Fall 2010 Admission Results

[brouhaha]

Okay guys...tell me how safe you think I am. I initially applied for the PhD in political science but this program is honestly just as appealing to me.

"I am writing with some mixed news. At this point the Political Science department at Yale has completed its initial vetting of our applicant pool and it seems unlikely that you will be offered a place in next year's PhD class. However, a number of the faculty on the admissions committee were interested in your application. We therefore ask if you would like to be considered for the Masters degree program in East Asian Studies at Yale.

...etc etc some other stuff

The Council has some funds for partial tuition awards, for which you would be able to compete if you applied.

We very much hope that you will allow us to consider you for admissions to this exciting masters degree program. Please reply at your earliest convenience and let us know if you agree to change your application to the East Asian Studies MA. You can reply to me and I will forward your reply to the Graduate Admissions office and to the appropriate faculty at the East Asian Studies MA program."

Of course I went ahead and told him "yes please". I just don't know how much I can treat this as an acceptance. My adviser said he thinks they wouldn't send me something so nice-sounding if they weren't planning on taking me at all.

Edited February 1, 2010 by brouhaha

[curufinwe]

- If you are currently right out of undergrad (no masters degree so far)

- If you are already interested in that region

- and if you are willing to pay for education (you said there'd be partial tution awards)..

I'd say don't even hesitate to take that offer. Of course, that is, if you cannot get an acceptance from a proper school. A masters degree from Yale would increase your chances of getting into a good school for phds when you apply for'em, and you wouldn't really waste time anyways.

Good luck

[CrimsonBlue]

Okay guys...tell me how safe you think I am. I initially applied for the PhD in political science but this program is honestly just as appealing to me.

"I am writing with some mixed news. At this point the Political Science department at Yale has completed its initial vetting of our applicant pool and it seems unlikely that you will be offered a place in next year's PhD class. However, a number of the faculty on the admissions committee were interested in your application. We therefore ask if you would like to be considered for the Masters degree program in East Asian Studies at Yale.

...etc etc some other stuff

The Council has some funds for partial tuition awards, for which you would be able to compete if you applied.

We very much hope that you will allow us to consider you for admissions to this exciting masters degree program. Please reply at your earliest convenience and let us know if you agree to change your application to the East Asian Studies MA. You can reply to me and I will forward your reply to the Graduate Admissions office and to the appropriate faculty at the East Asian Studies MA program."

Of course I went ahead and told him "yes please". I just don't know how much I can treat this as an acceptance. My adviser said he thinks they wouldn't send me something so nice-sounding if they weren't planning on taking me at all.

Since you like the program, it would be nice to be considered! But, are you willing to pay for some of the expensive tuition, fees and stipend? To answer your question, I think what the political science department does is just to forward your application to the graduate program. I don't think you can actually consider this e-mail as an acceptance since another whole round is waiting for you.

By the way, when did you get this e-mail? I applied to Yale as well for Ph.D. in political science, but didn't get this e-mail. Perhaps, my application is not even recommended for other departments!

[brouhaha]

Crimson, I got this e-mail this morning at 10 EST. This is a one-year program and there are some tuition awards available which I could attempt to get, but really one year of paying tuition in exchange for a really amazing-sounding degree sounds reasonable to me. Of course I'll still wait to see what my other programs say but this is definitely very very close to the top of my list. I'm not considering it an acceptance but it sounds hopeful at least. I wouldn't worry too much anyway as long as you're not getting rejections.

Curufinwe, I am indeed straight out of undergrad and I am madly in love with East Asia, so there is really no doubt as to whether or not I would love doing this. It doesn't even bother me to take the extra year to get a master's since I'm only 20, so I'm in no rush.

We shall see! Good luck everyone!!!

[ladedodaday]

I just don't know how much I can treat this as an acceptance. My adviser said he thinks they wouldn't send me something so nice-sounding if they weren't planning on taking me at all.

It certainly does sound like you have a very strong chance of getting accepted. I'd be more excited that people at Yale liked your application (even if you didn't get in), since that means you have a very good chance at your other PhD schools. The program is probably great, but would end up costing you a bunch (living expenses would be around $18,000, so even if you got a partial tuition waver, it'd still cost you over $20,000). Hopefully you end up with a tough choice to make (between a PhD program and the masters).

[curufinwe]

Crimson, I got this e-mail this morning at 10 EST. This is a one-year program and there are some tuition awards available which I could attempt to get, but really one year of paying tuition in exchange for a really amazing-sounding degree sounds reasonable to me. Of course I'll still wait to see what my other programs say but this is definitely very very close to the top of my list. I'm not considering it an acceptance but it sounds hopeful at least. I wouldn't worry too much anyway as long as you're not getting rejections.

Curufinwe, I am indeed straight out of undergrad and I am madly in love with East Asia, so there is really no doubt as to whether or not I would love doing this. It doesn't even bother me to take the extra year to get a master's since I'm only 20, so I'm in no rush.

We shall see! Good luck everyone!!!

then the only concern would be the money. I mean, yeah you should consider your other offers too. My thinking is that, if you cannot get accepted by a phd program this year that is as good as Yale's, you probably would get into a better phd program next year, with this Yale thing on your resume. And the better phd program you graduate from, the better chances of getting a job after you graduate, especially in the academia. So if you are perfectly OK with one year's partial tuition, I would say this is a great opportunity.

