aresh1

I'm slowly entering into the exact same situation. Lol. I'll see you Friday! I'll be scanning the room and trying to figure out who the gradcafe posters are.

Their admission offers went out on Thursday. I'm currently on their waitlist. I don't know if this is the news you wanted to hear...:-(

I'd suggest taking a look at the results section to see when each school you've applied to sends out notifications based on previous years. That way you know if a school is usually really slow, or is doing something weird this year.

I can only speak from what I learned from the current graduate students and faculty, so don't think that this is set in stone. They took on a particularly large cohort last year (I think 12) and were looking to even out because of that. I also spoke to a number of graduate students who were initially waitlisted before entering the program (about half of them). A quarter didn't attend the visit last year, yet still ended up at Vanderbilt. The DGS made it clear they were meeting on Monday and sending their recommendations for admission to the Dean's office ASAP. So we should hear something this week. I'm as nervous as everyone else. The school and program were amazing. If I manage to get one of those six spots I'll be accepting the offer on the spot.

The interview weekend just happened. While there the acting DGS told the 11 of us that they would be offering admission to 6. They are supposed to be meeting today to make their decisions. Not sure if that helps, but I figured I'd let you know what's going on there.

I'm waiting on UBC with you. If you looked at the old results they tend to inform much later than US schools, Not sure why, but that might mean a longer wait for their response.

Not the poster on the board, but I can claim a Vandy interview (forgot to post it).

I spoke to one of my mentors about the Davis funding package this week. He did his PhD at a UC (not Davis) and was telling me that his TA appointment never really hit half-time hours while he was there. So you may be getting paid for the full funding amount, but rarely work the expected hours. Experiences may vary. As for the second part, the funding package I received said I'd be funded for a minimum of five years.

I got the same funding package from Davis, but I want to add that there are also a number of fellowships that we apply for/are applied for on our behalf that could bump up the total 23k number.

I actively avoided trying to contact professors ahead of time. I felt really weird about it. I really think it depends on the type of school you are applying to. Honestly, this entire process makes no sense. During my Emory interview weekend I couldn't figure out how to distinguish any of the applicants from one another. it's really just a lot of luck and whatever "fit" means.

Things just got really out of control for the few hours I was gone... I don't know about Vanderbilt and if they are paying for the travel expenses. I assume so. I only say this because Emory flew me out and gave me a reimbursement form for flight while covering the cost of hotel, food, and drink. They even offer to cover transportation to and from the airport from your departing city. Private institutions seem to have far more money on hand to fly people in for recruitment weekends. I haven't heard any information from UC Davis regarding their cover of travel costs, but I'm in Los Angles and doubt I'll need much from them to attend their prospective students day. I guess your mileage may vary depending on the school and how much fiscal stability they have. Hope that answers in a non-douchey way.

Thank you so much! It's actually at the end of this month. It's the Education in Ethnography conference at Penn. There are a lot of reasons I can't attend. I'm hoping I can fly in another weekend or have a Skype interview. I hope you hear good things from them today!

Yes. Call from the DGS. Unfortunately I'm going to be at a conference that weekend and don't really know what to do about it. The DGS promised to get back to me to see if we could figure something out. Vanderbilt is my top choice, so hopefully things work out.

Just a heads up for all of you. Just got a call from Vanderbilt about coming to a recruitment weekend. No offers until after the weekend.

Rodeo clown. Seriously. I've looked into it and would be making decent money.