museum_geek

It's nice to see another museum studies applicant on the forum, I thought I was the only one! I'm mostly applying to schools that are west of the Mississippi, and my focus is on American material culture/ethnic studies rather than art history, so I can't really speak too specifically about your GRE scores. In general, you scores should be fine for museum studies programs. I got a 163 on verbal, 150 on quant, and 5.5 on writing, so I'm in the same range as you. I don't think many programs care about the quant score, so I'd say as long as you're above ~80th percentile or above on verbal you shouldn't have to worry. I was 92nd percentile with a 163, so I'm sure a 161 is above the 80th. You can also check out the results search to find some examples of scores/gpa, but there isn't a whole lot out there. Here's the NYU results as an example: http://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php?q=museum+studies+nyu&t=a&o=&pp=25 Only a few people have posted their undergrad stats, but it's better than nothing. Anyway, that's my two cents. Best of luck!

Congrats! I made the mistake of tying my email account to my phone so that I would get a little notification whenever something arrived in my inbox. I had to delete that app after about a week of having a mini-freakout any time my email notification sound booped from my phone. I still check my email obsessively but at least my phone can now vibrate without inducing a heart attack!

Congrats to everyone getting acceptances and interviews! Anyone want to to claim the SUIC or UIUC admits that were posted today? Exciting stuff!

I emailed my letter writers with my thanks and a promise to keep them updated after all the letters were submitted, and I plan on sending a small gift and a handwritten note once I decide on a program. I'd like to send them something from the school I end up choosing (i.e. a coffee mug, decal, apparel, etc.) along with a handwritten thank you note. I feel like a handwritten thank you note will be nicer once I choose a program, so I can point to that program and say "I'm going here, and I wouldn't have been able to do it without you! You da bomb!"

Now that the deadline has passed for a big chunk of my programs (1/15) is it reasonable to start checking my email 10 times a day? @smg: Glad you survived your interview! A beard and tattoos shouldn't hold you back. This is anthropology, not law school!

http://www.animateit.net/data/thumbnails/353/ehlxld.gif

For sure. One of my letter writers actually told me that very few of her students ever got back to her with results after her letter was submitted. I'm actually really looking forward to letting my letter writers know about my results. I want them to know that both their letters and their mentorship helped me reach my goals

I think I might steal this idea...in exchange for taking off with your intellectual property I repped you. Fair deal?

I think it's better to be communicative about this sort of thing, especially since this POI is adamant about the matter. Showing that you're good at finding opportunities and forging collaborations trumps the possibility of coming off as pushy. I don't think this really comes off as pushy anyway.

It can be tough to get an accurate idea of when acceptances will come just based off of the results search. I've done this for the programs I'm applying to and some years notifications come the first week of February, and some years people don't hear back until the end of March. It really seems to vary from year to year. Plus, not everyone who hears back is posting their results on grad cafe unfortunately. There doesn't seem to be a way to get a truly accurate idea of when a program will start sending out acceptances/rejections.

Now that I have all my applications submitted and I've taken care of everything I can possibly control, the anxiety and nerves have really started to set in. One thing that helps me - especially in the mornings when I check my email and don't have anything new - is the thought that I am, at this particular moment in time, closer than I have ever been to hearing back from my dream school. I have less time to wait than I did at this same time yesterday, and unless I get trapped in some sort of sci-fi time warp I will only get closer from here. The nerves and anxiety eventually return but that line of thinking typically gives me a brief respite. And this still beats the heck out of stressing over my LOR writers!

This isn't too bad, especially since the SOP is for a POI you've spoken with a few times and who presumably has some background information on this whole situation. There are a couple things that I would change to make it seem less "shit-talky" while still imparting how badly you got screwed over. "My thesis supervisor retired as I was in the final stages of writing, leaving mid-term and refusing to stay on the committees of any of his graduate students." I would change this to: "My thesis supervisor retired as I was in the final stages of writing, leaving mid-term and declining to stay on the committees of any of his graduate students." "I reached out to my former supervisor many times, hoping to secure a more insightful letter, but all of my attempts at communication went unanswered." I might go with: "Multiple attempts to reach out and secure a more insightful letter from my former supervisor were unsuccessful." Just my two cents. I think you can soften the verbiage a bit and still leave the impression that this guy sucks and you got screwed, without coming right out and saying it. I really like how your last couple sentences turn this shitty situation into a positive for the future, though. If anything I think that part will really shine through. Good luck!

This past May I was submitting some requests for information to a couple departments, and I pasted my generic inquiry paragraph into the form then submitted it without changing the name of the last school I had sent it to. The graduate program admin responded back with a link to the other program's website, and nothing else. Oops

It started to feel real for me when I checked my bank account balance after submitting 10 applications

I had that problem with Brown, but when I called the admissions office they said that it just takes the system a little while to update and not to re-send my scores. Maybe that's the problem with Penn?

I know he's probably busy but the lack of empathy from this guy is super aggravating. Doesn't he remember the stress of applying to grad school? Did he not have POI's and mentors who took the time to respond to his desperate emails around deadline time? I guess it's easy to forget what it feels like to be an applicant once you've "made it" as an academic. Anywho, I hope this all works out for you!

All of this. Everything I've seen in the results search tells me that I won't hear back from any schools until mid-February at the earliest, but damned if I'm not going to check my email 10 times a day and get disappointed all over again when there's nothing new.

Instagram, pumpkin spice flavored anything

I have 9 out of 10 applications submitted. Just one pesky essay on the role of museums in today's society and then I'll be home free. Does anyone have any suggestions on gifts for letter writers? I plan on sending each one a nice hand written note, but I've heard it's sometimes a good idea to get them a modest gift. Would something from the museum gift shop I work at seem cheesy? We have some cool stuff that's reasonably priced, but I am planning on leaving this job to attend grad school, so I don't know if a gift from there would come off as tacky. I feel like I'm over-thinking this, but that would be par for the course for me

I applied to 10 schools, and I honestly don't know how anyone manages more than that. I had enough trouble keeping track of LORs and deadlines and miscellaneous minutiae with 10 apps I submitted; I can't imagine doing a dozen or more and staying sane!

Congrats! It's always helpful (for me at least) to see anthro decisions on the results page, even though I'm not applying to PhD programs.

Only send your SOP if a letter writer asks for it. I sent my CV and asked my letter writers if they needed anything else to help them writer their letter. I had one recommender ask for my SOP but the other two only needed the CV. I don't think sending your SOP unsolicited is necessary.

All of my letter writers were fine with having everything sent at once.

Wow, what a jerk. The thing that baffles me here is the lack of perspective. Didn't this letter writer need to rely on mentors and former professors to get to where he's at today? What if his letter writers had decided that they didn't have time for him? I get that letter writers are busy and writing LORs is a chore but I mean come on, these are people's future livelihoods we're dealing with here! Sorry that you have to deal with this, hopefully this guy's secretary is able to help you out.

I was in the exact same situation with Columbia about 10 days ago. Two of my three letter writers got the email prompt no problem, but the third never received an email. I emailed the grad admissions office and they tried sending the email "from a personal email address" in their words, but to no avail. The recommender who had this problem is my current boss, so she showed me her email account to verify that she never received anything. I ended up having my letter writer mail them a hard copy of the letter, which was received and marked as such on my application page the day after arriving. At this point I would recommend that your letter writer send in a hard copy of the letter via the post office. Make sure to include the cover sheet that goes with the letter and have your letter writer sign the back of the letter over the seal. Snail mail to the rescue! edit: Here is the address my letter writer used: Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences | Office of Admissions 107 Low Memorial Library 535 West 116th Street New York, NY 10027