The Green Bean

I want to go but I can't this year for personal circumstances. I'm not sure if they will change in a year.

I have been accepted for M.A programs at several top schools. However, I will be unable to attend this fall because of personal circumstances. How liberal are schools in deferring offers of admissions? How do I approach this? I'm not entirely sure if I will be able to attend in F12 but if not next year then I will probably never go.

Is it okay to email the grad secretary of a Canadian institution to enquire about admission status? I've received admissions from USA schools and the reply deadline for one of them is 3rd April. Looking at previous years, decisions from my programs have ranged from anywhere between 10 March to 25 May (there were only 5). It's a masters program and Ph.D applicants started hearing 3 weeks ago.

I just received an acceptance from UChicago as well. Wow. This feels awesome It's an informal email which mentions nothing about funding. Judging from the "to" list it seems like they have accepted about 35 candidates.

I hope it's via email. I'm travelling next week and I won't be back home for a month.

Has anybody heard from Chicago's MA in ME studies yet? There were a couple of acceptances in late Feb, but they had applied through the social sciences department.

I disagree having owned a Mac since 2006 till 2009. Windows 7 is as good if not better than Mac OS. It's stabler than the previous versions and works for me. The main advantage is that you get a greater choice for hardware customization. For example, my current Sony Vaio has a 13" screen with a resolution of (1600x900) which is makes it bigger than Apple's 15" (1440x900). Furthermore, it has a dedicated video card which allows me to play graphic-heavy games. I do miss Apple's trackpad though. It was the best I've ever used and they've made it even better.

They're quite good. But it's not so much about the manufacturer as it is about the model. The low end models will always be cheap and flimsy and the high end models will always be faster, stronger and better--Sony, Acer, Toshiba all the same. Buy for the features that you need. Screen resolution, speed, weight, want to plat games? etc etc... You get what you pay for. I already have a relatively light-weight laptop, but I don't like carrying much weight around. Is it absolutely necessary to carry one into classes? I'm in the Humanities.

I just received an email from NYU that I have been accepted into their Near Eastern Studies program. I am absolutely delighted and flattered... just when I thought I would not get in anywhere. No funding though--not that I was expecting any. How do I decide where?

Thanks. It's for masters.

I received my first acceptance today from CMES Harvard. It came in the post. Really excited. Is there anything I should do now? Anybody I should contact?

I've also applied to NYU but I haven't heard anything about FLAS, but I don't remember applying for it. I'm still waiting for MA at CMES Chicago (I applied through the humanities department). Today might be the day. And you're right. A 20% acceptance rate seems quite high.

I received my first decision today. It was an emailed rejection from Mcgill. I thought I was a good fit there... pretty unlikely that I will get in anywhere else now

Why do they still use post? I'm outside the USA and the GRE results took 4 weeks to get to me AFTER they were posted. They could at least email the applicants with a non-official acceptance/rejection. I've applied to 7 schools in Canada, the USA and the UK. I'm yet to hear from any.

I've applied to the master's program there and I'm still waiting... eagerly

Mine reached them a couple of days ago because they were closed and the courier could not get in. Anyhow, some of my materials are to be sent online. I sent those the same day my transcripts and LORs were delivered. So now they have whatever I sent by email as well as the GRE score but I'm still waiting for them to update their status on the transcripts and LORs. I'm pretty sure everything was delivered to the right place though... or not

Hi. I maybe paranoid but maybe because I'm applying at the end minute. UAustin Texas whose supporting materials I sent by the 15th still haven't been updated. UChicago was updated the same day. NYU confirmed today they had received my GRE/TOEFL scores. Does Harvard have a tracking system? I can't seem to find it. Perhaps I should not worry and if there is a problem they will contact me? U of T is the same. It still says documents pending even though I have uploaded everything. But they're closed until Monday so they'll probably update it later. The worst so far has been Mcgill. I send my stuff via courier and their premises are totally closed. Nobody there to collect deliveries for more than 10 days. Oh well...

Thanks StrangeLight. I've applied for master's at Harvard, NYU, Utexas Austin, UChicago, U of T, and Mcgill. I'm also going to apply of Oxford and SOAS. I'll just hope for the best and wish I can get into at least one of them. I'm confident that I'm a strong candidate but I don't know how they will look at my foreign credentials. I have good experience in the field, a strong SOP and decent reference letters. I have also heard that my GRE score (600V, 690Q, 4.5AWA) is very good considering I've never studied in the USA. Above all I feel I offer diversity that not many others can offer. Even if I don't get in, it's not going to be a total waste. I feel the whole application process was a learning experience in itself. I realized that Western academia is vastly different from what I have experienced. In fact, the only reason I want to enroll is getting a glimpse of the other side. / ]/'

I like UChicago's the best too. What's more is that they have a great staff who actually take the pain to update what they have received. I sent a package via courier which the got yesterday and within hours they had updated the page. That's very much unlike Utexas who still haven't updated their's after 15 days or Embark systems where you never get updated.

70-80 hrs a week does sound intense especially if you need your concentration level to be at optimum. That's like working 10 hours every day. I probably will not be teaching since I'm an international student and my spoken English isn't that fluent. But I guess I should not expect grad school to be a stroll in the park I have had people doing their masters in the Middle East who pass with attending about 2-3 classes a year and then appearing for the exams. I don't want to do that, but it'll be tough to keep motivated if I don't enjoy it. For now though, I shouldn't get my hopes too high and wait for an admission offer. I'll probably be funding myself. Will that increase my chances of admission in the top schools?

I'm applying to a masters program (most are taught degrees, one is research) in the humanities.

I've always gone to school in a non-Western country and I was wondering how intensive grad school is in relation to the work load. Where I was my typical day would be classes from 8AM to 430PM with an hour of break for lunch. There would be some rest time until about 6 where we could visit the school's sports facilities. Come dusk, we would be hitting the books, revising, and completing our research projects. We would be free by 9 and get some time to relax. I usually slept early though considering I woke up at 630AM for breakfast and some early morning work. Saturdays were half days and Sundays were off. Now that I've applied to grad school, I was wondering how hectic would my typical day be? Would I have a life outside grad school?