Applying to a Communication Studies Ph.D. program

heyDW · February 18, 2017

When I decided to apply to Ph.D. programs, I had very little guidance and absolutely no idea what I was doing. I checked past threads here to get better ideas of what programs are out there/how to figure out where I stood as an applicant. I thought it might be useful for future applicants to answer some questions we know to ask when starting out the applicant process. Forgive my grammatical issues...having an anxiety-day.

it's a lot of questions but that's because like, i am wordy and also i had alllll of these questions and more when i decided to apply.

FIRST - You as an applicant
1. What did you study in undergrad? Master's (if applicable)?
2. What were your grades like in undergrad? Master's?
3. What are your research interests?
4. What teaching experience did you have before applying?
5. What about research experience?
6. What about miscellaneous experience (unrelated to Comm/corporate/private/etc)?
7. How old are you (or, what is your age group)?

SECOND - Deciding to pursue a Ph.D.
1. What made you decide to pursue a Ph.D. in Communication?
2. Did you contact faculty at the programs you were interested in? What did you say? How often did you communicate with these people (POIs)?
3. Did you visit or contact graduate students? How did thaaaat go?
4. How did you decide who to ask for letters of rec? Were they all professors or did you get letters from outside of academia?

THIRD - Actually applying
1. How did you look for programs?
2. How did you decide where to apply?
3. What was your biggest priority in a program?
4. How many schools did you initially set out to apply to, and how many did you actually apply to?
5. What were your GRE scores like (either specifics or vaguely)? How many times did you take it? Did you feel good about your scores?
6. How did you frame your experience/interests/fit in your statement of purpose? Did you focus on something more heavily than other stuff (like faculty or experience)?
7. Did you feel good about your applications? Why or why not?
8. If you knew then what you knew now, what advice would you give yourself?

FOURTH - GETTING IN (OR NOT) - feel free to update/answer later
1. How many programs did you get into (and which, if you don't mind sharing)?
2. How many were you waitlisted for? Did you make it off the waitlist?
3. How many were you rejected from?
4. Did you get into your top program? Did you expect to get in?
5. Did you receive funding?
6. Once you've made your decision...how did you decide which school to attend?
7. If you didn't get admitted to a program, will you apply again?
8. What do you want to do with your Ph.D.?

FINALLY
1. In retrospect...what was the best part of the application process?
2. What was the worst?
3. What advice do you have for future applicants?

heyDW · February 18, 2017

i'll start lol

FIRST - You as an applicant
1. What did you study in undergrad? Master's (if applicable)? Undergrad: English BA with minors in Communication and Creative Writing. Master's: Communication.
2. What were your grades like in undergrad? Master's? Undergrad was not good...my GPA was a 3.3 and I was kind of all over the place. One semester I'd get really good grades and the next I'd fail a super easy health class. For my Master's, I did well but had a few issues-- a B+ in my Theories class and two A-'s my second semester. I ended with a 3.88.
3. What are your research interests? During my master's I started out being very interested in critical whiteness and critical race theory, but my mentors helped me to find something more personal (also because we don't need more white people studying race tbh), and my primary interests are critical study of how disability and mental illness are discussed politically, in advocacy, and in supposedly "critical" and inclusive spaces. I also think #MADPRIDE and #CRIPTHEVOTE is super cool, and how the internet has helped these communities mobilize and self-advocate for ourselves (with some drawbacks for cognitively disabled folks).
4. What teaching experience did you have before applying? One year as a teaching assistant-- basically taught two 2-credit lab classes for the large lecture COMM 100 class. Then taught Intercultural Communication my 2nd year as an MA student. The past year I taught a few sections of Public Speaking as an adjunct instructor. I also coach speech and have for the past 4 years.
5. What about research experience? Minimal. I was on a paper about anti-abortion rhetoric but found the lead author to be an abusive jackass so I took my name off of it. I have developed ancillary materials for an intercultural textbook, and I've presented on panels at a couple conferences including CTAM and NCA. I am 3rd author on a textbook chapter about Coates's take on "The Black Panther"; the abstract was accepted but the chapter is not done.
6. What about miscellaneous experience (unrelated to Comm/corporate/private/etc)? Not a lot-- most of what isn't here is related to speech & debate or creative writing awards.
7. How old are you (or, what is your age group)? 28 years old

SECOND - Deciding to pursue a Ph.D.
1. What made you decide to pursue a Ph.D. in Communication? It was something I'd been considering on and off, but I'd mostly ruled it out until I took an Intercultural Communication course the last semester of my Master's. The readings and the professor were great, and I'd frequently look for readings outside of what was assigned because it was so interesting to me-- unfortunately, most of my classmates didn't agree and discussion was too surface level for me. My husband was also considering applying, so over the past summer we finally decided we'd go for it.
2. Did you contact faculty at the programs you were interested in? What did you say? How often did you communicate with these people (POIs)? I did. It was miserable. I have a lot of difficulty communicating professionally/politely/in-authentically, but I did my best to basically summarize as succinctly as possible my research interests and why I was interested in their work. Then I'd ask if they felt I would be a good fit for this program. A few of my friends were in one of the programs I was considering, so I luckily got to hang out with the chair of the dept (and faculty member of rhetoric!) and that helped me a lot-- I emailed him once after the deadline to say I was worried I hadn't gotten my name out there enough but that I was very interested in applying. His response was great and encouraging. I emailed five other potential faculty members-- 2 didn't respond, 2 did but the interactions were terrible and I ultimately decided not to apply, and 1 was great but I psyched myself out of applying.
3. Did you visit or contact graduate students? How did thaaaat go? Loved this. Talking to students helped me really figure out if I'd fit or not-- a grad student at UPenn warned me (based on my interests/identity) that the program would be more frustrating than productive (and that a faculty member I was really interested in had been denied tenure and would be leaving), while another gave me a lot of examples of her class projects and I was super interested in them. By far, though, the greatest resource was skyping friends of mine who were in/went through programs I was considering. This was how I ruled out a program-- but it was also how my top choice became the U of Minnesota.
4. How did you decide who to ask for letters of rec? Were they all professors or did you get letters from outside of academia? I chose 3 professors from the department I got my Master's from. One had extensive experience with me as a student and colleague, one had a lot of experience with me as a writer, and one had experience with my teaching.

THIRD - Actually applying
1. How did you look for programs? This is something I wish I'd gone back and done better-- I really just looked at programs I knew existed and looked at faculty and grad students. I found some programs that fit well, but come December I had major regrets about not doing better research. There were several programs that I didn't look into until it was too late.
2. How did you decide where to apply? Skype interviews/emails with grad students, emails with POIs, grad parties at NCA (helped me to rule out a program), program websites
3. What was your biggest priority in a program? Honestly, how much I liked talking with the faculty/students and the location. I grew up in a big city and have spent the past 8 years in small towns and I really want to be back in a big city. Also, while program prestige matters to me, I know I would be very unhappy if I didn't enjoy the people I'm practically going to live with for the next four years.
4. How many schools did you initially set out to apply to, and how many did you actually apply to? At one point, my list was 8 or 9. Due to money/deciding not to apply at the last minute, this number went down to 4.
5. What were your GRE scores like (either specifics or vaguely)? How many times did you take it? Did you feel good about your scores? I took in once in 2012. My scores were not great at all-- Verbal: 159, Quant: 147, Writing: 5.0. I was worried my math score would drop dramatically if I retook, but I did not feel good about it and was convinced I wouldn't get in anywhere.
6. How did you frame your experience/interests/fit in your statement of purpose? Did you focus on something more heavily than other stuff (like faculty or experience)? I framed my statement like this (generally):
1. Opening statement - short narrative that brough me to why I was pursuing a PhD (mine was confusion regarding Trump's election and my generally liberal friends diagnosing Trump/Trump supporters with cognitive impairments).
2. Discussed for about a paragraph the work I'd done to this point to prepare for Ph.D. (research, teaching, coursework, locating myself methodologically/theoretically)
3. Discussed which faculty I felt I had stuff in common with; in one case, I happened to know who one of the incoming faculty members was going to be and had been assigned her work in class, so I was able to really push her as a fit.
4. Talked about the campus itself-- interdisciplinary and the location, opportunities for me to engage in advocacy beyond the classroom.
5. Discussed my future goals (wanting to be a tenure-track prof, where I wanted to publish, why I wanted to pursue these things)
6. Reiterated myself as a fit based on something I'd heard/experienced (e.g., this faculty member said they were looking for students who like to work and are trying to publish-- I reiterated that I had heard him and I was up to the task).
I think my statement did a very good job of articulating fit for my top program because it was something I'd thought a lot about and it was a program I'd looked into a lot. I'd had several conversations with current graduate students and I had an idea of what the atmosphere of the program was like. Because the program encouraged interdisciplinary study, I argued the material the program was probably not very knowledgeable on (e.g. disability) could be supplemented through other departments. On the other hand, I don't know if I did this as well for the rest of the programs I applied to.
7. Did you feel good about your applications? Why or why not? I felt terrible. When I double checked something I'd turned in, I saw a glaring typo I'd missed on my 6 proof readings. I felt sloppy and unfocused. I felt desperate.
8. If you knew then what you knew now, what advice would you give yourself? To really listen to people when they say "more than anything, it's about fit" and not worry so much about GRE/GPA and spend more time looking at faculty profiles/published works.

