ZeChocMoose

Oh that is great to know. Thanks for posting educ2011. I was being to wonder when my application status still said "submitted." Here's hoping that we are all successful. Does anyone know if they have a recruitment weekend for admitted students? (I like to stay positive )

I don't know the field so you can take my advice with a grain of salt but I am not sure how a second master's degree will help you get accepted to a PhD program. Have you talked to faculty in your program? Do they recommend getting another master's? I suppose if you wanted a second master's for a very specific reason i.e. it will show that you can teach courses in x,y,z field then I would apply to a PhD program that has a master's program that you would also like to do. Sometimes schools allow PhD students to do a concurrent master's. It will lengthen your time to degree and both departments have to agree to your enrolling in the two degrees. If you are only interested in doing a second master's because you think it will make you more competitive, please get this confirmed. Also you posted that you have student loan debt. If it is a significant amount, I would suggest working for a couple years before going back to get a PhD. Doing another master's is just going to add to this debt not reduce it.

It is interesting. Women tend to be underrepresented in the academy especially at the admin level (deans, dept chairs, VPs) and in some fields for the professoriate. The item that surprised me was that life science was the discipline with the most doctorates earned. I would have guessed social science or education.

I think Vanderbilt is a great school for education. Is it number 1? Not for my discipline (higher ed). Although neither is TC or Harvard. I assume people talk about them more frequently because they are Ivy league schools and people have this obsession to enroll there because they are considered prestigious to attend. Personally, I think the funding for doctoral students at both institutions is pretty terrible and disappointing given how NYC and Boston have such a high cost of living. Although being full funded and having a stipend I can live on is extremely important to me. Rankings are all relative though. If the program is a good fit, there are faculty that you are interested in learning from, and the program has a high placement rate that should be your deciding factors-- not what US News & World Report says. Oh and US News & World Report only ranks doctoral education-- so if you are doing a master's degree, the rankings are not relevant.

That is a good question. There is some talk about this on the forum at the Chronicle of Higher Ed http://chronicle.com...ic,20357.0.html http://chronicle.com...ic,20091.0.html http://chronicle.com...ic,18466.0.html And I am sure there are more than just the ones that I have selected. Seems to be a hotly debated topic in the academy.

How long has it been from the posting on the results section? I know the school that I got an interview at the POI said that different members of the adcom got assigned specific people to interview and they had a week to complete the interviews before the adcom meets again and decides who they are admitting. So it is possible the different adcom members are busier than others and may be delayed in reaching out and requesting interviews. I definitely know how you feel though. The waiting is the worst especially when you get to the point when you just want to hear anything on your application.

Meh. I don't think what she did was that terrible. Faculty are really busy and have a lot of demands on their time. I don't know what time of year this was but it is quite possible she had other priorities. I agree that you should wait to pass judgment until you meet her in person and get to talk to her advisees.

Social sororities and fraternities are undergraduate only organizations. As a graduate student, you are not going to be that interested in being in one anyways. While I had a great time being a greek in college, as a graduate student you have a lot more demands on your time. You should focus on your research, bonding with your cohort, and becoming involved in academic organizations.

Hmmm... I don't know how they do it in biology, but in education if you are not invited to the interview weekend chances are slim to none that you will get accepted at that school. That being said, I have read posts on this forum where people have either known people that got accepted w/o interviews or they themselves were accepted. Could you contact the program and see what the status of your application is? Usually over the phone, they might be more willing to level with you -or- at least tell you that all the invitations for the interview weekend have been sent out and they will not be extending any offers. I definitely sympathize with your plight. The waiting and the uncertainty is the hardness part in my opinion.

Well the most popular programs list is misleading in my opinion. It doesn't account for how many programs there are in a specific discipline or the number of applications that an average applicant sends or how large the entering cohort is in that program. It could be that there are simply more Economics graduate programs, the applicants apply to more schools, and their cohort size is larger than other programs. (I have no idea if that is true but I am just using it for an example.) You can't really conclude that social science programs are more relevant than science or humanities from sheer numbers alone. I also think it's pretty silly to quibble on which field is more "relevant." To be honest, a lot of our research in whatever field we chose to study is usually only "relevant" to the small number of people within our sub-discipline. That tends to be the running joke about academics. If you do want to look at some nation trends on graduate school, NSF's Survey of Earned Doctorates has some pretty interesting data. You can find it here: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf11306/

Does it have to be a graduate school? Can you get a graduate certificate? Can you apply for a second bachelor's degree? I would do something related to engineering but maybe not necessarily engineering again. How do you feel about any of the natural sciences, statistics, or perhaps business? I have heard of some engineering-business hybrid like programs. It is still not completely clear to me though are you applying to schools in the US or schools in Saudi Arabia?

