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I had posted this to my Instagram once all my applications got sent out and it brought me luck. Sending it to all of you hoping it will bring you the same luck.

Count me in if you want a third!

It's so exciting that we are all on our way to making decisions, getting acceptances, etc. Making decisions is tough! I thought I would maybe be lucky enough to get one and then I wouldn't have to decide. It has been very daunting making this huge choice that I just feel unprepared for, but it is certainly a good problem to have and I'm not complaining, I know how lucky I am. @GreenEyedTrombonist Hang in there, I'm sure you'll be hearing great news soon!! I never thought I was going to get in this round and I have been fortunate enough to, and I'm sure you will too!

Visiting West Virginia 2/5-2/7

I have been fortunate enough to be accepted to two great schools for PhD programs, and now I'm going through the tough decision making process of choosing which one I will attend. Both are equal in terms of prestige, and faculty research. I have made pros and cons lists and I'm still pretty stumped. Both offer different advantages, I'll be going to visit within the next week. So, I ask you grad cafe community, what did you wish you knew when you were deciding on your programs, and what specific factors do you feel are most significant in choosing a program?

When I first started in my MA I had it in my head that I was going to continue working in "corporate America" and use the MA to move farther in that. However, I was working full time, the typical 9-5 job and I was just so miserable, I thought there had to be more than this. That was when I considered academia. I managed to get myself hired full time as an adjunct at 3 different universities and I just loved it. I knew within the first month that this was what I wanted to do forever. So, I turned to PhD. Once upon a time a Masters could be enough to be a professor, but that is becoming less and less prominent unfortunately. If you look at job postings for faculty PhD seems to most of the time to be a minimum standard. Therefore, I decided that another 4 years of going back to school was worth setting up the next 40-50 years of being in a job that I'd be happy with. I can't speak to the commercial or journalism realm because I just am not familiar of the industry and MA versus PhD.

I've actually received 2/3, accepted to UCONN and West Virginia.

Accepted to uconn on 2/1

It's still so early! Most of the schools I've talked to said they won't make decisions until mid February usually! And if you look at the results pages some people don't hear til march! There's still time, don't give up hope just yet!

So sorry to hear that, ugh what tough news!

I'm headed on my visit to West Virginia a week from today. I've already been accepted, and I'm going to meet everyone, see the area, etc. Is anyone familiar at all with this program or advice on what I should really be asking/looking for?

@DBear Then the two that I would recommend would be: Introduction to Human Communication by Beauchamp & Baran. This book is new, it was just available one year ago. Things I like about it: it was written by one of my mentors haha. Second, it lays things out really clearly and uses very relevant and modern examples, plus it addresses media literacy, social media, and health comm which some basic theory books leave out. My students at the undergraduate level like how easy of a read it is. The other book I'd recommend is Theories of Human Communication by Littlejohn & Foss..this one is little more sophisticated in that we used it during grad school, very good theoretical explanation of the field.

@DBear @GreenEyedTrombonist Yes, that is the episode I use haha! In terms of texts, I use basic introductory theory textbooks, they're good, but I'm not sure that that's what you're looking for? They provide good overview of the discipline and some of the major theories within each of the subdisciplines they cover. Happy to share the titles if you're interested.

@DBear @GreenEyedTrombonist I teach an introduction to communication course and every semester I actually start the semester by showing a clip from Buffy that is a reflection of loss of a communication medium and how people react, and then use it as a launch for a class discussion. I'll actually be presenting the activity at the Eastern Communication Association conference in Boston in March. LOVE Buffy!

Wow awesome stuff already being said to be happening!

Not just international students! I'm an introverted person as well and one of my concerns with moving farther away from home is that feeling of isolation.

I've wondered that as well! Probably best to just ask current students at your chosen program what their life is like.

All this talk of applications, deadlines, waiting, and decisions I think can be exhausting. Since we are communication people and are passionate about what we do and research, why not share it with each other, and potentially have some meaningful conversations! So take a minute away from the panic and anxiety and share either what you are currently working on in your research, or what you are excited to work on in your future program. I'll start: Currently, I am working on two studies-both in somewhat of the same area. The first is an extension of some research I did earlier this year regarding sexting in adult romantic relationships. I was unhappy with the way that sexting literature primarily focused on adolescents and the dangers associated with it, and questioned if in an adult relationship it could be beneficial. I did some quantitative research measuring frequency and expectancy against relationship and sexual satisfaction, however, I did not find any significant results. I postulate that there may be an additional mediating variable that lies in the motivators for sexting that could explain this result, or serve as an additional variable impacting this relationship. So, I'm going to be conducting some qualitative in-depth interviews to try and narrow down what those additional considerations might be. I postulated a couple of explanation, but definitely open to hearing ideas to pose for questions for the interviews. The second study I am working on involves looking at the messages college students receive on online dating sites and direct messaging on social media sites, and comparing the level of sexual content received in these messages to what we would expect in a F2F interaction, as well as individual's responses/attitudes towards receiving these messages. Again, always open to feedback and ideas! I am only teaching 3 courses this semester and so the way that my schedule falls I have quite a bit of free days that are not occupied by teaching. I expect to have some free time to really look into these two areas and get some research generated, hopefully to submit to NCA or another conference.

Yay for people getting in places! I still feel like it's so early, but I'm very anxious waiting on other decisions. I'm glad I go back to teaching today so I can have a little more distraction!

I got accepted to West Virginia and I'm trying to picture myself living in Morgantown as well. It definitely is relieving to know that I've been accepted somewhere, I'm just the kind of person who overthinks decisions!

I thought once I had received an acceptance that my anxiety would dissipate, it didn't. Now I'm stressing about making a decision if other schools accept, and finding apartments, moving, etc. What a wild ride all this is!!! I've feel like I've aged 10 years in the last year and a half of preparation for this.

I didn't even realize that school's application status' were accurate and updated! I was very fortunate to receive an early acceptance from a program last week and it still says "out to department" so not all schools must update this.

Accepted to PhD at West Virginia University on January 17th.

I have a minor disability so I'll be driving so walking distance isn't essential. I'm more concerned about finding somewhere quiet, affordable, etc.

Recently accepted to WVU and am starting to look into housing options. Given that WVU has the reputation of a party school I am trying to avoid areas in which I'll be surrounded by drunk undergrads all the time? Are there specific neighborhoods to look into? Is traffic bad that living a little bit further out and driving in isn't that feasible?