EcceQuamBonum

English PhD, University of Virginia. I didn't have anywhere to decline, so, uh, there.

Wow, our experiences turned out to be strikingly similar. I, too, was arrogant (foolish?) enough only to apply to five schools: four Ivies and UVA. Ha! My professors also told me I'd have my pick among schools to which I'd applied. I'm not sure either they or I realized how tragically unhip the English department is at my alma mater. The adcoms sure did. Looking back on the process, I now recognize how utterly fortunate I was to be admitted to the one school I was, and how many equally--if not more--qualified candidates I was up against. The odds were incredible. No one should feel bad for being rejected at a school: you're better off playing slots. Before the admissions decisions began to roll in, UVA was at the bottom of my list. But once I was accepted and began to look into the school a bit more, I realized there's nowhere else I would rather be. (Indeed, no where else I could be at this point.) There's something fortuitous in that. In hindsight I appreciate how miserable I probably would have been at the other four schools, but, had I been admitted to one of them, I probably would have been lured away from UVA by the siren song of the Ivy name. "There's a divinity that shapes our ends" and all that, you know.

Hear, hear. Know the department you could be entering, and know it well. I come from an institution that is very conservative critically, deemphasizing theory and focusing extensively on close reading. I love it here, and I want a graduate institution that will reward my undergrad preparation, at on least some level. The writing sample I submitted exemplified my the strengths of my department. It wasn't trendy, and the thesis wasn't extremely original; rather, it demonstrated my skills as a textual analyst. Consequently, I knew that I probably wouldn't fit well into the schools that rejected me, anyway. Lo and behold, the one program I am accepted into indicated that my writing sample was a major motivating factor in the decision. That sealed the deal for me because I know that department will respect my particular methodology and approach to texts. There's no point in going to a big-name school if you're not going to be happy there. Go where you are confident you will flourish as a scholar.

Right now I'm reading Sense and Sensibility for my independent study of Jane Austen. (Which is so much fun it doesn't exactly qualify as a class.) Also, I'm reading and re-reading and re-reading the Dunciad and attendant criticism for my honors thesis. There's also Hard Times for another class. Other than that, I've been on a Walker Percy jag lately. I'm on The Moviegoer right now. I usually pick up and read a Flannery O'Connor story whenever I'm just sitting around without any motivation to do anything else. At least it gets me laughing. But not working!

I have been accepted into UVA's Ph.D. program. My subfield is the Restoration and Long Eighteenth Century (British, that is). My particular interest is authorial responses to the commodification of the text in the 18th Century.

I didn't really feel like starting a whole new topic just to ask this question, so I thought I would just post it in a Berkeley thread, even though it pertains to the English program. It may be in bad form to ask this, but I've noticed a whole helluva lot of people who have been rejected at Berkeley mentioning in the results thread that the rejection letter they received was particularly tactless. I'm just terribly curious to know how bad it can be to prompt that many people to note in their results posting how bad the Berkeley rejection letter was. Anyone who's not too sore about the whole thing want to enlighten me?

Sounds like you'll be moving from one load of BS to another. When I (Deo gratias!) start in the fall, I'll be 22. The plan is to get on with things. We'll see.

I just checked, and I have the "incomplete" message on my application, as well, and I've been admitted. In fact, apart from receiving a phone call from the English Dept., I would have absolutely no way of knowing whether I'd gotten in or not, so I'd say it's not something to read much into. My guess is, as one poster above noted, the department is doing things in stages. It ain't over 'til it's over.

Awesome! My subfield is the Restoration and Eighteenth Century. From what I can gather, their open house is tentatively scheduled for March 25th and 26th, which sort of sucks because I'll be taking my comprehensive exam that day. After the months of waiting, my patience has almost run out, I must say, haha.

So, everyone I've talked to who did graduate work at UVA absolutely loved C'ville. I'm guessing it's not this completely idyllic place with cheap housing and friendly faces aplenty, is it? What are the major downsides to living in C'ville?

I didn't see a thread for UVA admits, so here goes. Who's going? Who's thinking about going? Unless my remaining two schools come through with some impressive funding offers (and acceptances), I'll be hanging around the English department next year. So, uh, holla!

Thank you! My area is the Restoration and Eighteenth Century. Anyway, I really wish I could offer more in the way of information. To be honest, since I was on the road when I received the call, the conversation was limited mostly to finding out that I'd been admitted and that I'd gotten funding. When I talk to Prof. Hunter again, I will try to work out some of these details and report back. I'm not sure what the earliest admit result was, but I'm thinking that they definitely aren't following any sort of intelligible system up there in Charlottesville. Fingers crossed for everyone!