Fall 2017

[ESSpressO]

8 hours ago, pg17 said:

I actually just received an acceptance via email, but I didn't interview!

Thank you for sharing! Actually I got an admission a few hours after I posted the question O_o What a coincidence haha

[baddie]

What's up with UCLA? They seem relatively slower this year.. 

[fresh2death]

On 3/1/2017 at 5:21 PM, karak said:

Any0ne have any idea why Cornell has sent our rejections and not acceptances? Has anyone heard back from Cornell?

They only accept 2-3 students per year into the PhD program so, like the other poster said, I wouldn't be surprised if people don't know about this site or don't post on it. I am guessing they probably already sent out acceptances. 

[MaytheSchwartzBeWithYou]

On 3/4/2017 at 6:55 AM, baddie said:

What's up with UCLA? They seem relatively slower this year.. 

Yeah, they've sent out three acceptances, but I haven't seen any rejections this year. Last year it was late February, so I'm sure they'll be coming soon.

I also haven't heard anything from Bryn Mawr.

[skydancer]

Is anyone else finding that their priorities and even research interests have shifted due to the entire application process? In December, I wouldn't have dreamed of turning down the Courtauld, and now I'm leaning towards doing so and it's not even that hard of a decision. I just want more time, more potential paths of inquiry, and more a bit less financial risk. And to think that at the beginning of this process, it was probably my second choice!

Anyone else finding their decision making process going differently than expected?

[arboreal05]

1 hour ago, skydancer said:

Is anyone else finding that their priorities and even research interests have shifted due to the entire application process? In December, I wouldn't have dreamed of turning down the Courtauld, and now I'm leaning towards doing so and it's not even that hard of a decision. I just want more time, more potential paths of inquiry, and more a bit less financial risk. And to think that at the beginning of this process, it was probably my second choice!

Anyone else finding their decision making process going differently than expected?

I'm just feeling the magnitude of the choice! I have two great options, but neither was my first choice. And both have significant (but different) pros and cons. I want to make the right choice!

 

[skydancer]

10 minutes ago, arboreal05 said:

I'm just feeling the magnitude of the choice! I have two great options, but neither was my first choice. And both have significant (but different) pros and cons. I want to make the right choice!

 

It's such a huge decision! I've found that weighing significant but not insurmountable cons from both leading offers to be remarkably confusing.  It's the age-old conflict of good financial package and good academics vs ok finances and great academics.  I'm clearly leaning towards the latter option, but it feels quite risky.

[arboreal05]

5 hours ago, skydancer said:

It's such a huge decision! I've found that weighing significant but not insurmountable cons from both leading offers to be remarkably confusing.  It's the age-old conflict of good financial package and good academics vs ok finances and great academics.  I'm clearly leaning towards the latter option, but it feels quite risky.

My choice basically boils down to great advisor at School A and great scholarly environment in my field at School B. Which is hard because I don't know which to value over the other! 

[baddie]

As decision time is ahead of us, I was wondering how everyone feels about this ranking? 

https://web.archive.org/web/20120516074401/http://arthistorynewsletter.com/blog/?p=5204

Does it sound valid to you?

Edited March 8, 2017 by baddie

[techart]

Hey guys - 

 

It seems I've gotten a lot of rejections this year  does anyone know anything about following up with your professors at universities to figure out why? I interviewed at Duke but it seems like I must have done something incorrectly. Is it possible to ask them for feedback? Is this not recommened?

[skydancer]

13 minutes ago, techart said:

Hey guys - 

 

It seems I've gotten a lot of rejections this year  does anyone know anything about following up with your professors at universities to figure out why? I interviewed at Duke but it seems like I must have done something incorrectly. Is it possible to ask them for feedback? Is this not recommened?

You might not get a response from such an inquiry, but asking is certainly not prohibited.  I know of at least a few people who asked for recommendations to improve their application and who received constructive, helpful feedback.  They also received generic responses on 'fit' or other factors outside of their control.  Still, I have one friend who received specific feedback on her personal statement and how certain aspects of her application needed to be addressed, such as a shift in academic focus, or suggestions for a writing sample that better fit an intended course of study.  

Give yourself a couple days to process and cool off a bit (as in, make sure you're calm enough to not start crying on the phone when you receive criticism - this is an emotional time!), and reach out to see if you can talk about ways to improve your application for next year.

[MaytheSchwartzBeWithYou]

Congrats to the UCLA admit this morning!! :-D  May I ask if you were the person who posted being waitlisted?

