Chasing_Shadows

MPP program

Declined my offer (no scholarship), hope it goes to one of you. Good luck!

First-time poster, here. I really need to vent, otherwise I think I am going to cry. A bit of context: I am coming out straight from undergrad and out of field, so I applied to mostly MA programs this cycle to boost my credentials for eventual PhD applications. Today I heard from the last place I applied, and the outcome was much better than I hoped: I got accepted to five MA programs, one of them a very prestigious MA program in Europe. I hoped to be able to fund some of those programs with internal scholarships, but those plans fell through, sadly. Now, there is a program (let's call it Program A) that offered me funding that will basically cover all my tuition plus a small 3k a semester stipend to cover a fraction of living expenses, so this is where I am going this fall. Frankly, I love my offer, the department seems very cool, and the research fit is great. I talked with some current grad students and they had only good things to say. It's a medium-sized public research university, not top-ranked or anything but a good, solid school. Here's where the venting part comes in: my (very Asian) family is aware of my application process, the scholarships and programs I applied to. They have nothing but good intentions and love me, but they also, for the most part, operate under the assumption that only a fully-funded offer counts as something worthy, and if you have to pay money for a degree, your acceptance doesn't count for anything. In their heads, it's "Anyone who can pay, no matter how bad their academics are, will get accepted, right?" which, after trying a couple of times I gave up on trying to explain how the system works, it's just not worth it. Given this mindset, it's not surprising that today, when I told them I heard back from all of the places and am going to Program A, what I basically got from them was: "Oh, so those other scholarships didn't work out? Pity. So how much do we have to pay for that Program A again?" That reaction just sucked out all the joy from me right there. It's so stupid, and I know they honestly come from a good place, but just like that, they dismissed all of my hard work to get those acceptances. In a world of MA programs, especially when you're an international student, it's something to be proud of, and my family turned them into failures; it makes me feel like a failure because I did not get a fully funded offer. I feel very upset, and they keep asking me these questions like "Is it a top program? Will you have a job after this? It will be so expensive to move there, isn't it?" which just makes me feel worse. They just don't understand why I am so hurt by their reaction, and I can't explain any of it without this turning into a fight. I wanted so badly to feel good about my acceptances, to have them be glad for me, to finally commit to a school and plan my future in peace, and now I just don't feel much of anything. What keeps running through my head is "you should have gotten a fully funded offer, somehow". I know, rationally, that this feeling will eventually go away, it's just an immediate reaction, but it doesn't make me feel any better at the moment. Anyway, if you managed to read this far, thank you. Putting all of this down in words helps a little.

Yes, I think it's just an update in the system, which is very good - decisions must be coming soon

Well, that's it for my US run this cycle, I am 2 for 2 on rejections. I think I am mostly okay with that. At least I got some valuable feedback out of the whole thing for if/when I apply in the future. Besides, I just learned I got into a very good MA program in Europe which I am super excited about! No word on funding yet, but I am optimistic Also, ladies of this thread, Happy International Women's Day! You are awesome and deserve the best in life! Here's for more good news to come in March!

Does anyone know when AES/AMS results will be released?

If anyone else is applying to MediaAC, just a heads up that they selected candidates for the final review round, and expect to put out a list of ranked candidates by the end of March/early April.

@DBear Thanks for letting me know! Next week is not that bad, considering everything )) In other news, got a rejection from McGill. Wasn't very surprised because it was a reach, but man, the way they phrased their email was so weird: "a significant new decision has been made". Who says significant for a rejection? Anyway, hope we all hear back one way or the other soon!

I am waiting to hear from MediaAC and EMMIR, but from what I've seen on the website the results come out only in April/May.

I know, I resigned myself to basically not having a life until then. Oh well... And that cricket thing, sounds great doesn't it? Personally, I blame Tumblr for getting me hooked At least this forum is here for us to vent about waiting in the meantime =) We live to fight another week, then.

It's a little hard to explain without revealing the details of the case, but basically "if you were a policy maker, what would you do in situation A? Situation B? Explain your reasoning using specific evidence from case study" and variations thereof.

I really hope there will be some news soon =) I have offers from U of Westminster for two different MA programs, but funding is very competitive and you need to complete a separate application that'll cost me money I don't really have to spare (postal services, notarizing and translating documents, etc.). Since this option is less than ideal, I'd rather wait to hear from other places before putting time and effort into yet another application that may not pay off in the end. The deadline for that is only in May, so I have plenty of time to think it through. I also had an interview with National University of Singapore for their MPP program. I have a good feeling about it, but their results go out only in May, and, you know, it's public policy My advisor wanted me to apply there to keep some in-field options open, and it's a good school, so I did. Can't say I am super enthusiastic about staying in polisci, but we'll see what happens

The uncertainty about future is the worst, honestly. I keep thinking that if I get one solid, financially feasible offer to go somewhere, anywhere, I will finally calm down, but who am I kidding? I'll be totally riding this fretting-fueled train until summer, ugh, so frustrating. Some of the MA programs I applied to release results only in May, whyyyy?? @feyfatale how many schools are you waiting to hear from? @DBear yeah, I struck out with UW-Madison, which is a bummer because it was a really good fit, so UMass Amherst is the only US school I have left to hear from. On the website they said notifications usually go out early February, but it's almost the end of the month and still crickets.

