[Canadians in the US]

Hi fellow Canadian

Yes, it's fairly easy, and it takes about 10 minutes! Yay for being Canadian.

[Honor societies]

I've been invited to join Kappa Tau Alpha, a national honor society for journalism and communications students. There doesn't seem to be any hurt in joining -- the membership fee is a small, one-time payment of $30 -- at the same time, I don't really know if there are any benefits -- especially because although my undergraduate degree is in journalism, I'll be attending graduate school for public policy. Any ideas?

Also, are there graduate honor societies? Does membership in a college honor society preclude one from joining another one?

[GRE practice tests]

I did 100 points better on both sections on the real GRE than on the practice test ETS gives you!

[scariest thing I heard all week]

ehhhh, that's not really accurate, as far as schools in the USNWR top 14 go (the norm is that approximately 80% or so will have their employment basically set when they return for 3L year, another 10-15% will figure it out over the next year (whether they're doing clerkships, fellowships, what-have-you), and then the rest are generally pursuing other degrees, writing a book or something, or chilling w/ mommy/daddy's money.

This is what's reported. I have always heard (from messageboards like autoadmit and collegeconfidential) that these figures are highly inflated. Obviously, I could be wrong.

[Has anyone received their I-20 yet?]

I have gotten NO info from UChicago about what I'm supposed to do now about my student visa. I have e-mailed and called them a ridiculously large number of times. I am getting VERY frustrated!!! Don't I need to start the process, otherwise I won't get stuff processed in time? I am going crazy here.

[GRE: invitation out of the blue]

I got sent a shitload of stuff. RIT bombarded me with e-mails. And I got mail and e-mail from random schools I'd never heard of. I even got stuff from MIT, Penn, etc. I don't think it means they're particularly interested in you (no offense) so much as they send stuff automatically to people with certain scores and interests.

[scariest thing I heard all week]

Thanks for the low blow though, it was kind, totally necessary and VERY mature. This post wasnt a "pissed I didn't get in" post, since Ford was never my top choice, as I've already been through UofM's system long enough. It was meant to inform this years and possibly next years applicants of a stat that a school doesn't share openly, something I'd hope anyone would do after a visit day or another event, because these types of stats are VERY important for decision making.

It's really easy to accuse people of immaturity as a response to any criticism. I am only pointing out that there is no need for you to so blatantly advertise your delight that you're not going to Ford, as if you were saved from some terrible calamity. I'm sure there's people on this board who are going and/or who would love to go there. We all appreciate information about the shortcomings of programs -- but not if they are accompanied by smugness and disdain. To me, this disdain on your part was very obvious, so yes, I am calling you out on it. Since I'm not going to Ford, nor did I apply there, this is not coming from defensiveness on my part. It's just an observation.

[scariest thing I heard all week]

I applied to the Ford school and really considered going, but watching my friends there struggle right now has really made me grateful I wont be attending there next year.

This is really obnoxious. The 75% stats at Chicago and Georgetown are highly inflated and include graduates from dual MBA and JD programs. Most top law schools don't even really have 75% placement rates at graduation.

There's really no need to be so smug that you got acceptances elsewhere -- it's really not that hard to get in without funding, considering that both Harris and GPPI admit almost half of their applicants. If I recall, you didn't get accepted to the Ford School.