Zouzax

when i got my first rejection, my friend said: "Well, were you really THAT excited about going there anyway?" ummm .. yea... it wouldve been nice to go to one of the TOP schools in the country!!

Yepp I did the same! but mine is 6 super dream schools. Got one rejection so far & am pretty sure I am rejected from a second one as they already gave out acceptance/ waitlist notifications & they're notorious for not sending rejections until the last minute. But if I am accepted to one of them it'll be amazing!! The good thing about applying to super dream schools is that if youre rejected, it's not so bad because you think "eh it was a long shot anyway". Not like if you're rejected from a supposed safety school and you think 'OH NO!!! Im SCREWED!!!!!" Just my opinion, anyway.

In my opinion, the only benefit of having a contract is that you get a phone for a really discounted price, and most companies offer you a new, free phone every 2 years with the contract. Also, if you're prone to losing/breaking your phone as I am, you can sign up for insurance and get a replacement for a 50$ or so co-pay. Besides that, I don't see any benefit of signing up for a contract. I'm just really careful with the phone I have & pay for caling/text when I need to. It's one less bill that comes to my house & Id rather have the freedom of no contract. Not everyone may agree with me, but I think is the best. Maybe some international students already in the States can shed some light on what is the best option for you all. One more sip of wine & then off to bed ... the benefits of teaching on Sunday mornings! sigh.

A pre-paid plan is when you add money to your phone first, which you can then use to make calls and text. The company charges you a fixed amount for each call and text, and you can use the phone until the money runs out. Once the money runs out, you go to the store and add more money (if you like to pay cash) or call customer service and add money (if you use a credit card). For example, when I go to the States I immediately go to AT&T. I pay 50$ and get a pre-paid SIM card and about 40$ credit on my phone, ready to use (the first time you sign up you have to pay for the SIM card, which is 10$ or so- I cant remember exactly). So now I have 40$ on my phone to use how I want. For example, I usually get the 1000 text plan for $10, or the unlimited text plan for 15$ (they expire every 30 days). You can also buy minutes for phone calls. After that, I can use the phone until my credit runs out. Once it runs out, I reload it with cash, and so on and so forth. If you're planning on staying long-term, it might be best to pay for the unlimited talking/texting plan, which runs about 60$ for one month I believe. Anyway, there's a bunch of options but the great thing is that it's a la carte & theres no contract. The important thing is that you MUST bring your own, unlocked phone. Because they might get you with the phone fees if you're an international and make you pay a deposit. But if you have your own phone, you should be fine. EDIT: I hope this is clear enough. I'm in the middle of wine hour so .... I'll check it in the morning.

I have the calendar as well!! But unfortunately, the schools are NOT keeping to the calendar this year lol. It's very stressful. Lately Ive been going so crazy that I'm actually thinking of emailing my POIs, even though i know this is a bad idea. i cant take it anymore!! ahhh!!!

In terms of cell phones, if you don't mind having a pre-paid plan just bring an unlocked phone with you to the States, you can purchase a pre-paid SIM card from any of the majors (I always use AT&T when Im in the States) and then you don't have to give any deposit at all. You might think a pre-paid plan would be a huge pain but Ive had one ever since I moved to Turkey two years ago, turns out with a pre-paid plan i spend WAY less money per month since I only sign up for the things I need; when I was in the States my monthly bill was $130, in Turkey it's 20$. I just load more money on my phone each month & reload my phone with the packages I want every month. it's really not a hassle AT ALL and way worth the savings.

I understand how you feel. I remember when I turned 24 - I was stuck in the business world at an entry-level job and hating it. It was supposed to be the start of the rest of my life and I truly knew I was in the wrong place. It took a lot of courage for me to quit my job and re-enter academia. I also remember what it was like to be 24 - nearing the mid-20s mark - and feeling all this pressure to be doing something with yourself. So I wasn't offended by your "I'm 24 already I should just give up" comment at all. My parents were completely disappointed when I announced I was leaving my job and going back to school because they thought I was too old to be a student. I don't know if you're getting pressure from the outside, but usually that's the cause of so much mental anxiety. Now I'm 28 and in the middle of a Master's program. It took over a year for my family to come to grips with the fact that this is what I want to do with my life (be an academic). I think they still are holding out hope that Ill "do something with myself" though. And you know, it took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that it's okay to be in academia, and not only is it ok, it's awesome. And if I'm not accepted to a Ph.D program this year I'll most likely apply for a second Master's in a different but related field, which means Ill be 31 or older when I finally enter a Ph.D program. You just have to remember that a Ph.D is the top, the climax. Why rush into it at 24? It'll be awesome if you're accepted this year, but if not, don't think it's the end. Being in academia is an experience; it's about learning, researching, teaching, discovering. Enjoy it while you're in it, and don't rush it. It took me a while to realize this, but now that I have, I'm appreciating it that much more. Everything has its time.

