rising_star

My field works the same as timuralp's. Visit weekends were for admitted students to check out the school. I guess you could always ask the department...

missashley, are there a lot of MFA theatre management programs out there? I always thought there weren't very many... Anyway, not applying but I used to really want to do theater management professionally. Good luck.

polphd, My undergrad dept (in the humanities) explicitly told all of us that if we wanted to go to grad school in that field, we needed to go elsewhere. They said they'd only let in 1 of their undergrads in 15 years. So don't consider your undergrad a safety. It's a reach too. As for the year off, do something you want to do and are passionate about. You don't want to be too bored but it's nice to do stuff that's less academic for a while if you can. Peace Corps is really competitive and has an awful legacy, imo. You could look into teaching English abroad, working for a nonprofit, Americorps (doesn't pay well but can be extremely rewarding).

Be a dear and donate those items to the needy. Maybe burn a mockup just for the experience? I totally understand. That's how I felt last year. Luckily, I got to visit several of the departments, which helped me rule them out.

I broke up with my significant other to move across the country for my PhD. I could've stayed where I did my MA but I wouldn't have been happy academically.

Me either CaPoliSciPhD. That's why I asked. I know that when I was trying to decide whether to stay at my MA school for the PhD or go elsewhere, a faculty member that had little stake in it (he wasn't on my committee though I'd taken classes with him) said that if I had funding and the opportunity to work with a lot of great people and that it would be better for me, in the long run, to learn from more people, take different classes, etc. which I wouldn't be able to do if I stayed.

Those usually emerge from a university-wide competition that your department nominates you for. While some students are funded that way, it's definitely competitive and not as common. I was funded that way in my MA program.

What's wrong with Marxists, fenderpete? Many of the scholars in my area are Marxists so I have a lot of contact with them. For the record, I don't think it made it any harder to write my MA thesis, though it did challenge me intellectually in really good, productive ways. There's nothing major I wish I'd known that hasn't already been said. I did a lot of things "wrong" when I applied to MA programs and still got into great places with funding. *shrug*

Should I answer with my current age, age when I applied to MA programs, or age when I applied to PhD programs?

Does the general idea that one shouldn't do a PhD at the same place as one does a BA apply in political science? Because, if so, it'd seem like since polphd is at H/Y/P (and probably not P since no one there does an honors thesis, afaik), wouldn't that school be a real long shot for the PhD? Just wondering if it works the same in poli sci as it does in some other disciplines...

I'm in the social sciences. My discipline doesn't do interviews. They just schedule visits after you get accepted. I always made contact with programs and potential advisors before applying (between June and October for first contact). I didn't get in everywhere I applied for the MA (4 of 6) but I did everywhere I applied for the PhD.

Depends on the school. Often it's by how badly they want you.

You probably won't be sharing a hotel room with the other finalists.

I never did interviews but I imagine that wearing a suit, you might be overdressed. Black slacks, button-down and a blazer would be a good idea.

The mail still comes on Saturday, at least for now...

Hard to say, linden. Different schools do it different ways.

readyforachange, one of my schools did that. I just had my mom open the damn letter because I already knew it was a rejection.

pikatopia, update the results page if you haven't already! It'll help people in future years...

If you waived your right to read them, don't read them. Anything other than that is unethical.

Just because you're in history doesn't mean a writing sample is required.

You'll be fine. Sometimes people with upper level administrative positions will still serve on committees, even if they don't have time to be your advisor. Don't panic.

They redid the way they're doing it. It's explained in some of the press releases.

Employers are required to have the W-2 to you by the end of January, AFAIK...

The majority of the time, especially in a field as big as political science, the adcom members don't know who wrote the letters.

When I applied to MA programs, I didn't even know about grad school forums (livejournal, princeton review, etc) until after I'd submitted 2/3 of my applications. This forum was actually created during that application cycle so it didn't exist as a resource. Couple that with applying to a social science that you've never taken a class in from a humanities background, having people write letters that didn't know you super well because you didn't know many profs in your major (thanks to study abroad), not having a stellar GPA or GRE scores, and you can begin to see why people like me think they have very little chance of getting in anywhere. It got worse when, after I'd already done a bunch of apps, I found the NRC rankings and realized I'd applied to a top 5 program. Oh yea, I only had friends (who weren't applying to grad school) to read my SOP and, after reading applyingtograd, learned that I made it way too personal and not academic enough. Had it not been for the fact that I got an acceptance in late January (thin envelope with Admitted on the outside though campus mail had covered that up with a label), I would've been thinking I wouldn't get in anywhere.