coffeeplease

For some reason I hadn't even considered the possibility that the interview might be in German. Better brush up.... Were you able to get your NW application in, btw?

I found these helpful statistics from Northwestern's website (pdf warning!). I thought I had seen some statistics from Princeton that looked similar to Yale's but now I can't find them anywhere, so maybe I'm imaging things. I wouldn't be surprised, actually. Also, as I started typing this, I got an email from Harvard saying that they will be notifying us re: interviews on the 23rd and 24th. @vertige: I had to read what you wrote twice ("I prefer" etc) -- teaching English has made my English worse. I just had a discussion with a teacher at my school about how we'd started adopting students' constructions for expediency's sake -- like saying "write a test" instead of "take a test," etc. Also, they insist that all the kids learn British English, so some of those idioms have crept into my usage ("different to," "at the weekend" -- the other day I seriously had to think about what preposition we use in the U.S.). A friend of mine summed things up nicely: "So you're not getting better at German so much as incompetent in two languages."

While Princeton's application had an overall nice appearance, not being able to skip between sections drove me nuts (ie, there was no way to go directly from section 1 to 7 other than clicking "next" on page 1, then 2, then 3, then 4....). And Harvard's 1 MB size limit for transcript uploads was irritating, too. But Brown's system gets my vote for most annoying. As some people pointed out, that app would save automatically at odd intervals, and then I would log in later to find that information was missing. Also, for some reason it saved my UG major as "Accounting" rather than "German Studies" -- thank god I caught that before hitting submit.

Finknottle did a really good job already, so my only thought would be -- do you really need the first paragraph? They know the definition of adversity, and they know what the purpose of the essay is. You could use the saved space to maybe flesh out other areas of the essay.

They emailed me too. I *knew* it would be nothing, but that didn't stop me from hoping it was something more substantial. ARRRRGG! I also had a dream where a POI sent me a very condescending email basically ripping my SOP to shreds. Knowing me and how I handle waiting out stuff like this, it won't be the last of such dreams....

HOW do you do that?? I will pay top dollar for your secret.

In theory I'd want to see them, but when I actually had the opportunity a few years ago I chickened out. I couldn't stand the thought that there might be a negative and/or ambivalent letter in an application I'd sweated so much.

I'm hoping to reread him, but I always get stuck in the second volume (my least favorite). But a really long book is starting to look like a great way to kill time.......I'm sure there's some good irony in there somewhere but I'm far too frazzled to suss it out.

Nope. Gonna try not to read to much into it....

lame jokes

If I do, I hope the exchange goes something like this one

Wow, I even mentioned Peter Burgard in my SOP....so either I will be freaking out because I didn't get an interview, or freaking out because I did get an interview. Fun process. Sigh. Also, vertige, welcome to life as an English teacher in Germany. It's.... well, it depends where you're teaching and what ages. Are you freelancing? I walked into my first day with an eighth grade group this year and an one of the kids, knowing he was going to be taught by an American, looked absolutely shocked and said, "I thought you would be fat!"

I was just trying to be lighthearted, but in all seriousness I did once miss an internship opportunity because the reply landed in my spam folder. Now I check the folder every few days before deleting everything, just to be sure.

I don't teach at the college level but I'm jumping into this thread anyway. This is not from an exam but from reviewing a remedial English exercise with some 8th graders (we're in Germany). They got the basic elements of the sentence ("my sister and I -- have -- cat," that kind of thing). I asked one particularly loud student to read her answer for a sentence that was supposed to start out, "My sister and I." She told me she didn't do it, and when I asked why, she said, "I don't have a sister." I would have been less annoyed if she had at least tried to say *that* in English, but no.... I was wrapping up with another class (6th graders). We had been talking about the simple past tense. I asked if there were any questions before I dismissed them. One boy's hand shot up in the air. "Yes?" Kid (in German): "When people do cocaine, why do the go like this?" --and the kid proceeds to rub his nose vigorously while inhaling very dramatically through his nose. I was speechless for a few seconds before saying, "Uh, I meant questions about English." Kid (still in German): "OH! Then no."

If I hadn't checked my spam folder, I never would have found out about this Nigerian prince who needs my help getting his vast fortune out of the country.....

Currently reading Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right by Jennifer Burns. I can't stand Rand's writing or her politics, but this book is fascinating -- it's more about the development her ideas and her influence on American culture and politics. Now that my apps are in I am also looking forward to tackling Ulysses.

I love this thread! My scenario goes something like this: "Well, she's got a solid GPA and GRE scores, but this SOP is the most boring thing I've ever read." "Seriously, I want to curl up and take a nap after reading that. And she only took three classes during her last semester -- is she lazy or is there something wrong with her?" "She doesn't really have the background we're looking for." "Yeah, she's definitely not good enough for this program." *toss*

Frohes neues Jahr, everyone! With deadlines passing or about to pass, I'm trying to find something productive to do to distract myself...I hope you all are faring better. Does anyone know which programs interview? I've been browsing the results page here on the cafe (pathetic, I know), and it looks like Harvard interviews its applicants (I think?).

Question: Do I need to get off the computer and stop obsessing over my apps? Magic Eight Ball: My sources say no. ....oh. Well. Alright then.

driving range

This is going to be my mantra. My really, really long mantra.

I did, too. It turns out, one of the schools I applied to seems to request phone/Skype interviews from applicants, and it's making me really nervous. They haven't even requested an interview from me and I'm worrying about it! Gah!

Sound advice

Yeah, this. I was just reading a different thread about whether or not to mention professor names in your SOPs and now I'm stressing over whether or not I made the right decision (I wasn't really happy with my essays to begin with). The whole process is an emotional rollercoaster because I am simultaneously really, really excited about the possibility of grad school and terrified that I'll be rejected, that the adcomms will just shake their heads at my application, and so on... And of course everyone I know knows that I am applying. Sigh.

Word of Power: Admitted, Fully Funded Location: ???? (Your post basically sums up how I've spent the last few weeks) Ninja Edit: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH