meridionale

My perception of Bloomington when I visited IU a month or so ago was that it kind of had a little of everything. It has a strong vibrant downtown, but it also has a large city element to it with resturants, stores, shopping centers, ect. Although, when I was driving in, I got a little scared. I was in the middle of no where driving through corn fields and all of the sudden an old water tower comes into view on the side of the road with the 10 commandments painted on it. I was waiting for Issac and the other children of the corn to come popping out.

You make me think I should start a UNC thread in Meet and Greet. I want to know are there bars/places that mainly grad students go to?

Sorry, I can't even post my threads in the correct place. Luckily I haven't yelled at anyone for posting in the wrong forums (thank goodness!!).

It's alright to make a new thread!!

A lot of you have wanted a place to see who is getting national awards and the like, so here is your own brand-spankin' new forum! Enjoy

I wish I had more MPA people on my website strickly for selfish reasons!! At my interview for UNC, I heard a few names consistantly thrown out as far as where people were applying: Syracuse Kansas (city management) UGA What other "staple" MPA programs are there that probably get the most applicants?

I had one school email me saying they were missing all my application elements when I had delivery confirmation for when I sent it in December. After telling them how frustrated I was, I got a call back two hours later telling me they found my packet. She said that someone had pulled it and then retired. Does this make any sense? Why you are pulling files when you are not coming to work ever again? Makes me wonder if she just didn't want me to apply and so she "found" my packet :roll:

If the forum doesn't slow down once the notifications quit rolling in, then I don't mind keeping it. If it was the only thing that I hosted on the site, then it would cut down on the type of "package" I need and thus not be expensive. So, I am being very ambiguous right now Autoadmit.com actually wanted to bring back a survey, but they never got around to it. They are the ones who got whogotin.com reregistered, and I've offered a results archive to him to lay a good foundation for the process next year if I get too busy within my own grad program. I think a forum setting for this type of subject is better than a blog/livejournal because of the way comments are handled. We'll see what happens. I definitly like playing around with the site and things LJ offers, and since I'll be a first year graduate student too, I'd like a place to visit!

I think you misinterpreted the suggestion. It would be a members only section that you can register if you want, and not register if you don't want. If you do register, then you can create your own profile - it would be completely seperate from the results in the survey and have nothing to do with them. Example - You sign up for a member's section. There, you can create a profile of where you applied and where you have been accepted. You can edit/delete/etc. and view other member's profile if they choose to sign up and do the same. Meanwhile, the survey remains as is. It doesn't connect you to your profile if you choose to have one, so for all I know you can submit to the survey that you've been rejected to a program, but then in your member profile put you were accepted. Of course this is silly, but I am just trying to show you that it will be unrelated. Think of it this way, the people who register to this forum are in no way connected to their results unless they make a thread posting about them. The same would hold with a membership area: completely seperate from what you submit to the results. As for the staying up part, on the front page it says until at least August. I am by no means going into a field where websites and code are important, and I will be entering a work intensive graduate program as well come August. I will decide then if I have time to devote to this website to make sure everything is running smoothly. If not, I have been in contact with a few other graduate school forums that I feel are reputable. If I get too busy come August, then I will work out something with one of them and give them the database without the user number refrences. In other words, regardless if I keep this website going or not when I begin my program, I would never let the results just disappear. I know the old archive.org site for whogotin.com has been useful to some people, so I would want the same to be said for these thousands of admission results. Don't be taken aback as these types of sites come and go. It was more of my commitment to you that this site will be here until many of us begin programs in August at least. I could keep it for longer, but also as part of that commitment, I will give the database to someone so all is not lost and redirect the domain there. This site is definitly not illegal as it is an anonymous collection of honor-system results. I don't claim that they are correct or 100% true. No schools have emailed me, and I imagine it can be seen as two different ways. 1.) Annoying. It could lead to more people calling after seeing someone has been notified. I doubt it is making that much of an impact because though the survey is popular, and I doubt the majority of people applying to graduate school have ever even heard of this site. In my field, there are like 10 or 12 Public Admin Masters submissions. This is a very small fraction of the actual truth. 2.) Interesting in a novelty way. Of course it can't be taken as 100% truth, but regardless of who you are, it's just an interesting survey in general. When I had to print two copies of the most recent database to mail in with my copyright registration, it was neat to see 100 pages (then, now it's more) binded like a notebook that you could flip through. It's a really great concept as a whole regardless of who is giving the survey. I hope that answers some of your worries or concerns! Long story short, any personal information contained on this website will come from you, and if it doesn't come from you, then I will delete it (like I did in the physics thread). I have my email on the front page and a new AOL IM link to contact me with problems. The results will be here until you start a graduate program, and past that if they aren't here, they will be somewhere else. And lastly, I would like to think that it is only annoying to the programs that reject me or someone else I like (just kidding). :wink:

