saritapie

Thank you all so much for your responses and suggestions of things to think about. To answer some of the questions: I will be moving close to both schools beginning the week that I expect to get official offers and funding information; this will give me the opportunity to go to each campus multiple times and talk with faculty and current grad students face-to-face. At this point, Option A has indicated that there is a very good chance that I will be very well funded; Option B says they don't know yet, which I think means, "We want you, but not that much." With respect to my research interests, this is all complicated by the fact that the two programs are very different; they are in [related but] different disciplines. So in a sense this is also a "What do I really want to be when I grow up?" choice. I am, obviously, more familiar with the field I would be studying in if I picked Option A (my master's degree was also in this subject). This means I have a much clearer idea of what I would be studying and how the program would support that work. Interestingly, when I started my SoP I was unconvinced that it would be a good fit, but in the process of writing, generating questions, and posing them to my prospective advisor, I was really surprised by the extent of the match. Option B, on the other hand, would offer me a unique opportunity to immerse myself in an approach I haven't gotten to explore much in my BA or MS programs, but I am nervous about staking my dissertation on a relatively unformed sense that this approach is a good fit for my interests. I should also note that there are people in each department who do the work that the other department is largely dedicated to doing, which means that I could explore all my interests in either program. The question is, to what extent? One thing I might also mention is that I have been in this situation, oh... three times before in my educational career (including high school). In two cases (high school) I turned down the "most prestigious" choice outright; the third time (undergrad), I picked it and then hated it so much that I left. Then I went to a little-known MS program that has been a great fit and helped me define my goals and figure out my next move in ways no other place could have. Now I'm about to choose what will probably be my last degree program, and I'm looking back over these choices going, in effect, "Okay, last chance to accept that offer you turned down when you were fourteen!" and also, "Wow, I so profoundly loved the schools I ended up at when I made less conventional choices..." Again, I really appreciate the advice you all have given me... and I'd welcome any more, if you have some!

I have been admitted to my top two choices. This was not the outcome I was expecting. Funding decisions will be returned in 3-4 weeks, and if there is a substantial difference between the two offers, well, I'm set. In the meantime, I get to chew on the necessity of choosing between these two options: Option A: My undergrad dept. The doctoral program is very well-regarded in its field, but it is a very small field. I absolutely adore most of the faculty in the department who were there when I was there. Seems they rather like me, too. My prospective advisor is terrific and we have a phenomenal working relationship

Got into Berkeley today. Also applied to UBC, but I know they're not even reviewing apps until Feb. 2.

He did, before I got the news. So it's still in my court. But, I am pretty darn sold on the program, and I also have a pretty good sense of how this particular prof works with students (I'm friends with two grad students who've worked with him closely). Consequently, I feel like my "questions," such as they are, can wait until a face-to-face meeting. The point of rushing to converse now was so that he could have a better sense of me while he reviewed my app. ::shrug:: Not a big deal, but I don't want to step on any toes or waste anyone's time, ya know?

Since this summer, I've been in fairly frequent, detailed communication with a prospective advisor ("PA") at one of the programs to which I've applied. We went so far as to discuss the composition of my hypothetical committee, and on the basis of that conversation, PA strongly urged me to get in touch with three additional faculty members. Easy enough, but one of the three has been in the field; we've been exchanging brief e-mails and rather languidly discussing our mutual intention to talk, but so far it has not yet happened. The scheduling ball was in my court when PA called meto give me unofficial, advanced notice that I have been accepted by the dept. and recommended for a great funding package

Thank you both. I desperately want to end up in California, but even if I got into a Harvard, say, I wouldn't want to go. I'll take some risks with the academic job market

t_ruth's "admissions vibes" must be pretty darn powerful: I got a call today from a prospective advisor; he wanted to let me know that my dept. has forwarded my app to the graduate school with a rec for admission and a very very good funding package. Nothing official yet

Yay, t_ruth! I'm happy for you!

Writing my undergrad thesis. It seriously made me crazy, I almost quit nearly once a week, I cried for no reason an average of twice a week, I was convinced I was doing everything wrong, I withdrew from social life, I got totally lost and overwhelmed and never thought it would go anywhere... and then one morning in February, five months after I drafted the proposal, while I was slogging through a "background" chapter, I had one of those "Aha!" moments that threw everything I had been studying for the last four years into perspective, and all I wanted to do was write. (Unfortunately, I was sitting in a plant phys. ecology class when this happened

I think one of my programs will accept me, but I am not confident that they'll fund me. I am 98% certain that one of my programs will not fund me, and I think I stand an excellent chance of being outright rejected. The third program is a wild card; my best guess changes daily. In each case, my assessment is based mostly on the "vibe" I got from faculty, staff, and grad students, and has less to do with the fit between me and the program, how good my application was, and my credentials

Don't know if that was in response to t_ruth or to me, since I'm not in ed psych and t_ruth didn't refer to methods. I only brought it up because

Yeah, 13's a nice big cushion to soften the quasi-blow. Congrats on remaining chill, and good luck with the rest!

I know. I'm pretty sure I won't be hearing anything for a loooooong time...

