m-ttl

My university offers rooms for students wishing to conduct skype interviews, so I'm going to check one out for my skype interviews. ...wow two Northwestern interview requests already? Who's going to claim those? iirc they're one of of the valentine's-ish decision date schools. I didn't know they interviewed at all tbh - it's never been listed before.

I hadn't thought about it... my headphones all have microphones in them and I'm not sure I feel comfortable with using those.

Comics & Visual rhetoric? I don't think so; but I'm largely jealous that it's in the English department when comics, by nature, is a visual medium accompanied by words. I think Art historians should steal it back! Comics have roots in art too!

This is a great thread. I really want to get a dog, but... I have more experience with cats, and I just don't think I'll be able to take care of a dog the way I'd want. I would want to invest in the kind of dog breed I'd want, and I can't see that happening without help or something. I love shelter dogs, but finding the perfect fit/acceptable breed/etc is no easy task. It is a reassurance that cats are wonderful companions and need less attention. A pet seems wonderful for grad school, though.

Sort of. This varies wildly by High School (for example, all my school's honors/AP classes were weighted on a 5.0 scale as opposed to the regular 4.0) HOWEVER our GPA would list both the weighted AND unweighted GPAs (so I would list GPAs like 3.3 UW, 3.5 W, for example), plus all high schools submit a profile to colleges when the school counselors send in their recommendation letters. Basically that profile lists the following things: How many honors or AP courses are available at your school (because if you took 5 APs at a school that only offers 5, it looks impressive. If you only took 5 at a school that offers say, 15, or some other high number...well, you're slacking, comparatively), if your school offers IB, whether or not there are specific "tracks" or levels of coursework, and which level you were on, how many students go to your school, the requirements for GPA minimums, the GPA scale (which may be entirely weighted, but admissions will unweight them for you, or may have their own scale), etc. This also usually includes graduation rates, socioeconomic and racial breakdowns, etc. You're NOT just showing up with a 4.5 GPA. You're showing up as someone with a 4.5 on a weighted scale of 5.0 or 6.0 which translates to something else unweighted. They'll compare you to your school's profile, and gauge how much work you've done based on the resources available to you. You're showing up against the entire rest of your school who may not even be applying to X College AND past students who were accepted places (because you can't lower the minimums usually at that point; if one student went to Yale the previous year, you'd better hope your stats are at least close to the same), PLUS the students of your local geographic region's stats. My high school counselor was completely shocked that I asked what was on the HS profile because most students have no idea it even exists -- but I had done a specific program available at my school that I wanted to have show up and be explained in my application that might not otherwise have been mentioned. I know it looks like it stops at grade inflation, but it really doesn't: most admissions committees get rid of that if the school profile tells them how their grades are scaled (and you're supposed to in a profile). Collegeboard's sample profile is pretty telling.

I think that might just be a school by school sort of thing... some schools might, especially because loads of us have jobs or school to be doing during the week? Those might be exceptions to the rule, but I'd imagine a lot of admit events are weekends. Interviews on the other hand...not so sure. relatedly: Just completed my last app for a feb. deadline. Whew. Now it's all out of my hands.

Weird! My gmail is working just fine now, though. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyclay/2014/01/24/gmail-and-google-go-down-on-friday-impacting-millions-of-users/

Speaking as someone who is not rich -- I understand the resentment. I have to work twice as hard to get half as far. But I was under pressure from both my family and myself to be like those kids (because I went to school with them, and because they were going to get an education -- highly valued), so I did go this more traditional route. After my parent's divorce, even if I hadn't wanted to, I would have had to -- I had no money to buy a car so I could work, and my parents essentially told me I could go to college, get a job, or be kicked out (lovingly). My mother lost our house anyways, after I turned 18 she no longer had my child support to put towards our mortgage -- college was going to be the only home I had available to me immediately. I would point out that the traditional route isn't all just kids who are like this article implies -- well-to-do, middle class white students who expect to get into Yale (as my freshman year roommate did just because she was a good student). A girl I befriended on Collegeconfidential fought her way to work while doing distance learning, paying her own electricity, water, etc, dealing with her abusive mother. We were both minority students but she was lucky enough to obtain the Questbridge scholarship and went to Stanford with full funding. I worked my ass off in school while my home was falling apart and getting into the baby Ivy I had originally wanted to attend was the first time my hard work had ever gone to something for myself alone. They took away my funding, but certainly I went out of my way to befriend the other students like myself, the first-gen, URM, low-income students who fought just to get a smidge of the chances these other students did. I feel as if a lot of them had a good head on their shoulders, though I can't speak for myself in an unbiased way. If anything, they did make me feel less alienated than the bored rich students I encounter who have no need to worry about their degree, job, salary, loans...who glided in and out of places. The teenagers in this article just don't have the full story -- or anything to compare their rejections to. Other teens? Well, we had plenty of much worse rejections to deal with.