FOURTH - GETTING IN (OR NOT) - feel free to update/answer later
1. How many programs did you get into (and which, if you don't mind sharing)? So far I've gotten into 1 (University of Minnesota) and am waiting to hear about 3 more (as of Feb 17th)
2. How many were you waitlisted for? Did you make it off the waitlist? I have a sneaking suspicion I'm on one, but they haven't told me either way.
3. How many were you rejected from? None yet
4. Did you get into your top program? Did you expect to get in? Yes, I did, and no, I really did not. I didn't expect to get into any programs, but for some reason U of M felt like my biggest reach-- but it was also the one I spent the most time thinking about and asking questions about. And, honestly, it was where I felt I fit best. So I think my application demonstrated all of that.
5. Did you receive funding? Yep! Very generous offer.
6. Once you've made your decision...how did you decide which school to attend? I haven't yet, but assuming I get into more than the U of M, my decision will depend heavily on where both me and my husband get in (if it happens).
7. If you didn't get admitted to a program, will you apply again? N/A but I would. I think I know much better how to articulate my ideas now.
8. What do you want to do with your Ph.D.? Research & mentor graduate students! I love advising. Teaching is okay.

FINALLY
1. In retrospect...what was the best part of the application process? Having to write about myself in such a strange way forced me to articulate my thoughts/interests and really hone in on what was important to me.
2. What was the worst? Other than the waiting period, the application process often felt like a lot of posturing and trying to flatter people. It feels weird to be like "I want to do critical research and present at conferences and kinda scratch each other's backs" while there's homeless people across the street from the NCA hotel.
3. What advice do you have for future applicants? Send thank you notes and really figure out what you want to spend 4+ years thinking about.

ejpril88 · February 18, 2017

FIRST

1. BA Journalism, MA Communication

2. BA 8.58 out of 10, MA 9.11 out of 10 (both degrees from Serbia, Europe)

3. LGBT representation in digital media

4. Zero experience - in my country grad students don't really teach

5. See number 4 please (instead of "teach" put "do research"). My only research was MA thesis where I analyzed the language and communication skills of Serbian news anchors.

6. Journalist in daily newspaper for 5 years

7. I am 28

SECOND

1. I had a strong desire to continue studying and stay in the profession, especially since moving to US and doing boring jobs unrelated to communication and/or journalism. Also, I wanted to get an experience of studying in the US.

2. No

3. No

4. Two letters were from my professors and the third one from editor in chief. One professor was my advisor for MA and the other one was the chair of Comm grad studies.

THIRD

1. I made a list of all Comm programs in the US that offered full funding. Then I narrowed it down using location and GRE/TOEFL requirements as a criteria. In the end I narrowed it even more by looking at faculty and their research interests.

2. I decided to apply to one "safe school", four "decent chance to get in" and two "out of my league but who knows". I was also taking into consideration job options for my husband.

3. Funding (unfortunately)

4. Eight, seven

5. 154 for verbal and math, 4.5 for AWA, only one time, I was expecting them to be around that number so I felt ok

6. Considering the lack of teaching and research experience, I focused on my professional experience in the media, languages I speak and international background.

7. I was feeling like "who are you kidding, you're not going anywhere". Heavy imposter syndrome, especially since I've moved to US recently and have never been on campus so far. I still don't know what quals and credits are, but I am excited for a chance to learn!

8. I think I will have to answer this after some time, since the process is still not done.

FOUR

1. So far 2 out of 7 (Purdue and UC Davis), still waiting for one more decision.

2. No waitlists

3. Rejected by 4 so far

4. Yes I didn't expect it in a million years!

5. Yes

6. Still trying to decide, it's too hard

7.

8. Get a job in academia, although I wouldn't exclude other options

FINALLY

1. Getting my first acceptance letter

2. Taking GRE (so exhausting)

3. Relax - you're way better than you think you are!

DBear · February 18, 2017

FIRST - You as an applicant
1. What did you study in undergrad? Master's (if applicable)? Undergrad: Dual BA in Political Science/ Diplomacy & English Lang/ Lit, MA International Environmental Policy, MA English Lit
2. What were your grades like in undergrad? Master's? UG - 3.37, MA (policy) 3.7 something, MA (Eng) 3.92
3. What are your research interests? Through my undergrad and first MA, I just took courses based on how many units I needed to graduate. I spent my second MA figuring out what my research interests are - finally came up with rhetorical construction of identity for particular diaspora - keywords would be globalization, mobility, diaspora, identity construction, citizenship, subjectivity
4. What teaching experience did you have before applying? Other than teaching at a private, Kaplan-type institute? None
5. What about research experience? In the scholarly sense, none. Only my MA thesis.
6. What about miscellaneous experience (unrelated to Comm/corporate/private/etc)? 2.5 years in finance, MA in policy, 2 yrs in int'l aid gov't agency, 3+ years sustainability consultant (private +int'l org) various internships etc.
7. How old are you (or, what is your age group)? 36

SECOND - Deciding to pursue a Ph.D.
1. What made you decide to pursue a Ph.D. in Communication? I wanted to do a PhD - thought I wanted to do it in Lit, but there something that just didn't click. One of my professors suggested I look into Rhetoric programs so started with Rhet Comp in English then found that there was Rhet in Communication. For the first time since I'd started the process of looking for programs, I finally found professors and department descriptions that I was really excited about and it looked interdisciplinary for the most part - based on the info in the above section - I was looking for a program that would allow me to bring in things from my random combination of experiences.
2. Did you contact faculty at the programs you were interested in? After I created my shortlist, I contacted a professor from each program. In a couple of cases, I contacted the DGS, but mostly contacted the professor whom I'd most want to work with. I basically said "Hi, I'm a prospective student interested in studying ABC, and contacted you because your article/profile/book on XYZ seemed to be closely aligned with my interests. My background is QRS, do you think I'd be a fit?" I got mostly positive responses, 2 professors ignored my mail. For the most part, the professors would give me a bit of information on what they were looking for so I'd thank them in my reply and that'd be it. One professor was super helpful and put me in touch with other students and we got to the point of email banter (I later was accepted to this program). In general though, the correspondence was Cold Email - POI response - Thank you, THE END
3. Did you visit or contact graduate students? I didn't visit since I was not in the country. I contacted one current student who was introduced to me by a POI (see above response) and she was helpful and welcoming. I was put in touch with an alum from one of the programs I applied to through a mutual friend, and she was friendly, but the more I thought about her response, it didn't seem that great a program.
4. How did you decide who to ask for letters of rec? One of the main reasons for getting my second MA was because I had no letter writers. I only was in touch with one professor from undergrad, and I didn't think 2 non-academic letters would be good for my application. Letter writer 1: My thesis advisor, also alumnus of one of the schools I applied to (though not the same program). Letter writer 2: Professor from my thesis committee and also worked with him for 3 semesters as a TA. Letter writer 3: Professor I had taken 3 classes with in undergrad and one in grad - chose him hoping he could piece together my random background. Letter writer 4: 3rd professor from my thesis committee, asked for 1 letter from him because one of the schools didn't have an online LOR system and one of my letter writers is notorious for being late and hard to track down, so didn't want to have him take the extra step of mailing something or printing it out. All of my letter writers were NOT Comm - but faculty in the English Dept

