2016 Rejection/Plan B Thread

[acdc]

9 minutes ago, ABrown said:

Just got my rejection from U Chicago for the PhD program.  They did think that my application was strong enough to be recommend to their Master of Arts Program in the Humanities; however, I don't think that this program has a lot of funding or fellowships available.

Same.

[pecado]

14 minutes ago, ABrown said:

Just got my rejection from U Chicago for the PhD program.  They did think that my application was strong enough to be recommend to their Master of Arts Program in the Humanities; however, I don't think that this program has a lot of funding or fellowships available.

 

4 minutes ago, acdc said:

Same.

Hello, how did you get your rejection notices from Chicago? Do you think you all got it at the same time? If one has not received an email yet, and the application website says nothing, what does that mean?

Do you think they are sending first the rejections recommended to the Master, and they will send later the non recommended rejections? Or do you think there may be a chance they are still considering some people?

Also, have you noted that all the accepted candidates are international only?

[MVSCZAR]

2 minutes ago, pecado said:

 

Hello, how did you get your rejection notices from Chicago? Do you think you all got it at the same time? If one has not received an email yet, and the application website says nothing, what does that mean?

Do you think they are sending first the rejections recommended to the Master, and they will send later the non recommended rejections? Or do you think there may be a chance they are still considering some people?

Also, have you noted that all the accepted candidates are international only?

I think they're just notifying the people they've recommended for the MA program. I haven't gotten a rejection either, and I thought they'd at least recommend me for the MA, so now I'm feeling doubly rejected lol. 

[ABrown]

1 minute ago, pecado said:

Hello, how did you get your rejection notices from Chicago? Do you think you all got it at the same time? If one has not received an email yet, and the application website says nothing, what does that mean?

Do you think they are sending first the rejections recommended to the Master, and they will send later the non recommended rejections? Or do you think there may be a chance they are still considering some people?

Also, have you noted that all the accepted candidates are international only?

I think there were at least a couple of rejections with MAPH recommendations sent out at the same time.  I got mine around the same time that at least two others were posted on grad cafe. It seems like Chicago likes to notify everyone at once, so I would speculate that the rejections with MAPH recommendations have all been sent out.  Just a guess though.

[acdc]

13 minutes ago, pecado said:

Hello, how did you get your rejection notices from Chicago?

Email.

14 minutes ago, pecado said:

Do you think they are sending first the rejections recommended to the Master, and they will send later the non recommended rejections? Or do you think there may be a chance they are still considering some people?

Probably mass-emailed to all rejections with MAPH recommendations at once.

[Schwarzwald]

Presuming rejection from FSU. Feels good to finally have a legitimate reason to be lurking in this thread everyday.

[Cogitodoncrien]

24 minutes ago, acdc said:

Email.

Probably mass-emailed to all rejections with MAPH recommendations at once.

I was rejected with referral to the MAPH program.  If you look at past survey results, it seems that the email for unqualified rejections directs applicants to the website.  The email that I received, and that I presume everyone else who was referred to MAPH received, just explained everything in the body of the email.

Edited February 11, 2016 by Cogitodoncrien
Left out conclusion

[MVSCZAR]

7 minutes ago, Cogitodoncrien said:

I was rejected with referral to the MAPH program.  If you look at past survey results, it seems that the email for unqualified rejections directs applicants to the website.

What does you application page say? Mine doesn't say anything. :/ 

[Cogitodoncrien]

1 minute ago, MVSCZAR said:

What does you application page say? Mine doesn't say anything. :/ 

It still just says "Submitted".  Whether that's strange or not is not for me to say...

[Erratic_Akratic]

1 hour ago, pecado said:

 

Do you think they are sending first the rejections recommended to the Master, and they will send later the non recommended rejections? Or do you think there may be a chance they are still considering some people?

Also, have you noted that all the accepted candidates are international only?

Unfortunately, I am certain Chicago has already extended all their admittances. I talked with a faculty today who made it clear all students admitted had already been contacted. 

I'm sure some admitted students are Americans (they just didn't post it here), but Chicago is reputed to have a very international grad community. So the disproportion is still not all that surprising. 

I was referred to the MAPH two years ago. As much as wanted to attend Chicago back then, there just isn't any funding at all! (By contrast, if you get referred to the MA in social science by the Committee on Social Thought, you stand a chance of getting at least 50% tuition remission). Either way, though, MAs at Chicago aren't really a viable option for most grad hopefuls like us! Smaller, less prestigious terminal MA programs would probably make you a more competitive application in philosophy PhD anyways...  

