kateausten

It's definitely a concern, but not something I'd let make my ultimate decision for me or anything. Options vary by state but I think you can usually get okay coverage for $200-ish a month as a young person or catastrophic coverage for less than that. (If you need a lot of prescriptions and doctor visits due to your pre-existing condition you might need more expensive comprehensive coverage). Also, a lot of TAs/RAs receive health insurance with their funding. So, the health insurance issue could add a few thousand to your yearly expenses but it's nothing compared to the expense of doing a degree program that you change your mind about later, or not getting into as good of a school because non-academic experience is expected in your field and you had none, etc. It wouldn't be something I'd base a huge decision on. I do think that you'll find you're either itching to go back to school in less than 4 years or that you'll change your mind about what you wanted to go back to school for (unless your field has meaningful and well-compensated employment options and upward growth for people with only a Bachelor's). I am very pro-time-in-the-real-world-before-grad-school, it just gets draining working at jobs that aren't leading to your ultimate goal after a couple of years.

I was accepted to the MALLT program at UWM! I'm not sure if I will relocate this Spring or wait until Fall (I can take many of the classes online), but I'm trying to look at costs. Can anyone estimate approximately what I'd expect to pay for a studio or one bedroom within walking distance or a very short bus trip to campus, plus utilities? It doesn't have to be luxury, but preferably not in the sort of puke going rancid in the halls on Sunday, have to call the cops to quiet the neighbors down every time you want to sleep sort of student building I have lived in before. I don't know how to drive in the snow, so I'd rather not have to use a car to get to campus. I also don't know how to estimate utilities with AC/heating factored in, because I don't have AC and the pilot light in my heater isn't even lit. (Needless to say I'm a little freaked about the weather.)

I was in a similar situation -- dual concentrations, one bad semester related to ADHD followed by a semester on LOA (I had a bad reaction to a new ADHD medication and then a bad reaction to going off it). What I did was write the bulk of my essay on the concentration that I want to make a career of, add one paragraph on why I'm interested in the second concentration and my related experience, and emphasize in the "Why do you want to go to this school?" paragraph that the opportunity to study both of those things in one program is one of the reasons that I felt that school would be a perfect fit for me. I discussed some of the nonacademic experience I had in the fields as well as topics I was especially interested in, even if I didn't have research experience in them. I added a second letter to my packet explaining that I had one bad semester due to health issues and took the following semester to recover. I didn't address specifics because I wanted to save space in my SOP for information relevant to the field and school. I knew I couldn't give specifics without making it an entire paragraph and I wanted my entire essay to be positive and relevant to the issue at hand (why I would be a good match for this program and vice versa). The semester I addressed, my GPA was 1.8 -- definitely requiring an explanation. The rest of my GPA wasn't amazing, and yes, I would have had higher grades if I didn't have ADHD and yes I have developed organizational skills as an adult that I was simply too overwhelmed to work on as an undergrad, but my overall GPA was above the cutoff and my last year was great so I didn't try to make excuses about that. I was just informed that I was recommended for admission so my strategy must have worked

Thinking about it this way really helped me. You can be passionate about a job's field or subject matter but not be a fit for it. I was extremely undecisive as an undergrad and shortly after, and something that helped me get some clarity was to think about things other than what topics I am passionate about -- things like what lifestyle factors are so important to me that I don't want any career that would limit them, what day-to-day tasks I find enjoyable or draining (think about writing, talking one on one, talking to a group, paperwork, the general tasks that most jobs are made up of regardless of the field), what elements I've loved or hated about past jobs, etc. It helped me get some clarity when the traditional career coaching style of identifying interests and passions and then pointing you towards jobs that incorporate them only made me think of more possibilities and get more indecisive. Plus, you can be interested in a field but be a bad match for a job in it -- for example, I'm very interested in second language acquisition, but teaching English wasn't a long-term fit because I find having to be "on" all day in front of a classroom exhausting (not to mention paying attention to what 20 children are doing and trying to keep every one of them on task) and I'd rather be reading or writing about it. Regarding working full time and taking classes when you have attention issues, I couldn't do it. I tried taking a class in a certain computer skill and I was miserable by the end of that 14 hour day (when you included traffic, work, traffic, class, drive home) -- I can't imagine that being most days, long term. So everyone is different, and there are options for people who want to go to school without working a day job. I do some volunteering in my hopeful field on a freelance, remote basis and it's not tiring like sitting in a classroom after work. For awhile I was spending every spare second on my application (studying for the entrance exam, then the GRE, then writing the essay) and that was tiring, but not emotionally draining and difficult to endure. When you find something you really want it will be easier than it seems now because you will have that light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel feeling.

