MA Thread

[ianfaircloud]

but that is and always has been Brandeis policy

 

See above. I have to go to bed now.

Edited March 29, 2014 by ianfaircloud

[ianfaircloud]

I have heard from Kate Moran, the director of graduate studies at the philosophy department at Brandeis. The department mentions (similar to the GIF I posted above) that students are asked to reply in two weeks. But she tells me that officially the policy is to ask students to reply by April 15 or after all other PhD/MA offers are on the table, whichever is earlier. She tells me, "we have always been flexible about that deadline," and "Anyone who's emailed me with concerns about the 2-week thing has received precisely that reassurance from me."

 

She writes, "I asked them to let me know within two weeks of receiving their _official letter_, which is still being processed by the grad school. Most of them will receive that letter in the mail early next week, so 2 weeks would be...April 15." So even if the letter were misread, as mightymike11 has misread it, the letter would still indicate that the "deadline" is roughly April 15.

 

This is not the first correspondence I've had with graduate directors at Brandeis. I'll say that I've always received very reasonable replies to my emails in a timely fashion. I urge anyone with doubts to send an email to the director of graduate studies at Brandeis.

Edited March 29, 2014 by ianfaircloud

[Monadology]

Thanks for clarifying, ianfaircloud. Sorry also for overlooking mightymike11's stronger claim (that it has always been Brandeis' policy)

[ianfaircloud]

Thanks for clarifying, ianfaircloud. Sorry also for overlooking mightymike11's stronger claim (that it has always been Brandeis' policy)

 

As you can see, this particular incident really set me off. We gotta be careful in this forum to speak carefully and get the facts straight. A few false reports can quickly damage the reputation of a person or department, and that's just not fair to the people who work so hard to do things right. Brandeis has an odd approach, but it's completely reasonable and in line with the spirit of APA's official policy on the matter (which, incidentally, covers only PhD admissions, to my knowledge). What's most important is that people know that Brandeis is not demanding a decision before April 15. If Brandeis did that, Brian Leiter would be all over that shit. (And so would I!)

[Flipflophero]

Ok, now everyone seems to be on the same page so I am going to wrap this up.

 

Here are the facts:

 

Fact 1. Brandeis asks it's admitted students to decide within 2 weeks of the official admissions letter.

 

Fact 2: This has not always been the case. As Ian has showed, a couple years ago, they had a request that was more suggestive. However, I did read that last year they had the same 2 week policy as this year.

 

Fact 3: If you take the time to email the graduate director about this issue, he/she will tell you that they are willing to accommodate if a student wants to push the deadline back.

 

Now, here are my points.

 

1. I was half wrong when I said that it is and always has been Brandeis policy. It is its policy now, and it has been in the past (last year), but it hasn't always been their policy. I admit that I was wrong to have said "always has been."

 

2. With every other point, however, I have been correct and Ian incorrect. I asked what students are doing about the two week policy. Ian said I was 100% wrong about this, etc., but of course as we know now, this is 100% correct. They do ask their admitted students to respond to the decision within two weeks. There was no misreading of any letter. The wiggle room comes only AFTER one has emailed the graduate director about this issue, which I had not yet done. 

 

3. The fact that the two week deadline ends up correlating with the April 15th deadline is irrelevant. I received my admit letter in mid/early March, and it implied that the official acceptance letter was coming soon. (Indeed, it was going to be sent quite a bit earlier, but the department was having technical difficulties). Thus, the assumption BACK THEN was that the 2 week policy would end before April 15th and my worry was completely relevant. I now know from an update from the department and this forum that it will not be an issue, but back then the assumption was that it would indeed be an issue.

 

4. Ian is accusing me of disseminating false and potentially slanderous information. Well, as we know now, almost everything I said was completely accurate. Now let's look at what Ian said. He first stated,

 

"This cannot be right. There's no way this is accurate. Sorry to call into question your authority here, mightymike11. But I'm absolutely positive that you misread your letter of admission. The letter says that the school would like to hear whether you are still interested. They are not asking you to commit."

 

This, as we now know, is wrong. Again, the committee asks us to decide within two weeks, and it is only after you ask them about this do they tell you some wiggle room is ok. Also, let's think about his evidence. I assume he already had that letter from 2 years ago admitting a student (perhaps he didn't have this but I will give him the benefit of the doubt). That means that based on the evidence from two years ago, he was making a bold assertion about this year. Obviously, this is unfounded and should not have been asserted. Let's look at some other claims....

 

"I just checked again with a source on this. I'm 100%, absolutely positive that mightymike11 is mistaken" and "I know from a personal connection (and have now seen with my own eyes) that Brandeis only asks that admitted students give them an idea, in some number of weeks, of whether they remain interested in the offer. The request is *not* to commit. No legitimate department asks students to commit early. And frankly, it's extremely irresponsible to offer up such a claim in a forum like this. If anyone is under the impression that Brandeis has made this kind of demand, that person should ask the department to clarify. Because I'm 100%, absolutely, positively sure that the department makes no such demand."

 

These are all bold statements with no evidence backing them up (remember: at this point his only evidence was still the letter). It could have been the case that their policy changed since then, and, in fact, this is the case. Based on all of this, it is actually Ian who is spreading misinformation. He states that I am wrong about what I am saying, I misread the letter, and that this is not at all Brandeis policy. These are incorrect statements, and if Ian wants to perpetuate conscientiousness in these forums, he should be more careful.

 

5. I want to make a final point about respect. Ian seems to want forums such as this to perform at their highest level, which is to be informative, as authoritative as possible, and respectful. However, Ian was very disrespectful and dismissive throughout the discussion. He asserted that I was 100% wrong, that I had misread my letter, that I was spreading false information about departments, etc. This could have been handled in a much more tactful and respectful manner.  

 

I think all of this teaches us to beware statements that are yelled with both great passion and objective certainty.

Edited March 29, 2014 by mightymike11

[Establishment]

The reason this is a big deal is that the American Philosophical Association passed a resolution in the '90's stating that graduate programs give students up to April 15th to decide on offers. Thus if Brandeis were ignoring this resolution, that would be big news, and, as Ian said, Leiter would be on it.