[Grad school 2022 offers/intimations]

On 3/8/2022 at 5:16 PM, Sassafrastea said:

First off, I recommend reaching out to them again (or at least the ones you felt the strongest connection to) and asking what you can do to improve your application for future cycles. They know best why and should be honest with you. If they don't respond, ask the department instead. If neither respond, then move on and don't press it.

Can't say much without seeing your profile, SOP, PS, etc, so I'll tell you where I messed up the first time. This is my second time applying and I just finished my Master's. The first time around while I had a lot of experience in my concentration, I had zero experience in the part(s) of the world I wanted to work, which hurt my application the first time (fixed that before I applied again). I also killed my own application by not selling myself well enough, demonstrating how valuable my work and experience had been, and being specific in what I wanted to study, the techniques I would employ, and why these schools were best equipped to help me accomplish this. Sell yourself, tell them why you're hot shit and how prepared you are and what you bring to the table. Don't come off as arrogant, but don't be humble. How have your previous experiences and studies prepared you for the project you want to accomplish? Why this school, why this POI?

Also, some departments or POIs have been burned by students without Master's bailing part way through the program (its a whole different beast from undergrad) so they want students with Master's or that have experience that show you can complete a proper project and thesis/dissertation in a timely manner. This cycle the competition might be fiercer than previous ones because post-Covid a lot of people are considering going back to school and are coming with work experience and other projects under their belt, so the competition might have just been really tough.

I hope this helps a little.

Thank you so much! This is very useful and it really helped me understand what kind of game plans I should be considering. I don't have field experience in the specific area I was interested in, though it is the focus of my MA thesis, and I have fieldwork in other places. I knew that was a weak aspect of my application, but hopefully I can address it this summer. In hindsight, given what you've said, I think my statements could have been stronger too. This is great advice, again, thank you.

[Grad school 2022 offers/intimations]

18 hours ago, Sassafrastea said:

I think that was just for arch track, but each subfield probably only gets one. Yeah it makes you feel a bit better that its pretty hard for international students to get that funding lol

Advice in general or for Toronto in particular?

Advice in general. I reached out and talked to several POIs, and the conversations did go well, though none of them ended up panning out this go around. I guess it just feels weird to have to do all this again. 

[Grad school 2022 offers/intimations]

On 3/5/2022 at 1:01 AM, Sassafrastea said:

Hi all!

Acceptances: UC Davis, UC Berkeley, University of Oregon

Rejected: University of Toronto (got waitlisted but ultimately rejected)

I'm arch track so can only talk for that side, since they seem to do things differently between subfields. For those who applied to Toronto as international students, they only accept one person so don't feel down about rejection! I believe UCD have sent out their acceptances already but I'm unsure about their waitlist so maybe some hope there! I also didn't interview with Berkeley if that helps with people who haven't heard back yet. 

Hello! For Toronto, would that have been 1 international student total, or just for the archaeology track? I remember reading about the department accepting 4 international students, though that was for a different year. I do feel better knowing my odds were pretty stiff lol.

If anyone has any advice about going through the application process again though, I would love to hear it! 

[Grad school 2022 offers/intimations]

26 minutes ago, Madapersx said:

Yes. Because they said that results will come in the end of this month... I think I will wait until Monday... And another question, do you think that interviews are super important during the process? I don't know what to wait about it...

Toronto did you hear something? I got wait-list. International student so .. expected

Oh when did you hear that you got waitlisted? I know that news of some sort will come in "early March" for all the Toronto applicants.

Also do you mind sharing which track? I'm archaeology.

[Grad school 2022 offers/intimations]

On 2/16/2022 at 3:56 AM, Taara said:

I did too! They responded saying: "We will be sending offers on a continuous basis over the next few weeks and all applicants will be notified of their result by early-March."

Now I am not sure if the interviews are already conducted or that there are no interviews.

I received the same response. I don't think that there are formal interviews for Toronto, though I did speak with a POI before applying. 

[Grad school 2022 offers/intimations]

I'm also waiting on news from Toronto as an International student. I emailed the Admissions office for the School of Graduate Studies this morning inquiring about the status of my application, which I'm hoping isn't considered rude or anything. No response yet, but I'll post when they reply, if that comes before the official decisions are released.