Mine was changed from "Referred for Review" to "Complete." I found this thread trying to search what that means. I assume that a decision has been made, but that they're not telling me what it is yet?

I studied two weeks. One weekend with a couple hours each day of studying, one with 8 hours each day, and averaged about an hour on the weekdays (I was working a new, full time job). I got a 168V/164Q/5.5 which is much better than my practice tests were predicting. I probably could have done a couple points better if I really took the time to study -- I didn't study vocabulary, take a full length timed test, or write a practice essay at all -- but a saturday slot opened up pretty last minute so I took it sooner than expected to avoid a day off.

I would add a Professional and Academic Communications class. It would incorporate the basic writing and speaking skills that students need whether they will be joining the workforce or continuing in academia -- how to deliver a presentation or lecture (and how to put together an effective powerpoint to do so), effective written communication besides papers (such as email, proposals, etc), things like that. When I was an undergrad TA it was scary how little the students knew about delivering a short presentation -- I had to talk them out of putting everything word-for-word on their powerpoint slides. I would incorporate how to conclusions from scientific studies, correlation vs causation, etc into non-major science and social science classes. Since entire scientific studies are conducted as marketing projects right now, people need to learn how to critique them.

San Diego has most of what you're looking for except a low cost-of-living. It's a decent sized city, but very spread out, so most people do not actually live in the city center and have suburban rather than urban lifestyles. (I do live in the city center and do my errands in the suburbs because transport/parking are such pains.) The COL is higher than what you'll find away from the west coast except in large cities, but it's not astronomical. I still managed to find a teeny tiny studio in a safe part of the city center for less than $1000/month, which you wouldn't find in, say, San Francisco. The suburbs are more expensive because there are fewer "simple" apartments there -- I got a bargain by going without AC, parking, microwave, etc but in the areas where the buildings are newer, that's often not an option. There is a huge biotech industry here, so you'll find plenty of jobs -- if you're bringing a partner, though, know that the employment market in any fields other than engineering, biotech, software, etc is not good.

I'm not a grad student yet but I do live alone, cook, and eat fairly well on a busy-recent-grad-in-the-crap-economy budget. I would say I spend about $250/month on groceries, very little on eating out, and I could shrink that and still eat healthily if I needed to but I don't indulge in many pricey prepared foods. A lot of it is based on my lifestyle and might change when I go to grad school elsewhere -- for now, I live downtown in a city with a great climate, so it's easier for me to get to specialty Italian shops and my farmer's market than to a grocery store, and the market is open year-round. My grocery system: -Every week, I get a CSA bag from a local produce vendor that has an awesome single-person-friendly CSA program ($20 for a generous but eat-able amount of produce rather than $30+/week for a huuuuuge amount). That's the bulk of my fruit and veggies -Every week I also go to the farmer's market. There I pick up extra fruit, any herbs or vegetables I need for a specific recipe, and I also buy my eggs, honey, and mozzarella there. -Once a month or so I go to Trader Joe's to pick up staples like pasta and gnocchi, beans, tofu, cheese other than mozzarella, peanut and sunflower butter, sauces, chocolate (yes, it is a staple!), and a few frozen meals. Basically, everything I don't buy at the market. If they're having a great sale on a produce item that is $$$ at the market, I might take advantage. A Trader Joe's is pretty much integral in my grocery system because a lot of my staple items cost over twice as much anywhere else, as regular grocery stores don't have a generic version of, say, whole wheat gnocchi, and I'd have to get them from higher end brands or specialty stores or WF. -As needed between TJ's trips I go to the Target near work for organic milk, yogurt, and other perishibles, or the italian shops in my neighborhood for wine or cheese, or Whole Food's for random things that I can't find anywhere else. I could definitely trim this budget if necessary -- buy more of my produce at the grocery store, stop buying nice cheese, stop buying the local eggs that are twice the cost of Trader Joe's eggs, etc. I also prioritize quality and health over convenience, I feel like you have to choose one over the other with a smaller budget. I will spend more on local produce and nice cheese but won't buy pre-cut veggies, pre-made salad mixes, etc, I make my own snack bars and such, and I reserve frozen meals as a way to avoid takeout when I really don't have time to put together anything else for lunch.