[ABrown]

38 minutes ago, Erratic_Akratic said:

I was referred to the MAPH two years ago. As much as wanted to attend Chicago back then, there just isn't any funding at all! (By contrast, if you get referred to the MA in social science by the Committee on Social Thought, you stand a chance of getting at least 50% tuition remission). Either way, though, MAs at Chicago aren't really a viable option for most grad hopefuls like us! Smaller, less prestigious terminal MA programs would probably make you a more competitive application in philosophy PhD anyways...  

With fees, I would expect the cost for MAPH to be just slightly over $50,000 for the year long program.  Even at 50% tuition remission, that is still way too much money to spend on a maters degree in the humanities.  Add probably $10,000 for day-to-day living expenses throughout that year, and suddenly you've just sunk $35,000 into a masters degree!

[MVSCZAR]

3 minutes ago, ABrown said:

With fees, I would expect the cost for MAPH to be just slightly over $50,000 for the year long program.  Even at 50% tuition remission, that is still way too much money to spend on a maters degree in the humanities.  Add probably $10,000 for day-to-day living expenses throughout that year, and suddenly you've just sunk $35,000 into a masters degree!

That 10k for day to day expenses seems like a conservative estimate. At the very least, everyone referred can feel a little better knowing they got referred somewhere. I wonder what the placement is like for a program like that. 

[ABrown]

8 minutes ago, MVSCZAR said:

That 10k for day to day expenses seems like a conservative estimate.

Yeah, you're probably right.  I've been spoiled by the low cost of living here in Pittsburgh for the past couple of years.

[Siegfried42]

Claiming another rejection/MAPH referral. Kind of disappointed because I thought the department would've been a great match, but thankfully I now have other acceptances to offset this

[pecado]

7 minutes ago, Siegfried42 said:

Claiming another rejection/MAPH referral. Kind of disappointed because I thought the department would've been a great match, but thankfully I now have other acceptances to offset this

May I know where?

[Siegfried42]

40 minutes ago, pecado said:

May I know where?

Sure, I got acceptances to UC Boulder (with fellowship nomination) and Illinois-Urbana yesterday. Hoping for some news from ND and Georgetown tomorrow, but am really happy to have these options and to know that I'll be studying philosophy over the coming years!

Unless of course you meant where I got rejected, lol, in which case: that was the U of Chicago

Edited February 12, 2016 by Siegfried42

[1Q84]

FWIW: my journey to my dream program has been a tumultuous one! I was rejected across the board two years in a row when I applied to MA programs straight out of undergrad (in Canada). I gave up hope on the grad school dream and took some crap jobs, went to teach overseas, grew as a person, did a teaching degree, etc. Then, tired of working food service jobs, I spent an entire year prepping, making sure that my WS and rest of my app would be up to date and speaking to what's going on in current lit scholarship, and applied again to US MA programs. Got in, and now, 8 years since that spate of world-crumbling rejections, I'm super happy to be where I am. 8 years might seem scary and not-comforting to those hoping to get into programs now. Despite occasionally wishing I had gotten through my Ph.D. program many years ago, I'm so glad I got to tajeke that long break. 

Anyway, it's great you all are being proactive and working on your Plan B's. I think the most important things are to not push getting into grad school if it's not the right time and also really giving yourself the time and space to have a singular focus on prepping your apps. 

[bechkafish]

Whoomp there it is. No surprise, but still.

[psm1580b]

Rejected from Chicago. Email to check website. Whelp... first official rejection. 

Also, I was not referred to the MAPH--those went out a couple days ago/yesterday. Possibly because I already have an MA.

[bechkafish]

1 minute ago, psm1580b said:

Rejected from Chicago. Email to check website. Whelp... first official rejection. 

Also, I was not referred to the MAPH--those went out a couple days ago/yesterday. Possibly because I already have an MA.

Same. We're doubly rejected. I choose to believe it's because we're overqualified.

[psm1580b]

Just now, bechkafish said:

Same. We're doubly rejected. I choose to believe it's because we're overqualified.

I mean, clearly. 

 

[MVSCZAR]

21 minutes ago, psm1580b said:

I mean, clearly. 

 

Obvs. They probably didn't want to accept me because they didn't want it to seem weird when they give me a job offer in a few years. 

Edited February 12, 2016 by MVSCZAR

[psm1580b]

2 minutes ago, MVSCZAR said:

Obvs. They probably didn't want to accept me because they didn't want it to seem weird when they give me a job offer in a few years. 

And I totally get that. Nothing but respect for Chicago. 

[bechkafish]

3 minutes ago, MVSCZAR said:

Obvs. They probably didn't want to accept me because they didn't want it to seem weird when they give me a job offer in a few years. 

I am out of upvotes for the day, but this is my favorite anything.

[majorshake]

Another DePaul interview has been posted. I'm guessing they sent them all out today, and so, based on how I haven't gotten one, I'm assuming a rejection. 

 

So far 3 rejections out of 6 applications. 

Starting to write a proposal for a non-american phd.