StudyMom

Hi all, I'm a graduating Ph.D. Mass Comm from UF this year and I think it is a great program; however, and it is a BIG HOWEVER -- money is an issue. You get a stipend for the Fall and the Spring (usually) and you have to work for it, sometimes very hard. I paid for close to 10 credits out of pocket to make it in three years. It is great to have the opportunity to teach because it puts you at the top for jobs. You are not guaranteed any funding for the summer and competition is fierce and job assignments can seem arbitrary and unfair. In other words, some people get funded every summer and others don't get funded at all. Further, you are only guaranteed the opportunity to be funded for 3 years, unless you have the Alumni Scholarship, which gives you four years. If you are international, the three years could be tricky if you want to get up to speed with the language and teach enough classes to feel comfortable in the job search. That said, recruiters want UF grads. AT AEJMC they go through the list of job applicants and call the UF students one after the other to set up interviews. My friends and I just laughed because they would call us one after the other. Everyone looking for a job this year from the Mass Com department has a job and we are a very international group. Most of us had multiple offers. SO, it has drawbacks but UF prepares you to be at the top of teacher/scholars. UF also uses a system where you are not allowed to take your qualifying exams until you have prepared your dissertation proposal (first 3 chapters). This is stressful but it means that once you defend your quals and proposal (usually at the same meeting)you just have to revise as necessary, collect your data and finish. I think CU has you take the quals before you prepare the proposal, which can be hard if you struggle with the post-quals "slump". Good luck! Go Gators!

Kaye Sweetser at University of Georgia has been cutting edge with blogs. Richard's focus has been towards nonprofit organizations and fundraising but he is moving into social media.

In 2008 my scores were 740 and 540 and I got into my first choice, a top 6 school for Mass Com PhD so you should be fine, though as some have, said 1200 is the cut-off for some schools and some schools also look at your GPA from undergrad.

I am a third year PhD in the dissertation and quals and interviewing stage. FYI -- Texas Tech is very research oriented. Also, some of the smaller schools that are not R1 would like to be respected for research and are looking for R1 grads. The job market is harsh and it is best to have a balanced portfolio of teaching and research, better at one area, but perfectly adequate in the other area. Also, make sure to do some volunteer work for 'service' because service is the third part needed. Some schools allow graduate students to teach and others do not, so keep that in mind as you search for your best fit. Best of luck!

Hey, I'll be there, arriving Thursday noonish and presenting Saturday early!

Hi All, Accepted U Florida. Great program. Currently in second year. I thought the application process, waiting and then waiting for funding were bad but they did not compare to the first semester of the PhD! Now in my second year and loving it. Here are a few things I've learned from my cohort: (1) Be true to yourself and your interests. (2) No-one can advocate for you better than yourself. (3) Be open to what the professors want to teach -- do not go into courses with pre-conceived ideas of what you will be learning and you will have a better experience. (4) Be quietly pro-active. (5) Make connections -- there will be someone in your college, if not your department, who thinks you have great potential and it may not be the person you thought it was going to be. (6) Make an aggressive research plan for yourself and try to stick to it. It helps to have the CV of someone you think is a "rock star" academic as your guide. You may not achieve their heights but it is best to set your standards high. (7) Take advice with a grain of salt, in other words, don't take it at face value that what a Prof. says is true -- at the end of the day you are responsible for knowing the rules and you are responsible for choosing the best options for where to send your papers or to which division to submit. This will not always be your stated specialty area. Good luck! Hope to see some of you at UF next Fall! StudyMom

I'm in my second year PhD in Mass Com. It was bad then and I know it is even worse for those of you in the cycle now. I know the key to getting in was fit with a specific professor, the fact that few are interested in my area of study (nonprofits) and I have a lot of professional experience. However, I had no conference papers and my GRE was 1280. It's pragmatic to apply to a lot of schools but you should really think about what the focus is at each school. Some have health com profs, some have pr profs, etc. etc. If you are interested in health com and there is just one prof at a particular school, it may not be the best fit for you, but you need to figure that out. It does not hurt to call and speak to a professor you are interested in working with and introduce yourself, stroke their ego (lightly!), and say how much you would like to attend their program. Keep it short and to the point. Send them a thank you email afterwards. So, those are my two bits. Good luck.

