Welcome to the 2012-2013 cycle

[Guest plscIR]

I know most people have seen this already, but I always feel better after reading through it. Here you go and enjoy:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/13-simple-steps-to-get-you-through-a-rough-day?sub=1495369_203827

(ps - it has nothing to do with admissions)

[RiffRam]

I know most people have seen this already, but I always feel better after reading through it. Here you go and enjoy:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/13-simple-steps-to-get-you-through-a-rough-day?sub=1495369_203827

(ps - it has nothing to do with admissions)

I absolutely lost it on the "pyramids"! lol

[bright on time]

whoa whoa whoa.

 

I was out and about all day today (and am still in the stone age without a smartphone) and there are a full 10 pages here since last I checked. Good work, guys. 

 

Congratulations all around to new admittances! To the UVA admit- can I ask your subfield? Or if you have any other information to discourage me from refreshing my application and email at every chance? Also, apologies if I missed this earlier in the thread.

[Quigley]

Sitting at my desk at work, "happier than a Corgi on stilts," "Step 8: Be happy that you aren't one of these people" and the taco shells just about killed me

Edited February 7, 2013 by Quigley

[frankentheory]

"My top schools where I want to apply to are Oxford and the Sorbonne. My safety's Harvard."

[shadi]

This long waiting is just killing me...But best wishes to all the admits

 

Hope my offer is coming...no more rej crashes me~

[RWBG]

As someone who doesn't have a horse in this race, I really don't believe that people use the phrase "safety school" out of insecurity. Rather, out of a sense of security. While I didn't use that phrase (I don't think) on these boards, I definitely used that phrase when discussing my application chances last year. There were a multitude of reasons:

1. It is a term that is widely understood (even by those not applying for PhD programs), and so one way simply be accustomed to using it.

2. There are some applicants that are very well qualified, and may have applied to lesser-ranked schools knowing with a high degree of certainty that they would be admitted.

3. If someone is insulted by the thought of someone calling the school they like/will attend a "safety", they should grow a thicker skin. People will say much more difficult to hear things about your ideas and you when you're actually in school. But no one made a specifically disparaging comment (as far as I've seen) about any individuals attending such programs.

Sure, it's not a preferred term, but name calling isn't exactly the correct response to the situation.

I don't necessarily have strong feelings on the term generally (although it's not my favourite and I don't use it myself), but I do think it's often the case that people use it to be pretentious about their perceived qualifications. This is especially true in the context of the results page, where many of the comments are just putting down schools that rejected them, or acting better than the offers they have. I also wouldn't downplay how frustrating it can be when someone is really hoping to be admitted to a school, and someone else who got into that school is acting as if it's beneath them. Grad school can be bruising to the ego, but being on the losing end of the admissions lottery is nothing to sneeze at either.

[CGMJ]

Oh man, all the notifications have me really freaked out. I've heard absolutely nothing from my schools.

Does anyone have a list of who's already sent acceptances? And who's sent out both acceptances and rejections?

Have Chicago, Michigan, or Princeton said anything yet? Has UCLA sent rejections?

[dworkable]

"My top schools where I want to apply to are Oxford and the Sorbonne. My safety's Harvard."

 

Really, the Sorbonne's been sh*t ever since they brought in that guy Napoleon to re-vamp their program.

[CGMJ]

Sorry, my phone glitched. I posted a spreadsheet with this info earlier this morning. Check back a few pages!

[ThisGuyRiteHere]

Ok now that I understand whats going on, if you call any school above #40 a safety school, you are mistaken.

[student90210]

I do believe there's such a thing as a "safety school," but it usually applies to people that are very strong candidates. We like it or not, there are rankings and there is a placement record and you can compare a place such as Columbia (IR, for example) with Brown or Syracuse. The rankings are tricky and I learned a lot from them throughout this process of applying. I mostly used the Hix analysis and completely ignore the US News and World Reports. The NRC is good too, but has some problems, especially in terms of WHEN the data was gathered. I, for one, do not have a "safety" school, as I don't consider myself as an extremely strong candidate at this point, but I believe I have the potential, under the right guidance, to became a great scholar. Whether it's in the US, in Europe, Hong Kong or South America, I look at the world as waiting for me and offering me unlimited possibilities. I applied to CEU's Masters program as well, so I guess a Masters could be a "safety."

 

PS: Not to mention the major differences between departments, faculty and subfields. 

Edited February 7, 2013 by student90210

[alittlebitofluck]

I don't necessarily have strong feelings on the term generally (although it's not my favourite and I don't use it myself), but I do think it's often the case that people use it to be pretentious about their perceived qualifications. This is especially true in the context of the results page, where many of the comments are just putting down schools that rejected them, or acting better than the offers they have. I also wouldn't downplay how frustrating it can be when someone is really hoping to be admitted to a school, and someone else who got into that school is acting as if it's beneath them. Grad school can be bruising to the ego, but being on the losing end of the admissions lottery is nothing to sneeze at either.

 

RWBG put the matter better than I could. As for the term, it is only a phrase - it only matters in how it is used. Within the context of the results page, it is not often used well. At the very least, posters should think twice of writing the term in reference to a school that reject them. Whenever I read it there, I think: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

[Max Power]

As someone who doesn't have a horse in this race, I really don't believe that people use the phrase "safety school" out of insecurity. Rather, out of a sense of security. While I didn't use that phrase (I don't think) on these boards, I definitely used that phrase when discussing my application chances last year. There were a multitude of reasons:

1. It is a term that is widely understood (even by those not applying for PhD programs), and so one way simply be accustomed to using it.

2. There are some applicants that are very well qualified, and may have applied to lesser-ranked schools knowing with a high degree of certainty that they would be admitted.

