captiv8ed

I don't think they do. Which is really too bad!

Do Macs really expire after 3 or 4 years? I would save my money and not update. My 10 year old pc just died and I bought a pretty smoking machine (that is 4 years old with a news operating system) for $150.

I am still in decision mode. I heard from WSU that they are very interested in me as well, and are just trying to figure out funding. And then there is the UW wait list... In the end though, I will probably go to Iowa. That is the strongest contender right now.

I have been accepted off the wait list, with a four year TA option.

Thanks! That isn't to bad. Also, what are the boundaries when people are talking about downtown IC? Is that around the campus?

That is a tough one. I haven't heard of any programs to help. We owned a house a few years back and thought about renting it out but it was too scary, with the notion that we were already on the edge financially, and if something went wrong with the house or it sat vacant or if the tenants just stopped paying, we would lose our shirts. PMing you more info!

Hey everyone! I got word that I was awarded the Dean's Graduate Fellowship, which is different than the Presidential one they nominated me for, but still pretty sweet. So I think they must be deciding on them now. I got word yesterday

I don't know, I am more cautious. Have you visited UNC? If it were me, I would look into it and really really try to make it fit. If not, go for the dream.

My favorite professor was a single mom who has written several books and is quite famous in her field. She actually found teaching to be a more parenting friendly field because she could do so much of the work from her. Her son is now getting a Master's degree and it has all worked out really well. Plus she had great access to reasonable child care.

I asked a grad student about that (I am planning on securing housing in mid-April) and she said there will be housing available until about May, after that it would be really hard to find. I would like to ask those in the know about snow. How much? How often? Is it a constant companion all winter? Or does it come and go?

You can rent without a credit card. We didn't get one until about 5 years ago, and never had trouble renting before that.

I found a Timbuk2 black messenger bag at Goodwill for $6 a few years back! It was in brand new condition. This bag has served me very well.

I am very likely to end up in Iowa. I am really impressed with all I read about the city. I am going to visit at the end of this month and if I decide to go, I hope to secure housing on a second visit mid-April (hopefully everything isn't gone by then!)

15-20 is definitely not low ranked. I am having to really check myself as I answer this because that statement really raised my hackles. I think it is generally frowned upon to leave one program for another, so going into it with that being your plan could be really awkward. Also, think about having to ask for LORs from people who have sunk a lot of time into training you with the expectation that you were going to be there for the duration. Also, think of how awkward it would be if you went through that process and then got rejected and so had to stay at the school that you just try to bail on.

I actually wrote her a pretty gushy fan letter when I was asking her whether she was taking new students. And her response was awesome. Anyway, I am not sure of the intricacies, but I have a friend whose parents are undocumented and she said she has extra hoops to jump through when filing financial aid.

Jacib, I will take a stab with absolutely no yelling ;)Class stratification education is my passion. First let me say I am speaking about middle class privilege versus working class. I think that it is easier to envision a cut in lifetime earning potential because university professor is a high status occupation. Now, as to the way privilege can sneak in: Have you read Unequal Childhoods by Annette Lareau? It isn't just about networking, its knowing how to navigate and feeling a sense of entitlement (not in a bad way) Many middle class kids are taught these lessons pretty much from birth. I was listening to an interview with Lareau (it was on the achievement gap and how to overcome it) and she was talking about household dinners she sat in on, where professional class parents were using SAT words with their kids just sitting around the dinner table. In her experience, professional class kids are more likely to see their parents act as advocates as well. Its also important to realize that some folks have to overcome a family background of anti-illectualism. This certainly was the case for me. I sat down with my dad in my senior year and told him I wanted to go to college and he looked over the brochure and said, "How are you going to pay for it?" and handed it back to me. End of discussion. I didn't know anything about financial aid. My best friend was a little more proactive and met with our school counselor. He said, "How much money do you have?" and she said she had about $2000. (which she had saved up from her babysitting jobs). He said okay, it looks like you can afford to go here. He never told her to fill out a FAFSA. She wanted to be a doctor and had planned to be one all of her life. But her family was dirt poor. She shuffled off to the school he told her to go to, which was a heavy duty engineering school. Many of her profressors were from the Middle East and had extremely thick accents, so she quickly got lost in math. Yes, she could have and should have gone to an advisor, but when you are 18 and have spent ten years of your life being molested by your step father, grandfather, and cousin, it can interfere with the self esteem. So when she couldn't do it, she just figured she wasn't cut out for college and dropped out. Finally, there are studies that have been done about the effect college can have on working class students. Depending on the type of background they are coming from, they can get to this very awkward place where they don't fit in with their families but don't feel fully comfortable around academics. This is definitely the case for me. I can't really talk about what I am studying with my family because they think I think I am too good for them when talk about it, or it makes them feel stupid. But I feel hick-ish and unrefined around academics. When I first attempted college, I was 20 and had been working as a stripper for two years. I felt SO out of place in a classroom with freshman who were living in the dorms and hanging out and partying. I dropped out after a semester. I really felt I didn't belong there. Now it is 15 years later and I am mature to overcome that feeling, but it is still a struggle. Other possible issues: undocumented workers (which plays havoc on the financial aid game, women who are coming from a culture where their parents believe it is the woman's job to get married and have babies and therefore are wasting their time on education (yes they still exist), students who are overcoming language barriers, drug problems, mental health issues, family financial issues (ie, they need to work to support their parents). And then there are students who have not received decent foundational education. I was a TA last quarter and one of my students is a junior and she wants to go to law school. But she can't write sentences coherently or synthesize readings. And she has been passed through and passed through. I have more but I am going to post this because I have some memory of a relevant reading and I need to find it.

