NowMoreSerious

My cohort mate also got accepted to Irvine just right now.

Somebody's obviously having fun, which I don't mind. It's hilarious. Paleontology? It even sounds made up.

Wasn't it last year or the year before where somebody was like 0 or 10 and then got accepted outright to Columbia?

If none of us hear something by today, I'm thinking this is going to be a very bloody weekend. Several schools seem backed up and due to burst.

Rutgers and Maryland, who will notify first? I feel those are the next two coming.

No apologies needed we are all thinkers here--just trying to make it. I just wanted to point out that the language you are using falls under a certain context, at times.

For me personally it is not so much I took offense as I think it's useful and productive to be critical. Hypersensitivity is a word often wielded against people who feel the stakes of racism/sexism and speak up about it. It isn't a bad thing that people feel emotions or feel strongly about certain things.

I'd argue that growing up white from a middle to upper middle class (or higher) family is a far, far larger edge than any other, which is why the discrepancy in applicant numbers is so wide, and which is why so many graduate programs, even with these diversity initiatives, are still predominantly white. Far larger than AA, which is nothing more than a band-aid policy that often hides and obscures larger systemic, historical, and cultural problems. I'd even argue that one of AA's biggest effects is creating even MORE resentment from small minded people against "minorities" who have success and often have their intelligence and hard work questioned at every step of their lives.

It doesn't take much of an extension of logic to see why this question is silly. So we can't take offense to the ideas coming out of somebody's mouth unless they are directed towards us?

Why not?

I think we need to get out of this, "You are either privileged or your not" type of discourse. For example, yes, we have some cultural capital, (can we use it though, and how?), but in some ways, our job security and job options put us in somewhat of a more precarious position, than, lets say, somebody who works a government sector job, or even other jobs. Unless we get tenure track, and even if we do, we are in this constant state of performing various types of affective labor, networking, job searching, interviewing, and at times wondering where our next job might come from when our contracts are up. This is not to even mention the large amount of debt many of us have from our undergrad or low/underfunded MA's. What's clear to me is that we are perhaps a new type of worker. Sure, go back 50 years and the class distinctions between a factory worker and a professor are stark. But right now things are a bit more blurry. At worst, we are buying into some new form of American Dreamism by sitting here talking about our "privilege" because at least we aren't working in the salt mines and we've read tons of books others haven't. But perhaps somebody working in the salt mines, might, in some ways, be in a less precarious position. Maybe in less debt, etc. Now I am not trying to say somebody working at McDonalds 60 hours a week for 13g's with no prospects isn't in a worse position than I am. But this entire idea that we should be glad that at least we aren't that reeks of a type of ideological class trap. This whole thing was not meant to be against what you said, by the way.

I'm probably going to the standard welcome week thing April 1st. If in May you find yourself in the mood to meet several additional CSU students who've just gone through this process we are in, check out this year's Significations conference, which I believe is May 11. CFP's should be trickling out.

Yes, actually me and another person from my MA cohort here both got accepted and we are planning to visit.

Congrats! Possible cohort here.

This is a really good conversation that we should move to the acceptance banter thread. Seems kind of weird to have it in the 0% confidence thread.

I was about to say, I feel like Rutgers is next. We should all bet like we are at the race track.

Question for everyone: What are the most important criteria you plan to use when choosing a school? I'm going to list soome that I've chosen in hopes people will chime in with their own or with their rank in terms of importance. -Location: this includes weather, proximity to friends/family/partner, nightlife, city/rural, politics, cost of living. -Fit: Am I a good fit for the faculty in terms of research interests, theoretical interests, etc. -Money/Funding: How much are they offering per year, how big is the teaching load, and how many years are usually guaranteed. Also, for summer funding how competitive is it? Or is summer automatic? -Attention/Advisors: I may be a perfect fit for several professors, but if none of them are really generous with their time or really care about my project, it may be all for naught. Obviously, a lot of what we do is self-started and motivated, but certainly advisors that give you good attention are going to put you at a huge advantage. -Ranking/prestige/placement: How prestigious is this school? How is their placement record? How well do they train you for the job market? -ambience/vibes: Are the graduate students hyper-competitive? Collective? Tight knit? Lots of drama in the department? How do the different cohorts treat each other? I'm curious as to what people think about these categories.

Are you going to welcome week?

Randomly? Dammit I hope I'm not next. I'm always terrible at dice throwing and roulette and lose my underwear whenever I go to Vegas.

Just got the acceptance from UCLA, too. Life just got a bit more complicated for me. I was born and raised in Los Angeles.

hell yeah (also out of upvotes)

I apologize if you felt attacked or if I came off rude. I didn't even have you in mind when I made that comment, and further I would never attack someone personally. I will put pressure on ideas though. But just to clarify to whoever, I personally never argued any of the following: 1. A good CV doesn't help a Ph.D. application. I said, (I think) clearly, that pumping your CV will not have much effect if you don't also improve your SOP and CV. (Everybody I've ever known on admissions committees ranks the SOP/WC as the two most important application documents) 2. An MA automatically leads to a job.

Straw men, everywhere, Batman!

I don't understand.

I think it depends on the school. If your goal is a PhD, and a terminal MA translates into a more cutting edge writing sample and statement of purpose then it is worth it. From everything I hear, no amount of CV pumping, GPA, and GRE scores will help a student if those two above documents aren't outstanding and interesting.