Acceptance Statistics 2015 - Request

[thepriorwalter]

This information is from 2012, which one could make a note of on the spreadsheet, but Michigan received 408 applicants for 12 spots. I was wait listed there for the F13 cohort, and based on my experience on the waitlist and my acceptance this year, I don't think they over admit much at all.

I know that the cohort size remains 12 this year, but that said, the number of applicants could be down--I haven't heard a number. ~500 for Columbia (which I believe I read earlier in this thread) would be less than the ~700 applicants they've seen in the past.

[NotSpyderman]

I've heard from professors at my UG school that it's pretty normal for PhD students at UCs to take 9-10 years to finish...

[jean-luc-gohard]

Holy shit, you scare me. Is this standard across all UCs? I am planning UCDavis and a longer commitment just scares the living hell out of me.

[hypervodka]

Holy shit, you scare me. Is this standard across all UCs? I am planning UCDavis and a longer commitment just scares the living hell out of me.

The DGS will definitely be able to get you exact statistics, but what MM says is fairly true--but changing in recent years. Part of the reason for slow completion time was due to funding, because people spent way too much time trying to find external fellowships to pay for their education, or were, worse, working part-time. A lot of schools that used to tier funding (a lot of R1s used to follow this model) have recently rejected large cohorts in favor of guaranteed funding for all of a smaller group of students. And, again, longer completion times isn't exclusive to the UCs, but it has been lowering a lot across the board in recent years (literally the only positive to the collapsing job market--structured pragmatism). It used to be almost nine years on average, now it's less than seven years.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/11/25/analysis-says-humanities-phds-get-take-longer-coursework-dissertations

[hreaðemus]

Holy shit, you scare me. Is this standard across all UCs? I am planning UCDavis and a longer commitment just scares the living hell out of me.

[>>>]

thanks for all the useful info! 

 

the stats in the higher ed article, though, are median -- not mean. so, wouldn't be unduly weighted by the 40-year-later-phd.

[>>>]

(yes it would be surprising for any dept to supply the arithmetic mean as the "average time" to degree for the very reason hrea∂emus describes)

[NotSpyderman]

OK. Thanks everyone. *heartbeat back to normal*

[__________________________]

OK. Thanks everyone. *heartbeat back to normal*

[Appppplication]

The UC situation has gotten a lot better. 

[InHacSpeVivo]

I don't have anything useful from my notifications yet, but a couple schools post these statistics online:

 

Michigan State (2012 is the most current): http://grad.msu.edu/apply/PHDDataReporting/PhD%20Data%20-%20English%202012%20Cohort.pdf

 

Minnesota: https://apps.grad.umn.edu/stats/ad/1027600.shtml

[lyonessrampant]

To add some info to the Minnesota yield stats.  Those include both the first round admits and waitlisted people who end up getting extended the offer.  For the last three years our cohort has been 12 Ph.D. students.

[Pol4ris]

So far this is the information I have received from schools.

 

UVA - No idea how many applied but they only offered 12 PhD slots. I was offered an unfunded MA slot but they did not say how many of these were available.

 

Boston U - "Received approximately 200 applications for our small program." E-mail from DGS stated they enroll 5 MA/PhD students and 5 MA students (the latter of which I was offered unfunded).

 

USC (S. Carolina) - Reviewed "nearly 100 applications" for "approximately 10 PhD slots." I was not selected for a PhD but for a generously funded MA; however, they did not provide information on how many MA slots were expected. I will be going to the open house in late March and can update then. 

 

Wasn't there also a spreadsheet somewhere about funding or something? If so, we could probably link the sheets together for a master spreadsheet.

[greenmt]

Dear God.  5 PhD acceptances at BU.  I wish that schools would give some inkling in advance of their intentions.  It looks like a fine program, and it fit my research interests well, but honestly, I would not have taken the time and spent the money.  According to what hreaðemus says above, I would have had better odds at Yale. 

[Appppplication]

Don't forget that there can be a significant difference between number of admits and number enrolled. They may admit double the amount they hope to enroll each year.