Geography

[Guest guesty guest]

i'm 26!

[rising_star]

So I just wanted to let everyone know that I decided on UGA. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. Hopefully this will be a step in the right direction.

[Sonny]

So I just wanted to let everyone know that I decided on UGA. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. Hopefully this will be a step in the right direction.

Rising, congratulations! UGA's Geography Dep't is excellent! Will go on with funding?

[Sonny]

So I just wanted to let everyone know that I decided on UGA. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. Hopefully this will be a step in the right direction.

Rising, congratulations! UGA's Geography Dep't is excellent! Will go on with funding? BTW,how did your thesis go?

[rising_star]

Yeah, I've got funding but for whatever reason I'm just not excited about going to UGA. The thesis didn't go that great but at least it's over.

[Sonny]

Yeah, I've got funding but for whatever reason I'm just not excited about going to UGA. The thesis didn't go that great but at least it's over.

Ahhh...well, you have to meditate and know where this bland attitude toward UGA is coming from. Maybe, you should correspond with your prospective faculty adviser and discuss possible researc collaborations or maybe with other graduate students. That will surely wet your appetite.

It's funny coz last year, I was already geared towards going to Univerity of Leeds (in the UK) since there are a lot of popuation geographers there but Fulbright came in and things started falling into place. I dont know but sometimes, certain things happen for a reason...

Browsing through this gradcafe forum made me realize how lucky I am to be admitted to 4 universities and it made me realize how crazy and unpredictable the admission process can be.

[rising_star]

Sonny, I totally agree with you about the acceptance rates. I didn't realize how competitive admission to grad school is until I started reading this and other forums. I feel grateful now to have gotten 4 MA acceptances with solid funding, which is pretty rare. I'm going to UGA with a grad school assistantship where they pay me primarily to do my own research. I'm worried about not getting any teaching experience. But I may have time for that in a few years when I start my PhD, plus over the summer.

[Sonny]

Sonny, I totally agree with you about the acceptance rates. I didn't realize how competitive admission to grad school is until I started reading this and other forums. I feel grateful now to have gotten 4 MA acceptances with solid funding, which is pretty rare. I'm going to UGA with a grad school assistantship where they pay me primarily to do my own research. I'm worried about not getting any teaching experience. But I may have time for that in a few years when I start my PhD, plus over the summer.

[rising_star]

It's the lack of teaching experience and the fact that I didn't "click" with any of the students when I was visiting. Then again, my cohort is going to be very different. The current 1st years are predominantly on the physical geography side whereas my cohort is supposed to be more evenly split. It will also be one of, if not THE, most diverse cohort the department has had.

[Sonny]

It's the lack of teaching experience and the fact that I didn't "click" with any of the students when I was visiting. Then again, my cohort is going to be very different. The current 1st years are predominantly on the physical geography side whereas my cohort is supposed to be more evenly split. It will also be one of, if not THE, most diverse cohort the department has had.

How did you know the details of your batchmates? I am very excited to meet my batchmates and would love to know their research interests. Since I am an international student, the idea of visiting a university prior application is unknown. When and how did you visit the Dep't? I wish I had the chance to "physically" visit the Departments before I gave my final list to Fulbright. All I did was to click webpages and correspond with faculty members to "feel" the Department.

Also, could you refer to me some of your batchmates who are into population geography? It seems to me that population geography is not really that "in" among geography majors in the US. That was why I initially planned to go to the UK. But then again...

-Sonny

[rising_star]

I asked about my cohort and they told me. Try emailing them and see what they say.

[rising_star]

Who else is getting excited/nervous?

