Fall 2014 applications

[umniah2013]

I got admitted to UC Davis. Yay! It actually works out really well with where my husband got a job and since I doubt UCSC or CU Boulder will admit me, I'm so thankful. Only really annoying thing is they haven't sent me an acceptance letter. It's driving me nuts.

 

I know the feeling +_+ I think they may take around 2 weeks to send the acceptance letter. 

 

I  also have not heard from CU Boulder   

[umniah2013]

Okay...so which schools have the strongest psycholinguistics focus?

 

I applied to less than 5 programs and I wish I applied to more schools.

 

Between MSU and CUNY which do you think has a stronger psycholinguistics concentation? It's just that I'm having second thoughts. I appreciate any input!

[inertia]

Is there anyone who has heard nothing at all from UMass Amherst? I feel like a lot of people have already been rejected or admitted, but my status on the website up until this morning (the site is down right now) was "applied", and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to consider that a rejection.

[lingpupil]

Is there anyone who has heard nothing at all from UMass Amherst? I feel like a lot of people have already been rejected or admitted, but my status on the website up until this morning (the site is down right now) was "applied", and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to consider that a rejection.

 

Same here, and I am in the same situation as for Rutgers.

[beccamayworth]

Yes..What about you? Are you still waiting on other offers or  have you already decided on CUNY? 

 

beccamayworth >They offered 300 dollars for reimbursements if you are still interested in coming.

 

thanks for letting me know! they also emailed me to give me that information! I really wanna go, but I just realized it's right in the middle of the week, which makes it really hard

 

about your question between MSU and CUNY: I'm not sure, I honestly haven't heard anything about the MSU program nor any of the faculty... if you're interested in sentence processing specifically, I'd definitely have to go with CUNY. Also, they have lots of psycholinguists in other departments as well (psychology and speech, language and hearing sciences), which is a plus.  

[onzeheures30]

Is there anyone who has heard nothing at all from UMass Amherst? I feel like a lot of people have already been rejected or admitted, but my status on the website up until this morning (the site is down right now) was "applied", and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to consider that a rejection.

I don't think that means a rejection, I'd rather consider it being tantamount to 'short-listed'. I had an interview with them two weeks ago, and they haven't got back to me yet. Additionally, from what I know, they don't necessarily do interviews with all the candidates they are considering. So I'd take your status (and mine) for what it looks like - 'pending'.

Edited February 22, 2014 by onzeheures30

[yeonju123]

Yes..What about you? Are you still waiting on other offers or  have you already decided on CUNY? 

 

beccamayworth >They offered 300 dollars for reimbursements if you are still interested in coming.

Still waiting for other schools  I cannot make it to the open house. I live in South Korea,, and it is too costly for me to go there  for 2 hour open house . Have you decided on CUNY then? 

[inertia]

I don't think that means a rejection, I'd rather consider it being tantamount to 'short-listed'. I had an interview with them two weeks ago, and they haven't got back to me yet. Additionally, from what I know, they don't necessarily do interviews with all the candidates they are considering. So I'd take your status (and mine) for what it looks like - 'pending'.

Thank you very much for the information! I was thinking that it might mean I'd be on the waitlist, since at least two people were admitted already, but there's a good chance that they haven't decided yet if there are three of us in this situation on this forum.

[onzeheures30]

Thank you very much for the information! I was thinking that it might mean I'd be on the waitlist, since at least two people were admitted already, but there's a good chance that they haven't decided yet if there are three of us in this situation on this forum.

And two more ppl I know who are not on the forum and are still waiting for the decision from UMass.

[onzeheures30]

Have just declined my (very generous) offer from UTexas. Don't know why I'm feeling sad even. Maybe, it's just that saying 'no' feels bad no matter what.

 

Well, at least they can get someone off the wait-list now.

Edited February 22, 2014 by onzeheures30

[hoviariel]

Has anyone here ever emailed a uni to find out if they were rejected, waitlisted, or still being reviewed. I'm just bored of waiting.