And you are 20?? You sound... bright or an early starter

[natofone]

Crimson, I got this e-mail this morning at 10 EST. This is a one-year program and there are some tuition awards available which I could attempt to get, but really one year of paying tuition in exchange for a really amazing-sounding degree sounds reasonable to me.

If you are a US citizen you should apply for a FLAS fellowship. I'm sure that Yale has them. Apply right away.

[M.Y]

brouhaha- That's so cool though. I would be happy to death if I received such an email, lol. Waiting is killing me softly...

Edited February 1, 2010 by M.Y

[FairGame]

Another UVA applicant checking in here. No news, but if last year's dates are good, should be in the next week or so.

Good luck

[Rory]

That's great news, Brouhaha...

Seems like Yale is pretty much done, hopefully they will put me out of my misery sometime this week...

[APGradApplicant]

I just got an e-mail about ten minutes ago from a Florida State University professor within my subfield letting me know that I was admitted to the program with funding! Excerpt:

"The award letter will offer you a package valued at approximately $43,500 for the 2010-2011 academic year (see the attached electronic copy of the letter). You can expect funding for a total of five years provided you make normal progress in the program each semester. This award provides a tuition waiver each term and a stipend of $20,500. You will be appointed to work with a faculty member as a graduate assistant and paid $17,000 during the 9 month academic year in addition to the tuition waiver. After successful completion of your first year coursework, you will be provided a $3,500 summer stipend and a tuition waiver. In addition to the waiver and stipend, we provide support for travel to present research at a professional conference each year, an office in the department, and access to top notch computer and experimental research labs "

[natofone]

Congrats AP - you're doing quite well this application season! Quite a nice package for FSU.

[tskinner]

That's great news, Brouhaha...

Seems like Yale is pretty much done, hopefully they will put me out of my misery sometime this week...

I don't think they've necessarily started yet. It just sounds to me (from above) that they're ready to start informing any day now. Who knows what they do first, send acceptances/rejections/reccomendations! Since nobody has posted any acceptances or rejections on the results page, I think we can still hope!

[curufinwe]

congrats AP.. nice package by the way hehe. You are doing pretty good so far.

[Rory]

I don't think they've necessarily started yet. It just sounds to me (from above) that they're ready to start informing any day now. Who knows what they do first, send acceptances/rejections/reccomendations! Since nobody has posted any acceptances or rejections on the results page, I think we can still hope!

I just meant that the committee members had made their decisions, not finished (or even started, really) with their notifications....

[tskinner]

I just got an e-mail about ten minutes ago from a Florida State University professor within my subfield letting me know that I was admitted to the program with funding! Excerpt:

FTW!

What are your top choices?

[tskinner]

I just meant that the committee members had made their decisions, not finished (or even started, really) with their notifications....

Sorry, I misinterpreted your prior pessimism.

[Aunuwyn]

Wow, FSU's funding package is much larger than I expected. I wish someone would email me about any of he schools I applied to. Guess I will have to wait until about Friday since the first notifications were mailed out today by FSU.

[SuddenlyParanoid]

Congratulations on FSU, AP!

I was emailed by WUSTL this afternoon with an acceptance.

Also, very curious to hear from Yale although the silence from them might tell me I've been rejected.

[natofone]

Congrats on WashU

[brouhaha]

There's no need to get worried over Yale yet. As far as I know there haven't been any acceptances sent out, probably just decisions made. I'm sure some of you will hear delightful things in the upcoming week!

[brouhaha]

If you are a US citizen you should apply for a FLAS fellowship. I'm sure that Yale has them. Apply right away.

I wanted to apply for a FLAS but you need a recommendation from a language professor who has had you, and I can't get in touch with mine. My school doesn't have a Chinese department so they just bring in a new grad student every year to teach it.

[blankets]

Ok, first word in from Toronto:

"This notice is being sent to inform you that your application to 'MA-Political Science' is now under review and pending a decision. If you log into the SGS system, you will see that your application is now in Under Review status."

First cycle for me, gosh these schools get your heart rate up with all of these fluff e-mails.

[natofone]

To be honest, it's pretty tempting to go to Yale and beef up my application for next year, but I'd love your advice.

Which MA program?

[brouhaha]

New from Yale: I didn't get into the PhD program, but they want me to apply for their Master's program. They offer partial tuition waivers, unless you get the FLAS fellowship, in which case it's free plus a stipend. Now I'm really conflicted. Do I take my funded offer from Madison and run with it, or do I delay acquisition of a PhD by probably a year (they say any PhD program would allow me to count Yale courses towards a PhD) in order to probably graduate from a top 5 program?

I wrote the graduate coordinator back saying that I want to apply to the Master's program, but what do you all think I should do if I get into it and don't get into the programs I'd go to over Madison (namely, Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, and Chicago)?

To be honest, it's pretty tempting to go to Yale and beef up my application for next year, but I'd love your advice.

Hey! Master's buddy! Which MA program did they send you to? I didn't realize the FLAS made it free + stipend. Now I'll really have to look into that. Basically, should I consider you competition for my coveted master's spot?

But I guess it really depends on how strongly you want to go into Madison, or any of the other programs that you could potentially get into. If you're happy with that and don't see the need to reapply then just take your PhD offer. If you want to try again next year go for the MA. That's basically how I'm going about it with mine. Good luck!!