space-cat

Have you considered joint PhD/JD programs? They're fairly common--there might even be one at your current school--and that way you could transfer some credits rather than "losing" your whole first year of law school. It does sound like a JD would still be very useful for your academic career, and I would think the story you told us would be very appealing to the admissions committee for a joint program. Regardless, good luck with the rest of the year!! You're certainly not the first person to decide that straight law school isn't for them; try not to get too down on yourself

I'm not familiar with Madison's department, but I will say that so far my experience with Irvine (I'm admitted also) has been great. Very warm and friendly faculty, enthusiastic grad students, supportive atmosphere, etc. I'm big on all that fuzzy quality of life stuff, so it means a lot to me to see that people are actually, you know, happy to be there Are you going to their visit weekend?

Painfully true. I was just offered an extra fellowship from the most prestigious school on my list. I spent a good 15 minutes re-reading my application, terrified I had made myself sound much more experienced or accomplished than I actually am, and thinking I would have to apologize for misleading them! Point being, you're not alone. I know what you mean about worrying over competition vs. collaboration, but I think this is probably a case where having realistic expectations and a few allies can make all the difference. Let the Golden Boys and Girls at the top of the class fight it out with each other, and find yourself an adviser and a fellow student or three who just want to keep their heads down and do good work. I'm sure you won't be the only one!

In a word: no From my personal experience (I worked in an undergrad admissions office), I can think of maybe one time in three years when an applicant annoyed a coordinator enough that the coordinator felt the need to tell the admissions committee about them. Obviously grad school admission is a different ballgame, but I really doubt you did any actual damage. They all know we're stressed out about everything. It's really more that all those calls and emails come at a time of year when the coordinators are already very busy. Responding to crazy applicants is probably not their first priority, so they get a backlog of calls and emails that they may or may not be able to respond to before the official notifications come out anyway.

Having worked in an admission office myself, I mostly agree with the OP. However, I think it is totally ok to contact the school under one of the following conditions: 1. There is an important school deadline coming up within a week, and you won't know whether this deadline applies to you until they send your decision. For example, one of my schools requested a FAFSA from incoming students by March 1. On February 28, when I still hadn't heard anything, I sent a polite email to the coordinator and asked them to confirm that "all admitted students have already been contacted." No harm done, and they didn't even have to look up my name. 2. It's the first week of April, and you haven't heard a damn thing from a school (obviously, this only applies to CGS schools). It's possible there was a miscommunication. On the other hand, some schools are notorious for sending out ridiculously late responses, and I think we applicants have every right to call them out on it.

Your writers will probably want to see a copy of your CV and statement of purpose/personal statement essay before they write the letter, so keep in mind you'll also need a draft of those well in advance of the actual application deadlines! Like Amalia, I also drew up a quick "cheat sheet" for them. I listed all of the schools in order by deadline (put the deadline in bold!), with the full name of each specific program (i.e. "PhD in Cute Animal Studies, with Certificate in Baby Tigers") and maybe a quick note on unique resources or famous faculty members they might know. All of my schools requested electronic letters with no additional form, so that part was a little easier. I think only one of my letter writers actually used the cheat sheet to personalize each letter, but all three appreciated the overview of what I was looking for and why. As for the number of schools - don't worry! Professors know this is part of the academic circle of life, and most are happy to help (seriously, I was surprised by just how helpful my academic network was once I started asking around!). Just give them plenty of advance notice, and nudge them politely if needed.

