misfit

Today's mail: rejection letter from Columbia and my official acceptance from Rutgers. Whew! I am so glad that this process is now over.

I called the department assistant on Friday and she told me that I was recommended for admission. My status on the gradstudy.rutgers.edu now says that as well.

I have finally been recommended for admission, but hearing back about financial aid will probably take another two months. Even if I get no funding, at least the tuition is cheaper than what I'm paying now for a private university with only a 25% scholarship.

Anyone else in the SCILS (School of Communication, Information and Library Science)? I have been accepted into the Ph.D. program.

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY! I called the program assistant at Rutgers and she checked my file (which had just been returned to her this morning), and I have been recommended for admission. Even if Penn, NYU, and Columbia don't want me, at least Rutgers does!

Info on Columbia decisions: We are actively making admissions decisions. Decision letters will be mailed to applicants starting April 1, 2006 and continuing through April 7, 2006. Below is a tentative schedule: M.S. Program - decision letters will be mailed April 1, 2006. M.S. International Program - decision letters will be mailed April 5 & 6, 2006. M.A. Program - decision letters will be mailed April 6 & 7, 2006. Ph.D. Program - decision letters will be mailed April 1, 2006. Good luck!

Has anyone who is applying to Columbia seen this page? https://admissions.columbia.edu/ I have been trying to check my status from the applyyourself page, but of course they have no info on admissions there. You can request an applicant ID and check your status. Does this apply to the j-school as well? It's not publicized (to my knowledge) on the j-school site, so it might be for other programs.

Yay! My rejection letter from NYU has finally arrived (Media Ecology Ph.D.). I knew that I would not get in, so it was a matter of waiting around for the inevitable to arrive. Time to now focus my positive thinking on getting into Rutgers :-)

The secretary says that the committee STILL hasn't made decisions regarding my area of focus in SCILS. Rutgers is my only hope, so I am on pins and needles to find out their decision.

That's the same situation that I was in; I had to take out the maximum amount of loans just to cover the tuition and work full time :-(

I'll elaborate a bit on my other reply...if both programs are an equally suitable fir to your research and academic interests, I'd honestly go with the school that gives a better financial aid package! Unless you really have your heart set on living in NYC, but Rutgers is only a 45 minute train ride away so you can always visit regularly. Sometimes you have to make the decision between a program that gives you more money but doesn't have as strong of an emphasis on your interests, versus less money but a program better tailored to you.

I think that partly depends on your area of interests...which school do you think is a better fit?

Congrats!!! If you have any questions about the program, feel free to send me a private message

NYU says that decisions are starting to be sent out now for all Steinhardt programs (including media ecology). So keep checking those mailboxes!

Ph.D. program in Communication, Information and Library Studies (I'm applying for the communication program).