Anyone doing summer preparation? If so, what are you doing? (I only ask because I feel like I should do some)

[Guest kev44]

I posted earlier as a guest asking about economic geography programs, but anyway I finally decided to apply to Ohio State, Kentucky, UNCC, UGA, Washington, and SUNY Buffalo. I wanted to apply to these schools for spring 2007, but Ohio State and Washington only accept people in the fall. Ohio State doesn't even have the application for fall 2007 up yet so I will have to wait a while. I'm thinking about going ahead and applying at the other schools anyway for spring 2007. I'm just afraid that I will enroll at a school for spring and then find out a couple months later that I got into one of the others. Yet, I am graduating this December and dont really want to wait to start graduate school. Yet, I have a feeling I will be lucky to get one acceptance letter, let alone have to decide bt multiple offers. I have about a 3.28 gpa overall, yet if you dont count my first year (my fun year), i have about 3.7 as a sociology major. I take the gre in august, yet i know i wont do very well on it. I tried to find schools that offer economic geography concentrations that were not as prestigious as these schools, but I couldn't find anything. I doubt any of those departments have heard of my undergrad inst except for UGA bc it is not far from there. It's a big school, yet it isn't too hard or demanding and isn't known outside of GA. Anyway, what do you think i should do about applying? spring 2007 for some programs and fall 2007 for the others? or just apply for fall 2007 at all of them?

thanks

[Ralphie]

I posted earlier as a guest asking about economic geography programs, but anyway I finally decided to apply to Ohio State, Kentucky, UNCC, UGA, Washington, and SUNY Buffalo. I wanted to apply to these schools for spring 2007, but Ohio State and Washington only accept people in the fall. Ohio State doesn't even have the application for fall 2007 up yet so I will have to wait a while. I'm thinking about going ahead and applying at the other schools anyway for spring 2007. I'm just afraid that I will enroll at a school for spring and then find out a couple months later that I got into one of the others. Yet, I am graduating this December and dont really want to wait to start graduate school. Yet, I have a feeling I will be lucky to get one acceptance letter, let alone have to decide bt multiple offers. I have about a 3.28 gpa overall, yet if you dont count my first year (my fun year), i have about 3.7 as a sociology major. I take the gre in august, yet i know i wont do very well on it. I tried to find schools that offer economic geography concentrations that were not as prestigious as these schools, but I couldn't find anything. I doubt any of those departments have heard of my undergrad inst except for UGA bc it is not far from there. It's a big school, yet it isn't too hard or demanding and isn't known outside of GA. Anyway, what do you think i should do about applying? spring 2007 for some programs and fall 2007 for the others? or just apply for fall 2007 at all of them?

thanks

I don't know if you want/need/expect funding, but that could be a problem with applying for Spring admission if they divide up their budgets on an academic year basis. I don't know much about economic geography, but ASU and USC are two others that seemed to have their fair share of faculty/courses in that area. I don't know about whether your undergraduate institution will necessarily hurt -- isn't a 3.7 GPA a 3.7 GPA regardless of where you got it? I'm not sure... in the UK they try to standardize the level of degree grades nationally, but the reality is very different of course. Sorry I can't be of more help.

In other news -- it looks like I'll be doing the whole application thing all over again for Fall 2007. Thanks to a nice, unexpected illness that I need 9 months of treatment for, my doctor said I shouldn't/couldn't go (to Kentucky). Kentucky has said that the admission offer still stands for next year, but the funding (which is crucial for me) is a new "competition" each year, which I will have to wait to hear about. So, in reality I need to apply to other ("lesser") programs for back-up in case I am unable to go to Kentucky. So, my finals, which two weeks ago were going to be irrelevant (I already had my place), and I had treated as irrelevant for months, are suddenly important again. And yet studying isn't the easiest thing to concentrate on when you've heard what I've heard from my doctor right in the middle of them . Oh well, 4 down, 1 to go, but god knows what, if anything, I can salvage from them. I'll know on June 21. I doubt my GRE scores will compensate either. Isn't (my) life great? I trust the doctor/medicine for one half of the problem, but if anyone wants to offer any variant of prayer for the academic part, it would be much appreciated!

Just in case you didn't get the impression already, I am extremely jealous of everyone starting this year... but mainly happy for you. I wish you the best of luck. I'm also in the market for some suggestions of sub-Kentucky programs to apply to if anyone has any ideas. Thanks.

