Welcome to the 2015-2016 Cycle!

[Determinedandnervous]

Just now, japaniia said:

 Yes Cornell is meeting today regarding admissions so we should be hearing fairly soon. Been contacted by a potential POI and thats how I know what's going on.

I didn't receive an email from any of my POI's there, do you think I should be worried?

[ultraultra]

4 minutes ago, CarefreeWritingsontheWall said:

I expected this, but didn't encounter it at a program I've already visited. Why would they want you to attend a program where you'll be miserable, considering all the money on the table? As much as they want to show boat their program, there are tough realities in a lot of places. Asking more than one person the same questions can get you a good sense of what's going on. I had the most frank discussions during my faculty dinner at the very end of the day.

I haven't been to any recruitment weekends yet, but I've been skyping with faculty from basically every institution I've been admitted to (as well as chatting on the phone with grad students). What I have found - unexpectedly - is that potential advisors have been very willing to be frank with me about the shortfalls of their program. And in fact, POIs at several institutions have told me flat out that they'd love to advise me but think that I should go to x school for placement reasons. I have had one or two people give me the 'hard sell' method, but its very transparent (and at the end of the day reflected pretty badly on them - I wouldn't want an advisor who wasn't up front with me). So I just want to emphasize @CarefreeWritingsontheWall's point that you can get a realistic picture just by asking and using rudimentary critical thinking skills. And you don't necessarily need to wait to the admit weekend to start that process.  

[kafcat]

Just now, Determinedandnervous said:

I didn't receive an email from any of my POI's there, do you think I should be worried?

 This person is actually in a different field but told me that his research interests are similar to mine and that we could benefit from working together. Again, this is something rare and I wouldn't worry if you didn't receive an email.

[cableknitmanatee]

I heard from my POI at Yale that the AdComm is nearing the end of deliberations and that we'll hear shortly. I had emailed them to update them about something else, so please no one read into this and worry about not having heard anything.

[IndEnth]

1 hour ago, theresgonnabe(goodtimes) said:

I think it might be different for international and domestic students. Student visas often come with a maximum number of work hours and sometimes TAships max out those hours, while domestic students can take on more paid work.

That's true of course - foreign students are restricted to 20 hours of paid work per week. But even if you don't exhaust that with your RAship/TAship, some unis will forbid you from taking up other work, because they claim you get your funding so that you can fully concentrate on your studies.

[PizzaCat93]

11 minutes ago, cableknitmanatee said:

I heard from my POI at Yale that the AdComm is nearing the end of deliberations and that we'll hear shortly. I had emailed them to update them about something else, so please no one read into this and worry about not having heard anything.

Thanks for the update!! Yale is the last school I'm waiting to hear from (and I'd really love to go there), so I'm almost dying waiting to hear something. 

Edited February 17, 2016 by PizzaCat93

[cgfren08]

Still waiting on Brown, Syracuse, and a few others. Already have a few funded acceptances. 

[IndEnth]

36 minutes ago, wb3060 said:

I got an offer as well. Did yours mention a visit day? 

No, not yet. But they are really eager to talk, scheduled a skype call for Friday already. I assume I'll hear about it then.

Edited February 17, 2016 by IndEnth

[HardPromises]

29 minutes ago, ultraultra said:

And in fact, POIs at several institutions have told me flat out that they'd love to advise me but think that I should go to x school for placement reasons.

Could you provide some insight as to how you're discussing your different options among your POIs at this point in the process? I understand the benefits that can come from that, but I'm struggling to determine the most acceptable approach.

[ultraultra]

Just now, HardPromises said:

Could you provide some insight as to how you're discussing your different options among your POIs at this point in the process? I understand the benefits that can come from that, but I'm struggling to determine the most acceptable approach.

Usually it's come up in one of two ways: either they've asked (during the call) where else I've been accepted and I've told them the schools and which ones I'm considering the most strongly, at which point they've volunteered advice, OR I've said something along the lines of 'I'm considering your school and x school most strongly, one perceived advantage of their school is that they have y resource, do you have anything like that and/or do you think that's something worth considering?' and then we end up having a good chat about that particular resource that evolved into a discussion about the relative benefits of each program.

Also some have just straight up offered to give me advice on various schools, during our e-mail exchange preceding the Skype call.

Obviously you should be careful about how you discuss it but I don't think you need to be coy about it either... faculty know that students apply widely and have many offers.

[Stressedandcarefree]

Does anyone know anything about a possible UW visit day or if they've done one in the past? It's one of my top choices but I really want to visit first. 

[yaygrad]

7 minutes ago, Stressedandcarefree said:

Does anyone know anything about a possible UW visit day or if they've done one in the past? It's one of my top choices but I really want to visit first. 

They definitely have one. Email the secretary.

 

*both UW's

Edited February 17, 2016 by yaygrad

[CarefreeWritingsontheWall]

58 minutes ago, yaygrad said:

Yeah, but this is about department climate. It is just awkward. This may be something to ask grad students and not faculty. I can't go up to the IR faculty and ask why they threw someone in front of the bus. 

Here's my experience with issues such as this. I've been with my current department six years (BA and MA in the same place). In the last 3 I've been following departmental issues as a student rep, sat on two hiring committees, and talked to a lot of professors. When there is a divide, it's apparent in simple questions such as "do support hiring candidate A or B, why?" This is why I mentioned previously that it's useful to ask them about hiring strategies, where they see their department going - asking multiple people can expose schisms in a friendly discussion related to things like, "do you expect the department to grow in the next five years? What's the department's vision of itself down the road?"

