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Hello everyone, I just got an email invite to interview for the GWU (online) DrPH program. I am excited and a little nervous. Is anyone willing to share how the interview went for them and how best to prepare? Also, for those who are/or have participated in the online version of the program. How was it?

Thank you for this! I'm a painter and I'm considering applying to ArtCenter. Laura Owens being there is a big draw for me. How did you find the program there?

I could only find English department rankings: https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/english-rankings

Oh, good to know! Thank you for sharing that--I'll definitely look into that more to see if I'd qualify for fee waivers there :^)

Hey, I'm Belle! I'm new to Gradcafe. Just heard this may be a good spot to chat about MFA experiences. I'm a senior English major at Purdue Fort Wayne, looking to apply to Butler's MFA (CNF) program for Fall 2026 or Spring 2027. I've been doing research on other MFA programs (online or low-res) since we're pretty set on moving to Indy next winter. My next step was to work on writing samples! Looking forward to connecting

Hello, My name is Jyotirmay, an enthusiastic film student who has been dreaming of being admitted into an American film school for the last 15 years. I have fallen in love with film since my childhood, and this love became my obsession, which turned into a dream of becoming a filmmaker. This dream and hope changed my life forever, and I could never think of any other profession nor leave my dream behind. But chasing this dream has not been easy; it has cost me everything. It has been full of personal and financial challenges, but what’s kept me going is a deep, unwavering determination. Throughout this period, I faced significant mental health challenges, particularly due to emotional and psychological difficulties. At one point, I nearly started to lose my mental stability, and I often feel suffocated, experience pain on one side of my head, and struggle with stress, memory issues, and concentration. I can’t recall how many times during my early 20's I was physically tortured by my parents just because I wasn’t willing to give up on my dream of becoming a filmmaker. When my parents realized their mental pressure was going beyond limits, instead of letting me pursue my dream, they held me back with all their efforts. Behind my back, they took me to see a psychiatrist, something they kept secret from me. It was only when I understood what they were doing that everything began to change. The extreme depression and mental torture made me think multiple times about committing suicide, but my passion for filmmaking kept me moving forward. After eight years of struggle, I finally received a small amount of support from my parents but it wasn’t even enough to cover the first semester's tuition in the U.S. I got accepted into a film school in the UK, but after calculating the costs, I realized that after paying the first year’s tuition, I wouldn’t have enough money left to survive even for one month. So, I didn’t proceed with the visa application. Later, I applied to a film college in Canada, but due to certain constraints, I couldn’t obtain the visa. Eventually, I moved to the Netherlands the only place I could afford, where the first year’s tuition was within my budget. I completed my bachelor’s degree at an art academy. I studied a theory-based film program with zero film production courses. The course was very poor and they taught simply nothing, but I had to complete it because it was a necessary step toward pursuing an MFA, and I had already lost so many years of my life. To support my living and tuition, I worked long hours delivering food by bike, often in harsh weather, while commuting five hours by train daily. Even during COVID, when the whole world was at home, I was on the streets of Amsterdam with a few other delivery riders, supporting myself and keeping my university registration intact by paying the tuition on time. These hardships taught me resilience and the value of perseverance. Later, I had to move to Portugal because the majority of local production companies in the Netherlands are not authorized to offer sponsorships, and the few that are mostly weren’t interested in hiring international people with sponsorship needs. I remember interviewing with an Amsterdam-based company the interview went well, but once they learned I needed future sponsorship, their attitude changed. They formally told me I would proceed to the final interview the following week, but instead of receiving a call, I got a rejection letter. The irony is that a few months later, they reposted the job opening for the same position but that time they explicitly mentioned that they wouldn’t provide sponsorship, asking only candidates with EU nationality to apply. It’s been many long years of struggle, and I am tired and exhausted, but I still can’t give up on my dream of studying at a film school in the U.S. I have been searching for any possible support to help me pursue my MFA for the past year, but I haven’t been able to find anyone yet. If you happen to know of any private or individual donors or any place where I might be able to get support for someone in the arts, I would truly appreciate any leads or connections. This is a dream I have been working toward for over 15 years, and I am just looking for a chance to take that final step. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. Thank you for taking the time to read my story. I still believe this dream is worth fighting for and with your help, I might finally reach it. Best Regards Jyotirmay

So much of graduate school admissions (like the job market) is unpredictable. All you can do is put your best foot forward and remember that much is out of your control. Very accomplished candidates get turned away left and right. So much is just plain old luck! However, I do think it is worthwhile asking yourself if being a professor is really what you want. The anxiety will never get better (especially as the tt-track jobs most likely end up going extinct). Can you live with this feeling in every research fellowship application cycle? Job market cycle? Professional review cycle? I wish I had thought about this more before embarking on grad school.

