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Ramus

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Everything posted by Ramus

  1. I'm not at BC myself, but I do know that they draw a significant number of their PhD students from their MA pool. So if your heart is set on BC for the PhD, taking their MA offer might be the way to go.
  2. I'm having flashbacks to my days working at my university's writing center, where all clients seemed to think, "It's your job to fix my essay, as I look at you as little more than a service worker slinging a red pen instead of a spatula."
  3. Hold out to see if UNC converts to an acceptance. Tufts is a good program, don't get me wrong, but you're smart to be thinking of prestige -- it's the currency of academy. UNC will give you better job prospects in the end. And if in a month you haven't heard anything from UNC, you can always take Tufts' offer then. I just don't see any downside in waiting.
  4. Haven't made it in off the waitlist at UMD, but their DGS said he'd have a pretty good sense by the middle of March or so (before their open house). In my acceptance letter from UConn, they asked that if I'm no longer seriously considering them, that I decline their offer by March 16th, as they'd want to extend their GTA line to someone on the waitlist not much long after that. So I'd be willing to guess that mid-March is standard for many places. Slightly different for most top tier programs, which, as the results board shows, often don't get back to waitlisters until the first or second week of April.
  5. While this is certainly possible, I'd advise against this plan. If you to go this route, you'd essentially have to start applying as soon as you get to a program. This is not a great idea for a few reasons: 1) you don't yet have the additional knowledge that the MA program is designed to give you; 2) you haven't established those strong connections with your recommenders. A recommendation from someone you've known for a couple of months isn't going to count for much; 3) applying to programs again will take your focus off your coursework. It's tough enough applying while in the 2-year program. If you're applying as soon as you get to a program, chances are that you're not going to be getting as much out of your classes. Again, I'm not saying that this option is unfathomable or that OP is incapable of doing this. To me, though, it just doesn't seem like the wisest idea.
  6. I'm finishing up a two-year MA now, and I'll say that the extra year has really helped me. Regarding placement: I don't think ranking of the MA at all confines you to a lower-ranked PhD program. One of the guys in my cohort here at Alabama just recently got into Yale -- a jump of about 90 spots on USNews, if we're going by that list. In his case, he was aided by regular communication with POIs there and an insane work ethic. He hasn't presented at any conferences or published anything. He got in purely on the basis of his writing, his excellent test scores, and his efforts to connect with people there. Being from Alabama obviously didn't impede him. So, for what it's worth, I say that the two-year deal is the better option. Turning down the more prestigious program might sting a bit, but I think it's ultimately the better option if your goal is improving your writing and research in preparation for a PhD program.
  7. Ha! Too perfect.
  8. Received the same terse rejection when I checked. Oh well.
  9. Two classes means two courses you're in charge of. Since the courses you lead are most often freshman composition, you'll usually have two or three sessions per class per week. A friend of mine is teaching 2/2 MWF this semester, and thus has six different class sessions each week.
  10. I definitely recommend taking time off work to visit the open house if you're seriously considering the program. Talking to folks in person will always give you a better sense of the program than emails will. When I applied to MA programs, I ended up making the 12 hour drive from Michigan to Alabama, and I'm so glad that I did. I initially wasn't big on the program, but chatting with the people here really affirmed for me that this would be a good place to develop in preparation for an eventual doctoral program. You'll also find that it's easier to get a sense of potential downsides from talking to people directly. Talk to the current grad students in particular; they'll be a little freer with their words, and will let you know about issues like cost of living and how one gets by on the stipend in a way that professors will not.
  11. No kidding? I know programs will sometimes ask current students to double up if they're going to the same conference, but I figured they wouldn't do the same for prospective students. Thanks for letting us know about this possibility, proflorax.
  12. I don't think so. I imagine this would send the "we have absolutely no money" sign, which, even if true, isn't what programs are trying to indicate during their open house visits.
  13. Someone posted in a separate thread that the DGS said their department has been held up by the bad weather in Boston. If I remember correctly, this person said the DGS said acceptance letters would be mailed sometime last week. And keep in mind that they do the whole unfunded MA option as well. So if you haven't received a phone call/letter and you haven't been rejected via email, you might receive a MA offer before long.
