rogue
-
Posts
279 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Posts posted by rogue
-
-
I just checked the results page - totally collapsing into a tide of Ball State jokes! Ahaha priceless.
Damn, did those get taken down already? I saw one earlier today, but missed the rest. Boo.
-
See, I'm older too - 33 with a wife and 2 kids - and I just cannot imagine a climate or area so bad that thousands of other people can live their whole lives there but I cannot tolerate 5 years. The area doesn't have what you are used to? There will be other stuff to do, and it will apparently be stuff you have never explored before! This is not your whole life, it's a few years, with the option of escaping in the summers.
Not to be contentious, but there's a difference between tolerating and being happy. I'd rather be happy; life's too short. YMMV, obviously.
- rogue and SuddenlyParanoid
-
2
-
Well I feel a little better that people who had been accepted into other stellar programs still got rejected from UT makes me feel that maybe I would've had a shot getting other programs had I not been restricted geographically to Austin.
But I did get good news this morning. I had applied to UT's Social Work program (with research not clinical studies as my concentration) and I received a first round acceptance. Since I wanted to study gender issues in welfare reform this is probably a better fit. So although I'm only in a masters program now it is a top ten and will hopefully lead into an acceptance into the PhD program down the road. So I have a bright side as well.
Congratulations! That's great news!
-
I avoided replying to this earlier because it seemed like tensions were rather high. But I wanted to say that it's never too early to start thinking about things and weighing your options. This is a MAJOR life change. The sooner you start thinking seriously about it, the better.
I personally have a mere (compared to the OP) two acceptances and one rejection, and am still waiting to hear back from seven more schools. And I'm even factoring in some of the ones I haven't heard from in my current mental wrangling, because I need to think about which ones could be more compelling than the offers I have in hand. I'm not good with decisions. Take me to a diner and I will stare helplessly at the menu for an hour because there are just too many things to consider. I feel like that now, only with much higher stakes (sadly, not steaks).
That said, I mostly agree with those who said to go where the funding is. Of course, in my "what if" game, I am sorely tempted to accept an offer of $18K/year for five years over a hypothetical $23K/year for five years (assuming that one even pans out), which might mean I'm not taking my own--and everyone else's--advice. But I don't have a wife and kid to worry about, either.
And one final thought: (almost) everyone here has been really helpful and supportive during this entire nerve-wracking process. I hope we can all stay that way, through our various ups and downs. Cheers and good luck to the folks who are faced with tough decisions, and hang in there, everyone else. You'll probably get good news soon.
-
I just checked too, and just got rejected too. Ah, well. I'm actually a little relieved, as it makes my decision easier. An offer from UT would've been a serious contender, and it helps a bit to have narrower options, considering how indecisive I can be. (I like to look on the bright side.
) -
-
I have to agree although I think this may be an age thing (in my case; not yours!) or, at the very least, a consideration more important to people in mature stages of life. If you are in a relationship or hope to have a social or civic life while in school -- which I don't think is ridiculous, btw -- then your location could matter. I think you just might want to be as flexible as you can with location while balancing your emotional needs. That line is defined entirely by you.
On the original question fit for me is a hippie-dippy concept of "feeling". It's like finding the right house, the right car or the right mate -- you know it when you know it.
You're probably right. I'm old(ish). I've also lived in probably 20 different cities/neighborhoods in six different states on both coasts and in between. Between life experience and all that moving, I've got an informal list of things I can't or wouldn't want to do without, as well as things I don't want to deal with (like being buried under snow four months out of the year). I was probably more willing to sacrifice in the spirit of adventure when I was younger. Now, not so much.
Also totally agree with your concept of fit.
-
My dogs like to eat the mail. I'm deathly afraid they'll shred a letter before I get to read it, and I won't know if I was admitted or rejected!
- sebastiaan, socnerd and anxiousmike
-
2
-
1
-
Call the schools and explain the situation. Ask them whether they'll still consider you, and if so, how much of a grace period you still have to get the letter in.
-
I was just accepted to Columbia. I have to set up a time to talk on the phone tomorrow (I think they tried to call me today, but my cell phone is off because I'm abroad).
Congrats! That's great!
-
Acceptance from Indiana!
Congratulations!
-
I would not worry too much about the location or other issues outside the school, as you should be able to put up with it until graduation.
I must respectfully disagree with this. Personally, I can't imagine spending 5+ years of my life in a locale that didn't make me happy. Sure, your focus will be on school, but you should still be concerned with your quality of life outside the classroom/lab/library. Would you be happier in a big city or a small town? Do you want access to certain things, like the great outdoors (beaches/lakes/mountains/hiking trails in the woods) or cultural stuff (theatre, museums, etc.)? Do you hate the cold (or the heat)? Do you want to be able to get by without a car? What kind of social scene are you looking for (e.g., are you single, do you have kids, etc.)? This stuff matters--maybe not more than academics, but it still counts for something.
