Audran Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Were you the one acceptance on the board? How were you notified? Congrats by the way! That's exciting! One of the professors emailed me, and I got the funding letter in the mail a few days ago. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolja00 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 OK. Stanford today! It is gonna happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saltlakecity2012 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 OK. Stanford today! It is gonna happen. Ha. The one certain way to make sure it won't. I'm itching for Berkeley and Yale, but I'm pretty sure they ain't coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolja00 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 (edited) Don't Yale interviews have to happen first? This is the first year where every grad dept had to do that there, right? Edited February 9, 2012 by kolja00 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balderdash Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 Right, sorry I disappeared for the last ten pages there... was moving internationally. Some topics I missed: Madison is known for poor funding, but the quality of the program (especially in Africanist work) and the low living cost make up for it somewhat. $15k there is roughly equal in terms of buying power as is $22.5k in, say, Palo Alto - according to cost of living calculators on teh interwebz. But still. Yeah. Stanford: I think it'll happen today or tomorrow. Congrats to anxiousmike. Which brings me to the third topic: generally, the expected time to deny other offers would be once you've attended the open house of your top choice and found it agreeable. If you're 90% sure you're going to Stanford, I think it's entirely reasonable to wait until the visit and make sure you don't get terrible vibes. If everything goes well, send in your acceptance and notify the other schools. Even though this is late March, I think that's the most anyone could expect you to do - and this is coming from someone who spent 2 months languishing on the waitlist last year. And congratulations on all the acceptances! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saltlakecity2012 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 (edited) Yale's website still doesn't say anything about an interview process (the poli sci department's) - it could be out of date, I suppose, but I would think that such a major change would be noted. Edited February 9, 2012 by tergellian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolja00 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2012/jan/11/grad-school-divided-over-interviews/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saltlakecity2012 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 (edited) Yale's website still doesn't say anything about an interview process (the poli sci department's) - it could be out of date, I suppose, but I would think that such a major change would be noted. Also, I have a final-round job interview tomorrow with a company known for asking candidates, "if you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?" Not looking forward to it. Edit: looked at the yaledaily thing. Wow - I had no clue. Do we (collective rather than royal) have any info on when they might notify about interviews (unless, of course, they already have and I'm outing myself...)? Edited February 9, 2012 by tergellian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whirlibird Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Also, I have a final-round job interview tomorrow with a company known for asking candidates, "if you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?" Not looking forward to it. In other words, "If you were admitted to grad school, how would you graduate?" iwouldpreferanonymity and WorldMan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolja00 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Also, I have a final-round job interview tomorrow with a company known for asking candidates, "if you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?" Not looking forward to it. Good luck...and that question. Ummm yeah good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saltlakecity2012 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 In other words, "If you were admitted to grad school, how would you graduate?" Good luck...and that question. Ummm yeah good luck! Yes to the first, and also yes to the second - ummmmmm is probably about what I would manage. My first instinct was to ask if I could have someone larger than me help me, and then I thought if that wouldn't work I would take a look at what I was wearing... hopefully I won't have to tax my already exhausted brain with bizarre questions. Too tired for this sh*t. Thanks for the good luck wishes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwouldpreferanonymity Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Yes to the first, and also yes to the second - ummmmmm is probably about what I would manage. My first instinct was to ask if I could have someone larger than me help me, and then I thought if that wouldn't work I would take a look at what I was wearing... hopefully I won't have to tax my already exhausted brain with bizarre questions. Too tired for this sh*t. Thanks for the good luck wishes! I wanted to say two things: 1) Good luck! 2) While you might have, unfortunately, been shrunken, you have not (presumably) lost any mass. A pencil-sized human that possess the mass of normal individual should be able to tip over the blender pretty easily. It cannot be harder, at any rate, than completing a doctoral thesis . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saltlakecity2012 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Good point, but it would also depend on where my center of gravity was wrt my vertical axis. Also - if I didn't lose any mass, being shrunk by a factor of ~100 would lead to an equal increase in density, which would probably lead to me exploding. Which would make it challenging to concentrate on scaling the wall of the blender in order to reach a point in the curvature of the wall where my mass would be sufficient to destabilize it. So you see, this gets very complicated very quickly... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwouldpreferanonymity Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Also - if I didn't lose any mass, being shrunk by a factor of ~100 would lead to an equal increase in density, which would probably lead to me exploding. Well, at least you wouldn't have to worry about the blender then. More seriously - good counterpoint. As for a response - I have got nothing. So, I repeat: Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adornopolisci2012 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Well, if you were shrunk, in this hypothetical question you wouldn't have to worry about the pragmatic problems that would come from actually being shrunk. It's a philosophical given at that point. I'd concentrate on using my shoes or some other hard object to jam the blades, THIS IS IMPERATIVE. Perhaps you could convince your captor to release you with your wit. Or perhaps you convince him/her that the blender is too dirty to safely use (think Finding Nemo and the aquarium scene.) Other than these awful ideas at 4:00am, I got nothin'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whirlibird Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Good point, but it would also depend on where my center of gravity was wrt my vertical axis. Also - if I didn't lose any mass, being shrunk by a factor of ~100 would lead to an equal increase in density, which would probably lead to me exploding. Which would make it challenging to concentrate on scaling the wall of the blender in order to reach a point in the curvature of the wall where my mass would be sufficient to destabilize it. So you see, this gets very complicated very quickly... Talk 'em in circles and you'll have it in the bag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megan Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 (edited) Wow, I didn't know that about Yale and interviews either. I actually think that interviews are a good idea though. First of all, the concept that academics in the humanities and social sciences primarily work alone is absurd. You work in a department, you teach and mentor students, and even in your research it is highly possible, though not certain, that you will