When you get a phone call from an unfamiliar number with an area code that may match up to one of your schools.... and it's a telemarketer.
This week is going to kill me.
I was going to apply to NYU's AMST or English program, but I found their both programs' websites to be unnavigable and decided not to apply. It seemed like the description of their faculty search page and the faculty profile page didn't match up quite right, and I had trouble finding the most basic of information about the program. Maybe I'm just being petty, but goddammit why do I have to work so hard to find what should be right there on the front page??
Hello! I am another person who has been following this thread but not posting. Wanted to report that this week I got a yes from Temple (email from director of graduate studies) and a no from Minnesota (I applied to the American Studies dept; letter posted to the online application system). Hope this is useful!
Guys, I've just been accepted to BC
I'm completely in shock, I knew they only accept like 4-5 people so I applied assuming I'd be considered for the MA!
Email said I'm accepted to the PhD in English 'with a concentration in Irish studies', which I didn't know existed at the PhD level, but after looking at their website it looks likes its more to do with the fellowship than the program.
Do you think that it would be appropriate to send out decision letters today? Should I worry more about how Trump will destroy the world or about admissions committees?
I, too, am a longtime lurker, but I'd like to step out of the shadows to claim this one! I was stunned to hear back so early, and with a university-wide fellowship nomination to boot!
Congrats to those who've heard positive things already...and best of luck to those still waiting! I have 8 more programs to hear from yet, so fingers are still crossed here for more good news.
Sure. We received an email to sign up for an interview. As I mentioned, mine was a Skype interview, although I think some schools still have interview weekends (Notre Dame?); mine was with two professors from the department--I have no idea if they were on the admission committee or not, they didn't mention it either way--although I heard about interviews with three professors and even a whole panel at another school. They would not have been my potential advisors, but were in tangential fields and were able to ask very knowledgable and informed (read: intimidatingly specific and thoughtful) questions about my area of interest and writing sample, so I do not think it is entirely random, but is instead dictated by some combination of field and schedule.
The interview, as I wrote, was entirely questions about my writing sample and proposed project/field of interest more generally, except when I had the opportunity to pose questions to them--another part that you could prep in advance. I don't want to get into too many details on a public forum, and every interview is different based on who is interviewing, but mine, at least, was entirely substantive and quite challenging. For example, I was asked about specific authors/texts and theorists in my field that weren't expressly mentioned in my writing sample/SoP, but names that I should have known.
Again, however, I really think that this is so dependent on your specific interviewers and potentially the specific school's format that making any generalizations from one anecdotal piece of evidence isn't very wise. Just brush up on what you already know, be honest about what you don't--you aren't expected to know everything, they know we are all just embarking on this crazy adventure--and do the best you can. Like I said, I'm pretty sure that I botched it and it all worked out okay anyway. Like all aspects of your application, this is just one part of the whole.
As of right now, I am broadly interested in Black women's cultural labors in 20th century performance spheres. In graduate study, I want to focus on affective and sexual labors in the performance work of women funk and disco artists.
Everyone's work sounds great!
I got my MA in English Lit and happened to fall into food studies, the history of labor, and the hemispheric South. Specifically, I'm interested in exploring the ways in which drinking/imbibing affects our conception of urban and regional spaces. I also got really into digital humanities as an MA student and public history, so I hope to continue that sort of work as a PhD student.
Brown and UNC Chapel Hill are my top schools, because both have focuses on public humanities and have several faculty members I would love to work with. Yale would be a great program too, but I don't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting into Yale!
Small note on BA-to-phd Applicants: Some programs *may* prefer to train candidates to their way of doing things. They might think it's easier to get them to learn how to do things under their style.
Small note on MA-to-phd Applicants: Some programs consider MA applicants to be more ready for the PHD since they have previous graduate work. They may consider them less likely to drop out.
Some programs are generous in the amount of coursework they allow you to "transfer" in for credit. Others accept little-to-no previous graduate coursework. Most programs do accept a mixture of MA and BA applicants into their phd program.
