Elephas

It depends on the programs officers but if you're that close I don't see it being a hard no.

I took a look at the programs website and it says : "In the MA English and MS Technical Communication programs, we are able to offer assistantships to approximately one third of applicants. Assistantships are awarded upon admission and are only available for full-time students who begin their graduate work in the fall semester. ... To be considered for an assistantship in any program, you must apply by the Feb.1 deadline" If there are rolling admissions then it may be in your favor to submit earlier as they will have more assistantships of their 33% to give out. If they have an admissions office I would ask if they offer rolling admissions as that may inform your decision. Either way apply when you feel your application is the strongest it can be. Don't scramble to get it in early and turn in a bad application, then your chances of being in that percentage are even lower.

You may consider looking up the faculty you may be interested in on google scholar as it is usually kept up to date.

That is your experience so I don't think it will be cliche. However it shouldn't be your entire diversity statement (maybe a paragraph). I used my experience as the only person of my race(i was also one of 7 women), in my department (75ish students) to graduate with my degrees and discussed how I sometimes felt isolated but persevered. I also talked about how my experience shaped my interactions on my undergrad campus, led me to leadership positions, how they pushed me to volunteer in causes I cared about, and how they will continue to be a part of my grad school pursuits. All of your experiences help shape your identity and they will continue to be a part of your identity in grad school so you shouldn't be ashamed of them.

I'm not sure that I would include it in a CV, but I would talk about it in your applications as a reference to your skill for public speaking etc...

I also didn't need immunizations until the beginning of semester where I started.

My cohort and I get along well

I was able to figure out exactly how my funding is set up without running to a bunch of offices and now I don't have to worry

I'm not in that field but generally working with the population you'd like to do research with in the future is a good sign that you've thought it out. I.e. volunteering w/ a non-profit, working at a charity something along those lines.

I gave them the rough draft and then I followed up with updated versions as I went along however the message I wanted to convey was in the rough draft. You can also arrange a meeting (in person or online) to discuss your research goals and that may be enough to fill them in for what's missing currently in the draft. I like to think the SOP updates were also reminders for them to actually write the letter lol.

When I was at your point I sent them a document like I outlined in this post and gave them a timeline as to when they could expect a first draft state SOP. But providing them the information like I did here gives them enough time to at the very least outline your character/relationship with them and some of the introductions of your research interests/why you would excel in that subject matter. Then later on it'd be easy enough for them to fill that section out more.

Thank you! I came from engineering and had one of my professors write me a letter even though I was going into CS because they knew me well, and I worked for them as a TA. Also a thing that I did was provide each professor with things that I wanted them to mention i.e. you worked with me on ____ can you say how this could extend to skills in ___. Also if either of your CS professors was one for an algorithms analysis course they could be a great contender to discuss some of the mathematical background.

If you've worked in this processing lab for several semesters that professor will be able to more credibly recommend you. You'll have a track record with them and even though you don't consider it research you've likely gained skills that can be applied to research. I recommend the EE professor also because even though it's not in your field of choice, you're showing initiative by having worked in a lab already.

I haven't officially started my program yet, but I knew what area i wanted to focus on during my application process. I was able to communicate this general area within one sentence and break it down into several topics I am interested in. I was inspired by experiences with classmates and those I tutored as well as my personal background.

It depends on how much room you have in your SOP. I went more in depth w/ people I was interested in working with directly on the applications (3-4 sentences) and then cursory (1-2 sentences) allusion in the SOP. I think research background should be weaved into your SOP but you do not have to completely restate things on your resume but highlight how these backgrounds have led to your current trajectory (i.e. while researching _ i learned _ which led me to want to do __ ___ ___ ___). So I'd say focus more on the future and how your past has brought you to it.