A Librarian

Honestly...I'm not so sure why I even applied there. About half way through my application it occurred to me that it would actually be a really lousy fit for my research interests. It seems very "philosophy of science" heavy at the moment, and as though there aren't many people there doing much around technology. Their application process was rather odd, you pay at the start of it. I had already paid by the time I realized just how bad a fit it would be, but since I'd paid I figured that I would finish applying. I fully expect that IHPST will reject me, and frankly they should - it wouldn't be a good match. My research focuses on the social, cultural and intellectual history of technology with a particular emphasis on the development of the critique of technology (especially the work of Lewis Mumford and Günther Anders). Much of my recent work looks at extreme ideological reactions to technological change (Luddism, Anarcho-Primitivism, Accelerationism, Reactionary Modernism, and so forth) in particular as these emerge and are enacted in the Anthropocene. Much of this work explores the fear that in the human built world, humans have made themselves obsolete. I’m also interested in the interplay between ethics and technological change. Another subset of my research, more of a pet project than anything else, looks at Jewish philosophers writings about technology. Sounds very interesting! Is there a different research project that you're thinking about for NYU (Food Studies)?

And it is an excruciating wait! My girlfriend attended NYU's food studies program - it's excellent, but I think that NYU tends to be pretty slow when it comes to making decisions. Good luck!

Awesome! I've heard good things about Ann Arbor but I haven't ever been before, I'm looking forward to checking it out. Not sure, but it seems like they're scheduling interviews for a three hour block (skype interviews) this Thursday. Yes, MCC (Media, Culture and Communication). Hopefully we all hear more good news in the coming days!

My apologies in advance if what follows isn't helpful, I'm focusing more on your interest in technology and social media than on your emphasis on psychology. Nevertheless, based on your interest on "the impact of technology/social media" you might consider looking at some STS, Media Studies, or even History of Technology programs. It's true that these programs won't be intensive psychology programs, but if you're interested in looking at the impacts of technology on public discourse and interpersonal communication they'd be worth considering. STS and Media Studies tend to be fairly interdisciplinary fields and you could probably do interesting psychology related work within such a program. Indeed, your interest in psychology might make you stand out as a candidate or applicant.

I think that I have checked my e-mail account more times since the start of February than in all of the years I've had that e-mail account leading up to now combined. I keep expecting to log into my e-mail account and get a message that says "you were just here, go away!" But checking my e-mail today has actually resulted in some good news: I was accepted to the University of Michigan (Communication Studies, five years of funding) and I was invited for an interview at NYU (MCC)! Huzzah! Though I'm still checking my e-mail every ten minutes for other updates... Congratulations to everybody on the board - it seems that there's lots of cause for celebration!

Thanks @nevermind, @Logik and @Neist! Correct, my status was updated on the website - though I received a more official offer e-mail today from the department as well as an official contact from the department. It seems like they don't make any funding decisions until later on (mid-March).

Thanks @Cat_Robutt! I find that I always approach the results page with a couple of grains of salt. Especially when it comes to information from previous years, sometimes the date ranges are all over the place. Hopefully we can all stay strong during the waiting game. Checking my e-mail has become an activity that fills me with a horrible mixture of excitement and dread.

Greetings everybody! I've been reading this forum for a while, but have not added anything to the conversation until now. I've been slow to jump into the conversation on this forum as my work is mainly in the STS area, but I've applied to several Communications Studies/Media Studies PhD programs at schools where those programs have some sort of STS emphasis. I applied to the following programs: Cornell (STS), UPenn (HSS) [invited for an interview], NYU (MCC), RPI (STS)[accepted], University of Michigan (Comm/STS), UCSD (Comm/Science Studies), UBC (History/STS), University of Toronto (IHPST). I am currently finishing up my MA from NYU (MCC). For those waiting to hear back from NYU (MCC) I can tell you that the program does send out interview invitations; however, I do not believe it has done so as of yet. I'm under the impression that MCC makes its decisions very late (as in April). Has anybody heard anything from UCSD or U Michigan? Congratulations to everybody who has been accepted, and good luck to everybody!

I think the IHPST program at the University of Toronto might be a good place to look if you're interested in math. I think that Harvard is another good place to look if you're planning on doing something Philosophy of Science related (this is based on a professor telling me the emphasis there has more to do with science than technology [which is my focus]). The list of programs over at the STS wiki seems like it needs to be updated but it's still a pretty good list to look through: http://www.stswiki.org/index.php?title=Worldwide_directory_of_STS_programs

I was accepted to RPI on Friday! I received a basic e-mail telling me to check the site, and when I logged in there was a simple "congratulations." Evidently more information is to follow, and there was no information about fellowships or other kinds of financial aid. Still, I'm very excited! I think that @nevermind is right though: It seems like RPI doesn't send out all of its notifications at once, so there may be more acceptances still to come from them this week.

@Neist That joint History of Science and MLIS program at OU sounds awesome, I wish I had known about it when I first decided to go to library school! There are a fair number of interesting programs out there that let you earn an MLIS at the same time as another MA (I know of some in history departments and English departments). Nevertheless, I certainly understand your point about program cost and the cost of living in various cities. I'm currently finishing up an MA in NYC and can definitely testify that this city is extremely expensive (I'm working full-time as well as being in school at the moment). That being said, I do think that many of the NYC PhD programs offer decent enough funding that people are able to get by (especially if they pick up a TA or GA position). But I definitely think that one of the challenges of all of this is that first you have to wait to get in...and then you have to wait to figure out if you can actually afford to go. Thanks @kateosee for the offer! Your research topic sounds fascinating! When I applied to UMich I definitely gave some consideration to their American Culture program before deciding to apply to Comm. I will certainly take you up on your offer to answer questions about the program if I get into UMich. But, alas, as of now that's still just an "if."

