daykid

Hey HipposHippos, congrats. I'm currently at Brown if you have any questions.

I second Dan Jackson completely. I had one POI from a big name institution tell me in no uncertain terms the s/he (for anonymity's sake) was very surprised i was even considering another school. "You have to think about getting a job". Meanwhile, my would be adviser at that same institution totally understood my reasons for choosing a smaller, slightly less prestigious program (Brown). I have on occasion wondered what if I had gone to the big name school, but at Browb my advisers have been fantastic, my cohort is super supportive and I have a financial stability that is really a luxury as a grad student. I absolutely don't regret my decision at all.

Hey Finefebruary, i went to GWU as a undergrad if you have specific questions, feel free to pm me. While it's a new program in terms of PhD, the program itself is well established and has some great people. It also has some well known professors who will certainly fight for you when it comes time to get you on the job market.

Last year I was accepted to Michigan with an interview while Sarab was accepted without. Basically, schools seem to do whatever they want. Consistency be damned.

I agree but with the caveat that if you are waiting on one school and coming up on the deadline to decide for another school (which shouldn't happen but sometimes does), then its ok to let the first school know that you have a deadline. Otherwise, never a good idea.

Congrats Daisy! Good luck!

Hey, I am also a ling anth person who overlaps with other subfields, in my case sociocultural and ethnomusicology. In all of my applications I had POIs listed in all of these subfields and music departments, which I think was generally good because it demonstrated that I would fit in well with multiple facets of a given university. If I had to choose a subfield on my application, I chose ling anth because that is where the bulk of my theory was coming from and the track I felt it best fit into, despite not having a traditionally "linguistics-y" project. I also didn't have a huge background in linguistics, though it wasn't mentioned to me. As far as I'm aware, there was only one program I applied to where the different tracks didn't talk to each other about applicants. That was UT Austin. You may want to call the departments and ask how applications are handled. That way you make sure that the people you are most interested in working with see your app. Good luck!

I'd say hold off at this point. I think it's a little late. Last year I contacted people early under the pretense of asking if they thought I'd be a good fit for the program, which seemed to work well. I'd say that if you email now having already applied, the only way that will read is needy.

I would imagine that most POIs are checked out for the break. Their probably either finishing up stuff from the first semester or working on something else. I imagine that the earliest most committees start to meet is last january. Some POIs dont respond at all until the formal committee has met. I would try not to read too much into anything and just try to sit tight for the next few weeks. They are by far the hardest and the longest but interviews and things should start happening early february, if I remember correctly

This is so strange. I've never heard of anyone going through the applicant to talk to letter writers..... or any of this really. I don't think it's really a fail cause none of it is your fault and it's really not something you should have been prepared for. It's really just weird. Good luck with it.

On the upside its good he's this interested!

Also check if there is a way to rank your letters. That way if they only accept two, at least they'll be the two you want included.

Hey all, Just chiming in to wish you all luck this year. And, to give some advice on your writing samples. It should be the best piece of academic writing you have. If you've published something, use that. If not, use a chunk of a thesis or a really outstanding term paper. Don't write something new unless you have nothing else. The point is to show that you've got the goods. It doesn't have to be about your current topic by any means. As for SOPs, you should definitely engage with theory in the sense that you show how your work is going to contribute to a larger body of work. You want to show that you have a sense of what is out there and that you are thinking about where you fit. This is also how you should work in a sense of where you fit in your potential program. What is is that the professors you hope to work with are doing that you feel makes them good potential advisers for you. Hope this helps! Good luck.

That' Awesome!!! See you in Providence!

Congrats NoSleep!!!

Thanks everybody! Forsaken, if you ever want to come out to visit Brown, lemme know!

So after a lot of back-and-forths, weighing of pros and cons, and some soul searching to figure out what is really important to me in my graduate education, I've decided and I'll be attending Brown in the fall. I am so excited about my advisers and the unique opportunities I've discussed with them to really shape my degree how I want it. Congrats to everyone who has decided and to those who haven't, good luck. It's almost over!

I've been having this issue a lot. Be gracious. Thank them for everything sincerely. Let them know that you hope to continue to work with them in the future. If there are personal reasons why you are choosing one place over another, tell them those. I told UT that a big part of my decision was that after having made such a big move back in November, we wanted to be a little closer to home (which is Jersey). So, that ended up being one of the deciding factors as to why UT was a no.

Yay! Double congrats!!! What an exciting year for you.

Well that's exciting Cultural Anth! Does this mean your decision is made?

At this point if you are only waiting on these other decisions to decide on Chicago, I'd call. It's past the point of just being impatient and actually affecting your decision. Call, let them know that you are deciding whether or not to accept another offer and that if there is any information to be had, than you need it. Otherwise, if where you really want to be is Chicago, go to Chicago!

Something that has been repeated to me at my visits is that we shouldn't feel bad to say no to a program or an adviser. Nor should we lose touch with a would have been adviser if we choose to go somewhere else. Sometimes it is hard to remember that these professors are people too and understand that we have to choose what is right for us. They get it and they will still be our colleagues some day, no matter where we end up. That made me feel a bit better about the decision process.

I feel the same way! I feel almost guilty knowing that they have been trying to woo me to come to their schools and I'm probably going to say no!

Of all 5 acceptances I received, only one poi gave me the news before the official offer

Wanted to revive this thread. I'm contemplating brown for Fall 2014. Any one else thinking of making the move to Providence?