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Dwar

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Everything posted by Dwar

  1. That’s pretty interesting to know what’s happening in Canada. I know that in the US there are a series of class action lawsuits led by undergrads who are demanding fee refunds and or tuition breaks for this current spring semester.
  2. I just wanted to agree with this statement whole heartedly. A great profile will get you past the door, but it's the luck that gets you an offer. Personally, I think the luck factor is the larger of the two, but honestly it varies from person to person and school to school and even year to year. I also want to congratulate you on an awesome cycle! I have spent the last two years or so on this site and honestly I think you are the most successful candidate that I've seen on here!
  3. Good luck to everyone making their final decisions. Don't forget to pop onto the results/advice/lessons thread to drop some knowledge on the next group of students!
  4. Question for folks: Let’s say during the summer your school announces online classes for the rest of the year, would you still move there? Personally, I am planning on moving to my school as long as the funding is still there. I’ve already given my notice to vacate for my current apartment (massive rent increase anyways) and I can’t imagine living at home with my family for more then two months without going insane.
  5. I believe the Arizona Philosophy department is doing something along those lines, or giving priority consideration for applicants who were admitted this year but are forced to reapply next year. Personally, I would not want to reapply to a school that pulled their funding offer. While I understand that it's not the departments that's doing it, it shows systemic issues within the administration and the value that they place on grad students within the institution.
  6. So thats definitely a valid statement and for the most part I do agree that more information is better then restricting and or limiting information. I guess I'm just kind of upset about the way the media is hyping this whole thing up in general. I totally understand how dangerous it is and yes it should be taken seriously. But at the same time, I think that some of the over coverage the media has been doing has also instilled a sense of panic and fear that is totally unhelpful in this crisis. There is no reason to go out and buy a months worth of food, but you wouldn't know that from the media coverage. Again, I'm not saying that under reporting is better than over reporting, but I just think that in many cases the Media is taking advantage of the current hysteria by stoking it to gain viewership. and thats what I think is irresponsible.
  7. I saw that article too, but the thing that struck out to me was that it seemed to be just one projection. And as everyone keeps on saying, projections are just as good as the assumptions you put into them. From what I understood in the article, it said that if we had lifted the stay at home orders after only 30 days then we would have a massive uptick in august. But that clearly hasn't happened. Most states and the federal government have increased the stay at home orders well past the original timelines. The federal one is in place until around April 30, and I fully expect it to be extended by at least another 15 days or so beyond that. As this was an internal government report that the NYT is citing, I would say that it was created as an attempt to show the administration that they needed to extend the order beyond the original 15 days. ALSO, not to rail against the media or wear a tinfoil hat or anything, but I personally think that it is wildly irresponsible of the NYT to publish something like that the way that they did. If this projection was accurate and up to date then I would hope that the federal government would put It out. Or if it was accurate then I would think that any of the other private/university projections would say something similar, which they haven't. I'm not saying that the NYT is fear mongering, all I'm saying is that they are in the business of selling news and as of now, corona news sells. Especially with a big flashy headline like that.
  8. Inside Higher Ed is now reporting it. “The University of Arizona is withdrawing funding packages to accepted graduate students who have not yet committed to the institution.”
  9. Lol I totally understand. So I'm not sure if this has been brought up yet, but one obvious choice is to accept the offer you have, and then if you get off the waitlist to simply withdraw from the accepted school. I know that that is a mega grey area ethically, but it is an option that you may consider. From what I've read on forums and reddit, it isn't that uncommon of a practice.
  10. Um, just wanted to jump in and say that hearing back from a waitlist after the 15th isn't unheard of. Last cycle I heard back from my last school (rejection) on the 17th. So like, you may hear after the 15th. If you go through the results page I'm sure you'll be able to people posting after the 15th. While it obviously differs by school and department, it isn't an industry standard. The CGS agreement is to provide the April 15th deadline for students who received funded offers to provide their response. However, I do not think this means that the school is under any sort of obligation to deliver decisions themselves by that date. Sorry to rain on the parade
  11. A few of the comments in Reddit mention how it’s against the CGS and that they are going to file official complaints. Hopefully that works? I personally think that U of A will get away with it because of the “extraordinary times” we are in.
  12. U of Arizona Retracts PhD Offers sad news out of the philosophy department over at Arizona. Hoping this doesn’t become mainstream.
  13. Very valid, MSU is generally frozen for part of the year. I agree that they are both excellent choices. I think it mostly comes down to department culture and vibes. From what I've read and experienced, they seem like two very different departments.
