Updates on the Remaining Schools
It's pretty commonly known in the graduate school "angst universe" that March 15 is a drop-dead date for schools with strict (not rolling) applications deadlines sending out results for Fall admission. Ergo, the closer you get to the Ides of March, the more likely it is that you are on a wait list, or have been rejected.
I applied to nine schools. Three were my "top-tier;" schools where I had a medium-to-high level of interaction/communication with faculty before application, liked the location, the program description, and the funding structure. Five were schools that I could be interested in, but for various reasons, were not my first choices, and one was an outlier, a program that I applied to because it would allow me to do the bulk of the work I was interested in, near home, with a faculty I'd met and enjoyed- but it wasn't a Sociology program.
Well, the decision being made, I am now receiving the rest of my notifications from schools, which is sort of weird. I've been accepted to two schools, one with funding, one with no news as yet. I accepted the sure deal, for a ton of reasons, but the bottom line being it became a far-and-away favorite after my visit.
The results, so far:
U of Cincy- accepted, Master's, no funding (yet);
U of Colorado- Boulder- accepted, PhD, tuition, TA, stipend, subsidized health, fellowship (I'm going- top tier);
UC San Diego- rejected (they were ranked 7th on my list of 9)
U of Arizona- rejected (they were top-tier);
Emory University- rejected (they were top-tier);
Stony Brook- rejected (bottom-tier, very little pre-application contact);
I have not yet heard from:
Syracuse
Temple
OSU (the outlier program)
I don't care, as such- I just want the letters to end the waiting. It's a weird psychological defect, I'm sure, to have accepted an offer, and yet still wait for likely kicks in the teeth from programs you don't want to go to. But seriously, what about this undertaking speaks of sanity?
It was weird- when I got the offer from Boulder, something clicked into place- a knowing that regardless of the other news, we had selected each other. Indeed, it was difficult in the scant days after my return from the visit, to not get geeked about the program. As it was, I was looking at apartment costs and soliciting bids from movers the very day I got the good news. Love at first sight, I guess.
For fans of The Secret, some of the things I wrote on my list of desired items were; to feel that I was wanted/being recruited; a phat financial package, and a faculty of up-and-comers who took a direct interest in the success of their students. I got all of that. The rest of the list I can't fully remember and some of it remains to be seen, but it's more than a decent start. To quote my friend Gabe, "Universe?! Hey, boo...thanks!"
I applied to nine schools. Three were my "top-tier;" schools where I had a medium-to-high level of interaction/communication with faculty before application, liked the location, the program description, and the funding structure. Five were schools that I could be interested in, but for various reasons, were not my first choices, and one was an outlier, a program that I applied to because it would allow me to do the bulk of the work I was interested in, near home, with a faculty I'd met and enjoyed- but it wasn't a Sociology program.
Well, the decision being made, I am now receiving the rest of my notifications from schools, which is sort of weird. I've been accepted to two schools, one with funding, one with no news as yet. I accepted the sure deal, for a ton of reasons, but the bottom line being it became a far-and-away favorite after my visit.
The results, so far:
U of Cincy- accepted, Master's, no funding (yet);
U of Colorado- Boulder- accepted, PhD, tuition, TA, stipend, subsidized health, fellowship (I'm going- top tier);
UC San Diego- rejected (they were ranked 7th on my list of 9)
U of Arizona- rejected (they were top-tier);
Emory University- rejected (they were top-tier);
Stony Brook- rejected (bottom-tier, very little pre-application contact);
I have not yet heard from:
Syracuse
Temple
OSU (the outlier program)
I don't care, as such- I just want the letters to end the waiting. It's a weird psychological defect, I'm sure, to have accepted an offer, and yet still wait for likely kicks in the teeth from programs you don't want to go to. But seriously, what about this undertaking speaks of sanity?
It was weird- when I got the offer from Boulder, something clicked into place- a knowing that regardless of the other news, we had selected each other. Indeed, it was difficult in the scant days after my return from the visit, to not get geeked about the program. As it was, I was looking at apartment costs and soliciting bids from movers the very day I got the good news. Love at first sight, I guess.
For fans of The Secret, some of the things I wrote on my list of desired items were; to feel that I was wanted/being recruited; a phat financial package, and a faculty of up-and-comers who took a direct interest in the success of their students. I got all of that. The rest of the list I can't fully remember and some of it remains to be seen, but it's more than a decent start. To quote my friend Gabe, "Universe?! Hey, boo...thanks!"