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WatchfulWombat

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Everything posted by WatchfulWombat

  1. I was in a similar situation as you when I applied for grad school, with a similar GPA that was also about a decade old. Even more than the GPA itself, I think the main challenge was getting credible recommendation letters from people who knew me. So I did what you suggested: I took advanced courses as a non-degree student at my home university after work for two years and did really well in them. While I did not seek out specific people, some of my professors were big names in their field, so it helped me get great recs. I did get into some competitive programs with very decent funding. So.. I think taking extra courses to prepare is a good idea. I don't have any experience with MOOCs, so don't know how those would be valued by grad programs.
  2. My two cents: if you think the program is good enough, and there are people you see yourself working with there, I'd go for the program that won't make you go into debt.
  3. Yes, that's weird. They haven't responded to your confirmation at all? Have you been in touch with anyone there apart from your advisor?
  4. Uhm yeah, that's the spirit! Even if you have to try again next year, you'll still be nine years ahead of me! ;-)
  5. Good grief, why would anyone want to sabotage your academic career like that? Honestly, it surprises me that a department in any field would rescind an offer over a blog post about mental health, though I suppose that might be normal in medicine. Though I cannot say for sure, I doubt this could be a problem for most departments. Try not to worry about it..
  6. I saw some posts on the results page about rejections via Wolverine access, so I logged in and sure enough, there it was! This makes my first rejection. :-) I'm keeping my fingers crossed it's better news for you! I've received one offer so far, so I'm less nervous knowing that the PhD thing will happen. It would still be good to have a few options though.
  7. What were they thinking? They should grant you an honorary PhD for the bread alone.
  8. I'm looking at historical syntax and morphology, and did not apply to UCLA or Amherst.. one of my professors has encouraged me to apply to Edinburgh, but I'm still on the fence, mostly because I think my chance of getting in would be even slimmer than where I applied now. I feel fairly relaxed so far, but I know I will really want to succeed next year and am also thinking of ways I can become more competitive (without collecting debt).. I can definitely handle one cycle of all rejections, but not two.
  9. Keep your chin up. I'm not the strongest applicant either, and have not received any acceptances (or rejections) so far. Here are my weaknesses: I have a very average (foreign) undergraduate GPA, which, if you try to convert it to a 4-point scale, looks downright ridiculous. I have zero research experience, and there aren't any real opportunities to change that in my current location. I do not have a very specific research project in mind. Just putting that out there. Whatever makes you 'not the strongest applicant', there are bound to be others like you, and there must be faculty who are willing to overlook some weaknesses if they 'see something' in your application. There is no reason to despair this early in the season, I'd say. But.. Yes, I think you absolutely should start working on a backup plan. It will take your mind off the wait! Maybe your plan could involve something like working part time and volunteering at a research lab at an institution near you. Or whatever else you can do to make yourself more competitive if you need to reapply next year. My backup plan is so good there will be some level of disappointment if I actually do get in. ;-) Good luck!
  10. I'm also still waiting and expecting rejection. :-)
  11. I'm so sorry about this, but I can't help myself. Het is heel lekker. and Doe normaal. (imperative ≠ infinitive) Other than that, I agree that Dutch food is heel lekker. ;-)
  12. Yes, fantastic! Thank you for bringing the good news. I've got summer plans. :-)
  13. Well, of course I'm not really an authority on graduate literature programs, but still! Out of curiosity, which schools have you applied to?
  14. Good luck! If this helps at all, I don't think you need to worry too much about not having the right "preparation" for an English lit program. I'm sure having read in other languages will be equally helpful, and you'll still be able to catch up whatever you need to read. I'm European but I have a degree in English literature and linguistics (from a European university) and have lived in the US for a while. I definitely noticed that the literary canon in the US is somehow different, and US students are assigned "classic works of literature" that I have never heard of, while ignoring others that I thought were essential from my European perspective. But all of that is easily remedied once you get into a program.
  15. Congratulations on the interviews and the invitations! That's great! I applied to eight schools, but haven't heard back from any and am pessimistic about my chances. I guess many people who apply to more departments start selecting in the interview phase? Uhm, yes! That ridiculous TOEFL is even more expensive than the GRE, and only valid for two years! I've taken both the TOEFL and the GRE twice. I chose to retake the GRE, but the only reason I took the TOEFL again is because my two-year-old score (of 118/120!) was no longer valid. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to rant about this blatant injustice! ;-) But seriously, this process must have cost me close to $2000. 2xTOEFL, 2xGRE, eight application fees, fees for sending TOEFL and GRE scores, fees for sending transcripts, ... I did refuse to pay for WES or any of that transcript evaluation rubbish, and just hope adcoms can make sense of my weird foreign transcripts. It's a lot of money to spend without a guaranteed payoff..
  16. Thanks fuzzylogician and thevphone! All of the most interesting ones are somehow in the second half of July or (partially) in June, and I really can't take time off work then. Maybe I'll get lucky and EGG is held later than usual! Anyone else here planning to attend some summer school?
  17. Can I hijack this thread to ask about summer schools in linguistics ANYWHERE? Last year, I attended the LSA summer institute, and want to do another (preferably cheaper) summer school this year. I'm in Europe but happy to go anywhere in the world, but all of the good programs I can find are in June and in the second half of July, and I am just not available then. Does anyone know decent summer schools in early July or in August?
  18. Hey, welcome! Congratulations on getting accepted to all the MA programs! Are you getting any funding? Just curious, because I'm starting to think about what I will do if I don't get accepted anywhere. I'm probably going to do an additional master's at my alma mater (not funded, but super cheap tuition and no application necessary), and then reapply.. but maybe I should also consider MA programs in the UK.
  19. Well, this makes me feel a lot more anxious.
  20. Hi! I'm an international student applying for PhD programs in linguistics. I'm expecting to be roundly rejected, and pretty much all of my schools are reach schools, but I'm prepared to try again next year and complete a one-year masters in my home country in the mean time. Here's my info: Schools: Boston University, Purdue, UPenn, UCSC, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Ohio State, University of Oregon, University of Michigan Degree: European MA in Literature & Linguistics GPA: no idea, but definitely on the mediocre side GRE: V 167, Q 156, AW 4.0 No conference presentations or publications Other Stuff: Eight years of experience as a language teacher, including in college and at a US university. Good luck, fellow applicants! I'd made a spreadsheet containing important info on all of my schools, and somehow listed the wrong deadline for my Purdue application. Sooo I applied two weeks late and no, I didn't contact the department or graduate school about it. Haha! I'm too dumb for grad school.
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