need to work with others. Additionally, applications are so general and limited, I think interviews would give potential mentors and/or directors of programs an opportunity to get more specific information from candidates about the particular aspects of their academic credentials and experience that they find the most interesting or imortant. The other thing is, the interview could give professors an opportunity to see past those aspects of the application that can be hard to interpret, but also hard to explain in the application. Finally, interviews often give candidates themselves a sense of whether the school may be a good fit. Like a job interview, the questions they ask, the way they approach you, etc, can give you a clearer idea about the program pre-admissions weekend. I don't know, I know it adds an extra level and therefor an extra level of anxiety, but I actually like the interview idea, although I don't really think departments should be FORCED to do them. (edited for typo) Edited February 9, 2012 by Megan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helix Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 http://www.yaledaily...ver-interviews/ So to echo tergellian, does this mean that none of us are in the running? I haven't seen any posts on the board about being contacted for an interview, and it seems like it's starting to get to that point in February where it would be late to only just begin contacting students about that before making decisions, right? Certainly if it's mandated they may have no choice, but it strikes me that if the interviews pushed back the schedule of releasing decisions noticeably they might lose some of their top picks to other schools who notified sooner/had visit weekends sooner/etc. Also I think that the use of "this year" in that article is ambiguous (here's me being hopeful and optimistic)--I'd like to believe it could also mean in the application cycle that begins in the fall, they will be required to include interviews in the process. But I realize that flies in the face of the numbers at the end of the article, which make it sound like it's definitely *this* cycle where they'll be introduced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bauhaus Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Well, well, Personaly, I feel that an interview would scare the shit out of me. And a reason for that is that even though every grad school states that they would not dicriminate people who are not native English speakers it d be impossible in case of an interview. I was already pissed off with the GRE verbal (which IS discriminating) and a SOP obviously also takes a hell of more time to write for a non-native, but now I am seriously frightened. Sorry for bitching but those from US & UK can imagine what d it be like to respond under extreme stress in thier 2nd language... saltlakecity2012, lordvader, anxiousmike and 2 others 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuerzburg Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Well, well, Personaly, I feel that an interview would scare the shit out of me. And a reason for that is that even though every grad school states that they would not dicriminate people who are not native English speakers it d be impossible in case of an interview. I was already pissed off with the GRE verbal (which IS discriminating) and a SOP obviously also takes a hell of more time to write for a non-native, but now I am seriously frightened. Sorry for bitching but those from US & UK can imagine what d it be like to respond under extreme stress in thier 2nd language... I am sorry but this is just silly. You sat the GRE to apply to US universities but for some strange reason think they are not entitled to expect you to speak the language they work in. If you were applying to Japan you would need to speak Japanese so why does the USA get special treatment?? Victims of their own success?? I am sure there are universities that teach in your native language so there is nobody forcing you to study in the US, its your choice!! twenty-twelve, saltlakecity2012, anxiousmike and 3 others 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megan Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Personaly, I feel that an interview would scare the shit out of me. And a reason for that is that even though every grad school states that they would not dicriminate people who are not native English speakers it d be impossible in case of an interview. I really hope that that wouldn't be true. Any professor at a major university should be used to having students from all over in his/her classes, and working with them on projects, etc. I don't think having an accent/minor linguistic mistakes would have an impact on how they viewed you in an interview. I mean, unless your English is really below the level needed for graduate study, which clearly it's not, I think you should be alright if you need to give an interview. On the other hand, having done interviews and the like in languages other than my first, I understand why it would be intimidating. I just don't think you necessarily need to worry about the discrimination side. Or at least I hope not. Maybe that's just naive wishful thinking on my part... The GRE IS discriminatory for non-native speakers in my opinion, though. Particularly since it does nothing to give them any indication of your ability to use English in an academic setting, which they can see much more clearly in your SOP and writing sample. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CafeAuLait12 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Also, I have a final-round job interview tomorrow with a company known for asking candidates, "if you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?" Not looking forward to it. Edit: looked at the yaledaily thing. Wow - I had no clue. Do we (collective rather than royal) have any info on when they might notify about interviews (unless, of course, they already have and I'm outing myself...)? Good luck! I know that you will come up with some witty answer that will completely stump them! As for the Yale article, I had not heard of this. I tend to agree with everyone else. If they are going to do interviews, they better get a move on because it is starting to get a little far along in the process... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bauhaus Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 I am sorry but this is just silly. You sat the GRE to apply to US universities but for some strange reason think they are not entitled to expect you to speak the language they work in. If you were applying to Japan you would need to speak Japanese so why does the USA get special treatment?? Victims of their own success?? I am sure there are universities that teach in your native language so there is nobody forcing you to study in the US, its your choice!! Allright, What i mean is that a. A GRE V score measures your English vocab. I don t think it has much to do with your intelligence/research potential (above a certain point), on the other hand it gives a very hard time to someone not native. Learning to speak in English also gives a hard time, but it makes sense. In my opinion GRE V doesnt. b. I would assume that an interview is much more stressful for a non-native, hence for these people it s harder to convince schools of their strengths. I totally agree with you: of course you are unable to be successful in grad school if you re not able to express yourself. What i am saying is that in an interview/GRE Verbal even quite subtle differences in language skills may lead to very different outcomes. anyway, i am probably bitching simply because i am anxious about the whole process:) anxiousmike, lordvader, twenty-twelve and 1 other 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catchermiscount Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 If I may play devil's advocate (I have no strong views either way, I don't think): the job market will also be discriminatory against people that don't speak english well. Taking that into account, isn't the GRE Verbal a potentially useful screening mechanism? Tough question to answer. Happily, many places functionally ignore the GRE Verbal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catchermiscount Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Oh, and it goes without saying that there are far better measures out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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