2017 Applications Thread

[ejpril88]

DBear same here My draft list had around 50 programs, then I narrowed it down to 14 and finally to 7. I had the same criteria - as long as I found 2 members of faculty who I would like to work with, I applied. Not sure how can I know if I'm a good fit :-/

[kirbs005]

4 hours ago, DBear said:

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!

It was a Dec 1st deadline, I think they just were trying to get it done before the Holidays. I know 2 rhetoric programs have notifified already but I think most will be coming in January. We'll see how it goes. And again, wasn't expecting to get into the program, but was just surprised to hear back so soon.

[Chasing_Shadows]

2 hours ago, DBear said:

 

@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!

One of the big research projects I did in my senior year was on fandom dynamics. I was pretty involved with fandom at the time, and knew a lot as an insider, so I absolutely loved working on it (that paper ended up being nearly 8,000 words ). That project is actually what pushed me to reconsider polisci for grad school.

8 hours ago, ejpril88 said:

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.

Your topic sounds fascinating. I come from a country that is really conservative as well, especially when it comes to LGBT minorities, so I can definitely see why you want to focus on that.

And about fit: I have similar reservations sometimes. My subfield is relatively young and, although it's growing and has a lot of research potential, the programs with a really good fit are few and far between. When I talked with my undergrad professors, they told me that picking a more conventional topic will probably be better, at least in terms of choices I'll have. But hey, grad school is largely a lottery anyway, so I stuck with my choice 

That said, waiting jitters are hell. I am second-guessing everything I submitted, how do people do this for months, it's not even January!

[DBear]

2 minutes ago, Nika Teneo said:

 

That said, waiting jitters are hell. I am second-guessing everything I submitted, how do people do this for months, it's not even January!

Good news! It'll be Jan in less than a week!! I thought Dec would drag on but luckily have been busy and Dec flew by... Hoping Jan will do the same.

 

I actually remember seeing a few faculty explicitly dealing with fandoms during my research, one professor even mentioned Buffy! What fandom were you active in @Nika Teneo, if you don't mind my asking?

The great thing about Communication that I've found so far is that there's so much more flexibility in choosing topics and methodologies. I was talking with a current student at U of Iowa today and he was saying how interdisciplinary it was etc. So even if there is no one that deals specifically with fandoms, or in @ejpril88's case, LGBT representation, these issues all fall under the umbrella of communication, so I think we should be good! At least I really hope so because the specifics of my topic are also not that common... :/

[Chasing_Shadows]

Just now, DBear said:

I actually remember seeing a few faculty explicitly dealing with fandoms during my research, one professor even mentioned Buffy! What fandom were you active in @Nika Teneo, if you don't mind my asking?

If you can direct me towards those faculty members you mentioned, that would be super great  Knowing more folks in your subfield is always useful.

There's been quite a few fandoms I was interested in over the years, but the one I ended up doing research in was Teen Wolf.  That fandom grew so fast and had a lot of media exposure, I thought it would be super fun to explore it from academic perspective.

Just now, DBear said:

The great thing about Communication that I've found so far is that there's so much more flexibility in choosing topics and methodologies.

That's very true, so hopefully that versatility will work to our advantage 

[ejpril88]

We will survive this, guys think happy thoughts! I visited Madison today, I had some free time and it's a two and a half hour drive from Chicago, where I live. The town looks really nice, although it was pretty much empty since it's winter break. I could imagine myself living there.

[av2010]

On 12/28/2016 at 6:51 AM, DBear said:

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.. 

Truthfully, it was my professors who determined this for me.  Because communication is such a small discipline they know several people and are familiar with the strength and direction of programs.  They compiled a list for me of schools that were probably attainable, and then those that were a stretch, but could potentially be.  I had more interests in some other schools but they provided me with their honest opinion on the quality of the program at this point in time based upon who was there, who would be leaving soon, etc.  I was sort of just shooting in the dark being on my own doing the search, so I can see how not coming from a comm background would be difficult.  It was best to listen to their recommendations, and adapt accordingly.  

In terms of knowing where I had a shot, I think there was clear choices that were completely out of reach for me.  As with any discipline there are top programs (your Michigan State's, Wisconsin-Madison, USC), and then some programs that are still good, but not completely out of reach to the slightly above average applicant.  My research background isn't as strong as I would like because my Master's institution was not a heavy research school, so that put a lot of the schools who want a great deal of research output out of reach.  I based a lot of it on fit.  I of course wanted to make sure there were people I would want to work with there, but I also didn't apply to schools where I know my area of interest didn't fit in well with their focus.  For example, I study interpersonal comm, but I work primarily in romantic relationships.  Therefore, I didn't focus on schools whose interpersonal programs were very health comm driven.  It came from just really narrowing down not only what I wanted, but what I didn't want as well.  

[av2010]

On 12/26/2016 at 7:47 AM, phdthoughts said:

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.