It sounded to me like the suggestion was that her "colleagues who were the direct-admits" to PhD programs with only a BA were better prepared (at time of application) than those who applied with BAs and were admitted to the MA rather than the PhD, and that's the reason those direct admits were admitted to the PhD while others weren't. I could be wrong about what was intended and won't dive further into the questions of interpretation that Yanaka and angel_kaye have been discussing, but I can weigh in a bit on the difference between applicants with a BA who are admitted to an MA vs "directly admitted" to a PhD program, at least in terms of perceived difference in qualification. As far as differentiation within a PhD program between those who enter with a BA vs an MA, it's basically just a difference of requirements, depending on the program. I had to take more classes than my cohort mates with MAs, and took my qualifying exam about a semester later than their average, but there's no distinction within the program between those who entered with BA or MA, and people often forget who came in with what.
Regarding differences in application quality or preparedness, the answer isn't a clearcut one by any means: I was admitted with a BA directly to a PhD program, but I don't feel that I was significantly more prepared than others who were admitted to the MA. There are so many factors at work in determining who is admitted where. I did write a BA Honor's Thesis and was able to sketch out a direction of research and state who I wanted to work with, and the person I identified as my primary POI at my eventual program is my director now, but there was so, so much I didn't know at the time as well. Perhaps my interests were more defined than some students who were admitted to the master's program, who went on to switch their research fields, but there are also PhD students at my university who entered with MAs and went on to switch research fields during PhD coursework. I do think that having two more years to develop your interests, particularly in the context of graduate coursework, is a huge advantage for those applying with an MA (and angel_kaye makes a great point that students who complete the MA can then choose which PhD programs to apply to with a more developed understanding of their research interests). But I've known students who were accepted into an MA who had more thoroughly defined research interests (and were certainly more well read) than me, and PhD students who entered with MAs who still felt they were starting from scratch with their research interests. It's a mixed bag. Angel_kaye seemed to suggest that her initial application was clearly only suitable for MA acceptance, but I could say the same thing about the straight-from-BA application that did end up getting me into a PhD program. My writing sample and SoP had plenty of problems, revealed massive ignorance about what constitutes a research field, and were outdated and canonical in focus. The problems with my writing sample and stated interests were problems that I wouldn't have even been able to identify until I completed my first year or two of grad school. Many of the straight to PhD applicants whose posts I read on GradCafé seem far more in touch with current conversations and trends in their fields than I was when I applied. Yet, I got into a PhD program, and plenty of students with extremely developed research interests (some of them formed over breaks between BA and graduate work) begin in the MA program instead. It's a complex process, and I don't think it's very easy to label any application as "only MA material," because there are so many factors at work. Certainly, if I hadn't gotten into a PhD program during my cycle, I probably would have said that my application was clearly not suitable for PhD entry. Regardless of the results of a particular application cycle (which I hope are positive for both of you!), in addition to the qualities we can analyze in our own work, applications have less definable strengths and weaknesses that are specific to the programs, the people looking at them, and the moment. I suppose the moral I'm going for is that, given the fairly strong base qualifications common to most applicants (GPA, GRE, sophisticated writing), there's no hard and fast way to count anyone out. I can't say exactly why I was accepted into my program — I'm very happy that I was — but I think my application could have just as easily, and not necessarily inaccurately, been labeled as "not quite at PhD level yet."
I have a colleague whose writing sample and SOP each had multiple typos, and he got in to just about every school he applied to. Which is not say that noticing typos in your materials after the fact isn't anxiety producing -- seriously, don't reread your stuff after it's sent -- but just that a typo (or many!) isn't at all disqualifying. Take heart!
"One of the candidates with the exact same interests as yours walked in here wearing a bomb jacket and threatened to blow us all up if we didn't admit him! We're really sorry, but we had no choice!"
About your dog: I think that depends entirely on you and your program. I am in a social science program where the majority of my analysis and writing can be done from home, and I prefer to work from home or from a library (as opposed to my cube in the windowless cube farm). When I was taking classes I was generally there from 9-6 or so, but now that my coursework is finished I am rarely at the school itself. I go for meetings, seminars, interesting kinds of things and I do most of my work remotely. My time is verrry flexible, and if my building didn't prohibit it I would get a dog in a heartbeat. Another thing to keep in mind: a dog can be a great comfort when you're all stressed out over graduate school.
Advice?
Age:
-Don't feel like you have nothing to offer just because you are younger. I was 22 when I started graduate school. You got accepted to the program for a reason, and chances are you are just as equipped as any older students are to successfully complete the program, just in a different way.
