solairne

Hopefully somebody will notice my meticulous use of whom and the subjunctive... lol

No, of course not. I wouldn't imagine that SLP would really be all that affected by the economic hiccup as other areas would be like Law. SLP is highly specialized and requires certain classes in undergraduate, so it would not really be that open to people applying on a whim. I think that people significantly overplay the 'problem' of the recession being more applicants to the pool. As many have said, more applicants doesn't equate to more stiff competition, necessarily. I think the real problem with the recession in terms of graduate study is lack of contributions from previous donors which has a big impact on admissions and on funding for students. (That's not even touching on other areas this affects, such as budget cuts to programs and reduction in staff, etc.)

Commas abound!

Why is it that many people prefer to use vague descriptions of their schools they either attended or are applying to? I understand if the student is worried about schools looking online for posts by potential admits or something along those lines. Are people just being private? Maybe I'm just not that bashful of a person, but I figured it'd be the most helpful to disclose everything so others can get an idea of competition and even offer helpful suggestions if they have background with a particular school.

That is exactly how I feel. One minute I'm extremely confident that I'm going to get in, the next I have a panic attack. Another good 5 to 7 weeks left until we hear back....

Depends on when applications were due. I recently contacted a different professor at a school and we spoke for a while. I don't think it's too late until you receive a rejection letter. The sooner the better, though.

Yea, I assumed as much. I'm just wondering how influential it could be.

But is that based on fit or on bad grades or what? The people whom I've contacted are at a school where I have a perfect fit and I am above the cut-off for sure.

I was going to make a separate thread in the 'Waiting it Out' section but I suppose here is a good place to pose my question as well. I've contacted several professors at a university and one of them said he is looking forward to reading my writing sample and I've somewhat established meaningful contact with another. (Written back and forth a few times, asked about her research, asked questions about it, etc.) How important is this? Does it really have an effect on admissions?

I have 2 dogs that will be moving with me. They're both young - two year old Beagle and a two year old Pug. It shouldn't be a problem moving them since they are house trained and young. Were you asking more in terms of being home enough to let them out and run around or more in terms of finances and medical expenses? For what it is worth, I have heard that some agencies offer pet insurance. You could look into that, but it probably isn't anything too spectacular or else everyone would have it by now.

I noticed, after submitting, a spelling mistake in my writing sample and a misuse of a word in my SOP. I guess that is what I get for rereading my supporting documents 10 times after already submitting them...

I've also probably watched everything on Hulu and Netflix Instant View possible...

My main focus is first and second LA and SLI, but I've done a lot with Romance and Germanic historical linguistics. It's really fascinating.

I don't think that's normal. Most of the other universities around me are A or A- is 4.0, B+ is 3.33, B is 3.0, B- is still 3.0, etc. PS - what program are you applying for? Did you like JET? I know a few people who did that and they all loved it.

I wish I had applied to the MA program in Romance Linguistics as a backup. I'm very happy with my candidacy, but I'm getting a little bit anxious that it was a bad idea to apply to only PhD programs straight out of my BA. In all honesty, however, I'm really pretty happy with everything I did. I've been planning it out methodically since February 2009. I think the wait is just driving me to pick apart every little thing. All in all, I'm happy with what I did.

Lydia White and Heather Goad are the two professors at McGill that I am interested in as advisors. I read that Universal Grammar book over the summer, it's really good and quite well written. I'm currently reading a few papers that were coauthored by both Lydia White and Heather Goad. Pretty much all I do during the break is just read books and papers and go the the gym in the morning. It's getting pretty boring... I don't have any work either since I work at the university.

Haha, what does *that* mean? It was OK. Really nothing special or new. I just read it because it was a gift a year ago and I figured I should read it.

No, it was by Nicholas Ostler. http://www.amazon.com/Ad-Infinitum-Biography-Nicholas-Ostler/dp/080271515X

This sub-forum is so dead. Let's start a thread where we discuss non-application/wait related things. Pretty much anything. I'll start. I've been reading a few books during my semester break. Has anybody else read anything good in our field lately? I reread The Language Instinct, and a few books over the history of Latin, English, and German. I'm pretty excited about The Crazies and Shutter Island to come out. I'm also sort of anxiously awaiting to see what Apple's new tablet is going to be like.

Ok, I'll go! I have a pretty good, albeit deceptive, GPA. 3.645 at a school where B- is 2.67 and A- is 3.67. On the translated scale it's around a 3.85. I have very very strong letters of recommendation. A professor I know actually asked me if he could write one for me. My research interests are 100% identical with two potential advisors at my top choice. I have a very well done and independent writing sample in the field. I've attended around 20 conferences over the past 18 months in my field at several universities. I've audited a few doctoral classes related to my field. Fluent/native in 2 languages and advanced in a third Have done presentations in my field Over a year of teaching experience in undergrad The only thing I think that could hold me back is that my BA is not in the field I'm applying for, but that has been explained in my SOP that my university doesn't offer a Linguistics BA like so many others, but I do have very strong supporting documents and attendances that demonstrate my capability in the field. ... damn, that felt good!

What happens when there is a couple that both have PhDs and want to stay in academia. I've heard that if one is particularly good and has a job offer at a university, the university will generally offer some sort of TT position to the spouse. But what about couples that just got their PhDs, or couples that are in the process of each getting one. Is it even feasible for them to expect to work in the same city together? That seems like such a logistical nightmare.

I'm duped every time my iPhone makes that little "new email" sound.

What is bilingualism in Ottawa like? Is it mostly anglophone with some francophones? (like Texas/California in terms of Spanish) or is it a 50/50 or something different? Also, about public transport. I lived in Germany for a while and there were - in Düsseldorf at least - month passes you could buy and ride any form of public transit within the city. Does something like that exist in Montréal as well or do you have to pay per ride. I apologize in advance if that is a stupid question, but outside of Düsseldorf I've never lived in a city with good public transit.

According to their site: cognitive/functional linguistics typology and language universals field studies in American Indian, Australian, Austronesian, African, and other languages sociolinguistics discourse studies phonetics and speech processing laboratory phonology neurolinguistics language change and grammaticization

Yea, I'm hoping it doesn't come to that. In all honestly I think I will get into McGill and that is my number one by far. My research interests line up perfectly there. I don't have much faith in getting into MIT, as it is MIT, and I'd say Amherst is about 50/50. My research interests don't line up all that well with Rice, but it is local for me. Rice also doesn't embrace generative grammar... so that is a BIG BIG (read: earth-shattering) draw back. If it does happen that I don't get in anywhere, I think I will take the year off since there are no MA Ling programs in Houston and use the time to attend as many conferences as possible. I'll probably sign up for the 2011 summer LSA program and write a few more papers and try to get one published in time for applications. All those happy thoughts aside, I will be pretty devastated if I don't get in this round, though. Late February/early March can't come fast enough....