Phonologist

MIT BCS is legit. Good luck! Edit: Yes! I'm no longer "Decaf." That was kind of insulting.

Ha, I remember having "preferences." It's funny how just hearing back from programs (3 of 4 with no acceptances yet) has changed my perspective. I'd be happy to spend five years in a bus stop bathroom if I'm funded.

Well, there's the possibility that OT will soon give way to something else, in which case places like UMass and Rutgers will most likely curl up into a ball and just start blindly throwing punches, kinda like with the University of Connecticut and syntax. There's really no guarantee that OT will be such a hot thing in 5 years. Second, while I like working with OT, I'm not interested in working on OT, which is what you do at UMass if McCarthy is your advisor. To me it's like a bunch of carpenters sitting around designing a new hammer while not getting much carpentry done in the meantime. And yes, the Stata center is ugly, but there's BAR inside.

I don't get it...

I know, this sucks. UCLA and MIT are by far my top choices, and I was really, really hoping UCLA would come through, because nobody gets into MIT. I'm regretting not applying to UMass now though, but I was advised to avoid the OT hubs (including Rutgers). Does being an undergrad at UCLA really give you a better shot? At my alma mater (another top 10 program), you'll never get in if you did your undergrad there.

People always seem to remark on the results page that Stanford's rejection letters are really nice. Does anyone know what they say?

Haha, thanks for the support. I'm wait-listed for funding, though they say there's a good chance I'll get it. I'm not giving up hope yet!

It seems to follow from the word superiority effect, where letters are more readily recognized when presented in a word (lexical item) than when presented alone or in a nonword. I don't think that the exact position of the letters matters (though there probably is a locality threshold for longer words), which might explain the effect at least partially.

Those are clearly typos. Great thread though.

I would avoid this guy completely. Your work doesn't need to be "brilliant" for you to do well even in top programs; making the distinction between "very, very good" and "brilliant" is pointless and your professor had absolutely no reason to say that. Improving is a good kind of inconsistency. If this professor might twist that around and only say that you're an inconsistent student, then he's clearly out to get you or something.

My email from UCLA was sent today (Saturday).

I tried not to freak out when I saw acceptances from UCLA yesterday, and it turns out I've been wait-listed. When my inevitable rejection from MIT comes, I'm going to be going into all of this without a solid acceptance, so up for for another month (at least) of stress. Damn.

The schools I applied to accept between 1% and 5%. And I thought 20% was ridiculous for my undergrad university. But I hate thinking about the numbers because that's when I really start to worry. Gah.

Checking the results page is really your best bet; a greater number of people are active there than here on the forums.

The one thing I know I'll do is never come back to thegradcafe again after this is all over. I'm driving myself crazy refreshing the results page over and over and I just want it to be done. It's a great site, but I'm looking forward to my independence.

I'm quitting after my first acceptance (assuming one comes!). I'd be WAY to stressed out otherwise. But congrats and stay strong OP. Remember that "just one cigarette" leads to the next and the next and the next.

Let it dieeee

Haha, this reminds me of when I was applying for undergrad. People were trying relentlessly to find some way of "hacking" UCLA's website to find some indication that you may have been accepted. Everyone was like "IF YOU CAN SIGN INTO THIS YOU TOTALLY GOT IN" even though it was like some webpage for adding value to a meal card or something like that. Then if you couldn't sign in there, people would say that the particular error message you got might be a clue. In the end, none of those things could really tell you if you got in or not; you just have to hear it from the horse's mouth.

You had your mom call? Jesus. I wouldn't recommend someone who runs to mommy when things get a little tough; that reflects poorly on you.

I decided long ago that I'm only going to date outside of academia. Not only because of the feasibility aspects (two-body problem, etc.), I just don't want to come home at night and talk about advisor drama, dissertations, or whatever. Plus being close to someone who isn't involved in higher education has a way of keeping you grounded, I think.

I know, and Tuesday of all days. When I first heard about that I thought for sure they were going to stop delivering on Saturdays. This is totally throwing a wrench into my Netflix scheme; I get two at a time, but I stagger them at every other day so I can have one delivered every day (except Sunday, obviously). Damn.

I've just been endlessly fascinated by my field since taking the intro class almost three years ago. Being a grad student and hopefully being a professor are kind of secondary achievements for me; I'll be happy as long as I get to be a linguist. Before all of this I was considering law school (ha!).

Yeah, you're reading too much into it. Everyone applying to you-know-where got that email.

Just posting to express my appreciation for that beautiful distribution before it gets messed up. Never forget.

Just 4. My field is relatively small, and there are only so many programs (4) that adequately support my research interests.