niceweather

Thanks for the posting. A used the word "party" in the email but it was supposed to be more of celebration between A and myself, which is why I think it was inappropriate for her to suddenly invite B without asking me first. At least, that's what I do when I want to invite someone over.

Thanks for the posting! I guess I wasn't clear about the party in my writing. It was more of a celebration between A and me, which is why I thought it was so inappropriate and out of the blue for A to invite B by sharing our whole email thread with B without asking me about it first

Thanks a lot. This eases things a bit. I'll probably hear this in mind for a quite long time from now. Thanks

Thanks everyone for the great words.

The same situation here. I completed my application on the first week of November but still haven't heard a thing. I have been calling the department almost every week but all they told me was that my application was still being reviewed. I managed to find peace in this so I haven't called them in 10 days, which is a long time. I doubt schools like this would easily disclose the results to students on the phone. I am thinking of waiting until April 15 before I make another move. Good luck to both of us

I was in a doctoral program where I was disrespected and falsely accused for no reason until last year. In the end, I decided to drop out with a master's degree because the level of bad treatment was heightening and I was having problems both mentally and physically. I stayed on good terms with two professors whom I met in the program and who guided me to actually transition to my current field of study which is slightly different from the previous one. They wrote me good letters of rec. for all my PhD applications and one of them, A, suggested throwing a party for me when this semester wraps up. I agreed and it all sounded perfect until I got an email from B with whom I have not spoken to ever since I graduated. B was one of my two advisers in the prior program and also someone who was part of the rumor, changed her words on me, and talked me into dropping out of the program in the end. I got fed up with B's pretentiousness so I just cut her out of my life last year so as not to be disturbed by any of the bad memories and sufferings I have had. What happened to the email was that A cc'd B in her latest email to me to invite B to the party. B's email was a formal congratulations note with an acceptance of the invitation. I found this very inappropriate on A's end so I did not email back any of them. I would not care to stay in touch with B at all because she's not in my field anymore. However, A would be a great asset both as my former mentor and future colleague so I do not wish to burn the bridge I have with A. What do you think I should do? This thing's been lingering on my mind for the past week and I really think I need an answer now.

I think others have made good points about the situation. My only comment would be to try speaking to him on the phone. It seems like he really wants to talk you into this so if I were in your shoes, I would try calling instead of consuming time thinking and writing emails. It would probably be a better way of kindly rejecting his offer or reconsidering it. Good luck!

No they haven't. One of the professors knows my research topic and how well it fits these schools. The other one does not know anything about my proposed topic. Is this common in the U.S.?

I was enrolled in a PhD program in public admin but recently graduated with a terminal master's degree to apply to urban planning PhD programs. But the thing is, two professors who promised me a good recommendation letter are discouraging me from applying to some of the top schools in the field. I worked with one of them and got an A- from her class and for the other one, I got an A+ and an A in two of his courses. I am international student who graduated from the top schools in my country with a moderate level of GPA. As to English, the highest TOEFL I got was 110 out of 120. Considering that the minimum for schools ranges between 80 and 100, this is not bad. For GRE, I scored 94% on math, 71% on verbal, and 81% on writing but plan to take the test twice in coming months. Most importantly I have been contacting, talking to, and meeting with professors at the universities I am interested in. They showed pretty positive signs about my fit and admission. I am passionate and ambitious about my teaching and research careers in the field so I want to get into one of those top schools. Is this common for professors to discourage students from applying to top schools? I am really lost...

Hey guys. I am looking to apply for urban planning phd programs this fall. Unlike many of the strong candidates for the admissions I don't come from architectures or urban planning background but from political science and public policy. I see this as both opportunistic and disadvantageous in the admissions process. I heard that some committees would give high priority on those who made individual contacts with the professors at schools while some would not. I think that attending open house events at some schools could bring a benefit but you may not necessarily have to spend money on paying merely for the attendance at the events. So my questions are: - Does contacting make big difference in urban planning admissions? - If so, which one would you say is more effective? Individual contacts or attending open houses?

Thanks guys for the thoughtful posts. After another year of going through the same cycle, I've decided to graduate with a Master's degree from the institute I was enrolled in and apply for schools outside the city in a different discipline. Your comments were really helpful especially when I needed some care and cheering from the students in a phd program. Wish me luck in all my future endeavors! Thanks again!

I am now halfway through my PhD coursework that started last summer. Just to let you know, I am a social scientist. At the time of application, it was promised on the website that every individual admitted would receive a four year funding package but I was excluded from the benefit. I was the ONLY one excluded. I've tried to build connections with the professors and asked them to consider hiring me as a research assistant if any but the reality was more cruel than I had expected - they all acted as if they had no opportunities at all while asking around other students mostly from my cohort if they would like to join the project(s). Then I started getting panic attacks due to this. I am an international student and relocating to where I am right now after spending my entire life in my home country was tougher than those who had resided in the States beforehand. But those I called advisers were so involuntary and passive. One of them still asks me what my "major" is and the school I graduated from after seeing me for more than four times during the last 10 months and reading through my CV at least 3 times and the other has obviously been violating the HIPAA. The situation has no sign of getting any better. I feel like wanting to die from time to time and have been meeting with a campus consultant but no big success. Every faculty member and staff irresponsibly tells me to meet with someone else and this cycle repeats itself. It is very sad that I have no one to talk to in the school.. I am losing appetite and confidence.