fuzzylogician

Look, I'm not going to fight with you. If you read the sentence I cited above, it mentions the pejorative term "Obamacare" and talks about long lines, which are......an opinion, certainly not fact. We try to have polite discussions on this board and you seem to get upset and take it personally when someone disagrees with you. There is no need to send your conversation partners to read this or that every time you make a point. This is an internet discussion, not everyone has the time or energy to get too involved. Just give us the relevant facts and what you think about them. Regardless, the point you make in your latest post is an interesting and relevant one, and if you'd made it to begin with no one would have objected. I'm not going to read the whole document you linked to, but maybe you know: students who need to pay for their health insurance over the summer now will continue to do so in 2013 and should meet the requirement in section 5000A; what will change under the new law?

Assuming that you can mention prizes and distinctions elsewhere in your application - either in your CV or in the online application (most have space to mention any honors) - there's no need to talk about them in your SOP. It's also likely that at least one of your recommenders will talk about them, no? Likewise, your grades and placement in your cohort will be mentioned in your transcript, won't they? If you do want to mention winning the prize (and your placement, though I'd recommend against it), it needs to follow a section which talks about the content of the project that won the prize; what you say needs to be much more concrete than "I enjoyed the work a learned a lot". Also, it needs to be much briefer - no more than a sentence or two. You currently spend 83 words on this issue, which could be about 10-15% of a normal-sized SOP. That's much too much, and it's generally too wordy and not tight enough. You'd use your space more wisely if you spend it on things you don't have a chance to mention elsewhere in your application -- e.g. your research interests, current work and future plans, the fit paragraph.

The "standard of praise" issue is something many European applicants face. I think it's common enough that professors who have been writing letters for many years must be aware of it; veteran adcom members will also be aware that professors from different cultures use varying amounts of praise in their letters. If your letter writers are experienced professors, they will have written letters for American grad schools before. Try to learn more about their placement record: if their students are have routinely been accepted to top universities in previous years that means that these universities have learned to value the professors' word, regardless of how much praise the letters contained. If you have a close relationship with these professors, try telling them about your concerns. That's what I did with several of my professors, who told me they could write "American style". I had one recommender who told me it was the first time he was writing a letter for an American school; I gave him a copy of the recommender instruction sheet from Donald Asher's Graduate Admissions Essays (after he consented to getting the instructions, of course!), which talks a bit about how a letter should look and mentions the praise issue. From the description in your post it was hard to tell who would be your best options. Your recommenders should be the professors who are most familiar with your work as a researcher, not necessarily the ones you've taken the most classes with. You don't want a "did well in class" letter, you want a letter that can discuss the specifics of your work and highlight your promise as a scholar and researcher. It sounded like the first two professors you mention are the ones who know your research ability and current work the best. It wasn't clear to me what kind of information your MA program director can contribute. As for your undergraduate tutor, you should get a letter from his only if he already has a PhD (otherwise he can't really be trusted to know if you can complete that training) and if he can speak about your research ability and passion. If you are concerned about one of the professors flaking (and generally, as good practice), consider having either a fourth letter or a standby. Some schools have strict policies about the number of letters they accept, but many will allow you to submit more letters than required. Check the department websites for instructions or contact them directly to ask. You should obviously only submit an extra letter if it is a strong one, and really supports your application. Lastly, I'd suggest you offer the computer illiterate professor technical support when the time comes to upload his letters (he can write them in word, or however he writes his other work, so he can do most of the work himself in advance and then you'll only need to spend one afternoon helping him to access the recommender section of your applications and upload the file).

You express political opinions in a thread that is otherwise helpful and deals with facts; what you say isn't relevant to the OP or anyone else for that matter for the next however many years; and it won't affect most (future) students anyway because PhD stipends usually include health insurance. I'd say that's trolling.

I'd also say - no fluff. Some professors might not appreciate unprofessional writing, which can sometimes seem immature, and could be put off. Your SOP should be serious, it expresses some of your strongest passions--what you hope to study for at least 5 years and hopefully still do for many years to come after that. The SOP will be easier to read, and will make a better impression, if it will be written in the language and style that is standard in your field. Aside from that, I think it'd be a much better use of your space to spend it on content, rather than on anecdotes or flowery language. You'll find that you'll have a lot to say in very little space, so unnecessarily elaborate language should be one of the first things to go. Deconstructing your essay and leaving only the core ideas is also very helpful to the "soul-searching" process of defining and refining your interests, so I'd recommend you do it for that, if for no other reason.

