pohks Posted December 23, 2013 Posted December 23, 2013 Hi brooks40204 -- it's nice to have more people joining the discussion! Are you applying for MA/MS or PhD programs? I have submitted my applications to U Arizona, U Illinois U-C and U Maryland BC; I'm just waiting for my LOR writers to send in their letters.
geographyrocks Posted December 24, 2013 Posted December 24, 2013 Hi pohks! I'm applying for the MS program at the University of Nevada and the PhD programs at the other three schools. It's still unclear as to whether it was unwise to apply directly to PhD programs without first obtaining a Masters. I guess I'll find out in a couple of months.
obviousbicycle Posted December 26, 2013 Posted December 26, 2013 Man, I still have two more schools to apply to - Oregon and North Carolina. The deadline for Oregon is January 15 and I think all my professors that are going to write me recommendation letters are on their break right now? Would they even read emails...?
pohks Posted December 27, 2013 Posted December 27, 2013 Brooks, many programs have direct-admit tracks, don't they? Thus, you should be fine even if applying without a master's degree; and you're also applying for a MS program in case the PhD programs don't work out. I'm applying for one MS program, too, as although I do have a master's degree, it is not in geography. Obviousbicycle, I have the same problem with my LORs for one of the schools; the deadline is Dec 31, though. I'm pretty sure my professors won't submit anything before say Jan 6. Hopefully the schools are somewhat lenient with LOR deadlines. On the other hand, today is my last day at work before a month-long vacation! I'm feeling pretty elated.
jmu Posted December 28, 2013 Posted December 28, 2013 brooks, if you can apply directly to the PhD I would do it. Some schools (UGA and Syracuse come to mind) require that you first apply to the MA unless you hold one but others don't. In a lot of cases if you can apply directly to the PhD it will greatly increase your chances at funding. In my program MA applicants aren't even really considered for funding (officially, they are considered if there is left over after PhDs) and I know Rutgers is/was the same. Actually, I was accepted to Rutgers PhD last year without funding and after talking to one of the professors there she told me that there were only something like 3 or 4 funded offers last year. It's crazy competitive.
obviousbicycle Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 woops, I just started working on my SoP for Oregon and it is due on the 15th. But oh well, I will just use my previous SoPs as the base and do some major editing so I guess it shouldn't be too hard...?
geographyrocks Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 Oh, goodness. Anyone else feel like there is a living thing trying to escape their stomach when they think about grad school? This whole process is so damn nerve-racking! I'm still waiting (maybe) on a LOR that the professor already submitted, but there was a technical issue and the university didn't recieve it. As if it wasn't hard enough to get the LOR the first time. Luckily, the deadline isn't until 1/15. JewishSombrero 1
ProfMoriarty Posted January 7, 2014 Author Posted January 7, 2014 The status at Minnesota has changed to "Awaiting Program Decision" Very efficient. I'm impressed.
pohks Posted January 11, 2014 Posted January 11, 2014 When do you expect to hear from the programs you have applied for? So far, there are no geography acceptances posted on the results page, and I'm pretty sure I won't hear anything until February or March. Still, I'm checking my email every 20 minutes, and yesterday I freaked out as I didn't receive the weekly email from OSU (I was convinced that they had already moved my application to the rejection pile and thus had removed me from the recipient list). Btw, I just found out that my B.Sc./M.Sc. institution had sent my transcripts to one of the universities only last week, although I had requested them to do so and paid the fee in early December. The deadline was Dec 31; luckily the university was nice enough to let me submit a scanned copy of my transcripts while waiting for the official ones to arrive. I'm happy that I'm currently visiting my home country and have been busy spending time with friends and family. Moreover, the time difference is around 8 hours, which means that it's worthwhile to be a nervous wreck only in the evenings.
