heyitsthatguy
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Posts posted by heyitsthatguy
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Hi all,
I am an international student and found this forum extremely insightful! I have been accepted into three doctoral programs so far (including maryland). I am absolutely exciting and grateful! My decision depends, among other, on financial issues. All acceptances did come with a graduate assistantship (from 16 to 20k) and tuition remission for the cost of graduate study. However, "no fees are covered" is mentioned: how much should I calculate for the fees in total for a year? And although one acceptance explicitly includes coverage by the health insurance plan, maryland mentions that health plan options are available at a nominal fee. is that normal? And how much would it be?
I would guess that this varies widely. From my experience, you can expect fees to be anywhere between $200-$500 a semester. If you are worried about finances, I would talk to a Maryland student regarding the cost of insurance. I am currently in a program where the school has reduced health insurance costs, but I still pay about $2k a year. Many students opt to get insurance through the ACA (Obamacare) as it can be cheaper. Best of luck with your decision. I am also weighing financial issues in my decision, so much to consider.
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FYI - I was accepted to SUNY Albany today (that's me in the results search) and declined the offer, in case anyone is holding out on them, good luck! Several really great faculty there.
I will also be declining my offer to Penn State soon, so again, best of luck to those interested!
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Would someone explain how results are reported to the results page search engine here? Is it done by us or by the depts/admissions offices @ the schools? No one's explained it before.
CUNY was nice enough to promptly respond to my limbo status within 24 hours of me asking, w/the expected reject. I wonder if I'm one of those 5 rejects listed today, though obviously I didn't report it. I'm left feeling as crushed as the rest of you who haven't gotten in anywhere. My cv (meaning the total package of all my skills and experience) and math gre suck and I guess having 3 a minuses in course credits there and a ma w/an even higher gpa isn't enough for their ad comms. I'm not the perfect fit, it's probaby not the best dept there for me and I didn't flirt w/the ad comm chair b/c his interests had little to do w/mine. I dunno I think genuinely they made the mistake, I was clearly smarter than some of my classmates from that dept in the small seminar I just aced. I know this'll upset some people but thats just true. That said, this was my best shot to stay home in nyc and I've lived here over 15 years so I have reaons to want to stay. It's still a good dept faculty wise and there were enough people close to my interests, I shouldn'tve been rejected and it just makes things more difficult in my personal and every other area of liffe, I don't need any more of this!
Hi, there is a link at the top of the search page to "submit your results."
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My opinion is that these sorts of rankings should rank relatively low on your list of why you want to attend a program. It is only part of a very complex picture, and there is a lot of debate over which ranking system is most reliable.
What are your interests? Are there professors in the program who publish widely/are cited widely in that area? Will you have opportunities to actually work with them? Do they have ongoing funded research projects?
At the end of the day, you could attend a low-ranking program with all-star faculty in your sub area and do well, or you could attend a highly ranked uni with not as good of a fit and less available profs and do not so well.
TL;DR: Fit > Ranking
- high_hopes and Starbuck2015
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Absolutely! Anybody have insight into what this wait list process looks like?
I was waitlisted for Michigan for the Fall 2013 admissions season. The director hinted at the fact that I was at the top of the list, and they would notify me as soon as something changed. It ended up that every single person offered admission took it. I will say that this is probably rare. Most people accepted to Michigan will get into other top programs and have to make a choice. The waitlist process is just waiting. Lots and lots of waiting. Generally you won't hear anything until late March, unless someone is certain they won't be attending early on. Just sit tight, try to stay positive and let them contact you. It is also in their best interested to get a hold of waitlisters as quickly as possible. Good luck!
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May I ask when the recruitment weekend is? I applied and haven't got any rejection or acceptance yet!
Recruitment weekend is quite late in the season - March 28th. It's hard to tell if they're done yet or not, but there are 4 acceptances posted in the results search. Best of luck!
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Claiming a Penn State acceptance! Has anyone else heard from them? Anyone planning to attend the recruitment weekend?
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I haven't posted these in the results search, as it seems rather inactive for crim/CJ programs but I also got the call from UC Irvine with an acceptance! I also got into the CJ program at Rutgers-Newark. Did anyone else get in there, and if so, will you be attending the visitiation weekend this month?
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Has anyone gotten an official rejection from OSU? I see several people have reported acceptances on different dates, so I'm not sure if my application is truly still pending (as the website claims) or if they just haven't gotten around to rejection notifications yet.
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Congrats on the acceptances and best of luck to you all!
Do you guys think it's safe to assume that no invite to visit/interview for Irvine = rejection?
That would be my guess. It is possible that they have a waitlist, but I would assume that those who made it to the interview stage but are not immediately accepted would be at the top of that list.
