Welcome to the 2012-2013 cycle

[eponine997]

Not to break up the discussion but.... back to admission results for a moment: It's been slow lately. What schools are people still waiting to hear from?

Personally, I'm waiting on CUNY and Rutgers.

 

Ugh, yes! I seriously though I was the only one still waiting

 

Also waiting on Rutgers, someone posted on here that they emailed the dept who said we should know by 3/15.  Been checking app status daily because I'm so eager for this process to be over.  

 

Also, does someone want to claim that UMD comment on the results board?  At this point, with stuff like that I just assume troll unless its claimed by someone here.  

[Porthos]

Anyone know anything about the status for the Jackson School PhD at UW? I applied there sort of on a whim and I'm almost certainly not going there, but it would be nice to here back.

Hi, I was very fortunate to be accepted to the Jackson School with a fellowship. I got a phone call from Pekannen two weeks ago and have received a letter of acceptance. I actually applied to 12 schools in this cycle and so far this is the only positive result. Still waiting to hear back from Rutgers, American, Brandeis, and (keeping fingers crossed on) UVA. However, there is a 95 percent chance that I will be taking the offer from Jackson.

 

best,

 

Porthos

Edited March 7, 2013 by Porthos

[Porthos]

Hey guys,

 

I am still waiting to hear from Brandeis, American (SIS), and Rutgers. I know that those slow folks in New Jersey haven't replied to anyone yet, but what about Brandeis and/or American? Has anyone heard from them yet?

[Doorkeeper]

Two Harvard acceptances just got posted tonight. What's going on? Can anyone claim one of those (if so, what subfield)?

[dack]

But I can't emphasize enough that you're sending your application to a bunch of geeks. You can't do much better than to tell us what turns your crank, what keeps you up until 2am, what question or idea you just can't get out of your head.

 

I think this should be the standard SOP prompt at all PhD programs!

[PhDhopeful2013]

claiming the Maryland wait-list!

[dack]

claiming the Maryland wait-list!

 

Congrats, did it come out of the blue or did you e-mail about your status?

[PhDhopeful2013]

Congrats, did it come out of the blue or did you e-mail about your status?

Thanks! A little of both... I had emailed early this week and received a nice but fairly brief/generic response that decisions would be released soon. I'd say today's email was unrelated to the previous one, but not completely sure.

[teamind]

Hi, I was very fortunate to be accepted to the Jackson School with a fellowship. I got a phone call from Pekannen two weeks ago and have received a letter of acceptance. I actually applied to 12 schools in this cycle and so far this is the only positive result. Still waiting to hear back from Rutgers, American, Brandeis, and (keeping fingers crossed on) UVA. However, there is a 95 percent chance that I will be taking the offer from Jackson.

 

best,

 

Porthos

 

If you haven't heard from UVa, odds are you are waitlisted. Apparently they notify people on the waitlist one by one depending how far down you are. I suggest emailing the DGS.

[eponine997]

claiming the Maryland wait-list!

 

Congrats, this is a rare moment when I'm pleased that I've been proven wrong

 

...though now that gives me one more school to stress out about... 

[GopherGrad]

GopherGrad, unless I totally misread your comment, can you please post a picture of yourself eating the hat?

 

If we don't have a couple regular posters claim admissions by the end of the week I will do just that.

[PhDhopeful2013]

Congrats, this is a rare moment when I'm pleased that I've been proven wrong

 

...though now that gives me one more school to stress out about... 

Thank you! Sorry to provide more stress, but seems as though things aren't finalized at UMD quite yet...

[PhDhopeful2013]

If you haven't heard from UVa, odds are you are waitlisted. Apparently they notify people on the waitlist one by one depending how far down you are. I suggest emailing the DGS.

I received the same response from UVa, but I didn't feel as though it was a waitlist - more like a pending rejection. But maybe I'm just farther down the list!

Edited March 7, 2013 by PhDhopeful2013

[Jeremyrgs]

I received the same response from UVa, but I didn't feel as though it was a waitlist - more like a pending rejection. But maybe I'm just farther down the list!

 

I just got a response from the DGS and mine had the same note of impending doom. It was clear that I am not near the top of their waitlist.

Good luck to you though!

[Mnemonics2]

I just got a response from the DGS and mine had the same note of impending doom. It was clear that I am not near the top of their waitlist.

Good luck to you though!

 

I think he is giving out some different information. I did get the same response, but with a slightly different tone. Not exactly positive, but with the offer of some hope.

[Doorkeeper]

If we don't have a couple regular posters claim admissions by the end of the week I will do just that.

 

Well the results board clearly lit up with some green (There's an open question as to whether there are 6-7 trolls out there) and one poster claimed an admit (though he/she isn't a "regular"), so at least I might have one thing to look forward to at the end of this week...

Edited March 7, 2013 by Doorkeeper

[BFB]

What does everyone think about decreasing attrition by "managing the field?"  I would imagine that in addition to a financial incentive to quit early and take a non-academic job, there is also incentive based on the EXTREMELY dim prospects in the academic job market.  Why not limit the number of PhDs that can be awarded or the number of programs that can award?  If someone knows better, please correct me, but I'm fairly certain medical fields such as physical and occupational therapy regulate the number of programs that can grant degrees and the number of degrees each program can grant - and this corresponds with some regulatory association's knowledge of the job market (so you don't get schools turning the grad program into a cash cow, as they have with law schools, admitting more students than the job market can handle).  I'm not suggesting eliminate the competitive nature of the job market entirely (since certain schools can make better offers and certain jobs are more desirable than others).  But with something like only 50-60 percent of PS PhDs obtaining TT jobs, I think decreasing the number of candidates on the job market via limiting the number of PhD programs or PhDs that a school can grant could increase the incentive to complete the PhD.  This might not be feasible, but might be worth discussing (we might not be able to realistically "manage the field" but I am willing to bet better prospects in the job market would decrease attrition).  Thoughts?