THIRD - Actually applying
1. How did you look for programs? I looked at phds.org as there was a list of 100 schools, looked at every one of them. Also looked at every school on the NCA ranking. Also looked at schools I had heard of (Notre Dame, for example) to see if they had a comm program. Looked at the authors for some of the books and articles I liked. Emailed a prominent professor in cultural studies (whom I happened to know through a school thing) and asked for suggestions.
2. How did you decide where to apply? Would look at the description first (if it said it was stats heavy, then deleted), then looked at faculty. Looked at EVERY one of the faculty members. If there was one that I REALLY wanted to work with, or 3 that I'd be happy to work with, the school got on my "Yes" list. I made a "No" list with notes on why I didn't like the school so I could keep track. Iffy programs went on the maybe list.
3. What was your biggest priority in a program? Faculty fit - I wanted to apply only if there were 3 or more professors whose work I liked. I didn't read all the articles, but mostly skimmed the titles and looked at a few articles.
4. How many schools did you initially set out to apply to, and how many did you actually apply to? 10 -> 7
5. What were your GRE scores like (either specifics or vaguely)? How many times did you take it? Did you feel good about your scores? I signed up for the test, didn't feel like taking it, paid 50 bucks to reschedule, still missed the test. That was my first attempt. A year later, tried again - got 163 v, 143 q, 5 awa. I was nervous about the q as one of my programs was more social science-leaning. Retook it a 3rd time got 165 v, 149 q, 4.5 awa. Had no idea what to think about the scores so joined gradcafe.
6. How did you frame your experience/interests/fit in your statement of purpose? Did you focus on something more heavily than other stuff (like faculty or experience)? I started with my personal experience -> past research (MA thesis) -> what I want to study -> thus, you guys are the perfect program for me since you do just that -> More details about what I want to study in the future, XYZ -> I want to work with professor A because she studies X, Professor B because he studies Y..... etc -> I also like program's structure, student activities etc, and I can contribute because I was a TA etc. I made one SOP which was a little less than 1000 words. I think I had a page (double spaced) each for past, future, school specific stuff.
7. Did you feel good about your applications? Why or why not? I feel good because I really did do everything I can. I had 10 people look at my SOP, got 2 people to read my writing sample (which was a section of my thesis that had already be evaluated by many different people) and really did I everything in my power (which wasn't all that much) to find out what I could about programs. I wanted to focus on fit more than anything else at the application stage and I did. My biggest concern about the possibility of having to apply again was what I could fix. I feel like I really told the story I wanted to tell in my SOP, and my writing sample wasn't going change drastically, couldn't change my GPA, and didn't think my GRE was going to get any better and I was pretty confident I had found good fits.. Other than maybe getting an article published, I had no clue what I could change. Not saying my application was perfect, but I really did everything I knew to do.
8. If you knew then what you knew now, what advice would you give yourself? Don't freak out & look at more programs hahaha.. I found a few after the fact that I would have liked to apply to.

FOURTH - GETTING IN (OR NOT) - feel free to update/answer later
1. How many programs did you get into (and which, if you don't mind sharing)? 4 : U Wisconsin Madison, Ohio U, Bowling Green State U, Temple U
2. How many were you waitlisted for? Did you make it off the waitlist? 1: U Iowa (dunno what's going to happen with that)
3. How many were you rejected from? 1: U Penn

* there's still one program I'm waiting to hear back from
4. Did you get into your top program? Did you expect to get in? Yes - I did get in, and I had NO clue I would
5. Did you receive funding? Yes
6. Once you've made your decision...how did you decide which school to attend?
7. If you didn't get admitted to a program, will you apply again?
8. What do you want to do with your Ph.D.? Professor

FINALLY
1. In retrospect...what was the best part of the application process? @heyDW is this a trick question? the whole thing was crappy lol. I liked my master spreadsheet!
2. What was the worst? Deciding
3. What advice do you have for future applicants? Look for fit!

GreenEyedTrombonist · February 18, 2017

FIRST - You as an applicant
1. What did you study in undergrad? Master's (if applicable)? Anthropology for my BA (took a lot of bio anth classes) and Applied Anthropology for my MA (focused on cultural anth instead)
2. What were your grades like in undergrad? Master's? Undergrad I didn't do super well my first 2 years so I ended up with a 3.69 overall when I graduated. I currently have a 3.97 in my MA.
3. What are your research interests? I'm very interested in the effect of online communities on a person's physical life and vice versa, especially in regards to geek culture (more specific answer). In general, I love digital ethnography, pop and geek culture, gaming culture, new media, and online communication, especially in forums/chatrooms/livestreams.
4. What teaching experience did you have before applying? Before my MA I had quite a bit of tutoring experience, high school TA experience, and experience working with and teaching children. I now also have TA experience for an undergrad course (been a TA for this course for a year now).
5. What about research experience? My research experience before the MA was negligible to none (1 semester as a student researcher on a collaborative project between my school and the French Ministry of Transportation and...something, I don't remember, haha). I now have research experience on several projects, including a community leadership project, a collaboration with Nissan regarding the effect of autonomous vehicles on parking spaces, an exploratory project regarding whether more detailed research was warranted regarding women who work online and with new media (spoilers, the answer is yes), and my graduate project on the formation and growth of an online, philanthropic, geeky community operating on Twitch.
6. What about miscellaneous experience (unrelated to Comm/corporate/private/etc)? I was a puppeteer for 2 years and worked in a ceramics studio for a while, if we're talking completely random. I also work as a freelance online writer for a few geeky websites and host my own Twitch and Youtube channels.
7. How old are you (or, what is your age group)? No lie, I just had to check. I'm 26, haha.

SECOND - Deciding to pursue a Ph.D.
1. What made you decide to pursue a Ph.D. in Communication? An anthropology professor at UCLA suggested that, given my research interests, Comm programs like USC Annenberg might be a good choice. Lo and behold, there are so many comm programs that relate to my interests!
2. Did you contact faculty at the programs you were interested in? What did you say? How often did you communicate with these people (POIs)? I did contact POIs at each school I applied to, let them know some stats about me and my research interests, mentioned why I was contacting them specifically (articles/books they wrote related to my interests, for instance), and basically asking if they were accepting new students or could potentially help answer questions I had after visiting the department website. One of these I communicated back and forth with over the summer and he did want to interview me, but school policy got in the way of that (more on that in my signature), but the others I, sadly, did not engage in a longer conversation.
3. Did you visit or contact graduate students? How did thaaaat go? I did not visit or contact grad students.
4. How did you decide who to ask for letters of rec? Were they all professors or did you get letters from outside of academia? I asked all professors and wanted people who could speak to my classroom performance and research performance, essentially speaking to my ability to excel in a doctorate program. As such, I got rec letters from the grad program coordinator/quant methods professor in my program, my theory professor who was also my boss for the leadership project (also a president of one of the anthro association's and with a strong network), and my advisor/professor/boss on the Nissan project.

THIRD - Actually applying
1. How did you look for programs? There were a few ways. I looked at anthropologists I had cited in my grad proposal and where they were teaching and researched anthro programs with an emphasis on visual products. People and profs I contacted also recommended programs to me that I then researched, so it almost became a snowball sampling strategy, haha. I am no systematically going through comm programs from a university list I found and writing down professors who seem to have similar interests to research later.
2. How did you decide where to apply? I applied to programs where the POI or DGS got back to me and expressed interest in me attending the program. I didn't apply to one school because the prof said he was the only one doing research in my area and, unfortunately, it wouldn't be good for me to try to get in there (they did recommend other programs and seemed genuinely disappointed he couldn't recommend I apply there). I did try to narrow my search to programs with POIs that were a good fit for my research interests and didn't bother looking up whether the school was R1 or anything.
3. What was your biggest priority in a program? The fit of potential POIs was most important to me, though it also turned out that I only applied to schools in pretty urban areas, so I guess that was a side-effect of my research interests? Obviously, I also preferred schools with funding, but a school without funding but a great POI match did earn a spot on my app list.
4. How many schools did you initially set out to apply to, and how many did you actually apply to? I had 12 schools on my list after my initial research phase, but I narrowed that down to 5. I expect, if I'm not accepted this cycle, I'll be applying to more next cycle, but that's because I'll be including more Comm programs.
5. What were your GRE scores like (either specifics or vaguely)? How many times did you take it? Did you feel good about your scores? I have taken the GRE twice in my life and only retook it because the previous time had expired (that 5 year limit). I did do better after a year of grad school, and the scores I sent out were V:164 (94th percentile), Q:156 (63rd percentile), and AW:5.5 (98th percentile). I would also like to note that I haven't taken a math (other than stats) for about 9 years now, so I'm not that mad at the quant score, even though I wish it was better. I also don't believe in studying for the GRE, but that's just me.
6. How did you frame your experience/interests/fit in your statement of purpose? Did you focus on something more heavily than other stuff (like faculty or experience)? I hardly remember what I wrote for my SoP. I feel like I focused more on interests and fit in my statement, over my experience. I do think my SoP needs to be reworked for next cycle as I didn't spend that much time on it this time around.
7. Did you feel good about your applications? Why or why not? I felt pretty good about my apps when I turned them in, but I'm not feeling that good now because I have received 2 official rejections and 1 expected rejection, plus I haven't heard anything from the other two programs. I know sometimes this comes down to luck, but I do feel I have some work to do next cycle to make myself shine as an applicant.
8. If you knew then what you knew now, what advice would you give yourself? Write the SoP first and spend time really editing it, getting opinions on it, rewriting, etc. Maybe review some math facts before taking the GRE...Also, don't legally change your name between signing up for the GRE and taking it. It's a huge headache.