I'm focusing on interpersonal communication, mostly in the integrations of technology and romantic relationships.  I look at how couples use technology to communicate about sex and to better their sexual relationship, as well as question the resiliency of social penetration theory and expectancy violations theory in initial interactions of flirting, given changes in technology and a more openly sexual culture. 

[phdthoughts]

@av2010 sounds like an interesting research area - lots of angles to investigate.

[gradswag]

53 minutes ago, av2010 said:

I'm focusing on interpersonal communication, mostly in the integrations of technology and romantic relationships.  I look at how couples use technology to communicate about sex and to better their sexual relationship, as well as question the resiliency of social penetration theory and expectancy violations theory in initial interactions of flirting, given changes in technology and a more openly sexual culture. 

I was going to mention that you should apply to UConn, you would be a perfect research fit for Amanda Denes. I am glad to see you already are applying there! Good luck!

[av2010]

3 hours ago, gradswag said:

I was going to mention that you should apply to UConn, you would be a perfect research fit for Amanda Denes. I am glad to see you already are applying there! Good luck!

Yes, I think she would be a really good match for me, I really liked her when I met her as well.

[DBear]

@av2010 Oh wow, I wish I had those resources! That being said, I do feel like ignorance is bliss, having finished this process in a vacuum made it easier for me in some sense because I had less factors to consider. Hopefully my hopes of getting accepted won't be completely off base. 

 

@Nika Teneo I'll see if I can find the professors - the schools I saw these people at ended up on my "no" list

[av2010]

4 hours ago, DBear said:

@av2010 Oh wow, I wish I had those resources! That being said, I do feel like ignorance is bliss, having finished this process in a vacuum made it easier for me in some sense because I had less factors to consider. Hopefully my hopes of getting accepted won't be completely off base. 

 

@Nika Teneo I'll see if I can find the professors - the schools I saw these people at ended up on my "no" list

Yes, none of us know what is going to happen. We have entered the freak out/waiting/obsessing phase! 

[ejpril88]

av2010 wow, lucky you! You must be American, right? I am from Serbia and I didn't have any help from my professors (not to mention one of them hardly knew how to send the LOR). Also, in my country students do their own research only on doctoral level, not before that. So BA and MA were just repeating what someone else wrote (sometimes even centuries ago). Now I'm even more scared I won't get admitted anywhere

[av2010]

4 minutes ago, ejpril88 said:

av2010 wow, lucky you! You must be American, right? I am from Serbia and I didn't have any help from my professors (not to mention one of them hardly knew how to send the LOR). Also, in my country students do their own research only on doctoral level, not before that. So BA and MA were just repeating what someone else wrote (sometimes even centuries ago). Now I'm even more scared I won't get admitted anywhere

Yes, I am American so I'm fortunate.  Honestly, who knows-certainly none of us know what they are really going to be looking for until we get our acceptances or rejections.  I've also been told by my professors that it sometimes isn't just about your qualifications, but they decide how many within in each research area they are going to take.  For example, if they already have a great deal of interpersonal students in their current cohorts they may not take any, or only one interpersonal applicant.  So, it sometimes is that you may be qualified and would have normally been admitted, but it just doesn't fit with their current needs.  There are so many elements and layers that it is seemingly impossible to know until they have made their decisions.  This just makes the anxiety and frustration even greater for us!

[ejpril88]

Good point. I guess all we can do is wait. I moved to Chicago 9 months ago and I confirmed my previous belief that American education system is much better than Serbian.

[av2010]

@DBear what made you decide to switch from English to Comm?

[DBear]

@av2010 I double majored in Lit and Poli Sci in undergrad and got my MA in Environmental policy and worked for a while in the field and returned to grad school to get my MA in English Literature thinking that's what I wanted to do. I realized then that I was more interested in context rather than the text itself. Compared to my peers, I also found I was more of a social science person than a lit critic. After a lot of soul searching and research, I found that the type of research and analysis I was interested in was coming out of Communication. At first, I thought I'd do what you did and split my applications between English and Communication, but the more I looked into the different programs, I found that Comm was a better fit. So while I'm happy I found programs and faculty that I'm excited about, this whole happenstance type process I've gone through has left me a bit unsure about what ad comms will think of me and my random looking background..... 

[av2010]

37 minutes ago, DBear said:

@av2010 I double majored in Lit and Poli Sci in undergrad and got my MA in Environmental policy and worked for a while in the field and returned to grad school to get my MA in English Literature thinking that's what I wanted to do. I realized then that I was more interested in context rather than the text itself. Compared to my peers, I also found I was more of a social science person than a lit critic. After a lot of soul searching and research, I found that the type of research and analysis I was interested in was coming out of Communication. At first, I thought I'd do what you did and split my applications between English and Communication, but the more I looked into the different programs, I found that Comm was a better fit. So while I'm happy I found programs and faculty that I'm excited about, this whole happenstance type process I've gone through has left me a bit unsure about what ad comms will think of me and my random looking background..... 

