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Just got notified that I've received a research award for Romania!

Just got notified that I've received a research award for Romania!

Just got notified that I've received a research award for Romania!

YEAH we did!!!!!!

YEAH we did!!!!!!

YEAH we did!!!!!!

YEAH we did!!!!!!

Just accepted my offer from medical anthropology at the University of Connecticut.
 
Guys, we did it!

I work for Princeton Review (when they can be bothered to give me any classes that is...grumble) so I'm a little biased towards their methods. If you have the time and money I would go ahead and take a prep class. BUT....if you're a self-starter and generally "get" things quickly and easily on your own, you'd probably do just as well to buy yourself a retail prep book (i.e. a book you can buy on Amazon, without buying the course itself) and just practice on your own schedule. You're missing the in-person explanation, the regularity of a schedule and, if you're in my class, the corny jokes and swearing, but that's pretty much it.

Yeah, and honestly, things DO happen; you're not going to be "blacklisted" and it's not going to be "career suicide" if you end up having to withdraw an acceptance; you could try requesting an extension and explain why you need it, but if they won't grant it then they're forcing your hand. They may remember you if for some reason you apply there again the next year or something....but why would you be doing that? I can't imagine a scenario in which seven years from now, with research, teaching, publications and who knows what else under your belt, you're rejected for a job that you're otherwise perfect for specifically because of something you did before you even started doctoral training. Even if every single professor in the department is pissed at you as of May 1st 2015, how would they even maintain enough passion to remember who you are virtually a decade later!? And the professors are not the same thing as the college. I don't imagine they're any happier about delays in funding announcements than you are, they will remember being in your shoes, and they WILL understand.
 
...unless they're just assholes. In which case they would have found some reason to be pissed at you even if you'd accepted!

Noooo, I don't think so...but if they can, better to have them do it now than after you've moved out there!

I am a natural self-saboteur and professional buyer's remorse....uh....haver. I accepted my one offer before hearing the final decision on funding on my other offer and part of me is like.....it'd have to be AMAZING, but what if it IS!!!!?????
 
So for self-doubting types like me, or for people who find themselves suddenly surprised by funding or additional offers elsewhere, after they've accepted, worry not! I present you with the April 15th Resolution, by the Council of Graduate Schools: 
 
https://www.cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/CGS_Resolution.pdf
 
Basically, any acceptance BEFORE April 15th is non-binding, as long as you write a letter to the school withdrawing your acceptance. So if you accept and then get a better offer, accept the better offer and write your initial acceptance to withdraw. No harm, no foul. Except on a personal level of course but what are you gonna do?
 
If you accept AFTER April 15th the matter becomes much more complicated and the first place has to write a letter releasing you before you can accept anywhere else. 

I've accepted UMass
 
I haven't actually heard what my financial offer is from my other acceptance (they're deciding tomorrow) but my partner and I sat down and crunched some numbers and realized that even if they beat the financial offer I got from UMass, which is pretty damn good for a public school, they'd have to beat it by a significant amount to make the prospect of living there better than living in Amherst. And there's a slew of other quality-of-life issues we'd have to mitigate as well.
 
Plus my mom already bought like $500 worth of UMass swag, so I think I would literally break her heart if I didn't go. 

I've accepted UMass
 
I haven't actually heard what my financial offer is from my other acceptance (they're deciding tomorrow) but my partner and I sat down and crunched some numbers and realized that even if they beat the financial offer I got from UMass, which is pretty damn good for a public school, they'd have to beat it by a significant amount to make the prospect of living there better than living in Amherst. And there's a slew of other quality-of-life issues we'd have to mitigate as well.
 
Plus my mom already bought like $500 worth of UMass swag, so I think I would literally break her heart if I didn't go. 

I've accepted UMass
 
I haven't actually heard what my financial offer is from my other acceptance (they're deciding tomorrow) but my partner and I sat down and crunched some numbers and realized that even if they beat the financial offer I got from UMass, which is pretty damn good for a public school, they'd have to beat it by a significant amount to make the prospect of living there better than living in Amherst. And there's a slew of other quality-of-life issues we'd have to mitigate as well.
 
Plus my mom already bought like $500 worth of UMass swag, so I think I would literally break her heart if I didn't go. 

Congrats on making a decision! 
 
I'm fairly sure that its would take something radical to shake me out of my home, but I'm not convinced that radical somethings won't happen *quite* yet. 

