psycholinguist

I had a chat on the phone like that and it's still not an official acceptance...but I suspect that it will be at some point or another. I know there are three or four different professors wanting to meet with me at the open-house day thingie, so I take it I made a good impression.

My thesis is going really well. So well, in fact, that I may not be paying as much attention as I should to the rest of my schoolwork. But at least I know I like doing research!

As a quiet, library-dwelling type (without a car, at that), I must say that this is really good to know. Thank you so much!

That's a good point, and one I hadn't really thought of. A lot of people have wondered why I was never an English major - I'm a major bookworm, love weird/obscure words, and am really into writing as well - but I'd usually just say, "English isn't geeky enough for me, darn it!" It was meant to be facetious; in fact, it was only several months after I started telling people this that I realised how true it was. Linguistics strikes a perfect balance of logical and creative, which is something I gradually discovered that I needed. Whoa. I'm all for interdisciplinary studies, but that's nuts!

Also, some programs seem to interview only select students...though I'm not sure how widespread that practise is.

Thanks! I'm really sorry for the jealousy - and for the unpleasant rejection! I was in a similar situation for my undergrad applications; I thought getting into Extremely Exclusive College would be really unlikely, Very Exclusive College tricky but not impossible, and Pretty Exclusive Little College easy as 3.141519. And what happened? I got into the first two and not the third (ended up going with Very). Admissions always seems full of surprises, doesn't it?

Huh. Maybe they enjoy playing mind-games with aspiring grad-students. Congrats!

That sounds just fine - and even advisable - to me. Surely all that would do is show them that a) you are enthusiastic about the field of linguistics despite not having had the opportunity to major in it; and you're serious about completing any preparatory work that you might need. I also think it's well worth mentioning that there wasn't a major in linguistics available to you; they'll see you making the effort to study it regardless! I wouldn't get too stressed-out about completing a huge pile of reading before visiting; work on it, let them know your thoughts and tentative plans pertaining to all of that, and ask for their advice. They're already curious about you, and showing them that you're up to the task of being a linguistics grad-student can't hurt! I've used both the Carnie and the Heim & Kratzer textbooks, and they're both all right (though syntax and semantics aren't major areas of interest for me). Both subfields can get pretty abstract and formal really quickly, but if you take it a bit at a time, you should be fine. And being interested in the material should definitely help you out! * grins *

Either that or you're just very lucky! I usually tell people, "It's not about learning a lot of languages, necessarily; it's more the scientific study of how language works in general." Then I reel off a list of eight or nine subdisciplines until the other person looks totally bewildered. Problem solved! Then again, when non-linguists do know what linguistics is, it's sometimes because of an unpleasant encounter with it in the past. One time when I was in twelfth grade, for instance, I ran into my sixth-grade computer-applications teacher, who asked me what I was planning to major in once at university. I told him. He winced and said, "Linguistics was the hardest course I ever took in university." I laughed with him and secretly bit my lip. Fortunately, he didn't scare me off!

I'd love to - just looking at the list of courses being offered and the people teaching them is making me salivate - but I don't know if I'd be able to afford it in terms of either money or time. But we'll see! (In the meantime, do tell us what you're thinking of taking! * grins *)

Sorry to hear about the disappointment! Hopefully other programs will get back to you with better news! 9500 graduate applications to a ling-department in one year? When there are only 20,000 people from around the world on the Linguist List? Yeah, I doubt it. Could they have meant for all of Yale's graduate programs this year?

Ooh, we got it! * stretches out lazily * Good to have some of our own space. Heh, that was Phonologist. He and I just kind of look alike on this forum. * grins * Anyway, hey guys. So I'm a college senior in the middle of nowhere in the Northeast, majoring in linguistics, minoring in cognitive science and music. As you may be able to tell, I'm interested in psycholinguistics, but I also picked the name to sort of capture the fact that I'm really interested in several subfields on both sides of the linguistics/psychology divide. (Just don't ask me whether I'm on the Chomskyists' side or not. I prefer to remain publicly neutral on that topic. * laughs *) Oh, and because it's homophonous with 'psycho linguist', of course. Specific interests:

Yeah. I also don't know what else I'd do. (Note: I DON'T mean that I applied to grad-school because I had no other plans. Not at all.) Travel burns me out within two or three weeks; I don't like the thought of most kinds of 'real job'; I love both of the fields I'm sort of in; and...I want to do something with all of these ideas for research-projects! * grins *

Had the same problem. Fortunately, chronology sorted it out for me; I'd already committed to visiting one school on the 27th when the other notified me of my acceptance and invited me to visit on the same day. I ended up emailing them back and arranging to visit another day. Which is actually better anyway, because it means I can coordinate it with my spring break! w00t.

