Joel418

I'm heading out to Boston a week from Monday to visit Brandeis, and honestly, short of a good number of kicks to the crotch by duly designated Brandeis representatives, I will be accepting their offer. It will be so exciting to study with Dr. Chafe, and of course, to be in a major metro! (I just got the mailer for the Boston Early Music Festival, and even though I can't go this year with moving expenses etc., it will be really fantastic to start going regularly next year ) U of Illinois is a great school, but the prof I was planning to study with suddenly retired this year, and of course the search to replace him was canceled due to budgetary issues. UPitt is a fine school, but I guess I'll just say that I'm not really feeling like it would be the best place for me.

Sorry! Turns out I'm a goofball...One too many speed-reading classes... :roll:

Just a couple of pieces of advice to help hone the focus of your applications: Things that will help: GPA, internship, strong LORs Things that probably won't have an impact on the admissions committee: fraternal presidency, organization memberships, community service (unless these memberships and services are closely related to the field of criminal justice). At the undergraduate application stage, committees are looking for "well-rounded" individuals; at the graduate level, they are looking for well-focused individuals. If you do intend to apply to these schools, spend your summer learning how to succeed on the GRE test. You will need a strong score to pass basic cut-offs (closer to 1300 than 1150), and an even stronger score if you need funding (1300-1500), especially at the schools you've listed. May I ask, what do you hope to do with your advanced degree? The schools you have listed (with the exception of U Washington, with which I am not familiar) are highly focused on academic work, so if your hope is to research and write on CJ-related topics for academic journals, these schools would be good for you. Also, I just quickly popped over to Cornell.edu to check out their graduate programs, and I don't see anything in CJ. Are you sure all of these schools offer advanced degrees in your field, or are you planning to go into a related field (government, social engineering, etc)? If your intention is a specialized vocation in the CJ field, or perhaps the facilitation of upward mobility within your career, you should probably talk to your current professors or even professionals who hold the kind of jobs you would like to have. A lot of my reply probably sounds like discouragement, which is certainly not my intention! I would simply want to make sure, if I were in your position, that I was on the right path before you spend your time, energy, and financial resources (!) on grad-school application. Believe me, the process demands so much of each of them, especially those financial resources!!!! Best of luck!

Several of the schools I applied to required me to fill out a FAFSA to apply for TAships and fellowships (completely apart from loans).

Just FYI, I did my Master's at U of A from 04-06. Heading off to PhD work in the fall in Boston, but I thought I might stop in and give whatever help I can to all of you coming to Tucson! Tucson is a great city for biking; plenty of bike lanes/paths throughout most of town. (In fact, if you are any kind of sporting biker, the Tour de Tucson is one of the more popular races in the professional and amateur circuit.) Two bits of advice for parking on campus: there is a lot of bike and bike seat theft on campus, so park in highly-visible, well-traveled areas; get a good u-lock, and lock your front wheel and frame together. One word of warning: if you need to get places on a day-to-day basis, you will need to be willing to bike long distances. For example, if you rented a place to the east of campus, you will be biking anywhere from 2-4 miles to reach a supermarket. If you're looking for a big-box store (Wal-Mart, Target, etc), you will be biking at least 10 miles from the same location. Tucson is very spread out, so just be ready to really pedal if you like certain stores or restaurants.

Meetup??? I was just assuming that we would each be chained to a library desk the moment we arrived...I never really though I would be allowed to have a social life That does sound fun, though; we should make it happen!

I'm actually in-between two of those categories. All of my responses have come in, I'm about 95% sure I will be choosing Brandeis, but I would still like to see Illinois' funding offer, and of course, I am going to visit Brandeis in person before I make a final decision (I'm flying out in a couple of weeks).

