fencergirl

@daniel345, if you haven't been rejected yet it seems reasonable to assume you may be informally waitlisted? But it might be appropriate to contact the school at this point and ask if there's any update on your status. Also for people on this board and for future applicants' reference, I just got (and turned down) my offer from Yale for the East Asian Studies M.A. and it was a fully funded offer which was a little unexpected. I don't know if all candidates are fully funded but at least some are so for those of you applying next year and considering funding seems like Yale is definitely one to take a look at! (This was for the one year M.A.). Also seems like they definitely make an effort to recruit diverse candidates.

Oh okay, gotcha! My guess is that the MA and Ph.D. programs would be on different timelines, but I am really not sure, sorry! Also it was an informal email from the department, not an official acceptance so the official acceptances may take a bit longer still. As I mentioned on the results page I turned it down as I've accepted an offer from Northwestern for their History PhD program.

I posted the USC acceptance today but it was for the Master's program not the Ph.D., is that the one you were referring to??

Very helpful Buzz, thank you!

Oh thanks, I was rejected too. Good to finally have closure. I had actually just accepted my offer from Northwestern earlier today anyway.

I don't think being in the 80th percentile in quant is really necessary since history is for the most part not a quant heavy-field. I got something like 65% and was admitted to several funded PhD programs. (My verbal was quite high though, 96% I think). I agree that the total GRE score is a little low though. I think over 160 in verbal and over 150 in quant is a good place to be. Edit: just realized krystasonrisa wrote qualitative not quantitative. Oops. I'm used to hearing that part described as verbal. I agree that verbal should be over 80% though I'd think 157 would be close? Waiting another year, taking some classes/working on languages, and retaking the GRE is probably good idea, and preferable I think to taking on debt for an expensive out-of-state M.A. with no funding. I would also get in touch with POIs (especially at your alma mater) and ask where they think you can improve your application. It could have been they felt your SOP didn't address fit well enough, or perhaps they were indeed worried about the GRE score or maybe they just weren't taking anyone in your specialty this year. Impossible to know unless you ask! And it's late in the season but not over yet! Good luck, I hope it all works out.

The students I talked to said it was a good idea to come sometime in August and that you should be able to get a lease to start in September. I don't know how the options/prices will be though. Popular places like Evanston Place might be full I guess? You can ask when you visit! (And report back please haha). Or you can try to find someone who already has an apartment but needs someone to share rent I guess. Yeah I wondered how the graduate housing payments would work timing-wise with the stipends and everything. We get our stipends monthly right? I (should) have some savings from working when I start so I think I'll be alright for the first year in graduate housing... (Any chance you'll get a look at them when you visit?)

That's great you found a place already! I looked at Evanston Place but it seemed expensive. More manageable if you are sharing though. I'm glad your visit went well! I regret not being able to visit but all the professors and students have been really welcoming. My contract in Japan ends in early August, then I'd like to travel for a couple weeks before I come home... so I think late August if I don't have an apartment picked out yet but maybe early September if I'm able to make arrangements from here.

Hello! I'm planning to accept my offer at Northwestern as well. Extremely excited and a bit nervous. I'll be moving back to the US after two years in Japan and then moving from my parent's house in SoCal over to Chicago! I've never lived outside of California except for Japan so it will be a whole new experience in many ways which I am definitely looking forward to. Quite worried about the cold though! I'll survive I suppose though haha. I'm not planning on driving at all at first so I won't have to worry about all the cold weather car issues. Are you going to the visit weekend? I'm not able to make it unfortunately. When do you think you'll go apartment hunting? I'm actually going to apply for the graduate housing even though its rather expensive because I'm not sure how much time I'll have to find an apartment when I get back (plus I don't really want to move furniture for SoCal to Chicago so would prefer a furnished place at least at first).

Hello First Name Last Name is fine I think if they don't have an official title (Dr., professor... I always google their name first to check).

