1428 Elm St

Hi @TBL. I am a retired NYPD SGT. I had to retire early because I got hurt LOD (with just under 10 years OTJ). I went through the whole application process and was fortunate enough to be selected for John Jay's Ph D program in Criminal Justice. If I can be of any help.. just let me know.

Hey guys... I just wanted to check in with everyone and see how things were going!?!?! The time that we have waited for... and stressed over... for many, many months is almost here. I can't wait to read all the wonderful research we put out in the world to better our field!!! Best of luck to everyone... Hopefully... when things get tough and we get down and out.. we can still reach out to each other for support!!

@RoadtoPhD Welcome!! It sounds like you have an outstanding background. It looks as though you are definitely on the right path. I understand being nervous about an aspect (whether it's a GRE score or an undergrad GPA or anything else)... the most important thing to remember is that most schools are looking at the overall picture in front of them. Also.. and I don't know how true this is (maybe someone else can confirm or deny) but I was told that as long as the two score together add up to at least a 300 you should be OK. If it makes you feel any better... my overall was only a 306 and yours is a 307. Also... and I don't know how open you are to this.. you can always take it again. I wish you the best of luck!!!

Looks like we have a lot of grey news!! Congrats @KnowVac

@judiths CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!

@GradStudent2016 COngrats!!!! That's great!!! As far as ACJS... I am not going this year but I am 90% sure that I will be there next year. I really hope to be able to meet up with some of you guys... Two of my mentors are going this year though... Dr. Eric Piza and Dr. Maki Haberfeld. I know that Dr. Haberfeld will be sitting at the Carolina Academic Press Table on Thursday (3/31) from 2-3pm. She is an amazing person to sit and talk with (former Lt in the Israeli National Police) and an amazing policing and terrorism expert (also serving in the Israeli Defense Services in a counter-terrorist unit). For anyone interested in crime mapping/GIS/crime analysis/environmental crim... Dr. Piza is an amazing source to sit an talk with. Both of them are incredible and super easy to talk to and come from such diverse backgrounds (especially in training and their backgrounds, etc.)... On that note.. hope to finally get to meet some of you at this event next year!!

@Cedodge Good luck with everything!!!!

It's so quiet here!! Miss you guys... can't wait to hear everyone's decisions!!

@judiths Good luck!! Fingers crossed!!

@liesandfish In response to your earlier post.. I definitely wouldn't think that you are "needy" at all. It is extremely nice to be able to have time to sit and talk individually with the professors (and future possible mentors) one-on-one. In my experience at the interview day at JJay, there was one table where three of us (applicants) got to sit with 3 of the students who were already in the Ph D program (each in a different year) and just talk things over... and it constantly felt like one of the other applicants tried to one-up you after each question. It was a little frustrating. @KnowVac I definitely agree with both @liesandfish and @Partinrn in regards to the visit. Lastly, I really hope that we can all stay in touch and since I am sure that we will all be going to at least one of the same conferences... meet up at one point. I really truly appreciate all the good vibes.

I am so happy and excited to share the good news..... I just got the official acceptance from John Jay!!!! Full package for 5 years!!!!!! TOTALLY FREAKING OUT!!!!!!

@ThesisTerror724 What great news!!!!!! Congrats!!!!

@liesandfish This thread is awesome!! All of the positivity is wonderful!! Good luck to everyone with upcoming events this week... Everyone has a lot of tough decisions to make... which is an amazing place to be in!! @ThesisTerror724 How did Rutgers go?! I'm dying to know what the weekend was like... Of course.. also.. in a non-creepy way

@liesandfish @KnowVac @Partinrn Thanks guys for all the positive energy/wishes. I think today went well... Hope to have good news soon!!!!

@liesandfish It's officially D Day for me today (interview day at JJay). Super psyched but nervous too. Fingers crossed.

@ThesisTerror724 Good luck with the Rutgers weekend!!

@Partinrn Congrats on the great news!!!!

@KnowVac Awesome news!!

Congrats @liesandfish and @zephiwho!!!!!!!! @KnowVac I am right there with you.. I'm equally as thankful for this thread... And keeping my sanity... Barely. LOL.

@Partinrn congrats on the trip to TX. I am pretty confident in saying that a school would not invest that much money on having you come in if they weren't 99% sure that you are exactly what they are looking for. All they need is the other 1%. You go out there and nail it!!!! Sending you positive vibes from NY!!

@liesandfish CONGRATS!!!! Great news!!

Also.. I just want to put this out there... I know that the whole Ph D application process is very stressful... and I almost though that the hardest part was going to be just getting all of the materials for the applications and the actual applications in.. but (at least for me) this waiting process seems to be even harder. And I am definitely starting to feel the stress... But maybe that is the whole point... it has to be hard... because if it wasn't then everyone would do it. So I just want to say.. no matter what.. don't give up.. We obviously all kick ass in our own ways... otherwise we wouldn't have gotten this far.

@brokenwindow I don't know if you would know this or not... but do you know any other information about the JJay in-person interviews/March campus visit? Advice wise?

@KnowVac I am sorry to hear about Albany... I definitely think that it is more than OK to send another e-mail to Delaware at this point. I think I remember reading an older post from @brokenwindow about getting an offer last minute in April... Something about Delaware waiting to see how much someone really wants to go there. Also based on your earlier posts... It sounds like you are right at the top of their wait-list... so I would definitely reaffirm how much you want to go there.

@liesandfish I am very happy to hear that you have such options!! This is a wonderful "problem" to have. Just offering my $.02.. 1. Obviously it is your personal financial situation to consider (does the extra $10K make a substantial difference and how does that weigh in with all of these other options that the thread has posted).. 2. I definitely fall in line with @Partinrn's thinking.. I like the idea of a smaller cohort (but exactly how much smaller are we talking? Are you sacrificing diversity by having a smaller group? Does that matter to you?). I also TOTALLY agree with the idea of "advisors do matter." In my own personal experience, this is way more important than having advisors from "higher-tiered" schools [I can explain more if you would like to PM me ... as far as my personal experience]. 3. I am also in line with @phdincrim2016's thinking... I would way rather have well-known scholars (in their respective fields) help me publish as a student. 4. As far as semester loads go... what is the trade off? For instance I was looking at Rutgers and JJay... Rutgers was 3 classes per semester and 15 hours on campus (I believe) vs. JJay requiring 4 classes per semester and 7.5 hours on campus. I know it may not seem like a big difference but there were negatives and positives to both ways. Rutgers (1st semester): Theory, Policy and Stats PLUS 15 hours; (2nd semester): Theory, RM, and Stats II PLUS 15 hours. JJay (1st semester): Stats, RM, Criminology and CJ PLUS 7.5 hours; (2nd semester): Stats II, RM II, Crim II and CJ II PLUS 7.5 hours. So for me, I was super strong in Stats and RM (Masters)... so I think I would be able to handle JJays curriculum. Verses if I felt as though I wasn't... I would rather Rutgers' class schedule. 5. Does each allow for the transfer of the same amount of Masters credits? I don't know if any of this helps.. but I hope it does. **BTW... the all caps are not yelling (LOL)