-Your older classmates may be just as terrified as you. Talk to them. You have a lot in common. You are, after all, in the same place.
-You will feel like an imposter, like you don't belong, or like you are constantly behind. Or all three. It's normal. It will pass. (Well, sort of.) People of all ages go through this.
Adviser related:
-If you are lucky enough to get both research interest fit and personality fit perfect, congratulations! But sometimes, personality fit is more important than research interest fit as long as the research isn't too different. A great adviser is interested in your career development, likes you as a person, advocates for you, and wants to hear your ideas. Even if his or her research is quite different from yours, they may give you the autonomy to work on your own projects and just supervise you. A bad personality fit will drive you nuts, even if you love his or her research. Consider that when evaluating your adviser fit. (This will vary by field: research fit may be less important in the humanities, more important in the natural and physical sciences. Social sciences are somewhere in-between.)
-Don't be afraid to be straight up blunt with your adviser when it comes to asking about your progress. Ask if you are where you should be both academic program wise and getting-a-job-after-this-mess-wise.
-Be proactive. Advisers love when you draw up an agenda for your one-on-one meetings, come with talking points and progress to share, have concrete questions to ask, and have overall shown that you have been thoughtful and taken control of your own program. Of course, this won't immediately come easily to you, but in time you will work up to it. Every semester I type up my semester goals, and at the beginning of the year I type up annual goals. I show them to my adviser and we talk about whether they are too ambitious, or whether I need to revise them, and how I can meet them.
-Don't expect your adviser to actually know what courses you have to take to graduate. They will know about comprehensive exams and the dissertation, but a lot of professors don't really keep up with the course requirements, especially if their program is in flux. Get you a student handbook, and find out what you need to take. Map it out in a grid, and check off things when you finish them. Show this to your adviser every semester. You may have to explain how such and such class fills a requirement.
-Nobody loves you as much as you, except your mother. Keep this in mind as you take in advice from all sources, including your adviser. Your adviser is there to guide you, but that doesn't mean you have to do everything he says.
Studying:
-You will have to read more than you ever did before, in less time than you ever have before, and you will be expected to retain more than you ever have before. The way that you studied in undergrad may need some tweaking. Be prepared for this.
-Corollary: you may find that your methods change with age or interests or time. I preferred to study alone in college, but in grad school, I prefer to study in groups. It keeps me on task and the socialization keeps me motivated. You may find that you shift from being a more auditory learner to a visual learner or whatever.
-You will feel behind at first. This is normal.
-At some point you will realize that your professors don't actually expect you to read everything they assign you. This, of course, will vary by program, but there will be at least one class where the reading is actually impossible to do in one week. The point is to read enough that you know the major themes and can talk intelligently about them, and then pick some of the readings to really dig into and think more deeply about.
-For most programs, don't worry so much about grades. If you stay on top of your work and do what you're supposed to, you will probably get an A. How much grades matter varies from program to program. In some programs, a B is a signal that you are not up to par, and more than a few Bs will warrant a discussion with your adviser or the DGS. My program isn't like that - A, B, it's all meaningless. My adviser doesn't even know what my grades are. But at almost all programs, a C means you need to retake the course, and two Cs means you have to convince the DGS not to kick you out.
Extracurricular activity: What's that? No, seriously:
-A lot of your time will be unstructured. You will have coursework, but most grad classes meet once a week for two hours and you may have three classes. You may have meetings with your adviser every so often and some seminars or things to catch (like we have grand rounds and colloquia that are required), but a lot of time will be unstructured. However, since you have so much more work than you had in undergrad, you actually will have less free time than you had in undergrad. This may initially cause you great anxiety. It did for me. Some people love unstructured time, though. (I don't.)
-Because of this, you'll have to be planful about your non-grad school related stuff.
-TAKE TIME OFF. DO it. It's important for your mental health. However you do it doesn't matter. Some people work it like a 9-5 job. Some people take a day off per week (me) and maybe a few hours spread across the week. Some people work half days 7 days a week. However you do it, there needs to be a time when you say "f this, I'm going to the movies."
-Find your happy place, something that keeps you the you you were when you came in. I love working out. It gives me energy and I feel good. I stay healthy. I also love reading fiction, so sometimes I just curl up with a good book, work be damned. You have to give yourself permission to not think about work, at least for a couple of hours a week. You may also discover new hobbies! (I never worked out before I came to graduate school.)
