Karajan

It could be a good idea because at least that way they know your name when your application comes up!

Good luck!!

Congrats to both of you! :)

I think that's right. My acceptance email back in 2012 said, "You will receive a formal offer letter in the coming weeks, but you should know that your admission to the program has already been approved by the Dean of the Graduate Division."

I've made it clear to my students that they are welcome to use their devices in class for looking up pertinent information and looking at the textbook in PDF form. If they want to look at Facebook and not understand what's going on in class, that's their issue. However, it becomes a problem when students are getting distracting by their peers' electronic device usage. So, my new policy is that, unless you let me know that you're using your device for class purposes, you'll lose your participation point for the day if I see you using your laptop, etc. I've had a student repeatedly use his laptop to watch YouTube videos during class; usually he has it on mute, but today he was even wearing his earphones in class -- Really brazen...

Some professors certainly care. "...cell phones that go off in your class tend to be confiscated, stomped on, and/or thrown out the window." http://chicagomaroon.com/2009/06/02/q-and-a-with-paul-sally/

I teach a class where you really don't need/can't use your laptop (unless you have a PDF version of the textbook). Cell phone use has been down, but it's really their problem if they're not going to pay attention and not get things. I have one student who was using his laptop today in class (he told me it was to look at his textbook as a PDF), and I eventually found out he was watching YouTube videos on it (muted, obviously). He's one of the two students failing the class.

I am fairly certain that texting is the main issue, given that they all have the textbook, but of course it's possible they are looking up relevant info. I also have an issue with many of them chattering through class (not on their phones, but to one another). There's only so many times you can say, "Can I have your attention up here please?" Sigh...

What do you do if, after several reminders, students in your class still won't put their cellphones away? It's on the syllabus, I've said it in class a few times, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to start asking people to leave the room! I don't want to be a mean guy, but it's really disruptive, not to mention disrespectful. Thoughts?

It seems that, usually, the acceptance letters/calls/emails all go out at once, as do the WL notifications. It seems that the rejections come out later.

Wow! Congrats!! I'd say go for Chicago! NYU's department is so small!

Wahoo!! That's super awesome!!

PS: I added the result for this guy I know... So it's possible that there's one extra if he put his result up himself (unbeknownst to me...).

I know someone who heard from Cal for ethno. Results should be coming soon.

Congratulations! If you don't mind my asking, who's your Cambridge interview with?

I worked on my writing samples the summer before I applied, and tried to choose my two best examples of undergraduate writing, regardless of the topics -- I went with my undergraduate thesis and a theory paper. I had a few profs read them over the summer and give pointers, which really helped. The writing samples were a big focus for me because they are just so important for these applications. I think I worked on them up until the last possible second! As for recs, I just asked the 3-4 profs I knew best and had done the most work for. I think I asked my undergrad thesis advisor, my master's thesis advisor, and two others from undergrad. When I applied, I think I'd only had one conference presentation (at an AMS chapter meeting) and that's it. I did a few more the year I applied, but I hadn't done them/gotten accepted to those conferences when I sent the applications. I didn't list any publications on the CV, though I did have one in an undergrad publication.

Yes, I did a Skype interview and then heard from them about the offer very soon thereafter. It came up quite late in the process though, so I thought I'd gotten rejected. That's a lesson though -- If you don't hear from a school for a long time, don't assume you didn't get in!

Here were my dates from the 2012 cycle: Stanford - offer (1/25) Berkeley - offer (1/27) Penn - interview (1/18), offer (2/17) Michigan - offer (2/10) Princeton - rejection (2/10) Cornell - wait-list (2/21), offer soon thereafter but declined Columbia - interview (2/26), offer (2/29) Harvard - rejection (3/10 or thereabouts; it was a letter and I don't have it anymore) Yale - rejection (3/14 after inquiring) I suppose things are moving more slowly this year...

Just got my evaluations back. They were almost all good -- Trying not to let the few nasty remarks bother me. One student wrote that my passion for the subject does not come across (a lot of them wrote the opposite, thankfully). I wonder why this one student felt that way? A few others marked me down for stuttering and not making good eye contact, while another said that I couldn't tell if people didn't understand something. As for the first issue, yes, these are things that could be improved, but I've never taught before so, come on! And as for the second issue, how am I supposed to know if they don't understand if when I ask 'Does everyone understand?' no one says anything! Should I read their mind? Sometimes, I think these undergrads have expectations that are too high.

UChicago is a wonderful university. Yes, it's a very intense environment, but see how you like it when you visit and try to see how you think you've feel/fit in at the university. The resources are wonderful and the students -- undergrads and grads alike -- are great.

I liked the one: "I'd like to kill you. :)" Who writes that?!?!

How's it going, guys?

You should go for it. I'd say that the peer-reviewed journal would be the better option.

I'm debating about whether to include a clause about professional correspondence in my syllabus for next semester. Some of you guys have already mentioned that you do this and/or make a statement about etiquette at the start of the semester -- For those of you who do either one or both of these things, what do you say/write?

I got one this semester that went something like this: "Hi, Here is my draft. Get this back to me today with comments."