Neist

Maybe I'm just getting paranoid, but has anyone ever wondered if individuals post results merely to screw with people's emotions? Time to get my tinfoil hat.

How prestigious is the fellowship they've offered you at Boulder? That might also help you later on.

That's pretty amazing. I'm really happy for you! I feel like working with a Nobel prize winner couldn't be bad for your career. In other news, this weekend is dragging. I'm trying to grade papers to pass the time, but it's not really helping. And my allergies are horrendously bad this weekend. Must be all the unusually warm weather Oklahoma has had.

Congrats! Baby steps, I say. Baby steps.

That's about in-line with their normal numbers. They usually take ~4, so 3 is perhaps a little lower than norm, but not absurdly so. The 2013 application year had 63 applicants. https://public.tableau.com/views/Assessment-Selectivity/Selectivity?:embed=y&:display_count=yes&:showTabs=y&:toolbar=no&:showVizHome=no Still, I'd be shocked if no one here got accepted. Grad cafe tends to be frequented by a higher average of applicant, I find.

As soon as I mentioned Loyola University Chicago I got an email from them. That's not creepy at all! Do universities monitor these forums that heavily?

Drexel was sort of like that for me. I'd love to go there, and they have financial support, but their information never stated the extent of that financial support. Drexel would probably cost 70k in loans. For a boutique MA degree. Ergh.

There's some extra programs I might apply to, but I'm pretty aware of every program that applies to my research interests. I sort of wish I had applied to the digital humanities MA at Loyola University Chicago. I probably would have enjoyed that a good deal.

I hope this happens to me. But I'm not holding my breath. You've done well this cycle!

I'm going to sound like an echo, but... UCLA.

I appreciate the kind words. However, the results page lends little hope. I know that the results probably don't represent a statistically significant portion of the applicant pool to that program, but the results always show early acceptances followed by a week or two of rejections. I know there's a possibility that the results are not completely representative, I'd be shocked if I was wrong. In other news, I'm going to pitch my new backpacking tent this weekend at a local park and get some initial impressions. It should keep me occupied for a few hours.

I'm glad it worked out for you.

Yeah, I wasn't too hopeful, either. But I'm an optimist, so I was trying to stay positive. I could try to convince myself that they roll out acceptances over a few days, but I somehow doubt that. There's only about 4 acceptances per year. It doesn't take very long to notify four people. C'est la vie.

Aww, man. Cornell STS just posted an acceptance. Well, my heart just sunk a little. Think it's time to get drunk.

Aw, man. It's not me. Welp, I guess if I don't hear something soon then I can assume I didn't get in.

I appreciate the words of encouragement. I know I could get a masters and then move onto a PhD program, but I'm not getting any younger, and I'm not sure if I can ride out poverty for another 8-10 years while I support my family. One of the major reasons why I'm pursuing a graduate education is because I want to provide better for my family. I know it sounds strange wanting to go into academia to earn more money, but I don't make much money now, and because of health reasons, I physically cannot do anything that requires significant physical strain. An education is really the only path for any variety of success. Besides, my daughter would be a teenager by the time I finish if I'm not careful, and I would have spent the majority of her life incredibly busy and preoccupied with my education. Nothing is concrete, but I have a lingering suspicion that if I don't get into a PhD program now, I might lose the opportunity to. I guess that's okay, but it's disappointing. Maybe I can pursue a PhD later in life, after my daughter is a bit older. If I was single, I wouldn't really care, but the moment I became a father my life and was the moment that my time wasn't exclusively my own.

Thanks! RPI is a big STS school. It's probably one of maybe half a dozen strong programs in the US. However, my prospects at RPI are a little vague at this point. They accepted three people in a three day period this month (Feb 4-6). I have heard nothing. I eventually contacted them in hopes of clarifying my assumed rejection, but they told me they were still reviewing applications. The optimist in me thinks they haven't gotten to my application yet, but the pessimist in me thinks they might be holding off on rejections until they know if their acceptances matriculate (e.g., maybe I'm wait listed?). I know Petersons can be inaccurate, but the last reported statistics at Petersons had stated a 33% acceptance rate. I'm not an amazingly strong application, but I have a solid background in the history of science and STS. I also have strong letters of recommendation from scholars in both of those fields. I'd hope I'd be in the top third. Those same statistics state that only 3 out of the 8 admitted students matriculated. Maybe I'm being overly presumptuous, but this, if the numbers are accurate, makes me wonder if the program has limited funding. I really can't guess what my odds are at RPI right now. Maybe I'll get in? I'm apprehensively optimistic.

Looks like someone got into Cornell history. Congrats to whomever that was! I nearly had a moment of panic until I realized it was for history and not STS. Ergh.

I'm obsessively organized. To a fault, even. I'm sure everything will work out in the end. Will I be disappointed if I miss my high aims? Sure, but who wouldn't be? In other obsessive news, I've looked at class schedules for STS courses at Cornell this semester in hopes I can rationalize a later-in-the-evening notification window, if today is even the day they'd do so.

I will be, but I might have to reconsider any hope or dream of becoming a professor. There's few places that could support my research interests, and many of those places are not in highly ranked schools. All of these other programs are intellectually enriching, I'm sure, and I'd enjoy myself, but most programs do not carry the clout necessary to help me get a job at a university level. My only funded option at this point is at BGSU for a Pop Culture MA, and I'd love going there. However, I'm not sure what sort of PhD programs that support my interests I could walk into from that program If I go to BGSU, I'm going to seriously consider stopping at the MA, getting a M.Ed. and a teacher certification, and teach at a pre-university level (which I'd love to do, regardless of the level). I want to teach, but I really need to get into an exceptional program for that to be realistic. The STS world is a tiny world, so you really have to stand apart if you want any chance whatsoever.

Probably not until after next week, but definitely soon. It's getting to a point in which I need to consider my offers seriously. I need to know what's on the table.

I'm sort of jumping out of my skin. Cornell is definitely one of my top choices, and it is by far the most prestigious program I applied to. There's been two acceptances posted in the last two years. Both of which were on Fridays, and they fell on Feb. 18 and Feb. 20. I'm glad to have a funded offer, but none of the other programs I applied to carry the career-making gravity that Cornell STS has.

Ergh.. So I obsessively looked up the day of the week that both of Cornell STS acceptances were notified in previous years. Both acceptances were on Fridays. One was Feb. 18 and the other was Feb. 20. Yeah, totally isn't stressful. Not at all. The worst part is that you don't know if you haven't been accepted because, given the number of acceptances historically, no one here might get in, so there might not be any results posted. In 2014 and 2015 the acceptances were always posted first and later followed by a chunk of rejections days or weeks later.

Congratulations!

I also think this is probably the case for everyone here, regardless if a person gets any acceptances or a dozen. Once all schools have responded, you know your options, which means one can with make decisions about one's future with confidence. Right now I have one funded offer, and the numbers are probably against me getting any other funded offers. My rational brain wants to plan to attend that program, but I don't want to waste effort if any other program is possible.