-Your work will creep into all aspects of your life, if you let it. This is why I hate unstructured time. You will feel guilty for not doing something, because in graduate school, there is ALWAYS something you can do. ALWAYS. But since there will always be more work, there's no harm in putting it aside for tomorrow, as long as you don't have a deadline.
-You may need to reach outside of your cohort for a social life. None of my close friends are in my doctoral cohort. I've met master's students in my program, master's students in other programs, and I know a few non-graduate students I hang out with, too. Go to graduate student mixers. (If your university doesn't have any, organize some, if you like planning parties.) Join a student group that doesn't take up too much time. I had a doctoral acquaintance who kinda laughed at me because I joined some student groups other than the doctoral student one, and I was usually the only doctoral student in those groups, but I met some close friends (and future job contacts) and had a good time.
-DO NOT FEEL GUILTY FOR WANTING A LIFE OUTSIDE OF GRADUATE SCHOOL. This is paramount. This is important. You are a well-rounded, complex, multifaceted human being. NEVER feel bad for this. Everybody wants some kind of life outside of work. Yes, you may loooove your field, but that doesn't mean you want to do it all day long. Some other doctoral students, and perhaps professors, may make you feel bad about this. Don't let them. Just smile and nod. Then disappear when you need to.
Career:
-This is job preparation. Remember that from Day One. Always be looking for ways to enhance your skills. Read job ads and find out what's hot in your field, what's necessary, what's in demand. For example, in my field statistics and methods are a hot commodity, and they're not a passing fad. I happen to really like statistics and methods, so I have pursued that as a concentration of mine.
-Don't be afraid to take on volunteer work and part-time gigs that will give you skills that will be useful both inside academia and out, as long as it's not against your contract. Your adviser may be against it, but he doesn't have to know as long as it doesn't interfere with your work.
-If you want to work outside of academia - if you are even *considering* the possibility - please please definitely do the above. Even if you aren't considering it, consider the possibility that you won't get a tenure-track job out the box and that you may need to support yourself doing something else for a while. You will have to prove to employers that you have developed usable, useful skills and this is one of the easiest ways to do it. But don't overdo it - get the degree done.
-For more academic related ones - always look for opportunities to present and publish. Presentations look good on your CV. Publications look better. When you write seminar papers, wonder if you can publish them with some revision. Write your seminar papers on what you maybe think you may want to do your dissertation on. Even if you look at them three years later and think "these suck," you can at least glean some useful references and pieces from them. Discuss publication with your adviser early and often, and if you have the time and desire, seek out publication options with other professors and researchers. But if you commit to a project, COMMIT. You don't want to leave a bad impression.
-If you can afford it, occasionally go to conferences even if you aren't presenting. You can network, and you can hear some interesting talks, and you may think about new directions for your own research. You can also meet people who may tell you about jobs, money, opportunities, etc.
-Always try to get someone else to pay for conference travel before you come out of pocket. Including your adviser. Do not be shy about asking if he or she can pay. If he can't, he'll just say no. Usually the department has a travel fund for students, but often it's only if you are presenting.
-If you are interested in academia, you should get some teaching experience. There are two traditional ways to do this: TAing a course, and teaching as a sole instructor. If you can help it, I wouldn't recommend doing a sole instructor position until you are finished with coursework. Teaching takes a LOT of time to do right. You should definitely TA at least one course, and probably a few different ones. But don't overdo it, if you can help it, because again, it takes a LOT of time. More than you expect at the outset. If you are in the humanities, I think sole instructor positions are very important for nabbing jobs so when you are in the exam/ABD phase, you may want to try at least one. If your own university has none, look at adjuncting for nearby colleges, including community colleges. (I would wager that the majority of natural science/physical science students, and most social science students, have never sole taught a class before they get an assistant professor job. At least, it's not that common n my field, which straddles the social and natural sciences.)
-Always look for money. Money is awesome. If you can fund yourself you can do what you want, within reason. Your university will be thrilled, your adviser will be happy, and you can put it on your CV. It's win-win-win! Don't put yourself out of the running before anyone else has a chance to. Apply even if you think you won't get it or the odds are against you (they always are), as long as you are eligible. Apply often. Apply even if it's only $500. (That's conference travel!) Money begets money. The more awards you get, the more awards you will get. They will get bigger over time. If you are in the sciences and social sciences, you should get practice writing at least one grant. You don't have to write the whole thing, but at least get in on the process so that you can see how it's done. Grant-writing is very valuable both in and outside of graduate school.
