calathea

Oh wow this is actually so good to know and it does make me feel better. I was so discouraged! I had no idea that schools like Hunter and Rutgers were harder to get into, especially coming from academia. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and for your advice! I am also looking at Rutgers for fall admission.

Hi all! I am currently in a PhD program in history of medicine, and because of some experiences in academia and changes in my goals I have decided to leave my PhD to pursue clinical work instead. It's something I had been thinking about for a few years, and am finally going for it. I applied to Hunter's spring start accelerated program and was rejected. My letters of recommendation were late, however (frustrating), and I kind of applied knowing NOTHING about what MSW programs are looking for, just to get an application in, so I am wondering if it is worth it to apply again for the fall semester? I will also be applying to a number of others programs, but was wondering if reapplying to Hunter is worth it or typical having received one rejection. I also have a question regarding statements of purpose. In my PhD program, social justice-type work was really discouraged (odd, I know, but partly why I am leaving). I think I may have censored myself a bit regarding my activist/organizing work because of the fear that it would not be well-received. Is political organizing something that one should leave out of an application or is this something that might be look at positively? Any advice or thoughts would be super appreciated!!

Thank you! That is all really sound advice, and definitely makes sense. I am struggling with the uncertainty right now, which makes me inclined to ask people questions as if they can predict the future. But I think you're right about projecting towards the future being healthy, even if it feels uncertain. It's easy to get caught up ruminating in unknowns, and anyway, working on making applications even more excellent will be a welcome distraction.

Hello all! I am in a strange position, and am looking to reapply (with support from my current program) to history of science PhD programs this coming fall. I work on the history of 20th century European psychiatry and neurology, and my project deals with the functional neurological symptom in relationship to the history of the body/self-hood. I am sorting through sources from interwar psychoanalytic psychiatrists working through questions of "reductionism" in medicine and the relationship of language to (especially political) subjectivity during this period of crises in democratization. Anyway, my plan was pretty straightforward and I had everything laid out in terms of reapplying, but the current global health crisis is worrying me (as I am sure it is worrying everybody else). Do people anticipate doctoral programs will cut admissions in the upcoming application season? I know there's really nothing I can do but wait at this point, but any insight people have would be helpful.