spcgsw96
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Posts posted by spcgsw96
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3 minutes ago, Ayerbender said:
To confirm: you still haven't heard from MAPSS or Oxford, right? I didn't see anything about them here, so want to make sure I'm not missing an email haha
No I haven't (nor from the Duke MA program, although waitlisted at its PhD program)! Sorry I applied to so many programs (too many in retrospect) so my reporting is all over the place. I also applied to the Georgetown PhD program and am withdrawing myself from that too so if they haven't sent out any letters maybe it might help some people?
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What are international applicants on here doing about recruitment visits? (I live in western europe and the schools I'm considering are all in the US)
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7 minutes ago, meteora said:
Did you receive an official letter from Georgetown? I am not sure whether the department has officially sent out decisions.
Sorry I should have added more details -
Yale was PhD, Georgetown and The New School were MA applications (since they had later deadlines, Jan 15 I believe). I received an email around five(?) days ago telling me I was accepted (oddly not to the email I signed up with but for to another email address that I don't remember using in any of the applications?) and then another yesterday telling me to check my portal. Probably not the info you're looking for though. I applied for MA programs in most places that offered them (MAPSS, Georgetown, Duke, Oxford, LSE, TNS, and was planning on Columbia but received my first PhD acceptance before that and didn't) as I thought I needed the extra experience. Extremely grateful to go straight to PhD
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Yale (fully funded), Georgetown (fully funded), and New School (75% scholarship - lol, expected).
Extremely grateful. I have begun declining offers (so far UMass, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, UCLA, am in the process of figuring out how to decline the New School, and have not heard anything from Penn but will likely email to withdraw my application) - best of luck to all waitlisted applicants!!
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Waitlisted at Cornell and finally got my Berkeley rejection
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I doubt that all the acceptances for Cornell have been sent out... there are only 3 acceptances listed on the survey and of course not everyone who gets in is on TGC or posts their results, but it seems unlikely that there would be only 3 responses if they had all been sent out. In any case, for my own sanity trying not to speculate on whether silence = rejection as I doubt we can fully know what goes on for every admissions committee every year. No wild hopes but trying to just operate under the idea that only a rejection letter really means a rejection
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57 minutes ago, Nelz said:
Yes, I did the same but I am not in touch anymore. Should I drop in an email or wait till I hear back from all schools?
Personally I don't think there's anything to be gained by forcing a correspondence along (if you don't particularly have that much more to say or ask) just for the sake of being in touch with them (although perhaps I am wrong about this, I don't particularly know)
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9 minutes ago, Nelz said:
Those who have been in contact with their POIs from universities they are not sure they will attend, how do you make sure that you continue the conversation but don't confirm your acceptance?
I've just asked questions about stuff that I'm actually interested in about the program/the classes she's teaching/her research--I don't get the impression my POI is expecting me to confirm my acceptance yet at all either, especially given how early it is and how many schools have not even sent results yet (ahhh yet another reason I love her)
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3 hours ago, dagnabbit said:
My honest advice: don't worry about subfield rankings. Here are the more important things (in my opinion) to consider when weighing programs (in order from most to least important)
1. Placement. Do graduates in your subfield consistently get TT jobs? Do your potential advisor's students get jobs? This is extremely important information; especially so for theorists, who face an even tougher job market than the rest of us.
2. Advisors. Is there a faculty member who could chair your dissertation committee? Do you have reason to believe that person might leave or retire soon? Do they seem like somebody who you could get along with? They will play a big role in your experience in graduate school (much bigger than I thought before I started), so it's important to at least have an idea about this before committing to a program.
3. After you visit each department, reflect on this question: could I spend 5 to 7 years here, with these people? Don't discount the importance of things like department culture, cohort/grad student relations, and even geographic location. Grad school is hard, and if you don't have supportive colleagues, or you're unhappy living in x location, it could be downright unpleasant. My advice here is to treat the visiting weekend like a first date: you'll never get the whole picture right away, but you'll certainly know if it's never going to work out. Trust your gut on this.
I've run out of reactions but thank you so much! I really appreciate this.
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7 minutes ago, possibleirphd said:
Brown admits, congrats! What are your sub-fields?
Theory!
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57 minutes ago, Ayerbender said:
Berkeley's website states the dept. will contact mid-Feb., but official decisions are March 1
Why is it so late this year...?
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16 hours ago, cedfik said:
On a related note: This sounds like it should be basic but I’m not sure how to determine the subfield rankings of schools below #10? I saw a thread saying that until #15 or 20 should be “if you have to ask if they are, they aren’t” but I’m not sure if this is great advice to someone like me who tends to second guess everything.
anyone?
