doobiebrothers

for some reason allstate?

so you guys this is good! the reading has started! decisions should be out 3-4 weeks from now!!

yup me too. someone say my page from my school state two days ago. fuck i'm nervous.

from what I know, many of the religion depts in the ivies are doing the application reading this week, and the first meeting will be in two weeks. (HYP only)

teach arabic in morocco, inshallah. if i get accepted, move to my fave city in late august and prepare for the years ahead. If i get rejected, either move to israel to do an MA in jewish theology or stay in morocco and teach englsh

blue christmas

comparative religion; i think my committee is meeting this week. so i'm praying lots and lots.

pm me if you need more info or have more questions

don't worry about it.apply. professors get a late-letter pass. also you're from pakistan, which makes things interesting--you'll be interesting to the adcom!

wait Loric so you know you got denied already? or is this from last year?

actually we're in different fields (but in the humanities) and I think this is pretty much how it goes for those of us applying to big humanities departments with non-rolling admissions.

actually rogue I'm doing the same thing: I wrote a "act as if" list: what would I be doing if I DID get in? And if I get rejected, I plan on following the act as if list (research, reading, thesis work, conferences) as closely as possible; I even got access to JSTOR so it's not unreasonable to expect that I can make phd level process in the year off. Hopefully we won't need these plan B's though, this year's applicants on gradcafe seem pretty amazing to me!

depends on where you look; some people say arabic, some people say chinese, i've even read greek http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/102774/8399031.html

I'm moving to morocco to teach arabic, so I'm going over my textbooks and memorizing vocabulary and telling myself that I have a good plan B (stay and teach, maybe join peace corp) if all else fails.

remember this is for one very specific humanities program at one very specific university. I have no idea at all what other adcoms look like, so please don't be sad! If you explain the mitigating circumstances of the 3.3 that actually can help you--they LOVE to see those explanation paragraphs, it makes you stand out, and it gives you a closer read on the adcom. Like the moron that I am, I forgot to take my own advice this year, and didn't include a grades explanation, which probably would have really, really helped. Also, depending on the size of your department and the number of applicants, you really might get an individual "unique snowflake" consideration. What the hell do I know? Please don't be depressed because of my post! I'm sorry

Does anyone else engage in endless imaginary committee meetings, where you analyze your application as though you are the committee? I'm in the weird situation of having been on the committee of the department to which I'm applying, and I know the people and the process almost too well (I have seen the sausage being made, my friends, and it is ugly.) So I sit almost every day since i hit the submit button and play the committee in my head: Does doobie make it past the first round? 158 applicants, 6 slots, 6 subfields about 50 don't have the grades, gre's, sop to be considered, so they go (doobie is fine) (this is all sorted out in the first week of january) 108 to go, give them to two readers, who scale them from 1-4, 4 being the highest, based on 4 different criteria readers are: professors, and sometimes two students, sometimes the dean (6-10 people) these apps are read the second week of january 1. academic accomplishment (grades, GRE) 2. research potential (SOP, letters, writing sample) 3. leadership, extracurric (small part, but matters) 4. "personality" (Do I want to be stuck with this person for the next 6 years?) I've got weak-ish grades in my MA but very strong in my BA and GRE, so maybe a 3 academically In my own head I think I have research potential, but who knows what the committee will say? maybe if i'm lucky a 3.5 lot's of volunteering, particularly tutoring/teaching. maybe a 3.5 or four personality gets tricky. the adcom REALLY knows me well--did I make a good impression? will this backfire? depending on who reads it, a 3.0 or a 3.5? could I dare hope for a 4? at this point i probably average a 3.5-3.75, depending on how nice my two readers are (pure luck). then the office secretary puts together a ranked excel sheet, at this point NOT split by sub-field. bottom probably 25 people are almost automatically out, unless they are URM. it's now the first week of february, and the application goes to chair of subfield (in my case my POI, who is also my letter writer); chair picks the top 5 people for the subfield from the spreadsheet committee has the first actual in-person meeting at this point (first week of feb, probably a friday) where they hash the top 30 picks and reduce them to maybe 10, maybe 15. This is where the politics starts, and the nitpicking gets ugly. This is where I'm afraid I will come under scrutiny for a few B's that I got in grad school. Granted these were in very, very tough classes (advanced coursework in the world's second hardest language) but in the face of 30 other perfect candidates this may be enough to sink me. I also have a few small-ish errors on my SOP; again, in the face of perfection, this might be the straw that breaks my back. This is where my prof will need to "fight for me on committee," where alliances are made and broken. If i make it into the top 15 (about 2 for each subfield, give or take) now it comes down to the question of which subfield gets people this year (last year mine took two, so it does not look good for me) and which advisor gets a new student (mine took one three years ago, so maybe this year will be the year). This is all hashed out in the second in-person meeting, maybe the wednesday of the second week of february, and this meeting is a doozie. Then the chosen six go to the dean of the entire school, who (usually) rubber stamps the picks--unless GRE or GPA is super low (below 3.3, below 65%) If you make it into one of the chosen 6, your POI will probably email you and let you know "congrats!" by the third week of february, at which point you have pulled out all of your hair and either gained or lost 15 pounds, give or take 5 pounds (ahem, cough cough, must stop eating Macdo as I cry into my SOP). And if not, the radio silence that lasts until march 1 is a good indicator that all of your hopes and dreams--at least for this round--are dead. Please tell me you guys do this too?

move to morocco and get my PhD at the university of rabat with fatimah mernissi; I'll be living there all year (will be in Tangier when I get the admissions results, inshallah) and I'll be her research assistant on a book she's writing about Jinn. Maybe marry my Moroccan boo and just live in my paradise country for the rest of my life. Although probably what I'll do if I don't get in (at least at first) is cry and blame God alot.

it's easier to get in as an MDiV (best friend was on the adcom last year)

comparative religion with a focus in Islamic mysticism

I'm not sure if this was a mistake or not, and I'd love your advice: third semester of my MA I got a few B/B+ instead of my usual A/A- because I got pneumonia the week of finals. I wrote, but didn't include an explanation, because I thought, that's whiny and unnecessary! It's just a B, relax. But now I'm second guessing myself and wondering if I should have...

that's exactly my philosophy. I only applied to one program (crazy, I know, but I did my MA there and have a pretty good sense of my fit, chances and my would-be advisor wrote my letter) and if they don't take me this year, I'll keep applying till they do.

As an HDS MTSer, my opinion is GO WHERE THE MONEY IS. You will not regret it.

Yes. confirming. Harvard will be out Friday morning east coast, and around 1:00pm west coast. It's all good!

I just love your response. Sending you hearts and flowers and wishes for success.

I think you have a compelling explanation, and if you write it in those words that a committee will be understanding.