Canis

I don't know about this school - but I do know others, like Columbia - will offer admission into their MA programs for PhD applicants who aren't accepted. People usually reject these offers because the MA isn't funded. Are they offering you admission in the M.Eng. or offering to move your application to apply for the M.Eng? Is the M.Eng less competitive?

I agree with archaeostudent1231's thought that it's best not to annoy them. But, if you are only calling/emailing a graduate secretary, they have no connection to the admissions committee, or admissions decisions. You could email them all day every day and they aren't going to impact your admissions decision. Emailing POIs or the graduate department chair, or other faculty is a different matter.

I suggest something like: I'm just sending this quick note to say thank you for speaking with me and... blah, blah last year. Although I was not offered a place in the program at X University, I really enjoyed our conversations. I'm very interested in your work on X and would like to stay in touch. I plan to enroll at X university / I plan to apply again next year and look forward to blah, blah, blah.

Regarding the response on the conference update: That's not a quote is it? What did they actually say?

It's unusual for a PhD program not to have a student handbook that lays out all the program requirements, be sure to look for that and read it also.

I really love your list of questions, they're great - but, for example, if you're applying to the school and then in the interview ask them a question like: "Is there a thesis or a non-thesis?" - wouldn't that suggest to them that you hadn't done enough research on the school prior to applying? It seems it's important to keep in mind that you want to come across as someone who has read everything there is to read on the department web site, and has also already asked questions of your POIs.

It's a common mistake. But you can always email the grad secretary and ask if it's not too late, whether they can substitute a corrected statement... Also, I've mentioned this elsewhere, but the Duke thing is pretty strange. If you read their sample SOPs one of them specifically mentions how he visited and met with his POIs prior to applying - and yet they tell you that you shouldn't do that - yet they give you examples of SOPs from students who did that. I think what this really means is "we're not going to publicly acknowledge that visiting and contacting POIs makes a difference, but it does."

Don't send them an updated CV, instead just send an email to the graduate admissions folks and POIs letting them know your news of an accepted poster presentation at a conference.

Fringe is SO good, if only I could watch it again for the first time. I really like research shows/movies - any film where there's a strong element of problem solving... Recently been watching: Annika Bengtzon: Crime Reporter The Bletchley Circle Dirk Gently (Amazon prime) Old standbys that I return to include: STTNG; Stargate SG-1, Atlantis; ST: Voyager; Doctor Who; Sherlock And keeping up with the new episodes of AHS: Coven

See, I assumed that everyone was already being as crazy as I and checking their application status every day.

There have been past and more recent cases where students check the status online and discover a result, as can be seen in the results listings. But I share your skepticism which is why I ask. I'm not applying to philosophy programs, my philosophy study was in the past. I'm applying to social science programs. I am following philosophy this year as I have an interest in the outcome of this admission season for other reasons.

There are some related programs you could look at - though your best bet is to look outside the US, especially at the UK and Europe. The GRE is primarily an American interest - and outside of that context has nothing to do with the quality of education, training, or research at a university. Of course American universities are also myopic and convinced that only U.S. schools can educate future professors, as a result if you want to teach in the US, you should go to a top US or Canadian school. That said, going to graduate school in the hopes of a teaching job these days is like pouring water on a rock hoping to break it in half. In North America, Columbia University Teachers College does not require the GRE for Psychology in Education (M.A.); Education Psychology, Cognitive, Behavioral, and Developmental Analysis (Ed.M); Psychology-Developmental (M.A.); Cognitive Studies in Education (M.A). Also look at Ottawa, and University of Toronto (OISE). Don't be afraid to look at research universities in the UK and Europe - if your interest is learning and research, science doesn't only happen in the US at schools requiring the GRE. University of Edinburgh, for example is a good place to start. Also, look at Denmark, (all of scandinavia really, they fund research like the US funds military), Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands.

There's an Ohio State acceptance on the results page - is it real? Just looked and the earliest from last year was January 26th.

As an international student, I have no sense of the Canadian schools in terms of perceived prestige. Obviously this is to some degree discipline specific. But I would love to hear everyone's ranking of Canadian universities by your own, personally subjective sense of which are the 'best.'

I can tell you that every single day I think about emailing them. But it's only because I want to know the result, and my crazy monkey brain wants me to DO something. But that won't force a decision out of them, so I just try to distract myself with endless Netflix instead...

Which programs specify including spaces or not?

Yeah, that part was fun...

Character count is a character count, you can use it to count characters... So write a few words in a document and look at the character count. That will answer your question. Keep in mind some character counts are calculated differently, so if an online application does a check before submission you'll want to test it first.

Of course, like all interactions with people in our lives, both professional and private, it depends. If it feels like it makes sense based on your relationship, go for it. Likewise trust your instinct if it feels like a bad idea.

If you're writing in word or open office, there is a character count function.

PS There's nothing wrong with sending an update to the admissions coordinator, POI, or graduate secretary after you get a scholarship, publish a paper, etc. to let them know there's an update to your file. But not as a finalist, only for summering you've actually got.

If your gut says it would be at all strange, listen to your instincts. Remember that they have to imagine working with you, and emailing without a reason might suggest a potential problem. They're not going to forget you exist, and an email at this point won't change the admission result. It has a high probability of appearing to be desperate, or passive aggressive, or just annoying.

Thanks for the reply! PhD app, strangely they list some documents as received and others as not, but they were all in one package. Agreed, it's so strange they wanted printed documents, and then I suppose they'all photocopy them. Agreed, it seems so outdated. Did you also submit TA application?

Did anyone else apply to Anthropology at UBC? I wonder if anyone else's online application still shows as 'incomplete' despite all the materials having been received. In my case, it shows some materials as received, and some as not received, although they were all sent together in one envelope. I've contacted the department twice in the past 2 weeks and gotten no responses. They're also the only program, of all the schools I applied to who required submission of printed application materials by mail. Still, wondering if this is just how it works there, or if this is unusual?

Here: http://bit.ly/1jxmDVi