CarlieE

Personally I wouldn't worry about it, unless the job title difference also includes a change in actual job duties. In that case, I might email an update to the graduate office to note the difference.

Cultural Anthropology... My quantitative scores were dismal (I was in the lowest 20%) but my qualitative scores were good (upper 15%) and my analytical writing was 5.5. In one of the emails, the POI said my GRE scores hadn't come through from ETS yet (although I had requested them) and they wanted to know my scores. So I emailed what they were and made a little "joke" about how bad my math is... the POI replied that my application depended on other factors, rather than my GREs so I shouldn't worry too much about my GRE scores. I've also heard from professors that GREs are the "most" important when it comes to nit-picking between candidates... ie. there are two or more that are neck to neck in other aspects of their application but they can only pick one. I really think it depends on field and the school. Some of my friends have MUCH better GRE scores than me and they aren't accepted yet AND they applied with MAs under their belts (whilst I applied as an UG)

I second this; at the uni I got accepted into they basically do all the visa documentation for you and help get it and, as far as I know, the schools haven't begun to do any of this yet (it's still too soon) - since April is the usual deadline. There are LOTS of int'l students who will be going through the same thing, I don't think you should base your acceptance on the visa issue...

Good Luck Some of us have been waiting since October.. My first application deadline was Oct 31!!

I have to agree with the above posters... 100 miles is a pretty significant.. uhm.. "commute".. what did your husband say when you talked about grad school, moving, this university etc? it's possible to handle a LDR, but I would imagine your current employer will not be too happy with a similar arrangement, unless you have a job that which allows you to do the work via internet/phone/email. But even so, as mentioned above, the demands of grad school will probably not allow this. After all, the reason stipends and tuition waivers are offered is so that students can (and are expected to) devote their energy towards their studies... If money is the primary reason for keeping your job, is the stipend enough to live off of? If so, it seems that the f/t job won't be "necessary" any more... and then the only concern is keeping up a LDR with your husband..

It sounds like you're not under any time constraint ie. "Give us an answer by Friday or we revoke your offer" so I guess you can wait until you hear about funding from Stanford. Are you expecting funding to be offered? If they don't offer you anything, I would take the PhD since a lack of funding may signal that Stanford is interested but not THAT interested in working with you... So that might make for an uncomfortable working relationship (even if its only for a couple of years)...

I can understand your anger... but to be fair, the deadlines for when they have to give us answers are generally BY March or April. Most of the schools I applied to stated this on their websites. Also, it's a good thing if you are still waiting.. it means that possibly, if the first round of acceptances already went out, that you are on the waitlist for the 2nd round. At the school I got accepted into, they told us that they would appreciate the acceptees telling ASAP if they will decline or accept so that the 2nd string group could be notified of THEIR acceptance. What holds back some of this is that the 1st string people don't respond right away if they are accepting or declining, and to be fair to THEM, they don't have to right away. Perhaps this is why you haven't gotten "official" word yet - because you MIGHT still be offered admission... Good Luck

LOL this language is starting to creep into my non-online life.. ie. I was talking to my bf who is applying and I started using "POI" and "LOR" he gave me the oddest look... he thinks I spend wayyyyy too much time on gradcafe.

Bando - your post was incredibly helpful as well. I'm glad you posted and came out from the shadows. After poking around I've found other people have very similar feelings about MAPSS and Chicago in general. I was warned when I applied to Chicago that it is a very cutthroat environment, but that if I "make it through" I'd be pretty well set in my academic career... Hope your PhD experience is everything you want it to be