Anyone else feel like their life is basically in "on hold" mode until the entire process is over and done with? All I do all day every day is obsessively refresh application portals and gmail, it feels like. Come on, UMass, put us out of our misery soon. Please?

It's still fairly early in the game, so if you didn't hear anything yet it's not a big deal. Over the last two cycles the interview requests were coming out in batches by the region up until April or even later, and I suspect this year is going to be the same.

As cliche as it sounds, the interview part is really not that scary, no one is going to deliberately tank you, so there is no reason to be nervous about it. If you are qualified to apply to the program in the first place, you should have no problem with the case study because you won't need any specialized knowledge in order to do well; it's all about critical thinking. Really, the most important thing is paying attention to what you're reading in order to actually retain information in your head. That's why you need confidence because if you're really-really anxious about your interview, chances are you won't be able to focus properly on the case during your half-hour reading time, and you don't want that. There is one useful exercise for maintaining your critical reading skills and just for memory in general: 1) Open a New Your Times, Foreign Policy, or an Economist article on a topic that you find interesting or relevant to whatever you're prepping for; 2) Read the first paragraph, then close your eyes and formulate its main idea in a single sentence in your head. Was it difficult? Open your eyes and re-read the paragraph to see how accurate your summary was. 3) Read the second (third, fourth etc.) paragraph, and do the same thing. 4) When you finished the whole article, paragraph by paragraph, come up with a 5-sentence summary for the whole thing, then read through the entire article again and see how accurate you were. 5) Rinse, repeat as many times as you need.

@hunny7 My case was about school education in lower-income countries. The questions were mostly asking for analysis of the case and policy suggestions. There was also one quantitative question, very easy, grade school math.

Hello everyone! This thread is so quiet this year... Thought I would share for those of you who have upcoming interviews or still waiting to hear: I just had my interview for LKY MPP program on Wednesday. Pretty nerve-wracking, but I think I did ok. The questions were all case study-oriented, no questions like "why you chose LKY etc." so you really do need to know the case and understand its main argument and salient points. The interview lasted about 35 minutes in total. I had a professor interview me, and she was perfectly nice and friendly, which was a relief. Good luck to everyone! Let's keep each other posted on your progress =)

@GreenEyedTrombonist I am in the same boat as you, so I can fully commiserate. Logically, I know that it is still early in the game, but the nerves and anxiety get better of you. I was absent from this thread for quite a while, so I just want to say my warmest congratulations to everyone who already received acceptances from somewhere! This is awesome, and I hope there is only more good news to come. For the rest who are still waiting to hear, like me, I have every confidence that we'll pull through =)

@DBear @ejpril88 I have a feeling I am about to join you in obsessively checking the results page every day now

@DBear UW is already sending out interview requests? I wonder if it's time to begin panicking.

If you can direct me towards those faculty members you mentioned, that would be super great Knowing more folks in your subfield is always useful. There's been quite a few fandoms I was interested in over the years, but the one I ended up doing research in was Teen Wolf. That fandom grew so fast and had a lot of media exposure, I thought it would be super fun to explore it from academic perspective. That's very true, so hopefully that versatility will work to our advantage

One of the big research projects I did in my senior year was on fandom dynamics. I was pretty involved with fandom at the time, and knew a lot as an insider, so I absolutely loved working on it (that paper ended up being nearly 8,000 words ). That project is actually what pushed me to reconsider polisci for grad school. Your topic sounds fascinating. I come from a country that is really conservative as well, especially when it comes to LGBT minorities, so I can definitely see why you want to focus on that. And about fit: I have similar reservations sometimes. My subfield is relatively young and, although it's growing and has a lot of research potential, the programs with a really good fit are few and far between. When I talked with my undergrad professors, they told me that picking a more conventional topic will probably be better, at least in terms of choices I'll have. But hey, grad school is largely a lottery anyway, so I stuck with my choice That said, waiting jitters are hell. I am second-guessing everything I submitted, how do people do this for months, it's not even January!

My focus is in participatory/fan culture and television studies, so it's actually more media/cultural studies than comm studies. UW-Madison's Media and Culture track is the best fit out of all schools I am applying to this year. Good luck and loads of patience to everyone! These next few months are gonna be rough...

How are you guys doing now that December 15th deadline is over?