radiowires

(I apologize if this is an inappropriate topic for this forum.) In case you weren't aware, the FDA issued a warning in 2007 about the dangers of chicken jerky dog treats made in China. The problem has not been resolved, yet neither the FDA nor the companies involved have done anything to take the treats off the shelves. You can read the warning here, and there are various (recent) news articles on the same topic around the web. My dog died yesterday just a day after eating one of these treats, and in her memory I'm trying to spread the word as best as I can. Please do what you can to share this information with others, so that we can prevent more needless deaths.

I have a roommate, so my situation is not identical to yours, but I also moved in early and have had to come up with things to do to keep myself occupied. Here are a few more: 1. Go on long walks (with your dog!) and take pictures you can send to friends/relatives. 2. If you can prove residency, go to the public library and get a card. This was the single best thing I've done yet and has enabled me to check out all kinds of stuff, from fiction to music to biographies I've always meant to read. Right now I'm watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy to fill in a gap in my cultural education. 3. If your university has a gym, see about getting in and using it. I've enjoyed having the freedom to acquaint myself with the gym and to work out before the semester starts. 4. Go to farmer's markets! They're a lot of fun and some are during odd hours / in odd places; getting to them when you're busier might not be so easy. 5. Skype with your friends. These are sort of random, but you get the point. What has helped me the most has been to develop a kind of loose schedule for every day--I find that if I have at least a rough idea of what I'm doing on any given day (for example, today I'm going to go to X museum, and swim, and maybe write a letter to my friend) the days pass more quickly.

I submitted my applications early (some more than a month in advance) because I was just ready to be done with them, and because I knew that I was going to have to devote all of my time to papers and projects at the end of the semester. I felt a little odd about finishing them so early, but I am glad I did, because I had those last few weeks of the semester to really focus on my projects (one of which I used later as a writing sample) and I was able to enjoy my winter break without deadlines looming over me. But there's no reason to submit them so early, if you don't want to. A few days in advance might be good just in case of Internet emergencies, but other than that I don't think it matters so much.

Googling my name turns up some hits that are definitely and obviously me... but it also turns up a ton of hits from peoples' genealogy projects, a new divorcee, someone on Yahoo answers looking for baby names, and a picture of a half-topless woman. I had no idea my name was so popular.

This time last year I had just moved back to my college town from a summer abroad, had just bought GRE prep books and was starting an RA job. I also had plans to take a year off in between college and grad school to teach English abroad. So much has changed...

Each program's website should list its application requirements. But as far as a big unified listing goes... if there is one, I don't know about it.

Off the top of my head, I know that neither MIT nor UCLA requires the GRE as part of the application--but by and large, it is my impression that most American linguistics PhD programs do require GRE scores. Figuring out which programs you're interested in and then looking at application requirements (to see if they require the GRE or not) would probably be your best bet. Good luck in your search!

It depends. The MA program at my UG institution is more focused on coursework, and although a thesis is optional I don't know how many people write one. Just from looking at other linguistics programs' MA requirements online, though, it seems like most do require a thesis (or some other kind of final independent research project).

If your field is anything like mine they WILL look at your writing sample, in some cases very carefully. To give you an idea of what I mean, I had a professor ask me a question about one particular word from a 100+ page grammatical sketch I submitted when we were e-mailing about something related. Several other professors remembered the details of my writing sample quite clearly and gave me advice on languages I might find interesting based on its contents. Each piece of the application is important--if they weren't going to look at it, they wouldn't ask for it. Just because you're doing science doesn't mean there's no writing involved--science thrives on published literature, and you have to be able to convey ideas clearly to be able to publish and thereby contribute to the field.

Would just like to add that programs outside of the humanities and social sciences have this requirement as well. I know a few people who have PhDs in chemistry and they had to pass a language exam, too. One of them took two semesters of German and did just fine, so the level of fluency required isn't anywhere near what you're worried it is. Like ladyling has said, it's more about being able to do research in another language than it is about being able to speak it.

Do both if you can. Research experience is obviously important, but so is knowing how to teach yourself.

If you are more into phonology and syntax than the other subfields, I'd suggest looking into programs with a more theoretical bent.

For what it's worth, when I applied to schools last round I only mentioned POIs in one of my statements (and only because the application asked for it directly). That school rejected me. fuzzylogician is certainly right, that appealing to specific POIs can show that you know where your interests lie and that you have done your research on the program. Personally, though, I was a bit uncomfortable with expressing a desire to work with people I'd never met, so I laid out my interests and then made specific arguments as to why the program in general would be a good fit. I was worried that this approach would completely backfire, but it didn't, and I don't think my acceptance/rejection profile would've been much different had I mentioned specific people from each program. (Obviously this is just my experience; every application is different and ymmv and all that.)

I'm planning on attending a conference in my hometown in about a month (just for fun, I'm not presenting or anything) but when I was about to fill out the registration, I realized that I don't actually know what my affiliation is anymore. I graduated from undergrad a week ago, and am starting at a different school in the fall. So--do I list my undergrad or grad school? Both? Neither? I don't really feel like either is completely accurate at this point!

As am I, on both counts.