IRdreams

Thanks for the thoughts. I'm going into the world on my own for the first time (straight from undergrad applicant) so really have very little idea what one needs to live on and all those sorts of details so the thoughts above were very helpful.

It seems this professor attacked me due to wider departmental politics that I did not know about. He does not know enough about me or my file beyond seeing a truncated resume we were planning on using for internship applications to judge my merit as a grad student or a scholar. However, he and my advisor are in a bit of fight about the future of the department and part of this has to do with whether it should emphasize academic or policy-policy focused study of government. My advisor escalated this fight and I was a casuality because I appeared to side with my advisor's perspective. All in all...childish and frustrating. Certainly not the way I was hoping to conclude my time here. I apologize for the under-confident question I asked earlier. I was and continued to be excited about my prospects and my programs. This whole event just hurt a considerable deal and I didn't really understand why a relative stranger, who nonetheless held a position of authority, felt the need to belittle my work and accomplishments.

People on these forums have mentioned asking for feedback from schools that rejected them. How does this work and what is the etiquette?

I'm leaning heavily this way. Anyone else joining me?

The British system for most schooling gives you a lot more independence and freedom to engage your topic as opposed to the US masters system that emphasizes a lot more rigid course work model with an independent thesis. LSE has pretty good name recognition the world over and for NGO work it would probably be a good choice, especially if your planning on doing international work with it. If you are only planning on marketing yourself to US firms, LSE won't hurt but it probably won't help as much as a degree from Columbia. LSE is very cosmopolitan both because of its location (can't beat London though if NYC is expensive London is possibly more expensive) and because of its student body (mostly international students). I will note that there is some perception in Britain that LSE has gone down hill a little bit as opposed to past years. Though, this perception has not reached the US and most non-British places. I also wonder how much this remark is warranted... I was an Oxonian and heard it from some of them. Just something a couple of British friends told me when I was abroad.

In some fields applying for a safety school doesn't actually make that much sense. Big Cheese...here's rooting for GTown for you!

If it is a question about field trend, its probably best to look at recent R1 hires to see what is going on. I'm sure there a number of established scholars who made their careers doing country specific research on all sorts of places, but would they have been able to do so again today? I don't know the answers to these questions because Comparative is not my field. But this is how I went researching field changes in my own discipline since my undergrad profs. are a little dated in their apprehension of field developments sometimes.

My undergrad abroad office told me to submit my grad transcript in general. Not that this was very useful because the British Uni I was at just sends a list of tutorial topics and not many comments on my work on those topics. As far as bad semesters, I had a friend who had a tremendously bad year and now has been admitted fullride into the program of her dream. She improved after that year, took courses that demonstrate her strength in her field, did some research. All the usual things that make you a good grad applicant also make up for a bad semester or even a year.

I don't about the field in particular. But I took a 3/4 courseload my admission semester and still got in. I was working on a thesis and this a standard practice at my school, but just my 2 cents.

I also used the Kaplan math workbook for a couple hours every day for a month and upped my score in the 100+ range and I'm definitely not a math major. This workbook is a miracle worker. No joke. I honestly don't think I would have gotten into some of the programs I got into if I hadn't used this. I just wish they made a large series of them.

So I have a bit of rivalry with my step sister (though we are in very different fields). Though it wasn't my safety, my first rejection hurt more than normal because it was at her HYP school. I had had dreams of getting accepted there, sleeping on her floor, and then turning the school down just for victory (stupid...imature...but that is siblings...and to play the "she did it first game" she insulted my undergrad a number of times to my face even though she went to State U and I went to a well respected SLAC and would never insult State U she went to because it is a good school). It stung a lot less when my acceptance arrived from the only school that turned her down in a far better application cycle arrived. Lesson learned: Victory comes even after rejection letters. And on the off shot it doesn't work out this year, I've noticed a lot of stories of people on this board who reapplied with their knowledge from the first go and got into GREAT programs. This all is a learning process and so much of it we can improve upon by going through once.

At a lot of schools, they will ask you to explain why you've reapplied if you reapply to some programs next year. Retaking the GRE will not be enough to satisfactorily answer this question. Though they may have not looked at you based on the merits of your GRE, they still like to pretend it was about some issue of merit and personal development.

