eriatarka

This is a very good point, Loric. While I am still an undergrad (albeit an older one), and I am looking forward to grad school, my enthusiasm has been tempered somewhat by witnessing a similar situation. When one of my closest friends was a grad student, this person was at the center of what became a departmental controversy based on trumped-up accusations. The rumor mill was in full-force, effectively dividing the graduate students & the faculty into opposing camps. I have heard that it has since calmed down, but apparently some of the tension still exists. My friend (who is extremely knowledgeable about their field and spent many years creating an excellent CV) was absolutely distraught about the possibility of having to give up their dream due to politics, in addition to possibly having their professional reputation ruined. It's such a terrible spot to be in, and I'm sorry to hear about your bad experiences Loric. Hopefully the next department you attend will be a vast improvement, and I wish you luck.

I was talking to a friend tonight who's also applying to grad school, and we are both so wracked with anxiety and over-analyzing everything. I joked that we were acting like Bridezillas.... we're GRADZILLAS! With all the irrational things we do and say during application season, such as refreshing emails a million times per day, etc., I thought I'd pose the question to you all: You're a creative bunch.... If you could caption a meme based on GradCafe or your own personal freak-outs, what would you write?

January was a horrendous wait! Historically, next week seems to be pretty action-packed, from the results I've gathered on my schools anyway. Here's to hoping! And good riddance to the longest month I've ever experienced.

Yikes! That would be me too. Fingers crossed for all of us!

I feel you on this. It is going to be a painful winter if I end up going back east next year. I really don't even know how to dress for the snow.

Sorry to hear that danaofdoom

This MONTH has been eternal! I always complain about how fast time flies, yet right now it seems January will never end.

I know what you mean about feeling alone in this process... I am too. Although sometimes we get a bit neurotic on here, I think, it's still nice to have that sense of community. As far as the materials go, I didn't apply to CUNY but if you sent it back in November maybe you should shoot them a quick email or phone call? That's what I would do just to make sure.

I may be in the minority here, but in the morning I mainly drink coffee for the taste. It's just something to drink that tastes good. I only really use coffee to wake up during the late afternoon if I've stayed up late or I have a late night ahead. Plus the social aspect of going out for coffee with folks... that's one of my go-to activities. I'd probably be inclined to decline the pills.

I reuse jeans and tank tops (camisoles) for layering as long as they haven't stretched out. LOL!! Same for my socks after being on campus from 9-6. The weather here might have something to do with it too... it's been consistently in the 70s in So Cal. It may not be so bad for people in colder weather?

Hi guys! I've applied to the Public History program at UC Riverside. I spoke with the professor in charge of the program and I liked that there is a lot of freedom and interdisciplinarity. There are people interested in media/visual culture, history, anthropology/ethnology, art history, etc. and are free to work on projects or exhibitions within their individual areas of interest. They encourage relationships with profs from other departments which is nice. Are the other programs like that? I didn't look into a lot of them because this one is semi-local to me & convenient. I'm curious about what you all like about your programs. All the other programs I've applied to have close ties with museums or offer some kind of museum-related courses, since that is important to me.

I much prefer to go around in flip-flops, so I take my socks off ASAP when I get home. Plus after walking on campus all day, I could never re-use socks without stinking to high heaven.

Any news from Berkeley? The results show that last year they did some interviews around 1/21. I figured maybe someone here would have been contacted this week.

Second Language Acquisition. Before I googled it, I thought "Sweet! Someone will pay you to learn another language?"

True, that is a good attitude! It's just disconcerting to not do as well as you'd hoped. And GradCafe doesn't help matters, lol.

I only had about a month to prepare for my exam. I used Khan Academy's website to help me review math (it's been a few years since my last math class), and I found it very helpful and user-friendly. However, my exam didn't turn out quite as planned. I took 1 practice test the week before and did fairly well. On the actual exam, both my V & Q were about 5 points lower than the practice. The essays are what really pissed me off. I consider myself a good writer, but I ended up with a 4.5. Both of the essay prompts I got on the exam were super-scientific and I am more of a humanities person, so I had trouble trying to figure out what I was going to say in the 30 min timeframe. I panicked and was scrambling to figure out what to write... I think that is what hurt me. I just wasn't able to do my best work with the topics they gave me unfortunately. I don't know if other people had that issue. So I was somewhat disappointed with my performance on the GRE but I had no desire to waste another couple months of my life on it, so I just went with those scores. So far I've been admitted to 1 PhD program, the other 5 apps pending. Good luck to you! You can always reschedule the test if you need more time.

Yeah exactly! My situation is a little different, as I have a kid, so I can understand the concern in that sense. However by the time I'm done with grad school she'll be almost a teenager and old enough to come with me when I have to travel. That could be interesting!

I enjoy Academia.edu. The search notification that you're talking about is intriguing.... I recently had a search from the area of my top choice school, which I got excited about! And sometimes if you follow a professor's work on there they will follow you back. Can't hurt when it comes to name recognition, I figure. I also surfed it quite a bit when I was researching programs. It's convenient having immediate access to a professor's work when you need it.

I totally feel you on this. I think I posted this a few pages back, but I'm studying Meso arch (C. Mexico) and people always say, "Why do you want to go to Mexico? Isn't it dangerous?" or "Why not do something in America/Biblical Arch?" (Cuz all that is supposed to be more interesting/relevant to mainstream America.) Also, whenever I mention anything about potentially having to travel for a summer, my family's eyes gloss over and the room falls silent. Everyone thinks it's awesome I may get a PhD someday, but beyond that fact, they don't get it. I probably won't bring it up again til I decide where I'm going.

I was just looking back through last year's results thread and it seems like things started picking up around the equivalent of next week. I can't believe how torturous the wait really is... I really thought I was going to be ok, and that finishing my classes would allow me to keep my head in the books and out of the clouds. But anyway, for those of you who applied last year and are still hanging out in here, thanks for a good read!

Woohoo!!! Congrats to the 2 new admits

This FLAS thing is killing me. Last time I took Spanish, it was 2 years ago and the grad student who taught it is no longer here (or probably wouldn't remember me anyway). I decided to continue with Spanish this term, so now I have to ask my brand-new grad student professor for a letter of rec. Fabulous! And I don't really feel comfortable rating myself on my language abilities. I'm still taking language courses now through June, so how the heck do I know what my proficiency will be like then? Sorry for the rant.... the FLAS frustration is real.

Thank you daykid! I needed this news. I was concerned about the weather out there, but glad to hear things are rolling along.

My family has asked me repeatedly why I don't study Biblical archaeology or anything to do with Jerusalem instead of Mesoamerica, so I can relate here. Also, I'm from the West Coast and most of the schools I applied to are on the East Coast. They keep making comments like "But that's SO far..." and "Why do you want to go to the East Coast? It's too cold there!" etc.... This seems to be a touchy subject for my family, so I try not to bring it up anymore It's hard.