However you do it, I would plant the idea in your POIs head that they might like to work with you in some capacity in the future. Granted I was not waitlisted by Berkeley but rejected (wiping away a single tear), but I wrote my POI to say "...thank you for reviewing my application materials, and for help during this process. I hope that we can stay in touch and I look forward to the possibility of working with you in the future". She got back to me and said that she hoped we could and that she'd see me at the SAA conference that's coming up. I like to minimize the downer element (turning down the waitlist, being rejected, etc.) and play up the "hope for the future" angle.

Curious...is anyone else approaching these decisions from the perspective of someone with only 50% faith in getting an academic job? 
 
Don't get me wrong, tenured professor is my dream job; but that's the thing. I'm not so confident that a tenure-track job will be that easy for any of us to find. Stuck in adjunct hell for less than minimum wage is not something I'm going to do to myself. So my decision-making process has incorporated not only job placement within academia but also prospects external to the university system that the program would position me well for.
 
Just wondering whether anyone else was thinking along these lines...

Yup. Ohhhhhhhhhhh-hio.

GREs are not too terribly important once you've met the cut off scores, which I believe are generally 300 combined, though I may be wrong about that.
 
Where GREs become more important is LATER. After you've gotten in to a program and are slogging your way through, you're going to continually be applying for grants, scholarships, TA positions, etc., and often your GREs are taken into consideration for those. 

I'm also in the "Third Time's the Charm" club. Fit is the single most important element of your application, I have FINALLY realized that. But fit doesn't just mean fit within a program, it also means fit within current research paradigms. When I first began applying to PhD programs I was trying to get in to do Maya bioarchaeology. But the problem there is that, with a few exceptions, nobody wants to DO Maya bioarchaeology. Too Maya for the bioarchaeologists, too bioarchy for the Mayanists. So I had to realize that my interests simply did not have an audience in PhD programs. So I gained experience in bioarchaeology outside of the Maya context and stayed regionally non-specific in my SOPs, focusing instead on broader theoretical approaches. 
 
Everybody's right about letters, you should have no problem. And if you do secure a research assistant position, consider finding a letter writer there. My strongest letter was from my supervisor at work.

I'm also in the "Third Time's the Charm" club. Fit is the single most important element of your application, I have FINALLY realized that. But fit doesn't just mean fit within a program, it also means fit within current research paradigms. When I first began applying to PhD programs I was trying to get in to do Maya bioarchaeology. But the problem there is that, with a few exceptions, nobody wants to DO Maya bioarchaeology. Too Maya for the bioarchaeologists, too bioarchy for the Mayanists. So I had to realize that my interests simply did not have an audience in PhD programs. So I gained experience in bioarchaeology outside of the Maya context and stayed regionally non-specific in my SOPs, focusing instead on broader theoretical approaches. 
 
Everybody's right about letters, you should have no problem. And if you do secure a research assistant position, consider finding a letter writer there. My strongest letter was from my supervisor at work.

I'm also in the "Third Time's the Charm" club. Fit is the single most important element of your application, I have FINALLY realized that. But fit doesn't just mean fit within a program, it also means fit within current research paradigms. When I first began applying to PhD programs I was trying to get in to do Maya bioarchaeology. But the problem there is that, with a few exceptions, nobody wants to DO Maya bioarchaeology. Too Maya for the bioarchaeologists, too bioarchy for the Mayanists. So I had to realize that my interests simply did not have an audience in PhD programs. So I gained experience in bioarchaeology outside of the Maya context and stayed regionally non-specific in my SOPs, focusing instead on broader theoretical approaches. 
 
Everybody's right about letters, you should have no problem. And if you do secure a research assistant position, consider finding a letter writer there. My strongest letter was from my supervisor at work.

YES!!!! That is the BEST feeling! Congratulations

My POI at Amherst called me, but for UNLV I wrote to the department secretary....I think; I followed the 'For more information' link on the graduate section of the Anthro website...and I basically said "Hello, my name is Blah and I was wondering whether you could give me any information about my application status?" I also threw in that I had already received an acceptance and "wanted to make an informed decision about where I will be next year as soon as possible". 
 
If you're writing your POI and you've spoken with them before you can probably just say "Hello Dr. Blah, I was wondering whether you could give me any insight on how the decision making process is going" or something like that. Couldn't hurt to mention your acceptances...