gingin6789
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Posts posted by gingin6789
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This seem strange to me; My instinct (and asking professors about this) is the opposite: Lower ranked schools will better the offers of higher ranked schools while higher ranked schools will expect you to take the paycut(within reason) because they have all the leverage. You seem to think that there are very few good students; The opposite is true as there are more qualified PhD canidates rejected every year than accepted. This is especially true if the high ranked school is public. Private schools tend to have more leverage, but why would MIT match the offer of no name state school when MIT knows they offer much just in reputation alone.
Graduate students are, for the most part, disposable. Post Docs, Tenure Track canidates are experts in their field, a much different situation.
Oh that was just my input and instinct; I could be completely wrong! I only heard this from one person. It sounds like you asked more folks about it, so, OP, I'd listen to this post rather than mine!
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My thesis advisor actually told me to be picky and "snobby" about rank. (That's hard for me to imagine because I'm just not a snobby person at all. So the most I could do was tell her I'd be picky haha.)
Anyway, she backed up that advice with this: if schools want you badly enough, they will literally have a bidding war over you. When she got accepted to multiple schools, School A told her that they would match anything School B would give her (School A was Vanderbilt. I forget what School B was). So, hopefully if you get funding from the lower-ranked program, the higher ranked program will jump in and say "Not so fast! We could match that!"
Another thing to take into account is fit. If you're accepted to a highly ranked school that isn't nearly as good a fit as the lower ranked one, I don't know if it would be worth it. I don't know how specific the areas of interest are in Public Policy, but in sociology, if I got accepted to a highly ranked demography program, I know it would not match well with my research interests in medical sociology.
It also looks like you're located in Nebraska but are applying to schools in the UK. I'm not sure how the funding input above would apply to international schools.
As you proposed before, rank might be even more salient since you are applying to international schools (if you plan on coming back to the US after you get your degree).
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All of this advice is absolutely excellent!! Thank you all so much for your insight!!
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Congrats! I got the same call today! I guess I will be seeing you again soon! It sounded to me that it was an unofficial acceptance. I asked the DGS to explain the process further and he told me that it is not like a reality TV show, it's not competitive, this meeting is only to introduce us to the department and to make sure we are still interested in studying what our application indicated. March 2-4th right?
Sorry, I still can't over the reality TV analogy!! Imagine if it really WERE like that!! I can imagine the narrator:
"Previously on ExtremeSoc, tensions rose to epic levels when the grad applicants waded through a mud obstacle course for a chance to meet and talk to their POI on the other side. But after a devastating loss in the SOP 'write for your life' challenge, Bob was eliminated."
I would totally watch that show!
Either way, I'm so relieved it won't be like that during the recruitment weekend haha
- PeterRY and sociologynerd
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I woke up from my valentines day snow day nap to get ready for dinner and found my acceptance email!
oh gosh, that sounds heavenly!! Nothing better than a nap, and to top it off with an acceptance email? Wonderful!
I might have thought I was dreaming if that happened to me! I was awake for a while when I got my acceptances yesterday, but I had to keep rubbing the bump on my head (I hit it on a table earlier in the day) to see if I felt pain to make sure it wasn't all a cruel dream (kind of like pinching myself to see if I'm dreaming) haha!
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$40k. I console myself with the fact that that's how much ONE year of tuition and fees costs at a private school.
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Thank you so much, Maleficent and Cylon6!
Aww Justine, that does sound complicated!! I live about 5 minutes from downtown Harrisburg, PA, which has an Amtrak station, so I'm just going to Philly then Wilmington, so mine was pretty simple. Dr. Kupchik asked if I was within driving distance, and I had to sheepishly tell him I didn't drive, but he was so kind and said the train was definitely an option!! I'm so happy!!!
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I just got another notification from a school! An acceptance with a Teaching Assistantship offer. I was sitting in the living room with my gran and mom when I got the email:
Me: OH MY GOSH, I just got accepted to Lehigh with a teaching assistantship!
Mom: Oh I knew you would be accepted, congratulations!
Gran: What, does that have to do with the school that just called today?
Me: No, it's another one!!!
Then I ran around and screamed happily and made more phone calls to my boyfriend, thesis advisor, and best friend.
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Claiming an acceptance to Lehigh University with a TA offer! Best Monday ever!!
- Dragon, sociologo, avatarmomo and 2 others
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Congrats! I got the same call today! I guess I will be seeing you again soon! It sounded to me that it was an unofficial acceptance. I asked the DGS to explain the process further and he told me that it is not like a reality TV show, it's not competitive, this meeting is only to introduce us to the department and to make sure we are still interested in studying what our application indicated. March 2-4th right?
OH that is so amazing!!! Congratulations!!! Oh I'm so glad you inquired further because I was just in too much shock to process what he was saying!! Yes, it's March 2-4! They already sent me my train ticket!!