You sound like you're in a great position to reapply and kick ass, don't sell yourself short! A friend of mine has a great theory on this: you know how, when you're making pancakes, you inevitably screw up the first one and have to feed it to the dog, but then the rest turn out perfectly? We're not bad cooks (grad students), we just needed a "first pancake" application season to get things right

My two cents on the whole "top tier" school debate: for my field in the social sciences, half of the first tier schools are public, and I would actually consider at least two of the Ivies to be second tier rather than first, depending on where you draw that arbitrary line. Plus, as others have pointed out elsewhere, it's often better career-wise to be a rock star student at a second tier department than a mediocre student at a first tier one... Anyway, moving on. I'm a second timer, and I've had a pretty successful run this year (if I do say so myself!). My advice is this: remember that the difference between undergrad and grad school is that you're moving from consuming scholarly knowledge to producing it. In terms of applications, this means that being an above average student is no longer enough: you'll want to show that you've progressed intellectually since graduating (i.e. that you can grow as a scholar even without the direct, hand-holding supervision of undergrad), and will continue to do so. Show that you've stayed engaged with the current literature and trends of your field, gotten relevant work or volunteer experience, maybe attended a conference or two. Use your SOP to pitch a well-formed research topic that is interesting, relevant, and actually realistic; remember, this topic won't be set in stone, so you're really just showing that you're capable of putting together a proposal. You don't need flash--god knows I'm not a flashy applicant!--but you do need to prove that you're a solid investment. Good luck!!

At least it's not undergrad - "hey gramps, can you buy us beer?" In all seriousness, I've heard of a fair number of grad students buying a house instead of renting, especially in cities with a reasonable housing market. More money up front, but then you can sell and potentially break even when you leave!

Also, pay attention to the type of housing students use to quote prices: if everyone with cheap rent is actually sharing a house with seven other grad students or commuting in from an hour away, is that better or worse (for you, personally) than taking on side gigs to afford better or closer housing?

If the length isn't specified, then I wouldn't send a sample longer than 25 pages (which is the most generous page limit I remember seeing). Alternatively, some schools recommend that you indicate which sections of a longer writing sample should be given the most attentive consideration, so annotating or marking up your sample in that way might be a good idea if you're worried they won't make it through the whole thing!

Yes, but even then you can only assume that you're not a first flight acceptance. In addition to the "unofficial waitlist," some schools will also offer "consolation" admission to their MA program for students who didn't quite make the cut for the PhD. From what I've seen, this notification generally comes a few weeks after acceptances and waitlists (if they have an official waitlist) have gone out. If that's an offer you'd be interested in, then you definitely don't want to assume rejection right away.

Oy, my poor husband. I'm a talker, so he's gotten very skilled at listening to me ramble ad nauseam while feigning something resembling actual interest Back when I started looking at schools, he got one "veto" to eliminate a city/state of his choosing from my list (he chose NYC). He's in the early stages of his location-independent career, so he could also afford to make that veto based on personal preference rather than job availability. Now that I have offers to compare, I've just tried to encourage him to give as much input as he can. I would hate to have him sacrifice in silence for my benefit--he's the type that would--and then resent me for it a decade later. The whole process has actually been pretty smooth so far. On the other hand, we had an exhaustive talk about the academia lifestyle long before we got married, so he's always known what he was getting in to with me. I do thank him regularly for putting up with me, and I'm definitely buying him a bottle of his favorite fancy gin when I send in my final acceptance paperwork

Just rejected. Finally! As I said on the other thread, I don't think Stanford is the right place for me anyway Good luck, folks!! I have my fingers crossed for you!

When I compared asking about funding to asking about someone's salary, I was actually thinking of fellow admitted students asking the OP what the department had offered him. As in, "here's what I got, did you get more or less?" Which does seem a little gauche. Looks like I misunderstood the OP's question, though. I completely support honest financial discussions with current students!

I'm in the same boat. They're the last response I'm waiting on, so it's really just a matter of closure.

Space-cat is the name of my computer. My laptop died recently, and my SO was trying to reinstall the operating system while I was at work. I was sad about something--probably grad school apps--and looking at cute animals on the internet. Have you seen sand cats? They're pretty adorable: So, my SO wanted to cheer me up by naming my computer after a cute animal, but he couldn't remember the "sand" part of sand cat. For some reason, he thought they were called "space cats." Why? I do not know. Anyway, my laptop's name under "My Computer" is now spacecat, and it makes me laugh because I think of something like my avatar, which is a cat flying through space. Clearly, I am a very serious academic.

