rkg2012

Applied: 12 Accepted: 5 (all with 4-5 years of full funding, 2 off of wait-lists) Attending - UNC-CH Classics Department I didn't actually have a "top choice" going into my applications. I applied to a variety of programs with different strengths that correspond with my varied interests. I don't think it's productive to have your heart set on a school. It keeps you narrow-minded and causes you to be more crushed if/when that rejection letter comes. My ranking of schools changed at least on a daily basis, even after I had my acceptances. Don't just apply to the Ivies. In addition to the comments above, fit matters a lot more than name. Classics is a small world and future hiring committees will know that x school is as good or nearly as good a y Ivy for z topic. It's what you do with the degree that matters. I turned down Oxford for an MA last year because a non-Oxbridge, but still top school was a better fit. I only applied to three Ivies this year, but struck out on them. I'm not sure whether I would have attended over my ultimate choice anyway. If you don't have an MA, apply to MA programs in addition to PhDs! More and more PhD students are starting with MAs and it's nothing to be ashamed of. It's also a great stepping stone into the workload/mindset that will be a PhD or MA/PhD program. Some MA programs (alas, not in the UK) even have decent to great funding. Be open minded and visit! It's important to know how you really fit in with the people in the department and not just how you fit on paper. I didn't end up liking what I thought was one of my top-two schools and really loved one that wasn't. Granted, it never was at the bottom of the list either. Good luck! Veilside - I wish I knew about the application waivers. I didn't realize I had a chance of qualifying, but I wasn't making any money in the UK. Sigh. Also, perhaps I'll see you around at UNC?

I have declined offers at BU (Archaeology) and Arizona (Anthropology) and I'm trying to figure out how to officially decline my offers at Bryn Mawr (Classical/Near Easter Archaeology) and at UCLA (Archaeology IDP). I hope they go to someone here!

I decided to accept UNC-CH. Best of luck to your friends and perhaps I'll be seeing you around.

I just visited and rather liked it, but I still have two other visits, so I won't be making my decision until the middle of the last week at the earliest. Unfortunately I'm still waiting on some funding offers, so I can't even be sure of that. Good luck to your friends!

I don't know your field, but personally, I would go for the funded masters. Although you are feeling better about the job, there is no guarantee that you will get a promotion in the very near future. If it is currently entry level or only slightly above, I disagree with the comment that you will have to work too much to get back to that level. This seems like a great time to go for the masters. Even if your job will not just be waiting for you to come back, if they like you and you keep in touch, I would bet there's a good chance that they will rehire you if a position opens. Alternatively, after the masters, you could probably find another job at at least the level you are at now.

If you go to Chicago, you will either need to reapply for PhDs your first semester there (before you may know profs well) or take a year off and start paying back any loans. Personally, I would go with whichever one is a better fit. I turned down mediocre funding in the US for an unfunded UK program, but it was based on what I would learn. The name of the program isn't everything though. Try talking to grad students at each and visiting if you can. I knew several people who got rejected from Chicago PhDs and accepted to the masters and every one of them turned it down. Check out the threads about Chicago. Personally, I love Philadelphia, but I don't know a ton about Villanova.

Arizona is finallllly sending out acceptances. No funding for me though, so I will not be attending. I'm already supposed to skype with my POI though, so I probably won't officially decline for another week.

One university that I was accepted to last year did not exactly allow deferrals. Accepted students could re-apply the following year without resubmitting documents or repaying the fee, but they were not guaranteed admission. I did update a couple of things - my final transcript and personal statement. Said school accepted me with full funding this year (vs none last year).So long as you do something productive with your year off and explain it in an updated SOP, I would expect them to look favorably on your re-application.

Thank you both. I guess I'm reasonably confident that I want to continue my education, but I am less confident that I will be happy in academia afterward. Maybe I'm just afraid of failure though. I will certainly be discussing my doubts/choices with professors. I agree that a Masters is pretty easy to commit to, but mine hasn't been as fulfilling as I expected, which probably has something to do with my current doubts. I will be visiting the programs that I've been accepted to in a couple weeks. Surely I will have a better feel if I will be happy/how happy I might be at each of the programs after that.

I'm probably not much help but... Obviously, visiting B is a must. I'm trying to look at my options in terms of where I will be happiest (which will be entirely up to you) and where will make me most employable. Other than that, I would just suggest that some universities have collaborations with other local ones. If so, you may be able to take a couple of outside classes or have someone from the other university as a secondary dissertation supervisor in the future. It's probably worth asking.

Congrats! I hope at least some of your wait lists work out for you. I'll be visiting UNC at the end of the month. If I turn them down, I hope you (or someone else on here) gets the spot. I can't help with the others though. Good luck

I know their anthropology department is fantastic and I've had a verbal acceptance for awhile, but the funding issue is more than a little ambiguous. The real question is whether I could get a job in Classics with a degree in Anthro. Did you hear back about funding from FSU? I think the MA at Arizona usually offers TAships. Yay for decisions. Good luck with yours.

