nevermind

Ugh. I'm waiting on funding info from one program...they told me it would be sent "early [this] week"... and yesterday came and went. And I'm really trying hard to be patient, but I'd really like to start planning and getting some sort of concrete idea of what I'll be doing in the fall. I'm also waiting to hear on the last of my 6 programs. Feburgatory is the worst. But I do agree with the buying yourself things. I'm having fun buying outfits for admitted students day.

I'm sorry you've had such a tough learning experience. Anybody who is looking to lead "a life of the mind" is going to be in for a brutal wake up call. I recommend reading "The Professor is In" to help evaluate if one wants to pursue a PhD (it goes into great deal about the precarious job market) and really consider if you want to play this "game" (so to speak). The truth is, a job outside academia can be great. They can pay well and you often have time to pick up various hobbies/spend time with friends and family. If you can find anything else that you want to do outside academia, go pursue it. For me, I don't really love what I do currently and I want to try the PhD route. FWIW, I don't love the various politics of academia either (I have two Master's degrees...and a "fancy" resume too). But if anyone is feeling lonely or defeated, I hope they seek safe and supportive channels to help them overcome that and readjust their own personal/emotional boundaries--in academia or outside of it.

I agree that the advice is worth considering--there's no guarantee of jobs at the end of all of this, academia is a hard life, and it's incredibly demanding to be at the top of your field. However, the tone of the original post is a little condescending: "I went to great schools, I'm in a top program, and I love my work. But everyone else should reconsider, especially if they're getting rejected." I'm not pretending to know what motivates anybody else, nor do I think that anybody is "lucky" if they're rejected from their dream programs. Rejection sucks, especially when there are "so few slots but many qualified applicants" (as any rejection letter will tell you). For someone to basically say "you're lucky that you were rejected but I'm in a top program" is an incredibly insensitive, pompous thing to say (especially when for many, the wounds of rejection are raw), despite that the intent behind the original post is trying to be good.

I think they're waiting on approval from the graduate school before updating the online portal. I'd say that if you haven't heard directly from UCSD, chances aren't great. Info has already gone out about admitted students day, etc.

Me? I already have two Master's degrees and tons of other various experience...so it's going to be UCSD unless the funding is prohibitive or if Oregon makes a better offer. I'll find out next week!

I waited on an acceptance. Still waiting to hear about funding. I feel like I've used up all my patience for 2016 already.

Yeah. I hope you get in--but I wouldn't worry so much about the pressure of gaining admittance to a "career making" program. At the risk of sounding naive, I think it's the work you do that gets you where you want to be. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a little nervous that my offer is ranked #30 in history (as a discipline), BUT I think it's one of the highest ranked Science Studies programs (after Cornell, Berkeley, Stanford...) which STS/HSS is such a weird field anyway. If you're not publishing / getting fellowships, you're not going to get an academic job (and even then, it's a little sparse these days anyway), regardless of what PhD program you attend. If you don't get in this year, a funded Master's is a significant boost, so don't lose heart. What I learned this year is...when people say "research fit" they don't mean "find one or two professors" that do similar work that you do. It's equally important to apply to meet the "tone" of the department. I applied far too narrowly. I picked history of science programs with a couple people who do work on technology or env. history, but that's not what many of the department's are known for (like how Harvard has a lot of biology stuff, or Yale has a lot of medicine stuff). I think I would've been a lot more successful (I think) in doing environmental history with people who have ancillary interests in STS rather than History of Science. *shrug* it's been a weird February.

Well, "step 1 of success: have vagina in a hard science field" (That sounds mildly dirty.) Having a vagina in a social science/humanities field isn't really a big boost. ;-)

Yay @anthrostudentcyn!!! I knew you could do it!