I completely agree. I refuse to even look at the non-Art History acceptances. It's not fair everyone gets their information first!! All that said I finally got a response back from BGC and settled on a skype interview (I didn't feel as bad as I thought I would; perhaps that was just my anxiety). Good Luck to Poopcat! Tell me how it goes? I'm going to skype on the last day of interviews for the MA.

Oh I'm not saying "shady", I'm just saying unlikely for me to afford? When I went A.) They seemed really reluctant to do skyping (a "last resort") and that made me uncomfortable because it was emphasized several times and they knew explicitly I was from across the country. It made me feel bad! and B.) the Professor said around the top 5 gets their full funding and then students are tiered from there depending on funding. The administrative person I met with claimed he had absolutely no idea how it worked, which to me was likely not even true given that a professor was able to tell me exactly how it worked for merit funds. It felt uncomfortable, but perhaps I just did not speak with the right person. I am also, as I've said more or less elsewhere, poor. Living in NYC isn't cheap and I would have to rely on their funding. I'd love to get in, but I have to remember the reality of Manhattan. ** that all said, I'm anxiously waiting for everyone else...

Comic Books and Visual Rhetoric at UF

I'm already concerned about the fact that I can't just fly out. Sigh... It's not going to be fun asking to skype.

I got a call too! but their message didn't go through and I'm at work.** :/ Had to check the # they called from but I knew it was them when I saw the area code. Sadly I don't get off work until 5 PM PST so it will have to wait until tomorrow. Scheduling interviews is going to be tricky, ahaha. **I'm allowed to be on my tablet but not my phone, and I work the front desk so I have long stretches of time to "do homework" or refresh the forums, haha.

Why does it feel like literally every other humanities program hears back about acceptances first? Ughhhh. What takes Art History so long?

Basically they tier the funding for tuition...so below the top 5 or so gets a little less merit funding and so on. Full funding was only tuition from what I understood and living in NYC isn't cheap...I would have to be in the Top 5 AND get need funds + work study for a "stipend" from them to even make it a possibility. A little bit of a long shot for me. :/ But I wish you luck!!!

Yes only the top 5 or so students get full funding...everyone else... They didn't interview via email but rather got asked to interview via email I think? Good luck!

Why file independent? Have your parents claim you for last year on their taxes and then say on the FAFSA you didn't file. If you're claimed as a dependent for tax purposes you only have to file if you make over 5k last I checked.

They might be running behind due to the blizzards/snowstorms that have been hitting them hard? I honestly thought we wouldn't hear back until the last week of january bc I thought their interviews were mid-late February.

From a humanities perspective: they simply don't have the same amount of experience upon graduation. The UK PhD goes straight to research. The US PhD generally needs 1-2 foreign languages they can read/translate, plus years of coursework, plus the quals, plus you're regarded as a coworker/employee so you likely teach and US students have more opportunities to use their course papers to present at conferences or publish in journals long before their thesis work. That's years of experience a UK PhD is competing with if they took their degree to the US. ex: http://ntweblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/phd-uk-or-usa.html http://www.sbl-site.org/publications/article.aspx?articleId=723 http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/us-scholar-damns-uk-phds-after-regrettable-experience/406519.article It's not about quality or prestige, but about experience relevant to where you are, what you want to do. One is purely a research degree.

