kahlan_amnell

Why do you want to switch? Is this an MA/MS or a Ph.D. program? How long will it take to finish your degree? At this point it is pretty much too late to apply for Spring 2010 or Fall 2010, unless you already started the process, or found places with late deadlines or rolling admissions that you want to apply to. Lots of people have difficult first semesters and think they want to leave. I'd say see how next semester goes.

I agree to go with what you advisor says. However, people who are in a Masters program and planning to apply for Ph.D. programs would be well advised to keep their GPAs up.

Considering the number of times they have said they are going to revise the test but end up not going through with it, I'll believe that they are changing the test when I hear of people taking the new version. I'm glad I'm done with the GRE.

What is the problem with sending hard copy letters directly to the department? That is fairly standard in graduate applications. It sounds like they are contradicting themselves though if you described it accurately, "all recommendations must be online" then "here is how to send a recommendation in hard copy". Anyway, it can't hurt to ask if you can include another LOR. If they say no, then politely explain the situation to one of your other LOR writers. They should understand that in graduate applications, students really should use connections when they can. That said, don't overestimate what a letter from someone with connections can do. If you already have strong LORs, the connection will only probably help a little.

Yep, that is how I dealt with all my paper LORs. Yet some professors still managed to loose some of the darn forms! One of my applications was reviewed missing a LOR. Anyway, good luck with your applications. Try not to worry too much once you've done everything you can to make sure you applications get in.

Probably not. It is difficult for a lot of people to read single spaced documents. How about using 1.5 space instead, or making the font a little smaller?

That is exactly why I left that space blank on a lot of applications when I was applying for my MA and later for my PhD. Or in online ones where you have to write something, I've written "I would prefer not to share than information."

The typos might raise a few eyebrows, but overall it is probably no big deal.

Unless you have final grades in a class to report, I don't think that you should contact the admissions committee. It is great that you got A's on your midterms, but that is a small detail in the overall picture of your application, and contacting them to tell them about it might make you seem desperate.

When are your applications due? You shouldn't submit too early, but you shouldn't wait till the last moment either. There is something to be said for editing your essays as much as you can, but if you get to the point where you really think that you can't do anything else to them and are sick of looking at them, don't be afraid to just say you're done with them and submit them. (Don't do this on an impulse though. If you've thought about it for a day or two and think they are done, they go ahead and submit them.)

If your current school has transcripts from your old school that should be good enough for applications if the schools you are applying to are flexible. Hopefully you also have an unofficial copy you could send them. However, when you are accepted and decide to attend a school, they will need your official transcripts, so you will need to get that worked out by then. I do think that you suddenly owing them money sounds suspicious, and getting a lawyer involved (or at least threatening to) might be a good way to go.

Check if the school has a policy about grad students dating undergrads. I know of at least one school that has a policy that says grad students are never allowed to date undergrads. Regardless of the policy, it would be a bad idea if there is any chance the student could be in another one of your classes in the future.

Yep, you are only allowed to bring your ID into the GRE testing room. Not even a cover for your ID, just the ID itself. You can choose the schools to send it to on the screen after seeing your scores. If you need to send it to the grad school, just use the school code. To send it to the department, add the department code. It is all really easy to do from an on screen search system, so don't worry about it.

Are you interested in studying a subject that could be studied in any of those fields? Or are you not sure what you want to study, so are planning to apply to programs in different fields? If it is the second option, I'd suggest putting off applying to grad school until you know what you want to study. Grad school is a huge time commitment, and not something you should start if you aren't sure what you want to study.

So, I e-mailed Dabco to find out the answer to that question. They said: The “modified” one bedroom apartment is a 2 bedroom apartment which has had one bedroom locked off. So if you look at the floor plan for our two bedroom unit you are seeing the exact floor plan but one bedroom is not available for your use. Does that seem a bit odd to anyone else? I don't think I would be comfortable with having a room in my apartment inacessable to me. I'd be a bit more comfortable if it were locked from both sides, with a padlock on the apartment side for example. As it is, I'd be worried someone might come in the window and get into my apartment. I'd rather have a regular one bedroom.