[Guest Anonymom]

Andrew,

Hi, I posted previously about pol geography and Colin Flint. You were kind enough to reply, which was much appreciated. I'm sorry to hear about your set back. That must be very discouraging. During this enforced hiatus maybe you might look into external funding for graduate school as well as applying to other schools - approach this from different angles, as it were. And don't give up hope on Kentucky, you seemed a really good match for them (this was one of the schools my son applied to, so we have researched it a bit). As for applying to other schools, don't think "lesser" necessarily, think "good match". In the end, I think this has more bearing on acceptance, but I'm no expert. I will keep my fingers crossed for you and wish you the best. Good luck.

[Ralphie]

Andrew,

Hi, I posted previously about pol geography and Colin Flint. You were kind enough to reply, which was much appreciated. I'm sorry to hear about your set back. That must be very discouraging. During this enforced hiatus maybe you might look into external funding for graduate school as well as applying to other schools - approach this from different angles, as it were. And don't give up hope on Kentucky, you seemed a really good match for them (this was one of the schools my son applied to, so we have researched it a bit). As for applying to other schools, don't think "lesser" necessarily, think "good match". In the end, I think this has more bearing on acceptance, but I'm no expert. I will keep my fingers crossed for you and wish you the best. Good luck.

Anonymom (clever name ),

Thank you for your advice (and for your good wishes -- they're really appreciated).

I will certainly see what (if any) external sources of funding are available. In terms of which other schools to apply to, I take your point absolutely about choosing places that are a "good match" rather than simply a "lower" standard. Although I really hope Kentucky will offer me funding again next time, the fact is, I might have to end up elsewhere, so it's certainly sensible to apply to places where I have something in common with them interests-wise. I do also have to consider, however, that this time round my grades may not be looking as good as they did last year (although I have no idea how they convert them to a US GPA equivalent, or even what they're looking for when they do). I will know the answer to how (much worse) I've done at the end of the month.

I suspect (but don't know for sure) that the quantitative aspects of the application (GPA and GRE) are, perhaps, weighted more heavily for funding decisions, at least compared with admissions decisions which, I agree, are probably based more around the question of "fit". Therefore, putting the vagarires of the GPA conversion to one side, I'm slightly paranoid that my GRE scores, although reasonably strong (with no real possibility of my improving on them), might not stand out sufficiently to "qualify" me for funding from the more competitive departments (even if - a big if - I were to get admission). For that reason, I imagine I will apply to several places -- places, like you say, that are a reasonable match, but also places I have a fair chance of receiving funding from. One year's enforcedhiatus I can just about get my head around, but I need to do everything in my power to make sure I can move forward next year...

So, what is your son's current situation?... Did he apply to UIUC? I hope things are working out.

[rising_star]

Andrew, so sorry to hear about your setback. Good luck with getting better and the 07 applications.

I'm already at UGA, doing a summer program offered by the Graduate School. The good news is that by coming early I've gotten a great carrel.

[Guest Anonymom]

Andrew,

My son is going to UIUC. He is currently reading through a thick stack of books trying to get caught up - he did not major in Geography in college (it was not offered) and his professors didn't know much about grad schools for Geography. So, we were scrambling trying to figure out where to apply to, etc. Therefor, I hesitate to offer any suggestions as re "lesser" programs, but I pulled out his "Research-Doctorate Programs in the United STates" book by the National Research Council and took a look for you. This was the only place we found rankings for geography programs (I'd be interested to hear of others). Out of the 36 institutions listed, the University of Kentucky is ranked 20th. In descending order here are the following ones: University of Georgia, UNC, Johns Hopkins University, Univ. of Florida, Indiana Univ., Univ. of Kansas, Boston Univ., Univ. of Oregon, Univ. of Maryland College Park, Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa, Univ. of Wisc-Milwaukee, Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln, Oregon State Univ., Univ. of Utah, Kent State Univ., Univ. of Cincinnati. Of course, this book is only put out every 10 years, this is the 1995 edition, so is probably quite out of date. HOpe this helps.

