Neist

It might even happen later. My boss' husband got an funded offer to a MA program years ago in early August. They had one week to relocate before classes began.

Aww. I'm sorry. You never know though, something still might happen! Wouldn't be awesome if programs were a little more transparent? It's frustrating!

Do you have a good reason to ask them why they should extend it? If you can muster up a good one, it's worth trying. But I'm not sure if I'd use "because I want to interview for another job."

I job offer in hand is worth more than a potential job offer, I say. Wouldn't you feel bad if you gave up the chance to teach in China only to have no job offer?

He did. http://www.annarbor.com/news/hes-in-unusual-antics-by-wait-listed-university-of-michigan-student-bring-success/

I love the internets.

Completed Brave New World. Took me longer than I hoped, but I've been prepping for a presentation tomorrow, so I'll blame that. I'm sort of a split opinion. As a piece of literature, it was middling quality. However, as a cultural, historical artifact, I found it fascinating. I think I'm going to dig up some secondary essays about it. Next up is The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. I was turned on to it soon after completing Cataloging the World, and I never seemed to start it.

Congrats!

The internet is pretty fantastic for things like that. How did people ever get anything accomplished without it? Depending on other's generosity seems unlikely.

I think a lot of people probably also don't realize that just because a school isn't an known-name school doesn't mean that specific programs aren't difficult to get into. U. of Oklahoma certainly isn't difficult to get into, but I bet the PhD program in meteorology is absurdly difficult to get into. My parents seem to think that I was going to automatically get into OU because I'll get my undergrad there. Like you, I've given up trying to explain to people. On a side note, I'm not from a family of college graduates either, so I can relate. I think I'm going to be the first college graduate in my immediately family ever. I doubt I have relatives who attending college going way back because we're all from Oklahoma, and we're all pretty much country people.

I'll probably take on between $5-10k after three years. Hardly anything drastic, like you. My stipend is enough, but my budget is going to be tight enough that I'll probably need small loans to cover books and unexpected financial burdens. I admit I'm a little bit terrified of graduate history classes and buying books. Ergh. I can get them secondhand pretty cheap as long as I know what I need well in advance, but required reading at the beginning of a semester is going to need be more expediently acquired. I wanted to try to go e-books for a lot of my books, too, and obviously I can't get those used. Last thing I need is more books on bookshelves I don't own. Hm. That's odd. Have you looked into what the rules are for residency in Texas? I thought that states generally consider you a resident after a year, but I guess Texas might be different.

Sorry to hear that. But I guess wait list is better than a denial?

It is scary, but it makes sense. Unless you're going school with an absurdly huge endowment (like Harvard), what school can guarantee funding? It almost demands that the money is just sitting in the bank, waiting to be spent on you. I think that's probably unrealistic at most universities. Am I taking a risk? Sure, but I think I'll be fine.

I don't think even my wife realizes how difficult it is to get into a lot of programs. Well, at least getting funded. The University of Oklahoma is only a state school, so even if the program I got into is highly regarded within the discipline, it's not like it's Yale law. Yet there was only an 10% chance to get accepted with funding this year. There's only 1-2 students accepted with funding a year (it's a super small department). Getting into any program with funding is pretty great, I say. I think a lot of programs stipulate that funding is conditional because they fear that budgets will get slashed. In practice, I think a lot of said programs only include the wording in case of disaster. The program I accepted's funding is stipulated as "up to five years," but in practice, if you need it and you maintain grades, it's nearly always there.

Thanks a bunch! I admit, I'm pretty happy I got off the funding wait list. Wait list dreams do happen. You know, this cycle has lead me to believe that the trait I've valued the most in the programs I eventually leaned towards was a welcome, friendly atmosphere. I think people can grow tremendously if they are content with their environment. But that's me. I'm sure others are different.

You never know. You could still get in! The program I accepted was a wait list for funding. It panned out okay. I hope it does for you!

You made your decision? Congrats! I can't remember if you told anyone here that or not.

Wow, that's actually exceptionally helpful! You answered so comprehensively that I doubt there's a lot of room for improvement by others. Thanks a bunch.

The program I'm attending in the fall offers limited funding for traveling expenses, but usually only if one is presenting. I have no issue with such concessions. However, there are additional conferences that I have considered attending for professional growth and networking opportunities. Question: To those who are already in graduate programs, if a conference might reasonably improve one's professional network or skillset, would you or have you taken out small, yearly student loans to finance going? I'm considering it. I cannot make the money magically appear via my stipend. I'm going to be supporting a family of three on it exclusively, and while adequate, I can't imagine digging an extra thousand a year out of it. Even so, I'd rather hear some first-hand accounts of those who are already in graduate programs.

Moonshine Mash

I admit, that does make me feel a little bit warm and fuzzy inside.

I took a museum studies course when I was an art history major that was pretty much entirely museum field trips. About half of the class was discussion and theory, and the other half was field trips. Was a fantastic class. It's one reason why I know a lot of the quirkier museums around here.

Wow. I don't think I could keep my mouth shut if I heard that. Or I'd just walk out immediately.

I have really fond memories of the science museum. I did a boy scout lock-in there when I was young. Memories.

We have a decent science museum, and it's been around for quite a while. http://www.sciencemuseumok.org/ We also have the American Banjo Museum, Museum of Osteology, American Pigeon Museum (yes, this does exist...), and the 99s Museum of Women Pilots. There's also a whole bunch of smaller museums that probably aren't worth mentioning. Maybe you and some of your cohort can visit Oklahoma and go museum trolling.