My admission cycle has officially come to an end after getting accepted to NYU's MCC Ph.D. program. I received a call a couple of hours ago and I am still processing this new reality. It has been a tough ride but I am happy that it paid off. I am also writing this to share my journey, hoping that future applicants can be guided by my experiences.
I am an international student completing my MA degree here in the US. My bachelor's degree is from my home country and my research interest centers on news media and what shapes their coverage of contentious issues. I began the applications in June, 6 months before the December 1 deadline. While many people wondered why I did this, I am glad I started early. This made me narrow down to seven schools that had faculty members who worked on topics that I am interested in. This also allowed me to reach out to faculty members early enough. I started sending out emails in July and also had Zoom chats with some of them. This demonstrated that I am proactive and it allowed faculty members to me and my research interests.
These conversations also shaped my personal statement. I started working on it around the same time. My draft has been seen and edited by at least 10 people; my colleagues, mentors, past professors, etc. This helped sharpen my writing and made it clearer. I wouldn't have achieved this if I did not start early. By December 1, my statement was concise and very clear. Please, start writing this document early. It really helps make you research interest clear and easy to read and understand. Doing it a couple of weeks or even months might make it difficult. If you are really interested in grad school, start working on the personal statement at least four months before. This will allow you to make changes as you read more academic work. You will also get time to share with academics and mentors who will advise and critique your work.
As I mentioned, I narrowed down to 7 schools; accepted by 2 (NYU&Rutgers), waitlisted by 2(UT Austin & Indiana), rejected by 2(UPenn&Harvard) and Columbia is yet to decide. NYU was my top choice so I will go ahead and accept. If you are waitlisted by Rutgers, I will decline my offer to make sure waitlisted candidate get the offer.
To everyone who got admitted, congratulations. To the ones who didn't, it's not the end of the journey. Prepare and come back stronger in the next admission cycle.
Redd12 got a reaction from TheLifeofBrian in 2021 Application Thread for Communications Program