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calmflare

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    Male
  • Application Season
    2015 Fall
  • Program
    Anthropology

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  1. Congratulations, everyone! And for those who haven't heard back from schools or have only had rejections/interviews -- congratulations on surviving this! I'm so grateful for you all.
  2. Hey! Thanks for that, it has been very useful. Thing is, I don't have weeks, and hence I just made my decision to attend another university, so that I can get the visa/housing/relocation processes started. I really appreciate you (and the others) for taking the time to listen and respond...
  3. Indeed. It certainly is not okay to completely stonewall applicants. There are other schools with generous funding packages who communicate effectively with prospective students. York doesn't have an e-mail address for the admissions department (thereby forcing you to call with any enquiries, which is especially difficult for international students who work full time on the other part of the planet since there's the time difference and the difficulty of making these international calls and all), the department does not seem to respond to e-mails and its telephone line never seems to be attended to, there has been no communication as to the status of the application or even follow-up information about the university/department, they took weeks to update applications (which was rather stressful as my documents were still stated as "not received" weeks after the deadline even though I sent it earlier, and, of course, I couldn't verify because they never picked up the phone). Though York has some really good programs, it certainly has a lot to learn in terms of treating and retaining potential research students, and judging from what I've been reading in forums, there is a lot of frustration directed at the university. This entire experience has made me wonder -- would I continue to be ignored and treated as invisible if I gain admission? Would I be happy in a place that does not seem to anticipate or understand the concerns of applicants? The other universities to which I've applied over the years (and there were many) were all not like this. Oh well.
  4. I did not get in touch with a POI... October?! That's crazy! I'll send them a long e-mail about it soon, wouldn't want to be working in a university/department that's so unresponsive and doesn't uncommunicative if I get accepted either. All the best with your apps!
  5. This is somewhat ridiculous. York University's PhD programme in Gender, Feminist and Women's Studies still hasn't gotten back to me with their decision, has not replied to e-mails, does not respond to calls etc. I have to respond to Harvard by the 15th. If York doesn't get back to me by then, I'd have wasted my application money, and wasted time that I could have spent on the visa process and settling housing.
  6. Thanks for that. I received my offer on the 13th
  7. Hi guys! My application status says "submitted". Should I be worried? I read somewhere that it should say "Application under review" or something... I'm just rather anxious that perhaps there's a system glitch so I'm wondering what your statuses say...
  8. My application status says "submitted". Should I be worried? I read somewhere that it should say "Application under review" or something...
  9. This is my status at York University: Ph.D., Gender, Feminist and Women's Studies Fall 2013 No Decision Yet I called the admissions department and they told me that I'd hear from them "between mid- to end-April" (the department does not have an e-mail address, and they don't have my phone number on file, so I wonder how they're going to communicate anything to me except via myFile"). I'm getting really anxious! All the best, y'all!
  10. I'm completing my MA in Human Rights at Columbia and have not yet managed to find a PhD program that's the "perfect fit". I think I'm currently applying to several Master's programmes - a women's studies in Canada, an MTS that would allow me to focus on women, gender and sexuality, gender studies in the University of Oslo and the Masters in Intercultural Experience at Helsinki. There's a fascinating program called the GEMMA program (http://masteres.ugr.es/gemma/redirector/) that looks really promising. Rutgers is part of the consortium that offers this. It's a Masters degree in women's and gender studies and it's a European Union program. Am very tempted by it!
  11. Columbia's MA in Human Rights Studies (it is no longer an LSMA) is very flexible, and the profs are fantastic
  12. I bought mine at StudentUniverse....cheap, with great service! And all the best in school, people
  13. Hey Shibaboop! Sorry for the late reply! I'm not studying in the UK, but I have loads of friends who do. UCL is a dream school and as a university it's actually ranked higher than some Ivys, and even Oxford (in the QS ranking). Sure, rankings fluctuate, but UCL is firmly established as steadily being around the top 20, worldwide. Many of its students make it to Oxbridge and the Ivys (this is based on published and anecdotal evidence). These links may help: 1) http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/top-200.html 2) http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2011/subject-rankings/arts-humanities/english 3) http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2011/subject-rankings/arts-humanities/english 4) http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2010.jsp I get what you mean by being looked down on by friends. I was from an average Australian university (ranked within the top 300 in the world), did well, and was excited to have received offers from York, Durham, Sussex, etc., among other places. My degree was in Communication and Media Management, and the Masters courses to which I applied were all based on Human Rights and Culture, with the intention of continuing on to a PhD in Sociology (which is related to my MA). When I told my friends that I accepted the Durham offer, many of them didn't know what it was. I constantly felt put down and discouraged, especially since my workplace was filled with people who made it into higher ranked universities such as Cambridge, Oxford, Yale, Boston and UCL. One day, while randomly surfing the net in search for human rights courses at top universities, I came across Columbia's programme. Prior to that I never thought of applying to the US, much less an Ivy. I almost didn't complete the application and decided I had nothing to lose, so I submitted it near the cut-off date, thinking that there was no chance at all that I would be accepted but telling myself that if I didn't try, I'd never know. I applied because I was frustrated of being looked down upon.. I didn't hear from Columbia for a very long time, and I accepted the Durham offer (even paid the accommodation and tuition deposit which came to around $2000). I didn't care that no one seemed to have heard of it, because I knew it was respected in academic circles and would offer me a good education. Nearly purchased my ticket to England, too. And then the Columbia offer came, and I started shaking and nearly cried as I called my friend over the phone to tell him the news. A part of me wished I didn't get it because I thought there was no way I could afford the huge tuition fee and I had already paid a substantial sum to Durham. I almost didn't accept the offer until I negotiated with my sponsors (one of them weren't happy with me wanting to go to the US at first). And then I accepted my offer, wrote in to Durham with a heavy heart (I had my heart set on going there since I loved what I saw of its course and the college, and since my closest friends are based in the UK). I'm sure a couple of my friends doubt if I can succeed at Columbia judging from my middle-class, state-schooling background, but this is my chance to do what I want, and do it well. Hopefully I can get into a funded PhD programme someday. Ah, I realise I've digressed! So what I'm trying to say is, if someone from a mid-ranked university could get into his "dream course at his dream school", I'm sure you, from a top-ranked university, would be able to get into the PhD course of your choosing, provided you do well. British schools tend to be more examination-oriented than those in Australia or the US (I never really did well in time-based examinations so I made sure the programmes to which I applied were mainly coursework-based). Enjoy your time at UCL. I'm confident you'd do well Warmest!
  14. I'm in the same boat... will be moving to NYC for my MA next month and I've been waitlisted at my uni for housing, which means I'll be homeless for awhile unless I do something haha. So I'm thinking of applying for homestays first (which have a minimum stay of 2 weeks), and while I'm there I'll visit some apartments and then decide which one I want. All the best
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