Starbuck2015

It's evident that you are simply clinging at straws to desperately defend a department that has clearly acted in an unprofessional manner. I am not the only applicant to the program who has had a negative experience with the department, and I am familiar with others who have declined their acceptance as a result of serious reservations. I'm sorry that you cannot recognize how the department has behaved in an unprofessional manner. I wish you the best of luck with your experience in the department. It sounds like you'll be a strong fit there.

Also, whatishistoryanyway, you know that I had to travel a much greater distance to the recruitment event than most of the attendees. And I was not made aware that I could elect to have a skype interview until weeks after they had sent me the initial invite. By then I had already purchased a nonrefundable plane ticket.

Whatishistoryanyway, I want to make it abundantly clear that your experience at that event was not universal. A faculty member told me that my acceptance was a given, and it shocks me that no one here recognizes that is unprofessional.

I think you misunderstood my point. If it is possible to be accepted to a program without spending the time and money to visit, then it there is no point in doing that. If I had known ahead of time that going to the event was not necessary to be accepted, then I would have never bothered going.

Actually, according to many other people I have spoken to, visiting can give someone a leg up during the admissions process. However, you are still overlooking the entire point of my argument. I am simply stating that if a department invites its top applicants to a recruitment event, it should explicitly indicate the necessity of attending the event, which in my case didn't happen until well after I had purchased a non-refundable plane ticket. I am simply warning other potential applicants not to make the same mistake that I did.

You are overlooking a very important point that I made--students who DID NOT ATTEND the event were accepted. Which means that attending the event is not necessary for acceptance. Therefore, if attendance at the event is not necessary for admission, then there is no point in going. Furthermore, based on the fact that I received positive feedback from staff, faculty, and grad students on my conduct at the event, it is highly unlikely that my presence at the event had a detrimental impact on my admissions decision.

Frankly, considering you were not actually at the exit interview, it's not really fair for you to question whether the interviewer actually said that my acceptance was a "given." You're overlooking the -very likely- scenario that they are simply unprofessional. And frankly, your response isn't any less petty than my post. Keep in mind that I ultimately had to shell out $600 dollars to attend the event, which is twice as much as they invested for my visit. I'm shocked that you don't realize that is a significant amount of money.

No. During my exit interview, my interviewer told me that my acceptance was a "given" at that point. Thanks for the snark.

This is a warning for all those who may be interested in applying to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. A few weeks ago I attended the sociology department's recruitment event. I was told that invitees to this event were the committee's top applicants. Thus, I assumed that attending the event meant that my chances of admission were likely. However, after attending the event and spending roughly $900 on travel and hotel expenses (the department only reimbursed me for $300), I just found out that I have been waitlisted with little chance for funding. Strangely enough, another applicant who was unable to attend the recruitment event was admitted with full funding. Moral of the story: Do not attend this program's recruitment event unless you want to waste time and money. If I had known that attendance at the event would have no bearing on my acceptance, I would have never bothered going.

Montreal seems fun.

So, I was recently offered a very generous funding package to attend Oklahoma State, but I haven't decided whether I will attend. Is anyone else here familiar with the program? If so, do you think it is worth attending?

I feel really frustrated at the moment. I have been trying to contact a couple of graduate directors who simply won't respond to my emails, even though I know that they have been attentive to other applicants. Is anyone else dealing with this issue?

I wish people would refer to Northwestern at NWU and Northeastern as NEU in order to prevent confusion.

New Mexico State has a decent MA program, and the department offers many of the students funding.

So, who else is going to the recruitment event at UTK?