cupofnimbus

Hey, at least someone's getting good news today!

My great big academic secret is that I'm not afraid of non-academic work, so even if I didn't end up with an academic placement, I won't be entirely heartbroken (even if teaching is something I hope to do one day). A PhD throws open some great research doors! Which is why I was comfortable looking at UK PhDs (though not DPhils). Is there much of the same stigma with Canadian PhDs? I've got an eye on McGill for next year. Thanks very much! Waiting on Maryland and, of course, Penn!

Great information, thanks! The funding pages are a little muddy where I was looking (though, the program is a good fit!), so maybe I'll keep that one in my bag for next year, when I can apply for funding!

Without knowing specifics, it's hard to make a call, except to say if you feel like you will do well at either school, then go for it. If the fit is good and you think you'll get the training you want and you'll get funded, then I don't see anything but grass-is-greener syndrome in your way. You can do a lot for yourself through networking, strong research, and self-promotion. Will you get a tenure-track position at Harvard right out of grad school? Um, probably not. (But who does?) Are you likely to get a tenure-track position at a lower-ranked school/liberal arts college, or a great post-doc, from such a program, especially if you put in the hard work necessary to do any graduate study? Likely, yes.

The results board is in fine form this afternoon.

This seems like a foolish endeavor this late in the cycle, but does anyone have insight on how applications to universities in the UK work? I'm staring at one that seems to have an application due date four months from now, which is ample time to put together an application, if I wanted.

Never been to one, but I'm pretty sure this knowledge would immediately win him over to a Philly move. EDIT: PARTNER. Will win over my PARTNER. Good grief.

She told me that they were unable to give individual level feedback, but she provided me average GPA and average GRE for the incoming cohort and past cohorts. That wasn't very helpful for me. GPA and GRE are one thing, but we all know those things aren't the things that get you accepted to a program!

I emailed Penn State and didn't get any substantive feedback, but the DGS was very kind in writing back to me (on a Sunday afternoon!). So, I will be keeping an eye on this thread to see where I should be writing for feedback, and what I should be asking!

Congratulations! That makes such a huge difference. (Also, the Duke Literature Marxism accusations betray the continued crazy-making effects of this process...)

Oh gosh, kudos to you for keeping it together. I would have excused myself and cried in the bathroom.

Yes. (Yes, I know they're contradictory, but one is a good way to forgive missteps, and one is a way to prevent future ones!)

I was advised that I was pushing it a little to be applying to as many as seven programs, but I feel now I should have ignored that advice and gone ahead with more. Live and learn. See you next year! QAPLA'!

Because, hey, your right to be catered to is more important than her right to carry on with department business, teaching, research, and maintaining a private life! Gross.

Agreed! I feel like I might as well maintain a sense of humor if I'm going to give my life over to something. Life is too much to bear without being able to laugh over it sometimes (and often at yourself).

Decent, likeable, capable of handling stress... These are important qualities in a graduate student!

...oh dear. No, I didn't before, but now I see it. I... guess there's probably a few of those a year?

Before I saw the quoted post above, I thought this was a strangely cryptic post. What would you be waiting for? What is happening!? I'm sorry to everyone who's stuck waiting on Chicago and UCLA. You'd think they'd get on with it for their own sake, at least.

Just throwing this one in here, too. This is another APSA report, addressing placement directly: http://www.apsanet.org/media/dsp/Snapshot%20Placement%202009%202012.UPDATED%2019%20JUNE.pdf That is the short report from last year, though there is a longer version locked to APSA members.

What's your subfield, limitations, etc? (You don't have to answer in here, you can do a PM, if you're comfortable!) I'm going to keep on with what I'm doing, reach out to some of my professors (I got my Master's from a school here in DC, so I'm still local) and ask if I can volunteer to do research assistant work, try to develop some research into a publishable article, and study like crazy for GRE Round II. Then I'll apply to a slightly different and larger pool of programs, including a bunch I didn't even think to apply to this year. I've already got the spreadsheet up and going.

We're here for you I expect I'll be certain of my cycle's outcomes by the end of this week.

That was almost certainly the case when applying for undergraduate for me. I tempered my application cycle a little this time, but next time...

Obviously, methods ties in with virtually everyone's research, but few identify strictly as methods. It's true that methods folks place extraordinarily well, but the Ns are very, very small.

Man, in my day, I didn't need other people to tell me I wasn't good enough. I was more than capable of talking myself out of applying to dream schools!

It is so wonderful to know that some of my future colleagues have a sense of humor like yours.