ridgey

In my case, my interests are so uncommon that I don't have much choice. My chances of finding a job afterwards (the implicit implication being working in my area of interest) are far more dependent on going somewhere where I'll get the right mentoring and training in my interests. As for prestige, meh. Of course, I'm not American and so maybe culture comes into play? In the two countries I have direct experience with, prestige of uni doesn't come into employment decisions. There are a total of I think 8 universities in my country. One or two of these are probably thought to be not as good generally, or to only be strong in one or two fields. The others are all much of a muchness - doctoral degrees are only offered by each uni in the areas it has strengths. There simply isn't that mindset of Harvard c.f. remote, rural, 4th tier U. If you have degree from Harvard, Oxford, etc, your qualification isn't thought to be worth more, it's more like "wow, lucky you, you got to go there" - people recognise that the institution is famous, but don't necessarily buy into it. Prestige is only really important at the other end of the scale; if you went to a famously bad uni, you might have problems. And, I'm not necessarily going to want to work in the US after I finish, so I guess I have the luxury of thinking this way. Having said all that, if everything else was equal (my perception of fit, departmental culture, funding, city, QoL) between two places, and there was nothing else making me lean one way or the other, I guess I would go by rankings.

Actually, me too. But it seems that LOTS of people in the world would be excited to be famous, TV/music stars, etc. Another way that academics (and wannabes) are weird, maybe?

Well, Wikipedia articles on cities give gender ratios. In all (or possibly all bar one) of the cities I'm applying to, there are about 90 men/100 women. I wish I could have found a suitable programme in Denver, with its 102men/100 women. Gender ratios are no help to those whose prospects are the same gender, of course.

Yeah, at least. Especially if you submitted on or close to the deadline. They're still showing you the "three weeks" message, even if they emailed instead of posting you access.

What is a little odd in my case is that the Wolverine site is only listing two of my recommenders, and only the same two made it to the print-out of the application in Embark. I know that I entered all three - otherwise the third wouldn't have been able to upload his rec. Weird, weird, weird. They also have my transcript showing as "not received", but I'm attributing that to the ridiculous amount lor work that must be going on in grad school offices at the moment. I figure since they have the uploaded one, it's not a biggie even if it has gone astray.

Please, post away! My suspicion (based on nothing but my cynical nature) is that schools know this is something people are interested in. Those that are confident in their placement rates make that information relatively easy to find; those that are less than proud won't go out of their way to make that information available. What you could do - assuming you're thinking about jobs in the field - is look at the places you'd like to work and check out CVs. Admittedly, this is pretty inefficient but you'll be able to see if graduates of your programmes ever ever get the jobs you want, just not the rates they get those jobs.

I know. While I'm all for ratioanlly identifying criteria that are important in making your decision, if you can't identify these criteria then maybe they aren't (or shouldn't be) so important in your decision making process. Of course, it could be that you have a sense of what you want and can't quite define or articulate it. Are you going to visit days? Do you know anyone who attended the schools you're considering? Have your advisors tried to point you to a particular program? You might find that you have a gut reaction based on these sorts of encounters that directs you in one direction or another.

Assuming the schools are of more or less similar quality and my research interests are well supported at each school, it'll be about the city more than the school for me (assuming I am faced with this dilemma; it is very possible I will be universally rejected). I'll be choosing a large city over a small one, and a non college-town if I can. Public transport, climate, and proximity to a major international airport will be important for me. Alternatively, I'll just go where the average rent consumes the smallest proportion of my stipend.

ME TOO!!! I found an older essay to use as a writing sample, one on which the professor had written on the grading sheet "are you considering grad study?" But I found this after I had submitted several applicaitons with a horrid writing sample that I'm embarassed to have put my name on. I re-read my SoP for one of those schools and was starting to feel pretty confident, until I remembered the writing sample. I wonder if the pre-internet era of grad school applicants found the process, especially the waiting, easier or harder than us? No status check websites, no email, no virtual community of equally anxious folk.

Always take the hint from them - however they sign their email is how you should address them. The exception is when it's clearly part of an automatic signature that goes on all their correspondence ( i.e. Bob Smith, Position, Department, School, contact details). But however they end the actual text (Regards/Cheers/Best, Mary/Dr Jones) is the way they expect you to address them.

Why would you do that?!?! If we don't maintain some type of quorum, all the fun goes. Everyone would be forced to handle their anxiety like mature adults because there would be no-one around who understands. Worse still, we'd all be productively achieving things in the non-applications parts of our lives. Do you really want to be responsible for that sort of carnage?

So, as I try to distract myself from thinking about getting admission decisions, and procrastinate from writing my thesis, I've been watching more tv than normal. The audition rounds of American Idol have been on (I'm not in America, in case Idol isn't on/is way ahead over there and you're confused), and it reminded me of grad-school applications. NO IDEA why - probably the general large-numbers-of-people-asking-to-be-judged-by-experts-in-the-field-they-hope-to-be-in-ness of it all. Why I'd rather be an Idol contestant: [*]The competition is televised! [*]The other competitors are right there, not an unknown quantity [*]If I won, I'd get to be famous and popular Why I'd rather apply to grad school [*]My rejections won't be harsh and delivered in person, with laughter (hopefully) [*]If I "won", my status as geek/nerd/eccentric would be official Other thoughts? They don't have to fit these categories. This could be an important piece of research, potentially leading to those vital publications for many of us!