Hey thanks! I think Im just so freaked out by this admissions process that I think even a silly post will get my application dismissed. Cant wait for it to be over!!

you're so right! what a positive way to look at it.

I was really freaked out when I saw this on the Linguistics forum. I definitely gave myself away a bunch of times. If I had thought about the fact that adcoms would be reading my posts, I wouldn't have talked so much about my fears of not being admitted or of being unprepared for a Ph.D. I used this forum as a place to vent my frustrations and fears, as none of my friends or family have ever experienced what it's like to apply for a Ph.D program. Ah well. Nothing I can do about it now I suppose. But I won't be so comfortable venting again in the future, unfortunately

Best Case Scenario: I get a call from my top choice school and they accept me. They offer me a big enough stipend that I won't have to work the insane hours I've been working to support myself during my Master's. Me, the boyfriend, and the cat all move to our new city and love it. BF finds a great job, too. My family supports me 100%. I do well in the program, find that it's the perfect fit for me, and even though it's a lot of work, I'm truly happy. Worst Case Scenario: I am not accepted to any schools in the States. I apply to a few programs in Europe, and I'm not accepted to any of those, either. I take an extra year to write a kick-ass thesis (since I have more time to think about it), increase my work hours and maybe take a few relevant courses to beef up next year's applications. Submit papers to a few conferences and hopefully be invited to speak at one or two of them. Beg my profs to re-write my LORs. Apply all over again next year.

ha this is great. if you would replace all your school names with those of the schools that I applied to, it would be the story of my life. My new thing is, in between checking everything insanely, I have been creating a Plan B that is taking up all of my free time and the little bit of brain energy I have left. I know I'm doing it just to distract myself from the real issue at hand. Oh, and did I mention I can't sleep anymore? (Its 1 AM.)

there have been many discussions in the past about this very issue. If you go to this link: you'll find some helpful advice plus links to past, more relevant postings. The above link is from a poster who wanted to email a professor again after receiving a lukewarm response. But other posters advised him/her that it's never a really good idea to email profs after submitting the application. Anyway, take a look. Hope it helps.

that's actually a little frightening

1. I don't - the weekend is my time to *not* think about emails and be a *semi* normal individual. Of course, it helps that I work all weekend so I don't have much time, either. But try, TRY to make it your down time, if possible. for sanity's sake. 2. of course! you can always dream and you're not out of the running yet! 3. im doing that too. im telling myself im on a 'secret waitlist' that they're not telling me about. who knows, maybe there's still hope for us all.

If you're interested in taking a test to prove your level, many certified language schools offer this. you can study on your own, then pay to take just the certification test at the language school. for example, at the Turkish school i was attending, you could pay around 30$ to take the Ministry of Education certification exam. If you pass, you get a certificate from the Ministry in Advanced Turkish. I know that Alliance Francaise offers this as well (they have French schools throughout the States). I would look into local, certified language schools in your area to see if they offer certification exams in the languages you're interested in. This way, you could study for it on your own and pay WAY less to just get the proof of level.

When I first moved to Turkey, I had almost no knowledge of Turkish. I knew some grammar but that was it. So, the first day I went to a local bookstore. I went to the kids section and bought a book for 5 year olds. I started from the very beginning. I studied the grammar structure and the vocabulary. Then, when I felt the books for 5 year olds were too easy (2 or 3 books later), I moved up to books for 8 & 9 year olds. That's right, I upgraded to 'Captain Underpants'. Soon I moved on to books for teenagers, then to mainstream, easy-to-read books for adults (this is also when I started reading research papers), then to regular books. In the beginning, I would take notes on new words and grammar structures in the margins. It was a painstaking process but I learned a lot. Every night, I would try to recall the words I had learned that day. I never did memorization, though. I let myself learn the words through exposure. Once I upgraded to 'normal' books I stopped doing that. Now I read books normally and try to learn words through context. Only if I really can't figure out a word & it is important to a story, do I look it up in the dictionary. Because of this, my reading and grammar skills increased dramatically in a short amount of time. When I signed up for my first language course, I tested Advanced for Reading/Grammar and Beginner for Speaking/Listening. The language school had no idea what to do with me lol. So that IS the pitfall of only studying reading. But it did work. And if you only want to learn reading I highly suggest it.

haha it was the same for me. thankfully they caught me during wine hour so I saw it, moved on, and had another drink. gotta love the time difference.

dont worry -- things will feel better once you receive your first acceptance .. I'm waiting for mine, too!