Thank you! I definitely don't want to "make excuses" and that's why I don't plan to use it to explain an okay-good general GPA. Sure, my GPA probably would have been a couple points higher if I didn't deal with this, but everyone has some sort of limitation. I just know that I need to explain a semester with a 1.8 and a semester off after it and wasn't sure if "medical issues" would be considered enough detail. In this case it also wasn't particularly my cognitive issues that caused the problem but a reaction to a medication that had some strange effects on my personality, and the withdrawals which also had some strange effects. For my application, there is no area online to upload any supplemental files where I could attach an explanation, and my recommenders didn't know me during that period of time. I'm not sure where else I could put it. I was planning to make it a very short paragraph after the entire SOP, like a post-script, rather than incorporating it into the narrative flow of my statement, of course.

Anyone have advice on how best to handle addressing a low GPA semester due to mental illness? I have chronic depression and ADHD, and one specific semester I had some bad side effects to an ADHD medicine I started taking, had to stop taking it fairly abruptly, lost it a bit and didn't finish my final assignments for most classes, and wound up with a 1.8. Since I got at least a D in all classes and that was considered passing at my school and I didn't want to take out loans for an extra semester in the midst of an economic crash, I just cut my losses and accepted those grades rather than trying to get an incomplete or retaking them. All other semesters my GPA was above 3.0. I took a semester off and did some traveling, Spanish classes, and volunteering, because I still felt a bit shaken and wanted to make sure I was confident and focused when I returned, and my grades were very good for the next year (my last year). I know that a semester with a GPA that bad needs to be addressed. My question is, how much am I obligated to disclose? I really don't want it to be a large or distracting paragraph on my SOP and would prefer to address it in 2 sentences max - during X semester, I experienced some health issues resulting in me not finishing all final assignments and took a semester off to recover fully (reflected in my transcript). Is this adequate or would more detail be expected? I don't want to mention mental illness without following with details about how I've developed better coping and time management skills to keep it from being an issue in the future, and I'd rather spend my 400-600 words on things that are relevant to the program than a story of my depression and ADHD.

Did you buy the Princeton Review book? I'm good with real-life verbal stuff but have a tendency to overanalyze with standardized test reading comp. The Princeton Review approach to reading comp was pretty formulaic and exactly what I needed to approach the GRE problems correctly (because it's about figuring out the GRE patterns as much as comprehending the passages). I used their strategies on the problems I had difficulty with during the GRE and scored very well (168) on the verbal section. For prep I just did the Princeton Review book and part of the Barron's verbal workbook (just problems, no strategy) so I can't compare to everything else out there, though. I also used the Cliff's Notes general standardized test math review book and did fairly well (164) considering I haven't taken a real math class since high school 7 years ago. After taking the GRE I would say ideally it should be supplemented with a GRE-specific book because the Cliff's one is focused on understanding math skills and not the tricky trip-you-up problems you might find on the GRE, but if you have been doing mostly GRE prep books, maybe it's a new approach to try? I crammed for the test in 2 weeks and got 168V/164Q so they definitely aren't resources that require a lot of time to use. I was very surprised with my math score because 2 weeks ago, when I started studying, I barely remembered any math at all (and my diagnostic test with the Cliff's book proved it) so my studying method definitely worked. With verbal, as I said, it's a natural skill for me (I'm applying for lingusitics and translation so I'd have to rethink my future if it wasn't!), but I would have lost a few points on the reading comprehension without the PR strategies. Also, maybe your practice tests aren't accurate? I was in tears while studying because I couldn't pass the slightly-above-average range in my Verbal practice book. (I have a crap GPA and standardized tests are basically my main skill in life, so I was banking on this to prove I can handle graduate work, and that is why I was so dramatic about it.) Honestly I went into the test thinking it was going to be a huge waste of $160 and that I'd barely get over 50th percentile based on my practice. You might surprise yourself.

Some GRE books have a "Very Bad, Bad, Okay, Good, Very Good, Excellent" scale which you could use to approximate score ranges by dividing them out into percentile ranges and then looking up the corresponding scores. However, I wound up in tears while prepping because I couldn't get out of the "good" score range in my verbal book (I need a good score to make up for my gpa) and I just unofficially got 168 on the Verbal test. So, they aren't exactly reliable.

I don't think 1 month of studying dooms you to bad scores. I studied for half that long (not taking courses but I am working full time and didn't get much studying in during the work week), took the test this morning, and my unofficial scores were in the 90th and 98th percentile. If you have some natural skill for standardized tests (or no weakness for them) you could do very well with 1 month to prepare. I definitely wouldn't skip an entire application cycle because you're worried about your potential GRE score. Give yourself as long as possible to study and hope for the best.