You need to officially accept or they may take it as a decline and offer your place and/or money to someone else. PRobably they would accept an e-mail acceptance with official paperwork later by mail but you should call or e-mail to ask. In this economic situation I would go for the acceptance and get your degree rather than waiting until next year which may not be much improved economically than this year.

I also a second semester PhD student but I am in a different field but having the same kind of difficulties with my adviser. She is very rarely available, expects you to find out EVERYTHING for yourself (even conferences that might be good for you to submit papers or attend), disses those conferences that you find out for yourself and submit papers to; does not like my dissertation idea and is very vague about its potential. However, I am very proactive about my degree/career and I have found another prof that I think is great and I am now hopeful that this new person will agree to be my adviser. Changing advisers is fine at my school, providing there is a valid reason for doing so. Why not try to connect with a prof that you like and approach them about becoming your adviser? It would be easier than switching schools, though if you really don't like the department then you probably want to change both school and adviser. Good luck. Try to be positive -- the end will be worth it! (at least that's what I keep telling myself...)

If you cheat and get caught at my university the prof. immediately checks with a university department that keeps records of all cheating. If it is the first time the prof. or department makes the decision for consequences,certainly an F for the course which can significantly affect your overall course grade and cum. If you have cheated before and get caught again it goes to tribunal and you can get kicked out. One person, we've been told, even cheated on their qualifying exams for PhD -- they were kicked out. No excuses, just out. They have also now instituted a rule where if they find you plagerised after you get your degree, they can remove your degree! Good luck. It sounds like you'll probably just get a grade reduction.

Hey, I applied to five schools last year and was accepted at just one. It happened to be my first choice for program (another was top choice for location). People don't usually ask where else you got in or where you were rejected. Just be positive and say things like others have said in this thread like, "this was my first choice -- I am so pleased to be able to work with top tier researchers in the field etc. etc!"

I have an RA/TA load. The TA job alone takes about 11 hours or so, depending on the amount of correcting and grading I have to do in a given week. On top of that there are required office hours (3 hours) which is where I try to get the grading done. I have found RA jobs vary in amount required but the projects I have this semester are taking at least 8 hours a week. I also have three children under 10. So, basically what I'm saying is it is possible to work 20 hours, give or take a few, and work effectively on your degree. Mind you, it is sometimes stressful to balance RA/TA work, my own research and courseload and the needs of my children. I figure sleep is optional for the next three years! Also, I get a little grumpy!!! Best of luck. StudyMom

Some PhD students in my department pay full, out of state, tuition. They are not TAs or RAs. Also, if you take more than the credits approved for the waiver, in my case 9 credits per term, you have to pay for those extra credits. Because of some odd one and four credit courses I have paid for three credits this year. I took 11 credits the first term and 10 the second term. If I do not receive a TA job for the summer I will also be paying for a four credit course for that term. Luckily I will be classed a state resident by then and can pay in-state rates!

My husband is English and had a similar problem in job hunting. He was super excited about a particular job, jumped through all the hoops, took all the test and did really well and then he did not get the job. In the end they said it was because he did not seem enthusiastic enough ( no kidding, he's English!). Anyway, maybe those of from the international area are not coming across as enthusiastic enough. For myself, I know I got funding for my program last year because I called the Asst. Dean and expressed my enthusiasm for their program (my number one choice) and said I would definitely attend if I received funding. Good luck. We thought last year was bad but this year seems to be much worse for applications. I hope you all get in with funding!

My UK Master's didn't hinder my acceptance to PhD but it was a problem trying to get the graduate office to approve credits from my Master's towards the PhD. My program required 90 credits for the PhD but you can transfer up to 30 from a Master's so it was pretty important to get those credits unless I wanted to stay in school for five years (which I do not!). The UK Master's is much different from the US and had only four courses on it with grades in the 60's (I had a 2.1 in England for those of you who know, that's pretty good). It took 7 months to get the credits approved and a lot of pushing. So, my point is even though there was an explanation of grade translation, the graduate office still was not comfortable with the UK degree. Hope it all works out for you.