purplepepper

Hey guys, I took everyone's advice and visited the top 2 schools that I am considering, and well, my visits have left me more confused than ever while the April 15th deadline is fast approaching. Help!!! For the time being, I'd like to put location, funding etc. on the back burner because both schools, A and B seem to be very similar in these regards. I've considered all of these external factors (I know funding is huge, but these schools are wealthy) and cost of living, and these aren't helping me choose. I've got to choose by considering the different tenors of the departments. School A: I attended a prospective student weekend and talked about the state of the field that I"m in to several people and it got me thinking about how I want to approach my own research. My prospective adviser, a senior scholar in the field, has an extremely unique and interesting approach; one that if I did incorporate into my research, could make my research very very rich in many ways. This adviser's approach is not strange or out there, but in a way, this adviser I feel, largely controls the actual direction of the field and pushes it forward, if that makes sense. I think something crazy, like 95% of this adviser's students have found jobs, and I hear that I wouldn't have been accepted if the adcom didn't feel like I'd have a chance at a job at the end. The drawback. I actually didn't feel very welcome. This adviser didn't really make the effort to speak with me all that much (only for about an hour out of the whole weekend) and even then, it wasn't one-on-one. I've heard this is not typical, but I don't know how much stock to put in this. I feel in a way that other faculty outside my subfield have tried to get me to come more than this prospective adviser, so I don't quite know what to make of it. School B: My prospective adviser is a great person. A family person. I was even invited over to their house for dinner to speak about the program and to meet the family. This is important to me because I feel like I will have many of these same personal issues, i.e. how to balance family with academics. While I'm free to work with several other profs in related fields with related interests, I would be emulating more conservative approaches. While I would have the tools to do great work, I"m not sure I could do the excellent work that everyone from school A turns out. With that said, I felt nothing but welcome at school B, and everyone was genuinely interested in me and hoping that I would accept the offer. I would actually be this adviser's first grad. student. A new prof. to the university, but hired as a full prof. with tenure so there is no worry there (before at an undergrad institution). The prof. at school A. is this prof.'s good friend. When I say approach by the way, I dont' mean just reading the profs' publications and incorporating their methodologies. I mean the actual hands on advising, and how they teach the student to deal with the material in the field. It's a hard decision. Help!!!!!!!!!!!!! helllllppppppp!!!!

haha yes. This is a really really big issue. And I bet the immigration officers are good enough to catch a plan like that, and if they did, as Snowden says, your future spouse would probably not be too welcome in the U.S. in the future. The best bet is Direct Consular Filing, where you file directly with the embassy in your spouse's country. But beware, there are some tricky rules (such as resident issues) and not all people qualify. check out www.visajourney.com ( i think that's the website. or just google visa journey)

Has anyone received rejections (or official acceptances) in the mail from Berkeley yet? It's actually slightly irritating that they haven't communicated with me since submitting my app. last dec. Got some great offers so I really don't care, but it is their job to notify....

For those of you with SOs/spouses who must do fieldwork or leave the country over the summers for your programs....how did you manage it? Just curious. I'm in a field where its great to be single, lots of travel, etc. But somehow life got in the way, and I'm incredibly nervous about starting a Phd with a partner, who will have to start his own life over again (and thus be dependent on me for a while), knowing that I may have to leave for a few months in the summer or to do a year or so of fieldwork. I know....cross the bridge when you come to it, right? Any advice on how to cope?

I actually agree completely with amelta. I did my year in the UK too for superficial reasons--no GRE, and I as I lived in france for a bit as an undergrad, I was desperate to get back to Europe. But it was a brillant idea for all, almost exactly all of the reasons amelta mentioned. I grew as a scholar, learned about my own interests, learned how to network, and I too had to reteach myself how to read, how to think, how to do independent research, and how to find my own resources. and marks for UK MAs are definitely NOT inflated. I worked damn hard without knowing what my profs expected of me, and was critized a whole lot, but it made me a much better scholar. (and i think American unversities are aware of this) I too would have flopped spectacularly if I had applied to phd programs straight out of undergrad. The only drawback to a one year program is that if you want to apply for the next year to a phd program, whichI do not recommend by the way, you have to start the application process just as soon as the year starts. You wont know the profs and thus they wont be able to write good recs (you are expceted to have a rec from your MA adviser at least), and you won't be able to submit your MA thesis/dissertaion as a writing sample which is a bit of a drawback. With that being said, UK MAs are usually a full 12 months, and you are sure to find some kind of opportunity that lets you work or gain experience while focusing on your applications. Yes, one year did make a significant impact. To the poster asking about GRE scores, I dont mind sharing mine. They wern't bad, wern't spectacular 660V 680Q 5.0A and I got into some very very top programs. (including the ivies) I promise you, GREs and even grades don't make your application by any stretch of the imagination. Recommendations are extremely extremely important along with your statement. If those aren't strong, they can sink any application with perfect scores.

