Kaitri

Excellent points. As long as visiting doesn't affect your chances of succeeding at your preferred school, $500 isn't enough of a reason not to visit. You will learn valuable info about the other city, and you may meet people who will prove useful to you later in your career. More information + networking opportunities + mini vacation = worth $500. Just make sure you choose the school that will be the best for you overall - none of us can help you determine which factors should be weighted the highest for you personally. Some people will weight funding over fit, others will do the opposite. Some would suggest that you choose a school located in a city you will be happy to live in for 4-7 years, while others would say that the location doesn't matter that much. Here's what I would suggest you do when making your final decision: Step 1: List ALL of the factors that are involved in the decision. Rate each school on a scale of 1-5 for each factor. Step 2: Review the factors and group them according to a series of high-level categories. Assign each of these categories a unique label (i.e. funding, additional research opportunities, quality of life, climate, etc.). Step 3: Group all factors together based on their high-level category label. Step 4: Rank order each of the high-level category labels in terms of what matters most to you. Step 5: Review the results for each school based on the ranking you just determined. Once you see how both schools performed based on your ranking system, you should be able to choose a school more easily (because one of them will probably outperform the other). Step 6: Pick a school and give yourself a holiday for the day since you're going to a school you will love, and will be doing something exciting for the next few years.

rj16, is school #3 U of T? My app status just changed to "decision made" today, but I haven't heard anything official. I'm assuming that it's a rejection since a round of acceptances went out earlier this month.

I know that $500-$600 seems like a lot now, but it's absolutely worth the money to visit the city and college to get a feel for the place. Think about how much you spent on your applications - do you want to waste that money by making the wrong decision and picking a program without completely exploring all of the options available to you? The more you know about a school, the city and the people who are in and run the program, the better equipped you will be to make an informed decision. 500 bucks seems like a modest investment when it comes to planning the next four years of your life.

Is anyone willing to claim the U of T anthro rejection? Would you please let us know (or PM me) what the rejection said, and what your application was like? Also, it sucks that you (whoever you are) didn't get in. Good luck on the rest of your apps!

...do you honestly believe that any vending machine burger could ever be "good quality"??

This is a bit of a sob story, but I'll tell it anyway: I've been dealing with some health issues. I went to see my specialist a few weeks ago to see if the treatment plan he put in place was working. It wasn't. We discovered that my issue hadn't gotten any better, so he recommended that I stay on a medication for the foreseeable future. This medication is pretty much the worst. The side effects suck. I left his office and walked home in a foul mood. I can't drink while on these meds, but oh man did I wish for a drink or something to cheer me up. When I got home, I checked my email and waiting for me was a message from a POI. She told me that the committee met last week and would be recommending me for admission, and that I could expect an official notice in the coming weeks. I went from completely bummed out to over-the-moon excited in under five seconds.

Mmmmmm that looks amazing! I'm half danish, and I grew up in a family that is frankly far too devoted to our cultural food and desserts, so I'm surprised that I haven't encountered it (and devoured) it before. I will need to remedy this personal shortcoming ASAP.

What is this deliciousness called?? Inquiring minds (and hungry stomachs) want to know.

This is amazing. +1

Congrats guys/gals!

You're a genius. I'm definitely doing this when I go through the PhD application process.

I'd definitely want to take potions, transfiguration (who wouldn't want to be an animagus??) and herbology. Being good at charms and DADA seems like a smart call, but I'd rather specialize in another area and let other people be the aurors. Oh, and Ravenclaw for sure. I'm afraid of snakes so screw Slytheryn. (In honour of this thread, I pulled my copy of The Goblet of Fire down from the bookshelf and started rereading it. I'm already 200 pages in.... )

Yeah - that's not as relevant. The person who is managing the philosophy thread is changing it to a surveymonkey link instead of doing a poll through the forum software, which might work better here. Normally I would just offer to write the questionnaire (since survey research is literally my job), but I don't know that much about the U.S. PhD application process.

Congrats!!

Some suggestions: 1) Ask about background (i.e. had teaching or research experience). 2) Split the last question into two - a yes/no question (radio buttons, select one response only) and then a series of select all that apply questions for miscellaneous items such as perceived inpact of the visit. 3) I would also suggest asking questions about POI input/interviews. 4) Add a section for "other" to the first question. Some people may get offers despite having very different educational or professional backgrounds.