Hoorary! Congrats, withoutdoing! I know the thought and process of moving is so stressful isn't it? It will work out in the end though! Not going to LA but from SoCal originally so I can maybe answer some general questions

Comparing to past years in number and timing of admits, I'm not optimistic. I think at this point most admits have been informed and the rest are maybe wait-list but likely rejection. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. But this is just my prediction which could be wrong.

I understand completely! Even though I got into my number one school, the other schools were so hard to turn down. I don't want to disappoint the professors who I've been in contact with, some of whom have been extremely friendly and generous with their time and I really would have loved to attend their programs under slightly different circumstances. And it's hard to think about the different opportunities and experiences I would have had at that school and then give them up. But of course it has to be done! I tried to keep my emails to POIs professional but a little personal too. I hope I struck the right tone; the responses so far have been very gracious.

I'm not planning to bring up a postdoc as I think that's premature, but what if it really was a hard decision and you do hope to work with them in the future? Still too much information? This is for POIs that I have been in communication with fairly extensively, not POIs that I barely had contact with.

Okay I'm done waiting for UCLA I think. I'm going to assume rejection at this point, accept my #1 school officially, and move on! (If I am indeed rejected by UCLA it will be the second time... not that I'm bitter :P).

Was admitted to Columbia's EALC M.A. program, but have been accepted to PhD programs elsewhere so will be declining. I hope that means good news for somebody.

Somewhat related to Josh J.'s questions, I was admitted to one school about 2 weeks ago from the DGS but didn't get an email from my POI. I'm going to decline the offer, should I still email my POI separately? We did have contact by email early on in the process but not since then so I'm not sure what the etiquette is here.

Depends how bad your scores are, but in a nutshell, yes GRE scores alone could be holding you back. (Full disclosure this is my first application cycle and I am in History not Anthro). Many schools do have GRE score cutoffs even if they do not make these public. It is an easy way to whittle down a large field of applicants. I've also heard that if they really like an applicant but their GRE scores don't make the cut a department might have a select number of "waivers" they can use to admit this person, but they are limited in number and thus departments will be reluctant to use them unless they are totally sold an an applicant. Beyond that minimum I don't think the GREs are THAT important in the process at most schools, but if your scores are low enough that you aren't making the first cut, that's not good. Are your scores near the average range for schools you applied to? Of course we really need more information to judge the situation fully. For example, we don't know what your GPA is, or more subjective things like your SOP or letters of recommendation. Any of those could be problematic. If you really think all of those are solid except the GRE, and the fit at your schools is good, then I would bite the bullet and retake the GRE for next year. After the application season is done you can also ask POIs diplomatically what you could do to improve your application and in particular if your GRE scores were a problem. Also you said you haven't been accepted to any programs yet but that's not the same as being rejected from them so I hope things turn out better than you are expecting!

Okay, thanks for letting me know! I'll not assume its a rejection until I get the official rejection. I heard back a few weeks ago. My impression is that the first round of acceptances are done. Sorry

Right that makes sense!

So I hate to sound like a broken record but do we think the UCLA admits are done? (At least for the first round?)

Do you recommend not telling them? In a lot of fields it seems like you'd definitely meet them again so it's not like they won't find out anyway...

Wow yeah, congrats to UCLA admit! That's a great offer. I didn't think UCs had that kind of money. Guess it really depends! Still no change in status for me which is probably a bad sign. It really would be nice to know one way or another!

Still waiting on UCLA...seems like official acceptations have usually gone out this week in the past... BTW I've gotten only emails for both acceptances and rejections, no calls (but then I do live in Japan). Emails have been from various sources - department head, DGS, graduate coordinator, and generic email to check website (for both an acceptance and a rejection, so its NOT true that an email to check the website is always a rejection!) I am not rushing into any decision but Northwestern seems like the obvious choice (it was my top choice for a reason.) But Boston College is also tempting - my POI and student contact there have been amazing. But I've also been contacted by several students, several professors, and even the department head at Northwestern which is great! Plus the funding is a lot better, POI is very well respected (but seems pretty tough!), and my cohort would be bigger. (Anyone leaning towards Northwestern as well, feel free to get in touch!)

Thank you both! The original letter writer 2 came through. Whew. *wipes sweat*