Nikos Evangelos

Move to Germany for a year and enroll in German for foreigners courses at the Volkshochschule (which are cheap).

I am an extreme anti-capitalist but recognize the necessity of the application fee. Otherwise there would be literally thousands of people applying to every program in their chosen field. However, in exchange you have every right to expect that they don't lose or mismatch your materials, correct it if they do, and keep you properly informed of what they've received and what your status is.

Since in the end I applied to 14 programs, my answer is no. If I had to do it again, I’d probably omit a couple and try a different mix of departments. Also, I’d focus more precisely on “fit.” Practice really did make perfect, and the last few were far superior to the earliest ones. This was one reason to do many, and to hit Ivies with early deadlines even though I figured I had no chance. I also tried different mixes of writing samples and research proposals, even of recommenders. As for the many different departments, the fact is my interests are the same in each case but can be approached via several disciplines. That’s the way of the social sciences with their sometimes artificial distinctions. I will benefit from mastering any one of these disciplines and its methodology. What’s amusing me here is that anyone believes there is such a thing as a safety school! This can only be the product of delusion, arrogance, or weak definition. Example of delusion: I saw one poster here upset about a rejection by the excellent and highly competitive Pittsburgh Anthro program, because this was supposed to be the safety school. Definition issues: If you define the consolation prize of an unfunded Masters (perhaps with paid tuition!) as acceptable, then yes, there is such a thing as safety. If so, however, please don’t take out loans to do this, because that’s not safety; it’s a lifetime of debt, ruin and misery. Not to be misunderstood: Masters in the professions are worth acquiring. But in the Arts and Sciences, these are “safe” only to independently wealthy hobbyists. An unfunded Ph.D. may be even worse. In the 2014 economy, in the Arts and Sciences, the only thing that counts is admission to a Ph.D. program with funding. The least competitive of these are still rejecting to fund six applicants for every admission with funding, and a 9:1 ratio seems to be far more common. So there is no safety school. Not even if you have 99/99 on the GRE, a 4.0 GPA, prior publications in the field, and a recommendation from Paul Krugman. (If you do, however, just apply to four schools and you’ll be admitted to at least two.) The closest thing to safety is in applying to many programs. However, you’re not the only one who has that idea.