I really really like your idea! Believe me there are tons of things I'd love to do, but I am by no means a pro at php, sql, or anything other than knowing a little html. I am learning php as I go, but it takes me a while to do something like that as a result. Last night for instance, I spent 3 hours doing 45 pages (pages as in msword) of coding to have subforums, and when I am finally done and try to implement it --- nothing. The forum went blank! :shock: Would you believe that in undergrad I was a history major and a sorority girl? The only related thing I've done is make my sorority website using an HTML book I bought at Books-A-Million. Most people email me thinking I am a guy going into EEM or Computer Science! Luckily, my sorority bought me a copy of Photoshop when I was making the website, so that's fun. I have a Statistics test tomorrow, so let me study today and go take that test tomorrow, and I will work on it when I get some more free time. I love messing with this site and learning new things, so if I start now, I will never get around to studying! Which I should be doing right now...and now I am rambling to procrastinate. Good lord, apparently this was my "getting to know the admin" session. I love how we each have our own lives and backgrounds, but to everyone else we're just words. I've gotten to know several people over aim as a result of applyingtograd on LJ and this site though. stop.typing. Okay, I'm done.

I know there is a huge comp lit discussion on http://www.livejournal.com/community/who_got_in . Maybe you can find out something there? Edit: http://community.livejournal.com/who_got_in/8426.html - that's the direct link! Edit 2: Duh. You're BrittDreams from LJ. I think that's my que to go to bed! Haha

Hahaha, too subtle? I was trying to do a phpbb mod for subforums because everything was looking a bit cluttered, but 3 hours and 45 pages of code later, it didn't work. But, at least the forum has a new look. I like the format, but the blue is really...blue? I don't know. I'm kind of going blind right now to be honest. hahaha

Since most schools notify during the week, I hate when the work day hours on Friday end. It means I have to wait at least 2 full days before going back to keeping all phone lines clear. I'm waiting on that one call..."the call" So, is it Monday yet? Sheesh, let's get this weekend over with already!

My GRE was 500V/420Q/5 and 490V/530Q, so don't feel too bad. Are you skipping a masters and going for a phd, or do you already have a masters? Your recent GPAs are a little better than my over all (3.68 ), and you went to a "better" school than I did. I think maybe the difference is your program is competitive, the schools you are choosing are competitive, and you are going for your phd. My program is competitive but in no way on the level of Sociology, Economics, or English, and I am only applying for a masters. I know this might freak you out a little bit, but maybe try applying for your masters and assume you can maybe reapply to the same program the next year for a phd. It would make a strong SOP in a year to say you've started graduate work in the field, you're doing very well, and you are certain you want your phd. Now is the time to keep your mind open and start looking from all angles. The fact of the matter is there is some program out there that is good and will take you, but somehow your application is off. Your GPA looks fine, you said your recommendations were good, you can't do much about your GRE or GPA now anyways, so you have a few things left -- 1. SOP - I think this is what really made my GRE score seem unimportant. I was clear in showing that I had career goals, I knew why I was applying, and I had done research on the career itself (in my case, city management). I didn't use the SOP as an elaborate resume, and I mailed my resume reguardless of if it was asked for or not. I was having a tough time making the "perfect" resume, and I searched site after site for advice. Finally, I entered "graduate student resume" in the search field on the websites of my potential schools, and at one site I noticed a trend. I used it as a guide for my own resume, and I am very pleased with how it turned out. I should also note that my opening SOP paragraph was very attention grabbing. I'll PM it to you. 2. General Visit - At Indiana (#3 for Public Affairs), they gave a general invite to anyone who submitted an application to come and visit. You didn't have to, but I took it as my chance to one up the other faceless applicants. I drove 11 hours to Indiana, visited the school the next day, talked with my potential advisor and the admissions coordinator, and the next day I drove home another 11 hours. You can bet I was tired, but when I received an email the following week saying I had been admitted before the priority deadline had passed, it was all worth it. I know they wouldn't have admitted me by my paper materials, so I took the initiative. Find these little loop holes and invites if offered. Sometimes your biggest selling point is yourself. As I said, I am lucky that everyone and their grandmother doesn't want an MPA, but I think somehow I for once got everything right. I'm 4 for 6 right now in acceptances, although that's nothing to boast about since my favorite has not told me anything (I'm Charlie Brown afterall). I also didn't apply to any ivy leagues. I picked six strong public university programs by looking at what I had to offer. I'm not getting any funding because of my GRE score, but paying $350-$400 a month for two decades after I graduate (oh god) will be worth it because I will be doing what I want to do.

