yivorechecho

This wasn't really annoying, more just weird: When requesting transcripts from the local community college where I took a couple of summer classes, it asked me to put in the address where I wanted the transcript sent. A drop-down menu was provided to pick the country. One of the countries listed was, "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics." I had to check a calendar.

I got 730/6.0, but I did study for the Analytical section. I used that Powerprep program and looked at all the sample essays to get an idea of what they thought was good and bad. FWIW I thought the "good" essays were also unsophisticated and lacked skill, but you really have to go back to your middle school "hamburger model" essays. There is definitely a formula they're looking for.

Yup, I went to Maryland's open house on Friday and there were more parents there. 4 for 4 on that front. I guess a few of them were driving in from out of town and the parents thought they should just stay since they'd come on the trip anyway, but my parents went with me to Boston and they still stayed out of the open houses. They just went off and did other stuff and told me to call when I wanted to meet up. It would have felt too weird to have them there and I think I would have been more hesitant to ask questions and try to meet people. I did decide on Maryland, by the way. I thought I was going to have a really horrible time picking between 4 programs but when I visited them all it became a lot clearer. It's a big relief to know for certain where I'll be in the fall.

Yes. I have 2 merit scholarship offers from BU and MGH that came with the acceptance packets and was just offered an assistantship at Maryland this week. I will be accepting that offer and heading to College Park in the fall. I really liked the people and the program when I visited, and the in-state tuition and a chance to be back home are too good to pass up. I'm also going to be living with a friend from high school. I'm really excited. I'd expect you should hear something very soon on funding as April 15 is approaching, but a lot of schools may be short this year. Didn't NYU lose tens of millions with Bernie Madoff?

I had myself convinced at one point that I wouldn't get in anywhere. I almost started crying at several points just out of the blue. My parents were so upbeat and were sure I'd get in everywhere and I felt horrible thinking that I was going to let them down. Well, they were right. I got in everywhere I applied. I wasn't expecting any money at all because I knew MA students usually got stiffed, but I'm sitting on 2 substantial scholarship offers, an assistantship offer, and a promise of another one coming this week. My in-state top choice e-mailed me the assistantship offer a couple of hours ago after leaving me dangling for two months and I'm over the moon about it. I don't know if it's renewable after this year, but even if it isn't, it's still great. I'll still need loans, but it's less than half of what I thought I'd need to borrow and the number just looks so much more manageable. I've been really fortunate in this process and I'm so grateful for it.

I just got back from revisits at BU and Emerson. I loved BU. I didn't expect to for whatever reason, but I adored this school. They gave us an extremely detailed tour, talking in small groups with all the professors, watching students in clinic, etc. It took 1.5 hours just to see 2 floors of one building. I got a great vibe from the program. I thought I was settled on Maryland (doing my visit this Friday) but this is complicating things. Emerson, I don't know. I liked it a lot more when I saw it last summer. Has anyone been to open houses and been surprised by the number of parents there? It was like being back in undergrad, almost. Why do so many parents come to these things? My parents are interested in what I'm doing, of course, but they feel that it's no longer appropriate for them to be there and that it has to be all me at this point. Emerson was insanely crowded because of all the parents tagging along.

I'm leaning toward Maryland at this point but I haven't even visited there yet and I still have to look at Emerson and BU this weekend, so I guess anything could happen. Being close to home again after 4 years halfway across the country is pretty appealing for a lot of reasons. One of the student hosts at MGH said Maryland was "too small" for her, but I kind of like the sound of that. I hear you on the finances, these numbers are scary! How do people pay these rents?

I'm sorry to hear this. I hope you get in off the waitlist and that NYU sends good news! I visited MGHIHP this weekend and I don't think I'm going to go there. I liked the faculty and students I met but it seems unusually intense and I don't think I like not having a university infrastructure associated with the program. It feels like something is missing. On the other hand, the close association with MGH is great; we wandered around in the hospital a bit waiting for the shuttle and it was a pretty amazing place. But you really can't go wrong with any medical facilities in Boston.

