elsueñodelretorno
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Posts posted by elsueñodelretorno
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Hi Xolo! Indeed, I was rejected by UT Austin last year, so not a big surprise. Anyways, I met this fall a grad student who is now in another university after transferring. She said that the atmosphere there in the department in Austin was horrible, that she had to work so many hours a week that she couldn´t stand it, etc. So not a big deal, I guess. I am only waiting now for CUNY (decisions coming in the following days), UCLA and UC Santa Barbara (these two I´m pretty sure won´t bring good news).
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2 hours ago, scarvesandcardigans said:
I know that Rutgers has made their "definitely no" decisions already, so if you haven't heard from them that's good news!
Also heard from UT Austin last night. Generic email to check MyStatus, and the decision says 'denied,' which I think is interesting. Not upset though. Has anyone heard anything new?
Hey! I was also rejected by UT Austin last night with the same email.
Hang in there guys!
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13 minutes ago, nevermind said:
I think making friends is totally up to you. There are plenty of ways of getting involved on campus and there are departmental things that you can participate in (some fields/cohorts are more social than others), but there are opportunities. You will probably have to make an effort.
Sounds logic!
Thank you very much! I´m attending the Open House in March and am so excited about it! Thanks again!
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16 minutes ago, nevermind said:
It's tough, but I've done it before so it's not terrible for me. I was making a lot of money working before I came back to graduate school, so I knew what the tradeoff was going to be. I don't know. Everyone has their own standards of living and for me, it's not bad. I don't really buy anything extravagant (food is probably my number one expense outside rent), and I don't have a ton of time for social activities. It's only 5 years out of your life, so it's not a long-term thing.
I see. I was also doing a decent salary (40K) until last Christmas, so I´ll have to "sacrifice" some things, like living by myself (tragic, but I´m assuming it. Grad school is worthy. Period). I was used to not worry about money at all and that´s about to change
Also, I´d be totally new to the city, international student, no romantic partner... So I think that sharing an apartment will be good for me as a way to have some human contact. San Diego and UCSD are welcoming places? I´d like to make friends, obviously.
Thank you very much!! -
53 minutes ago, nevermind said:
I live in North Park and take the Hillcrest shuttle to the UCSD campus. I don't have a car, so that saves on insurance payments. (If i need to go downtown or something, I take Lyft). I pay $750 to share an apartment with my boyfriend (total $1500) and it works for us. The no $$$ for summer kind of blows. I'm using my research stipend for my first year to pay for my bills (we don't actually get money from July through October) while I'll be gone this summer. You'll scrape by but it's not an extravagant lifestyle here.
Thank you very much! Your lifestyle is exactly what I had thought of: Hillcrest, shuttle, a shared apartment, no car, Lyft when needed... So, in your opinion, it´s not horrible? I skyped with two current grad students from my program and they were like: "this is so difficult".
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Hey there! Anyone else accepted to UCSD? I´m visiting them for the Open House.
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Hi there!
Not sure if there is anyone out there to read this, as I see that this topic hasn´t had much activity in the past year, but here are my questions in case anyone can answer:
I have been admitted to a Ph.D. program at UCSD. The program looks awesome to me, great fit, great professors... Academically I´m loving it. But I´d have to teach every semester and they would give me 20K (pre taxes) per academic year with no summer aid. How do you see this to live in San Diego? I´ve been researching a little bit and I thought that could live in Hillcrest (I´m European, a very urban person. Probably would feel miserable at La Jolla and, at least the first year, I won´t have a car) sharing an apartment (have seen very nice rooms on Craiglist for $600-800) and take the shuttle to campus. How difficult do you think my life would be on this stipend, 20K/year?
I appreciate all of your comments, thanks a lot! -
55 minutes ago, erasingdinosaurs said:
Mind if I ask what UNC offered and how it compares to the other schools? I still haven't heard from them, but I'm starting to feel that an MA program will best suit me anyway. Still, I'm curious about the PhD process for future application cycles!
Hi!