You sound like you have accomplished a lot for an incoming junior. Kudos! I think you are worrying about some of these things prematurely and may be putting the cart before the horse. Deep breaths!! As a junior, you are probably just starting upper level seminar classes and perhaps independent research (based on my own slac experience). This is a great time to start developing your relationships with professors who may eventually write your recs, think about doing a thesis (if offered at your college), take classes outside of modern/contemporary art, etc. If you have the means, I would apply to do an internship with a major museum or collection next summer. You can also use the next two years to practice skills like interviewing (something that may or may not come up in grad school applications, but is a good skill to have). It's great that you already have your languages well underway (especially the German). My biggest recommendation is to talk to your art history professors and see what they suggest re: grad school and specific programs. PhD applications are not like undergrad apps--there aren't really safety or reach schools. Prestige/program rank is certainly important to consider (especially when thinking about job/fellowship opportunities postgrad), but it's just one of many factors. First and foremost, you should be applying to programs based on research fit (aka you are applying to work with a specific scholar). Modern and contemporary art is a massive field, and each PhD program will have its own culture that you may or may not resonate with. Some questions you can have in the back of your brain as you go through your classes this year/the next: Whose research do you find interesting? What methodologies do they use? Who did they study with and where (or alternatively, who were their students?)? With the academic job market being what it is, it is a good idea to be as flexible as possible. If you continue, you will likely be applying to both academic and curatorial track jobs after your PhD. Keep an open mind and talk to as many people working in your field as you can, so you can hear what their career paths have been. Re: your other concerns: I'm sorry that you feel as if your research or enthusiasm has been minimized, but I wouldn't linger over any offhand remarks like that. Not everyone will be as interested in your research as you are and you have to develop a tough skin for criticism (while still keeping an open mind about the limitations of your project(s)). That being said, your research will grow and change significantly over the years--it is unlikely that the research you are doing now will be the same as your dissertation project. You have over a year before you will be applying to grad school--I would develop your relationships to your art history profs, as they will be able to comment on your academic work most effectively (assuming that these mfa holding profs are studio art teachers?) Don't worry about past department placements, your undergrad ranking, etc. There are very few cases where this actually matters much, especially within top 20 slac rankings An A- will not hurt you, I promise (again, take some deep breaths. Your gpa isn't the be-all, end-all) Best of luck! You will be okay!

Hi! I'm currently doing my MA in Counseling and trying to apply for clinical psych PhDs/PsyD's for Fall 2026. I have 2 questions: 1. Tips and tricks on emailing potential professor advisors. Should I even do it? How do I phrase the email? And the biggest one I can't figure out--what do I put in the subject line? 2. I'm applying to 12 programs, and they all require 3 letters of recommendation. Do I need to get 36 recommenders or can they send the same letter to each program? Thank you guys so much!!

I applied to four of the UC's, got into two, and only had to pay the app fee for 1. Most of them do fee waivers if you can provide a tax return that shows a low enough income

