Here's a few pieces of advice: I would strongly recommend not teaching yourself Latin or Greek but taking classes instead. The grammar of both Latin and Greek is significantly different from English as well as many European languages that are commonly studied like Spanish and French (German is an exception, however). If you don't get a good mastery of this early on (which could be quite difficult to do if you're working by yourself), then there's a good chance that your ability in the language will be severely handicapped.
You're right that French and German classes usually focus on conversational skills, and it's often a pain to sit through an intro class with undergrads, most of whom are probably just trying to fulfill a requirement. Nonetheless, I've personally found that independent studying (focusing on grammar and reading skills) and classroom work (confusing on conversational skills) reinforce each other really well, if you're able to either make it through the intro classes or skip them somehow. 
If you want to do some independent study, I've had a bunch of friends speak highly of the book French for Reading. I never used it, but apparently it's the best textbook if you want to teach yourself reading knowledge of the language. I don't really have any recommendations for German though since most my German work has been through taking classes.

Disclaimer: I am not a historian of philosophy but I was originally trained as a classicist. While you could take beginner classes during your MA, teaching yourself is more than doable (at least for the basics). For Latin, Wheelock's is the way to go in my opinion (unless you want a more entertaining approach with Cambridge). Likewise for Ancient Greek; there are a handful of introductory readers though I favor Hansen and Quinn or the book published by Hackett. The reason I recommend learning the basics on your own first, rather than necessarily taking a class, is that in intermediate and upper level courses you would learn the nuances of the language. Baby Greek and baby Latin introduce the basics, not the nuances. The nuances, along with brute knowledge of vocab, are where folks can sometimes struggle.
A few of the classicists I know taught themselves French using Vis-à-Vis: Beginning French (and that is the series I used then I was learning some French) and stay up to speed using duolingo or some other smartphone app. I, personally, am favorable of taking in-person courses for living languages due to the many nuances that might otherwise get glossed over if you were to teach yourself. Myself and a cohort member will be taking German in the fall.
If there is a course in PIE based etymology (i.e., Greek and Latin etymology) it may be useful to sit in on it. Learning the roots and about morphology can help you learn both the dead languages and the modern ones that are on the PIE tree. If you attend some institutions, such as Virginia Tech , you get free access to Rosetta Stone as a student. 

I have a question for you historians of philosophy: How did you acquire reading knowledge of a foreign language? Did you take a class? If so, which one(s)? Did you study the language on your own? If so, which books did you buy and/or self-teaching services did you use?
I will begin pursuing a terminal MA this fall, and my main interests are in the history of philosophy. I like it all, but if I had to specify, I would choose early modern philosophy as an AOS. One conspicuous weak spot in my CV is a lack of reading knowledge of the four main languages historians of philosophy need to know. (Ancient) Greek and Latin will be easy--classes in the classics are almost always geared towards reading knowledge of the language. 
However, for those of you who have reading knowledge of French and/or German, did you take college classes or study the language on your own? Classes in German and French typically put a considerable emphasis on conversing in the language. All else being equal, I'd love to be able to converse in French and German, but what I'm really concerned about is reading knowledge.
I appreciate any help you have to offer!

*received*
No wonder I "receiving" a resounding rejection a while ago. I can't not write no good.

*received*
No wonder I "receiving" a resounding rejection a while ago. I can't not write no good.

ftfy

That Gricean implicature though.