-
Wow, it's a big day for soc admits. Congrats to everyone who got good news!
-
That's a great list, too. Thanks for sharing! I'm adding some of these to my rapidly-expanding spreadsheet.
-
UCLA!!! Admitted by my first choice!
I'm in shock. I woke up way too early this morning and was about to go back to sleep when I received the email.
Congratulations! That's awesome!
-
This is a great thread. I have a similar concern; my potential advisor at one of the schools I applied to is someone I know socially as well. I've been a little worried about what that would mean if I went to that school. Thanks for all the thoughtful comments, everyone--definitely reassuring.
-
They're near the top of my list, too. Those stats are a little disheartening, but I guess we'll see what happens in a couple of weeks. Good luck to everyone!
-
just curious what do people think of
school A: one prof with really well matched research + other profs with relatively poor match
vs.
school B: several profs with fairly good match
All other things being equal, I'd probably go with B as well. You don't want to be left without an advisor if the one prof at A leaves.
-
Those are all great, and I hadn't thought of some of them. Thanks!
-
Also, how do you absolutely know you won't like it in one city or that you will like it? Have you lived there. I've found living and visiting are different things. In the end I think location is important.
I already live in one of the cities and like it very much, and I've been wanting to move to the other for over a year now. I've spent a fair amount of time there over the past ten years (it's just a couple of hours away) and have friends in both places, so I think I'd be happy either way.
I guess I'm trying to figure out if it's a bad idea to let location be the deciding factor, when all other things aren't quite equal. If they were equal otherwise, I'd have no problem using location as a tie breaker.
And, again, I'm also curious what factors other people are taking into account. Maybe there's something important that I completely overlooked.
-
Your decision will be much easier if you visit the programs you are interested in applying to. Seriously. I used to have some awesome spreadsheet with all these factors and, on paper, some programs clearly stood out more than others. But, when I visited, I realized that it wasn't the right fit for me (it was a gut feeling).
Agreed, 100%. I have visited the two main programs in question and I like them both!
I've been accepted to one and (though I don't want to jinx it) believe I'll be accepted at the other as well. I just don't think I'll hear from program A with much time to spare before I'm suppose to respond to B's fellowship offer. -
This whole application process has made me spreadsheet and list happy. Now I'm working on comparing different programs at which I've been accepted or given a good indication that I would be accepted.
Some of the things I'm considering are:
1. Amount of funding, along with cost of living in that city
2. Profs I could work with (how many and how close their interests are to mine)
3. Placements for recent graduates
4. Rank
5. Average time to degree
6. Location (i.e., how much do I want to live in that city?)
The problem that I keep running into is that I'm not sure how much weight to give to the location factor. If there's a great program in a city that I like and a very good program in a city I'm dying to live in, I find myself trying to justify choosing the slightly less awesome program based on its location. Is anyone else having this problem?
Also, I'm curious how others are approaching the decision-making process (or planning to approach it, since we're still so early in the game, results-wise).
-
You're not the only one; lots of people in various threads have mentioned switching fields, though engineering -> theology -> sociology is definitely one of the more interesting paths I've heard of. That's got to be worth something, right? I have a BA in communication and an MBA, and I applied to nine sociology programs and one communication program. Sometimes you have to try different things to figure out what you really like.
-
As far as I can tell, no one at any of my prospective schools has googled me. How can I say this with any confidence? Well, I have a website that is my first and last name as the URL (it's not a vanity thing; I do a bit of freelance work and the site hosts my resume and portfolio). I also have a tracker on the site, and I can see where the hits are coming from. I have not gotten a single hit from an academic domain since I sent out my applications, nor have I gotten hits I can't account for (i.e., ones that aren't friends, family or clients/prospects) from any of the cities where my schools are located. And yet, if you search for my first and last name, this is one of the very first sites that pops up. I can't imagine a student or faculty member searching for me and not clicking that link, so I'm assuming they're just not searching.
False alarm via postal mail
in Waiting it Out
Posted
I can't quite tell from your avatar, but it looks like you might have a westie? I have two of them. One freaks out when he hears the mailman coming, runs to the door and assumes the position: paws on either side of the mail slot, mouth open and waiting. As the mail comes through the slot, he rips it from the guy's hand and shakes it like some sort of prey he's trying to kill. When my mail guy finally saw the dogs one day, he laughed and said, "that's it?" He thought I had rottweilers. I probably should have noted this on my applications somewhere--"Don't send mail, just call or email!"