....interesting.... I stand corrected. Thanks NOWAYNOHOW. Would anyone consider doing something similar for anthro? Is there a thread buried on these boards that indicates preferences for particular schools, or is it just "common knowledge" across most American schools? I'm asking because I'm doing a M.A. in Canada this year, but hope to apply internationally for my PhD next year.

+1 This comment wins the intenet. At least for today anyway.

As someone who knows absoltutely nothing about the U.S. application process, I probably shouldn't chime in here, but I think some of you are missing a key point: as many people have said all over these boards, the most important characteristic is overall fit with a program, which is likely evaluated through a number of factors that change from year to year. If schools had hard and fast rules (or "preferences") for previous research experience or degrees, then they couldn't pick the students who fit best with their current program needs. NYU sociocultural may have chosen 6/8 students directly from undergrad last year, but they could choose 5/8 students with M.A.s (and two with MPHs, and one with a M.Sc.) next year. My point is this: all this speculation is useful when trying to construct a solid application, but don't let heresay about prior experience prevent you from applying somewhere where you genuinely believe you will be a good fit.

You posted that Beauxbatons result, didn't you? As a fantasy genre-lover, I freely admit that I would also appreciate it if this thread devolved into a Harry Potter discussion hole. It's gotta be better than dealing with the stress of waiting for acceptance/rejection letters. Actually, screw just talking about it. I'm going to take a few hours and reread one of the books. That's gotta be the best way to get my mind off things.

Just saw this gem today. Love it. I want to go to Beauxbatons, although my preferred major would be transfiguration, not potions.

I'm facing a similar quandary. I know that some programs that I applied to will not get back to me until March/April at the absolute earliest (one may not reply until May). I have one acceptance pending, but they want me to respond by the end of next week. I'm torn - I like this program, but the others will likely offer me more opportunities after graduating (and they fit better with my research interests). So, should I accept the one program that has offered me a position, should I ask for more time (knowing that the outstanding programs won't get back to me for months)? If I accept now and get into one of the other programs in a few months, is it acceptable to change my mind months late?

Part of me thinks he started this thread because he's bored. He's a troll, plain an simple. He posted, we responded. He's probably sitting at his desk somewhere enjoying a bag of popcorn waiting for more of us to post speculative comments that are almost as outrageous as his initial/follow-up posts. This thread has, however, sparked an interesting conversation about labratory work, collaboration and intellectual property. I think that themmasses' comment is bang on - trust and collaborative ability is such an important part of the academic process for some fields; I think it would be easy for intelligent yet arrogant/entitled applicants to get themselves blacklisted based on offhand comments made in their SoP.

This thread is making the prospect of rejection a little easier to handle. At the very least, I can make the rest of you laugh if/when I get rejected.

I'd also recommend checking the bedbug registry (http://bedbugregistry.com/metro/toronto/) before deciding on any particular location. I've dealt with an infestation once since moving to Toronto and it was one of the worst experiences of my life. I stopped sleeping and was a ball of stress every time I stepped foot into my apartment. And unfortunately, bedbugs are everywhere in Toronto. I've lived in downtown Toronto for four years now, to all lurkers or potential York/Ryerson/U of T students: feel free to PM me with questions about the city anytime you want. I can tell you anything you want to know about looking for a place, preferred neighbourhoods, awesome restaurants/cafes to try, where to go shopping for food, and what it's like dealing with life in Toronto.

When it comes to the professional world, I doubt any of the Canadian schools would look bad on a resume. The academic world cares a lot more about where you completed your degree; the professional world cares about how hard you work, how good you are at handling stressful situations, and how competent you are at your chosen profession. I have been working professionally for the last five years, and none of my employers has cared where I completed my education. Considering that many people enter the health care profession after completing a MPH (rather than continuing to do academic research), then I would suggest choosing a school with the best connections to solid health networks that is in a city where you can actually see yourself living for the foreseeable future. Once you make connections within a particular health care network, it will be easier to find a position locally once you graduate. I would rank my program choices by proximity. I currently live and work in Toronto, and my SO has a job here as well. I wasn't able to consider any schools outside of the GTHA, since we need to be close to his workplace.