No, that´s fine. Most offers move around the 20K, except for UVA (where apparently money grows out of trees), which offers 26K and UNC, which offers 15K (whaaaat?).
For those of you thinking of the M.A., I also did an M.A. before applying to grad school (I have the feeling I´m probably a little bit older than many of you) and feel that it helped me a lot to figure out what kind of research I want to do and so on. For me was the best thing to do.
- Yak1030 and erasingdinosaurs
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Hey guys!
It´s good to know offers continue to appear on our horizons. I´m considering UC Davis (going to the Open House, anyone else?), UC San Diego (also going to the Open House... Anybody?), U of Maryland at College Park, UVA and UNC-CH. UNC stipend is ridiculously low, so I not many chances I accept it. And for the other programs, all of them have some things I like and some things I don´t like so much, so deciding is getting very hard for me... How are you going to decide? Do you have a clear favorite? Waiting for CUNY´s resolution after doing my interview last week, rejected by UChicago and nothing from UY Austin, UCLA (I´m so jealous of you guys who got the acceptance! I love the program) and UC Santa Barbara, so I guess nothing coming from there...
I am living right now in Costa Rica and got funding to visit the Open House events, so guys make sure to ask if that´s a possibility!
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42 minutes ago, TakeruK said:
My opinion is different than some of the above. If you prefer University A over University B, It will not hurt you to ask University A. But this is more common to ask in my field. If you ask politely, you will get a polite response back! It will most likely be a "no" but you never know. The best way to ask is to tell them that you would like to accept their offer but the funding is too low for you to be able to meet your needs. Tell them that you have another offer from University B and tell them the dollar amount. Then ask if there is any way to have your offer from University A increased to match University B (of course, you may not expect them to match exactly, but if they can come partway that would still be good). Say that you can send the University B offer letter if that helps make a case, and say that you are willing to provide whatever other info that's available.
Then you just have to wait and see. If University A really doesn't have extra funds, then they will just say no. I don't think it should reflect poorly on you---$15,000 is very little money no matter where you are in the US. They can't fault you for trying, especially if you have a much better offer. Usually I don't recommend applicants go for an offer just because of the money. However, in this case, $11,000 per year is a huge difference. Given how you have described the two schools, if University A doesn't increase their offer, personally, then I don't think I would take their offer, if I was in your shoes.
Thank you very much! I´ll ask them politely, then. You were very useful!
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2 minutes ago, Neist said:
You could probably ask, but it might leave a bad taste in their mouth. Maybe it won't, but personally, I doubt that I'd ask.
The school offering less probably has tight budget constraints. So, even if you ask for more, I'd imagine it at least highly likely that they won't be able to offer anything close to what school B offered.
My two cents.
Thank you!
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16 minutes ago, meggied said:
Is the cost of living different for the two cities? I know you said the cities were similar but just figured I would ask directly.
Hi! Yes, not much of a difference between the two of them. So in University B I could save some money and splurge from time to time.
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Hey there!
I have been admitted to various universities for a Ph.D. Among them, University A offers me 15,000$ per year and University B offers me 26,000$ per year. Both universities are well ranked, good programs, similar cities... But I like better A, for the professors. Now, do you think that is somehow possible to try to negotiate a little bit the stipend and get some more money? The difference is shocking!Thank you!
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UCLA emailed me a few days ago to tell me that I need to send them my transcripts (apparently they got lost in the mail), They said they are still making decisions.
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On 8/2/2017 at 0:07 PM, cactilio said:
I see! I think I'm definitely not prepared for that so I'd better get working! Thanks a lot again!
I'm doing it probably the 23rd since I was notified this morning that the spot I chose was taken already. Still need confirmation but it'll be either that day or 17th.
Mucha suerte!
Hi there!
