Checkmate

[palindrome]

So, I submitted my app to my top choice yesterday. The research interests that I wrote about on my SOP were pretty much a synthesis of the work of my current PI (experimental psych work) and the work of one of the faculty members at the school I'm applying to (he tends to work with primates and in ethnography). Busted my *ss perfecting it for about a month.

Today, I brought up this faculty member's work to my PI and how it tied in so well with what we were doing in our lab. My PI told me that he had contacted the guy a few times and the guy wasn't interested in the experimental work--the guy never even got back to him. Pwned. That's 2 weeks of work and $80 down the drain, not to mention I'm not getting into my top school.

My PI was pretty much the only one of my professors who DIDN'T see my SOP before I submitted it, as he was pretty occupied with other things. Still, why didn't I bring this up earlier?

Edited December 2, 2009 by palindrome

[ColorlessGreen]

Oh, OUCH. Well, maybe he'll be interested in the research when he hears it stated in a different way? There might just have been some kind of communication problem before. Was that the only faculty member at the school who you wanted to work with?

[palindrome]

Oh, OUCH. Well, maybe he'll be interested in the research when he hears it stated in a different way? There might just have been some kind of communication problem before. Was that the only faculty member at the school who you wanted to work with?

No, he wasn't the only one that I wanted to work with, but that only makes this situation worse. I love the department overall and its close integration with the linguistics department. You could even say I was enamored with the program more than withh any of the individual professors, even--so there were tons of other research interests I could've mentioned. I just happened to choose this one.

I don't even know how likely a communication problem could have been. I got really excited about how this guy's work tied in to the stuff we are doing at our lab because I stumbled across a paper by the guy that recently came out. Connecting the dots I now realize that my PI is one of the editors of the journal in which the paper appeared, so my PI probably read the paper while it was in preparation and contacted the guy back then. If he was ignoring my PI even as the editor of the journal he wanted to get published in, then that's not a good sign, right?

Anyway, it's good to see other linguistics people here. What are your interests in linguistics? Where you a linguistics major?

Edited December 2, 2009 by palindrome

[modernity]

Wow. That's really an unfortunate series of events, but kudos for using the word "pwned" in an academic forum. (Well, it made me giggle anyway.) Are you sure that the guy never got back to him because he wasn't interested in the work though? Perhaps he was just not interested in working with the professor you know? It can be rather common in anthropological academic circles (primatology/evolutionary anthropology especially) to have grudges/vendettas or just plain snobbishness abound.

Besides that outside possibility, I wouldn't give up yet. There may be other professors at that university interested in your work, or in your background as long as some of your other interests were evident in your application?

[ColorlessGreen]

Has the deadline passed already? Maybe you could update your SOP and send it in, telling them to disregard the first one. Depending on the school, that could be an option.

Glad to hear you're interested in linguistics too! I'm a linguistics undergrad, and I'm mostly interested in language acquisition and phonological development....for now. I have yet to take a class I dislike in my major, so I'm open to going in almost any direction. Except historical linguistics, I guess. I love my current historical ling class, but I can't imagine doing this kind of stuff forever. I like the theorizing we've been doing all semester, but I'd hate to be bound to what little data can be found on some dead language for research opportunities. Give me a living language any day, and I can still spin you some crazy theory about it.

You're Cog Sci, right? Are you applying to schools known better for Cog Sci, or for linguistics?

[palindrome]

Ha, if stupid things that happen in my life can make someone giggle, then it's not all a loss One of my goals as an academic is to use the word "pwnage" in an article so the lexicographers have to add it to the dictionary, hehe.

Any way I look at things, they don't look good. If he wasn't interested in working with my prof, then I'm in trouble, because my prof wrote me an LOR. Also, if he's not interested in working with (or at least responding to) my prof, why would he be interested in working with me? Now it kind of makes sense that my prof seemed a little strange when I asked him to write a recommendation. I thought it was because he didn't like me at first, but other people told me that he spoke very highly of me to everybody, and that maybe he felt uncomfortable since he's fairly young (only 5 years out of grad school).

Thanks for the encouraging words, though.

Edited December 3, 2009 by palindrome

[eucalyptus]

Hey Palindrome, would it be possible to tell me who this prof is that you're talking about? I'm a psych major (cog sci in undergrad) with an interest in both language and primates, so I'm highly curious (and don't worry, my app list is finalized already so I won't try to steal him way from you!). You can PM me if you like.

[palindrome]

I'll do one better than that, eucalyptus--I'll PM you with an article. I hope you enjoy it.

By the way, I see that you're interested in Columbia. Who are you interested in working with there? I know a thing or two about the department

[palindrome]

Has the deadline passed already? Maybe you could update your SOP and send it in, telling them to disregard the first one. Depending on the school, that could be an option.

Glad to hear you're interested in linguistics too! I'm a linguistics undergrad, and I'm mostly interested in language acquisition and phonological development....for now. I have yet to take a class I dislike in my major, so I'm open to going in almost any direction. Except historical linguistics, I guess. I love my current historical ling class, but I can't imagine doing this kind of stuff forever. I like the theorizing we've been doing all semester, but I'd hate to be bound to what little data can be found on some dead language for research opportunities. Give me a living language any day, and I can still spin you some crazy theory about it.

You're Cog Sci, right? Are you applying to schools known better for Cog Sci, or for linguistics?

I was actually a math/econ major in college, since my school didn't have a linguistics major, or a cogsci major. I took every class in linguistics that I could at my school, though (and even took some that I couldn't!). I think I'm going to apply to schools better known for cog sci, but I guess I'll also apply to a few linguistics and psychology programs.

[eucalyptus]

I'll do one better than that, eucalyptus--I'll PM you with an article. I hope you enjoy it.

By the way, I see that you're interested in Columbia. Who are you interested in working with there? I know a thing or two about the department

I was thinking about Ann Senghas and Herb Terrace, but I actually decided to drop Columbia from my list a few weeks ago. I think their work is great but it is a little too tangential to what I want to do... which I realized as I was trying to write emails to the profs. *sigh*

[palindrome]

I was thinking about Ann Senghas and Herb Terrace, but I actually decided to drop Columbia from my list a few weeks ago. I think their work is great but it is a little too tangential to what I want to do... which I realized as I was trying to write emails to the profs. *sigh*

Ah, ok...you've done your research then! I've worked for both of them, and they were the people that I thought of when you mentioned your interests.

Honestly I'd say it was a good choice to drop Columbia, though. The department tends to focus on social neuroscience these days. Herb Terrace is practically emeritus at this point (and no chimps any more, hehe), and Senghas, though fantastic, is technically at Barnard and not Columbia psych (like many of the most interesting psych profs currently at Columbia from a langauge/cognition point of view).

Edited December 3, 2009 by palindrome

[ColorlessGreen]

I was actually a math/econ major in college, since my school didn't have a linguistics major, or a cogsci major. I took every class in linguistics that I could at my school, though (and even took some that I couldn't!). I think I'm going to apply to schools better known for cog sci, but I guess I'll also apply to a few linguistics and psychology programs.

Sounds like you have an interesting interdisciplinary background. I don't know how you managed to take ling classes you actually couldn't take - independent study? - but good for you!

You know the really crazy thing? Two years ago I would have thought cog sci and psych were the same program. Then again, three years ago I thought linguistics and philology were the same thing. That's the beauty of a college education, I guess.