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wideawake42

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  • Application Season
    2013 Spring

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  1. Hey Phil, are you talking about Iowa? I am visiting there this week.
  2. For the record, I just heard back from the first of the four programs I applied to, and it was a hearty acceptance, and I had a 2.98 undergrad GPA. It's true that I had a MA GPA of 3.89, but my MA is in another discipline. Some programs care a LOT more about the writing sample and rec letters than they do about those numbers. So, fear not!
  3. I would just like to point out, for the sake of comforting all of us in the same boat, that all of the professors at my undergrad school (a no name state school, and it was a liberal arts major) did their PhDs at other no name schools that are unranked for my field, and they are professors in TT jobs or tenured jobs who are getting paid well, even if it's not very prestigious. They all agree that the job market is soul crushing, but also all agree that the emphasis on pedigree and "go to a top 20 or you'll die!" is overblown.
  4. Who got the Virginia accept a few weeks ago? Anyone know what's going on there?
  5. I'm curious to know how you all made the decision of which schools to apply to. What were your criteria in choosing potential schools? Personally, I couldn't afford to apply to more than 4, so I had to be more selective. I looked first and foremost at "fit" (by way of number of professors whose interests and research were similar to my own, not accepting any department with less than 3 potential advisors), then at factors like location, grad student happiness/involvement, funding potential, cost of living, types of classes offered, and overall department focus. I ended up surprising myself with how much the subject matter of courses mattered to me, particularly in smaller departments. Less important to me were factors like rank and prestige, although I did give them some weight; that may seem insane, but I have a number of reasons for looking at it this way. Unfortunately, though, typing them out with my cell phone seems a chore, so I'll have to discuss them later, when I'm at a computer.
  6. I'm reading a delicious book of essential Donald Davidson writings.
  7. I only applied to 4 places, because that was all I could afford, so I made sure they were places which fit my interests perfectly. It's hard not to feel nervous because of the odds, disadvantaged because of my financial situation, and just generally inadequate, but I think such bad feelings are just a result of the stress of the process. In any case, I'm still glad for everyone else that they could afford so many apps. I have always been poor, and I couldn't have made it this far if I had developed a grudge about it.
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