wannabeaphd

What program is UCLA cutting?

Psersonally, I would wait until all offers that you would consider taking are in. Then just send a nice email to your POI (or the DGS is applicable) letting them know that this is your 1st chopice program but that another school has offered you more $ and you wondered if there was any way they could increece their offer. You could include mention of particular reasons, if you've got them. One piece of avvice I've heard is that you need to be VERY ready to accept the school if theyu do give you an increece. No back and forth. I'm in the middle of trying to do this myself. Will let you know how it works out!

Oh! I didn't look at the specializations! *skips off to have a look*

TexanLex -- where are your rankings coming from? I thought I got to the right Ed rankings, but they said Vandy was still #1...?

Did you send the department transcripts from these two previous PhD schools? Are they listed on your CV or any other material (GRE score reports, letters of rec, ect)? If not, then you may indeed be in ethical violation and the new department can (and may well) oust you if/when they find out. However, if any part of your application mentions them, but you don't specifically mention the previous schools, I think you'll be fine and I don't think you really need to mention the attempts at this point.

I think that this is more common right now. No one wants to admit that PhDs are having a hard time getting TT jobs, so they keep them as post-docs so they can do research and apply again. Honestly, I think it's a decent deal because at least they don't throw grads to the wolves at graduation. I think it's more about the economic times than the state of the school/program.

Congrats Cm5! I'll be heading to a UC as well, just haven't quite made the decision about which one

I said school A, but it's a hard choice! On the one hand, prestige is really important if you use the MA as a strpping stone to the PhD... on the other hand, being able to TA and to have a project would reflect well on you during the next application cycle. For me, partner support and prestige (as well as the ability to do either a US or Canadian PhD afterward) won out. But it's obvious that school B wants you, and if you think you can do a really good job there, then there is something great about being wanted at a program. Just make sure that if you go to program A, you'll really work on getting a great writing sample together 1st semester. Best of luck!

@ joh03067 -- You'll have to wait until closer into the actual move date (the do a 2 month menbership for $60), but I HIGHLY reccomend westsiderentals.com. They pretty much have the west side on lockdown. I used them and craigslist when I was househunting and I think they complemented each other nicely. I looked at 30+ apartments my first week and had a lease signed wwithin 7 days of arriving in town. It can be dome! You should also ask people in your incoming cohort and peopel in cohorts above you.

I only got a 4, but it didn't hurt my applications at all. Also, apply to places that do writing samples, so they can see your best work.

Thanks for posting!I thought it was interesting too. It is helpful to compare rankings from last year to this year's. I was pleased to see my top choice go up 5 spots! And my second choice went down 5 spots, so that is something to take into consideration.

Congrats to the UW folks! I was able to get to the full education program rankings. Looks like my top choice moved up 5 places this year! Booyah!

I also don't know if you're all familiar with US retail trends, but there are a lot of good deals to be found online nowdays. I always check something like retailmenot.com or another cupon aggregator site before I submit purchases online and before I go to major department stores, because there are a lot of coupons online that are geared towards students coming to school in Aug/Sept.

Good luck to everyone waiting on UCB. Is anyone else waiting for funding infor from UCSB? Heard anything?

I agree with the comments concerning maturity and investigating deferment. Actually I'm feeling a little bit this way too. Except that I've been trying for 2 years to get into a program. But now that I've been accepted into a pgreat program (a little farther away from my partner and our wonderful apartment than would be ideal) I'm all of a sudden wondering if a PhD is a good idea and if I really can commit. However, I have the good luck of having a partner who went through this EXACT same thing last year when she was accepted to 5 top programs. My advice is that these feelings are natural. And, if you're funded, why not give it a try? Negotaite how things will work out with your partner and family of course, and plan to come home to visit as often as possible. At worst you'll realize that you can't deal with the location/seperation and you'll have 2 years at most before earning an MA and an easy exit strategy. But at best, you'll love the program and have a great experience and a PhD to show for your daring!