 

Hmm. My guess is that the very top Departments wouldn't feel the need to change a thing, since they generally place well (which is one of the main criteria by which they are judged to be top Departments), and that what this would mean is a diminution of the programs at lower-ranked schools and probably an increase in the already-high concentration of placements coming from top departments.

 

That said, I can't say I'd object too much to a policy that prompts our peer institutions to reduce their admissions substantially. Some of them can be a bit of a pain when it comes to recruitment.

[BFB]

Well the results board clearly lit up with some green (There's an open question as to whether there are 6-7 trolls out there) and one poster claimed an admit (though he/she isn't a "regular"), so at least I might have one thing to look forward to at the end of this week...

 

Not that it's any of my business, but the second-order anonymity of that Results board (you can't even know the pseudonym of the person claiming an admit??) makes it maddening to me, and I'm not even applying anywhere. It must drive you people nuts.

Edited March 7, 2013 by BFB

[dack]

Weighing in on the discussion of decreasing attrition. I would think increasing grad student stipends might actually increase attrition in that doing so would prevent the inherent weeding out of those lacking the passion for their discipline to actually complete a program. In other words, those of us willing to live on a $10-20,000 stipend plus loans for 6+ years to earn the PhD are the same ones passionate (crazy?) enough to suceed in the field.  

[Doorkeeper]

Not that it's any of my business, but the second-order anonymity of that Results board (you can't even know the pseudonym of the person claiming an admit??) makes it maddening to me, and I'm not even applying anywhere. It must drive you people nuts.

You don't know the half of it.  Any sense that a program releases their decisions in a staggered method, as opposed to a one shot deal, creates an insane amount of anxiety.  That's the inevitabe result that's going to occur when one's potential career is on the line.

 

The release of information should really be regularized.  I applaud Princeton this year for posting all admits, waitlists and rejections at the same time.  I think that's the best way to do it for the sake of our sanity.  If the department wants to reach out to those accepted, they can do so right after the email is sent.

Edited March 7, 2013 by Doorkeeper

[GopherGrad]

Not that it's any of my business, but the second-order anonymity of that Results board (you can't even know the pseudonym of the person claiming an admit??) makes it maddening to me, and I'm not even applying anywhere. It must drive you people nuts.

 

This is precisely why I never check it.

 

Harvard admits a big class. When I hung out here during my application cycle two years ago we must have had three or four regular posters claim on the same day. This has happened this cycle with every single elite school: the rumor goes up that they are done and a few days later we get a rush of claims, often through channels that contradict the early reporting. The dude that claimed the Harvard admit has (I think) one other post in which he claimed a Yale admit a week before everyone else got theirs.

 

I might be Carl Roving here, but I haven't been wrong yet and I don't think it's time to call it on Harvard admits yet.

[eponine997]

Well the results board clearly lit up with some green (There's an open question as to whether there are 6-7 trolls out there) and one poster claimed an admit (though he/she isn't a "regular"), so at least I might have one thing to look forward to at the end of this week...

 

Runner12 claimed a Harvard admit, he was a regular enough poster until the past couple weeks or so.  But that seems fairly typical, once people have gotten many of their acceptances/rejections they post less frequently or not at all.  

[GopherGrad]

Runner12 was accepted to Harvard's PEG program, which is different than the larger Department of Government and puts out acceptances at different times. I absolutely beleive runner's claim and I think PEG was done some time ago.

[S0812]

My claims on Yale and Harvard were true enough. The email said that they had admitted thirty applicants this year, so I'm not sure if they're done or not.

[BFB]

You don't know the half of it.  Any sense that a program releases their decisions in a staggered method, as opposed to a one shot deal, creates an insane amount of anxiety.  That's the inevitabe result that's going to occur when one's potential career is on the line.

The release of information should really be regularized.  I applaud Princeton this year for posting all admits, waitlists and rejections at the same time.  I think that's the best way to do it for the sake of our sanity.  If the department wants to reach out to those accepted, they can do so right after the email is sent.

 

Staggered over what time period?

 

I don't mean to play the "bureaucratic inefficiency" card again, but in our case the Grad School sends out the initial letters and we follow up. They post acceptances all at the same time—across the entire University—so there might be a bit of a delay, but there shouldn't be much. They also don't send email when you're not funded... but they don't tell us that they don't. All of which I discovered to my horror last year after sending an email that began, "As you've already heard from the Graduate School...." 

 

Anyway, the upshot, once again, is that if the outcome seems incomprehensible to a sane person, your first hypothesis should be that it was produced by a bureaucracy.*

 

*Or a committee.

 

Harvard admits a big class. When I hung out here during my application cycle two years ago we must have had three or four regular posters claim on the same day. This has happened this cycle with every single elite school: the rumor goes up that they are done and a few days later we get a rush of claims, often through channels that contradict the early reporting. The dude that claimed the Harvard admit has (I think) one other post in which he claimed a Yale admit a week before everyone else got theirs.

 

Interesting. Never had any idea, when I was there. For what it's worth, whoever recommended contacting Thom Wall was spot on. Quality human being.

Edited March 7, 2013 by BFB