Canis

I'm very interested in hearing other opinions and thoughts on the original question: which Canadian universities are considered to be the most prestigious. In the US, for example, the most prestigious schools are obviously the 'Ivy's' like Princeton, Harvard, Yale - and other top schools. Of course, this doesn't mean that those schools are the best, and it doesn't mean they are the best schools for specific disciplines at all. Similarly, I'm interested in how prestige is perceived by Canadians. As a US American, I had only ever heard of McGill. After doing research and speaking with advisors here, I was told that UofT and UBC were also considered 'good schools.' What this means is that with PhDs from UofT or UBC I could get teaching jobs in the US. I was curious to hear how the schools are considered within Canada and wondered if this matched up. I also applied to York, Simon Fraser, and Memorial because of faculty I want to work with but my faculty advisors here weren't happy about those options.

What they're trying to do is get an answer from you so that if you say no, they can offer it to someone on the waitlist. If you still need more time after one month has passed, you can ask them for an extension. The idea isn't that you hold onto every offer until April 15, and then make a decision. And in 3 weeks if you still haven't heard from your other top choices, tell them that you have an offer and you'd like to know when you can expect to hear from them so you know how much of an extension you'll need on that offer.

Agreed. I noticed that, early on, each time I reached out to a POI, they would google search for my name. It seems pretty standard these days.

I'm dealing with a similar situation - if you do an internet search for "two body problem" you'll find lots of writing with advice on this. It's quite common for professors to get both members of a couple hired - but I've been told this is rare for PhD students. But I don't think it should be - after all, a PhD really is a job you're being hired for. Since you have a solid offer, you can certainly talk to your department about it and ask their advice. Alternately I've heard of the other SO asking their own department for an expedited decision because their SO was already accepted. Read some of the links you find when you do that search and you'll see the ups and downs of doing this.

"...after several desperate messages/emails hence I wrote a rather intense email to them. I wrote how i was getting really really anxious about my application and that their late-submission could cost me one full academic year." After writing that kind of email to them, I wouldn't ask either of them to be references in the future. The one who backed out sound like she's doing it because of the email you sent. The other one probably wants to, but doesn't feel like dealing with the consequences of telling you. I wish I understood why so many referees wait until the last minute or even submit letters very, very late. So many do, that this is what I've come to expect from referees.

If literature is a thing in the world, like rocks and rivers and mountains and trees, doesn't it too tell us something about the way the world is? Or is it it not also a thing in the world, in which case, what is it? I'm curious to know the thoughts that might be behind excluding any of the many things of the world from an investigation into the world.

To return to the original MA and religion question. I would be really careful about doing religion study as prep for anthropology. There are many anthropology programs that are quite hostile toward religion as a field. I've experienced this. The way an MA program can benefit your application is by showing the committee that you are capable of graduate study in that field. In some cases, the fields have extremely different approaches to research, methods, writing, etc. In other situations they overlap. So, if you're going for an MA to be strategic, be sure to be strategic.

Thanks you - that's helpful!

When it comes to phone calls my policy is: If it's important they'll leave a message. If it's admissions and you don't answer they should leave a message or email you. The only people who call and don't leave messages are telemarketers or awful corporations like mobile phone companies.

Re: CUNY - I love it. It's an amazing institution - the largest public urban university system in the country. The professors are world class - some of the best, and the opportunities are endless (like working at AMNH, and other cool locations). The students are more diverse than anywhere else. Seriously love it. The institution, the bureaucracy, the board of trustees, all of that - are horrible. It's a massive public institution. They all have that problem. The Affordable Care Act online healthcare exchanges worked flawlessly in comparison to "CUNYFirst" - the new database system that is supposed to centralize all information at 24 campuses which is a nightmare. The trustees are always trying to stop CUNY from doing real research, and trying to get anything done there is like the definition of kafkaesque. But this is true of all the big public research schools.

Did anyone else on here, aside from Quirky, apply to any Canadian schools like Toronto, York, University of British Columbia, etc?

I wouldn't expect anything at CUNY to ever happen on time. It's just not that kind of place. Also - there is a winter break, and this is the very first week of classes, so it's very busy around there. The centralized computer systems they use (and are trying to use) for all the campuses are constantly down, and there's endless problems with registrations, etc. I'm sure the members of the department, who all teach elsewhere as well - are busy with a lot of other things at the moment. Last year the first results were around February 6th - and they trickled out over the next few months. They will never have extra money at CUNY - so they're going to be very careful about offers and people will probably be offered spots from the wait list up until the very last minute in April.

A few thoughts on this. You will know one way or another eventually. Most results don't come this early. Reaching out now runs the risk of making you look impatient or needy. Just wait - you will find out. There are legitimate reasons for asking the admissions committee how close they are to making a decision - for example if you need to decide based on deadlines for other programs or funding. But this isn't undergraduate admissions, the PhD application is MUCH close to a job application than a school application. If you wouldn't do it for a job application, don't do it here.

Also - the majority of applicants do not participate in these forums or post their results on the list. So keep that in mind, we're not seeing results that are actually representative of the applicant pool.

http://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/ Just sayin

I agree with the above advice - sending an email with the new information is the way to go (you can send to grad secretary and if you're chummy with them your POIs). But, be aware that someone who did this recently in another forum (sending a conference acceptance) got a really nasty reply back basically saying "there's no reason to add this to your file." That really surprised me and if it were me, I'd think twice about that program.

Just out of curiosity: How would that be clear? I'm curious to know your reasoning - coming from a socio-cultural linguistics perspective I can imagine someone choosing to say they were enthralled by the receipt of admissions results. I think we could safely say that everyone in these forums is entranced by the process, so why wouldn't the experience of a result be enthralling as well?

All adcoms must be celebrating Wednesday Worry Day - a special holiday whereby they make us wait when they already know the answer just to gather data on cultural practices of worrying. IRB approved, I'm sure.

The worst part in my mind is that not everyone who applies is on Grad Cafe. Therefore, we don't actually know if certain schools have already accepted people or not. The number of acceptances can be so small that all those here who applied to that school might have been wait listed or rejected and won't be notified until later - meanwhile we're all waiting for the first acceptances to post - when they might have already gone out. Of course historical numbers suggest that they just haven't sent out decisions yet. The 2nd worst part are that some of the schools I applied to only send by mail - and that is annoying to say the least.

You're finishing an MA now, but still have two years of funding? Are you in a PhD program with an en route MA? Or are you in an MA and applying now to PhD programs? Once you're doing a PhD you're not going to have any time to enjoy any 'culture' wherever you're living - so I would focus on the school with the best research fit, the most prestige (yes which school it is does matter), and the most funding. And what field are you switching from and to? I take it you're not actually in NOLA now otherwise you wouldn't be complaining about missing culture?

If you're a US citizen, Warwick is eligible for US Federal Aid. You could take out US graduate student loans to complete the MA there if you wanted.

Quirky - I sent you a message as well.

No word from UofT yet here.

Quirky: you're the only other student I've found on the forum so far who has applied to UofT for Anthropology Phd. I applied there as well. I spoke with lots of faculty and students and it sounds like they have a very hard time getting funding for international students. What did you hear when you talked to them while applying? LackingPatience: McGill is the only Canadian university I had ever heard of until I applied to PhD programs. My advisors told me that they considered UofT, UBC, and York to also be very good schools, comparable to top US schools.

One can always call the department office and anonymously ask the secretary if any decisions have gone out.