American in Beijing

Congratulations on your acceptance! I agree with NorthernStar, unfortunately. Of course, this is ultimately a matter of how much you're willing to sacrifice to get a PhD. Speaking as a person who has incurred a LOT of undergraduate debt, I would not choose to go to a program that is not fully funded. True, you could take out loans and pay them back once you have a professorship. Judging by your profile picture, I assume you're doing something related to East Asian Anthropology. If that's the case, then the job market is not as intense as in other subfields. So it is possible that you could get a good job right out of grad school and be able to pay back the loans. But still, do you want to spend your grad school and assistant professorship worrying about paying off a massive amount of debt? Is it worth all the stress? If it is, then I wish you all the luck in the world! But if it isn't, then I would tell the program that you cannot accept an offer that is not fully funded. There is the possibility that, if they really want you as a student, they will offer you a funded package! Good luck with your decision!

Thanks for the site! That's really great! Although according to the site I'm still getting more money at Berkeley, even though the cost of living is higher.

Thanks! Yeah, I think in my heart I want to go to UCSD. I literally like everything else about Berkeley (the resources, the money, the location, the prestige) more than UCSD, but isn't having a great support base for your research the most important thing? And there's always the Inter-Library Loan . . . but what about the money? Lol, and now I'm back where I started.

So I've gotten into two schools (Berkeley and UCSD) and I'm still torn as to which school I should actually go to. After talking numerous professors and students, I've gotten the distinct impression that the question pretty much comes down to resources vs. mentoring (or, as my roommate puts it, the library vs. professor question). Berkeley has a lot more resources (in terms of finances and library resources), a lot more prestige, and has amazing faculty and brilliant students from all different history subfields that would give me a real opportunity to do some fantastic interdisciplinary work if I should ever have the urge. However, the faculty for Chinese history is going through some generational changes. Of the two professors I am interested in working with, one is middle-aged and doesn't do particularly interesting work, and the other is very young, but his work seems fascinating and very cutting-edge. Problem is . . . will he still be around when I'm actually writing my dissertation? UCSD on the other hand seems to offer a lot in terms of mentoring. Their training in my specific subfield (Chinese history) is really top-notch and seems a lot more effective than Berkeley's. Their students have recently been receiving a lot of recognition (this year they're 3/3 in terms of Fulbrights and a grad from 2008 is now an assistant professor at Oxford). The faculty is also amazing, and one professor in particular is REALLY famous. However, with the exception of the Chinese history subfield, the rest of the department does not seem very strong. Also, there's the problem of less resources. They've offered what I think is a reasonable fellowship . . . but Berkeley's still offering me a lot more. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be really grateful! Also, is there any good way to ask a professor either when he/she's going to retire or whether he/she has plans to move on to another school in the near future? I kind of need to know to make my decision . . . but I'm struggling to find a way to word the questions that doesn't seem rude. Thanks!!!

From what you've written, it seems like Berkeley is the best place. Berkeley does have private funding independent from the state budget, and it seems to be the school with the least amounts of cons apart from that. Can I ask what you mean by "not enough thematic seminars?" Berkeley's actually have to choose between Berkeley and UCSD, and any info would be helpful.

Lol, it totally is! Professors will even admit it too! A good friend of mine got into Oxford, but then rejected by her no-name safety school. You just have no way to tell! I figure getting into grad school is practically like winning the lottery; winning it twice (or even once) is already unbelievable. Winning it four, five, six times? That's just statistically improbable!

I'm not giving up hope completely yet . . . even though my hope's starting to flag a little. In previous years it seems like people were informed on different days. And that's not exactly unusual for schools to first send out admissions to the candidates they're 100% sure about and leave the more "debatable" ones for further, well, debate. And just because the admissions were for multiple subsections it doesn't mean they're done with all the subsections. At least . . . a girl can hope. Good luck to everyone who, like me, is biting their nails in anxiety! You never know what can happen!

I'm applying to the GSAS, Department of History. And it does seem to be Complete Enough for Review . . . but why is that changing just now? My department's pretty much done with admissions decisions, I think.

I just checked Columbia's website for the fiftieth time, and on the Application Status Form page under the Downloadable Forms list there's a line that says: "Status Department." It used to be blank, but as of around 30 min. - 1 hour ago it says "Complete ______ ENOYES". Does anyone have any idea what it could mean? Could anyone who's been admitted or rejected by Columbia please help me out?