Yeah, I sent four letters to all of my schools and I don't think anyone was annoyed by it. For sure, it didn't hurt me. Some schools have explicit policies about extra LORs and you should obviously follow them -- some you'll find on the department websites and others (annoyingly) only once you start the application and reach the LOR section. If you're not sure, ask the DGS or grad secretary at your prospective departments. The only thing to make sure is that ALL of your letters are strong ones, or if you suspect that some will be weaker for any reason, add them as the 4th or 5th letter so that the main ones are the strongest. From what you write it doesn't seem that this is true in your case, but generally there is no point in submitting a DWIC (or a similarly weak) letter; the recommender's name alone won't impress anyone.

I took grad classes as a visiting student [though not at an American university] , and I took grad classes which had plenty of guests and visiting students [at an American university]. Of course your experiences may vary, but if they are anything like mine then you have nothing to worry about. I was treated very nicely when I was visiting, and at my current school we treat the visitors very nicely as well. Everybody in grad school comes from very different backgrounds -- which is most noticeable in the first year classes -- so you don't need to worry about being the only one who stands out. People with different backgrounds contribute diverse opinions to the discussion, and most students won't care if whoever contributed them has this formal status or the other. As for your language skills: there will most probably be non-native speakers in your classes, so there is no reason why you should stand out in that respect either. Apart from that, I think you'd be surprised how fast your native language comes back to you, once you need to use it again. As for Academese, well, there might be a learning curve for you there, but I assure you that you won't be the only one who needs to polish their skills in that area. Don't worry; come with a positive attitude, and you should do just fine.

I was able to send my transcripts (from two universities) myself to all of the schools that I applied to. I'm glad I did, because that way I could track them and know if/when they arrived. I had no trouble with my transcripts, but I suppose it's always possible for something to get lost either in the mail or at the grad school, so that's something to look out for. Because I sent them myself, I was able to send my transcripts along with the rest of my application in the same envelope; I put my name on every piece of paper in the envelope, and I attached a cover letter listing everything it contained. OP: if you can do this, I'd recommend this method. If everything is added to your file at the same time, there are fewer chances for things to get lost or misfiled. Most admissions websites state how they accept transcripts (e.g. directly from schools or from the applicants as well), and if they don't -- ask. As far as online tracking systems that tell you when your application has been updated with a new credential, I've found that most all of the schools I applied to were very slow to update that system, or did not update it at all. Some schools say they will contact you if your file is not complete, but others might not. Consider being proactive and inquiring some time after you've submitted everything to make sure that your application has been received, processed and forwarded to the department for consideration, so you don't find out too late that you weren't considered for admissions because of a clerical error. Unfortunately, that's not unheard of on this board.

Well, then there are two (very broad) questions - a quantitative and a qualitative. Concretely: How much do you expect to earn after you graduate from school A, and how much of an increase can you expect if you graduate from school B? How much can you expect to earn after e.g. 5, 10, 20 years after you graduate? Is there really a significant difference between the two incomes? Does this difference remain after you've been in the work force for several years or is it only for the first few years -- when you're fresh out of school -- and you can therefore expect future salaries in the same company or in other companies to depend on the quality of your work and not on your school name? How much of the training can you do on the job? Do you expect to acquire skills in school B that you will have a hard time or find impossible to learn on your own/on the job? Related to all this: what kinds of jobs do you expect to find graduating from each school? Based on an average of recent graduates, where do they find jobs, how much do they earn? Money is a concrete thing that you can look at and compare; there is information out there to be found. Job prospects are also very important. Non-concretely: Do you have a strong preference? Would you feel like you missed something if you didn't go to the more prestigious school and as a consequence maybe had a harder time starting off? Would the extra year of work make up for (maybe) starting with lower wages or having a harder time finding a job? On the other hand, do you have the (mental) ability to go through the application process again? Stay in school another year? Move again? I'm assuming here that your investment in another year of school will repay itself after X years of work in the better jobs an education from school B will open for you, otherwise obviously it makes no sense to spend more time in school.. In the end it's a question of the balance between what you expect to gain and what you'll have to invest, and only you have enough information to answer that question.

Sounds good, what's the catch? ETA: seriously. This is a naive question. You gave a good reason to transfer, why would you not do it--ignoring the obvious "it's hard to do"?