[Ralphie]

Thank you very much that anonymom. I now have a list of some sort to guide me (rather than the "think of a state, add the word 'university', add the word 'geography' and type it into Google" approach!!). I wonder how they arrived at those rankings... I know it's a few years ago, but my (uninformed) impression was that places like Maryland and particularly Georgia and UNC (and Kentucky for that matter) would have ranked a little higher. Who knows though... I wonder if there's much correlation between ranking and competition for admission. I guess probably not, but what do I know? Just looking at the websites, Indiana and Kansas seem pretty good in terms of covering a range of my (potential) areas of interest. They can be added to my tentative list of possibilities as I wait to see to what extent I have to revise my aims/expectations downwards! At least in amongst everything else I have sufficient time to spend "crafting" those aspects of my applications (personal statements) that I have control over and may have some influence -- and I will now have a list to work through, c. June 24, for inspiration. So thank you for the help!

Congratulations to your son! It must be pretty exciting coming to geography "fresh", as it were. What's his background? At least (human) geography is not about learning, memorizing and regurgitating a fixed body of facts (although exam time feels different). So, in that sense nobody (geography major or not) can (claim to) have mastered "Geography". Because individuals' prior exposure to specific narrow themes/approaches ranges so widely (I mean, geography is virtually unrecognizable as the same subject between departments), everybody is in the same boat to some extent.

Britt, I'm glad to hear you're making yourself at home, staking your claim on the most desirable desk (alliteration, you see). So I take it you've already finished your degree (and/or graduated)? Here, there are still finals going on next week, and Judgment/results day comes the following week... This is going to be one much needed summer break... followed by autumn... winter... then hopefully I'll be "good to go" (as they say).

[Guest Anonymom]

Andrew,

As I say, I'm not at all sure about that rankings list. It's what we used, but I have a feeling we might as well have used a dart! Having joggled my memory a bit, it occurred to me that there is an interactive map of geography departments in the US and Canada that might be of help to you. It's at the following url: http://www.unc.edu/depts/geog/depts/northam-map.html.

My son was a history/anthropology double major with a particular interest in military and empire (my phrasing/comprehension may be a tad bit simplistic here). But he devoured atlases as a young lad and is quite handy to have around when it comes to crossword puzzles (I can count on him to know where anything is, current or ancient)! So, his interest in geography goes way back. He took a course in GIS in college and it rekindled his interest in the field, which seems to have changed drastically from what we knew way back when. Quite frankly, I don't think I've got a grasp on it at all, but I sure hope he does!

My husband is a college professor, albiet in computer science and physics, but he's very good at advising students of all disciplines. If you need any further (educated!) help, let me know and I'll put you in touch with him.

[Sonny]

I didn't know that the forum is still active coz I dont get email notification anymore. How's everybody?

I will be leaving for the US next month and will go to Nebraska for a Fulbright Orientation and then will be going to my host institution, Indiana University. I sure am glad with my choice since the Department seems to have a nice faculty-student dynamics and that population geography is traditionally strong in the Department. Several of the population geographers I have encountered (both in the US and UK) got their degrees from Indiana or have taught in Indiana. I am just lucky the Fulbright grant revised my original list that was actually based on the general geography rankings by NRC a decade ago.

Hope everyone is doing well. Hail Geography!

[Sonny]

I posted earlier as a guest asking about economic geography programs, but anyway I finally decided to apply to Ohio State, Kentucky, UNCC, UGA, Washington, and SUNY Buffalo. I wanted to apply to these schools for spring 2007, but Ohio State and Washington only accept people in the fall. Ohio State doesn't even have the application for fall 2007 up yet so I will have to wait a while. I'm thinking about going ahead and applying at the other schools anyway for spring 2007. I'm just afraid that I will enroll at a school for spring and then find out a couple months later that I got into one of the others. Yet, I am graduating this December and dont really want to wait to start graduate school. Yet, I have a feeling I will be lucky to get one acceptance letter, let alone have to decide bt multiple offers. I have about a 3.28 gpa overall, yet if you dont count my first year (my fun year), i have about 3.7 as a sociology major. I take the gre in august, yet i know i wont do very well on it. I tried to find schools that offer economic geography concentrations that were not as prestigious as these schools, but I couldn't find anything. I doubt any of those departments have heard of my undergrad inst except for UGA bc it is not far from there. It's a big school, yet it isn't too hard or demanding and isn't known outside of GA. Anyway, what do you think i should do about applying? spring 2007 for some programs and fall 2007 for the others? or just apply for fall 2007 at all of them?