I have two cats, and I've had plenty of time to take care of them while in grad school. Cats are very low maintenance pets. Finding pet friendly housing can be challenging, but if you look well ahead of time you should be able to find a place. I'd encourage you to keep your kitty, having cats around is great for stress relief during grad school. Plus, it would be horrible for you and her if you had to give her up after 8 years.

I wouldn't actually say that was particularly mean. The professor was probably just busy, and perhaps does not have much say in which students are accepted, and therefore doesn't want to spend time corresponding with students who aren't accepted yet. At worst you caught the professor in a bad mood. I don't think it hurts your chances at that university. Keep writing to professors, most of them are helpful to student considering applying to their programs.

There are plenty of history departments in Canada that have U.S./American history programs. (I should know, I applied to a number of them, and made people wonder why someone from the US would go to Canada to study US History!) Anyway, if you want to do your Ph.D. in US, I'm not trying to discourage you, just point out that there are opportunities in Canada too.

If my insurance denied me I would not need to resort to loans, I know that there people close to me who would be able to help me with medical bills. I am aware that insurance is flawed, but it has mostly worked for me. I'd like to see better health care in this country, and I support a public option. Taking out loans is not the only way to start on your credit history. I have credit cards, which I pay on time and in full. That builds my credit history. I have taken out some sort of loans in the form of credit accounts for a specific purchase that had no interest if I paid the balance by a certain time. Those built my credit history. Even paying my utility bills on time builds my credit history. So, I would hardly say that six years of so of this would be a "short credit history", and my credit history will be longer by the time I get around to thinking about buying a house. Anyway, this thread is getting seriously off topic. Shall we stop discussing the pros and cons of loans?

I just don't see emergency situations happening where I wouldn't be able to pay for them one way or another within the time that a credit card bill was due. I have medical insurance, so I'm unlikely to be hit with huge medical bills I can't pay. I don't have a car, so I don't have to worry about emergency car repairs. I don't own a house, so I don't have to worry about home repair bills. Emergency vet bills if my cats got sick are about the worst expense I could be hit with, and I know that I could get help with those bills if I couldn't afford them. I don't find $2,000 over the course of my graduate career to be worth the worry of having loans hanging over my head. I'm not the sort of person who would spend the money, I just really dislike being in debt. Therefore, loans aren't for me.

Speak to someone at the office that deals with transcripts and explain your situation. They might be able to help you. If not, ask to speak up a supervisor. If that doesn't work, consider contacting someone higher up, like a dean, or writing an editorial for the school newspaper about this. Limiting transcripts is a really stupid policy on the school's part. Do they charge you for them? If not, then it is probably some sort of misguided cost saving measure. If they do charge, then I have no idea why they would limit them unless they don't have enough people to process transcript requests. Anyway, as was suggested, some schools will accept unofficial transcripts and only require official ones if you are accepted and decide to enroll. Check if this is the case with any of your schools, and if they don't state it, call some of them and ask. If none of this works, then have the transcripts sent in at the start of next semester for the ones with the latest deadlines.

I don't have time to participate, I'm already in grad school and my workload is already too high. Good luck to any who are participating!

I assume you are asking about PhD programs in the US? Because as far as I know most Canadian PhD programs do not require the GRE, except possibly from applicants from the US.

Indeed, but they start having interest 6 months after you graduate. With the academic job market being what it is, I wouldn't want to have to worry about making loan payments when I will very likely still be looking for a job. Unless you have a very high interest savings account, I don't see the point of taking out a loan and just letting the money sit in savings. The interest rates these days would not make it at all worthwhile. Perhaps I am old fashioned, or conservative about how I use money, but I would never take out a loan that I didn't need. Also, the general advice I've heard is not to take out loans for a Humanities Ph.D.

Not being able to pay them off immediately and having to pay interest? Having the interest rate go up? Messing up your credit if you don't pay on time? The way I think about it, loans are something you take only when you need them. I don't understand why anyone would saddle themselves with debt if they had enough money from their stipend to make it through grad school without student loans.