nevermind

I'm just venting that it's been a rough term for me. My adviser recommended that I take one more class than everybody else in my cohort is taking (I'm on a fellowship) + a language class...plus one class (a core requirement) is NOT what it was advertised to be (a theory class) and then another class (an independent study) that the professor is having me "re-read" books because he doesn't feel like I grasp the concepts enough the first time I read them which makes me feel like an idiot. I've been working 12-14 hour days, 7 days a week to handle everything and I just want to feel like I'm doing a decent job, instead of doing everything half-assed in order to meet the deadlines. That's all.

If you need LSAT materials, I have a ton of pdfs that I can send you. I took it a long time ago and did pretty well on it, so just let me know if you ever need anything! (And you could probably ace it with 6 months of study. It's a VERY learnable test and much more enjoyable than the GRE, IMO.)

I think you should go for it.

Congrats @jazzman! nothing beats your first acceptance (ESPECIALLY after two rejections)!

I'm a first year at UCSD and my interests are around STS, environmental history/spatial history and the Middle East. I can try to answer any questions if anyone has them...i'm not on here a ton, but I do check in now and then.

If you're getting interest (like interviews) from schools you're interested in, your stats are fine. Honestly, I think people are more interested in your intellectual background, preparation for your proposed research (in classes, languages, internships/archival work, fieldwork, etc.), and your departmental fit than anything else. The only thing my advisor has ever said about the process was something to the extent of "I looked over your writing sample and your recommendations and everything looks fine", but your mileage may vary.

Wow, congrats on both! MIT HASTS is like a dream program for me, but I didn't apply ($100 for a likely rejection letter? No thanks!) last year. It's very competitive, so that's really impressive that you've even made it to the interview stage!

Congrats!

When I had a result in the same city as a school that I applied, I got an interview request. So fingers crossed for you.

I can only speak of the academia.edu hits anecdotally. FWIW, that program contacted me the day they checked out my academia.edu profile. Later, I found out that my file was passed to my POI via someone else in the department. My case may be atypical because my file was re-routed to a different subfield...so there might have been extra searching on my name/interests? Not sure. But that's how it worked for me, in any case.

It's possible that you might not know anything and then you get the magical phone call. It certainly happens. But I also think that many programs do official/unofficial interviews. If you're on the shortlist, you'll (usually) know it. I had an academia.edu page set up and could track my analytics. The programs that were interested in me (and did a Skype interview) went to my academia.edu page. The ones that rejected me didn't look me up at all. I was contacted at the end of January last year for a Skype interview and didn't get my official acceptance until the end of February and then 2 weeks after THAT, the fellowship info. It's a long process. Don't sit in front of a computer refreshing TGC--make sure you go do things to take your mind off the wait.

Yes, I realize the website says that. I was wondering if anyone else had heard anything before that.

Hi everyone, I applied for the Kathryn Davis Fellows for Peace program to fund an intensive language program at Middlebury. Has anyone else done this/is doing this? When are applicants typically notified? Has anyone heard anything yet?

I think this is a pretty common feeling (having a clear first choice, and then flip-flopping on the others). I had my first "choice" (which I did not gain admissions to) and then all the other programs alternated between my second choices, on any given day. Honestly, I ended up at the best school for me and my research interests. My department(s)--I'm in one major department and one interdisciplinary field group--are collaborative and supportive, and it was *the* only school with 3+ people doing the work that I do (despite my first choice having *the* leading scholar doing the work that I do). Just take a deep breath and relax. I was *really* disappointed about being rejected from one certain program (my dream *school* but not my dream department), but come to find out later that the person I chose to study under...apparently, nobody likes and he's a really difficult person to work with. All this to say, there are a lot of variables in this process. Other things help your decision too (admit days are decent in getting a feel for the departments/asking tough questions/negotiating financial aid offers), so you don't need to only rely on a website or second-hand info to make these important decisions.

You don't sound like you're bragging at all! It sounds wonderful--days like that kind of make up for the rest of it!

Back to the grind today. wishing everyone a productive next term/semester/whatever system your school is on.

What are your guys' research interests?

That sounds awful. Although I'm not a fan of giving grades that aren't earned. it seems like bumping up the half a point would be so much easier than all this bureaucratic nonsense. It sounds like you got stuck in a power struggle between faculty. That sucks. :-(

I'm at UCSD. ☺️

Haha! Thanks for the offer but I usually do a bulk order and get free shipping! You don't have a grad lounge with a fridge to keep milk/creamer in? My office was in White Hall and we had a communal faculty/grad student fridge on one of the floors. I just assumed other departments had the same luxuries ?

Nope, not one of the lucky ones to get an interview last cycle, but it's a good sign. Just make sure you know (1) what you want to study (2) how to do it at Penn and (3) why it is important/relevant to the field. Good luck!

Black coffee is great! You should go to Manndible and get Gimme! Coffee by the .lb for your french press! I've ordered it and had it shipped to me

nope, but I have my readings to do before classes next week. Thankfully, I'm taking a history and theory class and I've taken tons of theory, so it's mostly re-reading. I had bronchitis and then a really nasty cold over break, so I haven't been as productive as I would've liked, but hopefully it means I have a healthy semester.

Re: Podcasts I really enjoy "More Perfect": http://www.npr.org/podcasts/481105292/more-perfect Re: Pets in grad school I have a small dog (terrier/chihuahua mix) and I love having him (I adopted him when I wasn't in grad school). I'm really a dog person though and it is a lot of responsibility (and trying to find a pet-friendly place in San Diego in my price range was TOUGH), but I wouldn't have it any other way. I visit the midwest often, so I have to bring my dog on the flights with me (which is an additional $250 round trip) and/or have to put him in doggy daycare if I go somewhere for archival research for a week (also expensive). So, while it might be nice to have a dog in grad school...it's not always cost-effective. (And my parents will watch him for 2 months out of the summer when I do a language program, so it's free dog sitting...)

Honestly, your GPA is only one component of the process and your GRE scores are high enough to compensate past any gatekeepers. If you have great LORs, conferences under your belt, and a strong SOP, I don't understand why you wouldn't at least be competitive for Master's programs, if not some Ph.D. programs. I had a really low uGPA too (2.8) due to illness, but did a Master's degree and did really well. I did ANOTHER Master's degree on top of that at an Ivy and did really well again. Now I'm in a top 20-30 Ph.D. program (and top 5 for my subdiscipline) for my field (I also received the highest amount of funding in my program). You have a future in academia as long as you're willing to consider alternative ways of pursuing your research than straight to Ph.D., and as long as you keep coming up with the money to do the requisite stuff to put on your CV (for me, that was some research overseas and language training). I also had a waaaay lower quant GRE than you and a 165 verbal, so don't count yourself out yet.