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Sociolite, thank you so much!! I hope they call you soon; you sound like a great candidate!!
Thank you very much, Maleficent =))))
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Unofficial acceptance, but here is my story:
Drying hair today after a terrible morning. The cherry on top was me bashing my head into a corner of a table. So I finally get to dry my hair after putting some lunch in the microwave. Phone rings in my pocket. Area code says Newark, DE. I start freaking out inside. Director of graduate studies keeps saying how they were very impressed with my application and I can barely believe I'm not dreaming. Said they want to have me there for a weekend, all-expenses paid.
Stop drying my hair, call my boyfriend, mom, best friend, sister, tell my gran who is upstairs. Lunch is still in microwave. It's ravioli.
These are the raviolis of victory.
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University of Delaware director of graduate studies called me ... they haven't made any final concrete decision but he said "I can't tell you enough how impressed we are with your application." So they're having me out there, all expenses paid, for a weekend (along with a handful of other applicants) to meet people and discuss life at UDel, etc ... so an unofficial acceptance?!
EITHER WAY I AM FREAKING OUT WITH HAPPINESS!!!! Please excuse the caps lock!! Stats are in my signature!!
- PeterRY, gsreeram, Maleficent999 and 7 others
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Yes, Meowth, University of Maryland was also in the "closed Friday/open Monday" boat! They sent out acceptances/rejections earlier than this time last year.
If Boston U only sent out one acceptance, surely there's room for more?? I hope so!!
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My second major during undergrad was philosophy, but I'm going to graduate school for sociology. So, I love keeping up with my philosophy friends and I frequent the philosophy forum here as well! It's a good thing there's tons of overlap between the two disciplines, too =)
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I haven't been off for President's Day at all in college ... I would check the websites of the places where you applied to see if they are open tomorrow! Some schools might be closed, but none that I know of!
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What an amazing story!! Your interests are very specific to psych, so I don't know how "in demand" research in your areas of interest is (hello from sociology, by the way).
I can tell you your research experience is a huge deal and will really help you. Additionally, that second undergrad gpa is good, and someone told me that they take the more recent gpa into account when considering your application. With working under your prof for so long, you're guaranteed a pretty thorough, awesome LOR as well.
Make sure you explain your low quant score and back it up by saying how well you did in other quant-related classes in college. Have your recommenders explain it in their letters as well. Your writing score should be ok; 4.5 is good!!
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I also keep wanting to plan where to live next year, but I obviously can't.
Oh, it would be so nice to be able to plan that!!! If I get into my top pick, I know where I'll be staying. Otherwise, I have no idea about lodging ...
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Huge congratulations to all the acceptances today! *throws some confetti for you all*
- moda, amlobo, gretagarbo and 2 others
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My boyfriend got into the only masters program he applied to with a cumulative GPA teetering right around a 3.0.
He applied for a master's program in Emergency Management. He has tons of volunteer experience with organizations that help rebuild homes after natural disasters and the salvation army disaster service. He made a lot of great connections on campus during his undergraduate education with the EM department, and he has his undergrad degree in Meteorology which is a great complement to Emergency Management (which he also minored in as an undergrad).
I'm not sure if he's fully funded or not, but they gave him a paid position working at the Center for Disaster Research and Education 20 hours a week on campus. They also said how they wanted to make an additional GA position just for him!
One thing that helped him was his abundant volunteer experience. Also, he applied to grad school where he also attended undergrad, so they knew the exact intensity and rigor of the program he went through (our school's program is really tough -- for example, the only other highly ranked meteorology program in the state has lower math requirements than our school. They put our meteorology students in math classes that only math majors take and sometimes fail!), and they knew his intelligence, work ethic, and passion for Emergency Management were all top of the line. [As for the GRE, he didn't need to take them since he went to the same school for undergrad. This was the part I was most jealous of him for .... ]
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If you stay in the "The Lobby" forum here, there is a thread for those who have been accepted with a GPA below 3.0! You might wanna check that out! As for OT, specifically, there are sub-forums for individual disciplines within the "The Menu" category. They might have an OT forum for you where you can find out more about OT programs!
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link to the forums with some OT info!
http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/58-clinical-health/
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Oh, I see you found that forum!! Sorry!! I hope someone here can help you!!
Fall 2014 Sociology Interviews and/or Acceptances
in Sociology Forum
Posted
Thank you so much! I truly am over the moon. I wait for the pang of anxiety over grad school to kick in, only now I can tell myself that I have a place to go!
Maybe the same type of thing will happen to you! I certainly wasn't expecting to hear from schools with a January 15 and February 1 deadline so soon! I'm still waiting on the one with a January 4th deadline. It's officially gone in the opposite order of deadlines: Heard from Delaware, Lehigh, and Maryland will be last whenever they notify me one way or the other!
@NoTransitory: Thank you so much!! It will truly be an honor if this is a perfect app season!! =)
I hope all of us hear from more schools soon enough!