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Was I ripped off by the graduate school admissions committee at a top 10 university?

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:25:51 -0800

Was I ripped off by the graduate school admissions committee at a top 10 university? I applied to a CS master's program at a top 10 US university a few months ago. I had still not received any sort of answer from the school (mail, email, or otherwise) the weekend before the term (I had applied for) began. I called the program that Friday, but nobody answered. I emailed three different addresses; only one person answered, the director of the program. He emailed me on Sunday morning, the day before the term started. His email said that my application was rejected because I haven't had any math since high school, and because the admissions committee could not determine my mathematics background. In reality, I have taken five math courses in college, including an entire Calculus sequence, and I got A's in all of these.

These math courses were on my undergraduate transcripts; the university's "application status" website indicated that these transcripts had been received, so the program should've been aware that I had taken these courses. I emailed the director back, but he dodged my questions and became argumentative. He's now ignoring my email messages to him.

I feel that my application wasn't taken seriously, that the admissions committee made mistakes in evaluating my application (and is refusing to admit that they did), and that it was wrong of the school to inform me of my admission status the day before the term I applied for was to begin (if I wouldn't have emailed them, I probably would've have never known if I had been admitted or rejected--they have never sent me an official rejection letter). In short, I feel ripped off.

I paid nearly $100 to apply to this program, and I am far from rich. Am I entitled to refund? What would you do if you were me? I emailed the president of the university, explaining my situation, but my emails have been ignored.

Academic careers in the humanities.

ms.codex — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:26:23 -0800

Tell me why you decided NOT to pursue a PhD. My partner, an academic, thinks that the humanities departments in the US are suffering a major brain drain-- that smart students these days are drawn to law, consulting, science, investment banking, etc., and NOT to graduate study in the humanities. I'm inclined to disagree but of course I have no evidence for either view. I'm curious to hear the experiences of people who considered pursuing a PhD and an academic career (especially in the humanities, but all fields welcome) but ultimately decided not to. It seems to be common knowledge that it's a very tough job market out there for recent PhDs, and I'm wondering if that grim reputation has actually deterred people who are making decisions about graduate study and career paths. I'm also curious to know how prospective or current grad students weigh the pros and cons of a potential academic career-- the specific intellectual satisfactions versus any frustrations you think are specific to academia.

Lots of money, zero support

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:57:52 -0800

I'm getting great scholarships, but my faculty hates me. Do I stay in grad school? Yes, it's another "what to do about grad school?" question, but I hope my situation is unique enough to keep things interesting.

Okay, so since I started grad school last year (my MA year; I'm entering PhD this year), I've received two very prestigious government scholarships for my work. The one I received this year will cover me for the next three years, is worth a lot of money, and is an honour few people in my field ever receive.

Sounds good, right? The problem is that I am hated in my faculty, and am considered by many to be a feckless troublemaker. This is causing me huge emotional distress, so much so that part of me is screaming to abandon school altogether, despite the huge piles of cash thrown my way. Yes, it is that bad.

It's hard to say exactly how I became branded in this manner. I swear in other facets of life I am considered congenial and likeable. But in grad school I have managed to build up an impressive cadre of enemies. Keep in mind that I still keep in touch with my profs from undergrad, who encourage me vehemently to continue my work, and I have made good contacts with faculty from other schools. But where I am studying right now I'm some sort of menace, apparently. I often wonder why that is so, but that's a topic for another question.

At the moment, nobody is willing to support the research for which I won this three-year scholarship. In fact, a prof recently wrote me a scathing screed detailing why such research would fail. It is not the first such screed. The main issues, by the way, are related to methodology; in my field, my current school goes about its research in a unique way, and any deviations from this standard are met with derision (nor is any consideration given to the fact that other approaches are worthwhile).

Opportunities to transfer to another school are slim, given my field and the limitations of my scholarship (in country only). Recently an opportunity presented itself to continue my work in a school in another country, but this plan is contingent on securing the necessary funding, which is dicey.

At the moment my main problem is this huge mental block I have with grad school. It's not easy having your own faculty repeatedly tell you what a pile of rags you are. My escape plan is not without merit, but any emotional investment in school at the moment causes considerable pain (yes, I am seeing a medical professional about this). The thought of throwing it all in the dustbin is so so tempting, but I worry about what that will cost me in terms of money and future career opportunities. Plus I'm not sure if any career would suit me as well as academia, though academia seems so sour to me at this point I'm not sure if it's worth the effort.

So, what to do? Any and all suggestions are welcome. E-mails may be sent to the temp address gradschooldidmein@gmail.com.

What are grad schools looking for?

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:41:55 -0800

I want to get into an excellent CS grad school, but I have no idea what I'm supposed to do, or what they're looking for. I'm currently a computer science major at UC Berkeley (starting junior year), but I don't know what I need to do to get into grad school. I haven't done much in the past 2 years, unforunately - no jobs, no internships, no interesting projets - and I only have a B average in my technical courses. In fact, I feel my only defining characteristic is that I'm double majoring in music.

