presidentialpudding

I’ll DM you about UIC - tengo novedades pero no quiero que sean públicas.

¡Ay no!

I live in a coastal area of Europe so 1/2 inch of snow leads to gridlock and chaos. Any more than that was definitely a snow day when I was in school and I only remember 2 or 3 of those haha. They also seem to be extremely efficient administratively - already have my I-20 so if I do accept I can start tackling the visa in a pandemic nightmare (especially since the embassy is partially closed). Also just saw your news about McGill - that's great news!! I'm over the moon for you!!

¡Gracias! I'm likely going to accept their offer I think - they've just hired two professors in my main area of interest (Spanish in the US) plus the linguistics faculty is generally very strong. Just going to have to brace for Midwestern winters haha

@spanishdr UIUC has just emailed me their decision (acceptance!). Looks like what JIG told you was right.

I did some digging - the GEO contract is up for renewal this year. This could potentially delay decisions at UIC. The rebargaining got very heated about 3/4 years ago at UIUC (picket lines etc) so that could very well lead to delays.

¡Gracias amigo! That's definitely later than usual - they have a VERY full PhD roster at the moment which I know is causing some headaches (some candidates are going onto their 7th year of PhD funding) so that may be causing some delays in decisions.

Interesante, lo de Illinois - ¿les has enviado un email para pedirles cuándo van a pedirnos noticias? Me he postulado a los dos (UIUC y UIC) y sigo esperando... alguien de Reddit me ha dicho que UIUC ya han enviado rechazos a algunos pero no sé nada. Creo que UIC me encajaría mejor pero que yo sepa los dos no han aceptado a nadie ya...

Congrats on the acceptances! I would agree with taking the U Michigan offer, however, mainly because it's a PhD offer. I would caveat that with really researching the faculty in the departments and thinking about your potential interests; which department is closer to those? If Davis is honestly closer, it may be better to take the Davis offer. I would also think about what your aims for the MA/PhD are. Do you want an academic job (TT or equivalent?) If so, make sure the programs are able to give you enough teaching/professional experience. Fellowships look great on the resume (I'm also up for a Fellowship at Davis which I would really like) but missing out on 3 years of teaching at the start is a lot and you'll then be teaching at the more stressful part of the degree. Plus you'll have less experience than others on the market (for example, most would have 2 years at most on Fellowship across MA/PhD). I honestly wouldn't rush your decision - I have 3 offers and am likely going to take my Davis offer but sometimes when I think about it, I think should I take one of the other offers. It's a difficult process - don't rush it! Just my $0.02.

I've applied to UIC and heard nothing. Tbh it's the only application I have left which I'm interested in now. My dream advisor works there and it would be the only school which would make me reconsider the offer I currently have from UC Davis.

It’s very cryptic. It just says they’ve evaluated my application and the DGS now wants to discuss their recommendation. No discussion of finalists or anything like that. They mention not wanting to send a long message. I’m 50/50 waitlist/acceptance - it could be a meeting to explain the waitlist and/or possibly ask for some more info that they felt was lacking or it could be an acceptance meeting and a chance for the DGS to sell the program and department to me/explain the funding. Either option would explain not wanting to send a long message.

One of my programs has just contacted me to arrange a Zoom call next week to discuss their decision with me face to face instead of sending a long message through email? It's an odd email to say the least - I don't know if it's an acceptance or not but I'm assuming it's a waitlist at worst since I doubt they would go to the trouble of meeting with rejected candidates by Zoom? That's logical thinking, right?

There are lots more programs than those you’ve listed! However, theoretical linguistics is not as in demand as applied linguistics and sociolinguistics so most programs focus on those in addition to theoretical. Almost all universities in the US will offer an MA in linguistics; I know that UIUC offers a very good linguistics program. If you are interested in pursuing a linguistics PhD, you will probably find most programs focus on both applied/sociolinguistics and theoretical.

Agreed. They had two deadlines (Dec 15 and Jan 15). I also noticed they’ve changed DGS for this semester (I’m assuming the previous one is on sabbatical) which will likely also delay decisions.

A week isn’t long since an interview! I got my offer 11 days after my interview - there’s a lot of administrative processing which needs to be done sometimes.