I have to stick up for ElusiveMuse here! As someone whose been teaching in the public schools for the past three years, I can tell you that standardized testing, both subjective and objective, is one of the least effective indicators of student aptitude or ability. As anyone familiar with statistical research can tell you, one can always find one or two studies that seem to support whatever it is that you wish to believe. The only aspect that shows a statistically significant correlation in the vast majority of studies, however, is socio-economic background. That doesn't mean that only students from the higher socio-economic strata will succeed on the test; as the previous poster mentioned, those persons without means can work hard to prepare and do well. What it does mean, however, is that the higher the student's socio-economic group, the higher the average score within the group (within the limits of statistical significance, of course). Here's why: The verbal section is a multiple-choice format in which the test taker is to attempt to find the best answer to the question of verbal-logical correlation. In the end, however, this ends up being a matter of learning how to make the same correlations as the test makers (or how to "read" the test). Since different people will make different associations (principally based on social experience and cultural disposition), the successful tester will think like the test maker. In this respect, those in the higher socio-economic strata will share signficant social experiences and cultural disposition as the test makers, in particular experiences in the arena of higher education. If one has money but not the "shared heritage" to create the necessary predisposition, they will have the disposable income to spend on a preparation program like the Princeton review. Such classes, of course, focus primarily on how to "read" the test, with a secondary emphasis on increasing personal aptitude. The quantitative section will not show this bias as there are clear correct and incorrect answers. Therefore a person who understands the material will score well. This is why a perfect score will normally get you into only the top 8-10 percent of testers (those testers who know the material well and are sufficiently well-skilled in test-taking to achieve a perfect score). This begs a very particular question: why does a score of 800 only put you in the top 10 percent of testers in the quantitative section, while any score between 800 and 740 on the verbal section normally place you in the top 1 percent (while a score in the mid-600s will place you within the same percentile (top 10%) as a perfect score in the quantitative section)? Is it because the aptitude of students in verbal-based fields is lower across the board than those in quantitative-based? Of course not! It's because the correct information for the verbal test is much harder to find than the quantitative, as it is truly known only to the test makers, and otherwise best-known to those who have the time and/or financial resources to try to figure out the test makers' way of thinking. The same issue applies to the AW section. The ETS has given a broad rubric which each of the graders interpret as they feel appropriate. Therefore, the test taker must simply do their best to follow the rubric and hope that their interpretation matches the randomly-assigned grader's. This circumstance could explain all of the stories we have read on these forums of well-skilled and even professional writers struggling to score a 4.0 on the test. Finally, one must ask, if the test is as ineffective in predicting student aptitude (not the ability to earn grades, but actual intelligence or ability), why do so many schools still use it? The simple answer: the practical inability to thoroughly evaluate a large number of applicants. With the inconsistency of aptitude evaluation methods and standards between undergraduate programs, the graduate schools need to show that they are comparing applicants on a level playing field. In short, I believe that although most administrators are aware of the deep fundamental flaws of the GRE, the system is not likely to change for the simple fact that there is not a more feasible method at this time.

Thanks! Are any of you in the humanities, just out of curiosity? (Not that I don't have much love for the sciences!)

Hi there guys! I've been accepted to Brandeis (with full funding...woot woot!). I'm going to be visiting on April 7th, though honestly I do believe there would have to be a healthy dose of kicks in the crotch from Brandeis representatives for me not to accept their offer. The professor I would be studying with is a great match (and he's one of the biggest names in the field), the funding package is really great (I will try to negotiate a strong health-care package since we will be trying to start a family while I'm there), and their program is one of the best in the country for professional placement. You know what excites me the most about having cleared the hurdle of acceptance to a PhD program? The prospect of never having my ability or value evaluated through a standardized test EVER AGAIN!!!!!! HOORAYYYYYYYYYY!!!

Well I guess we'll just have to agree to misunderstand each other

My schools start during the last week of August (haven't made a final decision yet), so we're planning to put our stuff on a moving truck around July 20th and then take a two-week long road trip seeing family and friends (we're starting in Tucson and heading east). We are hoping to arrive in the new city about August 5th, which will give us a week to get settled in physically and then a couple more weeks to prepare for school.

In response to your final question, I believe that Jesus would remind your third choice that the Council of Graduate Schools gives all students the right to wait until April 15th to make their final decision (http://www.cgsnet.org/portals/0/pdf/CGS ... ch2009.pdf). You might check the language to see if the resolution is enforceable. If not, then grad schools could announce acceptances in mid-February and require the acceptances to respond by March 1st, and of course that would lead to all kinds of problems with students reneging when other offers came through. Best of luck with your decisions!

In a very friendly manner, I would like to suggest that you may have missed to point of my post. Simply getting into programs in certain fields is far from impossible with less-than-stellar GREs; getting into competitive academic-based programs (as opposed to performance-based programs such as music performance, dramatic performance, and dance) that take only 1-3 students per year where funding is required is very, very difficult with less-than-stellar GRE scores, and here's why: When the ad com from department X knows that they can only accept three students, they go through the pile and consider all of the aspects that others have mentioned in this thread (research experience, publications, UGPA, GGPA, LORs, SoPs, etc). The field is narrowed to 20 or so well-qualified and well-suited candidates. Then the committee asks itself which students would be a shoo-in for university-wide fellowships (such is the case with the programs I listed in my last post); at this point, the applicants with the best GRE scores go to the top of pile. As I say, the only exception to this situation that I know from direct relation (one from an applicant, another from a member of an ad com) is that of a sufficiently compelling personal story. Like so many others have said, great GRE scores alone will not get you in, or get you funding, but when it's a question of which two or three of the well-qualified and well-suited applicants will be accepted with funding, those with the top scores will get through.