I was accepted to 6 programs (MA). Two have been immediately eliminated due to money and suckage, respectively. I'm visiting the other four over the next 3 weekends. I was initially only going to visit the two I was quite keen on, but I've since received some very nice scholarship offers and feel I owe it to both the programs and myself to give them a serious look. So I'm going to all 4: one this Saturday, two next Saturday (both in the same city, fortunately, but I'll have to run out of one early to catch the subway to arrive late at the other), and one the Friday after that. Either it will be good having them all close together and fresh in my mind or I'll be exhausted and everything will run together. We shall see! I never thought I'd wind up where I did for undergrad, but I visited and loved the place, so you never know what will happen. If I didn't see them all, I'd second-guess myself forever. I probably still will.

I dreamed that I went to a second-look day at one of my programs and somehow wound up in a class with one of my old bio professors and was bitten on the arm by a poisonous snake. I went to the health center and they sawed a big chunk of flesh out of my forearm with a serrated kitchen knife and wrapped it in a plastic bag. Strangely, it didn't hurt. I woke up to check to make sure I hadn't actually been biting myself in my sleep. Weird, weird dream. I think it was the result of planning to visit 3 schools in the next week and seeing a report on some killer pythons in Florida on the Daily Show last night. My brain synthesized it quite strangely.

Is Malden safe? I've been accepted to 3 programs in Boston and while I haven't decided to go there yet (College Park is also an option, which has its own safety issues), I think I'd be looking for a studio or 1BR a bit farther out so it'd be cheaper. Malden seems to fit the bill. All I really care about is whether it's safe or not. I'm a single 21-year-old female. I've heard it's generally safe but people don't like to live there because it's dull and farther out. This sounds great to me, as I am quite a boring, quiet person and I think places like Allston/Brighton with lots of partying and student craziness would really bother me. How is the Orange Line? I've only ever ridden Red and Green. Thanks!

I went 6 for 6, withdrew from one because it was my last choice and I would never have gone there. But I'm an MA applicant.

This is happening to me, too (MA-SLP). Every program but one has a decision deadline of April 15 just 'cuz, even though I don't think they're bound to that. But one made me respond within 30 days. I currently have a $300 deposit in there to hold my spot. I can't do campus visits yet because I'm still at school and it would cost too much. I'm visiting programs March 21, 28, and April 3, and if I change my mind based on those visits or a financial package that I've been told is coming in the near future, I will forfeit that $300 and enroll elsewhere. Sucks, but it's the cost of doing business.

Yeah, I heard back from Northwestern on 3/1. I logged into my original online application and there was a link to "Admissions Decision" at the bottom of the page. Got a snail mail letter a couple days later. I'd love to go there, but it's just way too expensive. Also a non-SLP undergrad here, so I have to make up the prereqs. Northwestern doesn't have a concentrated summer program like the others (aside from Maryland, but I get in-state tuition there so it's OK) and it would cost an extra year. Too much money!

A little surprised, yeah. I heard back from Maryland at the beginning of February. Have you checked Testudo? Still waiting on their financial aid, though. They said I'd be hearing about an award "in the near future." That was a month ago. Nu? hailmerry, I also have the same concerns. I have about 50% tuition covered at MGH and BU, which leaves. . .still a lot of money. Trying to think of the best way to get Emerson to give me something, too. It keeps me up at night worrying.

Hi! I applied this cycle too. You haven't heard back from anywhere yet?

Seriously. When I got stuck I just called Student Financial Services at my school and they walked me through those questions. On one occasion I had a complicated question related to work-study that they couldn't answer immediately, but they told me to call back an hour later and they would have researched the answer for me. I did, and they had. I can barely find the front of a tax return and I successfully filled out my own FAFSA. You absolutely shouldn't pay for it. Alternatively, there's http://www.fafsaonline.com/fafsa-form/, which is a free online guide that walks you through every step, tells you what info to put in and where to find it. Or there are message boards, etc. Even if you are clueless you should be able to figure it out just by asking.

One attached it to the e-mail she sent me to let me know that she had submitted them. She said she wanted to give me a self-confidence boost. It did. I haven't seen the other 2. One of them I would like to, because it was from a professor in whose class I submitted a fairly personal journal project, and I'm wondering what if anything he might have used from that. I have acceptances, so it couldn't have been anything too terrible, but just for curiosity's sake. I've reread that journal a few times and wondered why I left some of the stuff in there.