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1 hour ago, poliscibi said:
Hey! Anyone know where I could find updated information on subfield rankings?
On a related note: This sounds like it should be basic but I’m not sure how to determine the subfield rankings of schools below #10? I saw a thread saying that until #15 or 20 should be “if you have to ask if they are, they aren’t” but I’m not sure if this is great advice to someone like me who tends to second guess everything.
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5 minutes ago, jnewcomb08 said:
had a good time as well afterwards of picking myself apart about all the things i could have said differently, lol.
^^^^^^ same for me just now
Oh well, no matter the outcome at least it made for interview practice
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31 minutes ago, StrengthandHonor said:
If you have the sort of really minor logistical questions (dress code or office norms, whether professors seem to be pro-technology or anti-technology, etc.), save those for graduate students (maybe your "host" when you go to the visit--or just observe.
For talking with your POI, ask questions about their upcoming projects, future projects/grants they might be working on, how they tend to work with their TAs or RAs, etc. Try to feel out how collegial and collaborative the environment will be. It's also a good time to ask probing questions about hiring plans, etc. Ask specifically about placement records in your subfield, and ask about students your POI has advised, and where they are/what they're doing now.
For talking with the DGS, ask about funding, summer funding, conference funding, and more funding. Ask about TA or RA policies. Ask about fellowship aid.
For graduate students: Ask honest questions about living situations. Ask them whether they can live comfortably without taking on debt. Ask about the atmosphere of the department. Ask about fun things to do, places to grocery shop, public transportation or parking, good places to begin looking for apartments, etc.
This is really helpful—thank you!
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No news at all from Chicago or Columbia...
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35 minutes ago, PoliSci-freak said:
Congrats! Which program? MRes/PhD in Political Science in the Department of Government? Did you have an interview?
Thank you! No and it was an MSc program (I applied to a lot* of PhD level programs and a few MA level)--no word on funding though (though I doubt it's going to be much) but I'm prioritizing my PhD applications anyway, so it's fine
*too many, in retrospect
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LSE acceptance!
- izmir, ArcierePrudente and Gik
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1 hour ago, PoliSci-freak said:
- Ask if you can get a fellowship your first year. This is important because it is an adjustment time and you want to do well in your first year.
- If you are a comparativist, ask if you can get a two-year fellowship: one for your first year, another for your ABD time so you can do fieldwork for a year.
- Overall, ask for reduction in teaching load. If your funding offer says you need to work 5 years, ask if you can get a fellowship (which means money for no work).
- Conference funding: many departments have a $300-500 cap. This is not enough. Ask if you can get, as part of your package, a guarantee for $1000 conference funding annually. This is difficult to get but doesn't hurt to ask.
Thank you--this is really useful, but as a follow up, would it be appropriate to ask professors about funding and logistical issues like that or would that be better directed towards people like the Graduate Program Coordinator? (After taking some time to see if I can answer them myself.)
I think I feel so wary about asking professors questions because it feels like I could find out a lot of information about funding/TA obligations/placements myself with just a bit of extra effort and don't want to be perceived as wasting the professor's time...
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Bumping this thread.
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8 minutes ago, ilyosha said:
My feeling is that it's always best to continue with "Professor X" until someone explicitly tells you to address them by their first name. Although I am far more conservative on this than everyone I know, I think it simply never hurts to stay on "Professor" until told otherwise.
4 minutes ago, Gik said:I second @ilyosha on this, though I've been culturally conditioned here in my country to call everyone by their first name haha
Thank you both!
Leveraging Funding
in Decisions, Decisions
Posted · Edited by spcgsw96
This thread is really useful so just adding on -
I'm currently choosing between schools A and B which are about equally prestigious. (I had 8 offers I was considering and these are the 2 choices I whittled them down to and which I was most seriously considering)
I am basically decided on school A now. However I wasn't really aware about leveraging offers until now since I was emailing with another prospective who told me he did that. School A is paying me a 29k stipend while School B is paying 31k. It's honestly a fractional difference (although the location of School B is also very slightly cheaper to live in) and I do think 29k is very livable for the location School A is in -- is it worth it at all to try negotiate the extra 2k or would that look quite petty and greedy?
Honestly it's not really a factor in my decision and I would choose School A regardless, but it would also be a bonus to be able to save an extra 2k each year. Is it at all worth it or would it reflect badly/be kind of a faux pas?