immersion

Hey Guys, I wanted to respond with a final note about rankings because I do think this is really important. I would in fact go to the University of Puerto Rico if it had the strongest faculty within my respective field (and if I liked beaches and warm weather and I had decent money). Furthermore, you can't use the overall school placement record as a substantive measurement because placement is interest specific. For example, Duke has a horrrrible placement record in English but has one of the highest placement records in African American literature. And, coincidentally, UChicago has a horrible record with Af Am lit but according to you has a pretty strong overall placement record. But don't take my word for it, there is a Chronicle Article (which I can't find right now) that does a pretty detailed explanation of the problems with the whole thing. Or, better yet, how about you ask your faculty and reccomenders what they think about rankings...god willing, they'll agree with me. Now you might have a point with the money thing...highly ranked private schools tend to hand out more dough but, I would hasten to ask, at what cost? And certainly a lower ranked public school who is pretty well-known for a specific field will give the world to a savvy applicant who understands the program's quality as represented through his or her's dossier. University of Washington, for example, has one of the most sophisticated cultural studies programs in the country if not the world. University of Wisconsin has one of the best quantitative sociology programs in the country while Yale has a relatively mediocre (some one would say down-right crappy) one. Maybe I was too harsh but I would agree with lyonessrampant in terms of the constant references to rankings on this site and so perhaps I took my anger out on you. I just pray to god that these aren't the people who I'll meet in the professoriate..I also got into Yale btw (its my home institution as well) and I, too, won't be going in favor of a school with a lower rank. I want to be around ppl. who are so passionate about their subject and the field which they hope to pursue that God himself couldn't keep them for pursuing that interest...I want to be surrounded by folks who admire intellectual production and not social admiration...and, I imagine, those are the people who make it through in tact... On that note..I do really want to wish you the best of luck!

I really want to be calm and not be an ass whole but its astounding to me that someone so smart (at least on paper) can be silly enough to care about rankings?!?!? Who, in their right mind, actually looks at US News and World Report for advice about what PhD program they should attend? For your undergraduate decision making, US News and World Report might have given you some sense of the schools general quality but within the context of a PhD ALLL you should care about is which place will give you the space and intellectual support you need to get your work done--prestige and the such should flow naturally from that criterion. It blows my mind and makes me so angry...I'm not sure if its a complex that folks who don't go to Ivy League schools somehow build up but, honestly, as some one who does go to a really well-known ivy league school: get over it. UVA and UChicago are world renowned institutions for folks who are serious about their work.....r u sure you really want this degree?

Trying to delete this thing..

Hey Guys, I'm in a pretty tight jam. So I got into my dream school (UVA) for a PhD in the humanities and I am hearing conflicting information about loans. I would like to take out a loan once I'm there to cover some initial expenses despite the fact that I am recieving a pretty generous stipend. My problem is that I am hearing conflicting stories from financial aid about the possibility of getting a loan. Some folks say that because I don't have any demonstrated need I wouldn't qualify for a loan but various graduate students within my department with similar packages have also gotten loans....any advice for me? has anyone been faced with a similar problem? Anyone who goes to UVA out there?!? Please help because without some inital assistance I might not be able to handle the financial stress....

Ok guys, US News and World Reports rankings have to be the most nonsensical list ever. And, I would hasten to add, that Harvard has a horrible English program. I mean simply awful. They haven't produced work of interest in quite a while...

Yeah I was so annoyed by the second writing requirement...For my weaker sample, I labeled it as a secondary piece. I'm so nervous and dying to hear from them especially since they have historically let folks know in early Feb (like this week). I have called a few times and I know they got well over 600 apps with only 11 spots--one of their most competitive years to date.

I'm really concerned about your language here--the "ivies" aren't somehow substantively better than a state schools. Itsreally all about- and you prolly already know this- department quality...just wanted to chime in!

Hey Folks, I am so nervous about admittances and I am hoping to connect with other applicants. In past years, UVA has been known to let its admitted people know pretty early but it seems as though there is a variety of ways in which the apartment goes about doing this- sometimes phone, sometimes e-mail, sometimes snail mail, and sometimes all three. I also noticed that someone has already been accepted on the results page! Have other folks heard anything? Any inklings people want to share with other applicants who await anxiously. "The power is yours.....lol....to share that is"