letmein Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Hi All, So pleased to find this community of anxiously awaiting persons! I know feel less alone in this wait. I've applied to just two Film Studies Ph.D programs this year-- USC and UCLA. Would very much appreciate to hear for anyone who has also applied. One quick question to run by the group-- I received a message for USC about applying for scholarships. Could this somehow be a good sign, or just a standard email sent to all applicants? Best of luck to all! -EdgeOfMySeat Hi, EdgeOfMySeat! Welcome to the waiting room... Did the message from USC seem addressed to you personally? What was it about precisely? I've never had experience with messages like this, so I can't offer my two cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swagato Posted January 7, 2013 Author Share Posted January 7, 2013 Hi All, So pleased to find this community of anxiously awaiting persons! I know feel less alone in this wait. I've applied to just two Film Studies Ph.D programs this year-- USC and UCLA. Would very much appreciate to hear for anyone who has also applied. One quick question to run by the group-- I received a message for USC about applying for scholarships. Could this somehow be a good sign, or just a standard email sent to all applicants? Best of luck to all! -EdgeOfMySeat I would guess it went out to all applicants. I find it surprising that they'd bother with this since it surely means an unnecessary amount of paperwork--would it not be the more usual practice to ask *admitted* students to fill out finaid applications? In any case, yes, I received this as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgeofmyseat Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Thanks Swagato and Letmein! It seemed standard, but struck me as potentially redundant so thought I'd ask. Has anyone received messages to schedule interviews from schools yet? Many thanks, EdgeOfMySeat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letmein Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Nothing yet for me. Not a peep from any of my programs. Granted, it is still fairly early yet and some departments don't contact interviewees until relatively late in the game. That said, if I don't receive anything in my inbox by mid-to-late Jan., I'm going to start to feel jittery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letmein Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Either Madison is taking an unusually long time to send out interview notifications this year, or none of the shortlisted folks are posting to GradCafe. Judging by previous years, the Media & Cultural Studies program usually starts contacting people by now. If I don't hear anything in the next few days, I'm crossing UW off my list of likely accepters... Or maybe I'm overthinking this. The waiting is already starting to get to my nerves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MediaAmbition Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I just got an e-mail, although explicitly unrelated to Admissions, regarding Financial Aid at Madison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelseamize Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Hello all, I got an email today setting up an interview for UW Madison (film). Kelley Conway emailed me and she will be interviewing me over the phone on January 14th. Any other Wisconsin applicants been contatcted for interviews yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drapeblind Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 (edited) The timing of such things is dependent upon yearly travel and work schedules, so I wouldn't worry too much for those who haven't heard about interviews yet. Some programs don't even conduct phone/skype interviews and will just fly you out to meet you in early April. The basic rule of thumb is as follows: Hearing from an institution in February - You probably got in. Hearing by the second week fo March - Very promising sign. Hearing by the end of March - The program may just have some bureaucratic slowness and you may have an offer, or you're on a waiting list. Most offers are contingent upon an April 15th contract signature by students. So it's always possible that you could receive an offer after that if they don't get any of their candidates, but it's very unlikely except from third or fourth tier programs struggling to get students they want. The best advice you could hear right now is to never ever contact a graduate admissions director during the deliberations period. They're going to choose who they're going to choose and you have no influence on who they'll pick. A solicitous or probing email will annoy them and send your application right to file 7. If you haven't heard by late March it's usually OK to ask, though it's safe to assume that the answer is probably no by then. Good luck! Edited January 11, 2013 by drapeblind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgeofmyseat Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Way to go chelseamize! I must say, ever since reading your post I've been even more compulsive about checking gradcafe! Thanks for the update. Best of luck with your interview! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swagato Posted January 13, 2013 Author Share Posted January 13, 2013 Last year, USC sent out an admit email on this date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgeofmyseat Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 Yeah, I've been keeping my eye on that too. If the committee this year is on the same timetable as last year we may be hearing some things this week! