2017 Applications Thread

[kirbs005]

On 12/4/2016 at 4:37 AM, DBear said:

Thanks for sharing! I noticed that you're not applying for Comm Arts at Madison, can I ask why not? I know some programs encourage students to pursue studies in other schools as MA to phd curriculum doesn't really change too much. 

 

Yes, mostly just because my professors encouraged me to look elsewhere (at least for an MA). Also- since it's such a top program it's been a long time since they've accepted someone within the department on the rhetoric side. Perhaps I'll look into going back once I'm done with an MA, because I do really like a lot of the professors, the school and the town. That being said I've been in Madison for 6 years and my partner and I are looking for a change of pace as well.  

[DBear]

On 2016. 11. 12. at 2:28 PM, Satynne said:

Yeah they had a December deadline :/

More than a month after I emailed them, UCSD replied confirming the Jan 13th deadline. I'm not planning on applying anymore but if anyone is still considering UC San Diego, you've got over a month left

[DBear]

On 2016. 12. 6. at 0:29 AM, kirbs005 said:

Yes, mostly just because my professors encouraged me to look elsewhere (at least for an MA). Also- since it's such a top program it's been a long time since they've accepted someone within the department on the rhetoric side. Perhaps I'll look into going back once I'm done with an MA, because I do really like a lot of the professors, the school and the town. That being said I've been in Madison for 6 years and my partner and I are looking for a change of pace as well.  

Thank you! That sounds like a good plan - I know that there's only so long one can stay in the same school - good luck on finding new perspectives outside Madison  hopefully I'll get in and then have lots of questions about what the school/ city are like! 

[GeekGirl94]

Hey , How do we get to know if your additional material (LOR, Scores etc) have been received by UMASS Graduate school ?

Do we receive emails on upload of LOR ? Because I havent received any yet.

[DBear]

On 2016. 12. 11. at 0:03 AM, GeekGirl94 said:

Hey , How do we get to know if your additional material (LOR, Scores etc) have been received by UMASS Graduate school ?

Do we receive emails on upload of LOR ? Because I havent received any yet.

I found that most schools don't send notices regarding receipt of Letters - at least for the schools that I've applied for. 

For UMass, I'm not sure what happens because by the time I got the login id to track the application status, two of my letter writers had already uploaded their letters, so perhaps if they'd uploaded them later, then I would've gotten a notification. 

I also noticed that some schools don't have one simple button you can press to resend invitations or reminders, which is a pain.... 

[hnm1231]

Tomorrow's another big deadline day!  This thread still seems to be very peaceful despite the impending due dates...

[DBear]

5 hours ago, hnm1231 said:

Tomorrow's another big deadline day!  This thread still seems to be very peaceful despite the impending due dates...

 

I'm too busy stalking and nagging one of my LoR writers lol Everything else is done!

Good luck everyone!

[Chasing_Shadows]

How are you guys doing now that December 15th deadline is over?

[lundydydydy]

Anyone applying health comm? Well, I earned my masters in public health, but my BA was in mass comm.. I'm not sure if applying phd in comm is a good idea or not.. 

So far I got 5 applications in: U Miami, Texas AM, George Mason, Rutgers, and U Utah. Should I apply more programs? Or should I apply tsome master programs?  

[heyyDW]

Hey Lundy, have you looked at Ohio University? I know a few health comm scholars who came out of that program who are doing very interesting work and enjoyed the experience. 

I think your background will suit you just fine for what you want to study, but of course it'd probably be best to shoot the DGS at the programs you're looking at to get their perspective.

I have two applications in and four more (2 of which are American Studies) coming in January (UNL, LSU for Communication Studies and BGSU and U of Iowa for American studies). Good luck everyone. Whatever comes of this process, I've certainly learned to articulate my interests better and read between the lines of doctoral program websites...

[anothergradapplicant]

9 hours ago, lundydydydy said:

Anyone applying health comm? Well, I earned my masters in public health, but my BA was in mass comm.. I'm not sure if applying phd in comm is a good idea or not.. 

So far I got 5 applications in: U Miami, Texas AM, George Mason, Rutgers, and U Utah. Should I apply more programs? Or should I apply tsome master programs?  

Health comm people looooove MPHs as far as I understand.

 

[lundydydydy]

20 hours ago, anothergradapplicant said:

Health comm people looooove MPHs as far as I understand.

 

 

OMG!!!! That's a relieve!!! Thx!!!

[lundydydydy]

On 2016/12/18 at 5:47 PM, heyyDW said:

Hey Lundy, have you looked at Ohio University? I know a few health comm scholars who came out of that program who are doing very interesting work and enjoyed the experience. 

