twoforonespecial

It's not really worth getting into a debate over this because I know everyone has their own experiences. Doing degrees in the UK is great for people who want to teach in the UK. For someone like me, doing linguistic anthropology, it doesn't make sense to stay. Not to mention the profound dissatisfaction me and everyone in my cohort has felt with the structure and teaching in our program. UK professors generally don't put much effort into teaching WELL -- they prefer to read out pre-written scripts, shy away from interactive techniques, and are generally checked out in seminars. They don't feel the need to invest in master's students because they are focused on their own work and possibly advising their PhD students. It's a completely different experience from studying in the US, which I'm sure you would agree with. Since someone started this thread with the intention of hearing people's experiences about differences in US/UK degrees, I felt compelled to share my thoughts because I wish someone would have done the same for me.

The program is only 3 years and therefore much less rigorous than a US degree, and coming out people generally don't produce publishable material. Plus, you don't do ANY teaching as a PhD student which disqualifies you from teaching at a US school. You'll have to do one or two postdocs, publish a lot of material, and get a lot of good teaching experience before you'll be qualified for a position at a major research university (or even more so a liberal arts school focused on teaching) in the US. That said, if you just plan on doing a master's it won't ruin you, but master's degrees in the UK are cash cows for departments and are generally badly organized.

I have accepted an offer at UCLA! I look forward to meeting anyone else who will be there! xx

I cannot tell you how much you should stay away from UK schools -- I'm at one now for a taught Master's (MPhil), not disclosing which, but it's been terrible. Also, if you want to work in the US eventually then getting a UK PhD is basically kissing that possibility right out the window.

It is really annoying that Chicago won't just send out rejections to people who already have Master's degrees and are qualified but just not "good enough" for Chicago -- if you know we're not interested in MAPSS why not just say, hey! we're just not interested in you!? leave it at that! I find it very disrespectful. I think it has a lot to do with the aura of superiority cultivated in academia. Anyway, I'm ranting. Is anyone else going to UCLA? :-)

Have Chicago acceptances/rejections gone out across the board? I've seen a few of each but I still haven't heard anything.

Not true! Although it's honestly a crap shoot -- I have applied to Michigan three years in a row and been rejected each time! I have other acceptances, so I guess it just comes down to the faculty's interests and I can accept that.

daykid - I just got the email too. They probably sent out rejections in one fell swoop. You're probably fine.

I was admitted and it still says 'under review' on the website

This is my third season applying to PhD programs -- if at first you don't succeed!

That was me! Just got the email! So excited! Not much info to share right now, other than an invite to accepted students weekend Feb 27-Mar 1

@Snoods: I got in touch with her a few months ago. She was emailing me for a writing sample and told me they would be making final cut in a few weeks. Good luck to you too!

My research interests are language and gender in South Asia. I do work on Hindi/Urdu and will be beginning Punjabi in the future. I'm more interested in sociolinguistics/linguistic anthropology than any subfield in formal linguistics. My faculty members of choice are Kira Hall and Bhuvana Navasimhan in linguistics and Carole McGranahan, Deepti Mistri, and Lucy Chester in anthro/gender studies. The program at Colorado is really something special for me since there is a great deal of flexibility between departments and so many great faculty. It's definitely my top choice. But it's also my first application season, so I'm not really expecting to get in. And even if I do, I know funding is tight at Boulder so I might have to wait an extra year anyway. Regardless, I hope something comes through, if not at Boulder than somewhere else! Good luck to you!!!

Attention people applying to Boulder: I heard from Kira Hall and she said they will be making the final decisions in the next two weeks! Keep your fingers crossed and GOOD LUCK!!!!

Thanks PhDreaming! I guess we'll be finding out soon enough. Good luck to you!