Aside from improving my grades (which I'll try to do next semester), what should I do to become a more viable candidate for the top CS grad schools (particularly in England), and where can I find more information on this topic? What else will I have to do to get into grad school? (i.e., letters of rec, etc.)

(I feel one of my main problems is that I only started programming a year ago, so I don't really know how to do much yet.)

How to pay for Grad school?

limon — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 21:59:32 -0800

Best book or online resource for funding Grad School? I keep hearing about how you can fund your studies through external sources, but all I see are scholarships that are either impossibly selective (for example, the Rhodes Scholarship) or fairly meager (under $1000). I don't mean to scoff at a thousand dollars, but I'd have to win twenty or thirty of these scholarships to pay for a year of school.

My situation: I got accepted into a doctoral program at a prestigious school. I haven't gotten an official acceptance letter yet, just a quick congratulatory note from the chair of the program. I therefore don't know what funding is going to look like, but said chair has mentioned the program is not in a position to fund their students throughout their students, and that the students are primarily externally supported. I can't afford to pay my own way. Before I give up, I'd like to know where I should look for funds.

A sure MIIS.

dead_ — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:53:48 -0800

What can you tell me about the Monterey Institute of International Studies? I've got cold feet.

After applying to a few different graduate schools, I was accepted by my first choice, the Monterey Institute of International Studies. I prefer them due mostly to their language program and emphasis on career placement.

But I'm nervous.

It's a professional school and a bit different from more research-oriented institutions, which scares me. The student body is also a paltry 700 and I'm having anxiety attacks feeling like I won't fit into the school's environment.

If I choose to attend, I will be getting a master's in international policy studies.

I'm visiting the school this weekend, but in the meantime, can anyone tell me a bit about it, related to my above anxieties? How useful will this degree really be? What is Monterey really like when compared to a larger, top-tier public university with a similar program? Is the debt (maybe 40k) really worth an IPS degree?

These are probably questions I should answer on my own, but AskMe has helped before, and so if anyone here has any experience with MIIS, I'd love to hear it.

Unofficially auditing university classes?

jayder — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 21:03:20 -0800

Is it weird to ask a university professor if you can audit his/her class without officially enrolling in the university as an auditor ... and, as part of the arrangement, asking the professor if you can submit papers and have them graded and evaluated? Asking for a friend:

"I think I mentioned to you that I was going to look into taking a [graduate liberal arts] class at [Prestigious State University] this fall. [Prestigious State] has a program where people who aren't full-time students can enroll in a class, with the instructor's permission, and you even get credit and a real-life grade for it (whether the [graduate liberal arts] department would later count that credit towards a degree is an open question, I think, but that's not the main point here). I've looked into this, and the snag is that if I do this right now I'd have to pay tuition for the class at the out of state rate, which is very expensive for one class. I don't qualify for in-state tuition until I've lived in this state at least 12 months. So, I wondered what you thought about the following: I've considered e-mailing the professor in the class I'm interested in taking and asking if he would allow me to "audit" the class, i.e., take it for no credit, and without being assigned a grade, and essentially no record that I had ever officially taken the class. Of course there's no way to know how a given professor would react to this, but I wonder if you know anyone who's ever done this, or if you think this idea sounds completely crazy or a professor might take offense at it? The problem with it is that I sort of am asking the professor to work "for free", because I would want to do the assignments and have the prof evaluate them, even if I don't get an official grade. On the other hand, the presence or absence of my tuition being paid into the system is not going to make a difference in the professor's pay rate. But it still seems a little like asking for charity when the prof will probably wonder why I don't just wait twelve months. (I'm not sure it would be appropriate to tell the prof I want to get into grad school one of these days and I'm not getting any younger, damn it). So, what do you think about this idea?"

How to come out of the ADD closet

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:26:54 -0800

How to (if at all) come out of the ADD closet? I have ADD. I have had it all my life and take medication which helps slow my brain down and make life more tolerable. It generally manifests itself in overscheduling myself, multitasking, interrupting, and becoming bored/distracted easily.

I don't tell anyone besides my significant other and EXTREMELY close friends (even then, very rarely) about my ADD. I believe that it is none of their business. It took me 2 or 3 years to tell my significant other even.
My ADD has rarely affected my ability to operate academically. I have generally been pretty successful in interpersonal relationships - both friendships and romantically. When I entered the work force I found that I had a hard time working under a boss and sometimes had trouble working in group. I tried doing a more independent job and that helped, but I felt unsatisfied/bored.

Now I am in graduate school. I work with other students and professors extremely closely. My advisors often comment on behaviors which I know are related to my ADD (like going off on tangents, getting too interested in new topics, over-doing things, not settling into a research focus). With all of the criticism that I'm getting from my advisors towards things that are ADD-related, I sort of want to say "I CAN'T HELP IT! STOP CRITICIZING ME FOR THINGS I CAN'T CONTROL." But at the same time, *I* am the one that chose to be in grad school, *I* should be listening to their critiques, and, a major concern, is that my department is VERY gossip-y and I'm sure that if I told one or two advisors, the entire department would know and therefore judge me, treat me differently, gossip about me, etc. I don't want special favors and I don't want people to think that I'd utilize special favors. (The attitude in my competitive department is NO EXCUSES.) All I want is for my advisors/criticizers to be more understanding. This is the next 5 years of my life AND my future career as a professor in the field.
Any opinions on whether or not I should "come out" and/or stories of coming out?

