Application/Acceptance 2012

[tommy421]

So where is everyone applying this year?

I am at Kentucky currently and applying for P.hD. programs at Kentucky, Penn State, Clark, Minnesota, Syracuse and Michigan State.

[khammond05]

I am applying to the MA program at Kentucky. Any impressions/experiences/advice to share?

Also applying to Clark, Washington, New Mexico and Nebraska.

[tommy421]

Kentucky is a good place to be if you are doing urban geography, especially urban economic. They are also quite strong in social theory and I would advise you that it is probably not your place if you are not into critical geography. Political ecology not so much and physical geography, forget it. There are people here doing these things, but there are very few professors in these areas, so you really have to work hard to make it happen. That's probably the main reason I am heavily leaning towards going elsewhere. All in all though, it's not a bad place, but you will realize very quickly that it is a very good department in a not very good university, one that doesn't take academics, especially outside of medicine and business, seriously.

[khammond05]

I am looking at economic, international-trade, or something similar so that is good to hear. Coming from a state school, I can understand the disinterest in academics. Very unfortunate. Thanks for your input!

[geohomme]

Hey all,

This seems to be a dead topic this year. Unfortunate.

I've applied to Clark, Rutgers, Syracuse, UCLA and Berkeley.

[tommy421]

Agreed Geohomme, don't quite know why that is. Good choice of schools. I've heard that Rutgers is having very bad financial problems since nearly all of their state funding has been cut, so they can't really offer very much funding. I think this is probably going to be true at quite a few state schools for the next few years.

[geohomme]

Thanks tommy. Your choices are solid as well. I heard the same of Rutgers, but decided to apply anyway. I like the faculty there, and it would be great to be close to NYC (my partner, an artist, would appreciate this).

Are you one of those that has heard from Kentucky?

[NightCartographer]

Hey guys,

Thought I would throw my hat in here.

I've gone for UCLA, Berkeley, OSU, ASU, Clark, Washington, Toronto, McGill.

I was tempted to go for Syracuse and Rutgers but decided not to, in the end.

[alvinstraight]

Hey everyone,

I'm an international first year applicant applying to Clark, Toronto and UNC Chapel Hill. Any input on the status of the last one of these in relation to other programs?

[geohomme]

It seems like everyone is applying to Clark this year.

[andrade831]

Has anybody heard from Berkeley? I see that one PhD acceptance submitted to the results tables on January 25th, and I'm wondering whether all of the other accepted candidates received notice around that date, too.

[rowlf]

Does anyone know what to expect for Ph.D. funding? I have no frame of reference for this and the only thing I can find is on biological fields, which I assume have better funding than geography.

Or maybe geography has the best funding of all, and I should not accept anything under $40k!

[geohomme]

andrade,

I heard informally from Berkeley that decisions have been made. I was in the reject pile, unfortunately. I assume that people who were accepted already know, but I cannot confirm anything.

[andrade831]

geohomme, thanks for the reply. did you receive notification that you were not accepted, or do you figure this because you have not heard back yet?

[geohomme]

andrade,

I heard second-hand (a professor at Berkeley via a professor in my current department, Syracuse). Does this make sense? My current advisor heard this directly from my (formerly) prospective Berkeley advisor. I have written this three times, it doesn't seem to get less confusing...

[tommy421]

So Geohomme, does this mean that you also have inside knowledge about Syracuse?

[imisscoffee]

I applied to Syracuse, Berkeley, Clark, UNC, U of A, U of Wash and U of Kentucky. I haven't heard from any of these, although others have... I am going CRAZY!!!!!! I want to know (and get in) so bad... I'm hoping that my status somewhere in the middle of their piles is why I haven't heard yet, but hoping the scales will tip toward me, with some kind of funding included.

[geohomme]

tommy,

Unfortunately I do not. Having applied here myself, I would obviously love to know, but the committee is pretty tight-lipped. Who, may I ask, are you interested in working with here? Just curious, no worries if you'd rather not say.

[tommy421]

My research interest is in biofuels, but I am still trying to decide which region to focus on (I have been learning Portuguese, but am far from fluent). Syracuse seems to have quite a few good resource geographers (Matt Huber, Farhana Sultana, Tom Perreault) and of course, I would be interested in at least taking a class with Don Mitchell. I've also met Jamie Winders a few times because she still comes to visit down here in Kentucky, although our interests don't really overlap.

Edited February 8, 2012 by tommy421

[geohomme]

tommy,

All the people you mentioned are excellent. Huber, Perreault and Sultana are all very active, very engaging and (though quite different) all very kind, agreeable people. Mitchell is obviously fantastic as well. His classes are usually full of students from any number of disciplines and also auditors who are well beyond coursework, and for good reason.

Perhaps we'll both end up here next year. It's certainly an excellent program (for a number of specializations) with a great faculty, and the grad student community here (even beyond geography) is really fantastic as well.

[rowlf]

Did anyone see the UNC-CH interview in early January on the results board? It says it was for the program "Geography And Environment." Does that program even exist at Chapel Hill?

[geohomme]

rowlf,

I saw that post also. It seems that same person posted slightly different information later (interview at Clark instead of UNC) with the message "wrong post below."

[rowlf]

The post the Clark person was referring to was deleted. It contained all the same information except it said Clarion--an easy mistake since the school name pops up after you start typing the beginning of it.

[imisscoffee]

I have banned myself from the results search. No more. It was making me too crazy. I've been hanging out at Berkeley, auditing a class (I am in Oakland) and have overheard chats going on about admissions with visiting professors from other schools. Auditing is fun when I think I'll get in somewhere, and somewhat upsetting when I'm convinced I won't! Just trying to remember that in just two months, the wait will be over. C'mon, baby, c'mon!

[imisscoffee]

Surely whoever posted that about UNC was a troll... j/k, but that's what I'd like to think about all the early acceptances.