  14. I just wanted to politely push back on this point. While it is true that Austin is a larger city than EL, taking just EL in it of itself is kind of misleading. EL, and MSU specifically, pretty much border the city of Lansing (the MI state Capitol). I'd say that a fairer assessment is to look at the metro area population, Austin being around 2.1 million and Lansing/EL being around 500k. Not trying to say that Austin is larger, but I do think it's a bit misleading to say that EL is just a small city in the middle of nowhere. Its not South Bend, West Lafayette, or Urbana. There is actually a city around it that doesn't revolve around the university. I do also want to point out that Lansing has a MUCH lower cost of living than Austin, as is the case with most of the Midwest. Obviously they are very different departments and universities. As for weather, thats honestly a very valid point. While I personally love the cold, I totally understand why someone would not want to live in EL for 5+ years. It is hella cold.
  15. Update from Dr. Fauci. Hopefully he's right! Update
  16. Just wanted to share this article from Inside Higher Ed They are mostly talking about the history field, but I wanted to also point out this quote "because the job market has gone from dismal to dystopian" which is a fun thing to read.
  17. It does matter to a point. You should check out the placement at both of the schools to see where their students end up. You have to determine if those sorts of jobs are the ones that Would satisfy your career aspirations.
  18. Undergrad rankings don’t matter at all for grad school. When considering rankings you should look at the schools specific department ranking. For example, UCSD is ranked around the 30’s, but in political science it’s a top 10. Undergrad and grad rankings do not always correlate, USNWR looks at different factors to determine that. On another note, I know which schools you are talking about and personally think school 1 is a better choice. But from what you say it seems like there may not be faculty there that you can work with. If that’s the case then I wouldn’t suggest you attend, as “fit” is crucial to success in grad school. But if there are faculty, and even if they aren’t prestigious, I’d suggest going with school 1. TBH there are very few political scientists that are prestigious enough to warrant selecting 2 over 1.
  19. thats is absolutely wild. A total BS move from the school as well. Like, what the actual f***, how can they do that?
  20. Wait really? Was it a postponement or something providing a gap year? Or did they straight up rescind all offers? also, would you mind sharing which school and their justification/reasoning they provided?
  21. US News When people on here talk about rankings they generally mean US News Reports.
  22. So a few things. I think it is more likely that schools will simply accept smaller amounts of funded students. It's a hell of a lot easier to simply accept less students than reduce students salaries. Maybe there won't be a COL increase or something like that, but I highly doubt there will be an actual reduction in salaries for TA's, RA's, and fellowships. Most universities (public ones at least) have some sort of grad student union or governing body and the salaries are the result of negotiations or some other deal between the students and administration. Because of that it is pretty difficult for the admins to cut stipends, they don't a general strike on top of everything else. This does go back to what you were saying though, grad admissions is going to get much more difficult in the coming cycles. I predict a decrease in overall admissions and a large decrease in funded offers. I would say though that if the downturn evolves into a full blow recession after the health crisis has passed, the impact to grad students may be minimal. The way I see it is that the result would be a decrease in state funding, so public schools would increase the tuition on both in state and out of state residents. That sucks and adds to the over all issue of college affordability, but with the increase in enrollment, it seems that this might save the schools. Sucks for undergrads, but I'm not sure we, as grad students, would be affected.
  23. Thanks for making this thread. Honestly, though I'm not sure what to expect for the fall. I've reached out and spoken with professors both at the program I'll be attending and at other schools and it seems that most schools are going off the idea that fall semester will continue as normal. At the same time though, most people just don't know. WSJ just reported that major hotspots like NYC, Detroit, and New Orleans will peak in the next 7 days, which will hopefully mean cases will start to decline and we will have some sense of normalcy by May/June. But honestly I don't think anyone has any idea about what will happen next week, much less 5 months from now. In terms of finances, I agree that it depends on what type of recession this actually is. If it is a short term thing (as all the government experts are saying it will be) than I would think that the actual effects would be minimal and things would be back to normal by the end of this year/early 2021. But I do know that school boards are in the process of creating and finalizing budgets for the next school year right around now, so who knows how things will play out. I also want to point out that in the CARES act higher ed got about 14 billion. Now thats a very small percentage of the 2 trillion, but it does show that Congress is at least receptive to bailing out Higher ed. Their lobbying arms are going wild here in DC with trying to get a bigger piece of the next pie that comes out.
  24. I just wanted to say that I agree with this 100%. History shows that as recessions and economic uncertainty starts graduate school applications increase drastically. On the other hand funding is likely to decrease as the endowment and state contributions dry up. This will most likely take the form of less funded offers and smaller entering classes. My advice to everyone on this forum is to take the acceptance you have and hold on for dear life. And the option to master out is a totally valid and good option for students who aren’t enjoying their program or think they’d be happier elsewhere.
  25. Placement differs for each school and isn’t exactly correlated with rank. Sure a top 20 will generally place better then a top 40, but the further you get from the top the less it matters. The difference in placement between a top 85 and top 70 is really negligible. There are great programs ranked low, ranking truly doesn’t mean everything. BUT, for an accurate answer to your question, look at the placement data from the department and see where the average student ends up. That’s the best indicator to what kind of job you’ll have once you graduate. Obviously if you’re a super star you can rise above it, but realistically the average placement is what you should expect.
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