anxiousphd

Maybe no news is good news

Still nothing over here. Why they haven't figured out how to mass email everyone at the same time, I haven't a clue. Reminds me of the grad school app process haha. ?‍♀️
Serious congrats to everyone on this thread, though. Just doing the application (and waiting for the results) is a lot of work and stressful, and I think you all sound like you're doing amazing things.

Hello all. Pre-doc applicant in anthro here. I received an email this morning for my results. I got honorable mention. Best of luck to you all and congrats to those who receive the fellowship! 

Received an honorable mention for my predoc fellowship application in Biological and Biomedical sciences. 

Received an Honorable Mention for my dissertation fellowship application in English. Mostly positive feedback, but, alas, not positive enough. Congrats to the awardees. For the rest of us, suerte/best of luck with everything else!

Thank you! Yes, you're correct that I applied for the dissertation fellowship, not the pre-doc. Good luck! I hope y'all hear back soon.

I received an email to check my application this morning. I'm very surprised that I am an awardee! Anxiousgrad, I hope you get good news from the other fellowships. 

So sorry to hear this. If I remember correctly, you also applied to other fellowships so I hope one of those turns out! No news on this side but I applied pre-doc that could be why.

...and now the "The review is not over" sentence is gone. "Review results will be available one to two weeks after reviews" remains. At least we know there's some activity, and that--maybe--the review is over???

My "Review Result" tab has also disappeared ? 

Mine now says "The review is not over." I did not notice if this was there before. I wonder if this was added in response to  people reaching out to inquire about the status of their applications.

Mine now says "The review is not over." I did not notice if this was there before. I wonder if this was added in response to  people reaching out to inquire about the status of their applications.

I ended up attending an MA program within an hour of my family because the other programs to which I was accepted didn't offer sufficient funding. It worked out for the best on a personal level, because that meant I  got to spend a lot of time with my grandfather before his sudden passing over the summer right before my program started. I 100% would have gone to one of the other programs had they offered me full funding, but looking back I'm glad I was closer to home. If I had moved 5-8 hours away from home that summer, I probably would have regretted not being around when my grandfather passed or being with my family as we grieved.
There is no right answer. There is some level of personal or opportunity cost no matter what you do. Try to think about how you might feel about each decision 5 or 10 years from now. Either way, trust that your mom knows how much you love and support her. She wants you to be happy and to achieve your dreams. 
Good luck to you and to your mom.

I applied for the dissertation fellowship. The FAQ on the Ford website is vague about when to expect to hear back--it just says "by April." The other two fellowships to which I applied, Mellon/ACLS and AAUW, say to expect to hear back in late March and April 15th, respectively. So it's going to be a long month and a half ?

The simple answer is no. Plenty of people get into PhD programs without MAs. They can be great to prepare you for graduate work and for the application cycle, but the steep cost of no funding at a place like Georgetown—the tradeoff isn't anywhere near worth it imo. (I would say the same for the UChicago MAPH too, fwiw.) If you come from a wealthy family and dropping that kind of $ is not an issue, well, by all means I guess (still not worth it imo) ... but for most people, it just is not a great investment, just way too expensive when any kind of graduate work should be funded. When you add to that sunk cost the state of the job market and the effect COVID has had on admissions, even moreso. Plus generally unfunded masters in the humanities are cash cows for the university. Sorry to be a downer—I just think there are so many other ways in here, ones that don't come at that steep a cost.

I'm sure this is different for every program, but my MA Grad Director told me that my clear interest in the program (follow-up emails, visiting campus, etc.) helped me in the admissions process. IMO it can't hurt to reach out and reaffirm that they are your top choice program and you're still interested. Good luck!

Yes, I was thinking the same. None of the humanities or social science disciplines—except education— are there. 

Hmm, since that's the "Science Review Panel," maybe that's only for certain fellowships (like the predoc)? I'm in the humanities and applied for the dissertation fellowship. But that's a good sign that they're probably all convening around this time, as presumably there would be different panels for each type of fellowship. 

Hi folks,

Not really one for public forums but wanted to notify wait listed applicants of some potential movement: I was accepted off the wait list at my reach school and will be declining my PhD offers at Boston College and McGill.

Hope that is welcome news to somebody.

this is great news! how do you know?

I don't want to add fuel to the fire, but it seems like they met this week. Hopefully they don't keep us waiting until April...

These weeks of waiting are the absolute worst!! Sending good vibes.
 

Maybe in the "Decisions, Decisions" forum? I don't know of one specifically, but it seems like that would be the place for it. 

Departmental policies about outside employment vary, so I would definitely check with the Director of Graduate Studies to see if they allow it. In my experience, it would not have been feasible for me to hold outside employment while I was completing coursework. I have worked between 15 and 25 hours per week on top of my PhD since I completed coursework, and that has been manageable. I have also taught one course each semester as part of my program funding; if you're not expected to teach or TA, you may be able to manage working more hours when out of coursework or working a few hours while you're in coursework. 

Very true! Thanks for sharing this reminder. But I do wish more had won the thing. Like @anxiousgrad, I am anxious that even the Honorable Mentions came from places like Yale! Haha.