LeoBixby

I have formally accepted the offer at University of Washington!!! It took me forever to make my decision, but it really feels good to know where I am going finally. Looking forward to the April 4th visit.

Have any UW folks received their official funding information yet? According to my original email, they were supposed to send it out last week.

Granted I am not in Geography at Portland State, but I am in Political Science, finishing my Masters. I can tell you that there are funding woes all over the school's departments. Unless you are planning on professor-gotten grants from NSF or something, you can bet that departmental funding is at a bare minimum this year. The teachers union just authorized a strike. We don't know if it will happen yet, but it's likely. Major issues going on at PSU. Great school though! And the geography department is amazing.

Hey breaks0: I'd actually not give up on funding yet from Binghamton. I'd even suggest you stay in touch with your POI because I know of one person admitted with full funding who might not actually go, and if that's the case, you may still have a shot. A lot will have to do with your overall fit with the program. As for visits, I don't know if there is an official visit day or not, but I am going to visit there next week, so I'd be happy to report back after the visit. I am having to make a very tough decision, so the visit is really necessary.

Meoweth and DarkVegan are two of the best aliases I have ever seen on the Internet. Just wanted to point out that important fact.

I just heard via email that I got into UW! Funding information coming in the mail. I'm over the moon, and now I have a very difficult decision to make.

Anybody hear anything from University of Washington yet? Geez they are taking a long time. Today is one week from when I was told they would have their decisions made after one more week, "we hope". hahaha

UW is taking an extra week because the first round of analyses by faculty members was not enough for the committee to feel like they had a good enough idea of all the applicants in order to rank them. So they are doing another round. Their process is pretty complex, from what I have gathered. No news is still good news at this point.

Received word that UW will be yet another week.

I am faced with the possibility of having to decide between two PhD programs. One is the most perfect fit for me that I could possibly find anywhere in the world, while the other is a highly ranked big school, not as great a fit, but pretty much guarantees good teaching gigs upon graduation. The perfect fit program has a less than stellar placement record, but has the most important thinker around for the particular area I want to research within, and I would be studying right under him. So, the question ultimately is, big name security versus intellectual heaven and major publishing opportunities, but not so much on the employment security front.

I claim the second acceptance from Binghamton. Found out officially this morning, and nominated for a really nice fellowship! CONGRATS to SocGirl too!!!!

Thanks! No word on the official timeline yet, but I'm sure it will be very soon. I have a pretty nice relationship with my POI, so I was lucky to get a same day call. They literally met today.

I just found out from my POI, unofficially, at Binghamton University that I will be accepted and an offer is forthcoming. Huge relief, as this is the first news I've gotten from any of my applications.

If you hear any more about that issue, please share! That is kind of frightening. Overall, I don't see that money solid offers of funding in the geography area, not as much as I would assume, considering how fast the discipline is growing in popularity right now.

Welcome fellow UW sufferer!! hahaha Looks like next week, but maybe we'll get surprised.

I wouldn't worry too much about the need to go visit, especially if you are more interested in the Master's track. Bigger deal to visit if you are trying to get into the PhD program.

Kay123: For my part, I did make contact with a certain professor and was actually referred to him by another professor at a different program, whom he knows. Still have not idea if that was an advantage or not, because I haven't heard back from my POI in quite some time. It is always a plus to make contact early on, but not a necessity, especially if you have a really solid record. I am one of those with a solid writing sample, a Master's in another related discipline, and good letters, sop pretty solid, but really weak GRE's and only a 3.7 GPA, so making contact is a must for me. Also, no need to be worried just yet, because I did hear back from the graduate director and he said "we will send out our decisions next week, I hope." Geez, another week of staring into the abyss. YUCK! Hang in there.

The silence is deafening from U of Washington!!!

Looks like those who applied to UW will have to wait until Monday at least. ARGGGG!

Dr. Bergmann is really nice and I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you contacted him, but probably at this point I doubt it would have much of an effect on the deliberation process, because they are already deep into it. It's driving me crazy. I hope we find out on the earlier side of things, LIKE THIS WEEK!!!!

Hey, I saw that you are going to DOPE. I'm very excited about presenting at that conference. Have you been before? I was accepted to present the same paper at AAG, but it's just way too expensive for me, and my department offers no funding.

I'm suffering right along with you. I also applied to UW for the PhD in Geography. My background is in environmental activism and both other degrees are in political science (BA and MS, 2014) with a strong emphasis on political ecology and world-systems analysis. Your background sounds like a great fit a UW. Good luck! You should look at the work Luke Bergmann is doing in critical GIS. He's asking really interesting questions.

Just a quick note that I have heard directly from someone inside Binghamton Sociology that they will make their final admittance decisions when the faculty meets on February 21st. I saw a few of you have applied there as well.

Yes, it is absolutely appropriate to ask about possible funding sources. You probably want to approach it very open-mindedly, using phrases like "do you have any advice on..." or "do you suggest I look mostly for funding outside of the department, or are there possibilities inside...." I have found that funds rarely, if ever, find you. You have to go ask questions and then you suddenly find sources abound in many cases, competitive as the process might be. On that front, departmental funding is your best best. University-wide competitive sources of funding are so hard to get these days, you pretty much have to have a taylor-made record.

Weekends suck when you are waiting for admission decisions.