kaykaykay

I recommend this thread: http://www.poliscijobrumors.com/topic.php?id=23034 It is hard to say what are your chances. It would be easier if you had GRE points.

hm

Why not retake it over the summer? If you have time get a book and do it. You never know what will be the final decision point with a strong applicant group in the final round.

Well Weyburn looks awesome, and the location is great. I try to gather more information. I would not mind commuting if that was the only difference between that and the other appartments(well on exchange for cheapness). If however there is a social life aspect difference I might choose WT. It is good to have fellow grad students around. Thanks for the info!

Comparative Politics. And I am international so I am not familiar with LA. So I would like to get some sort of university housing but still debating which one.

Yes, going to polisci!

Congratulations! I am so happy!

Well, nobody will force you to go to grad school. Handcuffed TA-s might get bad evaluations. If you do not want to do anything with academia I do not think that you should worry the tiniest bit . Now the person who would have been getting in on a waitlist may be upset, but your university will not have to pay your cost, and they will be probably getting one more student next year for your funding.

I would also like to know whether people generally would recommend Weyburn Terrace or as an alternative another university housing.

I live at Knox. Pets are not allowed. Beautiful building, meal plan, sort of on the expensive side but there is furniture = ideal for one year. (squirrels do come in)

It was Hungary. I am actually not sure about the appointment situation in theory right now as this was before we got into the visa waiver program. (so students did not have to wait)They may have abolished this rule now as we are in the vw program. Last I checked though, the usual wait time for getting an interview was 1 day

Oh and if you want to go to Canada calculate 1 or 2 months of visa procedure. I am serious, if you are lucky you can get a visa fast but i was not and surprisingly huge chunk of people had troubles.

Hi I am from Eastern Europe (but part of the visa waiver, well anyway) It took me a few days to pay all dues (I had to go back once because I completely missed the SEVIS fee 100$) and get a picture done etc. Otherwise with the I20 in my hand and certificate that I will have money it took me one day to apply (there was no appointment necessary) and the visa was in my hands within 3 days. I guess it depends on how fast you can get an appointment. In Canada it took me WAAAY longer. ): sadness. good luck

I think it can happen both ways, depending on the size of the department(?) and funding possibilities. I got off from a waitlist this week and based on the wording of their initial waitlist letter they may have had a one drop one enter policy. In another school where I got in they told me that they took a huge group of people and they expect approximately 30% to accept. They do not fund everybody so i guess they will not be in trouble even if everyone accepts. (I doubt they have a waitlist but who knows?)

Not a problem. Also most countries are out of this rule in either way. (not well advertised)

I did the MA- way I totally understand if you feel drawn to it. I felt really hurt if someone suggested I should not take it. Ok here are my 2 cents. MA-s are not cared for nor do the university or professors see them as permanent investments. I was the first to be sent out from classrooms packed with PhD-s. Think about it: nobody guarantees you can take your dream classes with your dream teachers, they have obligation to PhDs. (especially be careful with flexible programs: code word for take what you can we do not care) Where they let MA students in to grad seminars often I was the only one (MA) who survived the course: I had previous graduate student training and have a thick skin. I had a bigger course load than PhDs because I had to take a certain amount of classes and I took classes with them to show that I can do it.(while they had the option to take less classes) Nobody worried about my study plan or health as they did with PhDs. Because you do not have a 5 year contract it will NOT be the place to discover new areas: in only 2 years you simply do not have time to experiment: one mistake can hurt you a lot. I met a lot of people who gave up the plan to get a PhD because this experience was too much for them. Also I was charged $50 000. On the plus side I have a nice name on my CV and I took amazing, amazing classes. Later when I applied for PhDs I got the support of several amazing people. Definiely I hoped to stay on to PhD so much as I did not have real safeties and I ended up spending a year out of school. I learned later that an MA sometimes can hurt your file, they put MA applications in a nice (little) separate pile. In best case scenario your new found professors will write stellar letters for you but you are still in that pile: you can only hope that the added value is more than the substraced(but definitely not for big jumps). This fall I will be back to school and I do not feel sad any more that I did not get into top 1 choice.I also made incredible friends and I fully utilized the resources the school offered, joined sport teams, clubs and I spent two very happy years there. If I understand you well you got some nice phD offers with the embracing hands of departments who really want to train you, would make a commitment for five years and would help you in several ways. When people are suggesting to take these offers I doubt they want to hurt you or question your abilities. They just probably have an idea how difficult is grad life without departmental 5 years commitment, in insecuriy even if you are (and why would anybody question this?) really exceptional.