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nestwerk Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 hi from a shy lurker.. am applying to a bunch of top tier media studies programs and am anxious for results. april is too far away. have been doing some inquiring with old colleagues at usc. apparently, decisions from indiv. departments are sent to the grad school mothership on january 24th when the 1st set of letters will go out by post, though some departments will contact the admits before then unofficially. this is true for usc film and isc comm. this isn't supposed to include funding info. guess that gets determined in feb. usc film is supposed to admit 4 to 7 depending on $$ to phd but not sure about masters or usc comm. both depts. supposed to just have had first meetings to review apps. colleagues I talked to were not sure if more meetings would happen. regarding a different uni., one of my colleagues mentioned that ucsb should be emailing first admits in two weeks. i hope my sources are right or i may chew all my fingernails off waiting. fingers crossed. good luck everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swagato Posted January 15, 2013 Author Share Posted January 15, 2013 That's a very welcome bit of news, nestwerk. Welcome and hope to see more updates from you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swagato Posted January 19, 2013 Author Share Posted January 19, 2013 Nothing further so far, then? I've been watching the increasing trickle of humanities decisions going out on the results board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letmein Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Sorry for being quiet the past week. I resume teaching next week and have been working on getting my syllabus/lesson plans in order. For some reason, obsessive check-ins to GradCafe were hurting my productivity. Congrats to everyone who has heard positive news so far. Things are still dead silent on my front, including Madison, which I have all but written off since other applicants seemed to receive interviews last week. However, the forums and results board only indicate Madison interviews for Film and "Communication Arts" (vague, since the dept. has 4 subsets). Does anyone know the status of Media & Cultural Studies interviews specifically? Having more specific info on that would greatly relieve the pressures in my mind. Apparently Northwestern routinely sends out interview notifications in very late Jan/early Feb. Here's hoping! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letmein Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Received my first rejection today from Madison. My POI sent me a personalized email explaining that I had made the shortlist, but there just weren't enough openings to go around. If you haven't heard anything (including an interview request) from Madison's Media and Cultural Studies program by now, you probably didn't make it in. Official rejection notifications aren't sent until late Feb. or March, though. Feeling bummed out since Madison was always my first choice, but I'm slightly encouraged by the tone of the rejection email. Hopefully my other apps bear better news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgeofmyseat Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Sorry to hear this, Letmein! Although that does sound like great feedback. You now know you are among the top tier of applicants! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swagato Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 UC-Santa Barbara notified me of a denial. I'm not too torn up over it as I'm aware my earliest applications (Dec. 1) were not at all my strongest. Still, more than a dozen to hear back from now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AGalCanHope Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 UC-Santa Barbara notified me of a denial. I'm not too torn up over it as I'm aware my earliest applications (Dec. 1) were not at all my strongest. Still, more than a dozen to hear back from now. I'm the opposite. I think my early apps were my strongest. Do you suppose if we didn't get a rejection yet, that's a good sign? Not that that means we're accepted, but that we're at least under further review? Or is it just a matter of rejections going out a few at a time? So nervous! Sorry to hear of the rejection, but glad it wasn't your top choice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swagato Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share Posted January 24, 2013 No idea, to be honest. Perhaps UCSB is sending out rejections first. Or maybe they're doing it as they go. You're applying to GW for film? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AGalCanHope Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 American Studies. I have a couple AMST apps and the rest are film/visual/media studies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ress Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 Hello everyone, I was wondering if there were anyone who applied to any film studies at any Canadian universities? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgeofmyseat Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Hello everyone, I was wondering if there were anyone who applied to any film studies at any Canadian universities? Hi Ress, I didn't, but I did think about Concordia for a while. Maybe next year if I don't get acceptions this time around... Best, EOMS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErnestPWorrell Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 I contacted the program coordinator about my status a couple of days ago and he replied, "We are currently making our decisions and expect to notify candidates in late February." UGH. I applied to the Rhetoric, Politics, & Culture area of study and was not contacted for interview (although it doesn't look like anyone applying to this area did? maybe? question mark?). Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgeofmyseat Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Did anyone apply to UCLA? I'm curious because a classmate of mine heard about her admission at this time last year, but according to the results section of this site there hasn't been a peep from UCLA yet. Would be interested to hear if any of you have insights. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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