GeographyOSU

I'd go with School B as well. More certain funding will eliminate one potential stressor you'll face through your program, and the program's high ranking and faculty will better position you to compete successfully for a job once you're on the market.

I'll be going to AAG! My department also operates on reimbursement, so I'm having to pay for my flight and AirBnB out of pocket. Do you live near an airport that is served by Southwest Airlines? Their fares are super low so that might be an option. Assuming you're on Long Island, they offer flights from LaGuardia and Islip airports. At any rate, as rising_star said, it's not the end of the world if you cannot make it; just make sure to let the session organizers know. I would highly doubt that schools would think badly of you or make any adverse decisions regarding admission/funding if you cannot make it.

Sorry to hear about your reject ..but I've got my fingers crossed for your CS application! That's an awesome department (you probably know this of course ) and of course, you'd have the opportunity to bring in people like Nancy and Becky onto your committee.

Just wanted to poke my head in here, wish you all good luck (and condolences for any rejections), and to let anyone know who's applied to Ohio State that I'm happy to answer any questions you have about the program/campus/Columbus and that I hopefully get to see some of you at the visit day! -A second-year Ph.D. student who spent too much time on here two years ago during my Ph.D. application cycle

From what I understand from going through their admissions process last year is that they do multiple rounds of acceptances/offers---they send out the first round, and wait to see who accepts the offers/declines them within a given time frame (They gave me three weeks to make my decision), and then once they've determined who has accepted or declined the offer, they go to the next round of admits. Best of luck to you! UBC is an awesome school and the program there is top notch!

I would say that none of those schools could be considered 'safety schools'---they are all either extremely highly ranked, or in the case of schools like Minnesota and Washington, have accepted far fewer human geographers than usual due to either funding constraints or lack of available advisors. What type of critical political/human geography are you looking to do? That would help myself/us identify potential places to apply to!

It looks like we're approaching the end of this app season, so how do things look for everyone?

Ohio State has an excellent roommate search page---I'm just about to sign a lease on a place with a roommate I met through there. It's at offcampus.osu.edu but you'll have to activate your Buckeye ID before you can access it, I think.

Whether or not a master's degree is required in order to get into the PhD program at a school will depend on the individual school. For example, the program I will be attending (OSU) requires a master's degree in order to be considered for admission to the PhD program. On the other hand, another school I had applied to, Minnesota, has just recently changed their requirements, so you can apply directly to the PhD program with just a bachelor's degree. Whether or not you should get a master's is more of a personal preference, combined with funding, academic, and coursework considerations. I chose to do a master's degree because my undergraduate GPA was not especially strong and I wanted to have a body of work to show PhD programs that I could handle the rigor of graduate study, and to show them that I had a focused research question (developed through my master's work). Of course, rising_star and geographeyyy have mentioned already that it is perfectly possible to get your M.A./M.S. funded at many schools, and not just the top ranked ones either---my undergrad alma mater has a small M.S. degree program that offers several assistantships, for example. As far as coursework, having a master's does make it possible for you to bypass some of the coursework at programs that incorporate "master's level" classes into their PhD coursework---Minnesota, in dropping the master's requirement for admission to their PhD program, also made it so that if you enter the PhD program with a master's degree, you will receive "advanced standing" and do not need to take several courses that you would otherwise need to take.

Who's all coming to Ohio State in the fall? I'll be joining the Geography program as a doctoral student.

If anyone applied to KU, notices are being sent out on admission decisions now.

I will be there for the whole conference! I don't present until the last day, though.

It looks like historically it's been about this time in February so hopefully you will hear something soon. Fingers crossed for good news for you.

Best of luck to all applying to Washington!

Someone who had applied to Rutgers was on the same recruiting visit to Kansas as I was, and it didn't sound like they had made a decision quite yet.