I got into several good programs, but I am now petrified of academia. I know lots of people second guess their decision of which school to go to, but I'm going well beyond that. Do I really want to spend 5-8 more years in school? Am I really sure about my area of focus? Will I actually be able to (have the energy to) succeed in the world of publish or perish? What if I don't find a job? I was so certain and confident when I started, but now I'm rethinking everything and the stress of making decisions is seriously detracting from my schoolwork. Does anyone else have similar feelings? How are you dealing with the whole situation?

Congrats! Their Anthro PhD (which I applied to for Archaeology) hasn't even gotten around to sending official letters. That app was due in Dec. Sigh.

Interesting. Where exactly was it? I tried going there and I can't find anything about mine... Congrats on your other acceptances though. You too aelizabeth.

I would email the school to which you paid the deposit and explain the situation. Check to find out whether the deposit was supposed to be binding and tell them that you are waiting on a waitlist, which you plan to accept if admitted. Explain that you made a mistake and you are happy to forgo the deposit if you choose to attend the other school. I think that even after April 15th, students can get out of binding contracts with the permission of the university, which almost always grants it. The best thing is to contact them sooner rather than later and talk about it.

When you apply to graduate programs, you typically waive your right to see the letters of recommendation. You do have the choice, but confidential letters are stronger because they are considered more frank and honest.

I guess this is only sort of related to the original post, but this seems as good a place as any to put it: What do you do when your SO (of nearly four years) decides to break up with you because he doesn't want you to make a decision based on him? He doesn't like the distance now, and doesn't want that to continue, but said that if I went to the school near him (even if for other reasons), he would feel guilty and like I did it for him and would therefore be miserable and would feel compelled to base his law school decision on me next year. Other than distance, there aren't any other underlying causes that I know of or that he has admitted to. I don't know how to make a purely academic decision, since I can't imagine moving to an area I don't know without any support system. Being away from family and friends this year has made me miserable and I don't want to do that again, even if a distant school might be a little better. I can't help but want to stay nearby and hope that he'll get his shit together and come back, but I obviously can't count on that. Has anyone gone through something like this? Or have any advice on how to deal with it? Thanks.

aelizabeth and anzaria and anyone else still waiting on U of Az, they really still have not sent out letters, at least on the archaeology side of things. My POI is apparently getting annoyed about it, but funding is totally up in the air. I guess they aren't sending letters until they figure that out? There were 97 archaeology applicants, but I don't know how many they accept. It seems like a pretty big department overall (but I'm a Classicist, so I don't know how it compares to other anthropology departments), so there's still hope.

I still don't have an official offer, much less any information about funding, so I have no idea. It's actually kind of worrying - what if that prof liked me, but whatever happens? The joy of worst case scenarios. Assuming I hear from them, I plan to visit before deciding since it's not my only offer and I am at a loss as to where I want to go.

That's better than when I asked - the administrative person ignored my question. Granted, it was in an email with other stuff, which she did reply to. It certainly does take them long enough since they started reviewing at the end of January. I know that BU has at least started replying to their PhD archaeology applicants, but that was pretty recently, so it wouldn't be surprising if MA admits are a couple weeks later. Honestly, they are notorious for not funding all of their PhDs, much less MAs, although I think even the MA only students can compete for TAships in their second year. That still would leave an expensive first year though. Good luck all!

Please let us know what they say! I'm dying to hear from Brown, even though I'm pretty sure that I know the answer. I wonder if they are just waiting until after their interview weekend to crush us. I wish. Of three attempts, I have one rejection and two silent treatments (=rejection?).

If it's convenient go for it. You can also try to see if the director of the program or someone would be willing to skype with you. I had a phone interview with my program and then sent several follow up emails, which is what convinced me that they cared about the masters students, although current students can tell you the most. Maybe the director/a potential adviser will even know about some university funding that isn't well advertised. Also, check with your UGrad institution about possible funding, though that was really competitive and due around application time for me. Good luck!

I chose a one year UK program, but I applied during my fall term, which has worked out well so far (I have pretty good PhD acceptances). The trick was getting to know my adviser well so he could write me a strong recommendation. I didn't want a gap year, since I don't really know what to do (that would be useful) and I really don't want to start paying back my loans just yet. I guess it depends on your field and whether you could get a job/internship for the gap year. Edit: On the other hand, it's not entirely pleasant to apply during two consecutive cycles, and I have to hand in my masters thesis early to attend a US PhD.

Honestly there aren't many options at this point. To fund a UK degree, you pretty much need to apply to Fulbright/Marshall/etc before you ever apply to the program. I don't know about Edinburgh, but my university doesn't have much (meaning close to nothing) for Americans. Everything seems to be for UK/EU students. Oxbridge is the only place I know of that has full funding of their own, but that's super competitive. I chose to do a one year unfunded MSc here since the program is something that just doesn't exist in the US. I think it really depends on what you will get out of the degree. I hear Edinburgh doesn't have much coursework or assignments (whereas you submit many more papers at Oxbridge), so make sure you know exactly what you are getting into before you decide. Also,if you are looking for a PhD later (without a gap year) make sure you talk to profs and become well-acquainted very early on so that they can write you strong recommendations. If possible, try to get a feel from current students about how MAs are treated by faculty. Some schools really only care about their PhD students or have too many MAs to really get to know you.