FOURTH - GETTING IN (OR NOT) - feel free to update/answer later
1. How many programs did you get into (and which, if you don't mind sharing)? None yet, still waiting to hear from 2.
2. How many were you waitlisted for? Did you make it off the waitlist? None known.
3. How many were you rejected from? 2 so far with a 3rd expected any day now.
4. Did you get into your top program? Did you expect to get in? Nope and I hoped to, so it was disappointing to get a flat rejection.
5. Did you receive funding? N/A though I would like to mention that being a TA has fully covered my tuition for my MA this year with a tuition fee waiver and I received grants last year which covered 75% of my tuition, so it is possible to get funded in a non-funded MA program.
6. Once you've made your decision...how did you decide which school to attend? N/A though funding package will be a huge portion of that decision, if I'm ever admitted to more than one program.
7. If you didn't get admitted to a program, will you apply again? Yes, I do plan to apply next year to more programs.
8. What do you want to do with your Ph.D.? I love writing, conducting research, presenting my findings in various ways, teaching, and grading. In an ideal world, I will be able to teach, do research either with grants or through contract work, and present at conferences/conventions and through other means, like podcasts. Even if I can't get a position as a tenure-track faculty, having a PhD opens doors to more grant opportunities, contract work, and other methods of earning money that I would enjoy. This is a minor thing, but I also believe that academic books written by someone with the "Dr." title appear more legitimate to the "regular" person and I do want to write books about my research and work. I also am currently doing a project, which I love, but I want to continue my education and delve deeper into theoretical frameworks that relate to my research interests.

FINALLY
1. In retrospect...what was the best part of the application process? Other than the name issue, the GRE wasn't stressful for me. I like taking tests most of the time and, for whatever reason, I was really vibing on the essay portion that day. I also enjoyed writing everything I needed to do on a whiteboard in my laundry room (I like organizing and spreadsheets).
2. What was the worst? I feel really awkward talking about myself in a professional capacity, so requesting LoR's wasn't the best and writing my SoP and emailing POIs was uncomfortable.
3. What advice do you have for future applicants? Find this forum early, ask for advice and help, and don't get more hyped over the name of the school than the fit of the program.

CommPhD20 · March 4, 2017

I'll play.

FIRST - You as an applicant
1. What did you study in undergrad? Master's (if applicable)? B.A. in Political Science with minors and substantial coursework in Film Studies/Literature. We did not have a Communication program at my school.
2. What were your grades like in undergrad? Master's? I had a GPA in 3.7x range (sorry, can't remember where it was after the last semester's grades!). This was at a selective SLAC.
3. What are your research interests? Political communication, mass communication
4. What teaching experience did you have before applying? None
5. What about research experience? I did an Honors thesis as part of my undergraduate degree (~75 page research thesis) and had presented at some undergraduate-specific conferences, but otherwise nothing substantial.
6. What about miscellaneous experience (unrelated to Comm/corporate/private/etc)? I interned and freelanced at a local TV station.
7. How old are you (or, what is your age group)? I was 22 at the time.

SECOND - Deciding to pursue a Ph.D.
1. What made you decide to pursue a Ph.D. in Communication? I have an academic's personality, I like geeking out, I like to have an excuse to think about these things non-stop. I admired my advisors in undergrad.
2. Did you contact faculty at the programs you were interested in? What did you say? How often did you communicate with these people (POIs)? I reached out to several POIs, not that I ever got the feeling that it was terribly useful. Best thing I got from it for the most part was confirming that these people would be around and advising students. I would email them and briefly describe my research interests and ask if I sounded like a fit and if they would be advising students in the upcoming year. I think I had a maximum of 2 replies with any of them, but for the most part just an initial email, a response from POI, and a thank you/acknowledgment from me.
3. Did you visit or contact graduate students? How did thaaaat go? No, unless you mean the official visit days.
4. How did you decide who to ask for letters of rec? Were they all professors or did you get letters from outside of academia? I chose the academics who knew me best. At the time I was doing this, I was still planning to be a Film Studies major (my college decided not to accept the proposed concentration in the English department, so I ultimately just double-minored), so one recommender was my longtime Film Studies advisor (she was a Prof in English). Another recommender was my Political Science advisor, who also chaired my Honors thesis committee (she was Prof in Political Science). The third person I asked was a Prof in Spanish, something unrelated to my undergrad program and research interests but who knew me well due to my extensive coursework with her.

THIRD - Actually applying
1. How did you look for programs? Fairly exhaustive searching of so-called "communication" or "media studies" programs throughout. I also made a point to find out more about where the people whose work I was reading were located, which was a big factor in solidifying some of my choices.
2. How did you decide where to apply? I had a good sense of my fit at the programs at which I applied. I didn't put too many constraints on geographic location; I'm from a small town in the Midwest so there's not much that scares me...other than I may not have considered living in Florida, even if there were a program that interested me there...I can't handle those little lizards running around. Anyway, I focused on programs with good records of job placement, where there were faculty I admired, and funding was possible if I were to be admitted.
3. What was your biggest priority in a program? Full funding was a necessary requirement before anything else. After that, a mixture of fit and my perceived likelihood of job placement afterwards. I also had a fiance applying to programs in a different discipline who I hoped would get into some/any of the same places.
4. How many schools did you initially set out to apply to, and how many did you actually apply to? I didn't ever have a defined number, but I had letters, etc. sent to 9 schools. I ultimately did not apply to the 9th school because it was a funded MA-only program that I would only consider if I got in nowhere else (with funding). I got into a PhD program with funding before the deadline came for that MA-only program.
5. What were your GRE scores like (either specifics or vaguely)? How many times did you take it? Did you feel good about your scores? I took the GRE once and had V: 161, Q: 161, Writing: 5.0. I was confident that the scores didn't matter much. I knew they were fine, but I was sufficiently frustrated in the preparation for the test I actually sought help and ultimately (though after the test) found out that I had an undiagnosed learning disability. In that sense, I may have benefited from the GRE more than most!
6. How did you frame your experience/interests/fit in your statement of purpose? Did you focus on something more heavily than other stuff (like faculty or experience)? I cringe a little bit at the SOP now, but mainly for stylistic reasons. I was very verbose. But otherwise, I did a nice job in retrospect at starting off with an anecdote about an early academic experience and then moving into a clear narrative of my (fairly limited) experience and tying it all together as if it all was inevitably leading me to the application at hand. The nice thing about the narrative approach is that it allowed me to sell myself without it feeling too much like a sales pitch. It played up my lack of experience in some ways, but if I was applying now it would be a way to bring up my more substantial accomplishments without coming off like I'm arrogant; after all, it's just a part of my story, right?
7. Did you feel good about your applications? Why or why not? I'm an optimist and felt like things would work out. Each individual application stressed me, but overall I figured I'd end up someplace that I would be happy with.
8. If you knew then what you knew now, what advice would you give yourself? Don't work so close to deadlines if you value your happiness.

FOURTH - GETTING IN (OR NOT) - feel free to update/answer later
1. How many programs did you get into (and which, if you don't mind sharing)? I was admitted to University of Illinois (Dept. of Comm., Urbana-Champaign), Ohio State, Wisconsin-Madison (Mass Comm.), Syracuse (MA program which is more separate from the PhD program than many other schools), and Colorado-Boulder.
2. How many were you waitlisted for? Did you make it off the waitlist? None.
3. How many were you rejected from? I was rejected from Penn-Annenberg, Northwestern, and University of Washington.
4. Did you get into your top program? Did you expect to get in? Penn-Annenberg was my top choice and I did not get in. My hopes were not high as it is almost certainly the most competitive program in our discipline and, well, I wasn't even from the discipline.
5. Did you receive funding? I had initial fellowship offers at Ohio State and Illinois with guaranteed TA/RA funding in the years after fellowship. It was/is clear in both cases that I would not have to go into debt to go to those schools. Funding was unsettled but unlikely at Syracuse, largely covered at Colorado but with more uncertainty than I would have liked, and things at Wisconsin-Madison were still in flux by the time I told them I'd made a decision.
6. Once you've made your decision...how did you decide which school to attend? The visits were important, but ultimately the choice was very clear. While I was assured at Illinois that the transition from MA to PhD was seamless, I was accepted directly into the PhD program at Ohio State. The funding was more generous and fellowship longer at OSU. I was uncomfortable with the quantitative-empirical focus of OSU compared to the generalist program at UIllinois and Illinois's visit weekend was fabulous and I instantly grew attached to the people and campus there. But those aforementioned things about OSU *and* the fact my fiance got in at OSU made it a no-brainer that I would be headed to Columbus.
7. If you didn't get admitted to a program, will you apply again? N/A
8. What do you want to do with your Ph.D.? I plan to seek academic (professorial) positions.

