virmundi

I realize that this might seem silly to some -- but if you are trying to focus on acquiring conversational facility with a language, I recommend checking out the Pimsleur tapes from the library and giving them a whirl. I know a guy who went through all three levels of Pimsleur French and was able to matriculate into a four-week French language intensive (in France) at the 7th level (out of 10!). I did the Pimsleur tapes for about three weeks before going to France with no other background and was placed in level 3 (again, out of 10). They are definitely helpful if you stick with them, and their widespread availability in library collections makes them convenient. The affordability (ie. free to check out from a library!) combines with the effectiveness of the program to really really facilitate speaking the language. If you already have reading knowledge of the language in question, then this will help your reading along, and your reading with provide you with much-needed vocabulary! Just an idea -- Personally, I'll never take another semester-long non-intensive (ie. immersion or at least one year rolled into one semester/trimester) because the pace is too slow for me to assimilate it in time. Best of luck to you in acquiring languages! EDIT: By the way, in NO way do I intend to suggest that those who take traditional college language courses are making a mistake or anything like that. I just mean that at this point, they just frustrate me! Your mileage may vary and they might be the best thing for your learning style!

Volta -- I would encourage you not to give up hope yet! Most of the Yale decisions posted thus far seem to have been posted/mentioned yesterday (Wednesday). I heard about mine this morning (Thursday) from the DGS via e-mail and posted the acceptance this evening -- I don't know if Yale is doing more acceptances, but I also experienced for myself that their acceptance process is, at the very least, not a one-day deal! I hope that you receive good news soon!

Dear all -- Wow! What a week it has been. I wish that I could remember the large list of people to whom I should extend congratulations, but the only names that I can remember right now are Safferz, Goldielocks, and TickleMePink -- however, congratulations to all of you who have received news this week that will help you to move forward with your dreams/plans of earning a Ph.D.! What wonderful, intense, overwhelming news it is -- at least it has been for me. And for those of you who have not yet heard, or have only heard news that is of a negative nature, please accept my sympathies -- this entire process is painful, and while I cannot imagine how you must feel right now, please know that my best wishes are with you. I have not posted much to this board because I try to avoid reading it overly often -- it tends to cause an unhealthy increase in my level of anxiety and in my sense of inadequacy (I am a chronic sufferer of imposter syndrome)! I received word from my dream school today -- Princeton. I've been wait-listed there, which was somewhat devastating as I have aimed all of my efforts at getting into that school for several years now. I am not complaining, however -- I've been blessed today with an acceptance to Yale which helped significantly in terms of mediating the pain of a long-cherished dream that is probably in the process of slipping away...! Anyhow -- best to everyone...!

Hmm -- don't count yourself out yet! I wonder if all of the notifications have been made yet... in any event, it ain't over 'til its over! Tomorrow is another day. Yaddah yaddah yaddah. Let's hope for good news tomorrow!

Wow -- what an active day! Congratulations to all on their acceptances! Wonderful news.

Wow! Congratulations! Did you get an official notice or was it a personal communication from POI/DGS? If you don't mind me asking, of course!

At least several of the schools that I have applied to consider things like first-generation college student, low income, and ethnic status -- but not from an admissions standpoint, but rather from the standpoint of being capable of providing funding from one particular source or another. The schools that I have considered that do this have fellowship funds that are privately funded by individuals/organizations explicitly seeking to increase diversity of one type or another at the institution. Rather than being unfair, it actually ends up allowing the university to admit more students. As I understand it, this does not mean that a different standard is applied to those students who would end up qualifying for the different funding source because everyone is still passed through the same rigorous acceptance process. In any event, the notion that academia (or the corporate world, for that matter -- I've spent significant time in both) is a meritocracy can only lead to heartbreak. Academia requires hard work and talent to succeed, but it is quite difficult (but not impossible!) to achieve success without a strong network of patrons, colleagues, and allies.

It is hard to say -- Since they have instituted an interview process this year, that may well have slowed them down a week or two.

Fear not -- three out of the four e-mails I've received thus far have come on Sunday.

I'm sorry about your fish!

Ahhh -- well their application website indicates that decisions are available in early March, but I'm afraid that I don't have any other information than that! I'm not in the loop there....

Hmmm - what sort of insight are you seeking...?