-Revise your CV every so often. Then look and decide what you want to add to it. Then go get that thing, so you can add it.
-The career office at big universities is often not just for undergrads. I was surprised to learn that my career center offers help on CV organization and the academic job search, as well as alternative/non-academic career searches for doctoral students. In fact, there are two people whose sole purpose it is to help PhD students find nonacademic careers, and they both have PhDs. This will vary by university - some universities will have very little for grad students. Find out before you write the office off.
-It's never too early to go to seminars/workshops like "the academic job search inside and out", "creating the perfect CV," "getting the job," etc. NEVER. Often the leader will share tips that are more aimed towards early graduate students, or tidbits that are kind of too late for more advanced students to take care of. This will also help you keep a pulse on what's hot in your field. It'll help you know what lines you need to add to your CV. And they're interesting.
Other:
-Decide ahead of time what you are NOT willing to sacrifice on the altar of academia. Then stick to it.
I'm serious. If you decide that you do NOT want to sacrifice your relationship, don't. If it's your geographical mobility, don't. I mean, be realistic, and realize that there will always be trade-offs. But you have to think about what's important to you for your quality of life, and realize that there is always more to you than graduate school.
-If you don't want to be a professor, do not feel guilty about this. At all. Zero. However, you will have to do things differently than most doctoral students. Your adviser will probably never have worked outside of the academy (although this may vary depending on the field) so he may or may not be able to help you. But you have a special mission to seek out the kinds of experiences that will help you find a non-academic job. Test the waters with your adviser before you tell him this. My adviser was quite amenable to it, but that's because I told him that my goal was to still do research and policy work in my field just not at a university, AND because it's quite common in my field for doctoral students to do non-academic work. If you're in a field where it's not common (or where your professors refuse to believe it's common, or it's not supposed to be common)…well, you may be a little more on your own.
-Every so often, you will need to reflect on the reasons you came to graduate school. Sometimes, just sit and think quietly. Why are you doing this to yourself? Do you love your field? Do you need this degree to do what you want to do? Usually the answer is yes and yes, and usually you'll keep on trucking. But sometimes when the chips are down you will need to reevaluate why you put yourself through this in the first place.
-To my great dismay, depression is quite common in doctoral students. Graduate work can be isolating and stressful. Luckily your health insurance usually includes counseling sessions. TAKE THEM if you need them. Do not be ashamed. You may be surprised with who else is getting them. (I found out that everyone in my cohort, including me, was getting mental health counseling at a certain point.) Exercise can help, as can taking that mental health day once a week and just chilling. Don't be surprised if you get the blues…
-…but be self-aware and able to recognize when the depression is clouding your ability to function. Doctoral programs have a 50% attrition rate, and this is rarely because that 50% is less intelligent than, less motivated than, less driven than, or less ambitious than the other 50% that stays. Often they realize that they are ridiculously unhappy in the field, or that they don't need the degree anymore, or that they'd rather focus on other things in life, or their interests have changed. All of this is okay!
-You will, at some point, be like "eff this, I'm leaving." I think almost every doctoral student has thought about dropping out and just kicking this all to the curb. You need to listen to yourself, and find out whether it is idle thought (nothing to worry about, very normal) or whether you are truly unhappy to the point that you need to leave. Counseling can help you figure this out.
-Don't be afraid to take a semester or a year off if you need to. That's what leaves of absence are for.
Lastly, and positively…
…graduate school is great! Seriously, when else will you ever have the time to study what you want for hours on end, talk to just as interested others about it, and live in an intellectual community of scholars and intellectuals? And occasionally wake up at 11 am and go to the bank at 2 pm? Sometimes you will want to pull out all of your hair but most of the time, you will feel fulfilled and wonderfully encouraged and edified. So enjoy this time!
Hi everyone! Just wanted to pop in. I'm applying to U of Maryland - College Park, Yale, and NYU for AMST; UCSB for feminist studies; and Cornell, Northwestern, Berkeley and UCLA (MA) for African-American Studies.
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