CUNY 2014

[RandomDood]

Following xdarthveganx's example I will go ahead and start a thread for anyone who was admitted to CUNY and wants some more information (although I've only seen like 3 admits on the results search, which is kind of weird).

 

Best,

RD

[umniah2013]

Do you think they view Ph.D applications before Master's applications?  

[Pacifico]

I applied to the CUNY Grad Center for the Earth and Environmental Science PhD program, which had a Dec 1st deadline. The website claimed to have a decision back in 4-8 weeks, so once Feb came around, I gave a call to the department. They told me then that the committee hasn't even met yet, so I can only imagine that (for my program, at least) I won't hear back for a while. 

 

I am, however, currently enrolled in CUNY (finishing undergrad) and have a few friends at the Grad Center. Most of them told me that once CUNY accepted you, they had a fast approaching deadline to make an enrollment decision, sometimes before other schools have sent out their decisions. Just FYI. 

 

Good luck!

[jdsoc28]

I am not applying until the fall, but I am very interested in CUNY, both the EES-Geography track and sociology. I had an email exchange with John Mollenkopf, because I am interested in the work of the Center for Urban Research.  Do you know if there is much interest in studying Detroit and the other emerging urban austerity regimes over there, or anyone in the urban research network working on it? Quite a bit going on in Michigan, certainly, and in CA, RI, DE, etc. I know that there is quite a bit of research into neoliberalism generally, but the focus is usually NY, from what I have seen (and which makes sense, but is not exactly what I am interested in focusing on). 

[SocGirl2013]

I just got in and I may not make a whole lot of sense because I am in complete shock and joy over the getting in part, cause, like top choice. I can't believe this at all. But I have NO clue what's going on with funding. Do you have any idea what this might mean:

 

"We are unable to offer you funding at this time as our funding decisions are still being finalized. Offers of financial aid are made on a rolling basis and we will know about available support in the near future. We will let you know more about funding that as soon as we are in a position to do so."

[squelchevesir]

I just got in and I may not make a whole lot of sense because I am in complete shock and joy over the getting in part, cause, like top choice. I can't believe this at all. But I have NO clue what's going on with funding. Do you have any idea what this might mean:

 

"We are unable to offer you funding at this time as our funding decisions are still being finalized. Offers of financial aid are made on a rolling basis and we will know about available support in the near future. We will let you know more about funding that as soon as we are in a position to do so."

 

For those with similar questions, I would check the you haven't already. Since the big 25k fellowships have already been offered, how the GC plans to allocate funding for other acceptances is rather unclear. Can't stress out about it too much right now. I'd say wait until what other schools have to say about stipends/fellowships and maybe that can give you some leverage.

 

Also, I wish I could go to the visit day on March 5th but I don't think I can afford the trip--anybody in a similar situation? I doubt they have any small travel stipends tucked away.

[SocGirl2013]

Yeah I read through that thread and that's the impression I got too: that they've already played their Aces. But hopefully they'll do something.

 

I am going to visit day, but only because I live in NY. Don't most schools have some kind of travel stipends for recruitment?

[RandomDood]

Hi all,

So, I will answer your questions one by one.

Umniah, I apologize but I have no idea about when the adcomm meets and makes decisions. It is my understanding that here at the Graduate Center (I probably should have specified that in the title) we only have a PhD program, and Masters are managed by the different colleges. The timeframes for Masters admissions can therefore vary widely across the CUNY system.

Jdsoc, I know for a fact that our department is FULL of people doing urban ethnography, both students and faculty. The vast majority of course does work on NYC, but I know of students who are studying Paris and have studied Berlin in the past...and of course they are both way further away than Detroit :-) That being said, I do not know if any faculty has a specific expertise on Detroit specifically, and if you are absolutely set about the location being so far away from your field site might end up being a problem if you are not sure that you will have way of traveling and living in Michigan without spending too much money (as a personal word of advice, do not choose your PhD program based exclusively on the fact that you-think you-are sure about where you will conduct your fieldwork. Plans can and most likely will change.)

SocGirl and Squelchebesir, congratulations on getting in! :-) I was in your situation last year: admitted but on the waitlist for funding. Getting funding at this stage is definitely not impossible; I was offered a Graduate Center Fellowship (25k + Tuition) in mid May, basically 24 hours before final decisions day. Fun times, those two months were not stressful at all :-) I honestly have no idea whatsoever about how they make decisions about funding, I just know that people definitely get off the wait list for funding because that happened to me. What I personally did was email my main POI and the chair of the department to reiterate my interest in the program (well, I did that a few times actually, I might have been overreacting:-). I do not know if it made any difference, but that's just what I did.

Good luck to everyone who is in the same situation, hang in there!

