Canis

It's a small crime, but a crime nonetheless to re-animate a long dead thread. So - I'm sorry.
 
But this thread came up when I searched on Google, so for the sake of future readers, don't believe the hype...
 
Almost every major at Oxford doesn't require the GRE - it's not required for London School of Economics (LSE) and by the way, there are more LSE degrees working in Obama's administration today than Harvard, Yale, or any of the big american universities which all require the GRE. For future posters looking for programs that don't require the GRE - look to the UK, also look at all the top rated Canadian schools. Somehow all the huge universities with incredible reputations in Canada like UofT, UBC, York, etc. manage just fine without using the GRE in all their programs.
 
Also, here is a great list of graduate programs that don't require the GRE - including degrees from Columbia, Penn, MIT, UC Berkeley, NYU, and Johns Hopkins: http://ainsleydiduca.com/grad-schools-dont-require-gre
 
But there's more - I mean... haven't you ever wondered: What is the GRE?
 
1. It's a standardized test. What does it test? Your preparation skills for taking the GRE. Nothing else. And it's a for-profit product, sold alongside expensive tools for learning how to score well on it. If you're smart enough to go to graduate school, that much should be obvious.
 
2. It's also a classic tool used to maintain inequality in a nation with some of the greatest inequality in the so-called developed world/global north/whatever you want to call it.
 
3. It's also a way to save time if you're an admissions committee who, because you work in the U.S., are overworked, and underpaid, and will someday soon likely be made up of nothing but seasonal employees without benefits or rights (once all the tenured faculty are replaced with adjuncts).
 
I'm personally boycotting it. I finished an MA without it, and am planning to do a PhD without it. I will teach and do research without it - and I will always encourage my departments to remove the requirement from admissions processes - as some are now starting to do.

Hey guys! I've finally been accepted to a doctoral program!
 
CUNY accepted me this morning. Now I have some serious decisions to make.

OK, San Diego it is! Michigan is a great department, but when it was time to decide I really needed to take into account not only research fit, but also adviser relationship fit and just my overall well-being and comfort level in the department. Plus, my husband will have more opportunities there, and I really needed to think of him as well.
 
Good luck to everyone!

Congrats, CulturalAnth!
 
And I love how you chose Memorial, Canis. I have a good friend who did his Master's there - he absolutely loved it. Atlantic Canada is unique; the Rock (Newfoundland) is quite the place. The people there are incredibly welcoming, but it is isolated. I hope you and your SO enjoy yourselves!
 
In other news, I decided on U of T for a number of complicated reasons. I won't be moving anywhere in the fall, but I will be making a huge personal change since I've been working in the private sector for the last five years.

You're going to Memorial, right Canis?

Hi Kaitri,
 
My advisor explained the basis of this decision to me in a really helpful way. She said that your masters research is essentially about your ability to carry out a well-rounded, cohesive and coherent small-scale research project, and discuss and write in your field at an advanced level, so you can show PhD program committees that you are capable of doing this kind of stuff independently - that they can trust your abilities and you will be a valuable contributor to their team, and a good investment. Which school's environment will help you accomplish this goal? I stopped looking at the "prestigious" schools because, to me, that is only worth so much at the end of the day. It made me realize that my current school will give me the flexibility, finances, independence and supportive environment that I require to accomplish the aforementioned goals. And. I know that my advisor and my committee will go to bat for me for my LORs for Phd. 
 
Personally, since I am also doing Med anthro and because I too considered McMaster and Toronto (but got better funding and a better advisor elsewhere), I would go with McMaster. The faculty seemed really great, the advisor I was thinking of going with was amazing and it seemed like the environment fostered learning and collaboration rather than competition - the latter is often considered a negative trait of U of T's environment. My advisor and some of my colleagues were trained at McMaster in bio and med anthro and absolutely loved it. Coincidentally, one of my friends just last week chose McMaster over Toronto, Alberta and USask.
 
Just my two cents. It's a difficult decision, no doubt, but whatever choice you make will be the right one.

