pyramidstuds

I found an interesting conference, and feel my thesis research would be a great fit for a panel. The panel for which I would submit has the following requirement: "Those accepted must be members of [insert association name here] to present." Only a couple of panels have this requirement, the majority do not. Can anyone explain this to me--I am new to academia/conference presenting, and wonder if this is common in some disciplines? Is it worth it to pay for membership? For context, I'm in anthropology, but my area of research is highly interdisciplinary; this is a language conference, and the student membership cost is $35 annually. Should I apply, see if I am accepted, and cough up the $35 thereafter? And again, I am just curious about the requirement and whether it's common. Many thanks!

I admit I just scanned your post but the title caught my eye (before I even realized you were in anthropology). I came to say that I got accepted to two PhD programs with a master's from a no-name tiny school, a master's that isn't even in anthropology (granted it's in an emerging niche of anthropology that falls under the umbrella and is highly specific to my research interest). I was a little concerned about a lack of prestige, but ultimately it didn't keep me from acceptances to R1 programs, with funding. What mattered (I assume) is that I wrote some good papers and honed my interest through my master's, proving myself a strong PhD candidate.

If anyone else applied to UVA and assumed rejection when not invited to the on campus interviews, as I did, there is still hope. I just got an email this afternoon requesting a Skype interview tomorrow. Although they are on spring break, the committee is still conducting some interviews. I'm the one who posted on the results page, FYI. Didn't see any other UVA interviews as recently as today.

There is a lot around Duke...9th Street/Old West Durham (near East Campus) is a district with shops/restaurants, grocery stores (Harris Teeter, Whole Foods). The apartments here however are "luxury" and I'm sure will be more than $1K a month because they're new and look nice from the outside. I'd look at the various spots off Erwin Road. Duke Manor starts at $730/month for a 1BR, looks like. I haven't lived in any of these, mind you, so I am not sure if any have reputations (for being full of loud undergrads, etc.) but that's a well-located complex that is close to campus and to the area of 9th St. Downtown Durham is the place to be, though--downtown central, but also the area around Durham Central Park, up towards Motorco and Fullsteam. University Commons is dirt cheap...$560+...but they don't look very "luxurious" and the area doesn't look great, either.

Congratulations on your acceptance! Durham homeowner here, in the Triangle for 10+ years (UNC undergrad and stayed around, back to UNC this fall for PhD). Love the city and happy to help. I live in South Durham and it's great. Will you hope to be quite close to Duke?

I went to UNC for undergrad and rented in the area for a total of about 5 years. I've since purchased a home in Durham and will return to UNC for a PhD this fall. I'll commute from Durham, which from my home (South Durham, Southpoint Mall area) is about 20 minutes. I don't know if this is helpful, however, if you end up completely frustrated by renting in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area, Durham is far more affordable as far as real estate goes. I love living in Durham, but biking or busing would admittedly be a challenge. I agree with the poster above that apartment complexes in Chapel Hill are overpriced. Look at Carrboro, too, for sure--great place to live with bike/bus access to campus. For the record I lived for three years at Crosstown Chapel Hill (which went by a different name when I lived there). They introduced a dog breed ban which went into place as I was buying my home, so I was lucky, but it forced lots of other dog people out. They then renovated the units and raised the prices. The walls were paper thin and it wasn't worth it before when I was paying $870 a month--now prices are much higher there. I know the area well, ask any questions, I absolutely love the Triangle!

Great answer, thank you! I didn't realize future plans were not typically mentioned, but it makes perfect sense. Thanks!

I see someone just recently answered this, but just adding that an informal phone call with a POI and the dept. website both advised Virginia required interviews. I also have received nothing!

Cornell, in their defense, halfway did this: ”Unfortunately, because we received well over 100 applications for 6 positions, we are not able to provide individual feedback to the applicants that are not admitted to the program.”

I got that on Friday. Yours had "Fw:" so I guess they couldn't be bothered to draft a new thread? I also like how the font was the standard default when you open Microsoft Word. I realize this observation makes me overly petty, but I can't help that I am an avid font observer! The whole Cornell rejection process has just been impersonal and, by our shared experiences evidenced on this forum...rushed and dismissive. A rejection is a rejection, sure. But I believe their app fee was one of the highest, $105? I can't get Times New Roman and a mention of my name for $105? While we're here being sour together, what about "Admissions Letter," a little misleading, maybe? "Decision Letter" seems better?

I know now this is an old thread, but, to both of you--I am doing my first presentation in one month. What would you have done differently? Mine's a 20 minute talk.

I am presenting at my first conference in a month, and I'm super nervous. They've emailed asking for a one paragraph bio that will be used to introduce us. Would I mention my future school plans, i.e. "pyramidstuds expects to attend UNC Chapel Hill this fall" or leave that out? Any other dos/don'ts for intro bio? Am I way overthinking the minutia? My hope is that it would be a good point of conversation during the conference, and maybe help make connections. I'm not sure my hesitation, other than the fact that I have not publicly announced this anywhere, only to friends and family, because I am currently employed and don't want to jeopardize being letting go from my job early.

Thank you, @elx! And I actually came to post (following my recent thoughts above) about this McGill "scammer" person. Looks like they're breaking down the math on this theory...

Yeah, I agree it seems like a negligible amount, but either tons of us have mismanaged expectations based on positive faculty interactions...or there's a general culture of encouragement (even with applicants who are not a good fit). Maybe that's okay, though. Maybe I'm viewing it the wrong way, and in fact this helps the applicant pool to be as diverse as possible--that might be the real benefit to the program, not the $. Your story just got me stuck on the $ aspect! Denied in 2 days. So rude.

Wtf? Is that common--pre-app screening--in chemistry? The more time I spend on this site, seeing people get rejected after having promising interactions with faculty, makes me think that there's a culture around not pre-rejecting applicants in order to make a few bucks on app fees. Even if people are obviously not a fit. This is different from your case, which seems more objective and just generally shady. I mean those of us who had actual conversations with people who empowered us to apply. Maybe everyone else will see this comment and think "uh, duh, pyramidstuds, how naive are you?!" but I'm reflecting back on my pre-application exchanges, and also the fact that it just makes sense. At least with this Cornell experience, my POI did tell me ahead of time they were accepting a tiny cohort, and also, she nudged me towards others who may be a better fit than she.