FINALLY
1. In retrospect...what was the best part of the application process? I don't really know since it takes so much effort, perhaps more than should be needed. Getting good news and having the luxury of having multiple "right" choices was nice—it's good to feel wanted, you know?
2. What was the worst? The immense effort, as mentioned, is a bummer and taxing. It was also heartbreaking to say no to my second choice school and while I'm as happy as can be at my new place, I still think about what could have been though that probably would be the case no matter which choice I made.
3. What advice do you have for future applicants? Don't waste your time with programs that don't have excellent track records of job placement. Don't assume that a lack of formal qualifications is important...I had no MA, no coursework in Comm., no publications, no scientific training, just a demonstrated interest in the field and a track record of success with tough academic work, albeit in another area. I was able to state a compelling case for why I should be a communication researcher that really played up my sparse record and that was apparently enough to overcome the fact that many others may have had publications, more specialized/relevant training, and so on. And if my qualifications were even more bare, I'd still shoot for top programs again because you can only get one PhD and you want to finish it with a chance to get the kind of job you want, which in my case is a research-focused academic one and not surprisingly the kind for which there is most competition.

av2010 · March 4, 2017

FIRST - You as an applicant
1. What did you study in undergrad? Master's (if applicable)?
For my undergrad I studied Business Management and then my Masters I studied communication.
2. What were your grades like in undergrad? Master's?
Always had above a 3.8 for both degrees.
3. What are your research interests?
My research interests are primarily in sexual communication...the intersections between technology and interpersonal relationships (how couples use technology to communicate about sex, improve their sexual relationships, sexual fantasy disclosure, etc. as well as the increased usage of sexual communication in initial interactions and cultural shifts in acceptance and expectations of in computer-mediated contexts).
4. What teaching experience did you have before applying?
I have been an adjunct professor at three schools for 2 years. I had 14 classes as an instructor of record of two different courses. Additionally, I have designed a group communication workshop for an honors program at one of the schools.
5. What about research experience?
My research experience was limited. I spent a year between deciding to pursue PhD and actual applying building up my CV in both teaching and research. I did not complete a thesis in my Masters so I was starting from scratch. I had completed one study in my program so I turned that into a conference poster presentation. Additionally, I teamed up with a colleague of mine who was doing a study that ended up being a conference presentation and has been under review for publication. I submitted a Great Ideas for Teaching Students paper to a conference to have an additional CV line. Finally, I was working on a study that I turned into my writing sample.
6. What about miscellaneous experience (unrelated to Comm/corporate/private/etc)?
None.
7. How old are you (or, what is your age group)?
24
SECOND - Deciding to pursue a Ph.D.
1. What made you decide to pursue a Ph.D. in Communication?
I decided to pursue after it was suggested by my advisor that I was capable of such work. I really didn't want to pursue unless I knew I wanted to be in academia. So, I was able to try out being an adjunct first and within the first month of that I knew that I wanted to do this forever.
2. Did you contact faculty at the programs you were interested in? What did you say? How often did you communicate with these people (POIs)?
I did. I generally always started with the Graduate or PhD director and made initial contact from there. Often they would then make the contact for other professors that matched research interests. When possible I would either set up visits to the school or would try and meet people at conferences. Usually it was only one or two conversations with each person.
3. Did you visit or contact graduate students? How did that go?
I visited 2 out of the 3 schools I had applied for so I was able to get to know grad students in that respect. The visits were very eye-opening and made the decision very easy for me on whether or not it was a good school for me.
4. How did you decide who to ask for letters of rec? Were they all professors or did you get letters from outside of academia?
All of my letters were from professors and I strategically picked letters based on who I had worked with the most, and who had the most influence with each school. I analyzed who knew who from what school and maximizing on those professional relationships as much as possible.

THIRD - Actually applying
1. How did you look for programs?
I started with NATCOM's doctoral guide and then would look deeper into school websites from there.
2. How did you decide where to apply?
I had a personal list of schools I was interested in, and a list provided by my advisor that she thought would be a good fit. I would then research the school and what they had to offer, fit, etc. make some calls and then narrowed it from there.
3. What was your biggest priority in a program?
Fit and a strong development on both teaching and research. Not a competitive, but a collaborative environment.
4. How many schools did you initially set out to apply to, and how many did you actually apply to?
At one point I think my list was up to 7, but I applied to only 3.
5. What were your GRE scores like (either specifics or vaguely)? How many times did you take it? Did you feel good about your scores?
Decent. High writing, slightly above average verbal and quant. I took it twice. I would highly recommend for anyone struggling with the GRE to take an online class. I did one through Princeton Review. Expensive, but improved my scores greatly.
6. How did you frame your experience/interests/fit in your statement of purpose? Did you focus on something more heavily than other stuff (like faculty or experience)?
I focused on trying to communicate my interests and how I thought they fit with the school and department/faculty specifically. I wanted each school to be able to see a clear place for me in their department.
7. Did you feel good about your applications? Why or why not?
Some days yes, some no. I knew my research experience was lacking, but my teaching and grades/scores were up there. I didn't know if I was even on remotely the right track with my personal statements, or how good my writing sample was.
8. If you knew then what you knew now, what advice would you give yourself?
Just to relax and that it'll work out.
FOURTH - GETTING IN (OR NOT) - feel free to update/answer later
1. How many programs did you get into (and which, if you don't mind sharing)?
I was accepted into all 3 programs that I applied for.
2. How many were you waitlisted for? Did you make it off the waitlist?
None.
3. How many were you rejected from?
None.
4. Did you get into your top program? Did you expect to get in?
Yes, I did get in. Again, yes and no. I truthfully thought I might only get into one school.
5. Did you receive funding?
Yes, full funding from all.
6. Once you've made your decision...how did you decide which school to attend?
I visited the schools and just went with my gut feeling and consideration of funding offers.
8. What do you want to do with your Ph.D.?
Academia forever.

FINALLY
1. In retrospect...what was the best part of the application process?
Absolutely nothing, it is miserable. It is long, tedious, and stressful.
2. What was the worst?
Everything. I think the application process is so challenging just to weed out another 10% of applicants who won't go through the trouble.
3. What advice do you have for future applicants?
Start early so you aren't rushing. I started looking at schools Summer and Fall of 2015, focused January 2016-May 2016 on GREs and a research project. May 2016-November 2016 on personal statements and writing sample.

jltomato · May 4, 2017

Filling this years two years into my PhD (procrastinating and reminiscing, during the end of the semester).

FIRST - You as an applicant
1. What did you study in undergrad? Master's (if applicable)? For my undergrad, I studied Political Science + Mass Comm (with a focus on journalism & critical/cultural studies). For my Master's, I studied Media Studies, but gravitated to media effects and public diplomacy research.
2. What were your grades like in undergrad? Master's? My undergraduate cumulative was a 2.9, my graduate cumulative was a 3.88. Shout out to all my below 3.0's!
3. What are your research interests? My research interests in undergrad was economic and political news framing effects and more media studies culture and power. My research now is about computational content analyses and applications to critical studies questions.
4. What teaching experience did you have before applying? I had been a TA for four undergraduate courses, and had some secondary ed test prep experience
5. What about research experience? In my undergrad, I presented at a national conference and published in a second-tier journal. By the end of my Master's, I had published two more papers (and presented at every consecutive AEJMC and ICA, so about 3 years of conference experience)
6. What about miscellaneous experience (unrelated to Comm/corporate/private/etc)? I have a background in non-profit PR, working mostly with Kiwanis International and US Funds for UNICEF
7. How old are you (or, what is your age group)? Applied for my Master's when I was 22, and my Ph.D when i was 24.

SECOND - Deciding to pursue a Ph.D.
1. What made you decide to pursue a Ph.D. in Communication? Communication is the wild-west of social science research. It is a good home for interdisciplinary research, and it provides forced exposure to many other fields.
2. Did you contact faculty at the programs you were interested in? What did you say? How often did you communicate with these people (POIs)? I contacted one faculty in each department I wanted to apply to. Most did not respond. I also met a few during conferences, which was a much better way of meeting professors (in my personal experience). I did not maintain regular contacts with any programs prior to submitting an application.
3. Did you visit or contact graduate students? How did thaaaat go? I did not do either, but in hindsight, I wish I had. From the flip side, graduate students seem to respond about 75% of the time, depending on the grad student you are trying to reach.
4. How did you decide who to ask for letters of rec? Were they all professors or did you get letters from outside of academia? I got all of my letters from professors. I first went to professors whose alma maters I was applying to. Then I asked professors who can speak to certain projects in detail. Then I asked professors by rank. For me, it was important that the letter of rec could situate me as an eager student who would fit well in the department.