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Hey all! Glad to see this thread in action again!
I applied to seven schools: Temple Univ, Rutgers, USF, FSU, Univ of Florida, UMSL, and UC Irvine.
I was accepted to Temple and Rutgers Univ. I was also invited to UC Irvine for an interview. Hopefully it's worth it, I'm coming all the way from New York lol :-(
Looks like I will be meeting you at Irvine! I was also accepted at Rutgers. Also applying to UMSL. Decent chance we might end up in the same cohort, haha. Best of luck!
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Hi all,
It doesn't seem like this board gets much traffic, but I thought I would start a decisions thread. So, if you've applied to Crim/CJ programs (or crim subareas within sociology), let us know where you have applied and if you have received any news.
I'll start!
Criminology: UC Irvine, UMSL.
Criminal Justice: Rutgers
Sociology with Crim focus: Penn State, SUNY Albany.
If anyone is wondering I can confirm UC Irvine has sent out invitations for visits/interviews, and I will be among those attending. It is still rather early to be hearing from the others.
Hope to hear from some of you, best of luck!
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Everyone has had good things to say. I agree with the idea of taking a year off, especially if you are not in an ideal "mental state." I'm an older student and I feel my work has been made better both because I took years off to travel and live in the real world (though I disagree with the suggestion of getting a soul crushing job, take time to do what you want), and because when I went back to school I had a better idea of what I wanted to do and could fully commit myself to it.
That said, my interest is also in urban sociology/demography. I would suggest getting a subscription to journals like City & Community, finding researchers whose work interests you and digging into it more. Another good starting point is Rob Sampson's latest book "The Great American City" which is a great read and some of the hottest stuff in the field right now. A word to ease your mind though - many people who find satisfaction in very successful careers later on in life had periods of uncertainty and hesitation, many of them changed fields, so do what feels right.
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I'm waitlisted at U of Michigan. I was accepted with full funding at my undergrad institution (Bowling Green), and accepted at Temple - still waiting to hear about funding. As of now, UofM trumps all if I get in, though I'd much rather live in Philly than Ann Arbor.
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Hi Giddens-
Good to know about NEU. I was accepted to NEU last year, but deferred b/c they did not offer funding. I just heard from them this Friday and well, because of an "unusually competitive year," they are not forwarding me on for funding.
Not sure what is going on there...
S.
Ugh, yeah every program has had an "unusually competitive year." I suspect that every year, every program claims an unusually competitive year. While some programs have been gracious and to the point about rejections when I've inquired about them, some seem so afraid to hurt an applicant's feelings that they beat around the bush.
I contacted a program which I thought was an easy in as they are ranked lower than the other schools I got into, and the DGS said they had made their decision, my name was on the list of applicants (um, of course it was), and that there was no way to be certain if I were admitted or not but because there were over 80 applicants (way fewer than the programs I got into which had 300+), and I should assume I didn't get admitted. Would have appreciated a straightforward answer along the lines of "we aren't offering you admission."
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Just figured I would chime in here and say that there are several PhD programs that do allow you to fast-track your program if you have an M.A. This is the option that I got from the school that I will attend and I have an MA in demography. The "adding two years to the whole process" is understandable as I, myself, am pushing the upper-limits of the 20s but I tend to think of this as an end product as much as a path to greater things.
Thanks for your input. If you don't mind my asking, is your focus still demography?
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@heyitsthatguy
What are your career aspirations?
Edit: Also, what is the funding situation at either school?
My end goal is a career in research, whether that be at a university or at an independent think tank. The funding for the PhD program is yet to be determined, and that's really not helping the decision process. The MA program is fully funded with a stipend, with the added benefit of living in a home I own free and clear. Again, the downside is adding two years to the whole process...not to mention I don't want to live here anymore (though I'm willing to disregard that in favor of setting myself up for success down the road).
A couple of journal publications in the time it takes to get an MA? From my understanding if you were planning on doing that you'd already need some irons in the fire at this point. Doesn't it take quite a while to get an article published (even after the research has been done and the paper has been written)? I'm sure it's possible, but I'd imagine the only way to get 2 articles before finishing a MA would come by the way of 2nd or 2rd writer on a faculty member's article, and even then, the review process takes so long that they might not even be back for R&R before you finish.
However, if you have something you're already working on (senior thesis) that could easily be turned into a publication, then you could probably get one before finishing. Then offer to help a faculty member on their ongoing research and ask how you can contribute as a 2nd or 3rd writer, and that might put you in good position to at least have something forthcoming.