I think your background will suit you just fine for what you want to study, but of course it'd probably be best to shoot the DGS at the programs you're looking at to get their perspective.

I have two applications in and four more (2 of which are American Studies) coming in January (UNL, LSU for Communication Studies and BGSU and U of Iowa for American studies). Good luck everyone. Whatever comes of this process, I've certainly learned to articulate my interests better and read between the lines of doctoral program websites...

 

Huh.. never thought about Ohio, I'll check it out.

Right now im kinda just looking around and wondering if I should apply more or not.. But yea! Good luck everyone!!! 

[phdthoughts]

On 12/19/2016 at 7:24 PM, lundydydydy said:

Huh.. never thought about Ohio, I'll check it out.

Right now im kinda just looking around and wondering if I should apply more or not.. But yea! Good luck everyone!!! 

I applied to Ohio, but it's further down on my list due to research fit. One of my letter writers went there and it has a good reputation.

[ejpril88]

Hi guys, I've sent my applications to Purdue, Chicago, Madison, Seattle, Davis and Santa Barbara. I will send one more to Minneapolis in the next 5-6 days and then the waiting game starts. Argh I just want to fall asleep and wake up in the end of February. I am so scared that I won't get admitted anywhere.  

Edited December 25, 2016 by ejpril88

[phdthoughts]

16 hours ago, ejpril88 said:

Hi guys, I've sent my applications to Purdue, Chicago, Madison, Seattle, Davis and Santa Barbara. I will send one more to Minneapolis in the next 5-6 days and then the waiting game starts. Argh I just want to fall asleep and wake up in the end of February. I am so scared that I won't get admitted anywhere.  

Good luck! You're in good company with the others on this thread- waiting to get through the next few months. I'm curious what everyone's concentrations are here since comm is such a broad field. I was initially interested in Davis, but they seem so narrowly focused on technology.

Edited December 26, 2016 by phdthoughts

[av2010]

On 11/10/2016 at 8:41 AM, DBear said:

So, it's already November and I'm thinking everyone's list of schools is close to done and the application process is  underway.. 

I was wondering how many programs people are applying to.... My list has shrunk to 8 and I don't know if I'm taking too big a risk with too few schools. 

I've been of the opinion that applying to fewer programs will allow me to put more work into my preparation, but then everyone around me applying for grad school (all in English, though) is applying to at least a dozen schools. 

I've got U Penn, Temple, U Illinois Urbana Champaign, U Wisconsin Madison, U Iowa, Ohio U, U Mass Amherst and Bowling Green on my list, and Bowling Green is hanging on by a thread... Apart from Urbana Champaign, I'll be applying for the phd program. Urbana Champaign won't let me apply for the phd program because my MA is in English.. 

This thread seems a bit quiet but I'll put this out there anyway... 

I'm only applying to 3..I have been worried about not applying to more (only PhDs though).  I had a longer list, but I'm only applying to places that I know I have a shot getting into and would actually go to based upon faculty research, etc.  That just happened to be 3 places.  My advisor and master's professors worked together to come up with a list of about 6 schools they thought would be a good fit, and then I narrowed down from there.

[kirbs005]

22 hours ago, ejpril88 said:

Hi guys, I've sent my applications to Purdue, Chicago, Madison, Seattle, Davis and Santa Barbara. I will send one more to Minneapolis in the next 5-6 days and then the waiting game starts. Argh I just want to fall asleep and wake up in the end of February. I am so scared that I won't get admitted anywhere.  

Good Luck! I feel the same. I ended up applying to 12 schools, 3 PhD, 9 MAs (more than I initially thought I would, but kept finding good fits) so I'm hoping I hear at least a little good news. But waiting is the worst. I got my first rejection on Friday, wasn't expecting to hear back so soon so I was caught off guard. Wasn't expecting to get into the program but still not a good start for my psyche. 

5 hours ago, phdthoughts said:

I'm curious what everyone's concentrations are here since comm is such a broad field. 

I'm a rhetoric person so I split time on this and the Literature, Rhet/Comp boards. You?

[phdthoughts]

4 hours ago, kirbs005 said:

Good Luck! I feel the same. I ended up applying to 12 schools, 3 PhD, 9 MAs (more than I initially thought I would, but kept finding good fits) so I'm hoping I hear at least a little good news. But waiting is the worst. I got my first rejection on Friday, wasn't expecting to hear back so soon so I was caught off guard. Wasn't expecting to get into the program but still not a good start for my psyche. 