I haven't heard anything from them and am just trying to gauge when I'll get notified either way. Thanks!

[Melatonin]

13 hours ago, baddie said:

As decision time is ahead of us, I was wondering how everyone feels about this ranking? 

https://web.archive.org/web/20120516074401/http://arthistorynewsletter.com/blog/?p=5204

Does it sound valid to you?

Not sure what bearing lists like this are supposed to have in anyone's decision making process, but on first glance, Hopkins seems much too low. MIT seems like it should be higher than Austin. Stanford should be higher than CUNY and Pitt, &c.

[techart]

35 minutes ago, Melatonin said:

Not sure what bearing lists like this are supposed to have in anyone's decision making process, but on first glance, Hopkins seems much too low. MIT seems like it should be higher than Austin. Stanford should be higher than CUNY and Pitt, &c.

 

Is the CUNY masters program at Hunter a good program? Or is it just the graduate center that's ranked highly?

Edited March 9, 2017 by techart

[techart]

11 hours ago, skydancer said:

You might not get a response from such an inquiry, but asking is certainly not prohibited.  I know of at least a few people who asked for recommendations to improve their application and who received constructive, helpful feedback.  They also received generic responses on 'fit' or other factors outside of their control.  Still, I have one friend who received specific feedback on her personal statement and how certain aspects of her application needed to be addressed, such as a shift in academic focus, or suggestions for a writing sample that better fit an intended course of study.  

Give yourself a couple days to process and cool off a bit (as in, make sure you're calm enough to not start crying on the phone when you receive criticism - this is an emotional time!), and reach out to see if you can talk about ways to improve your application for next year.

Thank you! I wonder...do you know if a lot of people try more than one time to apply to programs? Is this a common thing?

[pedestal]

1 hour ago, Melatonin said:

Not sure what bearing lists like this are supposed to have in anyone's decision making process, but on first glance, Hopkins seems much too low. MIT seems like it should be higher than Austin. Stanford should be higher than CUNY and Pitt, &c.

So many of these departments have restructured since 2011. It would be silly to read this list as reflective of the current state of things. Since 2011, Yale for example lost Alex Nemerov (now at Stanford), Christopher Wood (NYU), David Joselit (CUNY) and a handful of other untenured professors. Hopkins lost Michael Fried (retired), Herbert Kessler (retired) and Felipe Pereda (Harvard). The way the former two scholars shaped their respective fields can't be understated, and their students teach at a number of those 27 schools ranked above it on this list (Yale, Princeton, Chicago, Hopkins itself). That fact in and of itself calls the accuracy of this list into question, even in its own 2011 moment. It remains to be seen how a department like Hopkins or Yale will figure into our disciplinary future when things are changing so quickly. But the former has some bright junior faculty (Molly Warnock, Ünver Rüstem and what's certain to be a new placement in early modern), and the latter has enough money to land with its feet on the ground, although its unclear what exactly will happen in that regard.

Agree with Melatonin that MIT seems too low. Harvard seems too low, too, perversely. This list's top 10 doesn't seem totally inaccurate now, with the exception of UCLA (which I'd place a bit lower) and UNC (which I'd place decidedly lower.) A number of other schools lower down on the list might also easily compete for those top spots as well. MIT below Penn seems inaccurate; UT Austin below UNC seems inaccurate. Placement records attest to this. Field specificity is also important in certain cases. Look at how Asher's students at Minnesota have placed (Berkeley, Hopkins.) Or Saltzman at Bryn Mawr, who recently placed a student at Wisconsin--which is somehow ranked above CUNY (whose grads have been getting some really handsome post-docs recently) and Stanford, which now has Nemerov, Lee, Troy, Meyer and Pavle Levi--all of whom have placed their students well.

Edited March 9, 2017 by pedestal

[skydancer]

Does anyone have any experience contacting Williams to ask for an application update? They seem to send out rejections pretty late, and I just want to know now so I can hurry up and get uncomplicatedly excited about one of my other offers. Or to know if there's still a slight chance of admittance and that I should ask for an extension to decide! On that note, does anyone have experience asking Canadian schools for such extensions? 

[baddie]

26 minutes ago, skydancer said:

Does anyone have any experience contacting Williams to ask for an application update? They seem to send out rejections pretty late, and I just want to know now so I can hurry up and get uncomplicatedly excited about one of my other offers. Or to know if there's still a slight chance of admittance and that I should ask for an extension to decide! On that note, does anyone have experience asking Canadian schools for such extensions? 

