lmmille1 Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Hi, everyone! I need advice - I have been rejected from all of the schools I've heard from except for Florida State, which offered me a very generous package. I am nervous about committing to a lower ranked school and wondering if I should pursue a master's or try to get more research experience and then reapply? Or is this a bird in the hand kind of situation? I have strong grades, letters, and GRE scores, but went to a little liberal arts and have very little formal research experience. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grantman Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Hi, everyone! I need advice - I have been rejected from all of the schools I've heard from except for Florida State, which offered me a very generous package. I am nervous about committing to a lower ranked school and wondering if I should pursue a master's or try to get more research experience and then reapply? Or is this a bird in the hand kind of situation? I have strong grades, letters, and GRE scores, but went to a little liberal arts and have very little formal research experience. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! I would not knock Florida State, my personal feelings based on my observations is that it is a great school with a decent placement history. While I do not know what your fields are, I would consider going, but that is only my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brent09 Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Hi, everyone! I need advice - I have been rejected from all of the schools I've heard from except for Florida State, which offered me a very generous package. I am nervous about committing to a lower ranked school and wondering if I should pursue a master's or try to get more research experience and then reapply? Or is this a bird in the hand kind of situation? I have strong grades, letters, and GRE scores, but went to a little liberal arts and have very little formal research experience. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! My advice: go to FSU and do really well. After you finish your first summer in the program, think about how happy you are. If you want to move up, then confide in an advisor and try to transfer. If you're happy, stay and enjoy it. FSU is a really incredible program with some wonderful people, and my money is on FSU making big moves in the next few years. Chances are good the FSU brand will be even stronger by the time you graduate than it will be when you begin in the program. whirlibird 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orst11 Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 (edited) Hi, everyone! I need advice - I have been rejected from all of the schools I've heard from except for Florida State, which offered me a very generous package. I am nervous about committing to a lower ranked school and wondering if I should pursue a master's or try to get more research experience and then reapply? Or is this a bird in the hand kind of situation? I have strong grades, letters, and GRE scores, but went to a little liberal arts and have very little formal research experience. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! FSU is a good program, don't short change them. They have a solid record in placing candidates in fairly good positions and they have fairly good quant. methods training. This should be good especially for a person coming from a small liberal arts school. Edit: I didn't really mean to seem like I was bombarding you, but really of course research interests do a play a role. If you are in IR it is a logical choice for instance but for other fields you may want to compare other options. Edited February 10, 2012 by orst11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shavasana Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 For anyone worried (me) Columbia said they would be sending out acceptances early to middle of next week. GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eudaimonia Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Anyone know if Notre Dame is still sending acceptances? Also, whether the email asking to confirm info for a scholarship a few days ago was a positive sign? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWBG Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Congrats everyone! I'm especially happy to see some people who hadn't received acceptances yet pick up some. Re: FSU. I think it's a great school and will place you well if you want to learn formal theory/methods. If not, I'd look carefully at their less technical graduates to see how they place. Definitely request the full placement statistics (including cohort data) before you commit to anything. Also, be aware that they are known to be a school that loses a lot of faculty to other schools, so make sure you're not interested in going there to work with one person, or you'll probably be subjecting yourself to a fair degree of risk. Finally, you should seriously consider what you'll be doing in the intervening year (should you choose not to go to FSU), and whether or not that will make you much more competitive. I'm proof that taking a year CAN make you more competitive, but that's no guarantee that it will, especially dependent on the MA program you choose. Just my two cents; happy to discuss it further, even though I have no direct experience with FSU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Power Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 For anyone worried (me) Columbia said they would be sending out acceptances early to middle of next week. GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!! good to know i can stop worrying about this one for a few days. with MIT in hand, this is now the one that i'm most anxious about Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bauhaus Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Damn, well looks like I'm out at NYU. Hope better news is coming on the PhD front. Deep congratulations all around to those who have been successful this season. Do you guys agree that there is absolutily no chance of getting into NYU from now on? What i wondered about is that i did not find any "waitlisted" in the results page from prevous years. I am devastated as that was my dream school with dozens of POI-s... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balthasar Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 I agree completely with RWBG. I am a good example of how taking a year off might NOT make you a more competitive candidate. FSU is a very good school, and worth serious consideration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilovezvezda Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Anyone know if Notre Dame is still sending acceptances? Also, whether the email asking to confirm info for a scholarship a few days ago was a positive sign? I sure hope so. I got the fellowship email on monday but no acceptance One of the admits here claimed that s/he received the email so I don't know what kind of conclusion we can draw out of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aunuwyn Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 FSU is in within high esteem across the discipline, especially in regards to methods, public opinion, experimental work, and IR. Also it is a top 25 program by several rankings, and has the pedigree that will be able to get you a good job. You will all soon realize that the rankings of a department, even a top 5, will have little effect on your ability to place after graduation. Your ability to come out of school with a publication, write an interesting dissertation, and your competence at presenting your research in froint of an academic firing squad is all that matters. In short go to a program, keep your head down, work hard, take advice, and learn, and you will be a success. Keep in mind that the dropout rate is 50% for a PhD. Ironheel!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolja00 Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Any other news from MIT? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Power Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Any other news from MIT? Got a fedex package from them today with information about funding and their open house. It seems like they put all their stuff in the mail yesterday. the letter is dated the 9th and the envelope says it was shipped priority overnight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolja00 Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Got a fedex package from them today with information about funding and their open house. It seems like they put all their stuff in the mail yesterday. the letter is dated the 9th and the envelope says it was shipped priority overnight Oh wow congrats. That is awesome I think Fed Ex already came here, blah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wmplax Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Anyone have any news on Stanford? I saw another post go up claiming a phone call yesterday; though, given the traffic of the board and the number of reports, I would be hard-pressed to believe that Stanford has made all their offers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balderdash Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 Anyone have any news on Stanford? I saw another post go up claiming a phone call yesterday; though, given the traffic of the board and the number of reports, I would be hard-pressed to believe that Stanford has made all their offers... I am guessing by the end of today, given the same reasoning. But who knows. They're two weeks later this year, so everything appears off-cycle anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWBG Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 I am guessing by the end of today, given the same reasoning. But who knows. They're two weeks later this year, so everything appears off-cycle anyway. I kind of feel like they've made their offers, given that the phone calls were from staff members, which seems to provide less of a reason why they would be staggered. Wouldn't be unhappy if they haven't though; best of luck to everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balderdash Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 I kind of feel like they've made their offers, given that the phone calls were from staff members, which seems to provide less of a reason why they would be staggered. Wouldn't be unhappy if they haven't though; best of luck to everyone! Yeah, it's certainly something to consider. On the other hand, I believe we got a lot more results in the last few years, and they were usually POIs, no? Perhaps the staff calls are for faculty on sabbatical or whatever? In any case, we'll know soon. Either way, my cycle should be done in a week, as Princeton/Yale are generally around the 15th. Crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carousel Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Correction: my call from Stanford was from a professor, but it wasn't anyone I mentioned in my SOP or on the application. I'm under the impression all acceptances will be issued by the end of today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eudaimonia Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Just got into UPenn! I'm dying of joy right now. Ironheel!!, non humilis mulier and CooCooCachoo 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnehm Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 I just called UVA, they women at the department said they are short staffed and doing everything in waves, so if I haven't been rejected than I should worry just yet, and that they probably havent gotten to my application. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potbellypete Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 0 for 4 now with UPenn announcing -- only about 12 to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnehm Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Just got into UPenn! I'm dying of joy right now. Both schools that I have not heard from yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strangepeace Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Who else hasn't heard from anyone yet? Not going to have fingernails after this, oy vey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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