fuzzylogician

Watch it, now you are crossing a line into the realm of personal attacks. I fail to see how the identity of your advisor or the school they went to (in another program altogether, no less) are relevant here at all. Nor how you imagine your advisor's pedigree validates you or your opinions. That kind of argument is nothing but a fallacy.

LOL. SLA is not an unrelated field to linguistics. Maybe you should know what you are talking about before you give advice on it? | stopping to feed the troll |

Is this a pissing match? I've talked to people in admissions too. In linguistics, no less. Asking about an exception doesn't hurt -- especially when a person has a good reason, which I think the OP does.

Everyone, people are allowed to post opinions that you disagree with, even strongly. You do NOT need to reply to it all. Just ignore it. Nothing good can come of this thread if it continues in this way.

Hello baseless advice in fields you know nothing about. OP -- ask the school! Do what they instruct you to do.

Ask the school. We can't tell you how they will react. My guess is that they will accept both, but you should make sure before you submit them.

It's fine to email about the updates. I'd try the department secretary unless you explicitly know you should email someone else about grad school admissions. You could email and ask that they update your CV with a new version which you attach to the email. Many departments will agree to do this for you. If you didn't submit a CV then you may ask to add one now, because otherwise I'm not sure how you would reflect these additions to your file -- I doubt that anyone would actually agree to manually edit your application.

There are a lot of details missing here. Is this a PhD program or an MA? How far along are you? Have you written (and defended) a thesis proposal/prospectus? How much writing have you done already? How long have you been working with your advisor? Is your advising relationship a formal one or have you been working with several people at the same time? Were you assigned to your advisor or did they explicitly agree to take you on as an advisee? Are there other professors in the department you could work with? Do you have a committee? Are you planning to stay in academia or leave once you get your degree? You make it sound like everything was going great, and then suddenly your advisor decided not to work with you anymore. That is not an impossible story, but it is somewhat improbable. Were there any warning signs before they decided not to work with you anymore? I think that contacting the department head is the logical next step, but I would advise against taking this issue out of the department and complaining elsewhere until some of the other questions I asked are answered. First figure things out and find a solution within your department, then you can think about taking other measures. Complaining may cause the department trouble and that may be what you want, but I wouldn't do that until I knew that my situation was solved (if at all) because causing them trouble is not going to make them want to help you.

Loric -- some of your posts in this thread, some (but not all) of which I quoted below, have been reported to the moderators as trolling. Please watch your posts here. I don't see any particular attacks or trolling behavior here, but you have to admit that none of it is helpful. You could be more mindful of others who are stressed out and worried while posting on the board. Others -- you really don't have to reply to everything that upsets you on the internet. You are not helping the situation, and frankly not everything that is mildly upsetting to you requires intervention from the moderating team. I am posting here because several of you have alerted us to this thread and I want you to know that it is being monitored. However, I also think that you are being over-sensitive simply because of who is involved. Can we just try and calm down, ignore, and move on if some banter is posted online that you disagree with?

The best way is the most direct way: ask the university. If you do get invited to an interview, it's a fair question (how many people are you interviewing, how many do you plan to offer admissions to? or - how was it in previous years, if this year is still unclear). Alternatively, if you know current students there or feel comfortable contacting any of them and asking, they will probably have some idea. Otherwise, searching the results page here might give you some idea, but depending on your field/school it may be difficult to extrapolate numbers or chances from the reported data.

I'd do as your advisor says -- audit courses if you really want to take something, but don't commit to being a full time student in classes you don't need for your degree. I appreciate the will to study more, but the PhD is about learning to become an independent researcher and producing results, not about doing well in class. If there is a specific topic you want to know more about, pick up a book or article and start reading. Talk to people. Get started on a project that involves this topic. If you want to have a career as a researcher, those will be important skills to have, and now is the time to develop them. It may be more difficult to study by yourself than have someone prepare the materials for you, but you're going to need to be able to teach yourself things sooner or later - both if you become a professor and teach your own classes, and if you go into a research position in industry. At some point, there won't be anyone to spoon-feed you information, and you need to take care of your own learning.