I'm not trying to stereotype... but I'm wondering what cultures are being represented in this thread? I'm Southeast Asian, of Chinese descent.. And every now and then I get this kind of "how will you get married?" thing thrown in my face.. My family still lives in SEA and my mom, for the sake of saving face and making her life easier, basically tells our neighbors and family acquaintances that I'm married which is why I live abroad and *never* come home (I am not married, but was divorced (ANOTHER NO-NO), have no kids and I visit home once a year if I'm lucky/have saved enough). When I tell my family about certain decisions in life ie. going to grad school, getting a tattoo etc (Personal decisions), my mom's first response is invariably "Well, what does (insert ex-husband/ex-fiance/boyfriend's name here) think?" She finally stopped when I yelled "I don't give a crap what X thinks. It's MY life and I'm doing it! He will just have to deal with it!" (I don't really think that, but my mom pushes all the right buttons..) Anyway... so I'm wondering if some of this negativity is rooted in a cultural basis, more so than a socio-economic/more vs less educated basis? Or perhaps a mixture of both?

I'm American... now. But I'm originally from Southeast Asia. I've been in the US for 15 years and I agree with robot_hamster - it all depends on the individual. I'm sure it's not you, but rather people just get busy - especially in grad school. Generally speaking I don't "stop" with initiative - unless it's been months and months since I've hung out with someone and that person has not once, in that time, suggested to hang out. Then I take the silence as a hint "I just don't like you". If someone tells me "Yeah, would love to hang out," but then never calls to actually DO IT, then I take that as a hint to back off. But if they call every now and then and say "hey, free tomorrow; how about lunch?" but I'm not free, then I still will make an effort - it's just an issue of bad timing, but not a lack of actual friendliness. In general, I will continue to call/text and say "hey, you free this weekend? I want to go watch ___ movie; heard it's good. Wanna go?" or "I need a drink. Now. Come to ____ bar and let's bitch about the past week." Sometimes I send out mass text messages to my friends when I have time to hang out, and then (usually) whoever is free will all hang out together. Everyone has different styles though; some people like fixed appointed times, or regular weekly get-togethers, or some - like me - do things on the fly.

I guess it depends on your field.. but my GRE scores were meh and I got accepted into a tier 1 with full funding. It sounds like you have a lot going for you so I'm sure you will be fine One POI I was in email contact with outright told me not to worry over my GRE scores.

Thanks dgh204!! That was really insightful.. I asked around and found that one of my acquaintances is in the program now - she says it's super intense as well.

I disagree... in the MA program at my uni, there is not much funding from the department itself, however, because we our Southeast Asian dept is a National Resource Center, there's a lot of funding available which is much better - but it is competitive. For instance, the FLAS that is offered gives a stipend AND tuition waiver, however, the dept stipend and waiver is less than HALF what the FLAS offers. But the student must apply for the FLAS separately. When I applied to U of Wi for their anth PhD program, I was advised to apply for THEIR FLAS scholarship (since they are an NRC too) to boost the financial aid that the anth dept would be offering. The Uni of Chicago also suggested applying for a FLAS but their language program didn't include one I would be eligible for... I do think it's OK to negotiate... but I think here, it's a question of how to approach it.. You don't want to come off greedy, nor do you want to be too subtle.. I would not recommend saying I got more money elsewhere (especially if I didn't) since it might make you come off that the funding, rather than the academic facilities are driving your final decision. At my interview, I simply asked: Aside from the funding offered, are their other opportunities for funding? For research? etc. And in fact, I have learned, there are emergency loans and other such things offered by the university, but not the department to help defray moving costs etc - that is, living costs NOT related to research or academics.

I got rejected from Chicago for the Anth PhD too (also cultural) but was offered the MAPSS and half tuition. I posted up a thread in decisions, decisions if you want to see what some other people said about it; some good, some not to good. I'm not considering the MAPSS since I got into a PhD with full funding at my top choice but, if I had not gotten in there, I would consider it. I hear it's tough and pretty intense,.. but it IS U of Chicago after all

If it's any consolation I misspelled the last name of a POI... I don't think I did it on purpose, but my auto correct on word or something was on and it changed her name... I didn't catch that until MUCH MUCH later and it was wayyyy too late to call the grad office.