I did my interview earlier today. It wasn´t the best interview of my life, nor the worst... so let´s see. Three professors (including my possible advisor), no student. Each of them asked me a few questions, some of them regarding more my background and other questions more linked to ideas or things I had said in my SoP ("I found interesting that you mention this, so what do you think of this other thing?", for example). We talked both in Spanish and English. Friends in academia told me to let them know which admissions I already have, so I did, maybe you want to do the same. And they said they´re making decisions by the end of the month. I will let you know whenever I hear back.
Best of luck! -
On 9/2/2017 at 11:29 AM, erasingdinosaurs said:
@Spanport Me too! Still, congrats to @elsueñodelretorno!! Hopefully more news will come soon for the rest of us
Thank you!!
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3 hours ago, cactilio said:
Wow! Thanks a lot! I really appreciate this
So, in your opinion, do you think your interview last year was not "convincing enough" or something for them to select you among others? I am not sure how precise I need to be about all these questions. In the email I got they mention 45 min interview! I feel like I do not have so many things to say...
Hmm... I´m not sure what to say. I guess that I was somewhat satisfied with the intervew after doing it, but at the same time had a feeling I hadn´t been as "brilliant" (dentro de mis posibilidades, claro, jaja) as I wanted... Weeks later I asked the department for some feedback and I got it, but I feel that that was too specific on the field that I work. It was about theoretical approach and so on.
What can I say? I´m also nervous! I´ll be working tomorrow evening on the interview (which is on Friday, when is yours?). Let´s just try to do our best.
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22 minutes ago, cactilio said:
I was also notified that I was moved forward to second phase! (¡qué nervios!)
Yasss! Congratulations!
Last year they asked me:
- To tell them about myself, my educational background, my academic interests... That kind of stuff.- Why CUNY.
- To talk a little bit more about what you would like to do for your dissertation, any ideas that you might have, etc.
- About my theoretical frame.
-To ask them anything you would like to know. (In my case I prepared a few questions in advances because I knew I would block if not).
There was (and I think it´s a rule of them, cause they´re very proud of being such a horizontal organization) a representative of the students. He just listened, didn't ask anything. He has, however, a voice when the committee decides which students to choose. In my case, he spent a lot of time looking at his cell, so I didn't feel very well with that...
Best of luck!
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1 hour ago, cactilio said:
Congrats and good luck!
Hope it works out for you, I am super interested in one of the Professors for my research so I'd really like to get this email but I kind of know how this game goes...
Thanks a lot and please update on how your interview goes!
Thank you! Will do
(After answering you a few ahours ago I posted the interviw notification. Mine is the one saying "will do an interview later this week").
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1 hour ago, cactilio said:
I saw on the results page someone was contacted for an interview...Is that you? Anyways...I haven't heard anything...Are you applying for Spanish or Portuguese?
(I'm interested in Peninsular).
Hi! That wasn´t me, but I was contacted for an interview, too. They emailed me not too long ago (couple of hours, maybe), so maybe you still get an email.
Also, this is the first round of interviews and they will for almost sure do another one later (once they have offered admissions and some people decline them so they need more candidates... You get the idea). I know it because last year I was interviewed during the second round (then waitlisted, then rejected... Great journey haha), so it can be the case.
I do Latin American literature (Central America mainly). Did you attend/watch online their open house in fall?Good luck!
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45 minutes ago, cactilio said:
Hi and congrats to those of you who have received already one or more offers!
I' was looking at the results page and have not seen anything from CUNY (Spanish) I saw results from comp lit and history. Are you applying there? In that case would you please let us know if you hear from them?
Thanks!
Hi! I also applied to CUNY. Haven´t heard anything either... I´ll let you know if they say something, please write if they email you, too!
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1 hour ago, Spanport said:
Thank you so much!!! Only 7 more to hear from. The suspense is killing me. I just want to know already.
Thank you!
¡Ánimo!
Spanish Fall 2017
in Languages
Posted
Hi guys!
I finally accepted an offer from UCLA, so I already rejected my other options (U. Arizona, UC Davis, UC San Diego, UVA, UMD, UNC and CUNY). Hopefully if you´re in the waitlist of any of these programs you´ll have news soon.
Good luck everyone!