There are lots of threads you could read on the forum about possible questions. My suggestion is: - Know what's in your application, especially your SOP. They may ask "tell me about this thing you wrote." - Know the answer to the common questions that are sure to come up - "tell me about yourself," "what do you want to study," "why here," "what are your goals." - Don't read other professors' papers, that won't come up and it's not expected. - Relax!!

I am fully funded by my program. My program requires students to TA for two semesters out of the ten we have in residency, and the rest of the time we don't have any obligations in exchange for the funding. All top programs in linguistics fully fund all of their students, and the teaching requirements vary from school to school depending on the school's needs. You should find out about the norms in your field, because I'm not sure my experience helps you at all.

Then I don't understand the contempt for anyone who just went the traditional route (this actually doesn't include me, btw, so I really am just wondering, not offended or anything).

Somebody worked really hard all through middle school and high school, and got into a good school. Now they are an "elite person"? How about someone whose hard work paid off? I suppose given your rhetoric also that if you went the non-traditional route and got into the same good school, you are still not an "elite person"? I agree that you can end up at a good school through all kinds of ways and journeys, including the traditional route. All the "it's funny when.." rhetoric makes me wonder just how happy you are with your non traditional route, that you feel you need to stick it to anyone who didn't take such a route. I agree with BowTiesAreCool's thoughts above -- the people who are described in the article seem to have worked hard and had strong accomplishments. They should be allowed to be upset at not getting admitted, especially since we know that the comments that were quoted were written just after they found out. I'm sure their accomplishments will earn them a spot in some other good school and they will be successful, so they will overcome the setback, but they are allowed to be upset at it.

I have encountered some such treatment, but nothing nearly as systematic as you describe. I am a very direct person so when it happens, if it's coming from someone who I depend on (e.g. a committee member who is writing me letters of recommendation for job applications--a real example from last semester), I confront them about it. I also post about these things on facebook, where I have a lot of linguist friends, and this has led to several interesting discussions lately. I can't say I recommend this approach to everyone and for every transgression, but I think the only way to change the behavior is the make the person doing it aware of the actions. Based on what you say, your advisor will be aware of the consequences, too. I'm sure other more diplomatic posters will come later and be able to help with how to go about the conversation. My best attempt would be to spend some time collecting data (things that were said, when, comparison with male colleagues in similar situations), and then just have the difficult discussion once, when you have a long meeting that you know should be uninterrupted. If you can do it in response to something she says that is a gendered comment, that's probably the best way to begin the conversation. The reason I think it's important to make sure your advisor is aware of this issue is that if you are having gendered interactions with her, I fear that they may also affect any letters of recommendation you will need to get from her when you graduate. It's well known that there is an implicit bias in letters (adjectives used, force of the letter, etc.). It's hard to avoid even when the writer and readers are aware of the problem, and even more so when it goes unnoticed. I'm sure your advisor doesn't mean to have these interactions! Anecdotally, on this point, a professor who is a facebook friend of mine recently had a discussion on her wall about letters for male vs. female applicants to graduate school. Apparently, "bright," "bubbly," and "the total package" were only used for women, and did not make a good impression on the professors who were reading the letters. The most interesting part is just how unnoticed these things go by both writers and readers. It can be completely unintentional, and the writers are well-meaning people who want their female students to succeed. And yet, it has a negative effect on the readers, and hence the students' chances of admissions.

I'd say it's still worth going by his office, even if he's busy, and asking him about the letters. It shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes for you to remind him and say you're anxious about the deadlines. He will understand, I'm sure, and probably say it's ok and he'll do it soon. At least then you'll know he hasn't forgotten about you!

I second this. And if it's at all possible to change advisors, or add a second main person who you work with, I'd do that too. Finish your dissertation and get out of there before doing anything else, and even then I'd be careful and do it through the ombudsperson. If the story does break and your advisor is accused of / is caught fabricating data, your work will be implicated by association. You will be suspected, and in addition you will not have (or want to have) your advisor's support in letters of recommendation for future jobs. It's important that you have the support of others on your dissertation committee, or of a new advisor, or you'll have a hard time getting an academic job and it may also be harmful (though less so, I think) in industry.