Undergrad Institution: QS ~150ish Asian University Major(s): Industrial EngineeringB.S / Industrial Engineering M.S at same univ GPA: 3.76/3.91(M.S.) Type of Student: International (Asian) GRE General Test: 154(V)/167(Q) Programs Applying: IE/Statistics/Biostat Research Experience: 1 second author published(optimization) 2 first author (1 biostat, 1 optimization) under review Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 2x First Class Honors in undergrad Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for an undergrad Computer Science course Letters of Recommendation: One Research Advisor(Strong) 2 prof that tought me Linear Algebra, Operations research, Applied Statistics. (Got a good grade and did decent projects) Math/Statistics Grades: Calculus 1,2(highschool) Calculus 3(1year, B,C+), Linear Algebra(B+) ,Numerical Analysis(B), Engineering Math(ODEs) (A+) Probalbility & Statistics(A, Calculus Based), Applied Statistics(A+), Operations Research 1,2 (A, A+), Design of Experiments(A+), Finance Engineering(A+), Computer Programming(A+), Data mining(A+), Time Series Analysis(A+), Reliability Engineering(A) Grad: Reinforcement Learning(A+), Computational Statistics(A+, does a lot of linear algebra, includes some proof based linear algebra), Large Scale Optimization(A+) Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: My academic record in undergrad shows a strong upward trajectory, with a GPA of 3.96 over my last 60 credits. While my early math grades were not as strong, I've proven my ability in junior/senior statistics-related courses. I have self-studied real analysis but did not have the opportunity to take a formal course. (I didn't realize that it was necessary until recently :( ) Applying to Where: While I am mainly applying to Ph.D. programs in Industrial Engineering I also want to apply some in Statistics/Biostatistics since My research experience includes some work in biostatistics, and I have a strong interest in high-dimensional statistics. For Industrial Engineering, I'm targeting departments that aligns with my research interests. My list includes: Northwestern (IE), UT Austin (IE), ASU (IE), NC-State (IE) For Statistics/Biostat I am applying to several Ph.D. programs in Statistics and Biostatistics. While I have a record in statistics coursework and research, I have some concerns about my foundational math background. Specifically, my early undergraduate math grades were not strong, and I was unable to take a formal Real Analysis course. Given these points, I am trying to better understand where I stand for the following programs: UConn (Statistics, they seem to do biostat research in stats department) University of Florida (Biostatistics) UMass Amherst (Biostatistics) Iowa State University (Biostatistics) How would you classify these schools in Stats/Biostats as Reaches, Targets, or Safeties for my profile? Any insights or additional suggestions for similar programs(that'd be good for internationals) would be greatly appreciated!

I think you'll be fine. There is a general bias towards someone with an econ background. There are a handful of qual programs that might be biased against you but it doesn't sound like you're applying to those. I would emphasize your general methods background. I wouldn't emphasize formal methods outside those schools with a strong formal theory core like Princeton/WashU/Rochester. Behavior people can get iffy about it. Apply to a few schools in the 20 or so ranking range. Lots of places are reducing admits going forward and competition for slots will increase accordingly.

Applying to MFAs for the first time (fiction). Getting my writing sample ready and looking at programs. Never published my writing before, so this may be a crapshoot. Good luck to everyone!

hi from a long lurker. i'm going into my third year and realizing that i, above all else (museums, galleries), would prefer a professoriate track career. as i understand it, grad school seems to be of utmost importance. i can't help but be extremely worried about my chances of admission into a "top" school (mainly HYP, IFA, Columbia) given the current climate and my situation and have resorted to scrounging around on the internet in search for some insight from others. my background: - interested in modern and contemporary european and american art - currently attending small lac (ranked 15-20), gpa: 3.98, major: 4.0 - independent research and working in college museum collections starting from my first year, decently prestigious two-year research fellowship, at least 2 publications by my third year (two exhibition catalogue texts), at least one research assistantship, curating and running a small gallery, summer internship at a local commercial gallery, presentations at a few conferences, working a digital humanities job and acting as a writing mentor starting in my third year - i will likely have taken the max number of art history courses my school allows (nerd alert), i am a heritage speaker of a language unrelated to my research, apparently B1 in german, and will begin french in the fall on top of continuing german my concerns: - people don't seem to care about my research/i don't do a good job selling my research. i am working long term on a very obscure artist in who a guest scholar (from this two-year fellowship) expressed explicit disinterest in... i am very passionate about my work, though, which they kind of made fun of me for lol... - 2/3 of my recommenders i have in mind at this time have terminal mfa's though they are people i am very close with. would it be worth it to switch out one, or both, of my mfa recommenders to art history professors that might have a less through understanding of what i'm about? also, my department is very small (four full professors) and, while i love them all a lot, none of them seem to be Huge names of any sort - my dept doesn't seem to have a good track records of placing students into really elite phd programs, though the school as a whole seems to be deemed a "feeder" in other areas (which i am vaguely skeptical of) - i interview really, really poorly (extreme anxiety/general awkwardness) though this may not be a valid concern as it is totally possible i may never even reach this stage - i have one W and an A- on my transcript in the same semester, and my course of study is extremely narrow (only humanities courses second year onward) tl:dr: nervous undergraduate asks: is it over for me?

