Waiting for Interview from Northwestern PhD in Media, Technology and Society

[Lola Xie]

Is there anyone else applying to the same program? I submitted mine in late November and haven't heard a thing yet. Has anyone gotten an interview already? I'm literally freaking out right now.

[katpillow]

I know some people who are current students in this program. I think the notifications for interviews don't typically show up for a few more weeks. I'm not seeing anything yet on this year's results, so at the very least it doesn't look like other people have heard yet. Feel free to ask me any general questions about Northwestern or the surrounding area.

I hope you get the interview and that it goes well! Good luck!

[Merina]

I applied in December, and haven't heard anything. Have you heard yet @Lola Xie? 

[Lola Xie]

@Merina I haven't heard anything yet either

[whitmanifesto]

I applied to the Rhetoric track in the Comm Studies PHD program and the two have a lot of bleed over in their faculty and students. I haven't heard anything but someone else requested an informal interview with a faculty and is having it today (so its not official in anyway). Last week of January deems to have been the first round of acceptance and interviews over the last few years.

[Merina]

It looks like folks got emails this week (unfortunately, I'm not one of them). Good luck, @whitmanifesto and @Lola Xie! I hope you hear good news!!

[whitmanifesto]

@Merina I didnt as well, but Communications doesnt seem to have submitted there's yet. My application isn't rejected tho yet. One person applied to the Comm degree and got a MTS interview, so maybe they just had more applications. They only had about 60 last year so hopefully our emails will come soon!

[Ajensetta]

Hey I applied to MTS this year, saw there were two folks who got interview responses on the board and yeah there was something where one of them was recommended to the program from Communications, so maybe there's still some movement happening. I saw previous years it was usually around this week and next that interview stuff went out, so I've still got my fingers crossed, you never know! People turn offers down and spots open. I did officially get the notice from HASTS at MIT that interviews already went out and I was not part of the group, idk if you applied there. Keep us posted! 

[deshypothequiez]

Hi! I'm late to this thread. I'm the person who applied to Comm Studies and was invited to interview with MTS instead. (I think I was confused by their website and didn't realize they were different programs until the week before the deadline. My prospective adviser is MTS, and not in Rhetoric.) I don't know much about the program (other than what's available publicly online) or the campus visit (other than the dates), but I assume all invites have gone out by now.

Edited February 12, 2018 by deshypothequiez

[E-P]

For whatever it's worth, one of my advisors in my MA program told me that Northwestern graduates have a hard time getting faculty positions than some other universities in the area.  So perhaps being left off their list is a blessing in disguise.

[deshypothequiez]

@E-P Wow, way to take the wind out of my sails ?

[E-P]

20 hours ago, deshypothequiez said:

@E-P Wow, way to take the wind out of my sails ?

Unintentionally so! Although I didn't apply there (more for financial reasons than the aforementioned), Northwestern is beautiful, and the people who I know who work there are really happy.  That kind of stability speaks to the university environment.

Said advisor thought it might be due to the coursework being so theory heavy that it was difficult to transition to the practicalities of academic work, so if you accept their offer, maybe look for opportunities to engage in practical research, not just theory.  Either way, maybe it's not actually true.  The second-hand opinion of one person based on a limited sample size with zero knowledge of your personal interests shouldn't be taken for much, other than - perhaps - inspiration to ask about post-graduation placement rates at the interview.   

[deshypothequiez]

19 minutes ago, E-P said:

Said advisor thought it might be due to the coursework being so theory heavy that it was difficult to transition to the practicalities of academic work, so if you accept their offer, maybe look for opportunities to engage in practical research, not just theory.  Either way, maybe it's not actually true.  The second-hand opinion of one person based on a limited sample size with zero knowledge of your personal interests shouldn't be taken for much, other than - perhaps - inspiration to ask about post-graduation placement rates at the interview.   

FWIW, this looks to be possibly more true of the Rhetoric and Public Culture (RPC) track than MTS. It looks like MTS has more classes in research methods and requires training in responsible conduct of research, complying with NIH and NSF requirements. Still, an important thing to keep in mind considering that I come admittedly come from a weak methods background and definitely need additional training...

[E-P]

3 minutes ago, deshypothequiez said:

Still, an important thing to keep in mind considering that I come admittedly come from a weak methods background and definitely need additional training...

You and me both.  My methods class literally made me cry.  It's both what I'm most looking forward to, and most dreading!

[deshypothequiez]

2 hours ago, E-P said:

You and me both.  My methods class literally made me cry.  It's both what I'm most looking forward to, and most dreading!

Yeah. My MA was in a material culture/museum studies field and honestly not very methodologically rigorous... My adviser basically learned IRB along with me!

As an update, it looks like the weekend visit is a prospective student visit for the entirety of the Graduate School, not just MTS. However, I'm not sure how that means for programs that apparently haven't started sending notifications yet!

[Ajensetta]

So at this point if we haven't heard, its likely a reject? Also, sorry, new here, how do I make those cool little accept/reject color-coded things at the bottom? 

 

cheers!

[deshypothequiez]

@Ajensetta Unfortunately, I'd assume so at this point.

It looks like you already have a color coded signature?

Also, I see you're also applying to NYU MCC? I'm getting anxious about that one, I know they send out interview invites pretty late compared to other schools...It's my last remaining hope, other than NU!

[Ajensetta]

@deshypothequiez 

Yeah I figured out how to get it there finally haha

I assumed as much with Northwestern, probably not a good fit on research, I wasn't very insistent on matching my interests to profs, more interested in the program overall, if that makes sense. 

As to NYU MCC haven't heard anything. I saw that responses went out in Late February last year and there were some interviews last year too, and that those came out right around now. I'm not sure if they always have interviews though. That's actually something I wonder about these programs overall, which ones definitely have interview phase vs which ones just go to decisions. Cheers!

[whitmanifesto]

I sat in on a RPC course last semester when I visited the campus, and they are VERY theory heavily. It wasn't to the point that I didn't understand them, it just seemed too much. Like the tv representations of Ivy League schools, almost like a cartoon. I think a lot of their grad students come from Literature backgrounds.

@Ajensetta congrats on the RPI acceptance! Thats a very good program! I know a candidate there!

Edited February 14, 2018 by whitmanifesto

[deshypothequiez]

@Ajensetta NYU MCC's website states that interview requests should go out "by mid-February," so I assume they do interviews every year. Hard to know if last year was early or not since there's not a lot of posts in previous years with interview dates...