  14. Absolutely. As usual, 1Q84 is spot on.
  15. Fantastic news! Congratulations!
  16. A friend that applied to UT last year had to wait almost a month after mass rejections went out before he received his. I'm not sure if it's their adcomm or their computer systems, but UT's app process/system/notification sucks.
  17. Just sent my confirmation to the DGS that I'll be attending the open house in late March. So, barring unexpected news from Rutgers, I'll see you prospective UMDers in little over a month!
  18. This is just a guess, but I think it's a good sign. I know it's anxiety-inducing now, but give it a week or so. If your status hasn't changed by then, given their department a call and ask them for the 411.
  19. 1) As someone who graduated from Western Michigan University (read: the quintessential unranked,-no-prestige,-no-research, -no-opportunities-for-ambitious-students undergraduate program), I totally get the desire to a) move into a program that appears to offer all the things you missed in undergrad, and go somewhere with prestige, a place with faculty who teach exciting courses and publish interesting, original work. I'm not going to shame you for wanting to go there. 2) I'm latching onto your phrase "viable transitional degree." I agree that those words describe the ideal MA experience: it's good preparation for doctoral work. Yet, in my mind, the very fact that it's "transitional" makes it hard to justify sinking that much money into it. If it's a stepping stone you're looking for, I'd recommend funded MA options. They're often associated with state schools and aren't going to carry the same "name-weight" as other private unfunded options. But, speaking from experience, I'm so so so glad I opted for the unprestigious, shittier-sounding (though fully-funded) offer from Alabama than going to UChicago or Boston College and being in debt up to my eyeballs. One last thing: keep in mind cost of living issues, too. (And the same goes for all those BU and NYU MA-admits lurking out there.) Not only are you going into a crazy amount of debt from tuition, but you're also going to be either working an insane amount or talking out even more loans just to live in those NYC or Boston.
  20. I know I already congratulated you in person, "JeanCalvin," but let me do it once more on here. A very well deserved admission for a brilliant young scholar. Make us proud in New Haven!
  21. I figured it might just be a delay. Sometimes it's hard to remember the value of patience when you have an addiction to this website. PhD. And yeah, I got the interdisciplinary email shortly after the first one.
  22. I think(?) I was accepted to Fordham's program today. Received an email from the graduate school congratulating me on my admission, but it definitely had the ring of a follow-up email, as if I should have received some other communication prior to this one. When I checked the application status page, my app is still marked as only 'submitted.' So, not sure how to interpret this one. Not that it matters a whole lot at this point -- I'm really only considering OSU and UMD -- but it'd be nice to know for sure if I personalized emails haven't gone out yet, or if I somehow missed an email from their DGS, etc. etc.
  23. Working backwards: 1) Yes, names matter, but prestige is a little more complicated than that. If you buy your prestige through an unfunded MA at a top institution, your degree in no way guarantees your admission to a top-ranked PhD program. Similarly, if you did your MA at a lower/unranked school, and you absolutely killed it there, you have a good shot at getting into a top-20. 2) GRE scores matter. You need to study for the test. Retake it until you get a score above 163/164ish. Even if, as has been said repeatedly on this site, GRE scores are stupid/evil/ineffective measures of graduate school success, you still need to dominate the test to get into a top program. Bite the bullet and commit to improving your score. 3) Don't worry about all the 4.0 MA GPAs. Grades in graduate school are in no way comparable to undergrad. Virtually everyone gets a 3.8 or above, and I'd say more than half of students get a 4.0. Programs know this (for they are no different in this respect), and thus aren't shocked to see perfect MA GPAs. I'd say that you shouldn't worry too much about that. If you end up in an MA program, chances are your grades will be perfect too.
  24. I imagine all of this varies by program. I'm currently waitlisted at UMD. In the initial email I received from the program, their DGS informed me of my position within their Med/Ren waitlist. Regarding the policies and practices of each program, I can only advise you to call the DGS at each program and ask them to explain their procedure. I don't think you have to dance around this or anything; just ask "How does the waitlist work in your program? Do you have separate waitlists for separate historical periods, or do you have one master list? Could you let me know where I currently am on the waitlist?" When I asked the UMD DGS these questions, I found him to be forthright and more than willing to clarify everything I was uncertain about.
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