I don't know what field you're in, but my take on that is that science applicants-- those who are likely to have worked in labs as undergrads or after-- are more likely/expected (??) to have publications prior to applying to doctoral programs, and that those of us who do qualitative research in the social sciences aren't really expected to have published. Technically, I have publishing credits from two group book reviews I helped put together as an undergrad, but I voted "no" because that could hardly be said to count. I hope to publish findings from my master's work, but since I was doing the fieldwork this summer, I wasn't in a position to submit any papers prior to the application deadlines for this admissions cycle. (This was actually one of the reasons I was planning to wait until next year to apply, but my undergrad adviser said it wouldn't make enough difference to warrant the delay...) I'll be interested in seeing others' responses to the poll and thoughts on the "What's expected?" issue...

There a lot of sacrifices I am willing to make to get a PhD: I'll sink myself nose-deep in reading, grade crappy undergrad papers, sleep rarely, make very little money, survive on oatmeal and noodles, go into debt, delay marriage and babies, and hang a dissertation over the remainder of my twenties as though it were a giant anvil, all without much expectation of being able to easily find a good job when it's over... but I am not willing to live east of the Rocky Mountains for any significant chunk of my life, for anything. Doing my master's in the Rocky Mountains has endowed me with a more profound understanding of the importance of sunshine and mild temperatures for my physical and mental health. Also, my family is in California, and staying within an easy (and relatively cheap) airplane ride or decent interstate drive's reach of them is a pretty big deal to me. Going home for the holidays is currently not possible without either (a) driving over a snowy mountain pass, or ( spending $600. (Summer isn't much better: Options include (a) 3 hours' driving followed by a 2-hour flight, ( the $600 direct flight, or © driving across the fat parts of both Nevada and Idaho.) So I applied to three West Coast universities, and if none of them work out, I'll apply to more West Coast universities next year. Same story at the other end of the degree. Crazy? Maybe. But grad school's crazy, so this is pretty much par for the course, right?

Yup, this happened to me, too. Apps due 12/12 and 12/15; first abstract accepted 12/15. Nice.

Yes, yesterday cheered me up considerably!

Have you guys heard of Swaptree? (Check it out. It is rad.) I just swapped someone for The Long Emergency and it arrived in the mail today. It is actually helping me a lot: I am thinking about a post-peak-oil breakdown of society-as-we-know-it. It occurs to me that if it comes to this, the skills one gains in a social sciences PhD program will not be in high demand; they do not quickly and easily translate to the production of food, potable water, or shelter, nor to the successful treatment of serious medical problems. Maybe if I get across-the-board-rejected, or across-the-board-rejected-in-effect (read: accepted sans money), I will learn how to grow and preserve food and make a strawbale house off the grid and survive the horrors described in my new book.

Yeah, like finishing my master's thesis. Because they probably want me to have that degree wrapped up before I start the next one...

Exactly. (Though I did not go to a small liberal arts college-- or at least, I did not go to one long enough to have sought letters from professors there.) Especially with... Well, let's call it "School 1," because it was the first one I decided to apply to. For a few weeks I thought I had a decent shot at School 1; now I am basically convinced that I will be rejected outright. Occasionally, however, I think about my letters and my test scores and the fact that I have done some neat things over the last few years, and I decide that I am brilliant and wonderful and so of course they will love me!!! These bursts of utterly unfounded optimism usually last a few hours, after which point I tend to start panicking about School 2. My best overall application was my application to School 2, I know people in the department, and virtually every conversation I have had with faculty members there has been energetic and positive. I would love to go to School 2, and I have a hard time imagining that I would choose not to go if I were accepted with a good funding package. Most of the time I think I'll get in, but on those rare occasions when I begin to think that School 1 will definitely accept me, I start wondering what will happen if I get into both School 1 and School 2. Then I freak out. As I am freaking out about the prospect of having to choose between School 1 and School 2, I realize that I am soliciting a divine bitch-slap for arrogance and I remind myself, double-time, that there is no way in hell I'll get into School 1. And then I go, "If I am so obviously unqualified for School 1, why do I think I'll get into School 2?!" As for School 3, I decided to apply there late in the game, and based on my communications with faculty members there and the wording of the really disfunctional online application, there also seem to be a lot of logistical barriers lodged firmly between me and any decent funding package. Since I do not believe I will get money from School 3 and I will not go to graduate school without money, School 3 is kind of off the radar. Which is for the best, really.

Holy crap! Makes me glad I only applied to three. Also makes me realize I forgot a FedEx charge... make that $543.

Yuuuuup.

Oh, I am glad to know someone else did this!! My undergrad dept. is excellent, they know and like me, I know and like them, and it's a good place for me to do what I'd like to do. I really actually want to go back, and my advisers in my master's program don't think it would be career death-- esp. since I went someplace else for that second degree... Still, I worry. If I am fortunate enough to get into that program and another with full funding, I have no idea what I'll do. I guess it's a good position to be in, though, since getting rejected can easily be reframed as dodging the necessity of having to make a really tough choice. Right?

I applied to 3 PhD programs-- totally not my style; I was going to wait a year post-MS and spend a lot of time getting to a list of 4-8 programs, but my undergrad adviser convinced me to just give it a try this year with the 2-3 top schools on my list. I already knew what those were, so, pretty straightforward. Saved me a bunch of money-- and the work and cost of applying to a bunch of outstanding schools in places I would never want to live, and, as a result, would never actually go. (My first shot at undergrad, I applied to and was accepted early decision by a great school in a place I really did not like. I went. I hated it. I left. Lesson-- "Where I live matters a lot."-- learned.) So, here I am, twitching, praying, and second-guessing...

Yeah, um, who here spent $517 to apply to 3 graduate programs?! I just did the math yesterday. Suddenly, the fact that I am flat broke isn't so surprising...