It sounds like there are multiple things going on. You and your advisor are not really connecting, you are not interested in the research that you are doing, and are not thrilled about the location of the institution. When you think back to when you chose to enroll here, what were the positives of the school? In my experience, there is always the good, the bad, and the ugly of any graduate program. I also find this hold true with jobs as well. The question is really are these things that you can deal with or not. If you learned to accept the program faults and all, would it make your time there easier?* Part of "coping" through these challenges is how your approach it. Personally I agree with your professor to do something that is related to your RA position because it is going to be a lot easier to get your thesis done and you'll hopefully already know the relevant literature through your position. Personally, I would stick it out to get the master's. Why? (1) you have only spent 5 months in this program. You really need to spend at least a year and see if you are feeling the same way as transitioning into graduate school has its ups and downs (2) you are gaining research skills and you'll have a better idea on how to approach your dissertation when the time comes, (3) research interests tend to change in graduate school. Yours may change as well, and (4) it is a safer bet to "transfer" with a master's than with just a semester or so of coursework. As to how long a thesis can take? I would ask the students in your program. I don't know what type of research you do but at least in my field some tend to be more time intensive than others and it also depends on whether you are collecting your own data or using a complied dataset. Your advisor or committee members can also slow down the process by not giving you edits in a timely fashion or by not believing you are ready to defend. Older students in your program can give you a better idea of how long the average person takes to complete his/her thesis. One last question you should probably ask yourself is if you walked out the door tomorrow, what would you do? Could you get a job with the experience you have now? I wish you the best of luck on your decision! * I say this because some people spend a lot of time and energy trying to change a program or a job into what they want. Sometimes it just isn't possible. If you can embrace it for what it is and try to not make it into something that it is not going to be, you may decrease your frustrations with the situation.

For all of the second and third and (perhaps fourth timers), will you try again if it doesn't work out for you this time? I guess I am trying to decide if I am not successful again, is it worth the mentally energy, time, and money to keep on putting in applications? Right now, I think it would be really difficult to go again for the 3rd time around as I am not sure what I could do to improve my application in a year-- but maybe I'll feel differently in another couple of months. I would love to hear your thoughts! Do we just keep on pluggin' and hoping perseverance pays off?

How long is your program? Do you know what the typical stipend is at the schools that you are looking at? Do they fund you over the summer? Does the institution pay for your health insurance? If not, how much is it usually? Those are all things that are important to know before you start looking at your finances and making a budget. When I did my master's, I got tuition remission and a 15.5K stipend the first year and a 18.5 K the second year. I got paid the stipend money every other week. I took a small loan (6K) and got a summer internship between my first and second year that paid a couple thousand dollars. My institution did offer me decent health care and I paid (I think) $60/a month. I made it work, but I had to get a roommate to share costs (I was living in an expensive city as well) and I didn't have a car. At the end of the month, I still had enough money to go to the movies, attend a happy hour, or have a nice dinner out every once in awhile. To be honest, you get so busy in grad school that you don't have time to spend that much money anyway. Since Boston is expensive, I would recommend looking for a roommate.

"Can you have too many letters after your name." Yes. It's called over educated and underemployed. You have to wonder what the adcom was thinking when they admitted him to his 4th doctoral program?! Geesh.

The US News and World Report rankings, do you mean? The grad school rankings typically get released in the Spring. Last year it was mid April. Not sure if they will rank Public Affairs in 2011 though or not...

Good point. I have known people who got their MSW at Michigan and UNC and have really liked their experience. One thing to note though if you are not an in-state resident, out-of-state tuition can be as expensive as a private university. Does your state have good MSW programs? If so, I would start there first. I think some of the issues with discussing costs is that people are not informed on the terms and conditions of their loans and don't realize how that lump sum translates into a monthly cost (e.g. a 30K loan (at 6.8% interest) will be $350 per/month for 10 years). I also think that people might not have a reasonable expectation (or are not informed) of what starting salaries are in their field. $350 per month is probably not a big deal with a starting salary of 85K, but can be a huge financial burden if you are only going to make 40K. And I don't know the field very well, but does it make a difference if you attend a big name school or not for your MSW? I assume some people attend big name schools regardless of cost because they feel that those schools have better job placement rates.

I agree with everything except the hoping to get noticed part. I have not seen many people have great luck with this strategy and you run the risk of becoming bitter because you may feel like you have been taken advantage of i.e. Does X know how much I am doing for them? Why doesn't X ask me to be _______________________ fill in the blank (research ass't, specific position, etc) I would do great work and then after a reasonable period ask the faculty member. They might not be able to grant your request, but in my experience it pays to be proactive.