Ditto. Well, I had most of my stuff submitted in early October (first deadline was Jan. 15). 2 of my recommenders were extremely quick in responding to me and had my letters submitted within a couple weeks after that. The third submitted the online ones over Xmas break, and gave me the 2 paper ones in class after break ended. Those programs wanted them all collected and sent together, so I wasn't complete there until a couple days before the deadline, despite having my app submitted months earlier. It was a little stressful waiting for her to get me those envelopes! Oh, and then that program lost a community college transcript that only had 6 credits from summer 2006 on it in irrelevant courses whose credits I never used or transferred. I re-sent in 3 times. The deadline was 6 weeks ago and I still don't know if my file there was ever completed. But I got into some other places already, so I don't care any more. How do you lose 3 transcripts? And it cost me $5 each time, too!

I called the school in question and this is indeed what would happen. Lose the $300, no harm, no foul. They have promised to get me the missing funding info before 4/15, so obviously that date does mean something to them and they realize things may shift around before then. I feel much better now, thanks.

Thanks. How about reneging after sending in the deposit? Might they throw a legitimate fit or would it be more of a "thanks for the $300, have fun elsewhere" kind of deal? I'd assume they don't want people there who don't want to be there.

So this does not apply to MA programs? Because I have been pressured into sending in a $300 deposit by School A that was due within 30 days of receipt of the acceptance letter. I do want to go to this school, but they have not given me any financial info yet and I haven't even heard back from 4 other programs. They made it sound like I would be getting a competitive offer (and I'm already in-state), but they don't know their budget yet and so can't make an offer yet. They are waiting on information and yet I have to decide now? This doesn't seem fair. The other 2 I have heard back from have April 15 deadlines. About 2 hours after I sent in my deposit to School A, School B called and offered me a $28,000 merit scholarship to their MA program. I'm also waiting on financial info from School C. I am assuming it's kosher, if the finances don't work out, to write to School A and withdraw my acceptance and simply forfeit my $300. I'm OK with losing the money. But I didn't just irrevocably bind myself to School A, did I?

I have been accepted to 2 schools so far and have had vastly different experiences in my limited interactions with them. School A has been not-so-good. First they want my decision in 30 days, which is way before any other school (I probably won't even have most of my results by that point), and yet they can't tell me about my financial package. Yet they want $300 anyway. I called the department to discuss this dilemma and was treated quite brusquely by some mumbling office assistant who made me feel like I was imposing on her. She promised to have someone call me back, since she was completely useless in answering my question, and no one ever did. I also e-mailed the office last week with a question about open houses and never heard back. Given the last phone call, I'm really not eager to follow up, but I suppose I'll have to. I have not visited this school yet, and I know that's a really stupid reason to make a decision, but I can't help but contrast it with School B. I have had to call the department at School B several times over the past few months and they have been nothing but cheerful and quite eager to discuss my questions and give thorough, helpful responses. Any e-mails have been answered within a couple of hours. The difference is quite stark. School A is cheaper, slightly higher-ranked, and would be much less of a logistical hassle to attend. I was thrilled to be accepted, and for a few reasons it's still leading over School B. But my unpleasant initial impression of their office has narrowed the gap. And I'm going to be quite attentive at the visit to see if I get the same vibes or if it was just limited to that one interaction.

That sucks. I really don't understand how you can't be a resident of ANY state. It doesn't make logical sense to me. I'm a Maryland resident whose undergrad is in Minnesota. I somehow voted in the Minnesota primaries without ever actually registering to vote in Minnesota. I then used my Maryland registration to vote absentee in the general election. I think I might have inadvertently committed voter fraud somehow. But as others have said, you should probably be saved by tuition remission from a TAship or something, since they bill that at in-state rates. The problem would come if you lost that.

Yes. I was admitted to a highly ranked program and I have none of the prerequisites necessary for this field. I feel like a fraud who may soon be exposed. The department sent me a very nice letter lauding my credentials (what credentials?) and telling me I am among the top applicants to receive funding (which I will hear about later because my state is broke). I've gotten very moving congratulations from family, friends, and professors. It helps, but it doesn't get rid of the anxiety. I'm also quite worried because I'll be taking the prereqs next year and I've never been on a semester system before, as my undergrad runs on quarters. 4-5 classes at once? I'm used to 3. I'm afraid I'm going to have an organizational meltdown.