a_sort_of_fractious_angel

HELLO FELLOW HORSE PERSON - I AM ONE TOO!

I actually went to college as a back up plan; I wanted to pursue horses professionally and have worked for trainers on circuits that compete around the country, and my mom (and former trainer, actually) encouraged me to get a degree first. Over the course of my undergrad, I have still stayed quite actively involved with horses (I own my own horse and compete) and it's still a big part of my life, but the huge rise of drug issues in the world of show horses extremely turned me off from the idea of working long-term in the equine industry. I ended up loving being an English major and writer, and definitely wouldn't do horses professionally now. 
I'm definitely glad it turned out this way. There's not always money in writing, but there's even less in horses.

I know this is old, but I'm sure others are still wondering about learning foreign languages.  The one thing that really helps for me to pick up languages is watching movies and listening to music that I am already familiar with.  You will pick up quite a bit of grammar from Disney movies.  I'm currently working on language number six this way and have reading ability, listening, writing, and some speaking this way (Dutch, German, French, Frisian, Afrikaans, Italian in that order). Once you pick up a language in a language group (Dutch-German-Frisian-Afrikaans or French-Italian), the other are fairly easy. Belt out that Let it Go (Laat het Gaan in Nederlands) and don't let people judge you.  Fear of speaking is what hurts a lot of people when learning a language because they don't want to sound silly.

Thanks, everyone! I was very surprised to get a response this early. I figured next week would be the earliest but Buffalo is usually a pretty early responder it seems.

I am the Buffalo acceptance. I posted the standard package that they've offered me although they said they will nominate me for a Schomberg fellowship as well so my package offer may change. My first response from any program so far.

I believe, if memory serves, that there is a particularly nice SUNY Buffalo fellowship that is offered very early in the process.  I was accepted at SUNY Buffalo and as I recall, the main body of acceptances arrived in February, so fear not.
Also, don't feel bad about not getting the nice fellowship, as SUNY Buffalo's standard compensation package is quite nice, especially given the relatively low cost of living in Buffalo!

Oh neat! I'm always looking for more recommendations...;)
I make it a point to read speculative fiction from all people of color, on the premise that it is about The Future (or, alternatively, People), and both of those things are mostly made up of people of color, so it would be awfully nice to reflect that reality in fiction, too. To some degree this extends to writing by/about people with disabilities as well (although it's harder to find authors disclosing that) and queer fiction (which has the challenge that I prefer the romance part to max out at 20% of the story, and I feel like novels on 'queer fantasy' lists or whatever tend towards being 'romance in a fantasy setting.') The best book I've read lately is Raven Strategem by Yoon Ha Lee; the first ten or twenty pages are a steep, steep uphill climb in terms of world-building but it so pays off! It is so good! I don't know anything about the author's identities beyond being Korean, but the story is a queer one and there's some disability stuff I can't tell you about that is downright stellar. (Unfortunately, I found the sequel kind of takes some of the awesomeness back; it's a mystery-box novel where anyone who read Raven Strategem knows what's inside the mystery box the whole time. It was well done, I guess, but profoundly frustrating.)
I don't really have any friends right now who like to read speculative fiction, so I have all these bottled up opinions! I will not just download my thoughts on everything I've read in the last two years here, though, as a good forum participant ;). My roommate is reading Annihilation right now, though, so that's something!

Hello and welcome! 
I TA'd an anthro class as a grad student - it was an intro course for undergrads thinking about the major - and I really liked it not only because it was this brand new, exciting area but the professor employed several theorists who made the rounds in my grad literary seminar - lot of interesting connections between the fields.
And you're spot-on with the latest upswing in spec fic - I spent a portion of my MA degree looking at diasporic spec. fic. coming out of the the Caribbean. I totally agree - Jemisin and Okorafor are fantastic. 

If you don't mind me banging in here, English was my second choice. It never really coalesced into a viable avenue for graduate school for me, but I have imagined plausible scholarly tracks based on the English Renaissance or Afrofuturism. For the former, I really like Milton. I was especially interested in Orientalism and (maritime) trade in his works. That's well-trodden ground, of course; my inclination would have been to expand the project through comparison with some of his contemporaries (TBD). As a long-time fantasy and science-fiction reader, I have felt like there has (finally) been another upswing in Black speculative fiction authors recently, especially women, but the extent of the intellectual development for that idea is "NK Jemisin and Nnedi Okorafor are just, like, so good!" How to relate that to the first wave of Afrofuturism, or whether 'Afrofuturism' is even an appropriate category for all the books I'm thinking of (I would guess no), also got a big fat TBD.
I only wish I had as much energy for follow-through on my current project as I do for coming up with new ones!

This is brilliant - I now have plans for my Sunday evening. And yes, the pilot was fantastic. 
And I've heard great things! I'll put it next on my to-watch! 

Those are some really compelling second choices, @a_sort_of_fractious_angel! It sounds like you'll make a great TA or adviser someday! 
I have this irrational image in my head, perhaps from my experimental-psychologist aunt, that all psych PhDs do is recruit poor, starving undergrads for their creepy Stanford-prison-experiment-esque projects. It's probably not true, but still, yikes! Not for me either...
I have, in the past, incorporated some legal elements in my research, particularly property and marriage law in the Victorian era. But nothing too fancy. If anything, taking law classes helped me understand how to do three things: 1) ask a question; 2) understand an argument; and 3) build off previous arguments (i.e. precedents). Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to intersect literature with music, but I know of some scholars who do. Maybe an avenue to take up in grad school (knocks on wood)! 

