cafeomuerte

Hi Origin=Goal, In that particular post, when I said Brown was great I was referring to KendraSevilla's interests. In my case, I find it to be a great department for their emphasis on Transatlantic studies. I didn't really consider the number of tenured faculty members (although I probably I should), but on who would be the perfect research supervisor (which in most universities I still cannot find). As per the Portuguese and Brazilian studies program, this is the first time I hear about it, so I don't know the first thing about its reputation or resources, sorry. I'm leaving you link where you can set your priorities to rank phd programs, for Spanish the rankings vary a lot so it's not like you'll get the same top universities all the time, I hope you find it useful. http://graduate-school.phds.org/rankings/spanish/rank/__M_____________________________________________________________U Sorry I cannot be more helpful

Hi avee, it's indeed frustrating. I have been using my friend's PC but I wish I could use my own computer and practice whenever I want, not whenever he's not around. I guess students just don't complain enough about it because I look around and half of the people are Mac users. I'm gonna send a letter to GRE-ETS to let them know how ridiculous this is. Anyways, you should ask someone for a PC, you only need to familiarize yourself with the test --esp. the calculator and the word processor. I guess doing 2 prep tests on the computer should be enough if you've been studying from manuals.

Hello everyone! I've been studying from the McGraw Hill's New GRE, 2011-2012 edition and I've found 3 huge mistakes in the answer key, so it might not be very reliable. Besides the official GRE study guides, can anyone recommend any material? Thanks!

Hi KendraSevilla, As per the languages, have you ever heard about the Explore program? It's a program that allows you to study French intensively during the spring and/or the summer session, that way you don't get distracted during a regular semester. As a Canadian citizen or resident you have the right to do it for free (you actually receive a scholarship that covers everything BUT transportation). My own experience was GREAT. I did it in a very small city called Chicoutimi in the North of Quebec so I really got to live in French. They have all levels, if you only speak one word or if you majored in French there will be a group for you. That would be a good way to acquire a fourth language. A summer course in Barcelona would also be great, of course, as it will be more ad-hoc. I am doing my M.A. here and I can assure you that experiencing this made me realize that I wasn't ready for a PhD... best decision ever! I also have the impression that in the US it's way harder so this is certainly training me for what's next. Have you considered doing your MA in Spain? Take care!

Hi KendraSevilla, In order to have higher chances with your application, you need to increase your GPA and enter the Honours program, it is not mandatory but it will put you above other candidates. As an Honours student you will conduct some research and figure out what to study for the Master's or PhD; as well, you'll be able to narrow down the universities that offer you the possibility of conducting such research accordingly. I have very different research interests so I have no idea which universities have faculty who shares yours, but usually when I read an article or a book of someone who's still active I Google them to see where they work and check the other members to know if I'll have more than one option within the same department in case those particular professors are not available to be my supervisors (so far I keep getting Berkeley, U Pittsburgh , U Minnesota, Brown, Cambridge, Duke and Stanford). "What are some good Spanish programs in the US or Canada?" As you already mentioned, it will depend on your research interests so do the Google thing and you'll figure it out. I think, however, in your case Brown has the best Spanish program. http://brown.edu/Dep...Studies/people/ It is also important to compare how much money you would get if you get accepted here or there and to inform yourself regarding the TAships because sometimes the "scholarship" you get is more like an exchange for your work and they'll squeeze every single penny they pay you. Always consider that. "How competitive is it to get into Spanish graduate programs?" VERY. Not as competitive as for English, History or Comparative Lit programs but it is not as easy as some want to believe. You can see this chart from Yale http://www.yale.edu/...hportuguese.pdf, it is true that it being Yale might have something to do with the numbers, but it is like that in every good university. You said that you would like to take some time off before going to grad school, just make sure you do something productive or related (being a language assistant is a great idea), or maybe learning Portuguese, French or Latin. Anything that will help you build up your application. And last but not least, I would recommend that you do a Master's before trying a PhD, it will prepare you and help you acquire more research experience -also you might be a research assistant or a TA and that will give you extra points . Hope this helps and good luck!