Well, I don't specifically talk about Williams College, but in my point of view, it is totally fine to ask for an application update in mid-March from anywhere. 

[skydancer]

2 minutes ago, baddie said:

Well, I don't specifically talk about Williams College, but in my point of view, it is totally fine to ask for an application update in mid-March from anywhere. 

Thank you, that's what I thought! Do you happen to know if it's best to email the admin people, email the DGS, or call? I know it's acceptable at this point but it *feels* so rude and like there should be very specific etiquette for doing this. 

[baddie]

1 minute ago, skydancer said:

Thank you, that's what I thought! Do you happen to know if it's best to email the admin people, email the DGS, or call? I know it's acceptable at this point but it *feels* so rude and like there should be very specific etiquette for doing this. 

It really depends. For example if you have exchanged bunch of emails with your POI, it is okay to ask him/her about the process. Otherwise, I'd send a short email to Student/Graduate Affairs person. 

I know it might sound rude, but when you have to make decisions, it is logical. Needless to say, this is only how I feel about it. 

[haleyclo]

1 hour ago, skydancer said:

Does anyone have any experience contacting Williams to ask for an application update? They seem to send out rejections pretty late, and I just want to know now so I can hurry up and get uncomplicatedly excited about one of my other offers. Or to know if there's still a slight chance of admittance and that I should ask for an extension to decide! On that note, does anyone have experience asking Canadian schools for such extensions? 

I haven't heard anything from Williams either! But after obsessively researching the "results" page, it looks like they admit later on too? I've been really nervous to ask too early because it's still kind of early March and I don't want to interfere with their decision by rushing the review of my application (if hastily asking even affects their decision). But you have an actual excuse to ask early, whereas I'm just being impatient - so I suggest to do it! Let me know how it goes, I'm dying to get more news!

[skydancer]

1 minute ago, haleyclo said:

I haven't heard anything from Williams either! But after obsessively researching the "results" page, it looks like they admit later on too? I've been really nervous to ask too early because it's still kind of early March and I don't want to interfere with their decision by rushing the review of my application (if hastily asking even affects their decision). But you have an actual excuse to ask early, whereas I'm just being impatient - so I suggest to do it! Let me know how it goes, I'm dying to get more news!

I know, I don't want to ask and them be like "oh well she has an offer let's just reject her so she can make a decision" instead of keeping me around in case things pan out. Because  My mind is currently conjuring up that scenario side by side with the fairy tale "omg wait we totally meant to accept you with piles and piles of money" response.  I'll keep you updated!

[Leila B]

On 02/03/2017 at 8:28 PM, cindy123 said:

Hey everyone

I applied to Columbia's MODA major for a masters, and I have not yet heard back from them. According to the results of acceptances on grad cafe. Some people got an email yesterday to check the portal with either acceptances or waitlists. I was wondering if this is common to not receive an email and if this is a sign that I've been rejected since I have yet to hear anyone getting an email yesterday and being rejected. 

Thanks!

Hi,

I was wondering if you heard from Columbia since you posted this? I am in the same situation as you and am not sure what to think.

Thanks!

[JuniusBattius]

Long-time lurker here… I’ve completed my MA and am hoping to pursue a PhD. My focus is Medieval – particularly, wood/stone/ivory carvings and some small metals/jewelry.

I applied to several programs but my heart is set on UNC Chapel Hill. A couple of applicants have posted their results from this institution, both acceptance and rejection, but my application status has not changed beyond “submitted.”  I’d been in (seemingly very positive!) contact with Dr. Verkerk as well as a graduate student presently enrolled – I sent a follow-up email a couple of weeks ago but received no response, which I assume is a bad sign. Any advice or insight from those of you reading?

Another poster had stated that their welcome weekend was on 3/3. Does UNC notify applicants if they have been waitlisted? Is there a different process for applicants already holding MAs?

Edited March 9, 2017 by JuniusBattius

[clueless1234]

Made an account specifically to post in this thread... I'm looking to do an MA since I definitely don't have the focus for a PhD yet, and I'm choosing between Columbia (History of Art and Archaeology) and the Bard Graduate Center. 

I'm worried about Columbia MA being just a cashcow for the PhD program, and the MA cohort won't be given much attention from faculty, etc... but I'm leaning towards it anyway because of Columbia's resources. The BGC program is so interdisciplinary and encourages travel abroad and internships, which I'm really interested in as well. Would really appreciate any insights, particularly comments from anyone who has attended either of these programs! This is a really hard decision for me.