1. There are usually two things a school will require of a recommender: there will be a form to fill out with some general assessment of your placement and achievements ranked relative to the professor's other students - this part normally looks like a closed questionnaire and changes from school to school. And there is a section in which to enter the actual letter - recommenders will usually write just one letter and perhaps make small changes to adjust it to each school. 2. The sort of recommendation letter you want depends on the field you apply to. For business school, you might want to have professional letters and then a letter from your supervisor will be fine. But ask yourself this: what could the letter from your supervisor contribute to your application? If it's not going to say anything useful about you study/research abilities, how would it support you as a strong and able candidate? Can it speak to your managerial abilities or other favorable qualities in business school applicants? For grad school (which I understand to mean a research degree), probably at least two and preferably all three of your letters should be academic ones. Try searching on the admissions webpages of the universities that you are interested in, they will tell you what kind of letters they prefer. 3. Professors are used to writing letters of recommendations. Simply go to their office hours and ask. You could come to each meeting equipped with a small packet containing your previous work in each professor's class, if you're worried that they won't remember you. It could also be useful to send your recommenders a draft of your SOP, once you have one. This way they will have a better idea of where your interests lie and will be able to be more precise in their own letters.

This doesn't solve your dilemma, but I thought I'd suggest it as soon as possible: contact every professor who you might want to ask for a letter of recommendation NOW, before they leave. Ask for contact information (e.g. an email address or telephone) that they will continue to check even after leaving the school. You could ask for the letter now or you can wait until later if you want to prepare a packet with grades, an SOP draft, etc, but make sure they know to expect further contact from you. As for your question, I think a big part of the decision depends on how many strong recommendations you think you can get right now. If you can get 3 strong letters right now, I think I would take the cheaper option, if I were you. If you feel that you need to make personal connections with professors in order to secure recommendations (and there will be enough professors left at your college to do that), then maybe you should stay there even though it costs more.

Meh, I hate categorical advice. Someone with your background and credentials should have a decent shot at acceptance, if you get past initial cutoffs. I guess the worry people on the other board you mentioned had was that you would not get past that initial stage. You obviously only stand a chance if your file gets forwarded to the admissions committee which will look at all you've done and decide if you fit in their department. If you're already planning to contact the schools about funding, try to also get a feel for whether or not they have an (official or unofficial) GRE cutoff. You're hovering around 1200, which is the most common cutoff I read about on this board (you even get there if the school takes your highest score in each section); maybe the DGS/faculty/current students can tell you if that's enough. It's also interesting to know if, in case there is a cutoff, there is someone who still sifts through the "rejected" pile to make sure no outstanding applicants were ignored. Again, in my opinion words like "disastrous", "no shot in hell", "panic attack" are exaggerations for your situation; if you do end up retaking: I think the Q score isn't that important for history grad school.. people in the history sub-forum should be able to tell you for sure. Study to improve your V score, if anything.

No, it really can't. Conference presentations, publications, solid recommendations, a good writing sample, research experience -- those are all SO MUCH MORE important than your scores. And, as far as scores go, you GRE scores are not high but are not terribly low, and they are offset by your high GPA. You are not the first to get an almost insultingly low score on the AW section. Search for outraged threads from previous years.. The first thing you'll learn from reading those threads is that the AW score is the least important of all the GRE sections, because your application will have direct evidence of your writing abilities (SOP, WS). Many people (myself included) have been very successful in previous years with low AW scores. As for getting a total review, re-score, etc - those all feel like overkill to me. I think my suggestion to you would be to prepare for this Verbal retake as if it is the real thing and aim for a +700, which from reading your post sound to me like a reasonable expectation. In that case, your total score will be high enough to get you past any cutoffs. Before you worry about the GRE scores being used for funding purposes, maybe you could try to ask around to find out how funding really works in your field? I can tell you that all of the departments I applied to offered equal funding to all accepted applicants regardless of any scores. Aiming for a late-September test date sounds reasonable. If you then feel you want to take the whole test again, you could do that in late October and still have the scores in time for early December deadlines [though the universities will still see your older scores, so you had better be sure you'll do significantly better the third time around]. But honestly, the GRE is not nearly the most important part of the application. I'd urge you to spend your time on your SOP and WS, not on the GRE.