Eco, I agree with CulturalAnth.  It sounds like option 1 would be the better environment for professional growth - especially through teaching experience - and that's what's going to really matter when you're eventually out on the job market.  I've had a couple of friends who went with the more prestigious option and were really lamenting the lack of support and development they could have gotten with some of their other options.  I chose a smaller, lesser-known, but incredibly supportive option for my MA and haven't regretted it for a second.  The network of support made all the difference, and I'm so glad to have had a completely positive graduate experience thus far while others I know have had their progress hindered by competition or department politics.

The spirit of this is exciting and fun, and I agree about the passion for research, exploration, and learning. If I didn't have that passion I wouldn't have made it through the last 7 years of school and grad school.
 
That said, the above is something you'd only argue if you haven't really spoken to a PhD student, haven't been through a graduate program, haven't talked to professors about graduate school, and haven't done research on what getting a PhD actually entails.
 
It's also a position of incredible privilege. Many people going to graduate school have families, children, partners, to consider. Many people going to graduate school already have debt. They have futures to consider for their families. Only if you have none of these responsibilities and piles of money OR are willing to go into incredible debt (100k+ or more for US schools).
 
It's exactly right that getting a PhD is not going to lead to a job offer (publishing, networking, job talks, etc. will) which is exactly why you should not go to an unfunded program.

I suppose everyone might have different goals in getting a PhD. It's the same advice every professor and mentor has given me for the past 7 years of college through my BA and MA: "Don't get a PhD unless it's fully funded."
 
It's because they are on the front lines and see that there are literally no jobs anymore. All the tenure track jobs have been replaced with contingent and adjunct labor. 80% of the courses at schools like CUNY are now taught by students or PhDs who have temporary seasonal teaching jobs.
 
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my PhD, but I'm turning down the offers that would require taking on more debt. I already have debt from undergrad and my MA, and having a PhD doesn't increase your chances of getting work, so going into debt for it would just make things worse for me.
 
My cousin who has a PhD in engineering was recently turned down for a job at a company who told her that they would have hired her with just an MA, but with the PhD they think she's overqualified. No teaching jobs and other jobs think you're too qualified. But, if you want to teach overseas, which I hope to do - it's perfect.
 
This does make me curious - what are everyone's plans with their PhDs? Do you have jobs in mind?

Read this: https://chronicle.com/article/Graduate-School-Is-a-Means-to/131316/
 
the whole thing is a good reality check (not that you can't deviate from it) especially this advice which can help when we're wowed by even getting into places, when in fact we should be glad we got in, but only going if we're just about 100% funded.
 
"Do not attend graduate school unless you are fully supported by—at minimum—a multiyear teaching assistantship that provides a tuition waiver, a stipend, and health insurance that covers most of the years of your program. The stipend needs to be generous enough to support your actual living expenses for the location. Do not take out new debt to attend graduate school. Because the tenure-track job market is so bleak, graduate school in the humanities and social sciences is, in most cases, not worth going into debt for."

The thing is in cultural it's not the case that students are held to their admissions statement interests. In this case, it's exactly that, a POI who wanted a protege to take on his personal work. Any deviation from that, even minor ones, would not have been acceptable. What's especially disconcerting about this was that the POI never even hinted at this in initial discussions and went through 10 days of emailing about (every day) about research areas before finally being pushed to reveal that this would be the case.
 
There are a host of other reasons I'd label it toxic, based on not only this but also the fact that students are finding it impossible to finish because of too many new admits, not enough TA spots for funding in the years after the funding runs out, difficultly getting access and support from supervisor and from committee and from department, etc. I looked at the graduate student association meeting minutes going back years and every year they brought up the same problems over and over, and the department hasn't addressed them.
 
Also, when I reached out to the department, the faculty member in charge of the grad admissions process literally said "I haven't been doing this long" so couldn't answer my questions about how funding works - but also couldn't direct me to anyone who could. The department took days to reply to simple queries, and generally felt distant and reluctant to help me find answers to questions about the offer they were giving me.
 
