t1racyjacks

those look fulsomely fawning to me. not that I know anything about it cuz I waived all of mine. but except for john's letter, the rest seem too good to be true.

aaannndddd I just saw that someone got an interview with buffalo for english. I is finished. totally and utterly finished.

this sounds so shitty for you. I have one recommender who's infamous for doing things at the last min -- but I kept bugging him and he got in all my recs early. Suggest that you bug this recommender now and tell her that your application might be disqualified if she is late. email the schools to ask about the late rec -- explain the situation to them.

I feel like I'm dying too. At this rate I think I'll go nuts before any notifications come in. And I see on the results page that people are getting notified now!? -- not for english though

spitfire

LOL deranged racoon :lol: I think I sound like that most of the time anyway. I thought they might email? confusing. especially since I'm like, 12-16 hours ahead of the schools which I'm applying to due to time zone differences. Well, not something to worry about anyway...

think it depends on the program. probably higher scores count towards humanities/ social sciences and count less towards science-y programs (eg mathematics)

'twas in the Why me.

I am now freaking out because I read that berkeley isn't particularly inclined to take international students. woo. :unsure: would another bottle of wine help? [/OT]

I think that if the fit is good, you should apply regardless (but then I've applied to Berkeley). Fit > other considerations, at least for me. But I am with fuzzylogician on this in that I think 'friendliness' to international students is merely one factor out of many.

I think unfair assumptions were made regarding both you and your friend of course whether both of you took offense at these assumptions -- and it looks like you didn't -- is another matter.

I might add that if you look at the problem of self/other, the very separation of 'international students' from 'americans' is part of the binary that seems to be the problem. However I don't think that difference is a problem. The section was set up to cater to people who might have, as a result of their experiences, needs that the typical American student doesn't have. It is not difference that causes the problem but acceptance of difference. I think that denial of difference is immature. Similarly, I am not claiming that some international students don't face problems with speaking/writing english. It's just that I don't think it's right to assume that they do simply because they are international. I must add that the replies here from other international students have helped a little. I probably just need to get a grip on my temper and learn pity. After all, I'm not the pitiful one here. It's those who are making these arbituary distinctions who are.

Thanks for all the input guys. And bamafan, I did think about traumatic repetition and etc etc when I made the post 'generalizing'. It's just that I didn't feel like going on a long theoretical explanation about how generalization hurts blah blah. I think that TakeruK is spot on about things and I don't have anything else to add to his case. This is it, essentially. I happen to be fluent in English and I hate it when people assume that I'm not simply because of my nationality. I don't think that it is unreasonable to feel aggrieved about the general (flawed) assumption that international students can't speak fluent english even though this may hold true in some cases. Why hate? Because it is ridiculous to deny that the psychological structure of such sentiments is related to sentiments that result in discrimination against any minority. I challenge people who argue otherwise to push that claim. It seems fair to conclude that most prejudice is not intentionally discriminatory. Hardly anyone who is racist, chauvinist, etc would think of themselves as such. Instead these people rely on 'facts' to prove their opinions 'right', and then use examples to prove their point about the group. Of course whether one has examples or not is not the point. The point is that such thinking is pernicious to minorities. Much of racism etc involves, as TakeRuk points out, a negation of the individual which involves subsuming him/her into a particular group (presumed to be homogenous) and then subjecting him/her (whether intentionally or not) to discrimination based on the assumptions regarding that particular group. I don't buy the thought that speech isn't action. Speech act theory would bear this out. So statements like 'international students can't speak english' are discriminatory and hurtful. In this case it's more of a theoretical gripe than an actual one. For if we suppose that anonymous people behave like that.... but that's what makes up society -- individuals -- and at the end of it all these individuals affect (and effect) policies and social norms/ attitudes etc. As to how to deal with the hate, I suppose since Bear Mace isn't a viable solution, drinking and working on journal papers is

am in the same position but don't know if they'd still take me! did he predict your chances??

I grew up speaking english as my first language, but because of where I'm from I'm not considered 'native' (you do linguistics, you deal with the complications of this). But I did grow up speaking english as a child. I don't know about how my brain processed/ processes it but I intend to find out. Anyway, using international students as a benchmark for lousy english is stupid. Not entirely sure how much emotions are a choice. Making friends is though. Thanks for the reminder.

So, I was in chat and I have had the pleasant experience of people using 'international students' as a benchmark for bad grammar. I hate this implicit assumption that we can't speak english. Obviously some of us are better at it than others but being 'native' american does not guarantee good grammar (I can swear upon it as someone who is an english major). I don't think that they're necessarily better than us but I can't help feeling as though there's an implicit superiority complex going on -- and not only with respect to the use of the english language. So what do you guys suggest? My solution, unfortunately, involves bear mace. However that's not tenable in the long term is it? How do you get rid of the gut-wrenching feeling of hate?

US tends to have grade inflation, esp for the 'top' schools, so I would advise against conversion unless you absolutely have to. If the uni allows you to key in your grades without converting you should do so and let the ad coms decide for themselves what it means

I'm done with all my apps and I've graded 6 out of 7 classes. Although I now think getting them submitted wasn't the best idea as it gives me so much time to stew over waiting! and I got a paper under review. I might be working on another paper to submit, but we'll see my original plan was to work on this paper and submit it to another journal (in feb) but somehow I don't feel like working on reworking another paper just yet -- stewing is more tiring than I thought.