Acceptance Rates

[diehtc0ke]

Wow. NYU must be an even bigger bunch of douchebags than I already thought they were. The "intellectual consequences of NYC"? Are you kidding me? Is that self-important horse's manure of a question really on the application? What possible need could NYU (or anyone) have to draw attention to the already obvious attractions of NYC? Isn't that just NYU's veiled way of learning about a candidate's finances and hipness, and determining whether a prospective graduate student's sense of entitlement matches those of its undergraduates?

As I do my work on search committees, I don't think I will be able to look at new NYU PhDs in quite the same way again.

It's actually nothing like that at all and it seems highly unprofessional that you would look that badly on an NYU graduate because of a question on the school's application (a document that they have nothing to do with). It really is as willmpioneer said--the admissions committee wants to make sure that people actually realize that they are a good fit for NYU as a program and already have a working knowledge of the specific resources that they could enact and implement in their research.

For the record, the NYU graduate students that I have met are anything but entitled.

[poppyensemble]

Wow. NYU must be an even bigger bunch of douchebags than I already thought they were. The "intellectual consequences of NYC"? Are you kidding me? Is that self-important horse's manure of a question really on the application? What possible need could NYU (or anyone) have to draw attention to the already obvious attractions of NYC? Isn't that just NYU's veiled way of learning about a candidate's finances and hipness, and determining whether a prospective graduate student's sense of entitlement matches those of its undergraduates?

As I do my work on search committees, I don't think I will be able to look at new NYU PhDs in quite the same way again.

I think "intellectual consequences" here (hopefully, and much more likely) is gesturing towards how one's academic interests might benefit from/map onto New York's particular resources.

e.g. If there are particular galleries and archives in NYC that would be really helpful to your research; or, for instance if one is researching representations of the urban in modern literature, then New York is obviously quite a stimulating environment; etc.

So don't go unleashing your wrath and skepticism upon those NYU PhDs just yet.

[waldorf1975]

City or country, east or west, it's not going to matter as much this year with the bum economy. Many college grads are going to duck into grad school to hide out, period, so chances seem good that applications will be up even in schools in less fancy locales. Michigan, given its current economy, doesn't seem like a great place to live, but they aren't lacking for applicants to their programs.

What's really going to count is how many people apply for open tenure-track positions. That's when things get scary. For example, there was one position in contemporary lit open at Dickinson College, and it received over 650 applicants.

[strokeofmidnight]

Wow. NYU must be an even bigger bunch of douchebags than I already thought they were. The "intellectual consequences of NYC"? Are you kidding me? Is that self-important horse's manure of a question really on the application? What possible need could NYU (or anyone) have to draw attention to the already obvious attractions of NYC? Isn't that just NYU's veiled way of learning about a candidate's finances and hipness, and determining whether a prospective graduate student's sense of entitlement matches those of its undergraduates?

As I do my work on search committees, I don't think I will be able to look at new NYU PhDs in quite the same way again.

As poppyensemble and dietc0ke already noted, this seems like an extreme and unfair response to something that the graduates have absolutely no control over. While the question still strikes me as a bit odd, given NYU's sense of commitment to the city, it's actually reasonable. This question came up again during the (group) interview, and it was posed in such a way as to emphasize that they're looking for intellectual reasons (ie, aside from the fact that NYU is here, and the fact that NYC is generally a cool place to live). One student--whose work is relevant for this answer--cited the proximity of pop culture. Another mentioned theaters (again, relevant to this student's work). I flailed badly but eventually pointed to archival access. I definitely have the worst answer of the group (but this was probably understandable, given the nature of my work), but still got in--which might say something about how this answer is evaluated in their admissions process. (As I noted earlier, I also neglected to address it at all in my SoP).

The current grad students that I met were nothing like what you're insinulating. Most of them are far cooler than I am, but I tend to admire that (and see it with a touch of envy), rather than hold it against them. And they're certainly serious scholar who can talk passionately and insightfully about their work.

City or country, east or west, it's not going to matter as much this year with the bum economy. Many college grads are going to duck into grad school to hide out, period, so chances seem good that applications will be up even in schools in less fancy locales. Michigan, given its current economy, doesn't seem like a great place to live, but they aren't lacking for applicants to their programs.

I have some reservations about these generalizations. With the caveat that I just turned down Michigan, I'm not entirely sure that it was fair to rag on them for the location. Ann Arbor is actually a really remarkable place--while I have no complaints about the city that I will be living in, do I rather wish that I could have brought AA along as well. I also met most of the admitted students this year. While there are always one or two (as there will be in almost every group) that don't seem to know what they want to do with their lives or the degree that they're looking to acquire, most of the students are clearly not there simply to "duck into grad school to hide out."

What you also seem forget here is that Michigan, despite whatever misgivings one might have about the midwest (does it show that I'm a midwesterner?), is an absolutely top-rate program. It makes sense (and to me, seems obvious) that the strengths of the program itself--rather than economic conditions--are attracting applications. And for what it's worth, Michigan received *slightly* fewer applications this year, so I suspect that whatever "economic spike" we might see in applications is off-step by the fears (unjustified, certainly in this case) that Michigan is less fiscally sound thanks to its public school status. [i can't speak for all the public programs, but I do know that Berkeley also received slightly fewer applications this year, despite rising in the rankings].

[asleepawake]

Should I resurrect a 2 and a half year thread? Of course.

Anybody have any updated info on any acceptance rates from last year? Let's gossip about numbers!

Do you trust Peterson's? Though the info seems to include MA, PhD, and MFA numbers all together, it still seems that the information is often feasible. Other times it seems way off - NYU shows 24% (130 of 528), which seems wildly inaccurate even with their consolation MA. Comparative Literature is listed as 5%.

Edited September 12, 2012 by asleepawake

[TripWillis]

CUNY -- 300 applied; 28 accepted (but only about 19 with Fellowships)

Rutgers- 400 applied, and I think their final cohort was like 16? All funded.

UMass Amherst -- 180 applied, 18 accepted (not all with funding, apparently)

[Stately Plump]

Harvard: 10,000 applied; hazelbite accepted