wildviolet

No, it's not my top choice for a few reasons. The cost of living in the South Bay is incredibly high compared to other places--I don't think I could make it there on a grad student stipend because I also have to consider living conditions for my two young kids. I think my stipend would go much farther in a place like Michigan or Texas.

My calculations were slightly off. Just got the email this evening... wait listed at SUSE. The email reads: "Your application for admission has been reviewed by the School of Education. Although the admissions committee was not able to recommend you for admission at this time, I am pleased to tell you that your name is on a short list of alternates for the doctoral program in XXX Education. The committee faced the difficult task of selecting a small number of new students from a large and highly qualified group of applicants. In naming you as an alternate, the committee recognized your own excellent qualifications. Applicants who have received offers in the first round have been asked to let us know their decision as soon as possible and no later than April 15, 2012. We will get in touch with you as soon as possible after that date with our final decision. You also may wish to contact us before deciding on another offer."

Me, too! By my calculations, the end of this week! Did you get to chat with a professor?

Congrats, TexanLex!

I actually plan on having ramen as a backup meal. But, I like to doctor it with eggs (add one or two eggs when the water is boiling, after you've already added the noodles), various thin slices of meat, sliced green onions, or cubes of tofu. My favorite ramen is actually any Korean brand (I'm not Korean, by the way) because they're usually spicy, and I like spicy. To cut down on the sodium, I add only half the seasoning packet (but sometimes I add oyster sauce, so it kind of cancels out subtracting the salt). Anyway, on days I don't feel like cooking much, this is a simple and filling alternative. Ditto on the rest of the advice here... buying in bulk and on sale and cooking for multiple days. Some things, like chili and almost any Indian curry, actually taste better the next day. I got myself a great (i.e., heavy) enameled cast iron dutch oven--it helps brown things like onions, garlic, spices, and meat, which makes for yummy flavor. I don't cook much now because I can afford to eat out (way too much). But, once I'm in grad school, I plan on cooking more often using fresh and, if I can find it, organic ingredients.

Me, too! This is my 11th year teaching, and I am ready to move on. Good luck!

Good perspective. We are so fortunate here in the United States to be surrounded by some of the best universities in the world, especially for graduate education. I have to keep reminding myself how lucky I am to be able to pursue an intellectual life.

I'm reading Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure The World by Tracy Kidder.

Ditto on everything fuzzylogician posted. I'm also in the same situation as the OP. As for dress, I'm going to do business casual--I want to present myself as professional but relaxed. I'm thinking of this visit as their opportunity to woo me (so to speak). My temporary adviser is organizing my visit and has already planned for me to attend classes and meet with faculty and graduate students. I'm going to have lots of questions and try to get a feel for the culture of the place--I want to be in a program that is collaborative and friendly, not competitive and antagonistic. If I am accepted to more than university, it is going to be tough for me to select where I want to spend the next five years of my life, so I need to do as much research as possible. Hope your visits go well!

Same here. Good pay and benefits don't make up for the fact that I can't see myself working in my current position for the next thirty years. The thought of attending graduate school and getting paid to enrich myself and do things that I enjoy is truly exciting.

Not very nice, but congrats on your acceptance!

The doctoral application process reinforced a few things for me. First, that you won't know unless you try, so just try! Second, take it one step at a time. And, third, some things are easier (like asking professors for letters of recommendation and requesting official transcripts) and some things are harder (like writing a two-page statement of purpose that truly captures the essence of who I am as a person and what my interests are as a potential researcher and teacher).

Congrats!

You're right--thanks for the caution. I was just sharing my experience, which of course may be different from yours. My perception was that both the second verbal and quantitative sections were much harder. I had a third quantitative section that was super easy, so I guessed (hopefully correctly) that it was the experimental section, and it came later during the test.

"MSU CITE Program"

My brief answer is... no. Got a 164 (94%) on the Revised GRE (August 2011). Was a science major, not humanities, but took several nonfiction writing courses and enjoyed reading classic literature. I used Kaplan's box of vocabulary cards... got through all of them at least once and was working on the ones I didn't know at the time I took the GRE, but I never mastered all of them. It didn't matter. There were words on the GRE that I had *never* seen before (and I don't think they were in the box). Tried studying roots, prefixes, etc., but not much success. I think the key to getting a good verbal GRE score is doing well on the first verbal section. Because the sections are now adaptive, if you get a much harder second verbal section, then you know you did fairly well on the first one. So, you don't have to answer as many questions correctly on the second one to get a good score. After taking the GRE, I used their diagnostic service to break down my results: First Verbal Section 7/7 correct on Long Reading Comp 2/3 correct on Short Reading Comp 6/6 correct on Text Completion 4/4 correct on Sentence Equivalence Second Verbal Section 3/3 correct on Long Reading Comp 6/7 correct on Short Reading Comp 2/6 correct on Text Completion (yikes!) 2/4 correct on Sentence Equivalence So, although I think vocabulary certainly plays a role, what may be more important is becoming comfortable with the question types and staying calm on test day. The Princeton Review strategy of doing the easy questions first and coming back to the harder ones later (as you're running out of time) definitely worked for me, especially for the Reading Comp questions. Good luck!

LOL. Agreed. Good night!

How do you like the MacBook Air? I have a three-year old MacBook and would like to upgrade before I start grad school.

Ditto on everything I've read so far. I'm feeling depressed today... no particular reason. Maybe 'cause it's Monday. But I just feel like no one else *really* understands what I'm going through. And even if it's good news (yay, first acceptance), people don't understand all the time and work I put into studying for the GRE and completing my applications. I've also been asked, "Oh, so what are you going to do with a PhD"? This is coming from people who have presumably attended college already. Yikes!

to

OP, I agree with you. It does seem slightly negative to me, but it doesn't bother me if other people choose to do it. I chose not to do it, but I didn't really think about it until now. I guess... maybe something doesn't exist until it actually happens. So, I didn't add my acceptance until it happened. And, I suppose I will do the same once I get the actual rejection or wait list.

For a special gift, Swarovski Crystalline Lady (slim) Ballpoint pens with 160 sparkling crystals (nice distraction during boring presentations): http://www.amazon.com/Swarovski-Crystalline-Lady-Ballpoint-Amethyst/dp/B005FLQX0A/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1327891697&sr=8-5.

I'm glad!

When I was invited for a visit (to Michigan State), they explicitly told me how much they could provide for me to visit. I guess you could call them?

So true. I'm trying to distract myself, but it's no use. The waiting is absolutely killing me!!!