grad_wannabe

FWIW, I'm seeing that a lot of schools will accept a scan of your test-taker report that you get right after the test, and will only need the official scores if you're accepted. Call and ask! Some schools have posted "last day to take the GRE" dates on their sites. And don't forget the margin between retakes is 21 days.

Thanks for your replies, everyone. I spoke with the admissions office today. The letters are indeed due November 1st, though they have a buffer period until the 10th. This is a big bummer - an entire MONTH before every other school's apps are due at the very least. Looks like I won't be applying to USC. That's just not enough time to give to my recommenders, since i want to give them completed Statements of Purpose a solid three months before their letters are due.

Hi all, thanks in advance. (cross-post from the Journalism board.) I'm strongly considering applying to the USC Annenberg PhD in Communication. I see that at the application deadline of November 1st (which is EARLY!) they don't ask for rec letters, but only the contact info of your references, to whom they then send an "online form" to fill out. I'd like to give my references as much time as humanly possible to fill these out - does anyone know when these "online forms" are due? (I already got approval from the letter writers, back in August.) Thank you!

Hi all, thanks in advance. I'm strongly considering applying to the USC Annenberg PhD in Communication. I see that at the application deadline of November 1st (which is EARLY!) they don't ask for rec letters, but only the contact info of your references, to whom they then send an "online form" to fill out. I'd like to give my references as much time as humanly possible to fill these out - does anyone know when these "online forms" are due? (I already got approval from the letter writers, back in August.) Thank you!

I'd check out Stanford, USC, MIT and CalArts. Stanford and USC are both strongly interdisciplinary and offer great funding, and I know that for USC at least you get access to the wider academic university. CalArts has a great resource in their Aesthetics and Politics program. I'm at MIT right now (shameless self-promotion) and we can take any class, any department, at both MIT and Harvard. In fact we're *required* to take classes in the following departments: Comparative Media Studies Science, Technology and Society History, Theory and Criticism of Art and Architecture In addition, the director of the program, Ute Meta Bauer, is german and has an office and curatorial practice based in Berlin, and one of our second-year grads is doing his thesis on his Polish/Jewish ancestry. Might be a good match for you.

If you have any questions about MIT, I can help: I just completed my first term in their MS in Visual Studies in Art, Culture and Technology program. It is not necessarily fully funded: out of 6 admitted grads this year, 2 got full-ride packages. One of those included a stipend. USC is also fully funded. I was also accepted to that program last year and was offered a full-ride, but had to make the difficult decision to turn them down for MIT. CalArts can vary on their funding packages. I was admitted there with a 50% scholarship.

I don't know molecular biology from a hole in the ground, so this is all I've got to contribute: Don't limit yourself in your range of schools. Reach as high as you possibly can. Wondrous things can and do happen. Though you may have doubts in the strength of your application, admissions are a human-based process. Who knows what an admit committee may be looking for? By way of self-aggrandizing example, I applied to four grad schools: one sure thing, two maybes, and a reach. I didn't think I had a chance in hell at the reach school, but I wanted to look back and know that I'd tried to give myself as many options as possible. I flew across country to visit one of the maybe schools and, even though I was within spitting distance of the reach school, I didn't bother visiting because "no way will I get in there. I don't want to waste the time and money visiting a school I could never get into." Imagine my shock when not only was I admitted to the reach school, but also awarded a one-per-year full-ride fellowship. You coulda knocked me over with a feather. Try, try - always try.

Out here in California, the University of Southern California (USC), the University of California at Irvine (UCI) and Stanford all offer fully-funded MFAs.

I have no idea what Indiana U. is like, but I do know that the University of California at Irvine also has a graduate program in Informatics: http://www.ics.uci.edu/informatics/

The money is always negotiable. This exact scenario happened with another GradCafe poster, MNChick. She just wrote on another thread the following (MN I hope it's cool If I post this here!): The funds are not set in stone. Schools CAN and DO compete with each other for the best students. After I had received 2 acceptances (to CalArts and MIT), a third school (USC) offered a full-ride TAship. My mentor told me to call the first two schools immediately and let them know, and "see what they could do about their packages." (MIT ended up giving me a full-ride fellowship plus a stipend, but that was before they knew about USC's offer.)