This is a little off topic, but thought it might help you feel better.. I don't think a lot of people outside of academia realize how tough getting into/being in/finishing a doctoral program actually IS. For those who only did a UG degree and then got a "real" job, I think they think that going to grad school is simply a matter of filling out an application, just like going to most UG programs. Also, there's a lot of misunderstanding about how hard it is to get into good schools, or even what a good school is. I got into a tier 1 school but because it isn't "ivy league", I got comments from family like "Well, I suppose it's OK, but it's not IVY LEAGUE". I then have to remind them that ivy league refers to collegiate sports and NOT the academic program. I swear some of them still don't get it. I am so ashamed to share DNA with them.. It is also, IMO an unfortunate indication of the consumerism of our society: value and worth are measured only in dollars. How many times have I been asked: So, what kind of job are you going to get with that degree? The focus is all on vocation; the end goal is a job apparently... It's very frustrating. In the end, I hold onto the thought that 10 years from now, when my cousins are wasting away in their cubicles, or popping high-blood pressure meds as a result of their high powered jobs, I will happy in my profession, doing field research and getting to actually see and understand the world, instead of just being an automaton in it.

Does my email inbox count? I got a Half rejection.... I got rejected from the Anth program at Chicago but accepted into their MA MAPSS for Social Sciences...

Here's an updated version of the April 15th resolution.. http://www.cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/CGS_Resolution.pdf But to answer your query, I think that you are probably better off going with the first school since funding is confirmed and sounds like a "full funding" package. I don't like taking too many chances.... so there's my 2 cents. Which school do you REALLY prefer?

Perhaps the reason that their funding/package offered is low is because there are a lot of scholarships, fellowships etc that are offered by the department? Perhaps you could pose the query in such a way as to inquire if/what other kinds of alternate methods of funding are endorsed/suggested?

That helps, thank you. Yeah, Chicago is a big gun school... And yeah, the rate of graduates from MAPSS going onto PhDs at other places is impressive.. I won't accept though, not because I think I'm better than Chicago, but because I got into Emory with full funding in their PhD.. The MAPSS offered to me was half funding and then I'd have to go through ALL of this application stuff again next year. I don't think I could hack the stress again.. I might go for the campus visit anyway.. I'm in IL now so it won't be hard for me to go.. Are you going for the Campus Visit?

So I got rejected from the Anth program PhD but accepted into MAPSS - the MA for Social Sciences.. Is this a consolation prize that I should want? Is this an interdisciplinary program? Anyone else got this rejection/offer? Is anyone IN this program now? Any advice on this is helpful! Thank you!

David200000000000 - if it's any consolation, I also think it does depend on the field. I interviewed at Emory and got in as an UG and nearly half of us who interviewed were also applying as UGs, without MAs.

I agree that she might be harder on you as a grad student.. I have a similar experience but with a different twist that might help you see things in a different light.. I'm an UG but I take a lot of grad/cross listed classes and I do really well in my area of study. This semester I took a class which focuses on my region of study but there are a lot of UGs in the class for whom this is their first anthro class on the subject. So, when it comes to answering questions, the professor prefers to get responses from the other UGs who are "new" to the topic. At first, she liked me (and my grad friends in the class) speaking up and answering questions but we ended up intimidating the other students who are newer to the topic, so she started to ignore our raised hands and kinda of give us little head shakes to subtly say "no, not you....someone else needs to answer this". Our professor never made this explicit but it's become clear. As for the other other behavior and her interruptions, perhaps this is a part of her personality. If she were picking on you in a negative way, you probably wouldn't have gotten such high marks on her paper/tests.

Thought this might be helpful... After all the talk on this forum about the April 15th Resolution I decided to look it up. http://www.cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/CGS_Resolution.pdf Not all schools adhere to nor HAVE to adhere to the resolution, so I think your freakout was fair.. it doesn't help the stress levels when there's all this ambiguity!!