That's awesome you're getting back to the things you were doing prior. I've been trying to do the same but I'm also in full-time, low-key panic mode. I accidentally picked up a hard copy of my WS yesterday (didn't remember I'd left it on my desk), realized what it was, and was like "oh no, you don't need to be here or anywhere near me at all, actually." 
It's so tempting to check (just once! and by once, I mean several times!) and the general "thanks for applying don't forget to pay" emails (if you have those) have been putting my cardiac system to the test. Ooofda. But recording projects sounds awesome! Also, Netflix is key - I've been pushing through Black Mirror (so good, so good). 
And you're spot-on; I'm thrilled that in, like, 6 weeks we'll have some answers (maybe) but terrified simultaneously. 

Hey!
Well, now that I don't have to compulsively proofread my writing samples or Flaubertify my SOPs, I've actually resumed doing work at work (wild concept, I know). More important, I've begun to pick up where I left off on exercising and playing piano. Other than that, I've been catching up on reading, writing a little here and there, and reading the news again, but I can't say I have anything that interesting to do! Just trying not to panic. Kind of tall order, even after having submitted my last application only five days ago. Oh well... 

Well, it's like I've said a great many times on this forum: if you were a fully finished scholar, capable of drafting impeccable academic manuscripts, then you wouldn't need to be in grad school.  They likely don't care too much about how graceful your prose is, they care whether you demonstrated that you are capable of forming interesting and original ideas.  This is probably especially true of applicants whose first language isn't English.
I've personally taken @GreenEyedTrombonist's advice to the extreme.  I applied to grad school in 2012 and I haven't laid eyes on my writing sample, or any of my materials, since then.
Your committee will help you become a good writer.  I'm in my fifth year now and I still seem to catch a bit of hell from my advisor for technical issues every time I get feedback on a draft  For now, what's important is demonstrating you have potential.
 
@waltzforzizi, I'm sure the POI will make sure your documents get to the right place if they went through the trouble of asking you for them.  Try to imagine the faculty at the programs you're applying to as people not so different from yourself (after all, that's what they are, a more experienced version of you).  Would you cut yourself some slack in this situation?  If the answer is yes, you probably don't have that much to worry about.

I found that once I submitted all of my applications, I felt an initial relief. However, once the end of January rolled around, I became increasingly obsessed with checking my email for any news from programs. One thing I found helpful (though others might find this anxiety-producing) was look on the results board to get a sense of when the programs I applied to sent out acceptance/rejection notifications, so I knew when to anticipate hearing back from each program. I made a list with the dates and tried my hardest not to refresh my email or the results board every hour. I didn't stay away from GradCafe; like @Assotto said, it's a nerve-wracking process no matter what and the rejections certainly sting, but having an online community that innately understands what you're going through was really cathartic for me. 

That makes sense, but I have to wonder why they would not just make that explicit. This whole process is so strange, but I am half way done with it so I guess I have that going for me. I am so nervous that the tiniest mistake I make will make my application null and void. 

Hey! I may have an answer for you (for the second school)? FWIW, I could be wrong - however, they may want you to have an official copy of your transcript, which you upload to their online portal. (I.e. no advising transcripts or screenshots.) 
A few of my schools requested an official copy addressed to me/that I had opened (thereby making it "unofficial") uploaded directly and used that kind of language.

Just to add to what's already been said - I included footnotes in later drafts but none of my letter writers said anything when looking over my early drafts (sans footnotes) and I know a few friends who showed me their SOPs (now at great schools) where they did not cite. I think you can take it or leave it. 

Hey, all - I hope anyone needing to cross that 12/15 deadline is feeling a bit more relaxed today. 

Honestly, the opposite! Now I'm anxious about hearing back! Deep breaths...

//sweats// As three of my apps are due today and I'm feeling the pressure of final touch-ups, I decided I finally needed to make a showing over here to relieve some of this stress! 

Today's a big submission day, so good luck everyone! 

(Also -- does anyone know if there's a topic or question asked anywhere about contacting faculty whose interests you match with at schools you're applying to by email, just politely expressing your interest and saying you've applied? I might start a topic about it if not since I'm currently stressing that )

It's quite possible I misread that one - I did them all in one fell swoop a few weeks ago in a bit of a panic and recall being kind of confused by their page.
*Having reread the page now, it seems like you can upload directly or send them "officially"*
Apologies for any unintended panic!

I didn't want to because my official transcript won't be ready until the 13th and it will raise my GPA, but the app is due the 15th and that was just too close for comfort. I went ahead and indicated my GPA will rise in the app itself, but this school is on the bottom half of my order of preference, so I guess it's not a hugeee deal. 

Just submitted my first application. I've been feeling that I'm not ready because of the constant need to revise my writing samples, but I knew I needed to just get this first one in. 

The sense I've gotten is that there are no safety schools, and I say that not to freak you out but to help you think differently. Apply to more schools, look beyond the top 30.
For a lot of schools you can select to be considered for the MA as well as the PhD program, so make sure you tick that.
Honestly, I don't have specific advice other than you never know what's going to happen.