Schools usually wait to review your application until they're all in, after the deadline - so there's really no point (from what I've seen - YMMV) in applying extra early. Though this will differ for schools with rolling admissions. In my (very humble) opinion, this is what you should focus on right now: -Work to make sure your portfolio is strong and cohesive. Decide the best way of representing your images in your portfolio, ie documentation. Will you be taking pictures of your paintings yourself? Do you have a photographer who'll do that for you? -Research faculty at your choice schools and their work. Decide exactly why you want to work with them, and what you'll contribute to them. -Line up your letters of recommendation writers. Meet regularly with them, and prepare the materials they will need to write your letters (this should include a current CV, transcripts, statement of purpose, images of your work, lists of the schools' various deadlines, and all the forms, addresses, stamps and envelopes they'll need. Even if they can do everything online, the hard materials should still be provided. I had one letter writer who, just before the deadline, emailed me and said, "I can't figure out this online letter submission thing. Tell me where to send hard-copy letters" and I had to scramble to get her all the information and appropriate forms). -Start drafting your statement of purpose. Make sure to consult all of the disparate statement requirements at all your desired schools, and tailor your statements accordingly. Interviews are a long way down the road. If you focus on what you can accomplish now, that will reduce some of the anxiety over what you cannot yet control. Though, of course, your meetings with your mentors can act as rehearsals for the interviews.

Hi - just a note, you might want to move this question to the Arts > Performing board or the Arts > Literary board.

fj20 - I also had a paper accepted by this group for this same conference weekend, but for a different topic. They are apparently hosting a group of conferences at the same time. Mine is "Visual Aspects of Performative Practice." I too wonder whether I should attend. To my mind, this is why it's worth going: This is a new online journal, working to push the boundaries of discipline and establish cross-platform networking. It's understandable that they are not well-respected or reputed yet, because they are so new. Of course established journals are better respected, but I like what this group (provided it is not a scam, which I doubt it is - their website is a deep depository of work) is trying to do - establish new ways of working, using a new media platform. The world of academia is changing rapidly. Old models are falling by the wayside, and soon the education bubble itself may burst. I think this group is trying to think ahead, and I want to support that. I'm also applying for grants outside of school's travel fund that may help relieve the financial burden. I've been told that the graduate travel fund is only to be accessed for one conference per year, and I don't want to use it up on this.

In California, both USC and UCI offer fantastic financial aid packages (I believe both are free with TA positions) and both are having stellar graduate seasons recently, with multiple graduates from both schools attending the Whitney ISP (Mores McWreath from USC, Hong-an Truong and David Kelly from UCI). If you're a painter, I would definitely recommend taking a look at UCI. Between Kevin Appel and Monica Majoli they're packing a punch.

Hi all, I'm starting grad school in the fall. I have (miracle on high!) received a fellowship that covers all of my tuition and affords me a stipend of about 9666/9 months, or 1074/month. I'll be in grad housing, for which I'm paying 735/month (utilities included). That gives me about $300 per month for food, books and supplies. I'll be using public transportation, have no dependents, and am trying my damndest not to take out any loans. I'd prefer not to get a job while in school (I would TA, but my fellowship disqualifies me for a TA position because I'm already getting department assistance). A girl I know in a grad program here in CA recommended I get on a food stamp program. Has anybody tried this before? I did a quick eligibility check with the State of Massachusetts and they said there are certain legality issues with college students applying for help, and that I may have to hold a work-study job to qualify, but that if eligible I could get up to $150/month in food stamps, which would help a whole helluva lot. Anybody have any experience with food stamps while a grad student?

Having just gone through the gauntlet myself (this is kinda strange, I came back to idly browse the forums and found a brand new crop of applicants, just starting the process - makes me realize how fast this past year has whipped by) I'll try to offer some pointers (everything is just my humble opinion, your mileage may vary): -Be cohesive and specific in your portfolio and statement. Ambiguity will get you tossed out of the pool, but a sharp conceptual focus - matched with a faculty member who's into the same stuff you are, which is HUGELY important - will get you into someone's good graces, and that's the key to admissions. -Do a bunch of research on the people in the school you want to attend. It's the people that are the engine of grad programs. These are the people that will be the ones supporting you, giving you connections and shows, and basically helping you build your career. Find people you want to work with and who investigate themes you want to work in, and select a grad program from there. -This might sound cynical, but it's the truth - along with researching the people you want to work with, investigate and exploit your connections. Do any of your professors/advisers have any connections at any of the schools you're looking at? Can they get you a meeting with the director of the program? Do they have any friends on the admissions committee? This will not make or break an application, and will not help you if your portfolio or statement isn't up to snuff, but every little bit helps. I can tell you with certainty that such connections helped me. -Visit!! I can't tell you how important the campus visit is. Not only will you hopefully get some face time with faculty, but it's essential that you get a feel for the place you're going to be spending exorbitant amounts of time. A campus that just "doesn't feel right" probably never will. Listen to your gut on this one. -From what I've heard, the ad coms consider your application as follows, in order of importance: 1. Portfolio 2. Statement 3. References -Paperwork tip: buy way more school transcripts than you think you're gonna need, all at once as soon as possible. When your app is due in 2 days and you realize you're short a transcript, and you drive all the way to campus only to find out there's a 3-business-day wait period, you will question the existence of a god. Don't put yourself in that position. And congrats for getting started so early! Okay, that's all I have for now, hope I didn't bore anyone to death. What are everyone else's thoughts??