THIRD - Actually applying
1. How did you look for programs? Meticulous note-taking of professors, their past publications, and review of how they did research. When applying to my Ph.D, I asked a lot of young professors in the department of my Master's program about what they liked and didn't like about their Ph.D programs. It was important for me to end up in a program with a lot of autonomy. I also looked at top scholars from conferences like NCA and ICA and figured out where they came from.
2. How did you decide where to apply? I looked for professors who would be sympathetic to my work, who also had a record of producing students who could get a job.
3. What was your biggest priority in a program? Professor-fit. I wanted a program that could handle both qualitative and quantitative research, that was fairly large, with an active and diverse research community.
4. How many schools did you initially set out to apply to, and how many did you actually apply to? For my Master's, I wanted to apply to 6 and I only applied to 3. For my Ph.D, I wanted to apply to 8 and I ended up applying to 7. I did not apply to Ohio University.
5. What were your GRE scores like (either specifics or vaguely)? How many times did you take it? Did you feel good about your scores? I took the GREs once, and got a 163 in Verbal, and 160 in Quant. My writing was a 5.0.
6. How did you frame your experience/interests/fit in your statement of purpose? Did you focus on something more heavily than other stuff (like faculty or experience)? I have a broad research agenda, so I tailored specific statement of purposes to specific topics, base don the faculty I wanted to work with. For example, if I wanted to have an advisor who research media effects, I focused on research I had done using experimental methods or that talked about agenda-setting effects.
7. Did you feel good about your applications? Why or why not? I did not feel good about my applications because I was doing them at the same time as I was putting together a thesis proposal. I'll be honest, I'm not sure I've met a person who didn't feel at least a tinge of concern about how their application would be taken.
8. If you knew then what you knew now, what advice would you give yourself? Panicking just means you care.

FOURTH - GETTING IN (OR NOT) - feel free to update/answer later
1. How many programs did you get into (and which, if you don't mind sharing)? For my Master's, I was only accepted to the one I attended (Syracuse). For my Ph.D, I was accepted to three of my eight (UPenn-Poli Sci, UW Madison, University of Florida)
2. How many were you waitlisted for? Did you make it off the waitlist? I was not waitlisted for any of them/
3. How many were you rejected from?I was rejected from five Ph.D programs (University of Washington, UPenn-Annenberg, Stanford, USC), and two Master's programs (NYU, Illinois Urbana-Champagne).
4. Did you get into your top program? Did you expect to get in? I got into my top program for my Ph.D (UW Madison). I didn't expect to get in, but it was the best fit given my research interests and had the best research production strategy (we use research groups, rather than clear advisor-advisee projects). I did not get into my top program for my Master's (U-C).
5. Did you receive funding? I did not receive funding during the initial offer from Syracuse. After I accepted, they gave me funding (because their top choice did not opt to attend). I received full funding for all my Ph.D programs.
6. Once you've made your decision...how did you decide which school to attend? UW-Madison was already my top choice.
7. If you didn't get admitted to a program, will you apply again? N/A
8. What do you want to do with your Ph.D.? Rub it in people's faces, and also pursue a career in academia. I am big on stitching scholarship between semiotics, rhetoric, content analysis, cognitive linguistics, sociolinguisitcs, semantics/syntax, and computational linguistics. I suspect I will be doing similar research for the rest of my life.

FINALLY
1. In retrospect...what was the best part of the application process? Getting any acceptance letters. It is a hell hole otherwise. When talking to students who are dissertating and doing prelims/qualifying exams, they still say the application process is worse.
2. What was the worst? Waiting. When you are waiting, try to focus on other things. I think it's really easy to get lost in the application process, and become depressed, and let it get to your work. I definitely started to negatively associate the quality of my work to the rejections I was receiving, and it makes it hard for you to still have passion for your research.
3. What advice do you have for future applicants? (1) Ask the honest questions, such as living expenses. How do professors interact with students? Does anyone in the department actually care about the work you do? It's really easy to tell how you'll be treated when you see how professors treat students when you visit, or see them interact in conferences, and you don't quite get to see those relationships when just emailing a person. (2) Know what the up and coming trends are in research, and try to fit your research agenda in that vein of thought. That doesn't mean picking up the latest fad (if you don't want to do social media research, don't say you do), but framing your research in the context of what other scholars are interested in is important. A

MinaminoTeku · May 5, 2017

FIRST - You as an applicant
1. What did you study in undergrad? Master's (if applicable)? Communication Studies for both undergrad and master's
2. What were your grades like in undergrad? Master's? Undergrad - it balanced out to a 3.14 GPA (Haha of course I would remember it because it is pi!). As for my master's, Bs all around but that was because we had to. Anything lower than a solid B was considered not passing (so B- was not passing). I walked away Cum Laude.
3. What are your research interests? Sexual communication, specifically alternative sexual relationships (like polyamory), identities (not gay/lesbian), and behaviors (like BDSM)
4. What teaching experience did you have before applying? I had a total of five years prior to applying. Semester in undergrad, two years in master's program as a TA, two years in ESL, and semester as an adjunct
5. What about research experience? I wrote a master's thesis for my exit strategy at my university. I also had to do some qualitative and quantitative research in my classes, but also some independent study research (program assessment study) that was eventually presented at a couple conferences. My thesis was also presented at ICA.
6. What about miscellaneous experience (unrelated to Comm/corporate/private/etc)? I have ESL experience. I taught English in Japan for two years.
7. How old are you (or, what is your age group)? Just turned 28.

SECOND - Deciding to pursue a Ph.D.
1. What made you decide to pursue a Ph.D. in Communication? I like research and my dream is to become a professor so naturally, the next step is to get a PhD. I also want people to call me "doctor".
2. Did you contact faculty at the programs you were interested in? What did you say? How often did you communicate with these people (POIs)? I did. I met them at conferences and told them that I was interested in applying to their school. They said "do it!"
3. Did you visit or contact graduate students? How did thaaaat go? That was mostly who I talked to, honestly. I wanted to know the culture and environment of the school before applying. It went super well. Everyone was really friendly and encouraged me to apply to the program and talked up how awesome it was
4. How did you decide who to ask for letters of rec? Were they all professors or did you get letters from outside of academia? They were all professors at my alma mater. I worked closely with them to the point where they are the type of people that if I need a letter of rec, they can make one for me easily. So it was a no-brainer in asking for letters. But to be more specific, one professor is my mentor, one was the chair of my committee for my thesis and the chair of the department, and the other was the professor I created a sexual communication class with.

THIRD - Actually applying
1. How did you look for programs? Honestly, NCA did it for me. I knew I wanted to apply to one program because I wanted to work with a professor there and the work that was being produced was in my area of interest. But it was the grad fair at NCA that did it. I just went around, talked to everyone who had Interpersonal Comm in their departments, and then chose from there.
2. How did you decide where to apply? See above.
3. What was your biggest priority in a program? Getting the freedom to do the research that I wanted to do. My biggest nightmare was going to a place and being forced to do research based on whatever the school wanted or the professors wanted. Seeing as how the stuff I want to look into may be new or unpopular, going to a program that supported my research was important
4. How many schools did you initially set out to apply to, and how many did you actually apply to? Six initially, applied to four.
5. What were your GRE scores like (either specifics or vaguely)? How many times did you take it? Did you feel good about your scores? 148 in verbal, 146 in quantitative, and a 5/6 on the writing portion. I took it once and I did not feel good about my scores. They were actually the reason why one school flat out didnt look at my application.
6. How did you frame your experience/interests/fit in your statement of purpose? Did you focus on something more heavily than other stuff (like faculty or experience)? I focused on two things: my international experience in Japan and my course creation in my master's program. I thought they were the most interesting pieces to me.
7. Did you feel good about your applications? Why or why not? I felt good about a couple of them and not so much the other two. I didnt feel good about one because it is highly competitive and I am no where near as awesome as I could have been (truth be told, lazy in master's). The other was because of my GRE scores.
8. If you knew then what you knew now, what advice would you give yourself? Study harder for the GRE and get at least a 150 on both sections.

FOURTH - GETTING IN (OR NOT) - feel free to update/answer later
1. How many programs did you get into (and which, if you don't mind sharing)? 2; ASU and Milwaukee
2. How many were you waitlisted for? Did you make it off the waitlist? I was not waitlisted for any
3. How many were you rejected from? 2; UCSB and UConn
4. Did you get into your top program? Did you expect to get in? I did and yeah, I expected to get in.
5. Did you receive funding? Later on, I did. But not initially for my top program. For the second program, I did receive funding.
6. Once you've made your decision...how did you decide which school to attend? The funding. I wanted to go to ASU but didnt receive the funding so I was holding out until people dropped so I could get their funding. Sure enough, enough people dropped and I was offered funding. So it took it!
7. If you didn't get admitted to a program, will you apply again? Yeah, probably. Or I would have escaped back to Japan for another year and reapply from there.
8. What do you want to do with your Ph.D.? Become a sexual communication professor!