Finally, the real sign was that of all the dozens of current students I reached out to contact about life in the department - only 2 replied. At every other school, all of the students replied, usually with glowing recommendations. In this case one was somewhat positive and one was negative - but only two even bothered to reply.
 
Edit: I should add this was the exact opposite in all regards of the other programs that made me offers. One of the scariest parts was the one student who did have positive reviews of the department said "it's great except for difficulty getting time with your supervisor, competition with other students for funding, x, y, z, etc." listing all these horrible things that aren't the case in some programs - but which this student said they assumed was normal in programs! I'm glad to have had a lot of experience (~5 years) working closely at a PhD only university with faculty and students and knowing how it ought to be!

Canis- Wow. I've always been told by POIs to put thesis/disertation research topics in the SOP, but that didn't mean after being accepted that I couldn't pick a different topic instead. On my SOPs, I mostly just said I want to work with POI on their XYZ research from which I will formulate my own research topic regarding ZYX, etc. There was only one that I was extremely specific what I wanted my dissertation to be about. My area of study is both very specific and very broad (reproductive anthropology), and I picked the few universities that have POIs doing that kind of work. 
 
Anyway.. I'm glad now you know and were able to make the best decision for you! 

I see where you're coming from - but I don't really know if the environment is toxic because they are holding you to what you wrote in your SOP. I mean, I don't really know what you wrote or how it was worded, but I definitely do not hold it against the POI for holding you to your word. This happens a lot, actually, because at the PhD level you should be applying to schools and know exactly what you want to do - it's not a masters program. Regardless, I'm glad that it worked out for you. I decided I wasn't going to a PhD program unless I was going for my ideas, rather than fulfilling a current POI's agenda. I ended up not applying to 3 schools (one was actually a declined recruitment) because I would have been an "appendage" to the POI, rather than finishing with a unique contribution of research. It sounds like you made the same choice, and I think that is a good one, and ultimately set you/us up for success.

Wow - I would say that it's unfortunate that the POI did that, but it sounds like he did you a favor in the end (although, wasted a lot of your time). Regardless, looks like you truly dodged a bullet! 

Canis - While I'm not sure "toxic" is the word I would use, I would certainly say that kind of atmosphere is not conducive to learning, growing, or producing research.  My SOP stated a pretty broad area of interest because I am genuinely interested in doing research on many topics, and my POI seems completely comfortable with allowing me to explore and discover my own trajectory.  Her existing graduate students study things that are similar to her interests, but they have their own distinct foci.  As anyone who has done any kind of research knows, the more you research, the more questions arise.  Sometimes a focused research project can veer off into a new direction based on evidence and can lead to completely different topics.  I wouldn't want to be in a situation where I was only ever allowed to explore ONE thing and was only allowed to continue the professor's work rather than developing my own.  I think that being able to ask your own questions and develop research on your own unique topic (with guidance from a POI) is very valuable.  It sounds like you definitely avoided a bad situation.  I hope your future university offers you more flexibility and better support! 

On that note. I just formally declined my offer from University of British Columbia, in case anyone is on their wait-list. (You may want to bring a bullet proof vest if you choose to accept.)

Just had the craziest thing happen in the middle of my process. I've been trying to decide between two schools - had basically ruled out the third.
 
After 10 days of great, interesting email conversations in which I we were discussing research ideas - the prospective supervisor suddenly emailed me and said that he didn't want to work with me, and the department couldn't support me there if I wasn't going to write my dissertation on exactly what I had written in my application essay.
 
I've never heard of this happening, but apparently it's a thing that occurs sometimes. So - I am SO grateful that I figured out he was only willing to work on one thing and had no tolerance at all for exploration or following the research where it took me. If I hadn't I would have signed up to go study in a completely toxic situation.
 
It's a good reminder that during the decision process it's so important to talk on the phone, to email a lot - to seriously get to know your potential supervisors, to show them who you really are in order to avoid a horrible situation later.
 
But on the upside, it made my decision so much easier because the other school is like a dream in comparison - they completely support me, and are excited by all my interests and ideas - not just one of them.

