fuzzylogician

Could that be because there is more than one possible way of writing a good paper, giving a good presentation, etc? There is no one-size-fits-all pattern that you can just be taught and will always work. You have to experiment and find your own style. What you could (and should) get is feedback at intermediate work stages about whether or not your work is developing in the right direction, whether you are at a stage where you should be thinking about presenting the work and/or writing it up, and (sometimes, depending on the advisor) advice on how to structure the paper/presentation to present your ideas in the most favorable way. You should be able to give practice talks and get feedback from your advisor, other faculty, and peers. You should get comments on paper drafts. But you learn best by doing--even if it leads you down a less direct path to the right outcome--not by being told by others what to do.

I can't tell you why you aren't receiving more responses, but one guess is that your English level might deter some potential advisors. It's clear from your writing that you are not a native speaker and some professors might worry about that, especially if they've had bad experiences in the past. Maybe your emails are just too long and hard to get through. I would also make sure you are referring to them with the right gender pronouns and not assuming all professors are necessarily male (whenever someone addresses me as a man I know that means they haven't spent even 3 seconds on my website, so clearly they are not a good match). As for funding, it's true that unfunded offers exist; more so for Masters degrees and a lot less frequently for PhDs, and more so at lower ranked programs than higher ranked ones. I suggest reading up on funding policies on each potential school's website. This is an important question, but perhaps not for the first introductory email. See e.g. the advice here on how to write that first email: http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/advice/prospective.html I'm not sure what schools you found that would defer your admissions offer and subsidize a full semester or even year of English studies. It doesn't seem like something that happens often; if your stipend is funded by a professor directly, it's unclear why they should do that as opposed to hire someone with a high enough level of English to actually enter the program immediately and carry out the work mandated by the grant. It might not even be an option, for funding that comes from certain funding agencies. Likewise if the funding comes directly from a central departmental pool, taking on a student who is guaranteed to take longer and is less likely to be successful than others (if they can't get through the English program) is expensive and risky. Maybe this option exists, but it would seem based on the response you have gotten that it's not something to necessarily count on. It certainly restricts your graduate school options and makes everything that much more complicated.

I really don't think anyone will care. I'd use the more succinct version.

a. That score is pretty low. You should really work on that, because you'll need a decent level of English not only to get admitted but also to succeed. Maybe that means taking an English course in an English speaking country, or working with a tutor. I personally don't know of any programs that conditionally accept students with scores below the required minimum; there are more than enough qualified applicants who do meet the requirements. b. Most students email advisors. Even if you're in the US/Canada, you're not going to travel to every university you are considering applying to. If your email isn't getting any responses, I'd check two things: the wording, and that you're sending it to the right people. I get emails like this occasionally that have obviously been sent to 500 people before me and that clearly aren't a good fit for me (like, from people in a completely different field, or working in a totally incompatible framework to my own, or thinking I am at a different institution than I am, etc.). I don't bother replying, either. c. PhD programs usually fully fund all of their students. Read up on schools' websites to find out more. This is not a question for the initial introduction email to professors. That should be about you and your interests, how they match up with the potential advisor, and whether that advisor is accepting students for the upcoming application season.

There are two options for what might be going on here, and since you are being very vague, we can't know which is correct: either you are doing fine and are having trouble with one outlier professor, or you are not doing well at all and are not seeing it. Based on your replies here and in the other thread you started, it would seem that the latter may be the case, but of course we can't actually know that. If it's just one professor that is giving your trouble and actually bringing you to tears, then I fail to see why you are not just dropping the class. You are otherwise doing fine, and there is no need for this kind of stress in your life. Just accept that you will not have a numerical grade at this point, for whatever reason and it frankly doesn't matter, and just make the decision based on the information you do have, which I would say is more than enough. On the other hand, if this is symptomatic of a larger problem--of how you act as a student more generally--you will eventually need to address it. No one is going to give you compliments, or hold your hand and walk you through everything. A big part of the process is learning to teach yourself whatever knowledge or skills you are lacking. Are you explicitly asking for help and not getting it, or are you expecting someone to magically know what you need? You even described a case where someone explicitly asked how they can help you, but you can't answer the question, so you can't even begin to help yourself. How is referring you to the writing center relevant if you are asking for reading materials? There's got to be a part of the story you're not telling that connects those two. It sounds like there is a failure in communication or a problem understanding expectations. You seem to be expecting something that the professor is not giving you, and appears to have no intentions of giving you. The professor is not likely to change. You will need to adapt to the way s/he does things, or choose to move on. Continuing to do what you are doing and expecting different results is only going to lead to more frustration.