I’d honestly spend as much time as possible with family and friends, possibly date around if you’re single. Building a support system is very very important!

hi did you get in?

Hiii! Finally making an account to post for the upcoming cycle after going through so many of the old ones haha. Paying it forward to future sleuths like me… I’m gonna be mainly applying to painting/drawing programs—right now the only exception is WashU St Louis’ Illustration MFA, maybe I’ll add another illo one in there. One of my biggest priorities is going into as little debt as possible (preferably none! Regret the amount I went into for undergrad), but unfortunately there’s soooo few illustration programs that offer any sort of funding. The WashU IVC funding isn’t guaranteed, but the Sam Fox school seems to offer a pretty generous amount of funding if you’re lucky (and plus the faculty seem really great!). Like, SVA’s illo MFA is probably the most well known, but the amount of funding they give to students is like 20 cents and some moths floating out of their wallet, lol. Might apply to RISD’s illo program too..? (I’ve at least Heard of grad students getting substantial aid there, whether or not it’s likely is a different story…) I did my undergrad in illustration + have a predominantly illustration portfolio, but I think long term I’d really like to pivot to more gallery / fine artwork (or at least do some dual-wielding) along with teaching. So I’m gonna be grinding out new work between now and when apps are due. I feel like that’s the biggest barrier between me and applying to more programs, LOL. BUT, assuming I can create enough stuff, the painting/general studio art programs I’m looking at are: BU UW-Madison UConn Northwestern Michigan State University Tyler WashU St Louis (again, for their studio art side—I like the vibe I’ve gotten from their website at least) I feel like this list will end up changing by the end…I’ve been in the northeast my whole life, so I’m ideallyyyy looking for something close, but different enough. I’ve seen great things about the UC schools (Davis, Santa Barbara, etc.) in past years of forum threads, and I know Cali’s popping off for contemporary art stuff, so I might end up applying to one of those (Main thing keeping me away are the app fees for UCs--$135?!?). One of the profs I’m gonna ask for a LOR from went to OSU, so that program may end up making my list as well. I know a lot of folks apply to Yale, but honestly I just don’t know if it’d be my kind of place. Love and light to the folks who are gonna apply there, more power and luck to ya! Excited to see who else pops on here as we get closer to the actual app cycle—wishing everybody good luck, and plenty of funded programs to choose from!! o7

I'll have 2 polsci letters- the faculty member I'm currently TAing, who's quite active and is tenured here (we're higher ranked in polsci, which should help) and someone from DPIR at Oxford who's also well-published. I'll also have someone I RA'd doing political economy for who's a big Econ guy at LSE, and someone from my econ program who can talk about general performance. I'm also planning to declare one of my two fields to be formal theory-I realize this is a specialized question, but do you reckon this type of background would be competitive for that? I was strong at math in my econ department, which I think should transfer over, but not sure how transferable econ is generally. I know it's only really viable at top departments, but I'm thinking if I went to NYU/WashU/Stanford my background may help me since some people have econ phds.

I think a move from econ is doable. Can you get any letters from political scientists or economists who publish in polisci journals? It isn't enough to guarantee an admit (nothing is), but it could help if you had someone capable of vouching for you. Consider applying to a few public affairs/political economy programs like Duke's. If you are looking at something in the EU, look at places like Aarhus.

I can't really give you odds since it depends on what the rest of the applicant pools looks like. I'd swap out Iowa for Texas A&M, UT Austin, Notre Dame or another similar program. Iowa has some good people, but they're on somewhat of a decline due to budget issues. They've hired some new junior folks but it'll be a bit before they're at the advising stage.

By Dec 12, 2025, I will have three masters degrees, two post-graduate certificates, and a boat load of IT/professional certifications. My ultimate goal is to get into a PhD program Fall 2026. I want to show the admissions committee that I firmly grasp the academic rigors by having completed. these programs. I want to be a professor either teaching or researching part-time or full-time.

