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Is anyone else applying to Stanford's ILAC program? The app says, "If the program you selected offers Academic Interest choices, those will appear below. If none appear, you can enter those of your choosing below under "Additional Interests." Additional Interests If no Academic Interests are offered above, or, if you have additional interests, please list them below." Are we supposed to choose from the major/minor areas listed here? http://www.stanford.edu/dept/DLCL/cgi-bin/web/dept/ilac/programs Help, please!

LASA was here in SF and I missed it b/c of work in May. Heartbreaking. I will definitely go. Great tip! I also plan on catching up on a lot of reading....once all these apps are done! Thanks!

When I was about 20--and taking grad courses--one professor often invited me and others to events. But once, he called me at home and left a vmail to go to a cultural event. Just the two of us. In a different city. I didn't respond, he wasn't offended, and I earned A's in his classes for several years afterwards. Oh--let me mention that yes, he was single and more than twice my age, but he'd also fathered a child with a former grad student the previous year. Moral of the story--use common sense, people!

Proflorax, you've been adjuncting, right? (Maybe I'm wrong.) Did you work at multiple places? Ugh. I'm struggling with how to list all of them. I was pretty happy with my resume, but UC requires a CV and a recommender has asked for more detail. I just asked her for her own cv because i don't know where she wants the detail. The course description? Job dets? Thanks for the advice

Any suggestions for different categories? I've been out of academia for a long while. I'm thinking: education teaching experience professional associations/memberships awards/honors presentations/publications references I guess my question is where exactly to put the work experience info. It includes being a research assistant in the field for one year. Finally, how much detail do I include about courses I've taught? Any opinions welcome!

You're right---it's either/or. I have a paper in Spanish and two letters that will attest to my ability. I am, however, lengthening my paper; it's not quite 15 pages. So, I'm not doing the OPI. This summer, the departmental app requirements differed slightly from what was listed on the grad school's, so I was confused.

Update: I'm going to MLA next month. That will certainly help. In the mean time, I'm trying to work less so I can take ONE class at night.

Atrasada. Muy atrasada. Ando con mucho trabajo este semestre...Todavia me falta el OPI y sali fatal en el GRE. Estan muy preocupados con el GRE?

Well, my combined writing score is a 5. That's something. I'm still retaking it to increase my verbal, of course, and have learned that as long as I take it in December, the schools I'm applying to don't have to have the scores from ETS before their deadlines. So, I can cram for a couple more weeks.

Thank God it did, Proflorax. Hopefully that means a little more job security for me if PhD programs don't pan out. Or more funding if they do! Question: Are you all using your major GPAs or cumulative? I was a double major, Spanish and International Studies, but my Spanish major GPA is much higher. I'm also applying to Spanish programs. (Yes, I know this isn't the Languages forum, but you all are, like me, more active posters!)

Oh, this is in the humanities. Spanish Lit and Linguistics. I was totally shocked and think it's inaccurate.

Where did you find this data? I've also seen some data from phds.org for average verbal GRE scores that seemed pretty low--538-578--for the programs I'm applying to.

Oh, and I have the Princeton Review book but not PowerPrep. I'll look into that; thanks! I'm banking on my Thanksgiving time off from work to study but will at least do an hour every day until I take it again.

I took the computer GENERAL test. I'll re-read again, but now I'm confused. So, I'm looking at the conversion charts and realizing that I did, in fact, score higher on Quant. That's insane. I've got to figure out what I really did wrong on Verbal.

I'll definitely take it again. I know people in a couple of the programs who didn't have 1200+, but I like to do my best and will retake it. Plus, I've never, ever, ever scored higher in Quant, so I'll review a few formulas to get it up 6-7 points, but my focus will definitely be on verbal. I posted in the Lit section about the format and may just paste it here.