Speaking of program rankings. At this point, I'm leaning heavily Cornell. However, I recently had a conversation with a professor at my undergrad that has left me really unsettled. I was working with him on securing a DC placement for the summer when my parent's firm slashed salaries in lieu of firing people making it now prohibitively difficult to absorb the cost of an internship. I thanked him for his time and thoughts and mentioned his insights would be helpful when I did this in the future (and it was my own money and not my parents). He got very weird and then said, "I'm going to say something mean. I imagine C. wasn't your first choice. The reason you didn't get into HYP is you've done nothing of distinction." This in combination with that job market signal article someone posted has left me wondering if I'm making a mistake in going through with it this year. I had a very rushed application process. I knew since freshman year I wanted to go to grad school, but I was going to take a year off before applying. I decided in October to get everything together so I'm sure that didn't help...but is this man just out of line? Or should I wait and try again even with a funded offer in hand (Bird in hand and all that)? I've felt really small since having this conversation because it already confirmed some of my fears about gradschool...there is a thread on impostor syndrome in the Decisions section that I feel applies. I didn't cry in front of him, but this conversation has definitely left in me in tears for the last few days because I feel like it really invalidated what I have accomplished. I don't mean to be pompous or anything like that to be people who've had it rougher than me in a very rough year. I just feel like I don't know how to process this interaction. So what is his deal? Legitimate critique or legitimately a douchebag?

For all the undergrad admits on the board, what are you thinking about doing for the summer between grad and undergrad? I've been debating a D.C. internship or going home and boning up on some lit and taking a maths course. Both options have proponents within my adivsor cohort, I just don't know which would be best. So what are others doing? And what have others done in the past?

Is it only me? Or do others find it more difficult to concentrate on the thesis now that they have some fat envelopes in hand?

I'll be visiting, but I'm not so keen on JHU right now. A friend from DC sent me this lovely link: http://essentials.baltimoresun.com/micro_sun/homicides/ Along with the quote, "It's not a question of if you'll be robbed, but when and how frequently...oh I should send you the homicide link too..." So quality of life not looking so brilliant.

So I've been admitted at two schools with good funding (Fellowships/Stipend Remissions/And 4+summers covered) packages and I've been waitlisted for funding but admitted to a third school. I know people are sometimes able to negotiate their packages up, though in these financial times this may be more difficult than normal. How does this work? Who does one talk to? Who are ones allies? How do you do it in a way that is appropriate?

They fedexed the letters priority overnight to Americans. I don't know about internationals, but maybe that helps.

I got into MIT, but am waitlisted for funding. Is it appropriate to call about one's position on the waitlist? So far I have a far more financially attractive offer from Cornell, but working with Posen would be sweet. Thoughts?

Are most of people's theses for undergrad or MA? I've noticed our applicant cohort has alot of MA holders. I'm applying straight from undergrad.

I don't have a partner so I don't have this added stress, but this whole process has left me fairly depressed. I got into a top 10 program ivy program and all that jazz, something I failed to do as an undergraduate, and all I could think was that it's my only acceptance (I could get more and hopefully will) and it all just feels like a fluke. I'm trying to write my thesis right now, but all I can do is worry about the admission call I didn't get this week. I also worry about why I got in there and not at "lesser" programs...again feeding into my feelings on inadequacy. I can think of a 100 logical answers to that last question, but a mean little nagging voice remains.

I definitely know what the impostor syndrome feeling is like. I go to a top liberal arts and the top women's college in the country. It didn't help me feel any more secure. And since starting to get my acceptance (hopefully I'll be able to pluralize this one of these days) and rejections (unfortunately this one has already been pluralized), its just gotten a lot worse. Ironically, I got more depressed after my first acceptance than after my first rejection. I'm having problems feeling engaged by my senior thesis and instead of noticing what is right with it I notice what is wrong. I can trace this feeling of being second class, even though logically I know I am not, to my elementry school days where it took me just a little bit longer to read and though I can score in 99% on verbal tests, that failure as a young girl has always left me feeling like I just don't quite belong. My mother who is a high achieving scientist in corporate America has never completely gotten over this...unfortunately, we probably will be the 60 years olds at the confrence hoping to not be found out even after our **fingers crossed* brilliant careers.

Ugg... like you wouldn't believe. There is a part of me that wishes I hadn't found grad cafe. My thesis looks at post-Cold War British foreign policy.

I've been stressing eating cookies. Not good for the waistline. I'm working a thesis too so I probably would be eating cookies regardless, but perhaps fewer. I also have re-developed a tv addiction. Not so good for the thesis, which is why today has been devoted to turning a bunch of my data into dummy variables. I also have taken to angrily deleting emails not related to this process..take that overstock.com.

Congratulations. Did they tell you today or yesterday?