Claremont Graduate Univ. - Argh! Info? Bueller? Bueller?

[calartian]

I am finding a dearth of info from people who have applied there or attended, so thought I would just ask -- can anyone say a positive word about their experience with CGU? I really need to hear one, or at least figure out whether my current somewhat confusing experience is unique.

I have an opportunity to do PhD in one of the Arts & Humanities disciplines, and the program to which I was accepted really fits my research and teaching interests well (I was SO very excited to get in). But beyond the initial thrill of hearing the news, things have been a tad disconcerting. The grad adviser is one of those people who basically dispenses status reports and nothing more -- no real knowledge about me or which professor in the department may or may not have interest in my research (i.e. why they admitted me), and no real encouragement or ideas when the issue of funding comes up (all incoming PhD's get the same modest percent-of-tuition fellowship + loans, loans, loans, nothing more). At the same time, various campus offices are bombarding me with fancy-looking, hyperbole-laden materials that use my name in discussing how great the school is and how excited I should be, but are otherwise as impersonal as a sales brochure.

The thing is this: I know admissons is one thing and studying there is another, but I am starting to question whether they see more potential in me as a tuition cash cow or someone whose scholarship is the main attraction. So it would be helpful to learn about other people's experience with CGU, good or bad, and whether the rah-rah PR machine + aloofness of program folk is par for the course there. I am trying to keep an open mind, so any nugget of info at all would be appreciated. At present I'm figuring out how else (and who else) to approach while I'm waiting on word from a couple more schools.

I really dig these boards, by the way. I've been reading a long while and it's always nice to know there are other folks out there angsting about the same minutia and nuance of the whole dang process. : )

[teaganc]

I PMed you.

[pearla]

I am interested in this school too, so please post instead of PMing!!!

[teaganc]

I am interested in this school too, so please post instead of PMing!!!

Dude, the PM was for a reason. I don't wish to post and have my words forever immortalized on Grad Cafe for all the interwebs to see. They are secret, secret thoughts.

Also, if you had just PMed me, I would have been happy to copy-paste what I sent to everyone else who PMed re: this thread.