Hello Kaelynn! Looks like you're new here, allow me to be the first to welcome you. Hi! This past application season, the one I personally just went through, saw an amazing community come together and support one another through this very difficult process. I was quite surprised at the depth of humanity and positive encouragement to be found here. You'll get answers and insider tips that will prove super helpful. Quite to the contrary of, "none of us has done this before" there are on this board many, many people who have done this before. You don't have to start from scratch. There are tons and tons of posts already here regarding the things you're asking - don't even get me started on the "elusive lists" of top programs. That's been debated ad infinitum. So, look around the boards a bit. The community you seek will come together organically closer to the end of summer. It'll really start to ramp up in the fall, and reach hysterical proportions around February. If you would like to ask anything specific, feel free! If I have any of the answers you seek, I'll let you know. Others, I'm sure, will share too. There are people on this board from all fields, all backgrounds. Plus we had a really amazing crop of results this year - a few Yalies, SAIC, CCA, RISD, USC, MICA, VCU, SVA - you name it. Good luck and God speed.

I wonder if/when the education bubble is going to pop.

Awesome topic! So glad others are grappling with this. I'm moving from CA to Cambridge, Mass. I'm still a young'n and this is my first really big move away from home, so I want my dad to come with me and help move me in. He got pretty excited for the road trip. I'm thinking we're probably going to rent an SUV and drive it cross-country, since my grad housing comes furnished (luckily!) and the biggest things I'll be bringing are my computer and posters and fake plants. I'll probably buy a cheap TV and VCR to watch videotapes on (I have a nonsense love for videotapes) and a bike out there. I don't really have any furniture of my own. Decided to leave my car here, as I'll be living on campus and won't need it (and certainly can't afford it on my stipend!). I have been hitting up antique shops for little trinkets, definitely settling into nesting mode! I thought about PODS and JetBlue freight, but the roadtrip seems more appropriate in a coming-of-age movie kind of way.

Haha I had one of these awkward "do i initiate summertime contact?" moments. I met a few of my cohorts at a department research review/presentation day I made it to last week. There were several people I'll be working with who came up and introduced themselves, all super awesome people that I cannot WAIT to work with. But then I had to leave to catch a plane in the middle of one of the presentations. I didn't want to disturb either the presenter or the observers, so I just whispered a quick goodbye to my advisor and made a hurried, awkward exit without saying anything to anyone else. Now I have a weird thing going, like, "Should I email the people I met just to say, 'Sorry I had to jet?' should i leave it alone? will they think me cold?? ACK!!" Deciding at this point to just leave it alone, I'll see them all soon enough.

Totally with you on this! I'm going to cram as much fun as I humanly can into this summer: going to the beach, camping, carnivals, outdoor movie screenings and the like with friends and family before I head off to my first East Coast winter. Trying to get a lot of face-time with my 3 year old nephew, so he'll hopefully remember me when I come back! I'm also using the time to prepare - taking care of loose ends and laying a foundation for my future grad-school self. I've been securing my finances and credit, taking care of all outstanding warrants (ha!), cleaning out my wardrobe and paring down my possessions, giving a ton of stuff away, getting dental and medical check-ups, exercising a lot, stuff like that. Trying to become a lean, mean grad student machine.

I love that moving to Boston is giving me an excuse to buy all the sweaters and coats I always lusted after but never had a need for here in SoCal.

I just got an online packet that included instructions on getting a campus email address (YAY! It really didn't sink in that I was actually going to grad school until I got that address), info on how to look for housing, how to request a program mentor, things like that. Included in this packet is a link called "classmates" that lists all the new students in the department and a little bio on each one. I'm astounded at the backgrounds of some of these people and some of the places they hail from: Singapore, Greece, S. Korea, Bolivia, Germany, Japan, Spain and Thailand are all represented, as well as kids from all over the US of A. Multiple Fulbright scholars, and a lot of them already have teaching positions. Holy cow. I definitely have my work cut out for me.

Someone in another thread called this Heidegger's existential remorse over "killing our other selves" those "selves which might have been." That describes to a T what I've felt since turning in my decision form: glum and anxious, like parts of me which might have lived were dying off. I'm so glad I'm not the only one that feels this way. I've been mentally admonishing myself for my dazed depression, and feeling guilty for my lack of exuberance. I remember when I told my parents, "Yeah I just turned in my decision form to MIT" and I just felt so SHITTY and couldn't understand why. People keep saying to me, "Guess you're walking on air right now, huh??" and I couldn't explain to them how I felt. Knowing you guys feel the same helps a lot.