The program I'm applying for doesn't require the GRE, but factors it into admissions decisions if provided. I had planned to take it because standardized tests are a strength of mine, but with other life stuff going on and studying for the entrance exam to the program I haven't had a chance to start studying until this weekend. I do work full time so 2 weeks of studying is most likely 1-2 hours on weekdays if I dedicate all my lunch breaks and some evenings and a few hours the Saturday and Sunday between now and then. There's only one Saturday available until October so having my scores submitted a week late or something to give me an extra weekend to study isn't possible. I've been out of school for 2.5 years so I'm a little rusty on math and academic writing. Think I could do well enough with this amount of studying to make it worth the test fee? I have pretty good natural test-taking skills, but I know a lot of people spend months studying and take classes and whatnot. I don't want to waste the money if I won't do really well or risk sending a bad score.

A bit of an update...I have contacted three professors and so far only one has replied. Has anyone had this happen? I'm hoping they just check their email rarely during the summer, but it's possible that contact info has changed or they are avoiding me because they don't want to respond. The two that haven't replied are an adjunct that I took 1 class with and my thesis supervisor. The adjunct I found through google at another university, google brought up a page with her email but I couldn't find her in a faculty directory so I have no idea if she is there. She doesn't have a linkedin. The other is still at my college (tenured). I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do at this point. Contact professors who don't know my name in unrelated fields that I only had 1 class with and haven't saved any of my papers from and hope they are willing to do me a favor?

I'm not sure how it works with universities specifically, but I work in recruiting for private companies. In the current market sometimes you will simply not be able to not be the first to name a number, unless you are a more senior and specialized employee. They'll move on to the next person who is. It's always in your favor to name something higher than your absolute minimum because if you're a little above what they can offer, they will try to talk you down before taking you completely out of consideration. I would guess in this case the salary range is somewhat fixed and asking the minimum is a formality but still err on the side of too high.

Do not put it on your resume unless it's the same city and your program has a part-time option so you could reasonably claim that you plan to continue working full-time all through the degree. Most employers don't want to hire someone who will only be there a year (even though that's a typical tenure at a job for a young person these days, they want to think you'll be around awhile).

Another of the complications is that I managed to leave the company on good terms with my boss and the owner by emphasizing that it wasn't personal and I was leaving for a career more in line with what I wanted to do, so if I go back a month later asking for a LOR for grad school in something unrelated to that, it sort of reveals that I was leaving just to leave, and I'm not sure how that would change the relationship. There was so much dissatisfaction with management that we were openly trading job leads and serving as references for each other, so the non-manager coworkers wouldn't hold this against me; the only ones that are still there are just afraid or unable to leave. Six months from now I would feel okay asking the owner, or my boss if I could write the letter, but it has only been a few weeks so it feels too soon. I will email my thesis supervisor I guess to introduce my plans and ask if she would be comfortable writing the letter. It's a tiny department so she would definitely know about my situation with the two other professors.

Thanks for the advice. I took over half of my junior and senior classes (and most of my major classes) from these two professors, one was my advisor and I TAed for the other, so it's not like I never distinguished myself. I didn't make an effort to be the shining star of every single class, and I took multiple classes with the professors I really liked (those two and one other). With a couple of bridges burned during a bad semester and then a stroke of tragedy I was left with a couple of professors I know I impressed and a few to whom I was just another decent student. So, I don't think my situation means that I'm too flaky or not capable enough for graduate school or anything, especially a professional program. Under different circumstances my LORs would have been a strong point of my application. However, I will keep your words in mind in terms of how an adcom might see such a recommendation.

