jansport

Hello, This is a really tough decision to make! I assume we are talking about Sarah Banet-Weiser here? SBW is a powerhouse and I was crushed when she left USC bc I really wanted to work with her too. That being said, here is my advice: -Madison has one of the best comm departments, and is so highly regarded in the field. Their placement record is insane! (I was admitted too just full disclosure) -I think it seems like student debt is one of your main concerns here. I still have debt from undergrad, and I am in a very affordable MA program now paying barely any tuition bc I TA and am still accruing debt bc of the cost of living. The cost of living where I am now is nowhere near what it would be in London, so that's a huge consideration. -In terms of location and jobs, w/o knowing the field your partner is in (and since I have been in school / working in the service industry) I feel like I can't really help you there. But in terms of finding a job, I feel like finding a job in a small city or potentially having to commute vs. having to look for one abroad and deal with visas are both super difficult. Maybe there is someone on the forum talking about work visas for partners that can help you out! -You might have already looked into this, but my understanding is that some funding options for MA and PhD programs in the UK and Canada are unavailable to international students. Would be worth looking into! -I think this might be a different conversation if they were both PhD programs, or the PhD program you were admitted to wasn't so highly ranked. But, I say Madison is the better option, especially thinking long term (and I say this as someone who ADORES London). I hope this is helpful, and I assume we will meet at the Madison visit day!

Hey everyone! Hopefully this thread will keep me on track as well! I am currently in a Media Studies MA program at UT Austin and looking to go to a similar PhD program. My research interests are representations of race and gender in contemporary television, audience and reception studies, and the performance of identity on online platforms (mostly Twitter). My kind of secondary interests are celebrity and star studies and fan studies. Right now I am definitely applying to UT Austin, Wisconsin Madison, USC, UC Santa Barbara, Northwestern, and the University of Iowa. For right now Minnesota and UC Irvine are maybes. Currently trying to gather as much info on programs and seek advice from the faculty in my dept. Also looking to apply to another conference and shape a paper up to be sent to a journal (fingers crossed)!

I can finally add my scores to this thread! I, stupidly I might add, never really took a practice test in the beginning, so I can't compare from where I started. I primarily used magoosh to study and studied for about two months. Due to some personal stuff happening in the home stretch I never got to finish all of the math videos and had to cram a bit at the end. Magoosh practice test 1: V: 163 Q: 158 Magoosh practice test 2: exact same fucking score (1 week in between & a couple of days before the test) ETS paper test: just verbal: 165 first try ETS paper test: just verbal: 164 second try ETS just quant: 156 Magoosh score predictor: Q: 155-160, V: 161-166 Actual GRE: Q: 155, V: 166!!!!!! So oddly enough on the actual test I hit my lowest of the score predictor on quant and my highest on verbal. Like I said I never finished all of the math videos, so I did have to flat out guess on some problems. I was also pushed up against the clock on quant where as I was finishing verbal way early and had ample time to check answers. I'm applying to media studies programs that want to see a good verbal score and I totally nailed that section, so I'm happy! I'm also expecting a good AWA score.

Perusing this forum is stopping my face from melting off during GRE prep. I'm applying to media studies/cultural journalism masters programs. The list so far is Definite: UT Austin- Media Studies, University of Oregon- Media Studies, NYU- Cultural Reporting and Criticism Maybes: Syracuse- Arts and Cultural Journalism, USC- Cinema and Media Studies This entire thing is incredibly daunting. Can anybody recommend the best places to find information about programs after you've read literally every line on a program's website (visiting is not financially feasible)?

NYU, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia: I would offer these and Madison up before the three you mentioned (except maybe ND). NYU and Columbia have the added bonus of having really strong Ed schools with Soc of Ed Phd programs that you can take classes in and pull faculty from for a committee. Additionally Penn has Annette Lareau if you are interested in Soc of Ed and haven't read Unequal Childhoods you definitely should.