Help! Two questions:

[EdLearnin']

According to all the programs I'm applying to decisions are made and sent out by early-mid March. However, after browsing this forum I found that many people got decisions before then. As someone who is new to the application process, I was just wondering what I should expect. I know it varies by school, but I was hoping someone had some insight on this?

Secondly ,I've read a few of the discussion threads on language requirements. I'm applying to LA studies/History programs with fluency in Spanish (I'm a native speaker) and near-fluency in Portuguese (took courses in college, then taught English in Brazil). How much will this actually help my chances in getting in? Will it make up for my mediocre GRE scores? I'm applying to top 20 schools, and would just like to know if I should be expanding my search.

Thanks in advance!

[TMP]

The early notification, usually, is reserved for the very, very top applicants. There are certain schools that just do early notification like Minnesota, Yale, and Emory. Most schools let people know around late February or early March. If you are waitlisted, you won't hear for a good while because they want to see if they can get you accepted before formally rejecting you. If by late March, you still haven't heard, it's appropriate to e-mail to inquire if you have been waitlisted. I suppose that they also figured that by not telling wait-listed applicants that they're wait-listed when they send out acceptances and rejections, it would cut down the number of e-mail inquiries ("Am I off yet? Am I off yet??")

Strong fluency in languages do usually trump mediocre GPA and GREs, depending how the professors look at your overall application. After all, you couldn't possible suck at languages if you got a low GRE score and you can read, not one, but two foreign languages quite well. The GRE would just be a poor reflection of your abilities. Your Portuguese would be advantageous as one LA historian said, I think, at one point that most LA applicants don't have that and often have to pick it up while in the program.

[EdLearnin']

Thanks a lot, this was very helpful!

The early notification, usually, is reserved for the very, very top applicants. There are certain schools that just do early notification like Minnesota, Yale, and Emory. Most schools let people know around late February or early March. If you are waitlisted, you won't hear for a good while because they want to see if they can get you accepted before formally rejecting you. If by late March, you still haven't heard, it's appropriate to e-mail to inquire if you have been waitlisted. I suppose that they also figured that by not telling wait-listed applicants that they're wait-listed when they send out acceptances and rejections, it would cut down the number of e-mail inquiries ("Am I off yet? Am I off yet??")

Strong fluency in languages do usually trump mediocre GPA and GREs, depending how the professors look at your overall application. After all, you couldn't possible suck at languages if you got a low GRE score and you can read, not one, but two foreign languages quite well. The GRE would just be a poor reflection of your abilities. Your Portuguese would be advantageous as one LA historian said, I think, at one point that most LA applicants don't have that and often have to pick it up while in the program.

[RDX]

According to all the programs I'm applying to decisions are made and sent out by early-mid March. However, after browsing this forum I found that many people got decisions before then. As someone who is new to the application process, I was just wondering what I should expect. I know it varies by school, but I was hoping someone had some insight on this?

Secondly ,I've read a few of the discussion threads on language requirements. I'm applying to LA studies/History programs with fluency in Spanish (I'm a native speaker) and near-fluency in Portuguese (took courses in college, then taught English in Brazil). How much will this actually help my chances in getting in? Will it make up for my mediocre GRE scores? I'm applying to top 20 schools, and would just like to know if I should be expanding my search.

Thanks in advance!

AFAIK, good news usually starts to arrive in early/mid Feb and will continue coming in for a while till the end of Feb or early March.

For languages, they probably don't expect you to have fluency (although it's definitely a plus if you do). It's widely accepted that you should/still can refine your language skills in your PhD years.

[ChibaCityBlues]

For languages, they probably don't expect you to have fluency (although it's definitely a plus if you do). It's widely accepted that you should/still can refine your language skills in your PhD years.

To reinforce the point, I do LAC history at a top-ten program. Most of us came in with varying degrees of fluency in our primary language, and it was fully expected that we would work on our second language during the years we were doing course work. There seems to be a lot of play in terms of languages in that sense. The Africanists I know are learning their primary research languages now. In other fields like Middle or Near Eastern history, you have to have languages down before they even let you in. And then you have to learn a few more.

Edited December 14, 2010 by ChibaCityBlues

[Riotbeard]

I got non-wait list acceptance as early as the second week of february and as late as the third week of March. It just depends on the school...

[my future is history]

An eager adviser could very well contact you very early. I got a phone call from a potential adviser from UCD in early January as an undergrad. In the end it was a choice between a four year package at UCD that started my second year, or a FLAS at Wisc with a great adviser. (I chose Wisc).

So anyways, contact in January is not out of the picture.

[TMP]

An eager adviser could very well contact you very early. I got a phone call from a potential adviser from UCD in early January as an undergrad. In the end it was a choice between a four year package at UCD that started my second year, or a FLAS at Wisc with a great adviser. (I chose Wisc).

So anyways, contact in January is not out of the picture.

You're leaving Wisconsin?

[my future is history]

You're leaving Wisconsin?

Not sure if I'm leaving, but I am applying <.<

My target schools are pretty tough so we'll see...