This is a good discussion! Of course, it's difficult to deal with such an emotionally-charged issue (at least it has been for me, especially as an educator who is familiar with all of the deep, deep problems related to standardized testing). My own experience has taught me the following: GRE scores do matter if you are applying to PhD programs If you are applying for PhD program in a field in which the degree does not pay for itself (read: fields that generally lead to professorships), you will need funding; if you need funding, GRE scores matter even more The more competitive the program, and the smaller the number of acceptances per year, the more the GRE matters In these fields, although the top schools will not say so, they will expect top-level scores. For example, I have discovered that the average scores of accepted students in my field at Berkeley, Stanford, and Harvard is a minimum score of 1400 and an AW score of at least 5.0 (Stanford was good enough to say so in their rejection letters). If you do not have a stellar GRE score, you can still get through with a really good life story. I know it's an old cliche, but I have known at least two people who were able to get around this with a sufficiently interesting story.

From my own experience, I would offer the following advice: 1. Be prepared to speak about how you will fit into that particular school. ie How do your interests align with which professor's work? How does the atmosphere/philosophy of the institution fit you? How does the program/curriculum fit your education/professional goals? etc... 2. As one of the posters mentioned above, be prepared to discuss your academic interests at length and in considerable detail. They know that you think you are a good fit, but they want to determine if their faculty interests really can support your research. 3. Although they probably won't ask for this information, it is a big plus if you can speak about the students/alumni with which you have communicated. They will be impressed if you've done your homework on the academic program as well as the day-to-day lifestyle. In short, like any good sales pitch (academics, commercial products...dating , be prepared to speak about yourself AND about them! All the best in your interview

Congratulations! I am in a similar situation, and was in a similar situation for my Master's. HOWEVER, I did learn an important lesson in this situation before my Master's the hard way. The program was telling me that I was in, and that they were going to get me money. So I tipped my hand and told them that I was coming, and poof! The funding never arrived, and I ended up having to fund a big portion of my degree with federal loans So do not make a final commitment until you have the financial details IN WRITING, just for your own protection Best of luck!

I've spent so much time during this process trying to figure out the rules of the game, and here are my official findings: You really shouldn't waste your time trying to figure out the rules of the game! I have received two acceptances (and a healthy dose of rejections!), and they were both very different processes. The first started with an invitation to interview; since I couldn't afford the trip, I did it by phone (which many say is a death-knell, as opposed to doing it in person). I was accepted and received an immediate funding decision as well. The other came in an email from the admissions secretary last week (which is moderately late for my field)--two more contradictions of "common knowledge" (acceptances usually come from an individual professor over the phone and never from an email from a "lower-level person" late in the process). Don't count yourself out until it's done, and never try to guess at what a certain group of people that you don't know (and frankly, neither does anyone else) are thinking or doing. Best of luck!!!

Well, you guys were right! After a long, sad period of only receiving rejections, I finally had a couple of acceptances come through. Update: finally one with secure funding too! To all of you who pass this way NEXT YEAR: don't get caught up try to "figure out" the method of the ad coms (i.e., acceptances only come by phone; this program notifies by this time; if you plant a Mr. T action figure in your front yard with the mohak facing NE, you will get into all of your programs; etc.). They all do it their own way, and you will find out when you find out.

Dear Applicant, I regret to inform you that we cannot offer you admission at this time. Unfortunately, we have been having difficulty securing funding for prospective students who are in fact steaming piles of poo. In past years we were able to take several fecal applicants and offer them full funding, as well as all needed practicum equipment (TP, bidet water, plunger, etc). We wish you the best in all of your future endeavors, and hope that you will one day find your place in the porcelain halls of crapedemia.

I just did this with a couple of my applications, and I got two very different responses. The first professor very graciously offered suggestions for next year, and the second simply said (to paraphrase) that I wasn't their type of student. I think the reason I got such helpful information may have been that I that I wrote, in so many words, that I wanted frankness rather than consoloation. It was tough to hear from one of the professors that "they just aren't that into me" :wink: but it's better to know that now rather than later when I've spent another application fee for a school that wouldn't ever consider offering me admission.

Well, never mind. I was just thrown out with the trash at Berkeley Ooooooooh well!

I talked to the music admissions office at Berkeley today, and they said that they have been delayed in the musicology department, but that they should be sending out decisions next week. Also, they said that "no decisions are final yet". HA-lelujah!

Does your boyfriend know if Berkeley has sent out acceptances for Historical Musicology? I haven't heard anything from them yet...

I've been struggling with the same issues (9 apps, 1 invitation to interview, and no other word from anyone!). Of course, I've added a bit of psychological self-teasing by setting up a resume-website, from which I can get daily traffic information. The good news is, I can see that traffic has not gone down significantly (people have not completely abandoned me); the bad news is that I cannot who's visiting or when, so these hits could be someone who's just interested in the subjects of my writings. Grrrrrrrrrr!