Thanks for the bday wishes, Midnight! Come to think of it, I agree! I would read a passage that seemed pretty straightforward, then the question would blow my mind! I kept thinking, what? Oh, I need to read more into that passage than what I saw! Sebastian, I didn't really skip too many; I had a few "marked" to review later but ran out of time. I def. need to work on my speed.

I totally read it that way, too. Ha! Well, a couple of factors: I had to miss work to take it....and it's literally my birthday. So, on top of being overextended this semester with work, I just didn't feel at ease going into it. I should have taken it this summer. Otherwise, well, I had two verbal sections and three math sections and I just felt really, really rushed for time on verbal. As in, I didn't even get to the two last questions in the second verbal section. There was SO much reading comprehension and very, very little vocab. One aspect that I believe threw me off is that there would be two or so sentence completions and then maybe a reading passage or THREE and then sentence completions. There was no pattern at all as to what question would follow, so I felt like I had to reset my brain with every question. For the next month, I will be taking practice tests with timers--just as I used to do with my private students--and be sure that I allow time for every question. Now that it's a modified CAT, you'd think that they could give you a little feedback on your scores. Taking it again will be cutting it REALLY close. If it took fifteen business days, then the results would arrive on Dec. 14, which is one of the school's deadlines. From what I understand from one of the school's I'm applying to is that the GRE doesn't matter so much. Since it's a language program, they're more interested in assessing your ability in the target language, however, since I used to score highly, I'll be taking it again. I took it the last time in early 2007, so, no, I can't send in my old scores. The deadline is July of 2007. . Maybe I skipped too many questions...I don't know. Thanks for the ears, guys. Writing that out helps.

Yeah, I already knew that. Greeeeaaat. Happy Birthday to me!

Please someone tell me how little the GRE really matters. OMG. I HATE the new one. I don't know what happened!!!! I've ALWAYS scored in the 700's and this time--152 with Quant of 144! What in the world?! I have ONE more shot before deadlines--by the skin of my teeth--to retake it but would rather spend the mental energy on my SOP and paper (in Spanish)! Should I retake it? I know my essays will be 5+.

I studied some this summer and just this past week reviewed for it, but, MAN, this GRE is SO DIFFERENT. I'm freaking out. I barely have time to take it one more time before deadlines, but my verbal has NEVER been this low: V: 152 Q: 144 I always scored in the mid 700's verbal. What in the world?!?! I'm applying to Stanford, Berkeley and Davis for Spanish. Does anyone have any idea if this will even get me past DGS? I have a 3.9 undergrad GPA in Spanish, a 3.7 grad GPA in it and have been out of the Spanish field for a while. I moved over to TESOL/ESL, where I have published and been pretty active. Thoughts?

I'd love to know someone's thoughts on this as well. I've got the OPI for Spanish soon and haven't had one since 2003!!!

Uuuuf. Se sabe por qué? Gracias, LKS.

Con mucho gusto. Me encanta Etxebarría!

Hola Tony! De dónde eres y qué quieres investigar/estudiar? El Statement of Purpose....uuf, pues me parece bien complicado. Llevo semanas buscando un ejemplo de un SOP para literatura española/latinoamericana y aún no encuentro ninguno. Hay que explicar en qué quieres enfocar los estudios y por qué escoges al programa al cuál te presentas. Aquí tienes un enlace que lo explica bastante bien en mi opinión. También llevo semanas procrastinando porque es difícil 1. identificar exactamente en que me quiero concentrar (o por lo menos ponerlo en mis propias palabras) y 2. decifrar en qué se están concentrando los profesores en este momento para demostrar que mis intereses encajen con los suyos. A veces ese difícil saber qué les interesa si hace mucho que no publican nada! Espero que te ayude....ojalá alguien que ya haya hecho todo eso nos responda también!

Thanks, Stately Plump! Said prof left me scratching my head. I've been reading the "latest" journals--since 2005--but I have been focusing more on departmental foci and my own interests. Trends are hard to discern, but I have an idea...