[KWIKKI]

Yes, I emailed some schools two days ago. Got a response that I will hear back from them by mid to late March...

[hoviariel]

Mind sharing your polite way of asking 'so do you want me or not?'

[Les-Souliers-Rouges]

Have just declined my (very generous) offer from UTexas. Don't know why I'm feeling sad even. Maybe, it's just that saying 'no' feels bad no matter what.

 

Well, at least they can get someone off the wait-list now.

I am sure that someone who is waitlisted will certainly appreciate it.

So are you going to UChicago?

[onzeheures30]

I am sure that someone who is waitlisted will certainly appreciate it.

So are you going to UChicago?

I'm going to visit their Open House in April. I've got my visa approved and I'll be buying tickets later in March.

 

And I'm going to NYC for the Open House at NYU pretty soon, yay! (Will be my first time in the States. I expect to be overwhelmed =))

 

So, eventually, I guess I'll be choosing between these two. Although I still don't know the decisions of UMD and UMass, and there is this pending wait-list situation with MIT.

[beccamayworth]

aaaaaaand I think I am officially done with applications/interviews!!!! Just did my last (hopefully) phone interview. Whew.

 

Now on to continue waiting for results... 

[linguotherobot]

NYU's rejection with a generic email. It was more than expected by now, but still not a nice way to start the week...

[antecedent]

Was anyone on here one of the UCSC admits? I'd be interested in talking to someone who got in about their specialization/offer/etc. They are pretty much the last result I'm waiting on (UMD has stopped returning my emails) so I'm kinda just biding my time now

[Aenrichus]

NYU's rejection with a generic email. It was more than expected by now, but still not a nice way to start the week...

 

The hammer came down on me as well. It appears that it hit quite a few. Odd that I teach at NYU... but cannot get accepted as a PhD student.

[hoviariel]

The hammer came down on me as well. It appears that it hit quite a few. Odd that I teach at NYU... but cannot get accepted as a PhD student.

Umm... Do they want awkward small talk with you around the watercooler?

[Aenrichus]

Umm... Do they want awkward small talk with you around the watercooler?

 

Alas, different campus.

[beccamayworth]

hi guys, I started another thread in the Linguistics forum to discuss decisions. I am ANXIOUS... couldn't help myself...

[linguotherobot]

Hi, guys, I've been thinking about something all day..., and wanted to know your opinion. I don't know if I am being admitted anywhere, and I am already thinking about the possibilities of applying next year, and the things I should/could improve in my application package, given that situation. 

 

It has been said a thousand times that the most important thing when the adcom considers an application is "fit" with the program. I also believe that that is true to a certain degree, but I've been wondering how it is possible that there is some people that get accepted in almost every program and others who are rejected everywhere. If "fit" would be so important, it's quite weird that a person would be admitted into very different programs, right?... To what degree one's interests should be general in order to be a good "fit" to all these programs? And given that scenario, general interest would be looked as something positive?

 

I think that we all have different backgrounds when it comes to research, so one of us could probably be a better fit than the other for a specific program, whether in another it could be the other way around... I mean, even each one of us knows (or thinks that know) where one would be a better fit (and probably that's their top choice).

 

Perhaps it's just frustration talking right now, but I think that there must be something else than "fit" (and the way one explains that in the SOP) that is being taken into account when deciding admissions... (in top of "general conditions" that I think are almost necessary to be admitted in a good program: ~85-90% percentile GRE, <3,8 GPA, background in research, some publications/conferences, etc.).

[telianathegreat]

Hi, guys, I've been thinking about something all day..., and wanted to know your opinion. I don't know if I am being admitted anywhere, and I am already thinking about the possibilities of applying next year, and the things I should/could improve in my application package, given that situation. 