Just wondering if there is any application-status check thing available? The GSAS at NYU has some fancy online system to check both whether transcripts have been received and admissions decisions, but I can't find anything for Steinhardt. The School's webpage announces that it is verboten to call and check receipt of documents etc, so I was wondering if there was any other way to tell. Thanks.

Dumb question: is it just in ApplyYourself? There's not a separate website I should be checking?

Really? I had decided that none of my notifications were likely to come before mid-Feb, based on past patterns. Maybe it varies by department?

Exactly. But , I'm driving myself crazy playing out every conceivable (and inconceivable) scenario in my head. To the point where I think having been 100% (implicitly or otherwise) rejected would be better. Of course, don't hold me to that when results start coming in!

I'm in an odd situation re publications. I'm an author (approximately author 654297543) on a paper that is being reviewed now (after having been rejected twice for other journals), and on another papar that will be definitely published but hasn't been submitted (it's for Cochrane, if you've heard of them, hence the weirdness). So I didn't put either of these in my applications as neither actually exist as publications yet. I guess, technically, I should tick "no" in the poll, but I don't want to!

Just to go really off topic - it is not just foreign professors who let their students write their own LoRs. Check out backposts here, or over at applyingtograd, or the Chronicle forums, and US professors do it too. Presumably, by signing their name the professor - foreign or American - is agreeing with what was written.

The answers you've had aren't really applicable for the European process. That said, your conclusion that you should contact faculty members in advance of applying is correct. In Europe, it is my understanding that you are admitted to do a PhD on the basis of a specific research project. In some European countries (eg the Netherlands) the majority of projects are conceived by faculty and advertised almost like a job. If you talk to the faculty member, you can find out if the prjoect was created for a specific person, or if they're genuinely looking for someone. In the UK, sometimes a specific project will be advertised, but there is freedom also to apply with a research proposal you've formed. If you don't have a specific project, you won't get admitted because the research proposal IS the application, more or less (in the UK definitely; I haven't looked into other European countries in as much depth). If this is you, you would need to contact someone who shares your interests and ask if they are working on or planning anything potentially suitable. In answer to your question: no, you definitely can't leave the description of thesis blank on the application. In both cases, you don't want to be applying for as many programmes as American applicants typically do. In the former, the projects are so specific that only a very small pool of people will apply. If you're in contact with the prof, they may be able to give you an idea of how many people have expressed interest. In the latter scenario, you will have been working with the prof on the research proposal. They won't give you the go-ahead to apply (not that you need permission, exactly, but they'll advise you against it) until the proposal is up to par. If they (the department) like your proposal, and you have a previous degree with reasonable (not necessarily amazing, depending on the school) grades, you'll be accepted. Because it's a more specific process, there are fewer people applying, and people aren't applying to 15 programmes, it's not as competitive. Also, European unis are likely to use rolling admissions, where you can apply at any time and they'll consider your application when it is received. So you could potentially avoid being accepted multiple places at once. Note that funding is separate from admission, and if you're a non-EU citizen, you will most likely have to find external funding. Same in Canada for non-Canadians, though overall the Canadian application process is closer to the US system. If you look thoroughly at both "international students" and "prospective graduate (or post-graduate) students" sections on the websites of the unis that interest you, you'll probably find most of the information you need. Good luck!

Yup. I have one more application, due at the end of the month, and the $ is probably going to mean I can't make it. Stupid exchange rate! More annoying, I already paid for ETS to send my GRE report there and for the TWO transcripts they demand. AND, it would have allowed me to both pursue my weird combination of interests and have something of a 'safety' (relatively speaking). Oh well.

From the responses, we can see that it varies by discipline. There are clearly some disciplines where it's almost a standard part of the process, and others where it's not. If you're at a US uni and have a mentor in the appropriate discipline, you can find out quickly which category you fit into. If you're in a field where it's not expected, you may still choose to make contact, but it's a risk. You may make a great impression, or you may cause your contact to stamp "do not admit" on your application. More likely, it won't make any difference. Obviously, if you're in a field where you have to contact first, do so. If not, do what you're comfortable with.

Hey, that's not a prediction, that's nearly every possible outcome! The universe will prove you aren't pescient with 4 funded acceptances, and even though you'll be gutted at not having picked it, you'll be consoled by the 100% success rate.

In my case, it's not a change in career motivation at all - certainly not giving up the dream. Long term, I want to research things that are interesting to me. Need a PhD to get to set my own agenda. In the meantime, though, I am fortunately well qualified for positions doing research that other people find interesting. I really want to travel, and it just so happens that there tend to be lots of research jobs located in a couple of cities around the world that make for good travel hubs. So, given that whether I am admitted this round is now out of my hands (well, accept for that last application that I'm undecided about submitting at all) I need to have a plan B that allows me to: 1) fill in at least one year of my life, preferably doing something that I will enjoy, and 2) strengthen my application for the next time I apply. I'm actually convinced now (and should have listened to the people who tried to tell me this) that my applications this round aren't as strong as they will be in a year. I'll have my Masters in hand, my recommenders will know me better and will be able to write stronger letters, I'll have some publications (hopefully!), my writing sample will be a polished exerpt from my thesis rather than a hurried first draft of a chapter. Of course, I'm incredibly impatient and applied this round anyway. But it is not at all unlikely that plan B will come into play for me.

Yeah. I can't imagine any benefit to a department of forcing someone to attend who really doesn't want to be there.

Exactly! But sometimes that perspective is difficult to maintain.