Neist

Cornell STS is usually early to mid March. I've had people outside of these boards (who didn't get in) confirm that's when they heard from them in years past. I am. So. Bored. Ergh. I think my undergraduate adviser hinted that OU HoS will finalize decisions by early next week, so I have that to look forward to.

I get a ton of emails for public health and data science programs (also things like informatics). I have no clue why they them to me. I'm a history major and my quant score was only 151, hardly good enough to pursue me over. At least i'm not the only one. While I'm flattered that NYU is trying to get me to attend their MPH program, that's not really my discipline.

It's pretty common to not have heard anything at this point. Come March I'd be more curious, but February is the month that a lot of decisions seem to happen.

I wouldn't worry too much. There's a lot of reasons why you wouldn't be selected, and a lot of reasons have nothing to do with you. Maybe the applicant pool was three times its normal size. Maybe they had 2-3 genuinely brilliant people who applied. Maybe they're not accepting any students in the area you work in. Maybe the POI you wanted to work with already has too many students and cannot dedicate the time to another. It's hard to say for sure, but it's not necessarily because of you.

Anyone else get a ton of spam emails from schools that want you to apply but have degrees not at all related to your interests? I keep thinking I got a new email and it's a something like a solicitation for a data science program. Ergh.

I've found these forums to be incredibly supportive. I'm glad we can help!. Also, here's a random somewhat topical video that makes me feel good.

Oh, not at all! We're just have a friendly tit for tat, but I share your lack of being able to convey accurately tone over text. I tried twitter for a while. Didn't end well for me. Always got misunderstood. It's also good to hear about the lack of hand holding. That's exactly what I want. Some of the best experiences I've had so far were independent studies where I was more or less left to my own devices. I would burn through a giant pile of work and check in every few weeks.

I agree! I'd go for any contact at this point. I've already begun considering applications for next round if nothing overly attractive falls onto my lap this go.

I had to take out a small student loan to cover the costs. It was only a few hundred dollars, but I had no other option. This is a complicated, yet fairly brief, story. Most of the state's income is based off of oil (not surprising). Oil prices have tanked. Oklahoma's tax income has been horrendously lowered. University of Oklahoma is facing a 20 million dollar budget reduction. https://ou.edu/content/publicaffairs/archives/OUPresidentDavidLBorenPresents20MillionBudgetReductionPlan.html I believe the state's income has and will be lowered by ~15% by next year. That's a lot of money they can't give to education.

I've tried to tell them that getting into a good graduate program is about as life-changing as winning the lottery. It really is a big deal. Besides, if graduate programs are going to pay you to go to school, waive your tuition, and give you a PhD for the effort, why wouldn't people apply? It's a lot of hard work, sure, but life is a lot of hard work. I might as well get something out of it!

Hey, if you like it, than more power to you. I completely admit I might be unique. I just want to get paid to bury myself in a couple hundred books and produce some decent scholarship. I'm trying to minimize everything that would inhibit that.

I've gotten a bit off comments from family members that I'm going to be in school forever and there's no point to my education. I've also gotten comments akin to what you've described. I've largely tried to ignore them. None of my family has college experience so it's difficult for them to see the value in what I'm trying to do. My wife is on my side, and ultimately that's all I really need.

If hostile environments were my only options I'd probably reconsider going to graduate school. I can only speak for myself, but I'm going to graduate school because I want to learn, and I want to wherever I go to be the ideal place to learn. To me, an ideal place to learn is not one where I'm constantly worrying about the volatility of those around me. I'd much rather go to a low ranked school where I'm skillfully mentored than a place where I'm always on edge.

Do you know why specifically you were rejected? If we're just assuming, there's no telling. I honestly don't think it'll hurt you terribly, and if it does, perhaps that school isn't the place you'd want to spend the next 5-6 years. As long as you're polite and brief, the school or faculty member can politely ignore anything you email to them. A person would have to be fairly volatile to respond to an applicant negatively for a relatively harmless email. Just my two cents, and I could be wrong.

So, in my boredom, I'm looking up relevant YouTube videos. The internet is weird.

Congrats!

I did the same to RPI. They might send out waves of admits, but the last one we know of was on the 4th. Silence. At this point I'd like to hear anything, including bad news. I agree. Anyone who knows me knows that I strongly dislike doing nothing. A shark analogy wouldn't be misused on me. Sitting around feels very.... inefficient.

Hey, there's a Princeton HoS admit in the results. Congrats to whomever that was!

Have you seen Trapped in the Closet? It's free to watch on YouTube. Check it out!

You should watch the timeless classic of our generation: R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet." All 33 chapters. If you can make it through that then the wait will seem luxurious by comparison!

I point mine at a wall.

That sounds pretty interesting. I've done some casual reading on hierarchies and taxonomy. I really liked Nature's Body and The Platypus and the Mermaid. Good reads. I'm interested in cultural artifacts that reflect or affect occupational bias and identity. My undergraduate research focuses primarily on biographies, but I'd like to expand my scope in graduate school. It's sort of a vague description, but basically I'm interested in things made by cultures that demonstrate the "right" way to be a scientists or do science. Similarly, I'm interested in the groups that these things often don't target, as they tend to be underrepresented, marginalized groups. There's my elevator pitch.

Congrats!

I'm boring. My favorite is good old Paper Mate Sharpwriters. Mmm. Bliss.

If you do get accepted and are at all curious about the university or town, send me a PM, assuming you're talking about the U. of Oklahoma. I'm a full-time staff member at OU and have lived in Norman for close to 10 years now. Unfortunately, I'm history of science, not history (separate departments), so I can't poke around and ask about the current status of applicants. I agree. I think it's a really good sign!