 

It has been said a thousand times that the most important thing when the adcom considers an application is "fit" with the program. I also believe that that is true to a certain degree, but I've been wondering how it is possible that there is some people that get accepted in almost every program and others who are rejected everywhere. If "fit" would be so important, it's quite weird that a person would be admitted into very different programs, right?... To what degree one's interests should be general in order to be a good "fit" to all these programs? And given that scenario, general interest would be looked as something positive?

 

I think that we all have different backgrounds when it comes to research, so one of us could probably be a better fit than the other for a specific program, whether in another it could be the other way around... I mean, even each one of us knows (or thinks that know) where one would be a better fit (and probably that's their top choice).

 

Perhaps it's just frustration talking right now, but I think that there must be something else than "fit" (and the way one explains that in the SOP) that is being taken into account when deciding admissions... (in top of "general conditions" that I think are almost necessary to be admitted in a good program: ~85-90% percentile GRE, <3,8 GPA, background in research, some publications/conferences, etc.).

 

This is my second application cycle -- I got one acceptance last year but received no funding, so... basically a rejection. It was incredibly demoralizing, but this time around, I had the advantage of an additional year of research experience, more clarity on what I wanted to study, and a better understanding of the process, so I've done better.

 

Based on what happened last time vs. this time and the things I did differently, I do think it's mostly fit. Let's be honest: if you're applying to PhD programs, you love school, and you're probably good at it. All of us can offer those "general conditions" you mention, so fit is really the main thing that distinguishes applicants (barring super crazy awesome experience/skills that some people have). Last time, I was honest about my research plan. I had a very, very flimsy statement of purpose. This time around, even though I'm still not all that certain what I want to research beyond "sociolinguistics... maybe something to do with sociophonetics?" I made up a thing that I was interested in (within the realm of what I actually want to do), called out professors from the department more in-depth in my SOP, and contacted POIs to get on their radars. I've still obviously received a bunch of rejections, but I've been accepted to three schools with funding! So it's clearly not a terrible strategy.

 

I guess to answer your question, I think the appearance of fit is the most important thing. So if you show in your application that you fit with the program and the admissions committee buys is, you stand a good chance of being admitted. Like so many things, it's all about appearances. The people who tailor their statements and resumes the best are going to get the positions (as long as they're generally qualified). Maybe that's cynical...

[onzeheures30]

Fit, indeed, seems to be of utmost importance. All my interactions with the depts were centered around the notion of fit, and all my acceptances emphasized that the dept is admitting me not (only) because of the excellence of my application, but because they think I'll be a good fit with the program. In my case there is a bunch of interests I could pursue, so I mentioned all of them in my SOPs (with a different emphasis here and there). So now when it comes to choices, it's more about which interests I want to pursue more than the others. I know that depending on which school I choose I might end up doing rather different things (within the syntax/semantics subfield, of course). I should note, however, that these were very specific interests; it wasn't just 'I want to do semantics under professors X and Y', but rather 'I want to further pursue my interest in attitudes and indexicality under professor X who has done (some / a lot of) work on it'.

 

For the record: my undergraduate background isn't in linguistics and was probably of no interest to the depts; my research experience in linguistics is limited (although the fact that I've done some work on Russian Sign Language with basically no supervision was probably looked upon favorably, 'cause (i.) it takes some effort and dedication to get into the Deaf community, (ii.) the ability to do independent research, even if not so stellar in quality maybe, is also a good thing); my GRE scores are average (or slightly above average, but I'm 99% sure that unless they are very low or absent, they are irrelevant); my recommendations were all very strong, however, and my writing samples (while probably being somewhat sloppy in the theoretical sense) were evidence of my current interests and how I want to go about them.

 

Another example. My best friend got into her top choice program mostly because of fit. Her undergraduate background is also in a different area (although she got an additional degree in a field related to her subfield of interest), her research experience in the field is virtually non-existent (not her fault, she simply never had access to the proper facilities), her GRE is below average (mildly put). Her recommendations were strong, though, she knew exactly what she wanted, and she knew which program could give her just that.

Edited February 27, 2014 by onzeheures30