ProfMoriarty Posted January 11, 2014 Author Posted January 11, 2014 February - March seems about right. It's still reaaaally nerve wrecking, though. Where is your home country, pohks?
pohks Posted January 14, 2014 Posted January 14, 2014 I somehow managed to hide my previous post; I'm originally from Northern Europe. I woke up to a Ohio State MS rejection on GC results search. That nearly gave me a heart attack, but my status is still 'pending'. Looks like the game is officially on.
pohks Posted January 15, 2014 Posted January 15, 2014 (edited) My OSU status is still 'pending', but on the page that provides additional information on status, it says that my application has been academically approved and is now in financial review. I haven't received any email yet whatsoever. Please, please, PLEASE accept me! Edited January 15, 2014 by pohks
LeoBixby Posted January 15, 2014 Posted January 15, 2014 I am also interested in the human-environment relation, planning on focusing on critical/radical human geography, Marxism, and the historical-relational approach to the geo-social. Applied to UW for geography PhD, but the other schools I applied to are all Sociology-based. Has anyone begun to hear back from UW yet? How competitive is that program?
obviousbicycle Posted January 16, 2014 Posted January 16, 2014 By UW, do you mean Wisconsin? I just got my geography & cart/GIS bachelor's degree from Wisconsin. All that I could say is that PhD program extremely competitive. I wonder if you're applying to be under Bill Cronon's supervision?
pohks Posted January 16, 2014 Posted January 16, 2014 Or does UW refer to University of Washington? I didn't apply there, but according to my Excel table, between 2009 and 2013 they have normally sent out their first acceptances/rejections around February 10 - 14. According to what I have heard, it is quite a competitive program, as they only accept a few students annually. However, your research interests seem to be highly compatible with the faculty's expertise. Yesterday I received an email from OSU, saying that I had been recommended for admission by the department. There is no information related to funding available yet, but nevertheless I am feeling pretty elated!
obviousbicycle Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 Man, my Oregon application still shows that my official transcript is "pending." I sent it like 2 weeks ago and I am pretty sure it should have arrived by now. I emailed the department but they never reply...
geographyrocks Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 You should definitely call them. So far I've had an email get lost that contained the department application and LOI, 2 recommendations get lost, and 1 confused admin who didn't realize that I submitted my GRE scores in July.
pohks Posted January 22, 2014 Posted January 22, 2014 Thanks paolaplease! Any news related to Minnesota yet?
ProfMoriarty Posted January 27, 2014 Author Posted January 27, 2014 Thanks paolaplease! Any news related to Minnesota yet? Received an email a few hours ago... wait listed :/
Extexan562 Posted January 30, 2014 Posted January 30, 2014 Hello Everyone! I am applying to the University of Minnesota, University of British Columbia, University of Washington, and University of Toronto! I have very crappy GRE scores, I work for the county of Los Angeles as a Data Analysis and I work on Critical Masculinity, Spatial Theory, and Political Economy with various Southern California social justice movements! What are people's research interests?
pohks Posted January 30, 2014 Posted January 30, 2014 Received an email a few hours ago... wait listed :/ Hang in there - hopefully they'll give you good news soon! Hello Everyone! I am applying to the University of Minnesota, University of British Columbia, University of Washington, and University of Toronto! I have very crappy GRE scores, I work for the county of Los Angeles as a Data Analysis and I work on Critical Masculinity, Spatial Theory, and Political Economy with various Southern California social justice movements! What are people's research interests? Hi Extexan, it's nice to have you joining the discussion! It's been rather quiet lately, but hopefully the conversation is about to become a little bit livelier - at least there seems to be some movement going on according to the results search page. Are your research interests aligned with what you are doing now? Broadly speaking I'm interested in environment-society interactions. I just received an email saying that I had been accepted to one of the schools, and they'd grant me an RA position. It's not a geography program, though, but related to my previous field - a huge relief nevertheless.
obviousbicycle Posted January 31, 2014 Posted January 31, 2014 (edited) Congratulations everyone! I'm still waiting... :\ What are people's research interests? I think my research interest is slightly different from any of yours... I'm interested in cartography and GIS - mainly cartographic journalism, web cartography & geovisualization. Edited January 31, 2014 by obviousbicycle
ProfMoriarty Posted January 31, 2014 Author Posted January 31, 2014 My interests are human-environment relations, political ecology, feminism and ANT (as theoretical approaches). I'm also interested in the history of science as an analytical framework to study conservation and the environment... However I also applied to an environmental studies program emphasizing in development
obviousbicycle Posted January 31, 2014 Posted January 31, 2014 -- also, my GRE is crappy too! And I didn't bother to retake it since I don't think I could improve any better in such a short period of time.
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