Help me become a Fine Arts Professor, or else help me back away humbly.

flibbertigibbet — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 00:57:48 -0800

What can you tell me about excellent grad schools for the fine (visual!) arts in Eastern Canada... and about the job field for visual arts professors? I've always wanted to do art, and to teach. I've read all the other threads on "I want to become a professor", and a few things stuck:

a) you need good grads
b) you need good papers
c) you need good recommendations
d) you need to be from a top-tier school.

Now, substitute "papers" or "shows", and it sounds about right. But is it really like that in the Fine Arts? Do you have more fine artists scrambling for professorships, as in English or history, or moving to Berlin to practice?

I can find next-to-nothing about ranking the various MFA programs, so short of the asking professors -- which I can't do for awhile because of certain logistic issues -- I have no idea how to get to that professorship.

So.

1) Is it possible to attend a "top-tier" MFA school in Ontario and Quebec? (Yes, Concordia is good, but I have no idea how to stacks up to NSCAD for graduate studies, and I have no idea how NSCAD stacks up to Emily Carr, etc). I'd really prefer to take my MFA in Ontario or Quebec; barring that, the Maritimes are OK. Hiking out to BC isn't very appetizing, but if it's necessary, so be it. Heck, my dream job is probably at Concordia itself, as I adore Montreal.

2) And even if I do attend a top-tier MFA school, am I likely to get a job teaching at a university in some way, shape or form within 3-5 years of getting my MA?

3) What other key component am I missing in this equation?

Am I just nervous?

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 08:57:55 -0800

GradSchoolAnxietyFilter: I have no research experience. How do I describe my research plan? Please describe in detail the research plan you wish to pursue at Institution including the theme, approach and methods, etc. which you intend to use.

That's just one of the various questions on the application. Problem is, I've never really done any graduate level research, and though I have a few different ideas for a "research plan" rolling around in my brain, I'm not feeling very confident about committing to one in my application, considering I am unfamiliar with the faculty (and have no geographic access to them). I really don't know what they are looking for here, or if whatever research plan I come up with would jive with their experience. I just don't know how to approach this. Writing a statement of purpose doesn't scare me at all, writing this does.

The program is for an MA in international relations at a school that is incredibly attractive to me, but I'm nervous. I have a general feeling of anxiety due mainly to two things: my lack of undergraduate research experience and the fact that an MA in IR will be a somewhat significant departure from my undergraduate studies (I have a BJ in news-editorial and a BA in international studies). My undergraduate education has left me feeling unprepared for grad school, particularly with questions like these on the app. I feel like my lack of independent research experience is going to really hurt me--all I've ever really written has been in the form of term papers.

It feels like they are expecting me to know a lot more than I already do.

So, the question(s)... basically two part:

How should I approach this essay question and what kind of things will the university be looking for here? I'm particularly concerned about the "approach" and "methods" they ask me to describe.

And

Is my anxiety about school normal, or was my undergraduate education truly bankrupt?

Any general grad school applications advice is also welcome.

Grad school worries

Netzapper — Fri, 13 May 2005 08:34:47 -0800

I'm a little worried about applying to grad school. I've read an awful lot about it, and I'm looking for some advice from actual people. I'm a junior in Computer Science right now at Temple University. I'm very involved with the research of a couple of professors here, to the extent of doing RA-style work on their less important topics in an independent-study environment. Likewise, I've actually started, with three other students, an interdepartmental research/development project in social computing that's caught an awful lot of attention in the school--it's actually even borderline publishable material (IMNSHO). However, my GPA is only so-so (3.0), mostly out of pure laziness with classes.

I'm looking at programs with a PhD track, since my hope right now is to be able to get my doctorate and go into research (either academic or industry, I haven't decided). The topic that I'm hoping to research is not particularly widespread, and so the options of programs is fairly limited. What's more, most of these programs are located at top name schools; MIT, Caltech, University of Washington.

Any input on my chances of getting into those schools?

Simultaneously, there's always the option simply to remain at Temple. I like the school, they have a decent enough program, and it's more of a sure thing. But, none of the people in the compsci department are researching the topic I'm interested in.

What are my chances of ever getting back to my prefered topic if I wind up doing graduate work in a different area? At what point in the academic process is one expected to specialize?

Thanks.

What sort of average is required for the top Grad programs?

ori — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 21:06:25 -0800

What sort of averages (GPAs) do top graduate programs in the humanities in the English-speaking world look for? I realize writing samples, standardized test scores, reference letters, interviews, statements of interest and so on are weighed heavily. I also realize that the quality of the undergraduate university matters, too. I'm trying to develop a very rough idea of where I stand.

Say the top 15 schools on this list.