Mirith

I applied to universities for a computational linguistics master's degree, and got waitlisted at my top choice. They recently emailed me and basically: I'm most likely not getting off the waitlist. When I asked what I could do to improve my chances next year, they recommended this program. They have a natural language technology certificate program, and 12 units of it can transfer to the comp ling master's later on. They said doing well in the certificate program will help me get into the master's program. So my question is -- is this a cash-grab thing by the university, or is this worth my time? It's a 12 unit/3 quarter committment, and 10k. It's slightly more expensive per unit than the master's program.

Just to add to this conversation -- I applied to three programs this year. Master's level not phd though. I have only been accepted* to a school I applied to as a sort of "well, I should apply to more schools, and their deadline hasn't passed yet, so why not?". *accepted as in, they rejected me for computational linguistics but offered me a spot in their lingsuitics program. After getting accepted, I realized I didn't want to go. It's twice as expensive as the other two, on the other side of the country, and though their program is solid and respected, it isn't what I really wanted to do. I rejected them as nicely as I could. I'm planning on reapplying next year to the school that is basically the only school I really want to go to. I didn't think it was worth the time, effort, and money to attend a program that was not what I wanted. Honestly, at first I regretted the decision. "Did I just throw away my only chance at post-undergraduate education?" Maybe. But was it what I really wanted? No. I'm burned out from undergrad, and I know if I"m not enthusiastic about grad school, I will just drop out anyway. Take this anecdote as you will. Best of luck to you!

Hi, not sure if you're still interested but I can't sleep so I'll answer! Applied to Rochester comp ling, got rejected from that but offered a spot in their regular ling masters program. With 50% tuition paid, and promises that there will be lots of comp ling classes involved haha. Applied to uw comp ling and waitlisted.

Anyone else on the waitlist for uw's comp ling program? Or have knowledge about how many people get off the waitlist/how the waitlist works? I'll be emailing then tomorrow at a more reasonable time, but I don't expect a response till Monday from them, so figured I'd ask here!

I found the prep book (specificially the 5 lb book) useful because I had not done any math in the past three years (linguistics major). And the most recent math I had was calculus, not the algebra/geometry stuff the GRE tests on. My practice scores before studying were around 153, and actual was 162 for quant (Practice was 150 verbal ahhh, and actual was 165 verbal, 5.5 writing). The questions were useful for helping me actually remember stuff I had quite literally forgotten how to do/existed/did not recognize. I did do a lot of googling when I got questions wrong and re-learning concepts from high school. I think the manhattan book has the right idea of level of math and general idea of question. And general format (the A is greater, B is greater, both are equal, cannot be determined format took me a while to mark correctly even after calculating the answer correctly!!). It helped me prepare for a general standardized-testing environment as well. But the exact format is not what was on the GRE. Their questions are good, but not line for line what is on the test. I do agree that the GRE seemed to test stuff that I hadn't seen at all in the manhattan prep book. And I did at least 75% of each quant prep section. Usually 100%. One question I remember getting was something you could only get right if you knew how to calculate the interior degrees of a polygon. Not sure if I worded that right, whatever. I didn't remember that one stupid formula. I went back to the question and figured out the dang formula based on square/triangle interior angles. Glad I had that bit of extra time to figure out a dumb formula I was apparently supposed to memorize!

Sorry to hear about that! I'm technically waiting on results still, but I'm not doing well if I'm being honest. I only applied to three schools, and haven't heard back from two yet. Not hopeful at this point, sadly. One of those two is my top choice by far, and I made the mistake of checking the results page and seeing someone got an email offering them a spot in the program. Good for them, but I haven't gotten that email yet and don't think I will (Based on the school's email habits historically according to this website). And like you, I'm currently planning fun things for the future that don't involve school! I really want to take a long road trip this summer after I graduate. Just grab a couple friends and drive off toward Vegas or something crazy like that, haha. I'm just focusing on graduating and finishing college on a high note as well. I want to keep my GPA up and solidify relationships with professors so that next year when/if I apply, I'll be in a reasonable position to do so. On a more boring note, I'm looking at jobs and internships that I can apply for. Not very fun, if I'm being honest. At this point, anything to take my mind off of grad school and my attention away from my inbox is a welcome reprieve. My dogs being cuddly right now is really helping.

Waiting on 2/3 schools... They both (UW, Cal Poly) say on their website that they send out admissions decisions late March/early April. I don't think I can wait that long!

Waiting on Cal Poly. Not too hopeful but still waiting!

Don't know how I'll wait till early April to hear back. Only applied to three schools, and only really (emphasis on the really!) want to go to UW! Anyone else here who applied and waiting to hear back? Someone distract me!

I decided to apply to grad school really late (this January, basically) and so had to take the gre with minimal prep time. (Took the gre February 10). I used the 5 pound gre Manhatten prep book, because I just wanted practice problems. As a linguistics major, I haven't done math in a few years! All the math looked familiar to me, but I was very rusty. I did a lot more math than vocab/verbal questions. I basically committed to doing an hour's worth of the book a day. Which is a goal I didn't meet, if I'm being totally honest. Keep track of how much time you're taking for each section! I would say figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are by doing a practice test. Look at the score and how each problem made you feel -- were you guessing on that question or did you really know the answer? My practice test scores were about 153 ish for both sections, and actual scores were 165 v, 162 quant! (5.5 essay, which I'm super happy with. I included lots of counterpoints and referenced The Time Traveller I'm one of the prompts, so maybe that helped??). And do practice essays too. Again, hadn't done many timed essays since high school. I outlined the prompt, made sure my points addressed the actual prompt, and then started writing.

I only applied to three places... Two of those programs list early April as when decisions go out! I cannot wait that long. I'm checking my email, the school application pages, and here to see if anyone else got in. Even though I know I won't see anything for at least a week...