If I get into the program I'm applying to, I'll be 26 when I start. I feel a little behind sometimes. In my department in undergrad, around 60% of the students go straight into graduate programs, most of them doctoral programs, and many of the ones who don't are just taking a token year off and may not even be earning a full-time income. I always sensed an idea that we should be above pursuing anything besides our own research interests. However, I was just over it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, I wanted OUT of the academic bubble as the attitudes were driving me nuts, and I felt this driving need to travel. So, I did other stuff for a couple of years, including moving abroad and working in a business-y field at home, while thinking about what I want. And honestly, I don't think I would have been equipped to make a good decision about my professional future when I was 21-22. Not that no one can, but I learned a lot about what I love and hate to do by trial and error. I had seriously considered being an EFL teacher as a way to travel and I HATED teaching. What if I had gotten my masters in it instead of trying it out through a crappy low-paid job instead? I wish no career dissatisfaction on them but I often wonder about the 40% or so of my classmates who went straight into PhD. programs immediately. Did they seriously think about themselves, what they want in life, and come to the conclusion that an academic career was the best route to it? Or did they just think about what they like to study the most and apply to a PhD in it, and may regret it someday when they realize their personality would be better suited to business or teaching children or sales or whatever else? This happens quite a bit with doctors and lawyers who just chose one of the default options for high achieving students. While I do feel behind sometimes, and emotionally it's a little rough to meet people who have already made a career of their passion or received a graduate degree by my age, or even to pass people studying in a coffee shop, I also try to remind myself that I'm not really behind. For a 2010 liberal arts graduate I'm doing pretty damn well -- I've lived in a few cities and two countries since graduation, I'm paying my own rent (without roommates!), saving some money, and working in a "real" career that has a good outlook, it just isn't everything I want in life. Yeah, I could be graduating with my master's this summer, but I could also easily be working at starbucks and living with my mom. Regarding finances and logistics, I may complete part of my degree part-time as a working student but I do plan to be a full-time student and live on loans and savings for most of it. I know myself and I have a hard time balancing studying and working. I think it would ultimately pay off more for me to immerse myself in as many opportunities as I can in my field of study than to do the coursework and not have time for much else while working an unrelated job. I work in recruiting and I see a lot of resumes so I know how drastic a difference this can make in someone's career path. Whether you make yourself into a stellar candidate with internships, research, and networking or simply show up and complete the coursework can make a difference in your career for decades.

You can read a bit about my LOR saga here: but long story short, I have a dearth of recommenders due to circumstances that are somewhat my fault and somewhat not (I did screw up majorly one semester of college -- but I did redeem myself and secure three professors who knew me and had high opinions of me, and unfortunately two of them passed away). I was also a transfer student from a huge to tiny school, so I had two years of classes from professors who I never even spoke to personally and then two years of classes mostly with the same professors. I have ideas for two of the three letters, though I still have to send the email and see if they respond and accept. For the third, I was thinking of asking a past coworker. Is this a horrible idea? I'm not in a field related to what I want to study but everyone at my last place of employment would have good things to say about my research skills, critical thinking, written communication, work ethic, and other relevant abilities. My boss there was not the smartest woman, didn't hold a professional position before that company, and never went to college -- not that smart people always go to college and work in offices, but with these factors combined, I just don't trust her to know what to write in an academic LOR, or for that matter, write one with no grammar or spelling mistakes. I have coworkers, however, who are much savvier and could write great things about all the relevant skills I listed above. It's my best shot at a strong third recommendation and probably my only shot at a third person who could recommend me without reservations. I also recently left the company on good terms so I have nothing to worry about regarding coworkers finding out I may leave soon. My academic alternatives are basically professors whose classes I did only okay in. I could ask my thesis/capstone supervisor, but that was a group project and I had some health issues that kept me out a bit that semester plus some schedule issues with my group (they had all their classes together and I had a different schedule, so they'd do a lot of the work together and meet with the professor without me, which wasn't my fault but still made me look uninvolved in the project). I did okay and wasn't a massive failure or anything, and she definitely knows about the circumstances with my other professors who died, but I certainly didn't stand out as impressive amongst the other students. I could also contact one of the professors who barely even knew my name when I was in their classes, but whose classes did involve discussion and written papers, but that I got a B in. I worry that either of them would ask around about me, and the professors who I made a great impression on have mostly died or left the school, but many whose classes I screwed up in are still around. So basically, the coworker recommendation would simply be the best I could get. Is this such a red flag for adcoms that I should pursue an academic recommendation that might be lukewarm instead? For what it's worth, I'm applying to a professional program (translation).

Amazon sells pretty much everything and has a program with free two-day shipping and cheap 1-day shipping called Prime. I think you can get a free trial, but it's only $40/year for anyone with a .edu email address. If it's not absolutely vital that you have all items the day that you arrive, sign up for one of these accounts and order them about 1-2 days before you arrive (sometimes items come sooner than expected and it could be a huge pain if something is delivered to an address where you aren't living yet). That's the cheapest option I can think of.

Can you incorporate the Middle East into assignments for your other classes? You'll probably have some open-ended writing assignments in communications, and maybe in electives as well. If you consistently choose to write about Middle East topics when possible, you'll have a portfolio of related work by the time you apply, even without any related classes. And of course, get the highest grades possible in the next two years -- your last two years are what matters most with your GPA.

A few people recommended this website to me as a way to practice word roots and prepare for GRE vocabulary. Have any of you used it and did the words help you any on the GRE?