I think as long as you clearly explained your journey and how you got there in your SOP you are probably okay! 

[2017Hopeful]

This is my first post on the site, but I've found some really helpful information from others going through the process of applying to programs. (Mainly, it helps to see others voicing similar fears and inadequacies that I find myself facing during this process. Personally, I feel like a leaf in a windstorm. I have no clue what I'm doing and don't have many people to ask for help or guidance because I've been out of school for a few years, my GRE's quantitative score is abysmally low, and all the programs I'm applying to are way out of my league. Don't even get me started on whether I'll be able to afford PhD school, in the event that I am somehow accepted, after looking at rent in some of the cities! )

Now that it's January, I can already feel a different level of stress. At least when it was December I didn't think I would hear back from any program (especially since two applications aren't even due until later this month); thus, I was living in a blissful state of "well, I won't be rejected yet." But now that January is upon us, I can tell my anxiety will be at a new high. How's everyone else doing?

[DBear]

12 hours ago, 2017Hopeful said:

This is my first post on the site, but I've found some really helpful information from others going through the process of applying to programs. (Mainly, it helps to see others voicing similar fears and inadequacies that I find myself facing during this process. Personally, I feel like a leaf in a windstorm. I have no clue what I'm doing and don't have many people to ask for help or guidance because I've been out of school for a few years, my GRE's quantitative score is abysmally low, and all the programs I'm applying to are way out of my league. Don't even get me started on whether I'll be able to afford PhD school, in the event that I am somehow accepted, after looking at rent in some of the cities! )

Now that it's January, I can already feel a different level of stress. At least when it was December I didn't think I would hear back from any program (especially since two applications aren't even due until later this month); thus, I was living in a blissful state of "well, I won't be rejected yet." But now that January is upon us, I can tell my anxiety will be at a new high. How's everyone else doing?

Welcome! I so know what you feel about the level of stress shooting up with January. I was actually feeling pretty relaxed around the end of December knowing that nothing would be happening most likely. I just realized that it's the first working day of Jan soon (I'm in a time zone that's ahead by almost a day) and feeling really anxious. How low is abysmally low, though? My quant score didn't even reach the 40% percentile. I took the test twice because the first time, I scored 143 quant and that wasn't even 15%. From what I've seen so far, GRE averages weren't as high as I expected so that made me feel a lot better. 

I think at this point, we're all feeling a bit inadequate.. Sometimes I feel pretty confident but most days, I feel like I have the worst application portfolio EVER in the history of grad schools. 

 

@av2010 Thanks for that, I really worked hard to get my story to look coherent and relevant.. we'll see!

[ejpril88]

I feel the same about January, although I don't expect any decisions before February. Then again, who knows...

[2017Hopeful]

11 hours ago, DBear said:

How low is abysmally low, though? My quant score didn't even reach the 40% percentile.

 

I'm in the same boat. I scored a 150, which is 39%. I apologize for the use of "abysmal." That was selfish. I think I'm just used to doing pretty well in math, and it stings to see such a low percentile. However, I keep telling myself that quantitative is the least important of the three scores for what I'm interested in and that we're all up against potential math, engineering, etc. graduate students who really know their stuff. Plus, I haven't been in a math course since I took statistics my sophomore year of college. That was eight years ago... My verbal was 164 (94%) and my writing was 5.0 (93%), so I'm hoping that balances the quant score a bit. (Honestly, I was surprised about the writing score. I didn't finish either of my essays--I literally had a half-written sentence in my first essay because I didn't get to edit it and my second essay had no conclusion and no editing--because the time kept throwing me.)

People keep saying that GRE scores aren't super important in comm studies... I'm hoping that's the case.

33 minutes ago, ejpril88 said:

I feel the same about January, although I don't expect any decisions before February. Then again, who knows...

I think two of my schools (University of Nebraska and University of Texas-Austin) notify in January. (That's based on the "results" page from previous years.) The others I applied to should notify in February or March.

[av2010]

@2017Hopeful I'm not expecting any decisions to be made AT LEAST till the end of February, probably later.  I had concern about one of my letters not getting in one time and I was told by several schools that they won't even be having their first meeting to discuss until at least mid-January.  I wish it would be sooner, I'm hopeful that it will be, though not expecting it.

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

Hey everyone,

I posted over in the anthro forums, but since I applied to a comm program too, thought I'd pop in here and introduce myself.

I come from a B.A. and (soon to be) M.A. in Anthropology. My research interests include online communities and communication, the interaction of digital and physical environments, geek culture and fandoms, philanthropy and altruism, and digital ethnography. After speaking with a few professors at various campuses, they suggested I also apply to the Comm program at USC Annenberg (and the Comparative Media M.S. at MIT) in addition to the three anthro programs I applied to. 

Currently freaking out a bit waiting for any word back, but it's the excited type of freaking out, haha. I only went through the posts here briefly, so I didn't see if anyone else applied to USC. If you did, hi! And nice to meet you all.