I tried quotes, I tried "hooks" about how I initially got interested in my research, at some point I tried opening with a random (albeit interesting and semi-relevant) story about the unusual exposure my family has to language by telling about how many different languages are spoken by my grandparents/parents/me (14 total, if I am not mistaken; everyone speaks 4-7 languages). In the end, beside being cheesy, I just decided that even 1-2 sentences of the "hook" kind simply took up too much of my very precious space. I ended up opening with one or two research questions that I would like to answer in grad school and immediately started talking about how my education prepared me to study them, why I think they are interesting, and why the school I applied to provides the best environment for studying them. I kept things pretty general - e.g. 'I am interested in [sub-area], specifically in how [this thing] and [this other thing] are informed by [some linguistic form] and are computed from it' - which I thought would probably only really be relevant to the 2-3 people I hoped could be my advisors, but would make it clear to the entire adcom where my interests generally lie and would not be so specific that I would come off as not open-minded enough about what I would do in grad school. I also went on to describe several different research projects I'd been involved with to show more breadth. I think starting with my interests helped the adcom understand what my application was about straight away and as a result kept them more interested than if I had started with a hook and they had to skim through to some unspecified part of my sop to figure out what my areas of interests were.

Before you express any wish to back out of going to your current school, make sure that the other offer is still available. Most likely that spot is no longer open to you. If you find out that you still have the option of accepting the other offer, you need a waiver from the school whose offer you accepted. You can't go to another school without it. Obtain the other school's permission to back out, and accept the other offer. Again, I doubt you'll be able to do this. In most places funding decisions will have been made some time ago. Also keep in mind that you will burn your bridges at your current school. They won't like it that you backed out in the last minute, and most probably they will not be able to reuse your funding and accept someone to replace you in your incoming cohort.

I've found I need to do somewhat of the opposite of what a lot of the people here have said: 1. (selectively) do less! This year I've learned to be happy with doing significantly-less-than-perfect work on homework assignments and readings. I regret not being able to put my all into everything I do, but experience has taught me that that drives me very close to sleep-deprived insanity, and that's just not going to be good for anyone. I've learned that I can make a good impression on my professors by investing in a handful of projects and publishable papers, and not so much in weekly assignments. I've also had professors tell me that they know there is too much assigned reading and no one really expects people to read everything. [i have to admit that I've never been very good at doing extensive reading in areas I care less about, so I was relieved to hear that]. I've also learned to accept that my published papers aren't going to be perfect; I've accepted that I'm never going to be completely happy with what I write [a character flaw, I suppose]. I'm now happy with simply thinking that the analysis I present is at least the most plausible I could come up with at the time, if not totally correct....what are follow-up publications for, if not to build on previous analyses with more data and new ideas? 2. learn to say 'no'. This summer, my RAship which was supposed to produce just one experiment has been enlarged so that I am responsible for 3, possibly 4 experiments. The pay didn't increase.. Now, I believe I could turn some of these experiments into one of my two required Generals papers, and certainly they will all produce publications, so I've been happy to volunteer for some of these tasks. But I'm starting to feel like I'm not going to get much more out of this project if I keep racking up responsibilities, so my job for the summer is to keep telling myself "just say no." It's incredibly hard for me to do, I feel like I'm letting people down, but I think I need to start learning how to do that. Over the weekend a prof who I RAed for 2 years ago ask me to read a paper he wrote and comment on it--which is flattering, and I want to maintain my old connections--but I honestly don't have the time to do it. Maybe that will be my first 'no'! 3. do more non-academic things. I've been steadily keeping my eyes on the prize all this year. Now I feel like if I don't make some non-linguist friends and get very drunk once in a while [or, ya know, just go out and have non-alcoholic fun], I'll go crazy. I also think a new relationship could be a nice addition to my life now. Non-academic activities will take away from the time I have to invest in my work, but I feel like they will help me unwind so that the time I do invest in my work will be more productive. Maybe it's also time to explore more of my surroundings, I've been living in a new country/city for a year now but I don't know nearly enough about it as I should. Anyway, having just one focus in my life is starting to become unhealthy, even if it is advancing my chosen career. ETA: reading my post again, 1-3 are probably just all variations of "relax, don't stress so much." But breaking it down to bits and pieces just now is the first time I noticed it. Thanks, poco_puffs, for opening this thread!

My suggestion would be: try applying now; if you don't get in, spend the year catching up and then try again next year.

I also remember seeing questions that gave more information than needed to solve the problem. I can't remember if they were on the actual test on only in the prep materials, but it's been two years since I took the test.