Yes, I think this is absolutely true. I was told by one of the schools that I was accepted to was that one of the reasons my application was strong was because of my MA. I too did the one year MA in the UK, not at Courtauld though, and I absolutely loved it--it was such a great experience. There are many reasons why I chose not to pursue the PhD in the Uk though, for instance I felt that I hadn't reached the maturity to go straight into dissertation work, plus of course it's bleeping expensive. When I was in London one tube ride was 2pounds, and last time I went back it was up to 4...totally ridiculous! Plus, I think in general, there is more mentoring and guidance at an American Phd.

Does anyone have any information or experience on spouses finding jobs at Yale or around New Haven? Any info (approx.) on the cost of living? Anyone particularly happy or unhappy at Yale/NH and care to share why? Any info is appreciated, PMs welcome.

Does anyone have any information or experience of spouses finding jobs in or around Princeton? Also, (said without having made a campus visit) someone described Princeton as a town/university with a big group of blond pony-tailed entitled kids. Is that true, not true? Whats the graduate community really like? Anyone particularly happy/unhappy in/at Princeton and care to share why? Anything appreciated! PMs welcome.

Hey Watanabe, I'm new to the process, but yes, I've heard that you can always get a co-sponsor. You are in Japan now right? Are you going through the Embassy in Tokyo? PM me anytime, I'm not in Tokyo but will be making the trip soon to file the I-130, maybe we can double date

Thanks for the reply slothrop, it was really encouraging, and definitely helped to calm my fears a bit. Japan-US relations isn't terrible, but we do have to get married for him to get the visa, so I'm really in the same boat as you! Didn't really think I'd be getting married any time soon and even though the circumstance isn't the most romantic, you do what you have to do to stay together because at the end of the day, well, love is all you got. I'll be going to the consulate on Monday to sign some forms, and then all we have to do is turn the marriage form into the city office. It's weird that that's all that makes you "married" kinda like it though. I'm all for undramatic!

Hey thanks for that. Oy, I just don't know what to do! the art history departments at both places, to me anyway, are almost the same, and I'm just looking for some way to be able to distinguish between the 2. Princeton has such big names in East Asian religions, and the other thing that I heard from talking to a student, is there is a great prof. who does a lot of ass kicking when it comes to reading classical japanese and such. which is great. my prospective advisor at yale on the other hand is such a huge force in the field. How are you supposed to decide? Thanks though Sam, for your post, it's helpful!

Hey guys, Is anyone thinking of heading to Yale or Princeton for East Asian religions? If you are, could you PM me? I have the envious, but extremely difficult task of choosing between the two for art history. But since I'm interested in religious art, I'll probably get to work with the religion people too. Just wondering about anyone's impression of both or either or, since I really haven't had a chance yet to speak with religion faculty. Thanks!

so 2 Harvard acceptances!! Who were the lucky ones? Congrats to you!

I'm in a similar situation..one program I was accepted to only offered to reimburse me $250 of the total airfare. Well I am living 7,000 miles away and an air ticket would be about $1500 (on top of the 15 hr. plane ride for, if i make a trip out of it, about a week). But, I have decided not to go as it's just too much time and money. I've decided that I will try to get the most I can out of emails and phone calls and hope that everything works out for the best.

I had a friend who was admitted into a phd program to study Pre-Columbian art. She went 2 years into the program, decided she didn't want to do it anymore, pulled like a 180, started her language training again from scratch, and is now studying 17th century French art in the same art history department. (and doing great!) Yes, people's interests change, sometimes dramatically, and life goes on.

I forgot to add that the good part is a little ways into the clip--maybe about a minute or so. Enjoy!

Hi all, In a former life I was a music performance major (trumpet), and I was going through some of my old emails when I came across this message. I'll cut and past the email with the link. And feel free to send it around. Anyone with any sense will appreciate it. For the true music lover, from a friend of a friend: (no ofense intended) "Ahhh. The end of another long semester and finally some time for quality research. In digging profusely through library after library and from one end of the globe to the other -- I have finally managed to unearth Mahler's ORIGINAL 1st trumpet part to his Symphony No. 2. This is an mp3 of the resultant research (tongue firmly planted in cheek, mind you)... and is a fairly large download. But my oh my, is the wait ever worth your time! You'll want to save this one. Click below or cut and paste the address in your address bar. I hope it works. Make sure you turn on your sound. http://www.inlex.net/feck/mahler.mp3

