MattDest

Most of the people I have talked to who went to graduate school from an undergraduate institution were encouraged to apply elsewhere. It seems to be harder to get into a PhD program when you did your undergraduate studies there. The same is likely true of MA to PhD transitions (the whole 'get no special treatment' isn't just a disclaimer, but seems a perhaps understated reality). In other words, I don't think that's an advantage at all. In fact, for most adcoms, it's probably a disadvantage.

Here we go again...

The problem is that the stats don't tell the whole story. The stats don't tell what seem to be the best indicators of application success: quality of writing sample, undergrad or MA institution pedigree, (maybe) letter-writer name recognition, and fit. The first seems pretty straightforward. GPA and GRE scores don't determine the quality of an applicant's sample. While there is certainly going to be a lot of high-quality writing, I bet there is a higher degree of separation in quality of writing than there is in GPA scores. The pedigree issue seems to be closely related to GPA scores. A student who goes to Princeton and gets a 3.8 is probably going to be looked at as roughly equivalent to someone who went to Southwestern Small State Technical College and got a 4.0. Similarly, when one reads a letter from Frank Jackson or Elizabeth Harman, they might take their estimation of a student's ability to have more weight than a professor that doesn't have name recognition. This isn't to say that any of these are good practices, but I think they are realities of admissions decisions that aren't captured by the stats posted on gradcafe. Then, the factor which we have discussed at length in these forums, fit. Suppose someone with perfect stats - a GPA of 4.0, GRE scores of 170/170/6.0 applies to a school that doesn't have anybody working in their area of interest. That person might be passed over in favor of a student who has AOIs that closely match up to the program's strengths, but has less impressive numbers.

Why would you apply to a school that you do not want to go to? A rejection at one program doesn't necessarily mean anything about your admission chances at another program. I've been rejected at many lower-ranked programs (T20-40), but accepted into a T-20 program. I took certain rejections much harder than others, because I thought they signaled a weaker application. But it wasn't about the rank of the program, but my own perceived fit. I took the rejection from Northwestern a lot harder than UNC, for example.

I reached my positive quota, but this made me laugh out loud.

Your name looks really familiar, are you already attending? I can't really stand livejournal's interface, so I'm very reluctant to use it. My WS is on requirements of rationality, particularly relating to memory and responding to an argument from John Broome.

The line I highlighted is hysterical. I think I'll also take leave of this thread, it doesn't seem like there's much point to engaging Vineyard.

Vineyard, a couple of things are worth noting: (1) Nobody here is "white-knighting" (which is an awful, ugly term to begin with). Nobody is pretending that false accusations do not happen - only that the actual rate of false reporting is very low, and that your response is ridiculous considering the source of your information. There is evidence that we should take these allegations seriously (despite your claim that there is "no evidence") which includes the testimony from the university officials which concluded " The complaint alleges that a university official (Ms. Slavin) concluded, "based on the totality of the evidence...that Ludlow engaged in unwelcome and inappropriate sexual advances toward Plaintiff on the evening of February 10-11, 2012. In particular, Ms. Slavin found that Ludlow initiated kissing, French kissing, rubbing Plaintiff’s back,and sleeping with his arms on and around Plaintiff on the night of February 10-11, 2012." (link) (2) Undermining the credibility of the woman in question by claiming she might be 'crazy' or a 'liar' is absolutely uncalled for, and your thread title 'New information on the Ludlow case suggests the whole thing might be made up... ' is too suggestive given that it's based entirely on a statement from the defense attorney. The evidence that the defense attorney has wouldn't even suggest that she is lying about the charges (see Hypatience's link about victim's responses to sexual assault).

Just so everyone's clear, this is not part of the statement from Ludlow's lawyer. Text messages that make "friendly communication" are not evidence that the person did not harm themselves, that no assault occurred, or anything else. It's reading way, way too much into it to suggest that "a terrible injustice to Ludlow's name" has been done on the basis of the defense attorney's statement.

Congrats! Wow, you had no problem getting law schools! Amazing.

Schools will generally keep them on file for something like five years if I'm not mistaken. I re-took my GREs while doing my MA program, though, so I resubmitted them.

Who are all of these people that you know applying to PhD programs?! Are they messaging you from these forums, or people you know IRL?

I am at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. Many of the students here are funded, but I don't know if it's one of the programs you looked at.

You should really share the data you collected, if you have it. It would be very interesting to look at. As an aside, I'm an (or will be, future sense) an exception to this. I went to a top-rated Leiter MA program, but attended a CSU (while I loved it, it was not recognized, and no grad program) for my undergrad. I've been admitted to Arizona, and still have a few other T-20 applicants out even though I'm not holding my breath. I realize that one exception doesn't undermine a trend at all, but I figured I would say something.

I reached my positive quota for the day, but congrats! That is a very prestigious award, and I imagine that is also a very good signal for your application status in the department. I live in St. Louis and have met many of the WashU faculty - it is an outstanding program. I am sure you will have plenty of people to show you around, but if you do come want an additional perspective on St. Louis, I'd be happy to meet up.

I think bsg's perspective is the way that most adcoms see it. I farted around at community college for two years (and when I say farted, I mean got somewhere around a C average), and most of my advisors (both at my MA program and undergrad) said that was far less important than other considerations (grades in upper-level courses, quality of writing sample, GRE scores, quality of letters, etc.).

Good, I hope that you do get it (or more preferrably, I hope that you get admitted elsewhere). I have one piece of advice for people considering this route more generally. If you are intending to go to a PhD program after, I would encourage you to ask about their placement record into such programs. An MA can be a really good risk to take (perhaps even worth taking out loans if you have the financial means), but only if they consistently place people into good programs.

Do you still have many applications out? I would not despair this early, there is still plenty of time left in the cycle.

Very nice! Are they giving you funding for it?

I looked at Northwestern's site after reading e-mail and can confirm a rejection. I wish other schools could be more prompt about rejections. I wonder why we haven't heard from UCR/UCSD/Madison with official rejections.

That's why I said it will get you through an anxious Friday, no longer!

By the way, for those looking to get through an anxious Friday: House of Cards season 2 (in its entirety) will be available early morning.

Congrats to the Yale posters! Crazy that it came so late.

I took myself off the list (from the e-mail I got, it was very likely I would have gotten funding) at Missouri. Hopefully that helps someone!

Congrats, and thanks for posting!