Agreed, that's the equivalent of asking someone how much money they make I'm visiting three schools this month: a big public school, a small public school, and an Ivy. I plan to be honest about my other options if asked, and also acknowledge that I'm visiting each in person because the atmospheres are so different. I've heard a few horror stories about professors or students laying on the pressure or badmouthing an applicant's other options during a visit, but that's hardly the norm. Like Transnational said, academia is a small world and they know that most successful applicants get more than one offer. You're not telling them anything they don't expect to hear.

I'm the Irvine poster. Their visit weekend is coming up pretty soon, so my guess is that all admitted students have already been contacted. Best of luck, it sounds like you have a good shot! On the subject of MAs: I was offered a spot in Columbia's MA program last year, but turned it down for financial reasons (>$50,000 in loans? no thanks!). I have some nice options this year, so I don't think that was a mistake. I agree with what others have said--an MA from a top tier school can absolutely shore up a BA from a lesser known institution, give you networking and research opportunities, etc.--but you do have to be realistic about the financial commitment. Assuming you're not stopping after the MA, you're essentially paying upwards of $20,000 (depending on funding) to increase your chances of getting in to a PhD program. And that may or may not be a sacrifice you're willing (or able) to make, especially if you're already carrying a "significant amount of debt." Feel free to PM me, I spent a lot of time puzzling over this last year

Secret MA requirements and a higher than average application fee? Gee, thanks, Stanford. I'm waiting to hear as well. I don't have an MA and don't have the strongest fit with their faculty, so I'm fully expecting a rejection. From old threads here, it does look like they have a bad habit of missing their own response deadline by about a week, so let's not get worried just yet! Thanks for sharing your information, everyone!

In situations like yours--where the funding offered is only partial--I would assume they'll be more understanding of your asking for more. Full funding for 5 years is the standard that everyone wants, they haven't quite met that, so your question makes sense, you know? As for wording, "is there any flexibility in this funding package?" is my favorite diplomatic opener. In addition to asking about other opportunities for internal funding, you might also ask about their assistance with external funding: for example, could you take out a loan for your first year, apply for outside funding with the assistance/name of someone in the department, and have that cover your second year? If you show that you understand the funding process and are willing to do your part, they might be more receptive.

Awww, thanks! I do enjoy being compared to ice cream.

I can't speak to your programs specifically, but just remember that a significant percentage of grad school admission is some combination of dumb luck and good timing. Think of each application as a separate entity: being rejected from one has no bearing on whether you'll be accepted at another, and you can't second guess the process based on the rankings of the schools. Grad Cafe is full of people who were rejected by the lower or middle ranked schools they applied to, only to be accepted to the top program(s) in their field. Personally, I got in to the lowest and highest ranked programs I applied to, but was completely shut out by the middle ones. Point being: don't overthink it. It sucks to start off with a rejection--especially when you were intellectually and emotionally invested in the program--but hang in there. In this situation, it's helped me to remind myself that I can still work at the university/live in the city someday, after I have my PhD. It sounds like you want to stay in Texas long-term, so it's not outside the realm of possibility for you to, say, do a post-doc at UT Austin...

I say go with your gut instinct, which in this case sounds like Duke. You really can't overestimate the importance of working with folks you're "jazzed" to be around. I visited Hopkins a few years ago. The highest praise the grad students gave Baltimore was, "it's not quite as bad as everyone says it is." I took that to mean, at the very least, you're going to have to work a little harder to have an enjoyable quality of life there.

I was actually kind of upset that my first rejection letter was in no way condescending, sappy and ego stroking, or unintentionally hilarious. If you're gonna reject my ass, make it worth my time, you know? None of this calm, reasonable, "too many qualified applicants" nonsense.