Then what the hell did I pay $1000 on application materials/fees for?! ;-)

@anthrostudentcyn - I also haven't received a call...I just got an email from the student coordinator saying I was accepted. I suspect my POI will email me at some point, but everything still is pending "official" approval from the graduate school (I'm assuming funding is a part of that too). I think I'll hear more once it's "official", but just a lovely email for now (the online application status hasn't even changed yet).

think it's extremely important to do this (but I'm also in history). I named so many POIs in my SOPs (I read at least one article from everyone I named...from every school I applied to...so HOURS spent on just this aspect alone) which followed a very succinct structure: Paragraphs 1-2: my educational background (because they're viewing me as a colleague, not someone who has "always loved something" or "has been passionate" about something since childhood). Paragraph 3: the development of my research interests and how they match with faculty at ABC program (naming 3 faculty who have research interests that overlap with mine) Paragraphs 4-5: what programs at the school support other factors of my work (interdisciplinary work groups / geographical research centers), then comment on professionalism and career development (workshops / colloquia), Paragraph 6: Summary paragraph on how that helps me achieve being Dr. Awesome Scholar. For me, naming my POI was a vital step in my acceptance. In fact, my POI told me that other people read my file first and sent it to him with a note about how I'd be a perfect candidate for his current research (even though I'd named him)...because of how my research interests aligned with his current book project. If I didn't name him in my SOP, I'm not really sure that it would've found its way there. In my interview, he did ask me "why did you name X and Y in your SOP?" because I applied for a joint program and scholars X and Y were a bit more conservative. But as long as you know how certain scholars fit into your research trajectory and can elaborate on it, I think you should be fine.

I'd just driven home after work (where I received my rejection from Harvard). After stuffing my face with a dark chocolate square to ease the pain, I started getting ready to go to the gym...because I didn't just want to sit around feeling sorry for myself. I checked my email and voila--my acceptance from UCSD was there, with info to admitted students day. It wasn't a *total* shock (I had positive interviews with my POI), but it was really nice to get an acceptance "in hand" (or in my inbox) so to speak.

Ahhh, a Gilmore Girls reference. Probably my favorite show of all time! So pumped for the reboot!

That *is* good news! (The RPI part, not the HASTS part.) My fingers are crossed that it works out for you @Neist! MIT HASTS is such a great program. I considered applying there, but it's so fierce that I just wanted to save my application fee. Congrats to everyone who got admitted (and my condolences to everyone who didn't). At least there's always post-doc opportunities, right?

Just because it's not a surprise doesn't mean it's not a bummer. Sorry @RamyaS! :-(

Compensating for a low undergraduate GPA, you have to remind yourself that graduate admissions is NOT a meritocracy. That is, you can work very hard to "overcome" your stats, but the process is still up to luck, connections, and timing--to a certain extent. I'm very lucky this round to get into a great program and have a POI that I think will help give me valuable feedback to produce my best work. However, getting there was incredibly disheartening, but in the end, I think it's prepared my expectations very well for a lackluster, almost non-existent job market. For my B.A. (I graduated in 2004...so while many of you were in elementary school)...I had a 2.72 degree GPA (a 2.8 something cumulative. I'm a first gen. college student and I was homeschooled throughout high school, left to basically navigate an environment with little help (especially since I worked full-time). During my last 2 years, I had several professors who approached me to think about "graduate school" (I didn't really know it was a thing...few people in my parents' social circle had a college degree, much less an advanced degree), and they were surprised at my lower GPA since I showed "promise." I decided to pursue a (self funded) Master's degree program at a non-competitive school (that is, a school where I could get in). I thought I did everything "right" to gain admissions to a Ph.D. program...I published in a grad journal, did a grad conference, taught 2 classes as an adjunct, did some international fieldwork. I was pretty much shut out of PhD programs, even one to work with a professor that I took his class (got an A), who I'd talked to about Ph.D. programs, and he knew my work. It was a big blow to me, just emotionally. I felt like I'd put everything on the line and it didn't produce the desired result. When I met with my contact at the school that rejected me, he said it was because my Master's institution wasn't "academically rigorous" enough and that my high Master's GPA wasn't indicative of promising academic performance. I was under the assumption that people would see my potential as a scholar and the hard work I'd invested to prove that I wasn't my undergraduate GPA. I was wrong. Essentially, to me, "the game" felt rigged. I saw a lot of people from higher socio-economic statuses succeed quite easily. Friends of mine had parents who gave them $$$ to sit at Starbucks for a summer and do nothing except study for the GRE (and in return, they got near perfect scores). I didn't have that luxury and felt like I fought for every opportunity I received. And still it wasn't enough. I moved back in with my parents (at this point, I was 25). I balanced some part-time administrative assistant work with adjunct teaching. I re-evaluated and decided to pursue a different field related to my academic interests. I was accepted to another Master's program at Cornell...after being there for a year, I was able to secure TA-ships in two different departments (providing much appreciated funding), take doctoral-level classes in top departments, do additional fieldwork, and pick up the first year of another important research language (in my field). I decided to take a job outside of academia (while also addressing some medical issues) for awhile, so I could gain more perspective, instead of feeling like I had to continue on an academic treadmill of sorts...and prove to myself that I had skills outside the ivory tower. After 3 years, I applied for Ph.D. programs...with 5 years of graduate-level coursework (A to A+ average), 4 years of adjunct teaching / TA-ing, 2 fieldwork experiences, 1 poster, a 95% verbal GRE (let's not talk about the quant.)....and I was still almost virtually shut out from everywhere I applied. This all to say...it takes a hell of a lot of work to overcome a sub-3.0 GPA, especially without the right support system in place (like an academic advisor that can help you select programs that "fit" your interests). It's not insurmountable, but it really takes a lot of dedication and soul-searching to figure out of academia is the right path to pursue or if there is something else out there equally rewarding. Good luck everyone.