Hello fs33, Sorry it took me so long to reply, it appears I was not subscribed to receive notifications for this topic ... Yes, for what I have seen, people who go to Concordia usually intend to work for companies after they finish. UdeM is more research oriented and allow you to be autonomous while in Concordia it's guided research as in they're gonna tell you what to do (I only know about 4-5 people who did grad school in JMSB so it might not be the rule). I think that whatever it is you're planning on doing after, autonomous research is very well seen. Hope this helps!

I would recommend Explore. It's a five-week immersion program in French (you even sign a only-French "contract"). If you're Canadian and are enrolled as a full-time student in a Canadian university (BA MA or PhD) you receive a bursary. If you're American, you'll have to pay $2000. You can choose where to go. I honestly don't think Montreal is a good place to learn French because you cannot really talk to people, well, you can, but the moment they hear your English accent they'll stop talking to you in French and switch to English. I recommend places like Jonquiere or Chicoutimi. They're small cities in North Quebec and people are uni-lingual. Also, you can choose to stay with a family, which gives you the full French experience. For more info, you can visit this site: Explore Program

Thanks for the link, it was very useful!

Could you please post the link where you read that?

Hi BabyHelga, All the blue line is well connected to l'UdeM, the stations that surround the campus are on Edouard Montpetit, Jean Brillant and Cote-des-Neiges, from where you can also take several buses. You might wanna check if your program is going to move to the new facilities though... there are some programs that are now offered in Laval, which is already outside Montreal. I remember having to go there for a semester and it was really annoying traveling for one hour by subway! Unfortunately, everything else took place around the large campus so it didn't make sense to move to Laval. If you already know that you'll have most of your seminars downtown (not really downtown but that's how they refer to this campus), there are a lot of cheap places to live around. Notre-Dame-de-Grace and Cote-des-Neiges are the closest neighborhoods, and they are both nice and safe to walk by night (going North on the blue line is not very safe). NDG is a bit more expensive but if you prefer to be amongst anglophones, that would be the right choice. CDN is very francophone but also very immigrant oriented. As for where are grad students settling, I don't know but CDN is a very quiet neighborhood and you can easily find concrete buildings with a terrific soundproof structure. Cheap rent if you want to share a room in a 3 -or more- bedroom apartment would be max. 400$ all inclusive. If you want to share a small 2 bedroom apartment, it's higher, probably 500$ all inclusive. Good luck!

Hi fs33, I don't really know much about Econ. programs, but I know that UdeM is way better in research than Concordia -Concordia would be the right choice if you do not want to be in Academy. As per your possibilities to work outside Quebec or outside Canada after you finish, you are right about not having to prove that you have a good level in English by going to an anglo institution. I don't think it really matters that you finish in a francophone university because they'll see your language skills in English when you write your letter of motivation and when they contact you for an interview. In fact, I think that it is understood that if you are applying for jobs in English-speaking countries you have full working proficiency. And if you don't it's just obvious when they see your application. Out of curiosity, did you attend cegep in English or French? And what about the BA, where did you do it? I ask you this because in my field it is very well seen to have different backgrounds. You should probably browse people's profiles in your field, the ones with positions that you aspire to or that interest you, and see if there's a pattern... might turn out that it's valued to go to school in different languages or different provinces and countries. Good luck!

Hey everyone, I'm new to the forum. I've been lurking around since yesterday and I'm already getting all anxious about the GRE, the SoP, my writing sample... I too will be applying this year for a PhD. Since for the MA submitting GRE scores was optional I didn't take it and kinda regret it. Probably the scores wouldn't have been great, but at least I would have an idea of what to expect. I took the SATs circa 2002, but I'm pretty sure it's a completely different test. Anyways, I took the paper based exam (I don't even know if there was or is a computer-based one) and it was terrible! We had to wait for everyone to be done with a section in order to move to the next one, the room was too crowded, and I found it very hard to concentrate. I didn't do bad and got accepted to my first choice but still, I hated the test so much I wish I didn't have to take a standardized test ever again. Unfortunately, my nightmare is back. I bought the official guide to the new GRE and started reading it today. It appears that the computer-based one has features that allow you to go back to questions you mark as 'mark and review', there's also a sort of menu where you can see the questions you've answered, the ones that you haven't and the incomplete ones. As per the essay part, the word processor is pretty basic but it allows you to undo previous action, copy, cut and paste. I guess I will take the computer based one, also because the official guide comes with a simulated test CD. Based on your previous GRE experience, would you say the paper-based is better than the computer-based or the other way around?