Why not email and ask them to confirm the invitation. I'd also ask if there is a possibility of some reimbursement, just in case.

My understanding is the following: - The school can start issuing you the visa documents (I-20 or DS-2019) as soon as you are accepted. I think that this also applies for provisional acceptance (pending completion of your degree). - With the visa documents you can get your student visa from the US embassy in your country; I'd do it as soon as you get the docs because sometimes it can take time, if they decide to put you through TAL (look it up, if your specialty is CS then they might). - Once you have your documents and visa, check the program start date on the visa docs. You are allowed to enter the US on your student visa no earlier than 30 days before the start date of your program. If the program starts in the September, this will be some time in August. - You can enter the US after your program begins, but that means you'll miss some important orientation and beginning of semester activities, and the immigration officers might wonder about that. If you have a good explanation, they should let you enter without a hitch. However, missing a week or two of your first semester in your program is not advisable, and I'd avoid it if possible. - Once you are in the US, you will need to register with your international students office. You'll also need to (pre-)register for class and make sure that your tuition is paid so your status is that of a full-time registered student. That needs to be done some time in the first few weeks of the semester at the latest, so you're in good standing with immigration and with your program. This is a requirement of the student visa status; you need to be sure your are registered on time every semester throughout your time in the program (but it's easy to do, it's nothing to worry about). I'm not sure why you would need to be there long before the beginning of the program, so that's something to ask about. There might be some orientation activities the week before class starts, but before that there is likely not going to be anything special going on in your program. Most people are away for at least parts of the summer. I'm also not sure what "visa stuff" they are referring to. There's virtually nothing you need to do once you enter the US, except what I described above, which will take you two hours, including the long line in the international students office. I guess you may need to take an English proficiency exam or sit through some mandatory ISO lecture, but again this will probably only happen right before class and it won't take a long time.

I'd expect to basically get the same questions from all four faculty members. Their goal will be to evaluate you and compare notes later. I assume that those applicants that were liked by most/all of the faculty members who interviewed them will be admitted. You don't need to "brush up every relevant topic learned over the last 4 years." There is not much more you need to do than if this were just one interview. You need to know the details of your SOP and any other document you submitted as part of your application, and be prepared to talk about some of the standard questions that are sure to come up, e.g. "Tell us about your work," "what do you want to study in grad school?' and "why do you want to study at X University?." You can look up some threads with great advice and common questions in this forum. If you know who you are interviewing with, it'd probably be a good idea to take a quick look at their website to know who they are, and if they are potential advisors then know something about their work. But you don't need to read all their papers to prepare too much, just know enough to demonstrate good fit. (This is no different from having one interview with several people on the other side, which happens fairly often.)

I don't think it will affect your application. This is the kind of discrepancy that, if anybody notices, they will just ask you about. If I were reading the file and noticed it, I would assume that something in your plans changed between the CV and the application, and the only question I would want to verify with you is that you'll have the degree before the fall, otherwise you can't begin the program. If you don't graduate by the time you are made an offer, the offer may have to be conditional, but that happens fairly regularly, so it's nothing to worry about, just something to know. I suggest you contact the schools you applied to and ask that they update your application with a new CV. Many schools will agree, and it'll show good faith in fixing the mistake once you caught it, though again I don't think you need to worry about it much.

I am on the job market this year. I understand.

Good luck! I don't know if this will make you feel any better, but the only places where I had a pre-admissions interview were the ones that were not as good a fit, and the main question we covered in various ways was "why did you apply here?" -- and honestly they were the places that after the interviews I realized were really not places I wanted to be. I ended up withdrawing my application from two such schools. I know that others got admitted without an interview to those universities. So -- not having an interview doesn't have to mean that you don't have a chance!

Yes, but asking someone to spend upwards of $1,000 (flight, other transportation, accommodations, food, visa fees for travel) to come to an interview on ONE specific date is very inflexible. Someone can be a good candidate but not have the money, or perhaps have a job or another commitment, and not be able to make it. It's unreasonable. I actually completely agree that an in-person interview is better than a skype interview both for the program and for the applicants, but you can't demand an in-person visit and not contribute to covering the costs. It discriminates against certain people and has consequences exactly as we see here.