I'm a rhetoric person so I split time on this and the Literature, Rhet/Comp boards. You?

Interpersonal Communication/Relationships mostly. My thesis topic ended up being a bit niche within that though.

[hnm1231]

17 hours ago, phdthoughts said:

 I'm curious what everyone's concentrations are here since comm is such a broad field. I was initially interested in Davis, but they seem so narrowly focused on technology.

1

I'm actually focusing on language, technology, social media, etc. so Davis looks like it would be a pretty good fit

 

7 hours ago, phdthoughts said:

I got my first rejection on Friday, wasn't expecting to hear back so soon so I was caught off guard. Wasn't expecting to get into the program but still not a good start for my psyche. 

 

Ah, I'm so sorry  I didn't think schools would even start making decisions until January at the very earliest...

[Chasing_Shadows]

19 hours ago, phdthoughts said:

I'm curious what everyone's concentrations are here since comm is such a broad field.

My focus is in participatory/fan culture and television studies, so it's actually more media/cultural studies than comm studies. UW-Madison's Media and Culture track is the best fit out of all schools I am applying to this year.

Good luck and loads of patience to everyone! These next few months are gonna be rough...

 

[phdthoughts]

7 hours ago, hnm1231 said:

I'm actually focusing on language, technology, social media, etc. so Davis looks like it would be a pretty good fit

 

Ah, I'm so sorry  I didn't think schools would even start making decisions until January at the very earliest...

 

2 hours ago, Nika Teneo said:

My focus is in participatory/fan culture and television studies, so it's actually more media/cultural studies than comm studies. UW-Madison's Media and Culture track is the best fit out of all schools I am applying to this year.

Good luck and loads of patience to everyone! These next few months are gonna be rough...

 

Nice - UW-Madison looked like it would be a great fit for that. Yes! Good luck to everyone as well - nice to know we are in the same boat at least.

[ejpril88]

My focus is on LGBT representation in the media, to be more precise - how does western media treat gays and lesbians compared to eastern media. I am originally from Serbia and you guys wouldn't believe what television and news websites do over there when it comes to disrespecting sexual minorities. Two of my best friends are gay so I'm interested in the topic but at the same time I am really worried I don't fit anywhere. I didn't find any faculty members whose research is in the same field. Some of them are focused on sexuality, but mostly on feminism and similar topics. As the time goes by I'm getting more and more worried, thinking I should have chosen another topic.

[DBear]

My focus is on identity construction in a globalized world and issues of citizenship. How do people who live globalized lives (expats, migrant workers etc) define themselves and how are they defined by their home and host countries? Thus, I've applied for programs that have faculty who research globalization, subjectivity, identity etc. Mostly rhetoric and culture... 

@phdthoughts I noticed that I've applied for 3 out of 4 of the schools on your list! I have U Iowa, Ohio U, U Mass-Amherst (and U Penn, U Wis-Mad, Bowling Green, and Temple)

At this point, I'm not even sure I belong in Communication studies, gah.. 

 

@Nika Teneo I wanted to do fandoms for a while, too! I was writing a paper on Buffy the Vampire Slayer last semester and the fandom is absolutely fascinating!

@kirbs005 argh.. sorry to hear that.. I can't believe that you already heard back, though. Was the deadline super early? I was set on not hearing anything til Jan and then saw your post and am honestly freaking out... hopefully the rest will be acceptances for you!!!

Good luck everyone!!! It's already less than a week till the Jan 1&2 deadlines.. there's an end in sight!

Edited December 28, 2016 by DBear
Forgot something, oops, my bad

[DBear]

On 2016. 12. 27. at 1:29 AM, av2010 said:

I'm only applying to 3..I have been worried about not applying to more (only PhDs though).  I had a longer list, but I'm only applying to places that I know I have a shot getting into and would actually go to based upon faculty research, etc.  That just happened to be 3 places.  My advisor and master's professors worked together to come up with a list of about 6 schools they thought would be a good fit, and then I narrowed down from there.

It's great that your professors worked with you on the list - I'm coming from an MA in English Lit so none of my professors really knew anything about Comm programs. I ended up starting from a list of nearly 100 schools and narrowing it down from there. I ended up with 7 based on what I could gather about the faculty. I didn't really worry about whether I had a shot or not because there seems to be way too many factors that impact this. So as long as there were at least 2 professors I really wanted to work with, I applied. How did you assess whether you "have a shot"? I'm actually really curious about this as a new comer. Is it based on GPA/ GRE? your subject matter? Gah.. I feel like a fish out of water..