FINALLY
1. In retrospect...what was the best part of the application process? Can't really say there was a best part about it aside from it being over.
2. What was the worst? The waiting for funding. Money talks a big game.
3. What advice do you have for future applicants? Don't worry about having less experience than other people. It's all a matter of how you spin it in your personal statement. But also know that the applications arent cheap...

michellelaura92 · June 29, 2017

FIRST - You as an applicant
1. What did you study in undergrad? Master's (if applicable)? My two bachelor's are in Communication and Spanish, and then my master's is in Comm also.
2. What were your grades like in undergrad? Master's? 3.98 cum GPA for undergrad, 4.0 cum GPA for master's.
3. What are your research interests? Celebrity feminism in online spaces, modality switching, parasocial relationships.
4. What teaching experience did you have before applying? I have taught for two years in my department (Public Speaking).
5. What about research experience? I had two conference papers and two publications at the time of application.
6. What about miscellaneous experience (unrelated to Comm/corporate/private/etc)? Lived in Ecuador for a minute, and I run a corporate internship program.
7. How old are you (or, what is your age group)? 24

SECOND - Deciding to pursue a Ph.D.
1. What made you decide to pursue a Ph.D. in Communication? I love school, whether it's being a student or instructor. Academia is where I want to spend my life.
2. Did you contact faculty at the programs you were interested in? What did you say? How often did you communicate with these people (POIs)? I spent about 8 months researching the programs I was interested in. I contacted faculty members at each school and had phone conversations with them over the summer before application season. Those faculty members put me in contact with the current grad students who were candid about their experiences. Everyone was very kind and patient with me throughout the process and the millions of questions I had.
3. Did you visit or contact graduate students? How did thaaaat go? Oops, got ahead of myself. Yes. I talked to a bunch a grad students. That's probably the most important thing in this search.
4. How did you decide who to ask for letters of rec? Were they all professors or did you get letters from outside of academia? I got three professors who I trusted (my advisor, my mentor/co-author, and a professor who I had for 5 classes) to write my letters.

THIRD - Actually applying
1. How did you look for programs? I scoured the NCA website for programs that did Feminist Rhetoric or who had scholars who published in that area.
2. How did you decide where to apply? I'm a first-gen college student who wasn't supposed to go to college in the first place, so I decided where to apply based on my instincts (that's such a BS response, I'm sorry). For me it depended on fit, the friendliness of the faculty & grad students, and how successful the programs' graduates are.
3. What was your biggest priority in a program? Cultural fit.
4. How many schools did you initially set out to apply to, and how many did you actually apply to? I wanted to apply to 2 but applied to 3 per my mentor's recommendation (her alma mater).
5. What were your GRE scores like (either specifics or vaguely)? How many times did you take it? Did you feel good about your scores? Verbal was 157 and Quant was 156. Writing was 5.5. I cried when I got my verbal and quant scores because I thought they would disqualify me from getting in and I couldn't afford another $200 to take the test again.
6. How did you frame your experience/interests/fit in your statement of purpose? Did you focus on something more heavily than other stuff (like faculty or experience)? I specifically mentioned my interactions with the faculty and grad students, in addition to how my research interests relates to theirs. I also stressed cultural fit because that was a response I got from every program I applied to.
7. Did you feel good about your applications? Why or why not? Not really. My undergrad advisor told me I wasn't good enough for grad school, and being first gen, I thought I was being naiive and clumsy through the process.
8. If you knew then what you knew now, what advice would you give yourself? You are good enough, but keep fighting for it.

FOURTH - GETTING IN (OR NOT) - feel free to update/answer later
1. How many programs did you get into (and which, if you don't mind sharing)? I applied to Arizona State University, University of Iowa, and Indiana University. I was accepted and offered a fellowship at all three.
2. How many were you waitlisted for? Did you make it off the waitlist? None.
3. How many were you rejected from? None.
4. Did you get into your top program? Did you expect to get in? I did, but the process felt pretty awful. Iowa called for Skype interviews. I thought my interview went pretty well and one professor said we'd hear decisions in less than 24 hours. We didn't hear for 48 hours, so it was 24 hours of panicking.
5. Did you receive funding? Yes, teaching assistantships and recruiting fellowships.
6. Once you've made your decision...how did you decide which school to attend? I knew in my heart that it was always going to be Iowa, but the funding/cost of living ratio did make the difference. Insurance, stipend, how expensive the area is, how long fellowship funding lasts for, etc. that all is a factor.
7. If you didn't get admitted to a program, will you apply again? N/A
8. What do you want to do with your Ph.D.? I mean, tenure track professor but the market is awful so let's cross our fingers.

FINALLY
1. In retrospect...what was the best part of the application process? Getting to know the grad students. They're the best part of this whole thing. You need to decide to spend the next half a decade of your life somewhere where you like the people.
2. What was the worst? The waiting.
3. What advice do you have for future applicants? Contact faculty during the summer and make those connections early. Do whatever you can to make yourself recognizable once your app crosses their desk.

0

avflinsch · June 30, 2017

FIRST - You as an applicant
1. What did you study in undergrad? Master's (if applicable)?
   Started my undergrad in Electrical Engineering, switched schools and majors several times (Mathematics/Computer Science/History/Business) - took a looooong time off, finally finished 35 years later in Information Technology. The master's was in Information Science.
2. What were your grades like in undergrad? Master's?
   Undergrad - the first few years were in the 2.0-3.0 range, finally finished with a 3.57
   Master's - 4.0
3. What are your research interests?
   Personal informatics and relatd behaviorial changes
4. What teaching experience did you have before applying?
   Nothing official, but 2 of my LOR writers commented on how well I was able to guide other students in the classes who were having difficulties.
5. What about research experience?
   None.
6. What about miscellaneous experience (unrelated to Comm/corporate/private/etc)?
   30 years in software development and data analysis.
7. How old are you (or, what is your age group)?
   55

SECOND - Deciding to pursue a Ph.D.
1. What made you decide to pursue a Ph.D. in Communication?
   The program I applied to and got into is a combined Communicatons/Library & Info Science/Media Studies one, so it is not strictly communications related.
2. Did you contact faculty at the programs you were interested in? What did you say? How often did you communicate with these people (POIs)?
   The program was at the same school I finished my undergrad at, and did the master's at. I was familiar with the faculty, and spoke to many of them fairly often.
3. Did you visit or contact graduate students? How did thaaaat go?
   I did speak to several of the PhD students while I was working on my master's - a few were in combined master's/PhD classes that I was taking in my final 2 semesters.
4. How did you decide who to ask for letters of rec? Were they all professors or did you get letters from outside of academia?
   All professors (2 in the data science area, one in the library science area). The 2 in data science were ones that I had taken multiple courses with

THIRD - Actually applying
1. How did you look for programs?
2. How did you decide where to apply?
3. What was your biggest priority in a program?
4. How many schools did you initially set out to apply to, and how many did you actually apply to?
   I only applied to a single program, the reason being that I am a full time employee at the university, and wanted to take advantage of tuition remission benefits.

5. What were your GRE scores like (either specifics or vaguely)? How many times did you take it? Did you feel good about your scores?
   GRE was taken while appling to the master's, I only took it once, and did not do a retake before applying to the PhD. Q-155, V-155, W-3.5, I felt good about the Q&V scores, the writing not so much. I do think my writing ability improved while doing the master's.
6. How did you frame your experience/interests/fit in your statement of purpose? Did you focus on something more heavily than other stuff (like faculty or experience)?
   I specifically wrote bout how my extensive background experience related to the program, and how finishing the undergrad and master's were shaping my research interests. I also stated how coming from a very different background from most students would be beneficial.
7. Did you feel good about your applications? Why or why not?
   I only applied to a single program, and felt positive when I submitted the application.
8. If you knew then what you knew now, what advice would you give yourself?
   I wouldn't change anything

FOURTH - GETTING IN (OR NOT) - feel free to update/answer later
1. How many programs did you get into (and which, if you don't mind sharing)?
2. How many were you waitlisted for? Did you make it off the waitlist?
3. How many were you rejected from?
4. Did you get into your top program? Did you expect to get in?
   I applied to a single program and got in as I had expected.