I applied (like I said elsewhere) and didn't get anything from them yet, actually. I visited informally and was less than impressed but admit I might be spoiled by my undergrad's on-site collections. If they reject me I'll assume it was because I didn't thank them for giving me an informal tour via email, and not because I was under qualified. You should also assume it isn't bc you're under qualified. They made it sound like some of their students had very little experience in the field, zero internships, etc. [[My stats are more or less equivalent I think. I have like a 3.6 overall but a 3.9 in my major + excellent recs, original research in dec arts/material culture, multiple internships/museum exhibition labels, horrid quant gre score... haha.]] It was a lovely area though, wonderful to walk around to the Met. I sincerely hope you get in, even if I don't. If it's not meant to be for me, no loss. I'm surprised you didn't apply to Winterthur! UDel was also on my list, but I applied to the main campus and not Winterthur directly.

I went to BGC this December and they didn't mention email interviews? They heavily stressed in-person interviews as their preference (it's a panel of Professors and the Dean, I think), and explained that they would email people offering interviews, which could be done over skype (if necessary) but they kept stressing they preferred in-person interviews, and that I would have a two-week window between their emails and the actual interviews weekend. There's something like four people going to be in the room for interviews to gauge you as a student. To be honest, I wasn't thrilled about the idea of having to drop $1,000+ to fly across the country to interview. They were also cagey about financial aid - i.e. the Professor gave me the complete details, but the administrative assistant to the Dean (I assume lied) said that he had "no idea how the financial aid process worked," but I could email the Dean. I don't know if this is a concern for you or not, but just an FYI.

It's almost a shame given your name you're not into Gothic architecture or something, haha. FWIW I love landscape painting -- but not the more "popular" or "traditional" american schools (like the Hudson river). I instantly care more about Western Landscape painting -- maybe because I'm from the west, or maybe because I like the colors better. Haven't quite figured it out. The good thing about similar concentrations is you can usually end up finding niches in completely different ways.

I cannot take out loans for an MA at that rate. Believe me, I already was forced to take out loans for my BA -- and have gone upwards of $30,000. I was able to exceed maximum loan limits for undergrads because my mother was denied the Parent PLUS loan, and therefore I was offered an additional $5,000 every year from the government. It's a nice thought, but I'm already never going to pay my loans back. I ended up applying to 7 schools. I don't want to appear defensive or angry, but at this point... well it's quite out of my hands. And I deliberately did not apply to any school I would have to pay for entirely on my own. This did mean I passed up otherwise wonderful or name brand institutions, I wouldn't be able to attend the IFA even if I got in, much less the SAOS. No point in applying to Chicago and getting admitted into the MAPH program either. I don't want to sound angry or upset, but I'm very aware of the limitations my finances have on my education. I was accepted to a "baby Ivy" college four years ago...and could not attend because they would not give me enough money to go. I ended up at home, at a state school and I'm still in quite a lot of debt. (To say nothing of the fact that I work two jobs, and my uni cut my hours that I can work on them total). It is what it is. Some people might be able to take out "like a car loan" on more school, and I cannot repeat that. If I'm exceedingly lucky I'll get into one of the MAs I applied to funded, (I did apply to Williams, fwiw), or one of the PhD programs which I can always do a terminal MA and move on. If I decide it doesn't have what I need/want. In a bizarre turn of events, I did end up applying to one Top Ten (which is how I went from 6 schools to 7). I met a PhD/alum of my university student weeks before the deadline, and we spent an evening discussing the program -- I was strongly encouraged to apply because the DGS wants more students. I thought it was a good match, and on a whim, or by fate, I have applied. I expect to be rejected, but nonetheless compiled a very compelling application, and might even be considered. It included the SOP and additional essays I am most proud of and most accurately convey myself and how I would fit into nearly every aspect of the university. If I'm rejected this round, I might just apply again after an MA.

Anyone trying to guess which schools will get back to you first? I wish we had reasonable guesstimates for every date. Getting jealous of everyone who's already heard back... also looking at search results hasn't helped. Apparently a lot of people get rejections on valentine's. Ouch.

I hardly consider pointing out a problem "yelling" at anyone, nor do I consider it worthy of negative reputation points. Again, I did not blame anyone, I simply explained why such an idea would be held by someone.