musicology phd placement

[klavierstucke]

Hey, what schools seem to the best at placing  musicology phd recipients in teaching positions? Here's my list so far.

 

Princeton, Yale, UCB, Columbia, UChicago, Stanford, Cornell, UPenn, Harvard

Slightly less competitive,  still decent placement: Eastman, Duke, Brandeis, CUNY

 

Let me know if I missed any.

 

Also, does anyone know what kind of GRE score I should aim for? (3.9 music gpa, great writing samples and recs)

 

 

[JosePalacios]

I think that list looks pretty good, although I don't know much about placement statistics. As far as GRE scores go - I got accepted into 2 of the schools on your list with Verbal & AW scores around the 82nd percentile, Quant somewhere around the 55th percentile. So, my scores weren't super impressive! I think that having a high GPA, great writing samples, and above all, demonstrating that you're a good fit for the program with your SOP are important as well. 

[klavierstucke]

3 hours ago, JosePalacios said:

I think that list looks pretty good, although I don't know much about placement statistics. As far as GRE scores go - I got accepted into 2 of the schools on your list with Verbal & AW scores around the 82nd percentile, Quant somewhere around the 55th percentile. So, my scores weren't super impressive! I think that having a high GPA, great writing samples, and above all, demonstrating that you're a good fit for the program with your SOP are important as well. 

Thanks, that's reassuring!  I actually compiled my entire list from going on Columbia's website (since I knew them to have good placement), seeing where faculty got their PhDs; then seeing where faculty at those institutions got their PhDs.  I surveyed about 20 uni websites; UCB had 9, Harvard/Yale/Cornell 5, Columbia/UChicago/Upenn/Stanford 4, Princeton 3,  and 2s & 1s for the others. It is actually a bit scary how homogeneous it is, just wanted to make sure i wasn't missing any..

I know Duke also publishes these kinds of admissions statistics; for 2017-2018 average quant for matriculated students was 155 and verbal 158. I imagine the average are at most, a few points higher at the more competitive ones. 

Also, I'm curious if you would be comfortable sharing (either here or through PM) your experience in applying to grad school. I'll be applying this fall and I want to make sure I do everything right...

 

Edited June 21, 2018 by klavierstucke

[JosePalacios]

@klavierstucke

Sure, I don't mind sharing! Prepare for a wall of text, haha.

I guess the first thing that I got sorted out was taking the GRE. Summer is an excellent time to do it (especially if you're still in undergrad and continuing school in the fall, which I was!), so if you haven't taken it already, I'd recommend signing up! I was a bit worried that my scores were on the low side, but chose not to retake it. 

As far as the application goes - first, I'd make a spreadsheet of programs that you're considering applying to. Note what each requires, as it differs among programs. For example, one program might cap your writing sample at 25 pages, while another one might allow up to 30, etc. Other things to pay attention to are funding, transcripts, specific SOP requirements, personal statement/diversity statement requirements, letters of rec, etc. If you add all of this to a spreadsheet that you can edit as you find out new info, you’ll thank yourself down the road! Most importantly, it will help you keep your due dates sorted out. 

I can’t over-stress the importance of choosing programs where there’s at least one, and ideally several, faculty member(s) with whom your research interests align. This isn’t to say that you have to copy their interests exactly, but the committee should be able to read your statement of purpose and have a clear idea of which faculty member could be your mentor. I looked at the department websites and identified which faculty members I could potentially work with, and then I searched for their work on google/JSTOR and skimmed it to get a sense of their interests. (Keep track of this on your spreadsheet, too!) It’s also helpful to look through the little grad student profiles on the department’s website, if available, and see where their interests lie. Try not to pigeon-hole yourself, but keep in mind that the committee is looking for someone who will complement their program. But don’t be afraid to set yourself apart by looking at something in a new light in your application!

I feel that my statement of purpose was one of the best parts of my application, and that isn’t because I had a clear vision of my interests were or what a statement of purpose was even supposed to sound like – it was because I rewrote it a million times! I had a few people read and critique it, which was painful but oh so necessary – I’d highly recommend getting another pair of eyes or two to read over yours. You may want to use a general ‘draft’ version and then refine it for each particular school. 

My overall advice would be to try not to stress about what you can’t control, and be proactive about the things you can. The way I tried to view it was, “Well, my GRE scores might not be high, I didn’t come from an Ivy League undergrad school, I have very little (okay, zero) research experience… but what do I have that others might not?” Be it your background, GPA, unique research interests, impressive writing samples, whatever – play to your strengths. Apply to a reach school or two, because why not? I got into my reach school that I thought I was totally underqualified for, and got rejected from others that I thought were safety schools. The truth is, no one knows what the committee is looking for in each particular application cycle, and many programs only accept a few people out of a pool of qualified applicants. Just try your best and try your best not to check the results page every (hour of every) day once your materials are submitted - it will only stress you out! Best of luck!

[It's Me]

The best measure of placement rates is the musicology wiki: http://academicjobs.wikia.com/wiki/Musicology/Ethnomusicology_2017-18

You can look through all job postings and offers in musicology/ethnomusicology from the past five years (maybe longer?)

[klavierstucke]

On 8/1/2018 at 11:40 AM, It's Me said:

The best measure of placement rates is the musicology wiki: http://academicjobs.wikia.com/wiki/Musicology/Ethnomusicology_2017-18

You can look through all job postings and offers in musicology/ethnomusicology from the past five years (maybe longer?)

 

Thanks for bringing this up; I've seen it before, but I just wish the table could be sorted by institution...