levoyous

I applied to Yale political science, but looks like theirs have come right in the middle of the month the past few years.

Sounds like we're in for a Yale deluge tomorrow.

Was hoping it was you! I didn't apply there, but best of luck.

Ha, exactly. I hoped people would pick up on that. PS. As I said, I'm sure going there for a PhD will be very different than working in professional/political circles, and I hope anybody going there will judge it for themselves.

Boooo.

The metro area population has exploded over the past decade, particularly from about 2007-10. The construction around 2010 was hard to believe - it was hard to turn around without hitting a giant new outpost of the national security state under construction. I think the transport has been overloaded and needed to grow rapidly to keep up, but the WMATA was always underfunded (perhaps until more recently, when they started work on the Silver Line, etc). The Capital Bikeshare has also launched since then, which I hear is very nice and popular. Probably a big help with getting to Georgetown, too.

Not sure how recently you lived there, but I think it's gotten worse. WMATA is horribly underfunded, and it shows. Unbearable crowding on almost every line; trains incredibly far apart on nights and weekends; constant, crippling construction on the weekends. Not to mention that the metro doesn't cover huge swaths of the city. If you live in the center of DC it's not so bad, but coming in from Virginia was miserable. But I just disliked DC in general; especially the people, the political myopia, the bland homogeneity of people's jobs and interests. I'm sure it had to do with my profession and college network, and I know it's gotten significantly cooler since then. But New York had seeped into my being and I couldn't go back to DC culture.

The DC Metro is just an endless, horrible nightmare in general. I moved back there from NYC for a brief stint a few years ago and had forgotten how much I hated it.

I'm curious to know if Penn is still interviewing - if they are, that might mean we have a longer wait. They told me it was all happening on two days last week.

If the person who just posted the Penn interview is reading, did this already happen or did you just get contacted today?

It's a 5-minute drive from Alexandria into DC, or you can live near a metro station and ride straight in. GW is close to Virginia, so that helps (Georgetown is another story - there's no good way to get there, even from inside DC.) I haven't checked DC rents recently, but the Foggy Bottom area around GW is pretty uncool compared to Adams Morgan or Columbia Heights, so there might be affordable options. Just saw jogatoronto's comment, but yes, TONS of people trying to save money live in Bethesda/MD (which is a very nice suburb, just far-ish away.)

I know this is the land of baseless freakout, but I generally don't read too much into anything on GC.

If it is, Harvard could be this week. Shit.

Is this what I think it is? http://history.fas.harvard.edu/calendar/index.php?showCat=4&Submit=Filter&mo=2&yr=2014&ev=

I wonder if that's different for private universities...in my experience there are a zillion international PhD students at places like Columbia, NYU, etc.

Man I wish I had seen this thread last weekend. It got so bad I actually promised my SO I wouldn't mention grad school again until I got a result.

I've lived all over northern Virginia, and it can be pretty cheap without being far outside the district (try Alexandria).

I'm not accepted yet, so maybe you shouldn't listen to me, but I couldn't bear to let your post hang with no response. I'm a bit older than you and have spent as long as most people spend on a PhD in a non-academic career, so perhaps some kind of outside perspective might be useful. I haven't been in your shoes, so I can't tell you the first year is the hardest or that it will get better. It might not. What I can tell you is that almost anything you do in life will become monotonous, even boring, and you'll have times when you wonder if you really care about it or ever did. That is normal adult life for almost everyone except the lucky few who are really happy people wherever they are, or happened to find the niche in the world that aligns perfectly with their inclinations. So much of life is about keeping moving to forget that it's all a groundless choice. It's very common outside of academia for people to do jobs they aren't thrilled about, or even hate, for a long time. It could be because they're in debt, or lack other options, or because what they really care in life is their family or hobbies, and just need a job to pay the bills. While I wouldn't recommend settling for something you hate, it's a normal situation lots of people find themselves in as they are figuring out what to do next. Maybe it would help to think of your PhD that way: don't think about whether you're going to finish, or whether you want to Be a Literature Professor, or whatever. Ignore those existential issues, and think about it as a job you do to make money while you explore other options or build your escape route. It's actually rare for a 24-year-old to find a comfortable, intellectually stimulating job, so consider yourself lucky to have that option while you think. As a practical matter, if you can at least tolerate the situation for another year, you might consider that having a free MA wouldn't be a bad thing to stick it out for; certain professions (the nonprofit sector, for example) require advanced degrees but don't particularly care what they are. Most people who need them for professional advancement have to take on quite a bit of debt to get them. So that's something to think about, even if it shouldn't be the deciding factor. All of DanieleWrites' advice about how to think about your possibilities is good. Coming from the other direction - non-academic career moving into academia - I've been surprised how many connections there are between my work and not just my current field, but lots of others. I basically feel my career options are endless - and will continue to be endless when I'm done with my PhD. My biggest advice, I guess, would be to ignore all the stupid narratives about humanities people being unemployable, and include your PhD (whether you continue for another year or another 5 years) as just one part of that vast array of options. Maybe you won't feel so trapped if you're not trying to shove yourself into a narrow academic mold.

Anyone on here apply to the JHU Humanities Center? Total silence on the board from them...no interviews, nothin.

thedig13, seems like even most Harvard people get POI emails before their snail mail letter arrives. red4tribe, it's impossible not to be anxious, but I wouldn't worry yet. It's only just time for most of them to start coming, and still early for many more.

Seems like it's very rare to hear by snail mail first.

I wonder if the Northeast being buried in snow again will slow things down this week.

Here comes U Chicago....

Thanks! I hope people keep sending tips on cohort sizes. To say it is "updated constantly" would unfortunately be an understatement.

Good luck this week, everybody.