If I were you, I wouldn't worry as much about the particular project. Interests shift over time and what you think you want to do now may not be what you will want to do in 2-3 years. I think more important questions are whether you generally like the program and whether you got along with the PI. Having an advisor you get along with is SO much more important than having a project that is the perfect fit. I would choose a better advisor over the better project any day of the week. I wouldn't recommend choosing a project you're completely uninterested in, but as long as you find it at least somewhat exciting, I would give more weight to these other considerations. Another question you might want to ask is about placement records for recent alums. If this is a Canadian school, how does it do with placement in the US, assuming that's whether you want to end up (and more specifically, if you are looking to go back into industry, do companies generally know and respect this school?). Good luck with your other applications!

If you have been waitlisted or admitted without funding, have you been corresponding with someone at the department about this decision? Who did the notification email come from? If you've been in touch with someone, you email them. Regardless of anything else, you should email someone soon after finding out the decision (assuming that you are interested in this school) to express your interest and to ask about the timeline for decisions. If you've done that, this is the person you contact again. If not, you might contact one of two people: a POI, if you've been in touch with a professor before/during the application process, or else the DGS or anyone else the department website explicitly says you should contact with admissions questions. If you can't find this information online, email the department secretary and ask who to contact.

I don't know the rank and placement differential between these two schools so this is a bit of a shot in the dark, but in general I think it would take a lot for me to seriously consider taking an unfunded offer with an uncertain future with regard to the PhD over a funded offer from a strong PhD program.

In this situation, I would recommend doing exactly what @MathCat is suggesting. There is no reason why polite correspondence on your end should lead to a burnt bridge or really any hurt feelings. I hope it works out, but please do NOT accept an unfunded offer. If you have to, I think a much better choice is to spend the year improving your application and then reapplying. Since you are near the top and they clearly like you, once the application season is over, if necessary, you could try soliciting feedback on your application to see if there is anything in particular that could put you over the top for next year. But, again, I would wait with that until after all the decisions are final and a bit of time has passed. Since you don't have other offers at this point, it seems like you should wait it out until the end, and there is no point in rejecting the offer early.

I want to second this. The fact that there is a deadline may not actually be their fault. Especially for not-as-rich state schools, the pressure could be coming from sources outside the department. However, how they handle it and how they behave with you could give you a fairly accurate indication of their operating procedures more generally. If you feel pressured or manipulated now, it may be a symptom of a larger problem. Trust your gut is very good advice. Also, if possible, talking (not writing -- leave no records) to current students about your situation might give you a good idea of whether or not you should worry.

I beg to differ. Do NOT accept an unfunded offer in linguistics EVER. It's not worth it. Living expenses are high, tuition is expensive, you'll end up with a ridiculous amount of debt and/or you'll spend your time working a second job and won't be able to concentrate on your studies. Your first job(s) are unlikely to pay you well enough to justify the debt. What's more, even students from top schools who are fully funded and well supported and do nothing other than brilliant linguistics for 5-6 full years often have trouble finding a job these days, so coming from a school that didn't even like you enough to fund you isn't going to look good. This is not to say it is impossible, but assuming that you will be the exception that beats the odds is never a good idea when we are talking about a significant amount of debt and years of your life that may not lead to a (good) job. If you are set on applying to grad school and didn't receive the offers you were hoping for this year, you will be better served taking a break, improving your application, and reapplying again in a year or two. OP, you have nothing to lose by following up, reiterating your interest in the program, and asking again if there is any update to their funding decisions timeline. I would suggest doing that and then waiting it out. Please do NOT accept an unfunded offer, it will not be good for you and it will not make you more attractive to the program or more likely to receive funding.