I find this post misinformed and stereotypical on so many levels. I don't know why you think that people who got on waiting lists are ones who slacked off in ug and took basket-weaving or dancing instead of classes that could strengthen their applications. I also don't understand why you put liberal arts in the same category as basket-weaving, but I'm not going to dignify that with an explanation of why you're wrong. People who get onto waiting lists are usually very good applicants who the department would love to accept, if it had more funding. They are not anything like what you describe. As for the advice to prove to the adcom that you would do anything for a place in their program, including spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars, I'd be very weary of doing that. There are so many reasons not to be the person who wants things too badly. You want to be appreciated and well payed for your trouble; you don't want to be the person who everybody knows can be offered less and will still do more. Stay within reason. I also wouldn't be surprised if professors don't want to work with people who seem too invested in their work, it's a bit uncomfortable, and can give off an impression of naivete. As for learning languages in general - that could be good advice for some people in some disciplines, and useless for others. If what you do has nothing to do with languages and you find an awkward way to work the fact that you taught yourself 3 languages into your SOP - it's going to be just that: awkward. Not to mention that it'll take up space you need for more pertinent things. [case in point: I am doing a PhD in linguistics and have in fact taught myself and learned several languages, but none of that made into my SOP. My CV mentions my language skills, but no one really cares about how I obtained them. If anything, language courses have documentation and as a result receive more recognition than self-teaching]. As for Rosetta: I don't understand why you would spend so much money on a resource that can be replaced by much cheaper resources that will give similar results. There are online sites for beginners in many languages, there are books and tapes, there are language exchange programs at most universities. Why not start there? Your money will probably be better spent on summer courses and immersion camps after you acquire some basic skills. It is good advice to try to boost your profile as much as you can - both before you apply and once you're on a waiting list. Take the time to figure out if there is some important skill that you don't have: it could be a language, stats, math, programming skills, advanced classes in your major, writing skills, experience writing a large paper or working on a research project, or something else. Do what you can to first of all acknowledge that there is something missing, which the program might be worried about in terms of abilities and fit, and try to do what you can to fix it. Take a summer course, for instance (and mention that you plan to do so somewhere on your application). Teach yourself, take private lessons, work one on one with a professor. There are many options for improving deficiencies. Consult your mentors - there is no one quick solution like the one in the post I quoted. But there certainly are things you can do.

I think the OP's idea is to take graduate level courses in order to boost their application and prove that they can do graduate level work, not necessarily in order to transfer credits to a graduate degree. It could only help you if you could participate in smaller advanced classes, do good work and try to secure a letter of recommendation afterward. A graduate seminar could be a good place to start working on what could turn into your writing sample as well. But from what I see in my department, at least, it's not at all common for undergraduates to take grad courses. This might be school/field dependent, though. If you can do something to gain more research experience, I agree that it would be preferable. Or ff you have interests that require skills you don't yet have - e.g. programming, stats, foreign languages - you could work on that as well. If you could explain in your SOP how you've gone an extra mile to prepare yourself for exploring your interests in grad school, that would make a good impression.

I've used my own phone with pay as you go sim cards in different European countries and it worked fine, but not with the American one. I think, as others have said, that though ATT uses GSM, the technology is somehow different. I never had a contract, though. I don't like using phones if I don't have to so I only keep one for emergencies. Anyway, the worst thing that could happen is you have to buy a new phone, but there are cheap ones out there (I think the cheapest I saw was $25, including 25 minutes) and with all the moving expenses that's not going to matter hugely. To save time bring the phone you want to be using with you when you buy the card and make sure the sim works right when you buy it. Save the time of having to return to the store.

My pay as you go ATT sim card didn't work when I tried to put in my own (unlocked) phone, then also didn't work when I put it back in the original crap phone I got it with. I had to go back to the store, where they "fixed" it but said I could only use the ATT phone, not one I got elsewhere. I still think it's a scam but since I only have the phone for emergencies anyway I decided I didn't care enough to find out who I need to yell at to get it fixed. Make sure the sim is transferable before you buy it.

I'm new to the American housing market but I've rented in different cities in other countries and have never been asked for anything equivalent to that kind of information. Do you know what the landlord plans to do with this info?

Usually you are required to submit transcripts for all academic courses you've ever taken, regardless of whether or not they are relevant to your current field of study. So the default would be to send everything everywhere. Certainly if you got good grades, it's in your interest to do so anyway. For reasons of costs, some people inquire into not submitting irrelevant transcripts (and some schools will tell you they don't care about them anyway), so you could look into that. You'd need to contact individual departments and ask about their policies.