thanks

In choosing a geography program, I think the best thing to do is to look at your interest...maybe a specific research interest in economic geography and then, look for geographers who are ACTIVELY engaging in research within the field. Ultimately, it boils down to the quality of advising you will get from your future academic adviser.

UGA is a very good school and I think brittdreams mentioned some nice economic geographers in the Department in his past posts. Wish you luck on your application. I suggest you apply in the schools strongest in your research area. I know some people who do not have high GPA's but had contacts and a well-defined research agenda who got into top tier Geography programs. And, generally, funding is allotted for Fall applicants.

Thanks and more power.

[Sonny]

[Sonny]

Andrew,

Hi, I posted previously about pol geography and Colin Flint. You were kind enough to reply, which was much appreciated. I'm sorry to hear about your set back. That must be very discouraging. During this enforced hiatus maybe you might look into external funding for graduate school as well as applying to other schools - approach this from different angles, as it were. And don't give up hope on Kentucky, you seemed a really good match for them (this was one of the schools my son applied to, so we have researched it a bit). As for applying to other schools, don't think "lesser" necessarily, think "good match". In the end, I think this has more bearing on acceptance, but I'm no expert. I will keep my fingers crossed for you and wish you the best. Good luck.

I totally agree on a "good match" concept more than applying to a "lesser"-ranked Department. Someone who has amazing academic profile might not get admitted in a top tier (General) Geography program that doesnt have faculty members who are engaged in the applicant's research interest.

Has Colin Flint just transferred to UIUC from Penn State? What is your son's specialization? I wish your son the best!

The NRC Ranking of 1995 (I think the data they collected are from 1993) may only show an outdated general picture of a department. I have an excel file of that ranking with the variables they used. If you look at the variables, they did not take into account other more relevant factors (unquantifiable). I made that mistake when I submitted my list of schools to the Fulbright grant and I am just glad they revised it and suited it to my research agenda. Fulbright submitted my dossier to the following schools (arranged in rank based on the 1995 NRC ranking) - U Minnesota (admitted), UCLA ("no official response" - I later found out that the professor I thought I would be working with will devote all his time in research and won't get involved in advising Ph.D. students...thank heavens), UGA (admitted with some funding to cost-share with Fulbright), Indiana University (admitted with funding to cost-share with Fulbright) and Maryland (admitted with funding to cost-share with Fulbright). Fulbright encouraged me to accept Indiana and I think I made the right decision given the fact that the Department is not that big and has a strong tradition in population Geography (...I initially wnated to go to U Leeds in the UK which has a high concentration of population geographers and some faculty members either graduated or were affiliated with Indiana).

Ranking geography departments does not really adhere to the very nature of the discipline. Geography is broad and one has to concentrate on subfields within the discipline. Thus, it will be much better if AAG ranks Departments per specialization which can be more useful and meaningful for incoming graduate students (tsk tsk...any member of AAG here or has access to Dr. Marston of Kansas State who is the current AAG president). Ultimately, it boils down to research match rather than the rank which is just based on the number of faculty, students, number of PhD students produced etc (thus, a small department won't rank high). I wish everybody the best in choosing the right department that suits their needs. :)

[Sonny]

Andrew, so sorry to hear about your setback. Good luck with getting better and the 07 applications.

I'm already at UGA, doing a summer program offered by the Graduate School. The good news is that by coming early I've gotten a great carrel.

Good for you, britt. Hope you are enjoying yourself there. Are you going to attend the AAG SF conference next year?