fuzzylogician

I have a few questions of my own: Which bank do you recommend opening an account with? Any banks to steer clear of? Do I just walk into a branch near my home and say I want to open an account? What documents will I need to have with me? Do I get a checkbook? Debit card? Can I get a credit card right away (how do I know which one is good)? Anything else I need to know? Thanks!

First of all, no one is perfect. I don't know anyone who did not have some slip-up - major or minor - during undergrad. What's more, I don't think anyone excepts you to be perfect. Everybody is going to struggle with something at some point in their career, and the important thing to show is that you managed to handle the difficulties and be successful in spite of them. There are two approaches to handling a screwup: the first, to which I subscribe, is explain nothing and let your record speak for itself. That's especially true if you have enough time to "correct" the situation and earn good grades after the bad one. Strong papers and projects will tell the adcom so much more about your research ability than one or two bad grades, and if a professor is willing to back you up and write about the good things you've done - then I think that's all you need. If you did badly in a class that's especially important, you might want to retake it, or take its sequel and do well in it. SHOW you can do better, don't just tell the adcom. The second approach is explain the screwup. If you choose to do that, remember this: a) keep it short and sweet, you don't want to waste more than a sentence or two of your SOP on this. highlight the positive, what you've learned from the situation and how it has made you a better, stronger student. c) Make sure the adcom knows that the situation has been resolved and is no longer a problem. I would not mention health issues unless they have been brought under control or you have recovered completely. You could mention financial difficulties - having to work beside studying to earn a living; health problems or the passing of a close family member; or whatever else went wrong in your life to get you derailed. Do NOT make anything up, that's dishonest. If you just screwed up, be mature enough to admit that (=don't give a poor excuse).

Both posters made good points. I'll add this: I didn't see any of my letters but the profs did tell me what they were writing. I know each had a paragraph about the paper they thought was my best one, including a summary of the problem I worked on and the solution I offered (I'm pretty sure they wrote about three different papers). I also know one had a "fit" paragraph tailored for each school. One called friends at schools I applied to, to tell them about me. The LOR is a good place to explain any weaknesses your app might have. If you had a bad semester/year or a fall in grades, having a recommender address it helps you give an explanation while not sounding like you're making excuses. Make sure you write this section in a way that makes clear that you've dealt with the problem and it won't hamper your way in grad school.

Fit >>> ranking. You'll have better chances of being accepted and funded by a program you fit well in. Not to mention that with an adviser and program that are better suited for your interests, you are also likelier to produce better work. Overall rankings of a program aren't always indicative of its strength in a specific subfield.

I wrote the first draft in August, then seriously worked on it in October-November, put it aside for another month (meanwhile let everyone I knew read it over) and then revised the hell out of it and ended up with the final version for each school as I worked on submissions in December. There's no such thing as looking for improvements. If you reread and change things, then it's not done yet. That's why it's important to do the writing process over time and have input from plenty of people you trust. You need to be sick of rereading the damn thing and be absolutely sure that every word you wrote on it serves a defined purpose.

I had the same basic SOP, with 1-2 paragraphs tailored specifically for each program. Worked fine for me.

A couple of weeks ago the curiosity got the better of me so I looked up some old emails from the grad secretary and found one that was sent to everyone in the incoming class. I think it was about housing or some such. I just googled every name on it (it didn't help much...no one bothered to set up a personal website. But the email addresses did tell me where everyone was from and I searched google images to find out if weird looking names were of guys or girls. It seems I'm the only girl in my class. sigh ). Also, my DGS has offered to give me some of my cohorts' email addresses and put me in touch with them, since she knew I was looking for someone to share an apartment with. No one seemed to think I was "intruding" on anything.

For me it's not so much the distance as the means of transportation. I can't do anything on the bus - can't read, can't sleep, I just sit there and watch traffic pass by. But if it's a train, express or suburban, I don't mind commuting up to 35-40 minutes each way. I don't mind living further away if it's near the train station and there are enough trains that come by at reasonable intervals and get me wherever I need to go. In fact, I'd prefer a place that's further away but is a better value for my money than a place that's within walking distance from campus but is smaller and more expensive.