IMHO, this seems like a good reason to give them a call.

I seem to recall that their application indicated that decisions would go out in early March...

You'll probably still have to do some sort of historiographical analysis -- if not of the sources themselves, then of what historians have written on similar topics in the past... that need not be exhaustive, however.

Last month's -- twins and Danish dogsled patrol teams -- was pretty awesome though.

I suppose that it would be combating the older ideas, because the way in which other scholars had previously interpreted my primary sources reflected an early 20th century mentality rather than any sort of effort to understand the text in terms of the era in which it was produced and the intellectual milieu in which it had been created. Of course, along the way to making this argument, there is ample opportunity for me to make a far more substantial argument about several other topics as well, but the reinterpretation of my source is, nevertheless, at the core of my thesis... the first chapter is solid -- I'm hard at work on finishing the remainder in time to graduate this spring.

I agree 100% with ryanlikesvespas. Unless/until you've been accepted and have actually experienced just what it is that being accepted entails, there is little reason to withdraw your application. What if you are admitted and they offer to fly you out, talk with your POI(s) and other graduate students, and you end up deciding that this is totally the correct thing to do? In addition, if you think that you want to pursue a career in academia, you'll want to accommodate yourself to the idea that you'll have to be mobile - at least initially. You would be better off being mobile now to get into a top-ranked program in your field than you will be staying close to home for a lesser program that will offer you fewer opportunities latter on, if indeed it turns out to be the case that the programs in your area aren't quite as good. In any event -- see it through and see what is put on the table. Once there is an actual *offer*, you'll know what the right move is. At present, there is little reason to accept/reject. I offer you this advice as someone who would also be moving thousands of miles away from all family and isn't particularly super-enthused by the notion.

It was a relatively long and drawn out process. I started my M.A. with a very (*very*) general interest in a topic in my field and was able to hone it down by first becoming somewhat more interested in a particular subfield, and then by finding a source that had been largely neglected or denigrated. If you find a source that hasn't been looked at except by late-19th or early-20th century scholars who largely viewed it through the chauvinist lenses of their day, you'll probably have an easy time spinning that into a nice topic.

Honestly? I think that Pinker is yet another jive, ill-informed, positivist cheerleader for a modernity that doesn't conform to his rosy point of view...

Yeah -- I haven't been over there for a little bit, and I registered a while ago (I'm doing my M.A. thesis also!)... but I think that the folks over there are uniquely suited to help you as they are all doing their dissertations/theses, etc. As far as a topic goes -- hmm. Tough! I don't think that I, personally, would have been able to pull something out of my . . . ether -- which is why I suggested that particular site.

For those of you who are into Stephen King right now: read his book It -- a truly wonderful and remarkable book, as is The Stand. I also recommend his Dark Tower series -- but don't blame me when you realize that the Wizard and the Glass onward isn't as good as the first several books (although they are still enjoyable reads!)...! As for me? I am currently reading a collection of essays La Religion de ma mère: les femmes et la transmission de la foi... a good selection for those interested in religious history and the transmission of the faith A.D. 0 - A.D. 1800 or so.

You might consider going over to "Phinished" (just google it) and checking in over there.

I'm drinking a glass right now. Amen.

As someone who has been around the block in life a few times, I will say this -- it is absolutely a good idea to keep things in perspective. With that said, different situations cause different kinds of stress. It's perfectly natural to be anxious when in the middle of a series of potentially life-changing situations. When one is confronted by the prospect of moving to New England, the South, the West Coast, and all points in between -- or nowhere -- there is bound to be some stress. This is not the equivalent of the stress that one encounters in other types of situations, but there is no point in marginalizing or ignoring where you are at now at this time. I have experienced anxiety and stress in undergraduate classrooms, corporate boardrooms, graduate school, and many other places as well. I'd prefer -- of course -- to live a stress free existence, but I haven't figured that out yet. I just keep in mind that this, too, will pass and I'll enter a new situation one way or the other and have to find a way to manage THAT as gracefully and with as much panache as possible. Obviously, someone will always have it worse than me, but that doesn't mean that I don't feel what I feel. I'm trying to keep it in perspective here, but I'm also fully aware that I'm in a perfectly natural state of mind right now...! Best to all.