BachRocksMySocks Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 For what it's worth, to keep your sanity, I'd say just don't worry about it until you hear something official instead of speculating. I've been trying to tell myself that the past few days about a fellowship I'm waiting to hear about... I've applied for it a grand total of four times For what it's worth, to keep your sanity, Brown and peer institutions have already contacted people whom they wish to accept to waitlist.
snes Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 For what it's worth, to keep your sanity, Brown and peer institutions have already contacted people whom they wish to accept to waitlist. Blah. How do you know? This means I'll come out of this process with a single flimsy waitlist.
mman1021 Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 Blah. How do you know? This means I'll come out of this process with a single flimsy waitlist. Does anyone know the chances of going from Waitlist to Accepted from Ivy's like Brown, Harvard, Yale, etc....?
snes Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 Does anyone know the chances of going from Waitlist to Accepted from Ivy's like Brown, Harvard, Yale, etc....? I don't really know, but I'm waitlisted at NYU and they give out pretty sweet financial packages that I assume are hard to deny, and Ivies tend to have sweet financial packages too.
BachRocksMySocks Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 Blah. How do you know? This means I'll come out of this process with a single flimsy waitlist. I applied to three Ivies and was accepted only to one about a month ago. The other two rejected me. I currently work as a researcher for the music department at a large, highly competitive institution (not an Ivy league, but always ranked in the top 10 of the world's best institutions). I've asked the faculty here about different admissions stuff, and they've confirmed with me weeks ago when I was waiting to hear from my last two schools that if you "haven't heard by now, it doesn't look good." When an institution is interested, they never EVER give generic responses such as "You will hear soon," or, "We have made decisions and are waiting for the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences to approve our recommendations for admissions and will notify candidates soon." They are just as scared about losing good candidates as applicants are about being rejected. So, if they're interested, they'll be writing you something to the tune of, "We greatly enjoyed reading your application and cannot make official decisions soon. However, you will be contacted shortly by the Graduate School of Arts and Scienes with an official notice in the next several days. Please contact me if you have any additional questions about our program."
BachRocksMySocks Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 I don't really know, but I'm waitlisted at NYU and they give out pretty sweet financial packages that I assume are hard to deny, and Ivies tend to have sweet financial packages too. I was going to apply to NYU. I visited in 2009 to talk to someone when I was just thinking about grad school. The man with whom I spoke told me I wouldn't be happy there. I think they accept about 4 students a year. Musicologist, Ethno, Theorist, Composer - 1 of each.
snes Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 BachRocksMySocks, you are not making me feel any better, but I appreciate the info (because not knowing anything really is torture sometimes). I heard NYU accepts 2-3 people per area, but that's not much better than 1 and I don't have very high hopes. In Brown's email to me, they said "Good to hear from you..." -- so CLEARLY that means they're having an anomalous year in sending out acceptances so late, one of which will be for me, right? Hahahaha *cries into pillow*. I keep forgetting that I applied to a Master's program. I guess I'll shift my hope to that one!
Ludwig von Dracula Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 I applied to three Ivies and was accepted only to one about a month ago. The other two rejected me. I currently work as a researcher for the music department at a large, highly competitive institution (not an Ivy league, but always ranked in the top 10 of the world's best institutions). I've asked the faculty here about different admissions stuff, and they've confirmed with me weeks ago when I was waiting to hear from my last two schools that if you "haven't heard by now, it doesn't look good." Yeah, that's depressing. I'm 100% sure that I know the school you're working at, and it was my top choice. If they're the ones who gave you this info, chances are they follow the policy themselves. Darn, darn, darn. Oh well...here's hoping I get a nice funding package from somewhere.
mman1021 Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 I applied to three Ivies and was accepted only to one about a month ago. The other two rejected me. I currently work as a researcher for the music department at a large, highly competitive institution (not an Ivy league, but always ranked in the top 10 of the world's best institutions). I've asked the faculty here about different admissions stuff, and they've confirmed with me weeks ago when I was waiting to hear from my last two schools that if you "haven't heard by now, it doesn't look good." When an institution is interested, they never EVER give generic responses such as "You will hear soon," or, "We have made decisions and are waiting for the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences to approve our recommendations for admissions and will notify candidates soon." They are just as scared about losing good candidates as applicants are about being rejected. So, if they're interested, they'll be writing you something to the tune of, "We greatly enjoyed reading your application and cannot make official decisions soon. However, you will be contacted shortly by the Graduate School of Arts and Scienes with an official notice in the next several days. Please contact me if you have any additional questions about our program." I think you are right about that. I've been accepted at a two institutions, and wait-listed at an Ivy, and even for the wait-listed they were very up front about their interest very early (all of them sent "unofficial" notifications even 2 weeks before I got the official notice), while my two rejections both only came in the past week or so. I think the institutions all know when people are getting offers and no school wants someone to accept another offer before they get to even send out offers to prospective students. Now it's just playing the waiting game to see if the wait-list comes through (but the good kind of waiting).