I spoke to a mentor of mine at my current institution the other day, and said that I was worried about divisive departments, and wanting to avoid being stuck in the middle of professors who have a different vision for the department, or even how to do research - there is a lot of debate on this in the field right now and I've been stuck between a very young faculty member who is very big data oriented, and a senior faculty member who prefers qualitative process tracing. He told me that in reality, all you really need is one person who is truly in your corner - your primary supervisor. If there's drama going on between other people, which is likely, then it shouldn't affect you unless you intend to work with both of those people. At that point, it's far better when talking to POIs at a particular school to ask them if they've done work with the other people you want to work with - and this goes back to my earlier comments about asking if people have lunch together, or if the department hosts department wide social events because if they don't then you can run into the reality that some people in the same department may not even talk to each other, or come into the office all that often.

Like @ultraultra said, these are also things current grad students will be frank about (and they have been frank about it to me via email, and during the one open house I have attended).

[elw]

Good discussion folks!

[VMcJ]

4 hours ago, cableknitmanatee said:

I heard from my POI at Yale that the AdComm is nearing the end of deliberations and that we'll hear shortly. I had emailed them to update them about something else, so please no one read into this and worry about not having heard anything.

And here I am, hoping against hope. Tomorrow I am beginning my work to try again and fail better next cycle. I'd love to be interrupted by Yale!

[GradSchoolTruther]

If anyone at a prospective school tells you the department plans to grow, I would be extremely leery.

[midweststudent]

3 hours ago, GradSchoolTruther said:

If anyone at a prospective school tells you the department plans to grow, I would be extremely leery.

Why so? (genuinely interested, not sarcastic) 


I get the general idea that this may be a way to sell a program to prospective students who may see it as lacking, but I assume that programs that say this genuinely are seeking to grow. Is that a bad thing, or is it too risky?

[yaygrad]

5 minutes ago, midweststudent said:

Why so? (genuinely interested, not sarcastic) 


I get the general idea that this may be a way to sell a program to prospective students who may see it as lacking, but I assume that programs that say this genuinely are seeking to grow. Is that a bad thing, or is it too risky?

everyone wants to genuinely grow, but their ability to do so should be questioned. 

There could be unexpected budget cuts, the dean doesn't approve, committee cannot agree on a candidate, etc. Nothing is guaranteed in academia.

[midweststudent]

14 minutes ago, yaygrad said:

everyone wants to genuinely grow, but their ability to do so should be questioned. 

There could be unexpected budget cuts, the dean doesn't approve, committee cannot agree on a candidate, etc. Nothing is guaranteed in academia.

Of course. The difference is whether or not they are hoping or are already in the works/confirmed (to the degree of confirmation actually possible in academia).

[midweststudent]

Just now, yaygrad said:

I still would not take their word. A friend who is already in a program was told that they would replace someone who left and had something  in the works. Nothing happened. Some people are honest at prospective weekend some are not.

Very true. 

[IndEnth]

Question: to how many open houses are you planning to go? I so far am planning on three, but still waiting on notifications. Would be terribly awkward if I had to drop a uni I sort of already committed to because a better one invites me too...

Edited February 18, 2016 by IndEnth

[Determinedandnervous]

3 minutes ago, IndEnth said:

Question: to how many open houses are you planning to go? I so far am planning on three, but still waiting on notifications. Would be terribly awkward if I had to drop a uni I sort of already committed to because a better one invites me too...

I am also planning on going to three, and I would say only drop one if you absolutely have to or if there's a scheduling conflict.

[CarefreeWritingsontheWall]

I agree with everyone's comments related to why a department has every incentive to say they intend to grow, but I still think the question is worth bringing up for a few reasons. First, it segues into a discussion of what the hiring process for the department looks like, wherein you can ask how many people they've hired in recent years and if that trend can reasonably be expected to continue. It also leaves the door open to talk about funding issues, especially if you know state level legislation has been hard on a university recently. You can talk about the vision they have for the future in terms of who to hire etc. - if this is divergent across professors, this may speak to potential conflicts over the goals of the department and hiring committee issues. I think this discussion can speak as much to the issue of fit, but more so collegiality. Having attended an institution that was hit incredibly hard by budget cuts during my time here, I feel like these are important discussions to have for many reasons.

I would also have up front discussions with current graduate students about whether the people you want to work with are leaving or are planning on leaving - I found that at one program, the two main people I want to work with are leaving, it's just not a publicized fact. These also happen to be the only two people work in my field of interest substantively and methodologically...In speaking to other professors in the department about my concerns, they were all up front about only one of these departures as they had already signed a contract elsewhere. Not one guaranteed those people would be replaced but the effort would be made. We then had discussions about the potential of working with people who do not work on issues directly related to my field of interest, but share a genuine theoretical and ontological viewpoint, and the pros and cons of such a fit when no one has a substantial interest in common with mine.

This is another aspect of going with your eyes wide open, and again I don't think there is reason to believe that these people will lie. If the person you want to work with is leaving, then why have you attend? They can make a case in that situation (as this other program certainly has to me) but this pitch (if it's a good one) shouldn't rely on the "oh don't worry we're replacing these people next year with a search committee." If it does, then keep asking questions about what that process might look like. Given the responses you'll receive, I'm sure you can make a judgement as to whether their statements are credible or not.

 

[ezra123]

Anyone claiming Harvard admit?

[s1994]

Someone got an informal offer from Harvard. Congrats.

 

Also, can you tell us how did you get informed? Phone? Email? Did your POI tell you if all admitted students will also be notified in the next few days informally? Thanks 

Edited February 18, 2016 by s1994