The Shade King

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Congrats!!!!

I received a call from the DGS at BU this afternoon---I got into their American Studies program! 

I just wanted to add that I have really enjoyed reading the personal responses on this thread. I think I was struck most by the women here that have encountered unwarranted commentary about marital &/or maternal expectations. Like many of you here, I am also a first-generation college student, & fall into the category of the non-traditional student in the sense that I'm 26, have a husband & 3-year-old (both amazing, btw). As a WOC, I have been met with extraordinary support from mentors, professors, &, of course, my husband (he's also an academic). 
As far as my family is concerned, they lack an understanding of this world & what real impact it can make on our world. My father still wishes I had decided to become a real doctor. & most outside of academics just don't understand why I am so excited to be continuing my education for another 5-6 years. Someone just asked me today why I would want to keep going to school, & didn't I want to have another baby? Enjoy time with my daughter? I think men certainly face less stigma for continuing on with their pre-baby aspirations. For women, it's seen as a very selfish act. However, I am fully aware at the amazing opportunity I have to leave such an amazing inheritance to my daughter. & it's not money (as you all surely know), but, as you all have already stated, knowledge. 
Sending everyone here an incredible amount of support--especially to the women here! Cheers!

I love your response. On one hand I feel this way in terms of PhD a tenure track is not the be all end all but on the other hand I want to be a professor not for the ivy tower but to extend my reach to empowering students. I am actually interested in the administration  part just as much as the teaching part so my path should be interesting. Also some of my favorite professors I have learned have very unique paths to the academy and they were not as linear as we think. Everyone has a story and I think people has to keep that in mind. I 

Well thats good. I am ready to get stuff done in March. Feb has been such a stressful month I am ready for it to be in my rear view. I wish everyone success in March!!! Lets march our way to success over the next 31 days!!

So you broke down and contacted them? Someone else did the dirty work for me for two of the four programs I am waiting for. One I am to scared to email and the other one I just don't have the energy to do it before I visit schools. 

Jealousy, like every other feeling, cannot be stopped from happening. We just feel stuff. What we can do is target the actions or behavior that sprout from it. I think I've been jealous of friends that got grants when I didn't, but I just acknowledged the feeling and let it go. What you are probably asking is how to deal with specific behavior from people close to you that act like that because they are jealous. 
I would start by separating the action, for example treating you badly, from the feeling. I have a friend that always make fun of me at gatherings because I don't have a "real" job, because I can take vacations whenever, I can start my day at noon, etc. I didn't like it at first, because she made it sound like I was being paid for doing nothing all day. Once I just replied: "Yeah, I chose the job I want, with flexible hours and lots of travel [my field involves travel] and you chose a 9-5 job. It's fine". And that was it. 
I don't know in your case how you are suffering from someone else's jealousy, but I would begin by making that distinction. If you decide to talk to them, it important to keep that distinction because you address the actions which might hurt you rather than the person (who cannot help feeling like that). I cannot think of a scenario where someone is openly jealous and acts accordingly... maybe you can provide an example?

Current BU student here. They haven't met yet to make the final decisions. Supposedly they're planning to meet in the next week or two. They were the last school I heard from - best of luck with the waiting!

Based on prior years its late Feb and early to mid march. They also tend to call folks. I wonder if we could bribe someone to call them and ask lol.

Good luck with that. It might be a delayed response. I am going to send them a nice email thanking them for the offer but declining. 

I applied to Kansas and emailed one of the depart. admins today concerning the timeline. She told me that the grad committee has met, but that "official decisions have not been issued quite yet."
It sounds like it will be soon, though.

I just heard from Penn -- I got in!!!! 

Bitter Sweet then..I hope by the time we are ready to go on the job market there is a separate board just for that so we can commiserate again.

Nope, I am with yall to the bitter end.....

I can confirm for GWU - they sent me a mildly ambiguous email saying "shortlisted for admission." I think official offers are being extended after the recruitment / interview (?) event. Sounds like I got in though...
Been lurking for a bit and decided to chime in. Good luck to everyone during the rest of the season! Applied to 9 American Studies PhD programs. 4a/0r/1wl. Four schools left to hear back from (Harvard, Yale, Brown, NYU). Also got rejected to Berkeley's Ethnic Studies

@phdthoughts Sorry to hear of your situation. How many programs did you apply to? Did you happen to contact anyone before hand? If so maybe you can ask them something. In a past cycle, I had one program not reject me until after April 15 and I later learned it was in fighting between faculty about my application so that caused the late notice.