5. Did you receive funding?
   Yes & No.
   This requires an explanation - as a full time employee of the university, I was getting 100% tuition remission for all of my undergrad and all but the final semester of my master's - all I was paying for out of pocket were assorted fees, and ocassional books that I did not already have. I ended up going over the salary cap for 100% remission, and got cut back to 50% for the final semester of the master's, and am at 50% for the PhD. I will be doing the PhD part time, and there is no department funding for part-timers, but I have been promised a parttime lecturer position in the combined undergrad/master's program starting next summer which will make up the difference.
6. Once you've made your decision...how did you decide which school to attend?
   I only applied to a single program - so nothing to actually decide on...
7. If you didn't get admitted to a program, will you apply again?
   N/A
8. What do you want to do with your Ph.D.?
   By the time I finish the PhD, I will have between 21 & 22 years as an employee with the university. Full retirement benefits kick in at 25 years, so my plan is to stick around for a few years, retire, move and then find a teaching position somewhere. As an older applicant, my priorities are very different from some of the other applicants.

FINALLY
1. In retrospect...what was the best part of the application process?
   I don't think there was anything actually 'good' about the process, it was mostly paperwork.
2. What was the worst?
   Writing, and rewriting and rewriting, and rewriting the personal statement. After that it was waiting for the final decision.
3. What advice do you have for future applicants?
   Ask for your recommendations ASAP and provie as much detail to the writers as possible.
   Start on your personal statement early - this way you have time to rewrite and tweak it.

galosh · November 13, 2017

Hi

So this url http://www.phds.org/rankings/communication-research just won't open for me. Is this a problem others too are having? I looked it up on archive.org but only one page was visible. If it's working for somebody would you be so kind as to share screenshots.

I'm quite surprised by this glitch though!

avflinsch · November 13, 2017

I am getting the same thing - it seems to be happening on all of the sub pages linked to from the ranking page.

sriracha18 · December 19, 2017

FIRST - You as an applicant
1. What did you study in undergrad? Master's (if applicable)?
BA, double major in communication & Spanish, minor in critical race studies
2. What were your grades like in undergrad? Master's?
3.88 is overall GPA, 4.0 in communication major
3. What are your research interests?
Rhetoric of race, gender, sexuality, religion in historic media (e.g. newspapers, especially collegiate news)
4. What teaching experience did you have before applying?
As a current senior, I am a teaching assistant in communication
5. What about research experience?
I am doing a ton of archival research for my senior honors thesis, but I have no professional experience
6. What about miscellaneous experience (unrelated to Comm/corporate/private/etc)?
I've interned at a marketing company, a social justice-oriented non-profit, a local newspaper, & I was editor-in-chief of my collegiate newspaper
7. How old are you (or, what is your age group)?
22

SECOND - Deciding to pursue a Ph.D.
1. What made you decide to pursue a Ph.D. in Communication?
I love academia -- teaching, learning, the whole thing. I want to inspire others to have that same love of language and rhetoric.
2. Did you contact faculty at the programs you were interested in? What did you say? How often did you communicate with these people (POIs)?
No, I wouldn't know what to say, although of course I mentioned who I want to work with and why in my applications.
3. Did you visit or contact graduate students? How did thaaaat go?
Not yet.
4. How did you decide who to ask for letters of rec? Were they all professors or did you get letters from outside of academia?
I asked one professor from each major (comm & Spanish) and the director of my honors college program.

THIRD - Actually applying
1. How did you look for programs?
I asked professors, alumni, and others I knew in the field. I also did my own research to see who had the kinds of programs I'm interested in.
2. How did you decide where to apply?
I could afford up to 6, so I applied to the six I liked the most where I believe I would best fit.
3. What was your biggest priority in a program?
Well, funding. Beyond that, I want to study with others who care about rhetorical studies, qualitative methods & ethnographic methods.
4. How many schools did you initially set out to apply to, and how many did you actually apply to?
I really liked 8 and didn't look out too much further than that. My scope may have originally been about 10 but I am applying to 6.
5. What were your GRE scores like (either specifics or vaguely)? How many times did you take it? Did you feel good about your scores?
Pretty solid verbal and writing, terrible quant. I'm not a quant person and I have a math learning disability, so I (briefly) explained that in the applications if there was a place / it seemed appropriate. I am concerned about how that will affect me since I know stats are a big part of PhD programs.
6. How did you frame your experience/interests/fit in your statement of purpose? Did you focus on something more heavily than other stuff (like faculty or experience)?
I focused upon my experience as a journalist & editor of my collegiate paper. I talked about the relevance of my interests with the faculty, especially my rhetorical and ethnographic methods for different projects.
7. Did you feel good about your applications? Why or why not?
I still have two more to go -- there are not due for about another month & I'm hoping to submit this semester's transcripts once they come out to show I'm doing well in my advanced research methods course.
8. If you knew then what you knew now, what advice would you give yourself?
I'll let you know about this (and the rest) when the process is over!

FOURTH - GETTING IN (OR NOT) - feel free to update/answer later
1. How many programs did you get into (and which, if you don't mind sharing)?
2. How many were you waitlisted for? Did you make it off the waitlist?
3. How many were you rejected from?
4. Did you get into your top program? Did you expect to get in?
5. Did you receive funding?
6. Once you've made your decision...how did you decide which school to attend?
7. If you didn't get admitted to a program, will you apply again?
8. What do you want to do with your Ph.D.?

FINALLY
1. In retrospect...what was the best part of the application process?
2. What was the worst?
3. What advice do you have for future applicants?

Edited December 19, 2017 by sriracha18

sjc93 · December 21, 2017

FIRST - You as an applicant
1. What did you study in undergrad? Master's (if applicable)? Communication for both.
2. What were your grades like in undergrad? Master's? 3.6 BA, 3.9 MA
3. What are your research interests? Rhetoric of Space and Place, Art, and Architecture
4. What teaching experience did you have before applying? TA'd one class (not very much)
5. What about research experience? Did research during BA and worked as a research assistant for 2 years during MA
6. What about miscellaneous experience (unrelated to Comm/corporate/private/etc)? Several corporate internships in marketing, PR, and advertising during BA and one corporate accounting job between BA and MA
7. How old are you (or, what is your age group)? 24

SECOND - Deciding to pursue a Ph.D.
1. What made you decide to pursue a Ph.D. in Communication? I loved research and writing and couldn't imagine myself happier doing anything else
2. Did you contact faculty at the programs you were interested in? What did you say? How often did you communicate with these people (POIs)? Yes, an alum of the program I was interested in was a professor where I did my MA and he introduced me to department members during NCA. You should absolutely reach out, especially if you live closeby. I ended up meeting with several faculty members during the application process.
3. Did you visit or contact graduate students? How did thaaaat go? Yes, I actually vaguely knew two graduate students currently attending.
4. How did you decide who to ask for letters of rec? Were they all professors or did you get letters from outside of academia? I got letters from my advisor and two professors I had worked closely with doing research.

THIRD - Actually applying
1. How did you look for programs? NCA doctoral guide
2. How did you decide where to apply? Best fit, then by prestige/ranking
3. What was your biggest priority in a program? Fit (always, always, always FIT FIRST)
4. How many schools did you initially set out to apply to, and how many did you actually apply to? 5, only actually applied to my top 2
5. What were your GRE scores like (either specifics or vaguely)? How many times did you take it? Did you feel good about your scores? I got a 300 total and that was good enough. Any program that wanted more than that wasn't worth my time.
6. How did you frame your experience/interests/fit in your statement of purpose? Did you focus on something more heavily than other stuff (like faculty or experience)? The PhD is a research degree, so you should focus on research goals over teaching. That is what I did. I also went through it several times and made it more and more specific.
7. Did you feel good about your applications? Why or why not? Yes, I worked on it for 5 months.
8. If you knew then what you knew now, what advice would you give yourself? Don't worry so much.

FOURTH - GETTING IN (OR NOT) - feel free to update/answer later
1. How many programs did you get into (and which, if you don't mind sharing)? Both I applied to. Feel free to pm for more details.
2. How many were you waitlisted for? Did you make it off the waitlist? I nearly forgot I was WL for my top choice! Yes, that was an agonizing and horrible two weeks but it worked out.
3. How many were you rejected from? None.
4. Did you get into your top program? Did you expect to get in? Yes. No, definitely not.
5. Did you receive funding? Yes, to both.
6. Once you've made your decision...how did you decide which school to attend? I went to my top pick.
7. If you didn't get admitted to a program, will you apply again?
8. What do you want to do with your Ph.D.? Enter academia.

FINALLY
1. In retrospect...what was the best part of the application process? It was mostly stressful.
2. What was the worst? Schmoozing, or...the (self-imposed) pressure to schmooz.
3. What advice do you have for future applicants? Email the faculty at the programs you are interested in! Also, ignore prestige until you narrow down to fit. If you find two amazing fits with an amazing potential advisor at each one, then it is fine to go with the more 'prestigious' university.

Edited December 21, 2017 by sjc93
Forgot I was actually WL for a school.

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