First off, the uncertainty you're feeling is very natural. Making the transition - moving far away from home and living alone for the first time, and racking up huge amounts of debt in the process, are all very daunting. In many cases that's just anxiety that comes up after making the "final" decision to attend school and goes away not long after. However, I sense a genuine uncertainty in your post. Don't go to grad school unless you're sure that's what you want to do! It sounds to me like the best thing you can do is take this year off and work full time; use this year to work on personal growth - becoming independent, getting to know your needs and what makes you happy. That in itself is a confidence booster, and the distance time will give you can help you focus your interests. I'm willing to bet that once you DECIDE exactly (if) what you want to study and craft your statements accordingly, you will be able to secure some funding at a PhD program. In any case, I would not risk going into debt for a degree in the humanities, certainly not one I was no longer sure I even want. That's my $.02.

Ask your adviser. She should tell you exactly what requirements you have to meet in order to get the BA and if any of the courses you took qualify for that. You wouldn't want not to be able to graduate because you relied on advice someone gave you on the internet.

I'm not sure about honor societies, but awards, presentations and publications you had during undergrad should appear on your CV and I don't think they would be considered fillers.

You need to clear it with your grad program, but if they agree (and I assume that they will) then getting a BA seems like the best course of action for you. If you can pass 2 liberal arts courses during the summer and get your degree before the fall, you should be ok. Good luck!

A couple of thoughts: first of all, why are you going to grad school--what is your goal? a MS will lead you to a different place than a PhD; once you pinpoint exactly what it is you want to do with your degree, you can decide which offer is likelier to get you there. I'd assume that a "real" PhD program will be the better choice if you are interested in research; if you want to work on the practical side of things, a MS and the possibility of living and working in NYC is probably better. Aside from this, there's the question of money. Is either program offering funding? Have you calculated how much each place will cost you? Can you afford the debt, if you are unfunded?

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I'm still waiting. I know the international office received my complete forms about 10 days ago, so I'm going to give it another couple of weeks before I start getting nervous. Bureaucracy and international post can be slow.

If possible, it's important to talk to the person more than once. Try to get a feel for the person and see if you two can have a decent conversation and generally get along, have similar opinions, etc (let them say what they think before you tell them your views!). Be specific about your expectations and habits and ask about anything you think might bother you. People might lie so notice their behavior, not only their words. In the end, it's all a crap shoot. Personally, I've had some bad-mediocre experiences with strangers I picked from websites. I had the best experiences living with friends or with friends of friends. I figured that people who got along with my friends were likely to get along with me, and luckily it always worked out that way in the end.

I hope I get to take some classes with him, but I'm mainly interested in semantics, not syntax, so no.

My answers: 1. I 'knew' I wanted a PhD after my first semester of undergrad. During my third year (last of undergrad) I decided I needed to boost my profile so I applied to and eventually won a scholarship to study a year abroad. During that year, I got to work with some big names, collaborate on two research projects, present at a conference and be published once. That's when I knew I was hooked. It's a wonderful feeling presenting ideas to colleagues. 2. Let's see. I: - Prepared a list of places I wanted to apply to around May of last year. I took my time consulting professors and reading potential advisers' websites and current work. - Took the GRE and TOEFL in June (started studying vocab around March and for the rest in May). - Wrote a preliminary version of the SoP in August; put is aside for a month or so, and then kicked its ass in revisions all through October. - My writing sample was pretty much ready so I only read it over once or twice to make sure there were no typos - did that sometime in October. - Asked for recommendation letters in October; sent my writers complete packets with all of my info around that time. Sent them periodical reminders every so often right up to the deadline. Practically all of my recommenders sent in their letters on the last day (or later). - Ordered transcripts in October, sent them to schools in November. - Created a CV in November. - Started filling in apps one at a time. Took about 2-3 days per app to make sure I had everything right. Read each personalized SOP a gazillion times to make sure there were no embarrassing mistakes like the wrong school name. Still misspelled a potential adviser's name. Uh. -- Late November - late December. 3. My field is very small. I applied to every place that had more than one potential adviser who I wanted to work with. I ended up with 8 places - 3 that are ranked in the top 5, one that doesn't even appear in the ratings. The main thing is that all of the schools were places I would want to go to if I was accepted. My advice is to apply to places that fit your goals, those are the places you have the best chances being admitted to. 4. Being published will obviously help, but it's not a must. Your GPA and GRE will likely get you over any initial cutoffs at most schools, so I would say, concentrate on having a strong SOP and LORs. Also spend time on your writing sample, if one is required. It's the best chance you'll get to show you ability to do research. My academic background before applying to schools: - BA in linguistics with a GPA of 97 (on a scale of 0-100). - 1 year abroad, working towards a MA in linguistics, GPA 1.15 (can't remember if the scale was 1-4 or 1-5). - worked on two projects; presented in a (small) international conference and had the paper published in the proceedings. - finishing my MA this year back at my home university. - working as a RA on two projects, on full scholarship funded by my department. - working as a TA in two courses in my specialization.