I agree with the posters about asking current graduate students over the phone and in person. If there is no written record of their complaints, they may be more honest. If you get to visit campus, I also like to rely on non-verbal cues between faculty and students. Does it look like they respect each other and are the faculty generally interested in their students' best interests? I would also trust your gut on a lot of things. If what they say and how the behave are not adding up-- something is probably not right and you need to get to the bottom of it. I also recommend asking the same question to multiple people and seeing if their answers compare i.e. how would you describe the culture of the department/program, are the expectations reasonable, are the faculty available, etc. I would particularly ask these questions to both students and faculty. If there are wildly different answers, that is a red flag. If the answers sound eerily similar (like they rehearsed them) that could be another red flag. In my experience, most people are honest and want you to have accurate information to make your decision. It is in no one's best interest if you are unhappy and drop out of the program. And like most things in life, there are the good, the bad, and the ugly about any program-- you just have to be honest with yourself whether you are willing to deal with those issues.

The Secret Circle Series. It is a trilogy by J.L. Smith. It's very fluffy, but interesting enough to hold your attention. It is about a group of teenage witches from Massachusetts and the main character is a teenage girl who just moved into town. She discovers that she is a half-witch and eventually is accepted by the group. There is a lot of romance, action, and mystery. An enjoyable read!

Well probably not if you describe it as "torture" and then you could wind up in a job that you dislike. Granted I know that having any job is better than having no job, but I still have hope that you'll find something. I do have to say that I love statistics but I realize that most people do not feel that way!

Special paper is probably not worth it. Your resume and personal statement will either need to be copied or scanned into an online system so everyone in the adcomm can review it.

This is my second attempt as well. I applied 3 years ago to cognitive psychology programs. Thankfully, I didn't get in anywhere. Thank you adcomm -- I honestly didn't know what I was thinking and I know now that I would not have been happy in that field. Instead, I ended up getting offered a job that I really enjoy, I have refined what I want out of a doctoral program, and I am more financially stable (yea for savings!). My job has allowed me to hone and refine my writing and research skills. I have had the opportunity to present at several national conferences and prepare manuscripts for publications. Also I am ready mentally to go back to school (I was pretty burnt out after my master's). I agree with the poster above that said it was a blessing in disguise. Not getting in anywhere allowed me to move back to where I grew up and where my family still lives. A couple months after I moved, my family found out that my dad needed a bone marrow transplant. He had the surgery and my dad did really well the first year after the transplant. Every thing was looking promising and the family's spirits were high. Unexpectedly, things took a turn for the worst a couple months after he passed his one year mark. I ended up moving back in with my parents when my mom found that being the primary care giver was too difficult for her to carry alone. Things were challenging, but we grew stronger as a family. This summer my dad's liver began to fail and he passed away in September. It's been hard to make sense of it all. The thing that I am so thankful for is that I got the gift of time with my dad. I was able to live with him in the last year and half of his life and that is something that I will always treasure. If I had been in a graduate program far away, I wouldn't have gotten this time with my dad. I don't know what is going to happen for my doctoral apps take 2-- but I like to think that it will all work out for the best even if it is not apparent in the moment.

I would say it depends on the field. It doesn't surprise me that public affairs requests a master's before you go onto the PhD. Usually applied fields that look for a blend of practical experience with academics will request a master's before a PhD. In my field (education), a master's is a requirement at most (but not all) programs before applying to the PhD. Ideally, it would be best to have a gap between your master's and PhD to gain more experience in the field, but this doesn't always happen. I would not be surprised if this was the case (requesting a master's before the PhD) for the applied and professional fields (business, social work, public policy, library science, etc). That being said, it never hurts to ask whether they can waive the requirement. Good luck!

I don't know how quickly computer science companies do job searches, but in my experience getting a job offer can take anywhere from about 2 - 4 months depending on how long the process is (i.e. are their multiple interviews, how many people are interviewing you and how busy their schedules are, what time of year it is, etc). It may seem like they are moving quickly-- but do not be surprised if the process begins to slow down. I suspect this initial request for interviews may be a screening. I would not tell them that you have applied to grad school because you really don't know what the outcome is and personally I don't think it is any of their business. It also may come across as you are not that vested in the job search and they may hesitate to recommend you for the position. You also don't have enough information to decide whether the job or grad school will be better for you at this point because you don't have all the details. You may decide that after getting the offer that the salary or benefits are not that great - or- the job responsibilities or office culture do not appeal to you. I would suggest, however, to ask what their timeline is for decisions so you will know roughly when they hope to fill the position. Lots of luck!