I'm finishing a MA at a PhD granting sociology department right now and I found my time here really rewarding. I was able to learn a lot and get a clear idea of my research agenda. I ended up getting into a top 20 university with a fellowship, which would have never happened 2 years ago (frankly I'm pretty surprised it happened at all). However, I'm only 23 so finishing in a super timely manner wasn't a concern of mine, for me it's worth the extra year or so to split up the MA and PhD if it means getting a degree from a top 20 university versus a university well out of the top 50.
I suggest if you go the MA route to do everything you can to build up your CV. Write papers in seminars that you can submit to conferences (and then go to said conferences), volunteer to help professors with research, serve on committees, write grant proposals, etc.
Yeah, what you've mentioned is exactly my situation. I have research that could be submitted for publication after some more work/tweaking and am confident if I were in the MA program there would be opportunities to collaborate on projects with my current mentor in the program. Though, you do make a good point, the process of submitting for publication and actually having a peice published is quite long these days. I would have the benefit of having an MA thesis to submit with applications.
I appreciate your feedback. Really, it will work out either way, but I don't want to sell myself short by jumping into a decent PhD program now when I could qualify for a better one in two years.
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Did anyone else apply to Loyola in Chicago? I just emailed the director and she informed me the adcom will be making final decisions tomorrow - hopefully that means notifications on Friday.
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Does anyone know what happens to pre-existing loans when one starts a PhD program? I'm thinking it will be pretty hard to pay off loans while I'm living near the poverty line...
I know you are allowed to defer payments while in school, and a PhD program should qualify. If not, there are a lot of other ways to defer - economic hardship being the principal one I've used while out of school.
On a completely different note, I'm wondering if anyone can offer some insight to the question I might be facing. Save for a chance at being pulled off the waitlist (which I feel I have a shot at), at a high ranked program, my options seem to be limited to a fairly low ranked PhD program and the MA program at my current university, ranked fairly low (50's I think) overall but high (20s) in "productivity."
I'm pushing 30 and would rather go straight to the PhD program but here is my question - would it be better for my career down the road to stick with an MA program where I know I'll have lots of faculty support and am confident I can get at least a couple journal publications under my belt, with the hope of getting into a high ranking program afterwards, or just work hard in the lower ranked PhD program and see what I can make of it?
Any applicants with MAs wanna take a stab at this?
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With only 6, I guess the likelihood of any of them being gradcafe peeps decreases. Still a bit strange!
Yes, the lone JHU acceptance on the results search page gave me hope that they didn't do acceptances in bulk. JHU was my 'dream program.' A tiny part deep inside of me still hopes someone declines their offer and I'm on that magical unofficial waitlist.
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Claiming the Johns Hopkins rejection and the Temple acceptance. I called the grad director at JHU and she said all 7 acceptances have been sent out, though admits have yet to accept offers. She alluded to an unofficial waitlist. I say unofficial because she never used the word wait list but mentioned there are people in line if someone declines and she didn't have that list available to check my status.
Also, I emailed the Temple director and he emailed me back with an acceptance, though they will take a few weeks to let me know of available funding packages, if any exist.
Hopefully this info is helpful to someone since the forum and results search have been rather quiet for these schools.
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So I made the UM waitlist (for Sociology, not the Soc/Public Policy program) and am wondering everyones status who got accepted? Is anyone considering declining their offer?
Also, are any waitlisted folks accepting offers elsewhere? I know I'll find out for sure eventually, but the waitlist wait after the initial wait is brutal.
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Any updates from Johns Hopkins? Based on previous years it could be any day. Anyone else anxiously awaiting news from Baltimore?
I sure am...JHU is my top choice and one of three schools I have yet to hear from.
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I am calling this the "netherworld" of admission. I am there with UCLA and Stanford at the moment. No acceptance, no rejection. I figure it means either I'm being rejected soon or am on some secret waitlist...
Netherworld, too true! Based on the timing of other acceptances/rejections I have a feeling I'm gonna land on a lot of waitlists. It would be nice to secure one more acceptance other than my safety so I can *kind of* relax.
Speaking of which - anyone know what happens as far as visitation weekends for waitlisted folks who end up getting accepted down the road? It could end up being a late decision on my part if things keep up the way they are.
Need Advice...Not Sure What to Think
in Criminology and Criminal Justice Forum
Posted
First, I would contact the director straight away. Since you've talked to him before, you're more likely to get a response than going through the secretary. I would be straight forward with him. You can say that you would like to attend their program, but that you have another offer and need to know the status of your application.
However, the other program should not be telling you they want a decision ASAP. Be polite and tell them you will be in touch as soon as you can, but if they are anything like any other university, you have until April 15th to make a decision.
Best of luck!