Post-Acceptance, Pre-Visit

[clinamen]

51 minutes ago, Cassifrassidy said:

Not sure if this is the place to post, but am wondering: how important is the "prestige" of your program? I've been accepted into a fully funded MA program which I really like--but I'm wondering if it is "prestigious" enough to help me get into a good Ph.D program if I eventually go down that route, or if that even matters? While I'm not first gen, only three of my family members have college degrees, none beyond the BA, so applying for graduate programs has been very confusing for me (thank god for GradCafe), so any info would be helpful!

I don't think my MA program is ranked, but it was fully funded with a teaching fellowship including a living stipend. I used my MA to seriously work my butt off -- develop my research interests and develop myself as a scholar -- before applying for PhD programs. Even though neither my undergrad -- a mid-size, private liberal arts university -- nor my MA institution is "prestigious," l was able to secure a few solid options this year. So yes, I agree with @la_mod, it matters what you do there, not where you go. 

This all said, I don't know if I ever had a fighting chance at the Ivy Leagues  

[FishNerd]

52 minutes ago, Cassifrassidy said:

That's what I definitely want to hear! I'm from a very small, rural town in Kentucky (read, less than 1,000 people), and I went to a wealthy private school for undergrad which I didn't enjoy much beyond academics. I was hesitant to apply to an Ivy League or other private institution for grad school, but it seems to me like grad programs (especially funded ones) are all pretty competitive and can be what you make them (like you said)? Now I'm just wondering if that's my own bias though lol

Hello fellow Kentuckian! I am a firm believer that programs are definitely what you make them, at least from my experience in my Bachelor's and Master's. My partner, @Melvillage_Idiot, and I did both of our degrees at small state schools in which I highly doubt either of our programs were ranked highly, but we always took advantage of any good opportunity given to us/sought out things to further our educations. It has all been worth it too. Because of this background we have essentially no debt between the two of us since we both had full-rides during undergrad and, also, both had fully funded master's programs.

We have both been accepted into 2 of the 3 schools (see signature) we both applied to together for our PhDs and I've received additional fellowship money at both schools I've been accepted and my partner has received a fellowship at one of the two schools too. I can't say the schools we chose are ranked tremendously high and the one school that was ranked the highest out of the 3 we applied to doesn't seem to want us (partner rejected and I've heard nothing since the Dec. 1st application deadline...). That school though was the poorest fit for each of our research interests though, so it really isn't too much of a surprise. But I do firmly believe the programs at the 2 schools we've been accepted are good and will get us the careers that we want - as long as we keep working hard to remain competitive in our fields despite whatever name is attached to our degrees. Also neither of us is trying to break into academic positions in Top 10 or Ivy League schools so I don't think that our school names will matter too much in that aspect.

Sidenote - my partner is also from rural KY of a town less than 1000! Also feel free to PM me or my partner if you wanted to know the specifics of our backgrounds to have a better idea of what our applications consisted of, if that would make you feel less worried about the prestige of programs/school names.

[Cassifrassidy]

21 hours ago, FishNerd said:

Hello fellow Kentuckian! I am a firm believer that programs are definitely what you make them, at least from my experience in my Bachelor's and Master's. My partner, @Melvillage_Idiot, and I did both of our degrees at small state schools in which I highly doubt either of our programs were ranked highly, but we always took advantage of any good opportunity given to us/sought out things to further our educations. It has all been worth it too. Because of this background we have essentially no debt between the two of us since we both had full-rides during undergrad and, also, both had fully funded master's programs.

We have both been accepted into 2 of the 3 schools (see signature) we both applied to together for our PhDs and I've received additional fellowship money at both schools I've been accepted and my partner has received a fellowship at one of the two schools too. I can't say the schools we chose are ranked tremendously high and the one school that was ranked the highest out of the 3 we applied to doesn't seem to want us (partner rejected and I've heard nothing since the Dec. 1st application deadline...). That school though was the poorest fit for each of our research interests though, so it really isn't too much of a surprise. But I do firmly believe the programs at the 2 schools we've been accepted are good and will get us the careers that we want - as long as we keep working hard to remain competitive in our fields despite whatever name is attached to our degrees. Also neither of us is trying to break into academic positions in Top 10 or Ivy League schools so I don't think that our school names will matter too much in that aspect.

Sidenote - my partner is also from rural KY of a town less than 1000! Also feel free to PM me or my partner if you wanted to know the specifics of our backgrounds to have a better idea of what our applications consisted of, if that would make you feel less worried about the prestige of programs/school names.

Oh, wow! Thank you, that definitely makes me feel better knowing that you both come from similar-ish backgrounds as I do and both are so successful. I'm also definitely not trying to have a crazy prestigious career, just one where I can be happy and also make enough money to survive  Congrats to you and your partner on the great offers! Especially since you guys got into the same program--that's awesome! What area of KY are you from?

[FishNerd]

1 hour ago, Cassifrassidy said:

Oh, wow! Thank you, that definitely makes me feel better knowing that you both come from similar-ish backgrounds as I do and both are so successful. I'm also definitely not trying to have a crazy prestigious career, just one where I can be happy and also make enough money to survive  Congrats to you and your partner on the great offers! Especially since you guys got into the same program--that's awesome! What area of KY are you from?

Thanks so much for your congratulations! We were super relieved when we received notice that we'd both been accepted into one school together, and when the second school came in we were thrilled that we have the option to decide between the two! Also I really had no idea we would each be so competitive for these extra fellowships, so that's been really exciting.

I'm from Louisville, so I guess I'm from the big city of KY haha! My partner is from a tiny town in SE KY.

[melian517]

On 3/2/2018 at 4:07 PM, Cassifrassidy said:

Not sure if this is the place to post, but am wondering: how important is the "prestige" of your program? I've been accepted into a fully funded MA program which I really like--but I'm wondering if it is "prestigious" enough to help me get into a good Ph.D program if I eventually go down that route, or if that even matters? While I'm not first gen, only three of my family members have college degrees, none beyond the BA, so applying for graduate programs has been very confusing for me (thank god for GradCafe), so any info would be helpful!

I agree with everyone here that prestige doesn't really matter for your BA or MA! Just work as hard as you can (while still taking time for self-care, of course), cultivate good relationships with faculty EARLY so they really know you and your work by the time you need recommendations, and make sure that there's at least one faculty member in your area of interest. For what it's worth, I went to a "prestigious" MA program and some people received many PhD offers while others received none—it's all about what you DO in your program, not where you go!