Not that I know this for a fact, but I could imagine that it's because they worry about how you might (over/mis)interpret their words. Maybe they can already imagine a situation where you get a C and come to them to complain that they promised you that you would get a B, so what happened? Followed by a petition to up your grade because a C is a very bad outcome for you. Or maybe they are just tired of talking so much about your grade and apparently not enough about your actual performance and what you are learning and are capable of doing, topics that are more appropriate for graduate students in a graduate course. Or maybe, just maybe, they aren't done grading but still took the time to skim your assignment before your deadline and give you the relevant feedback: given the fact that you failed to complete certain parts of the assignment, you are not going to pass, but your exact grade still remains to be calculated.

See here:

Your reactions really confuse me. The professor has nothing to lose from you dropping the class. You have a lot to lose if you don't and then you fail. I don't understand why you think he is pressuring you one way or the other. He went out of his way to give you this information and meet with you in time for you to make a decision. It seems to me that you are not doing well, and worse, you are having a serious communication failure (is this the same prof whose comments you were not understanding in the other thread?). I would seriously consider dropping the course at this point, since you say it's not required and the consequences of failing seem bad.

It is somewhat of a risk, but not a big one if you ask me. I would worry less about that (it seems highly unlikely that there would be a problem, assuming that you are admitted to a reputable school) and more about the possibility of a scam. If possible, try to have someone local take a look a the apartment and maybe even send you pictures. I'm sure a current student would be willing to help you out. I would not sign a lease sight unseen.

They will not be pleased. You may burn a bridge there, which is inevitable. Now, if you word your email the right way and keep all of your interactions professional (which I'm sure you have every intention of doing!) then I would find it hard to believe that they would start a smear campaign or actively be out to get you. That'd be a bit of an over-reaction to someone retracting an acceptance and wouldn't look good, if they did it. It's also not like you're a famous researcher that it makes a lot of sense to spread rumors about, I assume most everyone doesn't have a clue who you are. So, if someone brings up your name in conversation they may reply with something snarky about how you acted, but (i) it seems unlikely that your name will come up all too often, (ii) they would have to still be actively pissed, so this conversation would have to happen in the relatively near future. If someone brings it up a year from now, that'd just be odd. I'd imagine such a conversation would only happen if one of your letter writers talks to a friend at this school, in which case I would suggest that the best course of action (actually, regardless of anything else, this is a good idea) is to consult with them before you do anything, so they know that you are doing this and they agree that it's the right course of action. In that case, if it somehow does come up in conversation, your recommender can just reply with "yes, you didn't leave him/her much choice with your early deadline, now did you?" and that can be it. At the end of the day you have to do what is right for you, and to me it seems like this school is leaving you no choice other than to accept and later rescind if you need to.

This is incredibly field specific. In mine, it's usually said that having one paper *accepted* to a major journal is what you should aim for (it can take them up to 2-3 more years to actually appear in print). If you have two, you are doing very well. A lot of students graduate without this one publication and end up publishing a couple of papers in their first postdoc/job. This doesn't count other measures of productivity, like presenting at conferences and writing conference proceedings. So, yeah, I don't think there is a lot of comparison to be drawn between that and fields where you can even talk about having 16 publications by the time you graduate without sounding completely insane.