Eislinn Posted March 5, 2011 Posted March 5, 2011 I go to IU-- a prof told me that this year they got ~ 70 applications total (for both the MA and PhD program). I know that the admcom will occasionally admit PhD applicants to the MA if they feel that the applicants have potential but may need more background knowledge before specializing in the doctorate... Well, this is an added bit of stress. I mentioned before that I am currently out of the country and was therefore unable to attend the Indiana University interview weekend, and I of course attempted to communicate this to IU as well, through phone calls, voice mails, and e-mails, offering phone or skype interviews whenever might be convenient for them. Although I made all these attempts more than a month ago, they *just* got back to me asking when we could set up a long-distance interview, at the point where I was just about ready to give up on any chance, considering their lack of a response to any of my contacts. Does anyone know how the odds look for people they ask for an interview- as in, do they ask 75% (or most) of their applicants, or is it really more indicative of true consideration or interest on their part (less than 50%)?
JSK Posted March 5, 2011 Posted March 5, 2011 Well, this is an added bit of stress. I mentioned before that I am currently out of the country and was therefore unable to attend the Indiana University interview weekend, and I of course attempted to communicate this to IU as well, through phone calls, voice mails, and e-mails, offering phone or skype interviews whenever might be convenient for them. Although I made all these attempts more than a month ago, they *just* got back to me asking when we could set up a long-distance interview, at the point where I was just about ready to give up on any chance, considering their lack of a response to any of my contacts. Does anyone know how the odds look for people they ask for an interview- as in, do they ask 75% (or most) of their applicants, or is it really more indicative of true consideration or interest on their part (less than 50%)? I was in a not entirely dissimilar position to you with IU, having missed the interview due to bad weather. One of the professors instead interviewed me over Skype a couple of days ago. Another PhD student at IU told me that they tend to offer interviews to only about 2 dozen applicants, so if you were offered an interview, that means that they consider you a strong candidate for admission. I still do not know the number of students they ultimately admit.
composser Posted March 5, 2011 Posted March 5, 2011 If I can be honest, IU completely sucks when it comes to making applicants feel good about their application to the university. One e-mail took them 2 weeks to reply. Phone calls were somewhat arrogant. They could not accommodate any special cases. 2 other friends of mine (one of which they offered a campus interview) confirmed the same stuff. Sure it has a lot going for, but they handle the process like amateurs, which is very irritating to me.
BachRocksMySocks Posted March 5, 2011 Posted March 5, 2011 Well, this is an added bit of stress. I mentioned before that I am currently out of the country and was therefore unable to attend the Indiana University interview weekend, and I of course attempted to communicate this to IU as well, through phone calls, voice mails, and e-mails, offering phone or skype interviews whenever might be convenient for them. Although I made all these attempts more than a month ago, they *just* got back to me asking when we could set up a long-distance interview, at the point where I was just about ready to give up on any chance, considering their lack of a response to any of my contacts. Does anyone know how the odds look for people they ask for an interview- as in, do they ask 75% (or most) of their applicants, or is it really more indicative of true consideration or interest on their part (less than 50%)? Think about it. 75% of 70 people is 52 people - do you really think that anyone has time to interview 52 people!?!? If they are interviewing you, they are seriously interested. You should treat the interview with the utmost seriousness. However, I also know that a friend of mine was interviewed TWICE for the "composer spot" at IU in two consecutive years and each year was denied admission. He has a BA and MA in performance and has a fair amount of professional experience playing.
Ayiti Posted March 6, 2011 Posted March 6, 2011 I got an email about a week ago from the phd program at UMich accepting my application but refusing to give me any funding. I just laughed and laughed - and then cried. How on earth do they expect students to pay tens of thousands a year in tuition on their own?! Anyway, I declined that offer. UC Davis and BU are my other options, but when I spoke to Dr. Yudkin at BU he made it clear not to expect much from them either. Everyone at BU seems super nice, so it's a shame that it doesn't really look like a feasible option... I'm going to visit Davis in the next few weeks, and hopefully I'll find good things out there. Otherwise, I plan to do a year of fieldwork (I've been accepted to a few places in-country), learn the local language, and hopefully shore up any gaps in my application for next year. I feel like this just wasn't an ideal time to apply for a lot of really good candidates - people better than me have gotten rejected from all their schools, and I know one guy with a 4.0 GPA, a 720 verbal GRE, and some field experience who applied to 15 schools and got waitlisted at one. I think I might just play the cards again next year...
bee kel Posted March 7, 2011 Posted March 7, 2011 I called UOregon to see if admissions decisions have gone out, and they have not yet. So any Oregon folks, don't fret if you haven't heard back yet!
