marneasada

Can I ask who your POI is?

Hey Huckleberry, I just had an informal Skype 'chat' with UCSB on the 27th about a place there/funding. I think the 'chat' didn't go very well, so I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I was wondering if you had talked with your POI there at all, or if your news just came as an e-mail? In terms of money, I have some friends in the social sciences and humanities at the UCs who all report receiving way less than the maximum-- around 18k, 19K mostly, but I bet if the dept is telling you you'll likely get 'robust' funding, you'll likely be fine. Congrats!

thanks for your opinions! you're all very helpful.

I didn't apply anywhere else-- any thoughts on whether it would be a good idea or a bad idea to tell them that?

..Hi there, I was pretty shocked to get this very nice, informal email this week from the director/my POI at a university I applied to for a PhD, and now I am trying to decipher the language she used because I am going a little nuts. Basically, the email says this: "I loved your application to our program and would be interested in working with you on (x topic)... I just wrote an article that will be going online soon about z topic, which really dovetails with your x topic."... "I'd love to chat by skype" (sic) 'We're trying to narrow down the few people we can admit and lose central fellowships if the people we put up for them don't have that much interest in us because we can't transfer nominations. So it would be good to figure out our interests!' My question: does this sound different than an invitation for a formal interview? In other words, is this 'chat' more about me interviewing her/the uni or the other way around? The email came on Thursday with a request that we skype this weekend or on Monday, so I only have a bit of time to prepare, and I would like to be as ready as I can be. Any help would be very much appreciated. Many thanks.

Hi there! I'm in the middle of application chaos too. I'm pretty sure that I'm applying to UCSB, Emory, Rutgers, UMN, UMD, and Ohio State, all women/gender/feminist PhD programs. I'm halfway through my MA right now and it's the first time that I'll be applying to PhD programs. Would anyone want to trade SoPs in the next couple of days? It would be great to get the perspective of someone else in the field. I feel like some of my ideas about what I've done in the past research-wise and what I'd like to work on in the future still veer towards the fluffy, and I'm curious about how other people are scrunching their hopes and dreams onto two pages. Good luck to everyone!