I feel like with Master's programs it's not so hard to get a deferral. My friend got BU to defer her admission to an IR Master's program without much of an excuse at all. PhD's might be another story . . . To be honest, deferring had crossed my mind as well, but I'm too scared of losing my funding. And my alternate plan for the year (teaching preschool) is definitely not as good in the long run as doing a PhD. I think I'm just getting nervous about the fact that this dream that I've worked hard for for so long is finally coming true . . . what happens if I get this far and screw it up somehow? I'm sure once school actually starts I'll be so excited that it will all go away.

I wish I had never seen this topic . . . now I'm more paranoid than ever!

They did that to everyone at Berkeley, including the admits. It scared me quite a bit. I think the difference was the first e-mail was from the department and the second was from the entire GSAS. Still, that was pretty nasty of them. One would think they could just have a unified system . . . but maybe that's too much to ask considering California's budget crisis.

Yeah, the website can be misleading. I got accepted to a school over a week ago via e-mail from the department and I just now received an e-mail asking me to check my status on the website. Trust the e-mail! You're in! Congratulations!! Go dance around and celebrate!

Still waiting to hear from two schools . . . ice cream has become my new best friend.

I'm actually about to start a temporary job teaching English to Chinese preschoolers. I have a feeling grad school is going to come as a shock after 6 months of nothing but ABC's. At least this job should be slightly better than the internship I just got off of. I was only there 1 1/2 weeks, but it confirmed my hatred for corporate life. Every day it felt like I was seconds away from metamorphosing into some insane clerk from a Dostoevsky novel. My Russian Lit professor would have been proud . . .

Is the decision binding? If so, then I would say that you're really excited about the opportunity, but that you need to weigh in other factors before you make your final decision. Say you'd like to have more time to talk to the students and faculty to make sure the school is a good fit for you. They should understand that. And if they don't, then that's unreasonable, I think. I would seriously reconsider going to the program.

Movies: An Education -- great story about a girl who comes of age in England in the 1960's. Precious -- awesome film about an illiterate girl growing up in Harlem in the 80's who is physically and sexually abused by her parents. TV Shows: Bones (just awesome) -- A forensic anthropologist who solves murders for the FBI. Flashpoint -- A Canadian drama about a First Response Unit for the police. It's mostly about hostage situations. For the guy within us all, !

I e-mailed my PA and she told me about my rejection. It sounded like they'd made their decisions already . . . at least about East Asia.

Lol, why they couldn't just send out a mass e-mail telling this to everyone is beyond me.

If anyone's waiting on Columbia, I just got an e-mail from the secretary saying that the committee is going to make decisions "by the 25th" and that "applicants will be notified shortly after that." I'm assuming that means if you find out after the 25th, it's probably not good news, . Here's to another week of suspense!

I just got my first rejection today too (from Harvard). I'm definitely relieved it's over with, and even though I'm still waiting to hear from two schools I'm definitely a lot calmer now than I was before. A good chunk of the uncertainty is gone now, at least.

Lol, me too! How's the book compared to the TV show (i.e. which is better)? To be honest, I can't imagine anything better than seeing Dr. Brennan playing with a baby and saying: "Dancing phalanges!"

With a PhD in history, professorships are pretty much the only thing you could possibly do (unless you want to get another degree in archaeology or as a museum curator and work at a museum). However, I'm fortunate enough to be in love with a field that tends to be the exception to the "life of academic poverty" route that many seem prepared to follow. Chinese history is a relatively small field in the U.S., but given China's rising importance also a field that is currently in growing demand (I'm told even in spite of the financial crisis). Do I expect to come straight out of grad school and become a tenured professor at Harvard? No. But I am expecting to be able to find a relatively stable job at a minor university and maybe even work my way up to the "top", !

Maybe people have become violent and threatened them in the past. You never know! I mean, everyone here has sacrificed a lot to apply to grad schools and in many cases have planned a good portion of their lives around actually going to grad school. People are sometimes desperate to get in, and under such circumstances, it's hardly surprising that some would react violently. Or maybe people just don't like to tell people that they've been rejected. I mean, you'd have to be really sadistic to enjoy crushing someone's dream, right?

I can't believe no one's mentioned the TV show Bones yet! Dr. Temperance Brennan basically catches criminals with the knowledge she gained while doing a PhD in forensic anthropology (and then presents papers on them at conferences . . . there's literally one scene where she jumps up and down for joy with her lab assistant about presenting her findings in a prestigious journal). Basically Dr. Brennan is your stereotypical academic: slightly cold, rational, distanced from popular culture, uses big words on a regular basis, wealthy, etc. Still, because of this show part of me wants to change specialties . . . then the fact that I fail at all the sciences gives me a reality check.