psycholinguist

* laughs * Excellent.

And I'm doing (almost) the opposite. Who cares? It's all about what's a good fit for your interests, personality, and whatever else.

Thanks, socialpsych! UCSD is looking unlikely because they can't give me as much as a penny, but now that the utter shock of the completely unexpected rejection from the place where I'd decided to go has passed, I'm starting to warm up to Waterloo. It was originally my safety-school, and as a result, I never really thought about it. Heh. I think the program would be much better than I had ever considered. Heck, the guy I said I wanted to work with there has research-interests that match mine almost frighteningly well. That's not such a bad thing, is it? * grins *

It's a good suggestion (and one I appreciate!), but the main problem is that I'm an international student, and so they wouldn't be able to offer me either funding in the first place or the much lower in-state tuition later on after the first year of the Ph.D., when American students can claim California residency. However, I'm starting to think, now that the shock of the totally unforseen rejection has mostly passed, that I could warm up to Waterloo. The guy I said I wanted to work with there does have interests really similar to mine, and they do provide a lot of funding, and it is a campus I already know I love, and there is really good housing for grad-students there. The biggest issue is simply that I've been thinking of it as the safety-net, so now I need to give myself a firm kick in the rear-end and remind myself that it isn't second-rate. And while I'm working on figuring out how to accomplish the first part of that, I think I'm going to go out to visit Waterloo and see for myself whether I could love it; if not, I'll make backup-plans (getting some research-experience, etc.).

Never mind. Abrupt last-minute rejection from out of nowhere. I have no idea what I'm going to do now. Back to the proverbial drawing-board.

Never mind. Rejected. Looking as if I'm going to need to either go into considerable debt to visit UCSD or go with my safety-school, which I'm only mildly excited about. Well...I'll give it some thought.

Om nom nom.

No problem! Go for it.

Ooh, nifty!

I'm thinking about getting a Schr

I agree that the Bay Area would be ideal. Montr

It's not as possible as I'd prefer, but it's not impossible. There are lots of language-related research-groups on the campus, and students are encouraged to do all sorts of work that interests them. I wouldn't be able to do a formal project in just linguistics for the Ph.D., but I could probably work it in on the side. I'm hoping so, anyway. Although most of my research-ideas do involve psycholinguistics on some level or another, I don't want that proverbial door to be closed. That's probably my only real reservation about opting for the U of T, though. Everything else about the program really appealed to me, whereas I had more doubts about UCSD even though it was the better academic fit for me. I'm actually getting pretty excited! I mean, heck, the U of T linguistics-department said that they rejected me mostly because I didn't have enough background in theoretical linguistics, meaning that it was probably my own interest in taking lots of cognitive-science courses that led to my being perceived as more suitable for the psychology department. And yeah - the thought of not having to go into (even more) debt to attend the program there is an immensely attractive one. Heh.

I'm about 90% sure that I've made up my mind, but the program in question hasn't officially offered me admission despite the fact that I first heard of their interest in me on 19 January! Yesterday I couldn't stand it any longer and sent an email to the department secretary basically saying, 'I'll accept you if you accept me!' Getting a bit anxious waiting to hear back, but whatever...it shouldn't take more than a few days.

Personally, I'm far more interested in experimental techniques and corpus-data than purely theoretical work, but I don't feel at all compelled to identify with the 'functional linguist' label. I believe that there's space for theoretical research as well; I mean, without Chomsky, would there even be a modern scientific field of linguistics? I'm not sure there's much reason to draw the distinction between 'formal linguistics' and everything else anyway. The field is so multifaceted and interdisciplinary that the notion of trying to put up a fence in the middle of it strikes me as kind of senseless.

Thanks! It just feels so weird to be anticipating being part of a not-linguistics department. I've been (more or less) sure about wanting to go into linguistics for long enough that I even put it as my intended major on all of my undergraduate applications (completed by December 2004), never changing my mind afterwards. * laughs * I was told back in February that they just hired one, but I have no idea whether he or she is the same person you heard about. Either way, though, it's encouraging! (It does nothing to help suppress those pesky aspirations of world-domination, but never mind. Heh.)

Not sticking around too long after graduation, but I'm a Cornell undergrad. Happy to take questions! First stop should be the Cornell Off-Campus Housing Office, which has TONS of advice as well as an online housing-database. If going through the OCHO hasn't come to anything, the best way to find an affordable apartment is to go into the classified-ads and check out lots of little local companies. Examples: Novarr-Mackesey Apartments: well-established and trusted Avramis Real Estate Ithaca Housing Solutions Dedicated Property Management: properties are sometimes a bit old and beaten-up, but the prices should be good Kimball Rentals

And if you're finding it difficult to make a decision, I imagine that it just means that you'd expect to enjoy any of the ones you're having to choose between. The 'having regrets and second thoughts' and 'can't go wrong' stances don't sound at all mutually exclusive to me! (Pity we can only select one program each, eh? * grins *)

Thanks! That's the University of Toronto; although I haven't completely committed to it, I'm close. I loved my visit there, and was kind of leaning towards it over UCSD anyway, though I was still dreading having to make the decision since both seemed like great fits for me and my interests. I'm slightly ashamed that it's a Ph.D. program in psychology, not linguistics...but the main reason I'm so excited about the U of T is that there's a psycholinguist there I really want to work with.* So hopefully I'll be able to maintain ties to both fields; I'm interested in a lot of areas of cognitive-science as well, but I don't want my undergraduate thesis to be the last research in linguistics on its own that I do. * Despite my name, it turns out that I'm not the only one in the world. * grins *

One of the two schools I was the most enthusiastic about (UCSD) can't give me any funding, and so I'm not going. I just wouldn't be able to make it work. It's okay, though, because I was feeling so torn between their offer and another! Relieved to have had the decision essentially made for me!

I couldn't agree more! This is a hard place to be in. But they haven't been in grad-school in a long time, and they aren't you. Remember that it isn't necessarily irreversible; transfers are possible. And, finally, if it helps, I'm friends with a linguistics major who just turned down MIT, UPenn, and UMass for UCSC. And he's thrilled about it!

Update: as more or less expected, they can't give me any money. As a result, I'll be turning them down. However, I'm not all that crushed; I was feeling so torn between two offers (one official, one unofficial) that I was actually hoping that external factors would decide it for me. Lovely department. Glad that people I've talked to here are considering going there. Delighted for you, nocturne!

So I toured the department this week. Academically, it's fabulous. Easily my best fit. Fascinating people, both professors and grad-students. Lots of totally nifty research coming out of there. Boundaries between disciplines so porous that they almost don't exist (as an interdisciplinary-minded student such as me highly appreciates). Again, however, the thing is that I don't think I personally can make it work financially; it's very difficult for them to fund international students due to being a part of the public University of California system (Americans become in-state residents of California after the first year, so their tuition drops considerably; this is not true of foreign students, and plus, most of the TAing and RAing available can't pay for the tuition and fees either). And I have a few more-minor personal reservations about it and the location as well. I think I'm starting to lean towards another program I visited though haven't received a final decision from. Turning down UCSD would be difficult, but I'm starting to suspect I may already have decided that for me, turning down the University of Toronto would be nearly unthinkable (I mean, assuming that they do accept me after all). That said, I very much enjoyed the visit to San Diego. More than worthwhile to have gone on, even coming from a five-and-a-half-hour plane-ride away.

Likewise. Huh.

Including you, I think I've heard of four people waitlisted at Northwestern, and one admitted. I'd say it never hurts to continue to express interest. They also might be willing to tell you your position on the waitlist.

Waiting for decisions from 2, and for anything at all from another 2.