3. If someone is insulted by the thought of someone calling the school they like/will attend a "safety", they should grow a thicker skin. People will say much more difficult to hear things about your ideas and you when you're actually in school. But no one made a specifically disparaging comment (as far as I've seen) about any individuals attending such programs.

Sure, it's not a preferred term, but name calling isn't exactly the correct response to the situation.

I'll also throw out that its a less operative concept at this level. I got rejected last year by several schools that I thought I was at least a very strong candidate for and got accepted a couple of times by places that I thought I was a longshot for at best. Lining up my acceptances and rejections tells a pretty incoherent story

[upam]

In terms of the safety school idea (that it looks like we're debating as we hit refresh on the results page over and over... anyone else doing this even though it's too late at night?)... I think the safety school idea is not that it's a guarantee but perhaps in the docket of schools you applied to there are reach schools (those that you would practically faint upon getting an acceptance from), the middle set that you hope for and would be excited for, and perhaps another set that you know may be a good fit but that does not come with the levels of prestige (real or imagined) as some of the other schools you applied to. Of course, I think this breakdown is insanely individualized... for me, it's very much about the sub topics I want to work in and who is actually working on those issues in directions I want to go. I think my ideal schools and someone else's ideal schools could have completely flipped wantlists if we happened to apply to the same places.

 

Additionally, I've been told that sometimes strong candidates are rejected from "lower" ranked schools (certainly even within the top 40, let's just say not top 5 maybe not top 10) with the expectation they will get into one of the higher ranked schools and the assumption they will take that offer. Of course, at times this is also a fit issue. Yet, it's a bit of luck at the most competitive places, regardless of what you're coming in with, that certainly even a strong applicant can get strike out completely. It honestly makes me wonder the requirement or request of many schools to list the other schools you're applying to. Did anyone else feel like listing a slew of schools could potentially hurt you in the process? Yet, I wanted to be honest (since you sign that oath at the end of every app!) and I applied to the slew of schools because I felt every single one provided something unique and quality that could make for a Phd experience worth having.

 

Summary: This process is emotionally painful. More people are baseline qualified for every school that any accept (still waiting for the Oprah moment mentioned several pages back). Congrats to admits and fingers crossed for everyone still waiting!

[forestgreen]

came across this earlier and thought i'd pass along. interesting info for stanford applicants (and others) on the adcomm process:

 

http://jackman.stanford.edu/papers/pa04.pdf 

 

 

(just in case you want to sink more time in trying to read their minds  )

[zzzzzz]

on the bright side: while i've been waiting for decisions, i have successfully taught myself the moonwalk.

Edited February 7, 2013 by zzzzzz

[ThisGuyRiteHere]

on the bright side: while i've been waiting for decisions, i have successfully taught myself the moonwalk.

About 30 yrs late huh

[scanthiliad]

jackman's paper has only made me more nervous 

 

[GopherGrad]

I would never condone the use of the term "safety school" to disparage a program or the people attending and it's hard to imagine why it would be used here in any other way. A person's career aspirations are deeply personal and contextual. While I always, always counsel for a realistic apprasial of which investments will help meet those aspirations, it is not my place to question the validity of the goals themselves. If U of Bumblefuck's program offers you the opportunity to achieve a career and life that will make you happy, then your admission is to be celebrated and screw anyone that tells you otherwise.

 

This applies equally to people who apply only to the top ten, though. Speaking as someone who applied only among the twenty schools that consider themselves top ten, I can say that few programs of lower rank offer a high enough chance at landing my dream job to justify leaving my lucrative and established career. If I were 25 again I would doubtless be more willing to take risks to get the dream job and more satisfied if I fell a little bit short. But I am not 25 again and the five years it takes to get a PhD will set back my retirement plan fifteen. I'd better fucking love that job. My application strategy reflects my willingness to forego a PhD if I don't get admitted. It also reflects the well-researched conclusion that I have a higher chance of admission at a top program than the straight statistics suggest.

 

My strategy does not deny the stochastic nature of the application process. It also does not deny the extremely imperfect correlation between the rank or a program and the quality of the training it offers. And it absolutely does not pass judgment on the (hopefully well-considered) attempts of others to achieve the career objectives that are special to them.

 

I think as long as we all assume that we have each chosen to compete for the opportunities that can provide the lives we want, we can be happy for those that get admitted and commiserate with those that don't.

Edited February 7, 2013 by GopherGrad

[Quigley]

^ Beautiful.

[rainbowz]

Hey all, recent UCLA admit here. IR subfield, email from Yesenia, later call from POI. "Full funding" - fellowship one year, 2-5 TA, summer support. It feels so amazing to be in somewhere, I've been stalking this board obsessively all week and for everyone who is still waiting, DO NOT GIVE UP. I was one of those probable rejects from Chicago yesterday and then I got into UCLA today. It's not over til you have the rejection letter. Even I (pathetically/ridiculously) haven't given up on Chicago. Best of luck to everyone who is still waiting to hear back, congratulations to everyone who has gotten in somewhere, and to everyone still waiting for that first acceptance, keep your head up! Your day will come. 

[tokenaustralian]

Please forgive a stupid question all, but what ranking system are we all using when we refer to 'top ten' or 'top twenty'?

[RWBG]

Please forgive a stupid question all, but what ranking system are we all using when we refer to 'top ten' or 'top twenty'?

 

There's some ambiguity about what constitutes a top 10/top 20 school, etc. but the most commonly used ranking is the US News.

[PoliSwede]

I know most people have seen this already, but I always feel better after reading through it. Here you go and enjoy:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/13-simple-steps-to-get-you-through-a-rough-day?sub=1495369_203827

(ps - it has nothing to do with admissions)

The cat with the bunny on the head killed me.

 

Or maybe I'm just tired. I'll just go refresh the results-page and my inbox a few more times before I go to bed.