I don't have a solution for you but I think it's clear from your options that A and C are sort of opposite options. A - places your other activities above studying - you would continue working full time, form a band, etc. C - places school above your other activities - no time for the band, you quit your job. B - same as C, but you get to keep your job and have more money. I guess my question would be, how slow is the "slow rate" at school A? I have to say, since it doesn't seem that school C is better than school A in ranking/placement and with the state of the economy being what it is, I'd be wary of leaving a good job that's accommodating of your studies and which you enjoy. If you're worried about wasting a lot of time doing this, consider going for option B - get the MS faster, so you can get on with the rest of your plans. I don't really see the advantage of C over B - in both cases it takes you the same amount of time to get the MS, but if you go for B you get to keep your job and have more money than in the case of C. You'd probably work harder taking option B but if you can do it, then you'd be getting the best of both your worlds. If you're looking to do the MS in order to continue on to a PhD program, only then would I advise going to school C. Devoting yourself to doing good work in your program will be the best way to get into a top PhD program down the line. If that is indeed the case, I don't think you'll have all that free time you imagine you'll have. You will have to immerse yourself in your studies if you want to go from a "mediocre" MS program to a better PhD one.

Having publications will help your application a great deal - it's the best possible proof of your ability to conduct original research. So if you can get another paper published, definitely do that. The more publications you have, the better. I had one published paper when I applied. I presented it at a (small) international conference and it appeared in its proceedings as well as somewhere else online. I also contributed to working papers in an ongoing project that wasn't published yet when I applied (well, isn't and won't be for a while to come but never mind that). I put my paper, a synopsis of my MA thesis and my working papers contributions on a website I created on my university domain. Some profs went to the trouble of reading everything and discussing it with me when we met, which was really great and helpful.

1. Depends on the person. I took about 5-6 tests and it was enough for me. 2. I took the ones you get when you sign up for the test and the ones on the Kaplan CD I got when I bought the book. I got similar scores on all of the tests but I think the Powerprep ones are best b/c they use the same software as the actual test and old questions from it, so the practice you get is the closest to the 'real thing'. 3. After you're done with the test go over all of the questions - both those you got right and those you got wrong - and make sure you understand the solutions. Try solving again problems you had difficulties with, this time without the time pressure, to make sure that if you encounter a similar question on the next test - you'll know the solution strategy. 4. I used Kaplan.

Yes, if it's an application requirement then it's required of everyone, foreign or not. However, I've heard that schools treat foreign students' verbal scores differently (more leniently) than those of native speakers'. Since you studied UG in the states, you might be exempt from the TOEFL. Ask the schools you're applying to about that.

Haha! yes, probably. I've heard you can sometimes find stuff laying in the streets or get it at a discount around moving time from students who've finished studying and are moving away. I'm hoping for the best but preparing for the worst - an "Ikea-style" decor.

Hi there! Depending on the date on my I-20 form, I'll be in Boston 30 days before that--so probably some time towards mid-August. Since practically all of the incoming cohort is international I'll venture and ask - have you received your form yet? I really wish they'll send me mine already so I can get the formalities going. I've also started looking for an apartment and if it goes well, I think that getting to town around two weeks before the semester begins should be enough time to open a bank account, buy furniture, get a cell phone/internet and run whatever other errands need to be run. I've been on a visit in March so I pretty much know what's where. Everyone I talked to during the visit advised against taking the dorms so I decided to go with the experts and hope that I can find something in 2-3 weeks, in case I can't secure anything from afar. Right now I am just keeping my fingers crossed that it works out! How about you, when are you planning to arrive?

You should only apply to programs that match your research interests. Rankings aren't always all that indicative of a certain department's strength in a specific subfield anyway. If you aren't a good fit you won't be admitted, good grades or not. I think the best thing to do is to apply to both types of programs - both those you feel more sure will fund you and some "reaches". After you're admitted you'll be able to compare the concrete offers you'll get - that'll be the time to post back and ask us what we think.