Eislinn Posted March 7, 2011 Posted March 7, 2011 I called UOregon to see if admissions decisions have gone out, and they have not yet. So any Oregon folks, don't fret if you haven't heard back yet! Good to hear. On the fretting front, anyone heard anything from Case Western yet?
shachey Posted March 8, 2011 Posted March 8, 2011 I'm going for my masters (thesis) and my PhD. I'm researching a few different things: Music of the Holocaust, Slavonic music, and folklore/folk music in relation to early music and romantic music. In a very roundabout way, these do all relate...I swear. What is your specialization? Awesome, I just found out another university accepted me and they have a decent funding package...I'm still leaning towards McGill but obviously I can't go somewhere if I have no possible way of paying for it. Oh does that mean you're doing the masters in one year then? When I spoke with my potential advisor... *fingers crossed*... he mentioned that the short masters into the phd was a good option... but I want to feel out the program first. That sounds so interesting! Will you be looking at music in response to the holocaust or composed during and in certain camps? I remember looking into music of Terezin once upon a time, very interesting. I'm sure you'll find a way to hone your research eventually! Making big connections is always fun. I'm planning on researching Maurice Ravel, j'adore. Some potential ideas are his connection to the golden age of automaton or perhaps his music for voice. Who knows! Honestly I'm just excited to be surrounded by peers who actually care about musicology.
crunchy Posted March 8, 2011 Posted March 8, 2011 I asked Brown about the timeline since it seems that in past years, everybody knew their decision (positive or not) in February. The music dept. director responded that they have sent their decisions to the dean of grad. studies, but they're not allowed to contact applicants until the dean gives the thumbs up, and that should be any day now. I can't decide if this means that yeah, they really haven't contacted anybody yet, or they HAVE contacted successful applicants in an "unofficial" way but they can't tell me that. Any further news (good or bad) on this front?
snes Posted March 8, 2011 Posted March 8, 2011 (edited) Any further news (good or bad) on this front? No news. I wish they'd just send me an email so I don't have to come home to yet another sad envelope and a round of sad faces from my family! Edited March 8, 2011 by snes
snes Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 Okay, rejected from Brown. Via email/website, so that was nice. I guess. Was hoping for some implicit waitlist, since the program was a great fit and thus my SoP for them was so easy to write. So: three rejections, one waitlist, and still waiting on that Steinhardt Master's.
crunchy Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 Okay, rejected from Brown. Via email/website, so that was nice. I guess. Was hoping for some implicit waitlist, since the program was a great fit and thus my SoP for them was so easy to write. So: three rejections, one waitlist, and still waiting on that Steinhardt Master's. What program were you applying to at Brown?
snes Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 What program were you applying to at Brown? Ethnomusicology.
xylogirl10 Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 Honestly I'm just excited to be surrounded by peers who actually care about musicology. It will be awesome! Wait...what's this about a one year masters program? I was admitted through the master's thesis track. Is this the same thing? I can't find anything on their website. I'm a bit hesitant about asking my future advisor about this since we agreed I shouldn't officially accept (and start planning) until I hear back from Fulbright. Anyone else going a bit crazy waiting to find out what state/country/continent they will be living in next year?
shachey Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 It will be awesome! Wait...what's this about a one year masters program? I was admitted through the master's thesis track. Is this the same thing? I can't find anything on their website. I'm a bit hesitant about asking my future advisor about this since we agreed I shouldn't officially accept (and start planning) until I hear back from Fulbright. Anyone else going a bit crazy waiting to find out what state/country/continent they will be living in next year? I was told that I had the option of fast-tracking the course based masters in one year instead of two, but this would mean going directly into a phd after one year... which I'm not toooo sure about yet. I want to see how the masters goes first! And how I feel about continuing my education there. Who is your advisor going to be? I'm hoping for Steven Huebner or David Brackett. Honestly I don't think it would hurt to ask! I find these websites frustrating to navigate, it's like playing detective trying to find out basic information. I'm going pretty crazy right now waiting for funding from McGill, apparently I'm "being considered for a fellowship"... but this obviously isn't a guarantee. I'll definitely be applying for TA positions next week. I'm honestly so excited to potentially live in montreal! It's a great city.
BachRocksMySocks Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 It will be awesome! Wait...what's this about a one year masters program? I was admitted through the master's thesis track. Is this the same thing? I can't find anything on their website. I'm a bit hesitant about asking my future advisor about this since we agreed I shouldn't officially accept (and start planning) until I hear back from Fulbright. Anyone else going a bit crazy waiting to find out what state/country/continent they will be living in next year? Most one-year masters programs in the humanities are cash cows for Universities; they fund the Ph.D. student fellowships and provide cookies and soda for the Southeast Asian Transgender Film Club's bimonthly movie screenings, etc. They don't look great on paper and don't usually do much for you unless you're trying to get into a Ph.D. program and you need another year of "finishing school" in order to try to make yourself more attractive. Don't get a one year masters degree unless it's a technical program like a MA in teaching. At least by the end of that program you'll have some sort of certification that allows you to receive training for a specific type of profession, rather than just doing another year of college...
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