PhoenixKing

Berkeley typically does not interview for ethnomusicology, nor I believe for historical musicology for that matter. Good luck to you and everyone else applying this season!

@maelia8, thanks for the info! This is all really helpful. I expect my fortunes to improve once I actually get there and meet people in person, in spite of the stress that may result.

Congrats on securing housing, maelia8! I agree with rising_star and seeingeyeduck that the second option appears more ideal. Speaking from personal experience, even if you have a friendly, generally peaceful live-in situation with a landlord--like I had for two years--you often feel more like a boarder than a roommate, a sentiment exacerbated by the significant age difference between you two. This can make the housing environment a bit uncomfortable. Also, until my landlord rented her room to another young professional for three months while she worked a contract job out of state, I didn't realize how much I valued living with someone closer to me in age. The social dynamics, naturally, are completely different. However, weigh your criteria and determine what's best for you, because only you know what you want. In any event, it sounds like you're in a happy dilemma! On a different note, can you elaborate on your approach to housing once you arrived in the Bay Area? I, too, have been struggling with housing and have accepted that I won't really be able to proceed until I arrive in a few weeks (I live across the country). What documents did you end up bringing to your appointments? What was the turnaround time between the appointments and the offers (or rejections, if you received any)? What advice would you give on efficiently pursuing housing in East Bay, based on your experience? Feel free to PM me if you'd prefer.

It definitely depends on your program. Grad school starts in six weeks for me, but new students in my program are unable to register for classes until a few days before the semester starts--at that time we undergo entrance exams and then have individual consultations with the DGS about course selection and schedules. Given these procedures, the faculty do not expect us to "prepare" beforehand for seminars, advising us instead to focus on doing well on our entrance exams, for which they sent us information a few weeks ago. This is more specific to music scholarship programs, however. It's natural to feel underprepared/unprepared at the outset (or so I've been told by grad students across all fields), but don't worry too much about what others are doing. Every program has its priorities and nuances. If your program hasn't informed you about any summer reading and the like, it's probably safe to say that they don't expect you to do any. Don't stress yourself out more than you need to!

I only received a short email from the DGS in my department regarding my field's annual conference and the department funds potentially available for it for first years; that was sent to me on April 20. Since then, I haven't heard anything from the department, only from the Graduate Division itself--I've been procrastinating on completing my SLR form. I imagine we won't hear anything substantial until the summer, but that's my intuition.

I didn't participate previously in this thread, but I identify with the laziness--I'm still basking in the afterglow of being accepted by top program. I've been paradoxically lazy and anxious about apartment hunting, mostly, whereas I've begun reading some canonical texts about my field (I have no access to reading lists; I'm just being a nerdy overachiever). We'll see how I fare in May, when grad students at my school typically secure housing for the fall...

I'm mostly nervous about the mundane aspects of starting grad school: the cross-country move, establishing residency in another state, finding housing and a roommate, buying furniture, etc. Also, given that I completed elementary school, middle school, high school, and my undergrad in the same state, I have yet to come to terms with the fact that I will not only be attending school in a different state on a different coast, but that I will be required to fly back home each time to visit my family--this change will probably affect me the most, situationally and culturally. Concerning academic aspects, I'm not extremely worried, as I have a relatively solid idea of what to expect in my program based on various conversations I had with faculty and current grad students. Adjusting to the intellectual environment will inevitably be a challenge, but that's normal and I look forward to it. Admittedly, I have begun studying some canonical texts about my field, but this is mostly out of personal interest (read: nerdiness) and to acquire knowledge for its own sake--I have no idea what the reading lists are for introductory seminars, and for my sanity, I'm not going to ask. While I think it's healthy to be a bit anxious about grad school because it keeps you abreast of the realities and helps you steel yourself for the impending tidal wave of academia, I'm a shameless optimist and strongly feel that we were all accepted for a reason and can (and will) handle whatever gets thrown our way. Forgive the hackneyed truism, but it'll be an adventure in all senses of the word.

1) I've never been skiing. 2) Though I'm an adequate chess player, I've never learned how to play checkers. 3) I do not have Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or any other kinds of social media time-sucks apart from Facebook (which I frequently deactivate for intervals no less than six months) and LinkedIn. (I'm not including The Grad Cafe...I think.) 4) I've never visited the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, or similar tourist staples in New York City, in spite of having grown up there. 5) My first non-classical music concert was Maroon 5, at 21 years old. 6) I, too, have not seen such popular and culturally significant films as The Godfather (all of them), Pulp Fiction, Lawrence of Arabia, Star Wars, A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Die Hard (all films), American Beauty, and so on. I hope to change that this summer! 7) I've never (nor will I ever) read the Twilight series or seen the movies. I don't feel guilty about that one.

I just returned home from an excellent visit weekend that further secured my interest in the program. Simply, I can't wait to join the intellectual community at Berkeley this fall. Glad to hear that you guys had similarly positive experiences!

My visit weekend is this coming weekend, too, through Tuesday the 18th. Can't wait!

A department representative called me in early February with an unofficial offer, which the Graduate Division made official over email about two weeks later. My funding letter arrived two weeks after that. I didn't have an interview, however, so I think every department operates differently, because other posters on this forum have received things within a shorter span of time than I did. You may hear news very soon--I think Berkeley notifies most applicants either way in early March. Good luck, and hang in there!

strawberry fields-- Congrats, I'm glad you received it! seeingeyeduck-- All of that sounds fascinating, and I hope you accomplish all of those goals! I particularly approve of the transatlantic colonial voyage. I have similar interest in recreating the Polynesian migration to Easter Island, but I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to do that by canoe and rely on the stars for navigation. For all the wonder of "Life of Pi," I am still haunted by the concept of being alone at sea (even without Bengal tigers in tow).

Not at all. I plan to specialize in Pacific Islander music (especially from New Zealand and other Polynesian nations) and approach it from the theoretical frameworks of postcolonialism, diaspora studies, and tourism. Essentially, I'm interested in understanding how European and American colonial legacies have persisted in this region and would like to examine their effects on music and culture. More generally, I'm interested in music in island cultures (including the Caribbean), especially from the vantage point of tourism. However, I do find intriguing musics from all over the world, across all periods--my undergrad curriculum was more focused on the Western classical music tradition, which I equally admire. Anyway, that's probably a longer answer than you wanted! In which field are you doing your MFA? (Also, I just received financial info from my dept. today, about two weeks after I received my official offer, fyi.)

I think it may be department-specific, because she basically implied that the Department of Music will be sending the funding details to me, but I could be mistaken.

The Department representative who called me only briefly mentioned funding; she said that a formal letter would arrive with more details (though she didn't specify when that letter would arrive). I think we should receive our funding offers sometime in March, though.