I think you and I just interpret the comment differently. I didn't see Milkman's reply as a whiny excuse so much as a statement of empirical fact. I am an outlier in the graduate school admission process. Some people can work the system, but it is a hell of a lot harder to do. Also, I don't know enough about Milkman's application to be able to say what he needs to change or not change. This was an incredibly hard year, and the process is absolutely screwy anyway. I applied to 7 schools and got into 1. If I hadn't applied to that one school (which wasn't even on my radar) I wouldn't have gotten in anywhere. I was waitlisted at School X, which has a lower ranking than the school I got into. One of my letters of recommendation is written by the department chair of School X's dept. And I got waitlisted. I was rejected from a school that is ranked lower and where I know my numbers fell right into their mean, and where the dean sent along a personal note to the dept saying he would like to work with me. There is no rhyme or reason.

It's interesting, I was speaking to the Graduate Director for Sociology a few weeks back and was asking her placement rating and so forth and she said, "I have that info. I JUST got done crunching all those numbers for a big report." And this is obviously the report.

I don't think that what Milkman is saying invalidates your experience at all. Nor do I think it is offensive, rather it is actually a compliment to you and your tenacity. The achievement gap is real and higher education is absolutely a privilege in this country. I am poor, come from a working class background, am a first generation college student and am earning my undergraduate degree at age 39 with three kids in tow. And that puts me in a privileged position. http://www.publicagenda.org/files/pdf/theirwholelivesaheadofthem.pdf This study has found that only 40% of students have earned their bachelor's degree in within 6 years, and by far the most cited reason for dropping out is either the need to work more and earn more money or the high cost of tuition and fees. The majority really want to go back and work and family committees hold them out. This doesn't take into account the students who don't even have a chance at college, often due to socioeconomic reasons. Only 10% of Americans over the age of 25 have an advanced degree. I have learned enough about cultural capital and networking to know that hard work alone does not account for all of those degrees. Again, I am not trying to negate anyone's hard work. My family and I were homeless about a year before I started school. I understand what it is like to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds to achieve a goal. But I also try hard to always remember my own privilege that worked for me in order to get there, and I know that the majority of graduate degree seekers have more privilege than I do.

Hey. I am waiting to hear as well. I have additional funding though.

Yikes, that is tough. Do you have university housing options?

Can you get a good reference from your landlord? That will help. We have a few issues that make rental folks edgy. We have been renting through a property management company and they let us put down a bigger deposit. The other option was a cosigner.

I don't think next year is going to be much better. The education funding is not going to turn around quickly and I think there will still be a lot of people out of work and deciding to go for more education.

Unfortunately that doesn't mean you would have gotten in. I had email contact with a serious big shot who told me he was very interested in my work and would love to work with me if I was admitted. But I was rejected. The dean of another program sent along a personal note to the committee to let them know he was interested in me and would like to work with me. And I was rejected. So unless this person was on the ad comm, it would be a crap shoot. And even if the prof was on the ad comm, it would still be a crap shoot. However, you might as well pick up the conversation again.

Would anyone like to try to start figuring out percentages and if this was a more difficult year? Oregon got 135 applications for 8 spots. Does that mean they only made 8 offers? If so, that is a 6% acceptance rate for a school that ranks 57 in USNWR. Does anyone have numbers from other schools?