Duns Eith

This.

I declined a funded offer from OU's MA. I hope this helps someone! OU is a good program.

I went ahead and told my contending offer(s) that I am waiting to hear back from another school and that is the sole reason for the wait, so that they know I am still interested and that I did in fact receive their communications.

Perhaps a redundant thread, but who are you still waiting on? I know plenty of people are still on waiting lists, but some haven't gotten any word yet. I have heard at least initial decisions from all the schools I applied to. I am on a waitlist for Purdue (unranked, but excellent program for my AOIs), as I know at least one other user here is as well. While I am only waiting to hear back from one school, the tension is a little high as I have outstanding offers that I could conditionally accept. What about you? How're you holding up? How many schools could you hear from? Are they top 20? Top 50? Unranked?

After 2 weeks? I'd send another email to the DGS. And it is totally within reason to ask the students.

50%! Not bad odds, but I can see why you're not banking on it.

Ah, that makes more sense but did the DGS suggest that your chances were low based off similar situations in the past?

Why does being 7th on the waitlist suggest chances are low? Do they only accept a handful of applicants (less than 5?)..? Or have you shifted up from 20th position to 7th, and think additional shifting will be minimal? 7 spots can easily shift at a school with 7 openings.

I declined a funded offer from TTU's MA. I hope this helps someone! TTU is a good program.

Thanks!

Thanks!

Great report, isostheneia. (no schools I applied to, but you hit major issues that will be helpful to others considering their respective programs)

Certainly people are genuinely happy people get in (as I stated, I myself am). I also get the lack of guarantee for the improvement of chances. But while we may not have sufficient epistemic grounds for assurance it will secure us a position, do we not have sufficient grounds for us to think we are in a better position? Perhaps the improvement of situation is negligible. More or less, I am not asking a descriptive question, but rather asking what norms are involved. For if getting into PhDs is in fact competitive, then why are we cooperative? I am not saying that we should be competitive, but if there are a limited number of spots available and we want there to be as much shifting on the lists as we can for our own sake, then it would seem we are at least permitted (if not obligated) to give advice that secures us a better position instead of others. (of course, this helps an unknown number of other candidates as well) Of course, if I were to will that as a universal maxim, it would just imply that I would not seek advice (since I would reasonably expect people to give me advice that is in their own interest, not mine). If I were to cite maximal happiness, I don't know how to calculate it. I mean, someone is going into that spot, right? It seems like it is just shifting around the winners and losers in a zero-sum game (no general happiness or suffering maximized or reduced ... Moreover, if you convinced someone to turn down a position, then you aren't coercing anyone, they may even be happy they made an alternate choice quite acceptable to them. If so, then might we have maximized happiness?) Lol. Nice. So, you've cited perceptions (basically honor), being an a-hole, making lies/slanderous claims. I have a hard time weighing perceptions in this discussion. So, perceptions aside, being an a-hole may be a serious concern. This is part of the very thing in question, though, whether giving others self-serving advice constitutes being an arse. I guess why does giving advice that doesn't necessarily help them imply being an arse? If the application process is competitive, from applicant pool to admit pool, what controlling concerns say that this self-seeking behavior is arse-making qualities. As far as making lies/slanderous claims, I am not suggesting this at all. Perhaps you see it as permissible on the self-seeking paradigm. It seems you are saying that whatever self-benefit may be gained, it is so thinly distributed it is impractical. Is this a concern? If so, it almost sounds like "one makes me feel good, but the other requires too much work with little/unpredictable payoff"

Thanks for exposing the ambiguity. I meant that the entrance into PhD is so competitive since there are so few positions into PhD programs. Market being bad in that sense. (the context of "offers" was supposed be a controlling theme/context)

Point of clarification, if necessary: I am genuinely happy for people here who got accepted to funded PhD programs, and not just the ones I didn't apply to.

This may seem like a troll-ish thread, but if the market is so bad, why aren't we advising people turn down their offers so that we ourselves might have better chances at the program? Categorical imperative? utilitarian concerns? ethical egoism? ... Or is this a non-ethical issue at all?

Please forgive my under-use of parentheses...

contingency [Ma & (~Na & ~Oa & ~Wa & ~Va)] ⊃ Me where a = accepted at e = enroll at You can throw some other additional criteria, like Na ⊃ Ne Wa & ~Na ⊃ We and so on ---- My advice though: Take an offer, especially a really, really well funded offer!, over waiting it out next year. You don't have to accept Missouri before April 15. Follow either Infinite Zest or NathanKellen's advice.

Or c) decline your offers, work on your (different?) writing sample, and apply again to more programs. Or d) accept the funded PhD offer, reapply after a year or two (or after your PhD grants an MA en passant). Not getting into the preferred schools is not an indication on your ability or potential necessarily. Part of it is the roll of the dice. It sucks to go through the application process again. I don't think what you have said, though, is any indication that you are not now PhD material). Oh, and I'm partial to option A as well, as being accepted is awesome, and if it fits your interests/AOI, then it is preferable to an MA or reapplying.

Huh. Thanks for the encouragement. I haven't decided yet, but I am definitely leaning toward WMU now.

Thanks for your wisdom, Between Fields. That was basically my major argument for the thesis, though now I feel as though I have landed on the other side. As I understand it, the benefit from a thesis is outweighed by its cost (and the alternatives). I can't really use a thesis as a writing sample, both because of the difficulty in condensing it and because of the timing (I start the thesis in the Fall, applications are due over winter break, finish the thesis in Feb/march). If I used a draft, it will be nowhere near as polished as a writing sample should be. A polished term paper (from all the grad students I have contacted, both at thesis and non-thesis track schools) is a much better fit for writing sample. Not writing a thesis will mean freeing up time to polish term papers so that they can be used as writing samples, proto-publications, and conference papers/talks. This fact alone gives me hesitation to go the thesis track. I consider it the single most important factor for doing non-thesis. Lastly, thesis vs non-thesis have no significant difference in acceptance/placement into PhD. If there is a difference, it isn't bore out in the data with any statistical significance. Call me pragmatic, but that just suggests to me the bias is not on the AdCom side, but in the perception of the student.

Thanks again for all your help. I am finding more programs that appear to accept these credits, per jjb919's recommendation to check the handbooks for notes on students with Advanced Standing or Advanced Degrees. FYI UMich -- allows some to transfer, but very few. OSU -- appears none can transfer? Need to ask DGS Purdue -- "up to 30 credit hours" -- Holy moly! Both Toronto and UWO have shorter PhD tracks if you come in with an MA

Related to above: www.areavibes.com This site provides some hard data for cost of living, crime rate, employment rate, median rent, etc. All statistics come with a comparison with the national average, but you can also set two cities in comparison with one another, in case you are deciding between the two.

Nikolay: I think you're funny in other threads, but I cannot recommend anyone take your request seriously, because of being extremely suspect. (either you lack integrity or you do not, either way I cannot trust you) Admittedly hyperbole, but I may suggest that you are the Andy Kaufman of this site. Count that high praise.