Okay, I'm a planner and examiner. A. What are your stats? Pretty good? B. Before applying to any other schools, if your stats are good, contact your recommenders. I'd also ask the programs what was wrong with your application (what do you have to lose). Do you think maybe one of your recommenders could have written a sub-par recommendation? Really consider this and think about maybe replacing a recommender who might be flakey if this could be an issue. C. If UNC is still accepting applications, you should definitly apply. They are driving me crazy right now! They have become the school I really want to go to, and i interviewed two weeks ago. I still haven't heard anything back. It's a wonderful school and beautiful campus! http://www.lavenderspice.com/sociology.html I have a usnews.com subscription, so I saved the sociology rankings page for you. You might have already seen this, and rankings are so funky anyways, but at least you can actually SEE more options. I bought an applying to graduate school book, and it says that if you get rejected, keep trying. Don't go to a school you'll hate, but there might be a program out there you missed before. Persistance will pay off, and I always take negativity and turn it into ambition and motivation. If someone doesn't want me, that's okay. The school that does want me can reap the benefits of my career success! (hahahaa....right). It just makes me want to succeed even more. I've been called a "Charlie Brown" because sometimes everything that can go wrong does go wrong for me. My front lisence plate on my car says "ARRRRRGH (stolen from my dad)," but you just have to learn to take things as they come. Life is funny because sometimes the most negative things can put you on a path that will bring you to sincere enjoyment. Keep your head up, and start looking through more programs! If you want my help in shifting through programs with application dates still open, let me know. Also remember that while you might not get funding this year, there is always next year. Now go eat a peice of cheesecake or something...mmm...cheesecake. Edit: Woops. Got a little submit happy.

Post your favorite applying to grad/graduate school community links.

How old are you, two?

Woops! Looks like you forgot to change your IP address before posting again. Why are you pretending to be multiple people?

Alright, well I have nothing else for you. I've tried to make peace, but you keep pushing. I don't really have anything else to tell you besides you win, so congratulations. What would you like for me to do now?

So, what do you suggest I do? Just delete this site?

You know, you can sit here and insult me all you want to, but it's not very classy to insult a good cause that I would like to contribute money to. My mother and other family members lost their homes to Katrina. Top that off with the rest of my friends from college, and it is a grim situation. I would never ever take advantage of people by asking for donations for something that devistated my state and use them on myself. So, you can keep up with this whogotin.com thief crap, but seriously, don't start accusing me in that area. And the cup is free clipart located on a site that says "FREE CLIPART." You keep trying to get the best of me, like I am going to slip up and expose myself as this thief you want to make me out to be. The truth is, I made this survey for applyingtograd, it blew up, and yuster created an automatic survey. I thought okay, well that is much more efficient, so I can just close my survey. Someone saw where I said that and sent me an IM to do all the php for an automatic survey of my own, and since I had already paid for a month, I thought what the heck. But it is something him and I have worked hard on, and I have the right to get annoyed when yuster.com took all my results. I mean really, what is this all about anyways? You and me arguing is completely stupid, and we both should feel emberrassed. I don't mind that yuster has a site like this one, I just wish he would earn his results on his own merit. I'm not taking credit for the idea one bit, and I never have. But like you are saying to give credit where credit is due, shouldn't yuster.com do that as well? I think it's fair.

#1 - I never threatened to sue anyone. #2 - I don't even know how to make a copyright sign on the computer. That was put there by the person who created the survey and results system, and quite frankly I think if he wants to put some form of credit at the bottom of the pages then he should. #3 - In a supreme court ruling, it was found that the way a survey is given is not copyrightable, but the results of the survey are. #4 - $5 for database space? That was free, but the domain did cost me more.

A paid google search box? No sir. You can get a paid search box which is part of their adsense program, but you can also just put it on your site for kicks. What I used: http://www.google.com/searchcode.html Paid version I didn't use: https://www.google.com/adsense/ws-overview

Again, this is childish. I didn't steal anything, and the fact you are trying to even use that angle to defend a person who really did steal results only makes you seem like you are one in the same. You want to flame me? Go ahead. I'm a plagerising thief for taking an initiative, dishing out money, and then getting annoyed when someone takes my results (which are all original). You really need to re-evaluate your thinking.

Okay, you win. I am nothing but a thief. I'm not going to argue with you because this is childish.