Fingolfin

Harvard, after all. Their research interests match mine, people were incredibly friendly (not in a 'fake' way, though, at least that's what my impression was), and their German Department seems to be flourishing. I think they'll get better and better during the next couple years, and I'm looking forward to be a part of that.

Congratulations! On your acceptances, but also on your decision! It must feel great to have found a place you're sure you want to study for the next couple of years. Also, I guess there's worse things to do on this earth than studying in the Californian sun ...

Still haven't heard from Columbia, JHU, UMich, and Cornell. Guess I won't be able to visit them even if a late acceptance should come in. I've booked my flight to the US for the visits to Yale and Harvard, I'm excited! Anyone else preparing the visits?

No, I didn't. Did you? Didn't hear from Cornell either. Congrats for Brown! Nice one!! So far, I heard back from Yale and Harvard, both accepting me. From what I heard from professors - and from ceterisparibus as well - Harvard's program concentrates on 'old school' philology and isn't too fond of theory (while Yale has a long tradition of theory, like poststructuralist thought, of course). So right now, I figure I'll attend Yale. I guess the only reason I didn't consider them my top choice until recently is that I simply didn't expect to be accepted. ^^ I'll visit both campuses in March, though, to hear what they have to say and get some impressions. A nice trip to Boston won't hurt. Anyone accepted to Harvard and considering to go there? (There must be someone else somewhere in the depths of this forum, read it on the results page.) I guess if you're into traditional philology, narratology, rhetorics, etc. (which I actually am), it's a good choice! And Boston/Cambridge is so damn beautiful ... haha. Congrats!!

For someone who's not that well acquainted with the American college system and culture, would you mind explaining what a "LAC-grad 'Spring Chicken' type" of applicant is? That sounds funny. And it doesn't sound like something I would particularly like. For whatever reason, I got into Yale (their German program, mind - I see you've applied to their Comp Lit program, who knows what will be the outcome there). Hope you get these one or two admissions! Fingers crossed! As I don't know the American 'PhD application culture' well, I have no idea whether having left a doctoral program earlier really matters - but if you've explained your decision in your statement, I can't imagine anyone will hold that against you ... And as I said, some parts of my applications are not convincing at all, but apparently they were outweighed by other components. Also, with decisions on your job applications being due at roughly the same time as PhD program decisions, I'm sure there will be some good news for you in the next couple of weeks! Good luck!!

Hey! Great, there's one more! I was starting to think we were something like a dying species ... Why are you convinced that you will ge no acceptance? Don't give up hope yet! I mean, you visited several of the schools you applied to, and you stayed in touch with some of the professors you talked to ... sounds awesome! I got my first acceptance recently, and it was one from a school I never would've tought might accept me - I hadn't even emailed one of their professors before submitting the application. Also, my GRE results are pretty bad. Haven't heard from JHU, didn't apply to Brown. Hope some program will break the silence next week.

Hey! There's not too many applicants to German programs around here, apparently ... I wonder how many there are in total. I applied to a couple of the programs you applied to as well, ceterisparibus: Yale, JHU, and Columbia. I also applied to Harvard, Cornell, and UMich - and to Warwick (UK) and Oxford (UK). Good luck, everyone! (If it's only us who applied to German programs in the U.S., all of us should get admissions only.)