swilson

I was just accepted to the MA program--great school, but they're offering zero funding whatsoever for master's candidates. Just something to keep in mind if you're still waiting.

Notre Dame and Duke were my top two choices, and I'm on the wait list at both. However, I'm visiting Northwestern next weekend, and their hefty funding package and proximity to Chicago will probably tip the balance in their favor. Unless, of course, I discover that the faculty I'd be working with are terrible people or something.

I used very elementary language textbooks to help me gain a basic foundation. Because I didn't have tons of money to spend, I bought older books that hadn't been used in a classroom in 5-10 years at used bookstores, usually for less than $10. Once I developed a foundation, I began finding magazine and newspaper websites in the foreign language and read simple articles, writing down words and their definitions I didn't know. I also go on wikipedia and read an article in a foreign language first than cross-reference the English version, the language tabs on the side make switching between pages easy. I think the above poster's recommendation to find novels for kids and teenagers is an excellent idea, as well. Studying a language independently takes quite a bit of dedication, though, obviously. I would try and find a cheap course, or, if you don't mind the illegality, finding a free download of Rosetta Stone. I had a computer whiz friend give me a copy of Rosetta Stone's Latin, Spanish, German, and French and show me how to mount the disk image and all that crap on my computer. I worked best by using a variety of the methods I've mentioned above; when I was just plowing through Wheelock's Latin over the summer, I got incredibly bored really quickly, and easily found myself making up excuses to read a chapter or go through the workbook another day, another week, another month, until I forgot half of the stuff I studied. Watching movies or TV shows in foreign languages is really helpful too; if you don't mind the repetition, watch it with the subtitles a couple times and then without, to learn how to hear the language and associate it with the context you're familiar with from watching it before. This was really helpful for my German, though I can read with a dictionary alongside without trouble, hearing it spoken by a native speaker and keeping up has always been an issue for me. Good luck!

Well, I don't have the best news. There's three spots on the wait list. They made 12 offers, for 8 spots. That means if I were one of the three to get bumped up from the wait list, it would come after 5 other people declined. Best of luck to the other two who may be on it, and for everyone else with their other schools.

Thank you. To those of you still waiting, I was sent an e-mail from the DGS asking if she could call me at a good time for details and to field questions. I'll report what I hear if it's worthwhile, i.e., not some ambiguous 'there's several people waiting, several people who've accepted, can't tell you specific numbers, whatever.'

Thank you for the congratulations! I did not receive any further information about the wait list, my e-mail was in fact rather impersonal. It was the standard: "we had way too many awesome people, for a small amount of spots for the awesomest. Unfortunately, you are only half-awesome, which is kind of cool because we'll let you know if one of the 12 people who were awesome enough will drop out, which they probably won't, because we are so awesome."

I just received an e-mail that I'm on the wait list. Better than nothing, I guess, but I'm going to probably go ahead with Northwestern.

If it's just a rejection, I still wonder why it's taking so long. It's not like they really personalize them.

I'm in the W's, and my status also hasn't changed at all.

Good luck to you as well! What's your concentration? (I'm assuming medieval, so, within the period.)

I'm waiting too! I'm at the point where I don't even care whether it's an acceptance or rejection, though I've had wet dreams about working with David Aers and Sarah Beckwith for months. I just want to know something. I think I'm starting to sound like a broken record on these threads . . . and in real life.

I've been waiting for someone to claim it too! Hopefully it's not a fluke, I've been staring at my phone all afternoon.

Did she mention anything about not being finished with sending out acceptances and rejections? I am going bonkers waiting for an answer either way, and, though I'm glad you got a swift response to your query, I'm a little peeved that that time wasn't devoted to LETTING ME KNOW SOMETHING, ANYTHING.

I ended up applying to a lot more master's programs than I thought I would, after a nasty snafu with GTS regarding the subject test, but Northwestern rode in like a knight in shining armor and prevented me from having to go through all this again! I'm planning on specializing in medieval literature, specifically late-medieval mystical texts, Anglo-Saxon religious culture, and medieval women's writing generally. Best of luck!

This is so frustrating! I wonder if they're waiting until Monday to finish sending the rest? I guess that's only a day, but I'm a 'W' as well.