CUNY Update

[lily_]

This post is for the benefit of anyone who finds themselves on a waiting list.

The key thing is to stand out. Teach yourself some foreign languages. I say teach yourself because you want to prove that you are the type of active learner colleges with research functions seek.

What you want to do is be self taught. Buy Rosetta Stones of at least 3 languages spoken by major trading partners. We buy alot of things from Japan, China, etc, so it makes scense to be fluent in those languages.

Rosetta Stone is out of anyone's budget. At $400 for only 2 levels, you must necessarily have a job to pay for this. Save your money and buy Rosettas, and grammar rulebooks to compliment the Rosettas. The whole idea is to show an admissions board that you are the type of person who will pay through the nose and work your behind off to learn much needed skills.

On the other hand, waiting lists are filled with the opposite types of people: those who will take out , student loans, etc and learn things like basketweaving, Liberal arts, music, dance, and all other skills that are in such low need, that there is no hope of ever repaying the State's/College's investment.

Most professors on admissions committees I have spoken to don't really give a hoot about language acquisition unless you have it on a transcript or it pertains to a job, something solid and tangible that says, "I learned this." I doubt putting "I bought and taught myself THREE Rosetta Stone languages" would really help anyone.

I never went to any university that offered "basket-weaving" as a major, and what of those of us who are actually applying to liberal arts departments? Many fields require degrees in liberal arts, it's not as flakey or useless as you imply. However, putting in a hobby of learning languages with an expensive computer program rather than pertinent fieldwork experience or project that would mesh well with the professors in the department you're applying to is a huge mistake.

If you're trying to sell something on here, I suggest maybe you look into some kind of online sales tutorial next time.

[anthropologygeek]

This sounds like getting into undergrad advice. In my field languages doesn't matter except one and they know your be fluent before graduating. So do some research and get published and present at conferences would be my advice.