I would contact programs and faculty of interest folks even if u think it might not be a fit to gauge their interests. Having no background myself I kind of tried to do that and sometimes it works other times it wasn't successful. 
But based on what little I know about  Comm programs I think you might have fit with  U of Michigan, Minnesota, maybe U Mass Amherst,  UNC Chapel Hill, Madison, Iowa, UT Austin American studies folks are very very nice I would study that program to see if you have any POI's, BU has a new emerging Media PhD and Maryland Amst has a professor who is into digital stuff I think u should check him out.  I know folks love Browns Media program as well. 

Ok, so I went to USC as a undergrad and I actually spent time in Lexington Kentucky as well so I can give you some perspective between the two places. 
Columbia is the typical capital city in the south. USC is in downtown which is surrounded by suburbs and exurbs.You might want to explore these areas for shopping and such.  As far as where grad students live, I didn't really interact with many when I was an undergrad but I can imagine they lived downtown close to campus. I know that many professors who were not SC natives mentioned they lived in the rosewood area.  Now pet friendly is going to be something I am not sure of as I lived in the country as a child where pets were not an issue. I would ask about your pets and I would assume its easier to have cats than dogs. 
As far as your stipend, you will be fine. Columbia is very cheap even compared to Lexington. The sales tax up until the mid 2000s was 5%. Its 6% right now as far as I know. Food and gas will definitely be cheap as well. 
The campus seems to have grown by leaps and bounds since I last visited. Its a really pretty campus and its built into the downtown not unlike the University of Kentucky. I would imagine your experience would depend on the department you are in.I still keep in touch with a few faculty there and the ones that left did not leave because they were happen it was  more of an offer they could not refuse. 
As far as things to do, Columbia is a lot slower than Lexington in my respects. I would say socially it depends on your department but you have a lot of options such as going to the wetlands, the zoo, some folks raft on the broad river, college football is big there as well no matter how well they do or  not do. You are only 2 hours or so from Charleston, Charlotte and about 3 hours and come change from Atlanta.   .. Please remember this is the bible belt so Sunday is still very much dominated by Church and church activities. SC  has blue laws i.e. you cant buy anything outside of food from the store on Sunday until noon. Also the sale of alcohol stops at  5 or 6 pm on Saturday( watching folks rush to get it is always amusing).
I would say the people are very friendly in comparison to other states that i have lived including Kentucky. I would think your greatest resource for very specific details would be from graduate students currently in the program. I was hesitate to reach out to them but the few I talked with from prospective schools were very insightful. Hope this helps you. Good Luck. Oh, remember its very wet in the spring and summer, much hotter than Lexington, with mostly mild winters but if snow does occur things will totally shut down. Also sleet and hail are common. So get your umbrella and rain boots ready. 

When it hits you that you should have applied to the communication program rather than the American studies program at a school that was at the top of your list and you just have to live with that rejection because you know it's really about fit lol.

 

When it hits you that you should have applied to the communication program rather than the American studies program at a school that was at the top of your list and you just have to live with that rejection because you know it's really about fit lol.

 

Great situation to be in. You could actually go through the skype interview without any pressure and use it as a way to network. But if you really would rather not,  then you can let the faculty member  know how much you appreciate the invitation but you have been admitted to a program that you feel is a better intellectual fit for you and you wanted to let them know so that perhaps this could open up an opportunity for another scholar to get an interview. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Great situation to be in. You could actually go through the skype interview without any pressure and use it as a way to network. But if you really would rather not,  then you can let the faculty member  know how much you appreciate the invitation but you have been admitted to a program that you feel is a better intellectual fit for you and you wanted to let them know so that perhaps this could open up an opportunity for another scholar to get an interview. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Lol! Since I am applying to four different disciplines, I visit various sections here. I'll have to find the thread again, but it talked about how doctoral programs are beginning to cut back on accepted students because it's just making the job market situation worse to admit 10-15 students year after year. I can see interdisciplinary programs being even more stringent since we're so hard to place on the job market. 
I'm still waiting to hear from eight more schools (one of which has accepted and rejected a slew of students, based on the results board, but has yet to poke my application!). My philosophy is that regardless of program, you can still do your work. You can still submit to conferences and journals. You can still network, collaborate with, and be friends with people in programs you didn't get into. Maybe I'm a Pollyanna, but I see this as one big community of scholars to link up with no matter where you're located.

Great situation to be in. You could actually go through the skype interview without any pressure and use it as a way to network. But if you really would rather not,  then you can let the faculty member  know how much you appreciate the invitation but you have been admitted to a program that you feel is a better intellectual fit for you and you wanted to let them know so that perhaps this could open up an opportunity for another scholar to get an interview. Hope this helps. Good luck.