Can't tell you what to do, but if it were me I would not consider an unfunded degree. I would reevaluate my goals. If an advanced degree is required to achieve those goals, then I'd try again. It'd be important to get some feedback on your application to understand why you weren't successful this time. It may be that you are a strong applicant but you're just below where the really successful applicants are and you were just out of luck. Or you may have been uncompetitive in several or many of your applications. Knowing that changes the game plan somewhat -- is it insufficient experience? LORs that aren't strong enough? a weak SOP? schools that weren't a good fit? low scores? something else? You would choose to pay attention to different components of the application based on the answers to those questions. Once you know where you need to focus your attention, you do that. You may be able to get a job that is relevant to your interests, or just one that pays the bills. Either way, you start there*, and you work out a game plan for re-applying (or for moving on, if you decide that actually there is something else that you could do that would make you happy that is not grad school -- a totally valid choice!). *Also, a valid early step: be upset at this year's outcome. This is legitimate and needs to happen. You can afford to take some time to work through your feelings about this year before you put it behind you. It sucks to get rejected, regardless of the reasons for the rejection.

This is actually not a place where I think it makes sense to spend a lot of energy re-inventing the wheel. The knowledge is out there and could easily be given to you by your advisor, whereas the chances that your independent investigations will lead you to miss something important seem fairly high. I would say if ever there was such a case, this is the kind of thing where you could benefit from the advice of senior students or your advisor. If your department is up to it, you might ask for (or organize yourself) a short professionalization meeting with the DGS or professors in your subfield to discuss questions like (a) when you should start submitting to conferences, (b) what conferences you should be aiming at, (c) where calls for papers are published, so you know to keep track of dates in years to come, (d) common formats in your field (e.g. in mine, like in rising_star's, you will almost always submit an abstract and a selection committee will decide who to accept). This kind of field-specific knowledge is something that would be easy for them to tell you without needing any significant prep (so participating in this meeting shouldn't be a burden), and probably harder for you to find out. I'm sure there are other students in similar career stages who would also benefit from this knowledge. (And yes, everything that was mentioned above, for finding out the information yourself.)

Then you will have to make your decision without this information.

Of course it can't be guaranteed that you passed that assignment. How could we possibly guarantee that? If a syllabus has been published with a breakdown of the grade, usually it's not possible for the professor to change it mid-way through the semester, as that would not be fair to the other students. Questions regarding your school's policies should be addressed to someone at your school; the best that we can do here is give you generalizations, but not address specifically your case. As an instructor, I would personally find it unfair to other students to give just one student a higher grade based on a different grade rubric than everyone else. Unless there were special circumstances, I would not consider doing this.

Yep, except the link doesn't actually lead anywhere, so I am at least hoping that this is a genuine (though confused) question.

You answered exactly none of my questions, so I don't see how I can be of more help. You don't find the class challenging yet you got only 70% on your one assignment. This really sounds like a bad excuse. We still don't know if it was an undergraduate or graduate class, required/recommended/useful for research or not, agreed upon with an advisor or not. You basically want the professor to tell you if you're going to succeed or not, which s/he is not in a position to do because frankly it is up to you. If you want someone here to just blindly tell you what to do, here you go: if you are worried that you will fail and you don't need the class, then drop it. Otherwise, shape up and get the work done.

Your question is whether it would be a good idea to use an external service to prepare your PhD application material (which I assume is what you mean by "passing [your] PhD"; I sincerely hope you don't mean anything to do with your actual PhD work)? No, I can't imagine it would be. You need to study for and pass the tests on your own, and no one can write the statement of purpose for you or find appropriate schools for you to apply to. It may be useful at some very late point to get help with editing and final touches, especially if you are not a native speaker, but this is way down the line and you'd still have to do the bulk of the work yourself before you get to that stage.

Is this an undergraduate course? In that case this question shouldn't be posted in this section. If it's a graduate course, the question is what skills you'll learn from the class, whether they are necessary for your education and/or research, and whether they are other ways to acquire them. You say the course isn't mandatory, but is it recommended or something that you agreed with your advisor that you would do, even if it's not technically a requirement? The professor is right the s/he can't tell you what to do, it's your choice, in consultation with your academic advisor. If you feel like you can work hard and be successful, then why all these thoughts about dropping the course?