mirandaw

Oh. My. GOD. I go to log in to the portal to look at my application status, and the website errors and tells me "The credentials you provided cannot be determined to be authentic." I try again, same message. I'm going to die.

MPP, but thanks!

There hasn't been an update on the results page from SFU in nearly a week. Eerie.

Apparently when a program says "we'll let you know within the next couple of weeks" a couple really means several. Or a month. I'm hopeful for tomorrow.

The reputation of detroit being "as bad as it sounds" is founded largely on institutional racism and classism. I agree with StephanieJ. Detroit gets a bad rap. It's just as bad as any other major city, but it has felt the effects of an industrialized economy backsliding harder than most others. There are a lot of poor and street involved people in the city, and people equate these things with "bad." I've never felt particularly unsafe in Detroit, but every person has their own level of street awareness. Campuses and the areas surrounding them tend to be little bubbles of student life and not always reflective of the city at large, as well.

How you dress depends on a large number of factors, only some of which are mentioned here. For me, dress also has to do with class access, gender identity and presentation, and ability. As a person who has grown up without money, I understand that reliable, well made clothes that look presentable can be fairly difficult to come by, especially if expendable cash is unheard of. Of course it's important to dress to the standards of your program, but not everyone will dress how you expect them to all the time. I agree with one of the posters somewhere on the first few pages: make sure you have a variety of pieces that work for a variety of situations. As for leggings/pants, I wear leggings all the time. I've been a hobby sewist most of my life (related to the poor folk thing, probably), so I sew my own leggings. I don't, however, wear them as pants. I wear a lot of pieces with movement because I don't like feeling constrained in my clothes (leggings and knit tube skirts [looking at my outfit right now, I'm wearing entirely knit fabrics. I feel like an American Apparel advertisement], or woven skirts with a high waist paired with a cardigan looks well put together but provides a lot of room). Of course, I'm also allergic to caffeine, so I don't have the coffee addiction of most students and therefore do stretches a few times per day to energize.

Fantastic! Come to vancouver and join us in our vegan bakery adventure.

Your program is graphic arts? I'm sure you'll be fine. Luckily, arts and humanities students tend to have a little more leeway with their appearance than business or professional programs.

Also, I bake a lot. A friend is trying to convince me that if I don't get in to grad school, we should open a gourmet vegan bakery. I'm thisclose to agreeing.

You're supposed to keep your mind off the wait? Oh. Well, I've been ridiculously underemployed for the last year (I formerly worked as an organizer in low-level candidate and issue campaigns) after moving across the country to wait to immigrate to Canada. I've been watching a LOT of television, anyway (moderation! What is that?) and I'm currently on a british tv kick. Aside from that, I craft and read. Perfecting my seamstress skills, drafting patterns, and reading feminist speculative fiction. It's such a glamorous life.

When I told my partner how expensive the bag I'm going to buy is, she said "oh, well then I suppose I shouldn't buy you a vitamix if you get in, like i was planning to." WELL THEN.

Make sure whatever book you get is updated this year, since they changed the format of the verbal

I applied to one program, and it's Canadian. So. If I don't hear back, I'll continue freaking out, but Canadian programs usually take their sweet time.

Well this thread makes me feel a little bit better about my GRE scores, I suppose. I did very well in verbal and writing (96%) but very average in math (52%). I'm nervous about my quant score because I applied to a policy program and I took one math course in undergrad (and since I was an honors student, I had the option of taking a fancy class called "math as it relates to the arts" - for my final, I wrote a sestina. In a math class. Really.) It's a Canadian program, but since I have an international degree, it was required I take the GRE. Hopefully they recognize this as room for improvement, rather than a lost cause. My gpa isn't so hot, either. 3.4, which is above the requirement for the program, but still not great. I was a 3.9 student up to my 3rd year, member of a couple of honors fraternities, and then I broke up with my fiancee after coming out as queer, had some mental health stuff, was homeless, and had little structural or institutional support to turn to for help and guidance (no one in my family ever went to uni and I had almost no connections on campus). I basically bombed several of the grad level courses I was taking at the time - not because I couldn't handle them, but because I just didn't bother (which is pretty evident when comparing my GRE, my previous course work, and the classes I didn't do as well in). All of this, coupled with a fairly unremarkable SOP, doesn't bode well for being accepted. I'm just full of regrets.

This week was a bust. Next week will be a great week. I will get in. I will get in. I will get in.

Not to beat the issue to death, but you actually kind of did... "I see you're from Singapore..." or some such comment implies that they should have no trouble being admitted because of their assumed racialized identity.

ugh, this. Yes.

Love this thread! Still waiting on the one and only program I applied to, but the reward I've promised myself all along is a nice, weatherproof canvas bag. Maybe a pair of Fluevogs, a puppy, a lot of liquor, and the most expensive items from LUSH. Plan B just involves a lot of liquor.

After trolling the forums for every mention of SFU, it looks like lots of departments send out pretty late in the game. I encourage you to call your department to find out the status of your application (it's what I did today, and I found out the MPP program just wrapped up reviews and will be meeting and sending out notifications in the next couple weeks). Did you apply to any other schools you've heard back from? You can always use that as leverage to find out where your app is at. And good luck!

gmail + google chrome = new emails pop up in their own notification window. Blackberry + gmail = I check my phone about 10 times a minute.

If anyone happens to be waiting for SFU MPP, I called the department and they've just finished reviewing applicants. They said the application committee is meeting soon and people should know within the next couple weeks. Weeks. I was seriously hoping she'd say days.

I only applied to one school. One. School. And it's the only program I want to be in, so if I don't get it, I get to wait a whole year just to go through this all again. My email goes straight to my phone and every time my phone beeps or flashes, I'm all over it. My partner had to take it away from my at breakfast the other day because we made a deal that I wouldn't check my phone at all. Leaving it at home is the only way to deal with this. Oh god, anxiety. Good things will happen, I will be accepted.

This is how I feel about the MPP program at SFU. If only my affections were returned... Alas.

I've been trying to manifest positive energy since I took the GRE, let alone since I submitted my app! I will be accepted, I will be accepted, I will be accepted. I've developed a twitch in my right eye. The last time this happened was when I was working 14 hour days on a campaign.

I think I'm dying waiting for my notification! I only applied to one program, SFU's MPP program. I can't make heads or tails of what their notification process is like - other than a few people have been accepted already - and I haven't seen anyone else who has applied posting on the forums. I think I'm about to break down and email the department to find out when I should expect to hear back. Congrats to everyone who has been accepted so far! I hope it's me next. Also, heads up to international students applying here, though this may not apply to you: I'm a US citizen, Canadian permanent resident, with an undergrad degree from the states. I met with a financial aid advisor before applying to SFU and she told me that I can apply for FAFSA AND Canadian financial aid, in addition to alternate funding. Also, per the conversation which happened weeks ago - if you apply for PR externally and stay in country on a visitors visa (and extend it - the border guards are actually pretty legit when you're honest and say you're processing through PR and waiting in-country), it only takes about 6 months right now. It took exactly 6 months between application and landing, applied in March 2011. I didn't use an immigration lawyer, though I did access an immigration support group for queer couples and learned a lot about the process.