sidiosquiere

Yes, getting it done early will give you peace of mind. More importantly than that, though, doing stuff early helped make me make my application materials stronger, as I had much more to time to edit them and show them to my peers. This was especially true for the statement of purpose. I started my statement in June, and changed it so many times after show it to people. I finally had a copy I was happy with by late November, and I think that giving myself that time really helped. I also had some peers look over my writing sample for dumb mistakes or unclear points. They were able to catch things that I wasn't able to. As for contacting professors, I think that it's not that necessary, unless you just want to know if the professor is expecting students. Other than that, I am now convinced that there is no real point. In fact, I'm certain that contacting a certain professor in July hurt my chances at admission because he seemed to be annoyed by my e-mail - of course I sort of pestered him, but still. But as a counter example, I contacted a professor at another school, who was very nice and enthusiastic about my application, but ultimately I did not get accepted at that school. I know that the issue here is not whether or not contacting a professor will get you in the door, but what I would say is that don't feel any pressure to do so. I only contacted professors after being on this website, so yeah. What else ... If you think that you can qualify for application fee waivers because of your socioeconomic status or being an underrepresented minority, ask the university financial aid offices if they offer fee waivers. Also, the mid-west schools have this CIC program called FreeApp (http://www.cic.net/home/students/FreeApp/Introduction.aspx). This allowed some people I know apply to more schools than they would be able to afford otherwise. If you did McNair, as I did, though, then you're covered on that front already. If you didn't though, CIC is a good option for the Midwest schools. Anyways, good luck to everyone next year ...

I'm from LA - so, I'm biased - but it is an AMAZINGLY diverse city. I love it there.

hi ya'll - did you find out through mail or e-mail? thanks!

Hello, So, I also received a CLS award, but for Turkish. I was watching the orientation videos, and they mentioned that language instruction is usually only 4 hours a day 5 times a week. That doesn't seem too intensive. I'm hoping that being in Turkey will help with language acquisition. I was just wondering if anyone here knows of anyone who has done the CLS program and what their experience was. Thanks!

Didn't realize that this post would generate much discussion! Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Has anyone heard anything yet?

I just paced myself - dividing the total number of pages of X book by seven, so that I can read the book little by little in small chunks. It worked, but it takes a long time, and I know that there has to be a more efficient way of reading so many books, so that's what I'm experimenting with right now - trying to read more efficiently but without sacrificing comprehension, which is what I seem to lose when I try to zip through a reading.

Thanks!

This is a dumb question, but would you say that you are a fast reader? The reason I ask is because the only reason I am thinking of turning down one of the highly ranked schools to offer me admission is because I think of myself as a slow reader. By slow reader I mean I read 30 maybe 35 pgs an hr, and this isn't even theoretically-loaded-complicated readings - just your normal historical work with an argument and evidence. I just feel that this will put me in a huge disadvantage at a highly-ranked school where everyone got like near perfect verbal scores and 6's on their AW. I tried looking for reading strategies online, but they all just want to sell me stuff. So, I ask you all if you have any speed reading strategies OR if you think reading speed is important at all. Thanks!

My dreams of living in New York are over. Got rejected today too. I guess its the Midwest for me!

I scored 380 (10%)!

I know that Georgetown is supposed to be really good for Arabic and foreign policy stuff. Arizona's program is really great, and one of its advantages is that it offers language instruction for Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew, and Persian. I would definitely recommend Arizona's program. Plus Tucson is really cheap!

This being my second time applying to schools, my perspective on contacting professors has changed. I think that contacting professors is important in order to know whether or not they are accepting students, not necessarily because it will put you in a better position for admission. I contacted professors at Berkeley and UCLA, and actually met them at a conference last November (and had lunch with one of them!), but both schools flat out rejected me. The schools that I did not contact accepted me - Michigan, UCSD and UIUC. So, I don't know. Maybe my social skills are really bad, but I don't think that contacting professors helps that much in terms of admission.

I think it depends. The first time I applied I turned down a fully funded PhD for a partially funded MA. By the time I reapplied, I was a much stronger candidate and was accepted to really great programs. I guess it depends.

'Culture of Sectarianism' is by far one of my favorite books ever. That's great that you are going to work with Dr. Makdisi! He's truly a gifted scholar.

I'm waiting on UCLA (top choice), NYU, and Arizona.

I received the same e-mail this morning.

Thanks, Sargon. I'm still waiting to hear back from UCLA's History program for Middle East history.

Is this for NELC at UCLA?

That's awesome!

Those comic strips are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO funny!

I'm not sure about ancient history because that is not my field, but UCLA is definitely looked upon as a great school in a variety of fields - history included. So, you have reason to be happy Congratulations!

Damn. I guess that means I didn't get in

Honestly, I just liked the idea of living in the Bay Area. I spent a summer there once, and I fell in love with the place. Plus, it's Berkeley, which has an excellent History program. Unfortunately, that is not true for my field (modern Middle East).

That was my experience as well. I guess if you haven't heard back from them, then that might be good news. I'm still waiting on UCLA though.