Waiting on my last school, I started reading The Professor Is In...I'd highly recommend it to anyone in humanities/social sciences who are waiting on their Ph.D. applications.

Thanks! I'm still waiting to hear about funding (and an official acceptance from Science Studies), but I'm pretty excited about the offer. I'm not sure where UCSD falls in terms of your offers, but perhaps we'll be in the same (Science Studies) cohort!

Yeah, at Cornell there's a ton of hiking to do and beautiful state parks! There's a couple waterfalls around campus that you can hike to if you have time between classes. Before my office hours, I'd generally go out for a run through a little route that led me to the Plantations (and then around campus). It basically covered a wide variety of scenery (little neighborhoods, campus, farm lands, waterfalls), but was never too isolated. Cornell also has this little cemetery that's interesting and was a point of inquiry of an article by Aaron Sachs (http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/envhis/emq032), so it's kind of cool to encounter things in readings and then go find them in "real" life.

Well, my boyfriend and I rock climb (boulder, mostly)...and one of the perks of being accepted to UCSD is that it's pretty close to some climbing and not too terribly far from Joshua Tree National Park (3 hours). We also yoga, hike, backpack and camp, so I'm excited to check out parts of the PCT. If the weather is 70 degrees all year round, it's really going to facilitate our active lifestyle in a way that St. Louis (where we are right now) really doesn't.

Congrats to you as well tipmar! What's your subarea? Are you going to admitted students day? I'm assuming we both received the same letter. Mine said a "If you have not yet been contacted by a faculty member informing you of your acceptance, you will be receiving a letter from the Department, followed by an official letter from the Office of Graduate Studies, shortly." I'm assuming funding will be in one of these forthcoming documents.

bahahaha! Thanks! My own little guy (Biscuits) looks like he could be friends. (I don't know how to upload a pic here that meets the size restrictions, but he's a 10 lb. little terrier/chihuahua mix.) Yay! Congrats! I would give you an upvote if I wasn't maxed out for today!

I think it's probably best to sit tight for awhile. It feels like forever (I know), but give it a little bit longer!

Neither. The student coordinator sent out an email to me with standard congrats + visit day info. FWIW, the email is from the History department. I'm suspecting my POI is waiting on Science Studies confirmation before he contacts me, as it wouldn't make sense to admit me (with my weird research interests) without also admitting me to the science studies program.