[SocGirl2013]

Thank you RandomDood. *Proceeds to diligently reiterate interest in the program*

[walterwhite]

Hey all - I haven't heard anything about the visiting day (and didn't know it was March 5th until seeing your post, squelchevesir). Did you guys receive additional info after the initial email?

 

Thanks for the program info, RandomDood!

[SocGirl2013]

Hey all - I haven't heard anything about the visiting day (and didn't know it was March 5th until seeing your post, squelchevesir). Did you guys receive additional info after the initial email?

 

Thanks for the program info, RandomDood!

Were you one of the people who got admitted in the first round a few weeks ago? Then you may have been contacted separately. The email I got (and I assume the same for squelchevesir) about being admitted already had the Visit Day date mentioned. They said more information will follow though.

[walterwhite]

Were you one of the people who got admitted in the first round a few weeks ago? Then you may have been contacted separately. The email I got (and I assume the same for squelchevesir) about being admitted already had the Visit Day date mentioned. They said more information will follow though.

 

Got it - that makes sense. I received my email on Feb 5th. It mentioned a visiting day but said we would be hearing more about it shortly.

[jdsoc28]

Thanks! I'm actually not interested in a research plan that would necessarily require extensive time in the City of Detroit (although I have no problem finding low cost places to stay, given that I'm a Michigan native and Detroit resident).  And of course as you said plans can change. CUNY is attractive because of the emphasis on engagement and because NYC does provide a kind of unparalleled urban setting for the kind of issues I want to study.  I'm actually interested in some of the data mining and analytics and networks research that is being done by Attewell, Romalewski and some others, particularly when combined with some legal data sets (my plan is I think a little more well defined than it might otherwise be, since I'm incorporating my experience with legal practice and research as an attorney, or at least plan to).  . 

[umniah2013]

 I applied for MA/Phd track... and I just got accepted when I checked online. However, I still have not gotten an email?  

 

 

I have a question though...How selective is CUNY Graduate Center? I didn't find their acceptance rate when I googled.  

[jaywal52]

Have been anxiously waiting for the admission decision to CUNY SOC Phd and trying not to freak out that I haven't heard yet. Did you only receive an email or did they send snail mail as well? 

[SocGirl2013]

 I applied for MA/Phd track... and I just got accepted when I checked online. However, I still have not gotten an email?

 

 

I have a question though...How selective is CUNY Graduate Center? I didn't find their acceptance rate when I googled.  

I am curious too about the selectivity. How many people are in the average cohort? Not that it matters in terms of my decision-making, I am as sure that I want to go here as I can be, as long as they give me good funding. But I do wonder how many admits there are since it's a huge program!

[RandomDood]

For anyone who is still waiting to hear from CUNY, I just heard that everyone who has not heard back by Thursday - with either an explicit rejection or acceptance - can consider himself on the unofficial waiting list.

[dreammer3119]

Thank you RD for the update!

[SocGirl2013]

I'm bumping this thread.

Anyone hear anything new about funding yet? I have my heart set on CUNY so bad lol. 

Also, who else is going to visit day?

[SocGirl2013]

*bump*

It was really nice meeting some of you guys today. So what are your thoughts post visit day?

[squelchevesir]

*bump*

It was really nice meeting some of you guys today. So what are your thoughts post visit day?

 

I wish I could have been there! If anybody (looking at you SocGirl) can spill any deets on how it went, I would be oh so grateful. Did many people attend? If you attended any of the lectures or actual seminars, how did they go? And I'm sure they were very reticent when talking about funding, but if they said anything revealing, I'd be curious to hear what it was.

[SocGirl2013]

I wish I could have been there! If anybody (looking at you SocGirl) can spill any deets on how it went, I would be oh so grateful. Did many people attend? If you attended any of the lectures or actual seminars, how did they go? And I'm sure they were very reticent when talking about funding, but if they said anything revealing, I'd be curious to hear what it was.

Hey, I am so sorry I completely missed your post until now for some reason. Yes attendance was surprisingly high: I didn't even think they had admitted that many people! I didn't get a chance to attend any lectures. As for funding, hold tight until April 14 if it is something you can. It seemed like they really wanted to give answers but their hands are tied because some people who may not use the funding are holding on to it for whatever reason, perhaps they are still making decisions. I personally plan to wait until April 14 and if I don't hear back, to accept another offer that day. 

[AProperNoun]

Hello everyone! I too am joining the Graduate Center this fall for a PhD in Theatre. I wanted to bring up the issue of housing on this thread. For all those who got in for this coming fall, firstly, congratulations! And secondly, what do you have in mind regarding housing? I have applied for the graduate housing, but am not too keen on it. And as an international student, I can't come in early to look for apartments myself. So if anyone is looking for roommates or are going to be looking for places themselves, please give me a shout? Thanks! I look forward to seeing you all!