Duns Eith

How much later, like December and January? jk jk I kid I kid

Yes. Definitely a chance. Work on your writing sample.

I am just now realizing this is your first post on GradCafe. Welcome to the forum! Feel free to tell us about yourself, check out our different sub-forums. Are you a philosophy major?

Wouldn't it be better to just have a google form or an open spreadsheet? I'd rather not provide all that information (some of which might be sensitive) associated with my username here. I'm not opposed to making this information available. I'm opposed to providing it in this manner (a way that does not promote useful data organization for analysis;a way that may reduce significantly one's anonymity). Make only a few fields required for submission.

Congrats!

Many, many programs do this. I doubt there is any document/site that keeps track in one spot. As I understand it, often programs will accept 8-30 credits, but the credits cannot go toward another MA at your PhD-granting institution and it often consumes credits that fall into categories like classes taken credit/no-credit, or classes transferred, or classes taken outside department. Also, some programs determine student progress by the credits they earn. So this might change dates like when your comp exams or papers are due, or when you are expected to get your prospectus. As such, I encourage you to collect that information on a case-by-case basis. As for me, I was able to transfer 24 credits. This meant a whole year of difference. It did not affect my deadlines for major milestones because I transferred at the end of my 2nd year rather than when I entered. [edit] P.S. Save every syllabus and major paper for your classes you hope to transfer. Your department might have a complicated approval process.

I am vehemently opposed to paying for an MA in the humanities. Pick a program that pays you, not costs you.

For those who are applying again next year, make sure you look into application fee waivers. You may qualify even if you don't think you would. If you're worried about funds, this may enable to you to apply to more schools than you originally budgeted for. My second time I applied out I was surprised I was able to save $200. One thing you gotta watch is the deadlines for these waivers. Sometimes they are only available two months before the app deadline itself. They need time to approve it before you hit "Submit" on your app. (E.g., give you a promo code)

April 7 thru April 15 is a LOT of movement. To this day I don't know why my post got such mixed reactions. Punchline: People need to make decisions, including notifying schools that they will inevitably turn down but just don't feel like turning down. It is in everyone's interest to be a grownup and do something uncomfortable, like closing doors on good offers that aren't your best offers.

I imagine every school in the State University of New York (SUNY) system will be canceled. University at Buffalo is for sure. I imagine Binghamton and Stonybrook are too.

I have a competitive bone in my body, but I must confess this is a very strange way to think of being competitive (best 50 phil students?) and even stranger that you thought this would be something to be bothered by (why think you'd get top 50 per this definition, or that it was a serious goal to be attained?). Consequently, though competitive I am, I was not upset by failing to get top 10. I understand being miffed given that you were assessing the app season this way, but I don't think it makes much sense to evaluate your season in this way. I'm not hating on you. I know why you're miffed. I would encourage venting in this way with greater awareness or sensitivity to your peers (perhaps elsewhere, as you admitted might be prudent). Either way, congrats on your acceptances. Sorry your high hopes weren't met.

I was going to say that it was extremely silly and even bad form to complain about all of that, because, after all, I would gladly take your UTA or UMD or WUSTL over mine. But, in all fairness, I have been complaining too for the same reason in bold. I keep kicking myself. But in the end I should just be happy with the fact that I am funded to do what I want in life.

Be aware that many programs, especially 'lower ranked' programs sometimes have hidden waitlists. They don't want to reject you, because they can't take back that decision. But if they run through their waitlist, you may have met their qualifications and be put on if it turns out they are close to clearing their waitlist. I have had one school explain that they put me on their hidden waitlist because they don't want to get my hopes up (they expect all offers to be taken from those they notified either as accepted or waitlisted) but they don't want to give me bad news that ties their hands. No response may be that you are unlikely to get an offer. You're on the waitlist to the waitlist. But it could also be that your notification went to spam or some other communication error. A mistyped email, a wrong phone number, a 'we thought we notified you', or something else. So, go with Akraticfanatic's template.

Dear Dr. O'Keefe, thanks for posting here. This is encouraging especially for those who have already been applying to MAs and been rejected. It is nice to know there is still a chance out there. For those who don't know, GSU is a good program with good placement. If you didn't apply there and you want an MA, I encourage you to take this seriously. (I say this as someone who went to WMU for their terminal MA and had a good experience there - I have heard many good things about GSU over the years)

Here is the basic math that you need to calculate to get in: 1 - P(likelihood that you will be rejected) You can find likelihood via admissions websites. Some places the acceptance rate is 2%, others are like 6%. I think the average is something like 4%. In other words, 1 - (96%) = 4%. How many places you apply to changes these odds though. Apply to two places, you subtract the product of their probabilities: 1 - [P(rejected @ school 1) x P(rejected @ school 2)] = 1 - .9216 = 7.84% If you apply to 18 places, then you are multiplying the probabilities 18 times (if they are all the same probability, for the sake of simplification, it is just to the 18th power). So, the odds that you will be accepted somewhere: 1 - [p(rejected)^18] = 52.0397% Everything else will be hard or impossible for us to tell you whether you are higher than average chances of getting in. So, this calculation above is adequate. But you can adjust the odds based on your GRE and the median acceptance at that school. Same for GPA. Looking up what their FAQs say about GRE and GPA for each school will tell you a lot. Looking up the GRE and GPA averages for philosophy majors (google search) will also inform you.