Just had the craziest thing happen in the middle of my process. I've been trying to decide between two schools - had basically ruled out the third.
 
After 10 days of great, interesting email conversations in which I we were discussing research ideas - the prospective supervisor suddenly emailed me and said that he didn't want to work with me, and the department couldn't support me there if I wasn't going to write my dissertation on exactly what I had written in my application essay.
 
I've never heard of this happening, but apparently it's a thing that occurs sometimes. So - I am SO grateful that I figured out he was only willing to work on one thing and had no tolerance at all for exploration or following the research where it took me. If I hadn't I would have signed up to go study in a completely toxic situation.
 
It's a good reminder that during the decision process it's so important to talk on the phone, to email a lot - to seriously get to know your potential supervisors, to show them who you really are in order to avoid a horrible situation later.
 
But on the upside, it made my decision so much easier because the other school is like a dream in comparison - they completely support me, and are excited by all my interests and ideas - not just one of them.

FYI- there's a bill in the works to cap the government loan forgiveness at $57,500... Something to keep in mind.
 
And Canis, while it's nice to be able to say that you could do okay as an adjunct, it's important to realize that that isn't the reality for many people. Adjunct pay (my current institution pays adjuncts ~$2000 per 3 credit hour course) and the lack of medical benefits isn't feasible for many people, unless they want to join the ranks of adjuncts living in homeless shelters or have outside financial support (trust fund, large inheritance, spousal support). The thought of having to teach 8-9 courses a year to approximate my graduate student income for years in the future is just *not* appealing. I like the idea that it should be about sharing my knowledge but not the idea that I must live in poverty for decades to do so.

Adjunct to me are for grad students while attending phd programs. After that no one can make it unless their partner is the bread winner

My husband, sister-in-law and brother-in-law all studied at MUN, but for their undergraduate degrees.  They all enjoyed their time there.  Newfoundlanders tend to be very friendly, and with the oil and gas industry, St. John's is expanding and is no longer the sleepy little town it used to be.
 
Being stuck on the island can be a pain at times - you need to take the ferry to fly if you want to go anywhere outside of Newfoundland.   Some things are expensive due to the cost of transport to get things to the island.
 
If you enjoy the outdoors and/or history, Newfoundland is a great place to be.  I've visted Terra Nova and Gross Morne National Parks, visited Cape Spear, Signal Hill, and a bunch of other historic sites.  Been whale watching and saw a whole pod with some baby whales.
 
St. John's is obviously not a big city like Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver, so if you like big city life, than St. John's might not be for you.  Otherwise, I think MUN is a great choice.

As you can tell from looking at my signature, I am probably just a little bit biased when it comes to answering this question. 
 
I've had an overwhelmingly good experience doing my undergrad at Memorial. It has a really great, close-knit atmosphere, and people always seem just genuinely interested in helping you out. It's also a fairly small school, in comparison, which means that you get to know people much quicker/easier in my opinion. I didn't apply to any programs at Memorial, since they have yet to develop their MA Communication Studies program (though it is in the works), but if I could have, I without a doubt would have done so. The Faculty of Arts is a very diverse, close-knit community in particular.
 
Also, more biased... but St. John's is a great place to live. There is so much character and culture that you could literally not find anywhere else. Not to mention that it is absolutely beautiful, and the people are genuinely super friendly.... as in friendly to the point where it is kind of baffling. Strangers call me "duckie" and "sweetie" and "dear" constantly.

I agree with Forsaken.. I would especially take into consideration the happiness of the grad students you are talking to, because that will be you someday. 

Canis, 
 
I would say that you should go with whichever school feels better. The environment you describe at Memorial sounds great. I can't speak with any knowledge of any of the programs you mentioned, but It seems that the students would be an ideal source of information. It sounds as though Memorial would make you happier! Just my 1/2 a cent.

Thanks Canis, and everyone else! I was rejected to Columbia and I am hearing nothing but awful things about their program.  Huh. I'm going to wait a couple more days and accept the Chicago offer.  Good advice about writing my POI. I've been putting it off for Chicago for different reasons, but it's time.  Thanks everyone!