@Neist Your research interests seem very focused and interesting, I'm sure you had an excellent statement of purpose, and it sounds like you also had very strong recommendations. And the Drexel program is really excellent, so you already have a decent offer (congratulations!). Granted, I have no idea what kind of financial aid Drexel offers, and financial aid offers certainly factor into these decisions. If you wind up applying in another cycle you might want to look at Communication Studies and Media Studies programs as some of them seem like they might overlap nicely with your interests (University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, NYU's department of Media, Culture and Communication, and I echo @nevermind's recommendation of UCSD with a focus in Science Studies). University of Michigan - Ann Arbor also has a library program (School of Information) which is affiliated with the school's designated concentration in STS - it could be an excellent way for you to bridge your interests! Also, feel free to get in touch with me if you have any questions about library programs. I'm afraid that very few of them feature much in the way of robust "history of the book" training, most of them are more-or-less professional training programs which are preparing people to go out and be librarians or archivists. That's not to say that there aren't good library school programs out there, but they tend to be more about preparing you to help other people do their research, not preparing you to do your own research. And while some of them are starting to have more of a DH focus this still varies from one place to the next. In the last few years a number of universities have begun DH departments (I'm pretty sure that CUNY has one and VCU has the MATX program), and those could also be good alternatives. As a field librarianship is trying to figure out its future right now, and as a result a lot of the library school programs out there are a little bit scattershot. But based on your research interests and background I wouldn't worry too much about a second round of applications, it sounds like you're going to do well this round! Good luck with your interview at UCSD @nevermind! Hopefully their Comm department will start making decisions soon...

Zounds! That is a really impressive background - you have tons of teaching experience and your research sounds very interesting! I'm curious why you didn't apply to Cornell's STS program given your background at Cornell? It seemed to me like there were many professors there with a strong background on enviro-tech/infrastructure topics. Granted, the list of schools you applied to is excellent. I also don't know how things are decided at UCSD in terms of Science Studies, but I think you're right that admission to Science Studies comes after admission to a home department (congratulations on the interview with the history department!). I also think that you can apply to Science Studies from within UCSD later on in your academic career (but I'm not sure). Based on looking at the lists of when people have heard back in the past I imagine that the school I'll probably hear a decision from first will be RPI. But I shall wait and see. I'm trying not to check my e-mail too often. Emphasis on "trying." Good luck with IHPST @anthrostudentcyn!

Thanks @nevermind and @Neist! I applied to the following programs: Cornell (STS), UPenn (HSS), NYU (MCC), RPI (STS), University of Michigan (Comm/STS), UCSD (Comm/Science Studies), UBC (History/STS), University of Toronto (IHPST). But so far the only program I’ve heard anything back from is UPenn. My research focuses on the social, cultural and intellectual history of technology with a particular emphasis on the development of the critique of technology (especially the work of Lewis Mumford and Günther Anders). Much of my recent work looks at extreme ideological reactions to technological change (Luddism, Anarcho-Primitivism, Accelerationism, Reactionary Modernism, and so forth) in particular as these emerge and are enacted in the Anthropocene. Much of this work explores the fear that in the human built world, humans have made themselves obsolete. I’m also interested in the interplay between ethics and technological change. As for background, I have a BA from Ithaca College, an MSIS from UT-Austin (and several years of work experience as a librarian), I’m finishing an MA at NYU (MCC) and I have an assortment of publications, conference presentations, and teaching positions. I applied to several Communications programs as many of them seemed to have a bit more disciplinary flexibility than some of the straight up history programs at which I looked. I’ve also found media studies/communications programs to be good environments for my research interests (though an actual STS program would be great). But now I’m just waiting. What about all of you? Interests? Background? Good luck to us all! Hopefully we’ll start hearing good news soon!

Greetings to both of you! I'm also waiting to hear back from STS programs. I had an invite to interview at Penn's History and Sociology of Science program, but I still haven't heard anything else (good or bad) from the other programs to which I applied. I applied to a mix of programs - including several Comm programs where the school had an affiliated STS program. Just waiting now. Anxiously.

Greetings, Like media/comm hopeful I received a basic acceptance note, with no funding information. Now I just need to figure out how to pay for it. Perhaps I'll see some of you in the Fall. Good luck to all of you. - A Librarian

And if you are reading this and also waiting to hear back from NYU MCC, why not chime in? It could be that the decisions just haven't been sent out yet...

Greetings, Alas...still waiting. I wonder if when they said "let applicants know by Thursday" they actually meant "will let applicants know at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday." I'm trying to remain somewhat optimistic but am beginning to resign myself to expecting the worst. I've been resisting the urge to just pick up the phone and call. But wait we must, hopefully we'll all hear pretty soon, and hopefully we'll all hear good news. I'll admit I feel a bit better knowing that other people are still waiting to hear back, perhaps they just got held up. Please post if you hear anything. And my apologies to CaitlinMarie but I don't have any helpful info about their funding scheme, as best as I can tell most of NYU's MA programs are more-or-less unfunded. Good luck to us all. - A Librarian

Greetings, I was wondering if either of you (or anybody) has heard anything back yet? On the MCC website it is written that admittance decisions should be out by Thursday; however, I've noted that at least one person has already posted that they've been accepted on the results board. Anybody else heard anything? Oh the joys of waiting. Thanks.