kaykaykay

How about giving the option of one additional draft before the deadline for non-native speakers? This will make the graders' work a bit more difficult but it will allow the non-native speaker students to improve and to correct their mistakes if they are willing to put in the extra work. Alternatively they themselves can ask someone to proofread their draft so you might just want to tell them to do so.

I do not think that they are allowed to do this if the acceptance is comming with a fellowship. http://www.cgsnet.org/?tabid=201 See whether they are a signatory to this resolution and ask about the deadline again accordingly.

The TOEFL is so easy compared to the GRE verbal that it is not really taken into account because anyone with a decent application has a very good score. And unfortunately when evaluating the verbal GRE not all admins consider whether it is an international student or not. a lot of foreign students get high scores. But anyway, you cannot do anything with your GRE scores any more. One question is whether your overall application is good enough, the other is how it measures up against all applicants (foreign and domestic). The competition can be pretty strong at top 10 places,that is why some people suggest retake (I know it is too late) . But the verbal GRE is probably less important in your field than other aspects of your application and your application may still stand out. good luck!

I agree with your sister . I got the same advice from a prof who proofread my SOP.

^^ Not bad if you want to get a job.

Some schools accept lateish scores but 1/23 seems to be quite late considering decision timelines. You should wait for the schools to reply on this one imho or try to get to another country earlier.

American students are nice but sometimes they are unapproachable. I never know when we are really friends. Maybe this is because of all the moving around in this country- people had to make friends fast but they were prepared to leave them fast. well, I do not know.... But I try to always act the best way I can. For instance, we were never good friends with my previous roommate but she was nice enough to tolerate me. I left her some gift when I moved out. I have a few American friends but almost exclusively in my program with whom I share experiences and I can talk about my frustrations when I need to( and they cannot just small talk and move on).

you should be fine. universities know it might take some time for the points to get there. But you can ask their policy about it.

No they ask for undergraduate GPA. If there is a place for MA GPA you can put that there. This is because the adcoms want to compare apples to apples and they want to see everyone's BA. (also MA programs usually give out higher grades)

If the Associate Professor is tenured I do not see any reason why the Professor should go first. Then maybe you can put Z at the end. I do not think it really matters though in my SOP the order of the profs was a little bit illogical but it was ok.

While recommenders want you to succeed probably they have a lot of things to worry about. I do not really think that specific recommendations come up between them. You can mention that you asked recommendatiion from this other person(as a piece of information, so they know how you strategize) but even then I do not think that they will talk about you. If they have been writing recommendations for a while this is really not a big problem, they will know what to do...

Definitely contact them, as soon as possible. You can telll them you need clarification for the peace corps. Also ask if you can apply for 2012 fall rather than wait for a year. Actually because there is another fall admission date between now and 2012 spring this sounds like a typo to me.

Well, I think you have a good profile. Anyway solorenegade may have a point, you could possibly pick a few 5-15 programs too just in case.

I believe that the GRE can be the great equalizer. I am not a native speaker of English so I knew that there is absolutely no way that I could do good on verbal without studying . I sat down and I learned all those words. I got a great score which made me very proud. It would not have been possible if all of the native speakers would have been studying for the test. so thank you! After a treshold GREs do not matter that much if you can get there without studying it is great , if you cannot get there just study and you will be fine.

Nobody asked you to do all that stuff. If you decide to get a degree you should make time for it . I am very simpathetic with all my students endeavors but I treat them as adults with full respect to their choices. They have every right to prioritize their work /other study/ family life/love life but they do not have the right to complain about their grade if they decided to do something else . Life is full of trade-offs they have to take responsibility for their choices, and be happy with their choices, a failed class is not a huge deal.

First you could try to talk to her in person. That often helps, everybody can have a bad day. Then you can try the grad advisor in your department or the ombuts person of the university. I had a friend who had to go till that stage, and eventually she found a new advisor. She graduated with flying grades in spite of the first advisor. Do not get too overwhelmed, think clearly and strategically. I hope you will be fine ! (perfectionism can appearently be cured as a psychologist told me once. I have not tried to go to therapy but sometimes when I am seriously behind schedule I am thinking about it)

I am not sure that hating math is an extenuating circumstance.I mean a lot of people hate math and study their ** off to get good points. If the adcoms take this in the wrong way it may even hurt you. I think if you do not need math in your field (subfield) probably your math score will not be that important.

1.retake the GRE. tomorrow. practice writing. or 2. apply to other schools. maybe you 'll get into a much better program and you will laugh at UCSD. or 3. apply next year.

Congratulations! I think you should!: try the government affairs forum!

In poli sci AWA scores do not really matter at all. Read the thread started by adcoms earlier at the poli sci forum. cheer up!

"The question isn't whether or not they take them, but whether they fund them. " ok so I was not clear. Some UC schools take international students and give them funding. It is not really a California issue. No international student will ever gain California residency that is true. But the difference between UCSD, Davis vs. UCLA ,Berkeley is that in the later placesTA ships come with the remission of non-resident ( and resident) tuition, so international students are not disadvantaged. This is not the case in San Diego and Davis= even if you TA as an international student you have to pay. See Berkeley FAQ:http://grad.berkeley.edu/policies/appointments_faq.shtml

read some of the posts of adcoms at the poli sci forum. some schools do not even take a look at the AWA scores international student or not.(and no one cares)

at least in the old system you got your score on the test date for Q and V but you had to wait until the AWA was scored to get all your scores officially. I am guessing it is the same with the new one

Other UC schools take international students. This is not a California or a public school problem. UCSD's funding is weird TAship does not cover non-resident tuition if I remember correctly.

I think no school had an official cut off at 1400. Maybe some had an official cut off at 1000. However, in some fields and for some top schools if you wanted to be taken seriously you had to get above 1400(or more like both scores close to or above 700).