Thanks guys for the congrats!! haha I'm a woman by the way. It looks like there was another Yale acceptance though, so congratualions to that person too. I wonder who it is... Actually I'm lucky to have received a few offers (take that berkeley. :mrgreen: ) So I do have a difficult decision that I have no idea how I'm going to make. I didn't apply to Harvard and I'm actually relieved I don't have to wait for their reply, good luck to all the Harvard hopefuls. I did my undergrad in Boston, and Harvard Square and Cambridge is a great place to be. If anyone gets accepted you can say in your most uppity upper class kind of way "why yes, I did get into Haaavaaad." Preg- hang in there, we are all rooting for you. There are still lots of decisions to be made, art history seems rather slow in getting them out. What area are you in? And remember, I'm sure this is something that you know, there are so many factors beyond anyone's control about being accepted...I think I was lucky, espeically in the case of Yale becuase prof. who I want to work with has not had any students for the past few years, and it was just their turn to get one. It's all political I think, not that comforting I know, but I really hope it works out for you this year.

Heh, thanks x78s! I'm in East Asia by the way, so there are usually less applicants in the field to being with. I heard once from a prof. on an adcom at a top 10 school that usually over half of all applicants are modern/contemporary, and if 100 people applied, less then 10 would be East Asia. But hey, I'm not complaining in the least! Is anyone else still waiting to hear back from anywhere? It still seems like there is a bit of a way to go

Hey Ich, I was one of the Yale acceptances (please don't throw things at me...) the one contacted by email. So, no we are not the same person, but I'm curious to know who the phone acceptance was. I got an email from the DGS, who incidently is not my potential advisor, and was probably contacted through email becuase I've been out of the country for the past while. There was no mention of admission statistics though, or how many people they accepted, just of the funding offer and prosepctive student weekend in April. I'm not sure how they notify people, the email that i received was definitely an unofficial accpetance, which means some phone calls just might not have been made quite yet, but I'm not sure at all! Sorry not to be more helpful! There is another thread on the forum somewhere, something with the title "is it OK to hate people who have been accepted?" i voted an emphatic yes. *runs and hides*

Sorry another question on visiting: There is one school that I've been accepted to that I would like to visit as I've never been there before and have no idea what the general atmosphere of the school/department is like. They've offered me only $250 towards airfare (all else is included) the only problem is, I'm out of the country and a round trip ticket is around $1500.... $250 doesn't even come close to covering the cost of airfare and I really cannot afford to spend $1200 on what would probably end up being less that a week trip. Any suggestions? My potential advisor there has been more than helpful in being available for questions, but is it really possible to make such decisions based on phone conversations and email interactions only? I've been accepted to 2 schools so far, and making this decision feels impossible without making a campus visit. (the other school has not given me info about their accepted student's weekend just yet, but I imagine it would be around the same deal) So confused! How to decide when you can't visit?

My backup plan is to go to air traffic control school. I've even got an acceptance, but I'm still considering it! Training is a year and a bit and air traffic controllers make loads of money, on average over 100k, more than you would ever as an academic. Seriously. I love airplanes.

Hey are people still around on this thread? I've just been accepted to my top choice for graduate school, and also planning on getting married in the very near future...my husband-to-be is Japanese and quite a bit older than me, but as it is, he's really excited about moving to the USA and starting a whole new life. His English is so-so, enough to get around, and he makes friends so easily. He's actually a karate instructor (6th black belt!) and his knowledge about everything karate is encyclopedic. He's been to the US a few times before and taught some karate seminars there, so I know that he'd be fine teaching his own class. While there already is a karate club on campus, there is nothing competitive...I was hoping that he could start one. He's more than qualified to do so (actually has the qualifications on paper...) While this is pretty specific to my situation, I'm wondering if anyone has any experience on just contacting administrators out of nowhere and asking them to support your spouse while you study..well not to put it exactly that way, but if your spouse could somehow get a job in some kind of respect? Do I make sense? I also realize that community involvement would be another option, but it would be nice if he could experience university culture. It's been really wonderful to read over these messages, I'm scared sh*tless about bringing him over, but if everyone says that it's not impossible, it must be true. Right?

Actually, I'm just going through the same thing right now. I've just been accepted to a top 10/15 program, extremely generous funding, profs that seem to really want me there. But it is not my top choice, and my partner and I too don't feel 100% excited about moving there. And you know, I feel guilty for feeling these things. I'm glad some other people are going through the same thing. I'm kicking myself for taking bad advice and not applying to more schools. I'm still waiting on my top 2 choices, but whether or not I have a chance at all I have no idea. Hopefully the end of Feb. will come soon enough, along with other news. Anyone else feeling similar?

pgw: was the berkeley acceptance yours? Congrats. I haven't heard anything either way from them, which I'm guessing is a bad sign. Oh well. In the email, did they say how many people applied/what percent was accepted? Just curious. Still waiting on some other schools, it's not over yet!