I'm in an unusual position here. I started out at a T20 Econ PhD program, but realized the work I was interested in (intersection of comparative politics and political economy) wasn't really done here. I hadn't looked at faculty as closely because Econ PhDs are so focused on maths and the first year is so course-based that you aren't really expected to have a research proposal or match with faculty. This bit me in the ass, and I ended up hating the applied micro they were doing, and after TAing in the PS department over the summer, I did one semester in second year before getting an offer to move to PS full-time as an RA. This has been going really well, and my PI told me I'd probably be admitted as a full-time student if I applied in the fall, but encouraged me to apply broadly to find the best possible fit. Academically, I have a 1st at an undergrad doing PPE in the UK (top of the year, probably equivalent to 4.0), Distinction in UK masters doing Econ with some politics, and a 3.5 GPA from my PhD, but ranked towards the top in the qualifying exams. GRE is 165Q/168V/6.0 AWA (shit the bed the day of for the math, but thinking my math classes should offset it), and 2 years of political economy research in the UK before PhD. I'm interested in doing Formal Theory along the lines of Judd at Princeton and Acharya, using high-level maths to address substantive questions regarding electoral accountability and corruption. I'll have letters from the econ and polsci department here, as well as one economist in the UK and one from my masters (LSE and Oxbridge respectively). Bluntly, I'm not sure how competitive I am-I'm only planning to apply to HYPSM,Rochester, and Emory since my current department has a strong formal theory group. I have a strong technical background and some good RA experience, but I know how competitive top departments are. Any feedback/suggestions on how I should formulate my SOP?

I'd identify established grad students in the programs of interest -- post quals / ABD. Pre quals, grad students can run hot and cold on the whole enterprise and life in general. I'd stick to a brief introduction and solicit the person's interest in answering a few "quick" questions. I'd make it clear that I'd done some leg work of my own. I would consider the benefits of sending a physical note to the person care of the department. Then, I'd manage my expectations. IRT your anxiety, the process is stressful but do your best to focus on what you can control and leave aside what's beyond your power. For example, ask ASAP professors for LoRs, understand that they may not send them in until after the application deadline.

Hi, friends! I'm a current undergrad starting applications to social psychology PhD programs in the Fall, and I was wondering if anyone here had any advice on cold emailing graduate students in the labs/under faculty I'm interested in! Grad apps feel really scary to me, so any kind and constructive feedback is greatly appreciated! XO!

The purpose of this thread is for current and aspiring graduate students in history to collaborate and commiserate about the Fall 2026 application season. When posting, please introduce yourself in terms of your areas of interest, fields, and periods (like "the concept of victory in warfare during the early / mid nineteenth century in East Asia.") Try to write about topics and debates of interest/importance to you (what were the connections and policy implications between the "military revolution debate" and the "revolution in military affairs" and western military operations in the Middle East after 9/11) no matter how provisional. You want to show that you can expand existing historiographical debates. Understand that talking about "stats" (test scores, GPA, school ranking) are reflections of an undergraduate mindset. Successful applicants understand that the sooner one adopts the comportment of an aspiring professional, the better. Before asking questions, please consider the benefits of searching the fora for previous / existing conversations about the same / similar topics. The number of schools to apply, asking professors for LORs, application fee waivers, funding your education, great choices and ones to avoid, have all been discussed at great length over the years by individuals who have long since moved on to other media or gone silent altogether. Information about specific academics may be dated. Information about departments may still be relevant. Overall, the profession remains as it has been the last five, six...decades (Observation. Academic historians had known that some version of MAGA was coming for over a century but the AHA was still not ready for Project 2025. #notbitter) Please pay particular attention to the conversations centered around pursuing a career as a professional academic in the humanities in general and history in particular. While times have changed, circumstances haven't improved when it comes to the latter. Penultimately, start working on your writing sample and SOP right now. Previous threads provide guidance on approaches. Make sure you consider the source of information before incorporating any guidance. If you're applying to Happyland University, bust hump on the book review. Understand that certain genres of history / historians are better received than others. Waiting until the day before its due to write it may not be an effective tactic. Or so I've heard. Finally, the best sources of information for graduate school are professors and seasoned (post quals) graduate students at your current institution. Go to office hours as soon as possible and as often as necessary. Build rapport. Earn trust. Listen and think. History departments are collections of interlocked black boxes. Success and failure is often about luck / the politics of the profession/ departmental rivalries / and perception of a giving applicant as about ability and potential. Know that what is not said can be as important to your future as what is actually said. Historians are going to let you figure things out for yourself, especially if you're screwing things up. (To learn the hidden language of the profession, read scores and scores of book reviews then revisit the comments on your exams and papers....)