Cyclone in the Future?
Well the hunt for a grad school and grad school summer classes continues. I received replies from UMN and U of IA - both of which basically told me to go to hell, though in different ways.
UMN said it in two sentences - "We don't take part-time grad. students regularly. It seems that you wouldn't fit into our program and would be better off at a different school." This from an email requesting information! Well to hell with you too UMN!!
The U of IA was slightly nicer stating that they had a "very small program that didn't lead itself to part-time status" - which I knew. However, they did politely suggest that I could take a few courses as a nondegree student and that they might apply to another university. They also suggested I contact ISU since their program was more geared to teachers and more easily accomodated part-time students.
I expected that grad schools would be somewhat eliteist, but UMN doesn't really have THAT great of a program to be so snotty. Perhaps I'm just reacting out of injured pride...hm. I guess I didn't really have any oen expectation about getting into grad school - except that it is difficult. I guess I did expect them to be a bit nicer.
How were you all treated on inquiring, applying, and corresponding with grad schools? Is this pretty par for the course?
posted by MaggieCat at 10:32 AM
2 Comments:
I had my fair share of unhelpful grad programs during my search. I had a system to eliminate programs as I went through. Early elimination went to North Dakota State University. I emailed their grad director about some question which their website did not answer. I was simply told all the answers were on their website. Yeah...I was not going to go to NDSU.
I had a face to face meeting at a national conference with a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He spent the entire meeting talking about how great their four rhetoric faculty members are and how many books they had published. That is five faculty members out of 20, he did not want to talk about their teaching opportunities or their interpersonal faculty. I quickly decided that their program was WAY two competitive for me.
At the same conference I met with the faculty and Grad Students of University of Kansas, University of Maryland-College Park, and Ohio University. Everyone was helpful, answered every question, was excited to talk with me, and made me feel at home. When I decide to think about Doctoral programs again, those three are the places I will apply.
The long and short, don't think about a place that will not be welcoming to you on every level. They should WANT to talk to you, through email or any other form. Don't take any crap from anyone because this is your future. And the U of MN can go jump out a window. Seriously, I can’t stand their pretension and their hockey team.
Don't worry Mrs. Arch, they don't know what they're missing.
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