I originally had a top choice, but then I developed a close second and third...and then I got positive feedback from both the second and third...and now I don't think I'm really that interested in the first anymore! Go figure. I'm in EXACTLY the opposite position: I live in the middle of nowhere in the frozen Northeast, and now I have an acceptance to UCSD, and...okay, I know I love the sun, and I know I wouldn't complain about being nice and warm all year...but it would be hard to leave the East. I also love having all the seasons different; it keeps them all feeling new and exciting. The autumns out here are just resplendent. Sublime. Exquisite. Futher. Synonyms. I'd really miss those if I moved to California. But we'll see. I could always come back later, right? There'd probably still be seasons here. I've met lots of Californians out here, and they've had all sorts of reactions to the cold. Some of them love it because it's a novelty and it's refreshing. Others hate it because...well, it's cold. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, so I've had to get used to it as well (all I knew of winter growing up was rain, pretty much), and I have to say it's not nearly as bad as I'd expected.

Agreed. Congrats!

Not at all, personally. I know this sounds like self-sabotage, but I wrote them pretty much in one go each, then sent them off and didn't think about them again. This is mostly because I'm a major perfectionist, and I knew that if I had the opportunity to obsess over every pixel, I definitely would. So I didn't even allow myself the chance. * laughs * What a great anecdote! Thanks for sharing!

On that afternoon, I had been typing the rough draft of a paper at the library...and occasionally checking my email. Around 4:45 PM I decided that a) I was feeling like a slave to computers, and I wasn't likely to hear anything grad-school-wise for a while since it was now the end of the week. So I sent the document to myself, logged off the computer, walked back to my place, and didn't go on my computer all evening. The next morning I was enjoying not being on it 24/7, so I kept it up until the evening, when I had to turn on my computer in order to do some web-design work for a student club. What did I find in my school email the second I opened it up? An acceptance letter, received by my inbox at 7:53 PM on Friday (i.e. 4:53 PM Pacific time).

I heard a lot of talk about The Grad Caf

Yikes! Talk about nerve-wracking! I'm really sorry they did that...though I know it's pretty par-for-the-course for grad-school programs. But still. They could have taken the pressure off by not formally accepting anyone until after the Open House weekend. (That's what the University of Toronto psych-department appears to be doing.) I guess the department just wanted to let people know their most-firm decisions as soon as possible, though. Anyway...if it's any consolation, I think nearly everyone in linguistics has got to be the quiet nerd type (and I proudly include myself). Presumably that's even more of a trend amongst aspiring grad-students. I would prepare a list of things to do, people to talk to, and (especially!) questions to ask; review its contents a bit before meeting with people, and then hopefully you'll have a few safety-nets in place to protect against intimidation awkwardness. (I really like socialpsych's suggestion involving asking professors about their current work!)

A couple of years ago I introduced my sister to 'Castles in the Sky', and she couldn't stop listening to it. She's still a bit irritated about how often it still gets stuck in her mind! Heh.

aj k?d. so? mejbi

This is really reassuring. If anything, I was feeling weird about having applied as soon as possible; two of my professors as well as several of my friends and friends' parents advised me to take time off before even considering grad-school - supposedly it helps you avoid burnout, rekindles your passion for the field(s) you're aiming for, and gives you a better idea of why you even want to go. Problem is, I'm very certain that I want to do this; I'm not feeling at all burned-out or restless or sick of the classroom; and I can't think of a single realistic job outside academia that would interest me remotely as much as grad-school. (I'm very fond of writing and even editing, but I don't think I'd want to do it full-time; the same goes for music; and though I would go into lexicography in an instant, finding any kind of position in it is nearly impossible and getting worse.) I can appreciate the arguments in favour of visiting the real world for a few years, but if my past experiences are any indication, I'm going to be bored enough just by the end of this summer!

Twenty-something. I know I'm getting close. (And yeah, I know that feeling! Caffeeeeeeeeeeeine!) Thanks, Dinali! I'm thrilled about it; due to their interdisciplinary Ph.D. in ling and cog-sci, it's the one place that wouldn't force me to choose one or the other. Which would be ideal, because I love both fields and have research-ideas pertaining to both. Let's! Then we can retreat into inside-jokes, cryptic acronyms (e.g. the aforementioned 'OT', at least for the phonologists), and spontaneous outbursts of IPA symbols (as long as the board would support such things). Oh, and not to sound like a stalker, but hey, I recognise your username from LJ as well! I saw a comment of yours in applyingtograd, and had typed up half of a 'whoa, you're basically my mirror-image' post (I'm majoring in ling and minoring in cog-sci; I've tried to restrict my applications to places that would allow me to straddle the division), but in one of those accidental-tab-closing incidents, I misplaced both it and the link to where I saw your post. Go figure. But hi now!

What a drag! Yikes. Hopefully funding will come through in order to provide a bit more stability for a while.