purpledinosaur

My areas of interest are: late 20th century music, music and gesture, music and disability (mostly deafness), and feminist music theory. I'm pretty eccentric, which is a trait I feel is appreciated here at UChicago! In terms of the theory/history degree: basically it works out that there are a few of us who are pretty solidly on either side of the theory/history divide, and then others who are somewhere in between. Having the program be explicitly theory AND history is useful in some ways and not so great in others. It's great in that there is an interdisciplinary element built into the program; I feel very welcome to expand my music theory research into other areas and to conduct both historical and ethnomusicological research (which is really important for a lot of my work). One negative is that people with very different interests are thrown together in the same program, so sometimes it can feel like you're clueless about something that a bunch of other people know. That said, I have come to really really appreciate the comments in classes from historical musicologists, because they're giving me access to a perspective I'm much less familiar with, and it has really improved my research, I think. Grad students only begin teaching in their third year and I'm in my first, so unfortunately I can't really speak to that, but I know that everyone gets to be a teaching assistant and many upper years go on to teach their own classes. Yes, Zbikowski is definitely on the cog sci side of things. I'm not too sure about doing work with the folks at Northwestern, but I do know that here at UChicago we are just now opening up a new center for studying gesture and Zbikowski and other cog sci people are involved in that. There was also a workshop on music and perception last year I think... I don't think it's running this year but hopefully it will be back soon! I hope this helps! ETA: Yes, UChicago is intense!!! I think it's an effect of the quarter system: 10 weeks is so little time! Some courses have much heavier workloads than others and that can make a quarter become really hectic. But there is a lot of support here from both professors and the other students, and there will always be quarters that are more relaxed and others that are super intense. I would say that it's not that much worse than what I experienced in my Master's. Plus everyone here is really supportive and we have awesome grad events pretty much every week that keep us sane and full of delicious snacks and wine!

Hi kccur! I go to UChicago and I'm in music theory, so I thought I might be able to help with your question. My experiences with the professors and students here have been great so far! My cohort is very close and full of friendly, lovely people. When I came to visit prior to accepting, I felt very welcomed by all of the upper year doctoral students. I've also had great experiences with professors! I see from your interests that you're into transformational theory. Steve Rings is an amazing prof and person, and I've had a great time working with him! I hope that helps! Let me know if you have any more questions that I might be able to answer.

When I was applying, one of my references completely forgot to send his LOR for one of my schools. When I finally realized it was missing, I emailed him and my POI at the school in a panic. He submitted it right away and everyone at the school (Columbia) was super nice about it and it was not a big deal at all. By the way, this happened at the end of January, and the deadline for applications had been December 15! So that's pretty bad. But, in the end, I still got accepted! So there's hope.

Apples and peanut butter... the perfect combination of salty, sweet, crunchy, and smooth. And a lot of tea.

Congrats on UChicago, catenaires!! Hope to see you on prospective students' day, whenever that is...

Hey, sorry for the delay in replying! I decided to attend the University of Chicago. I was accepted at Columbia, CUNY GC, U Michigan, and UBC. Rejected by Yale. Congrats to those accepted to UChicago!!! Let me know if you have any questions about the school.

Just stopped by to say good luck, everyone! I was just thinking about how it was at this time last year that I was going through the extreme freak-out phase and checking grad cafe every 30 seconds... it seems so long ago! Just think about how at this time next year you'll be feeling the same way. If anyone has any questions about schools, I would be happy to try and answer them!

WOOHOO! See you in the fall, snes!

Yes, most conferences ask for registration fees. They often also ask you to pay membership fees if the conference is related to an organization. Sometimes you can get scholarships to cover these fees, but this depends on the organization and the conference. It is completely normal, though; I have had to pay at least a registration fee for almost every conference at which I've presented (one was at my own uni so the fee was waived).

Pssst, snes, come to Chicago!

Finally rejected by Yale! Sheesh, took them long enough. I'm assuming I've been rejected by Michigan too, but I still haven't heard anything from them. Have people heard from Michigan? If so, how did they find out?

For reals.

I'm sad to say that apparently Yale has already spoken with the people they will be admitting. It's unofficial but I have no reason to doubt this information. Maybe we're on the waitlist...?

Congrats spparkle and Cece!!

I know... stupid Chicago, being so freaking huge. But still, I'm glad to hear that the city in general is super lesbian-friendly! And it seems like UChicago has its own resources for its LGBTQ students, like meetups etc. Thank you so much, I will definitely PM you if I have more questions.

Vegan coffee shops, yay! That sounds awesome, especially the PLURAL lesbian bars... here we only have one, and it's not even officially a lesbian bar. I'm looking at the University of Chicago, which so far I looooooove.

Hey, I'm considering Chicago, and I'm really happy to hear that the gay life there is great! If you don't mind my asking though, what specifically makes you say it is great? Are there just generally a lot of queers and resources and such? I'd really appreciate any info you can give me!

LOL FOREVER.

That's messed up. I are confused.

Finally got my Columbia interview notification! I was also woken up by firefighters stomping into my apartment because of a fire next door, so it's been an interesting day already...

I would suggest asking your recommenders whether they can write you a strong letter of recommendation. A letter that is half negative is not a strong letter! A professor shouldn't write you a letter unless they can write really good one; asking for a strong letter will ensure that you have the best possible chance of being admitted to a great program (or getting that grant, or that job, or whatever else in the future).

It depends on the school, and actually, this "rule" is only applicable to offers of funding. So a school may ask you to accept an offer of admission by whatever date, as long as it is not also an offer of funding. Not all schools are involved in this deal, either, and it is not actually a law at all. Anyway, I agree with svh that you should be honest and explain the situation, Shankha Basu. And if they say that you absolutely MUST make a decision by March 2, then I would just accept and then later withdraw if you decide to go elsewhere.

Upon calling to tell my Mom I was accepted to CUNY with funding: Mom: Well, didn't you already get accepted there? Me: No... I got an interview. Not the same thing. Mom: Oh. Well I already told you you would get in everywhere. Hasn't anything interesting happened in your life? Thanks Mom, your enthusiasm is contagious!

Mutual despair fail. But congratulations!!

Ugh, this stuff is so complicated! That's a bummer. Ah well. Thanks TakeruK! I should read these things more closely, lol.