eadwacer

I suggest getting into contact with the schools' LGBT centers if they have them, or if not, their biggest LGBT student group. When I was briefly in law school, the LGBT center was instrumental in helping me figure out the climate there. They should be able to help you get a feel for it before you commit either way.

Just wanted to let y'all know I'll be removing myself from the Minnesota and Rochester wait lists today--I've decided on UBC for sure.

I just emailed the MA program at UBC with my official acceptance! I'm so excited! Honestly, my final decision happened yesterday when I read a course description on their website yesterday and it was so exciting and perfect for my research interests that I audibly gasped.

Thanks, everyone. Everything you all said helped me decide a lot, and I'm definitely accepting the MA. I think the added insight into my future interests that I get at a program I match so well with will drastically improve my later PhD options, and also I'm just really psyched about being in BC.

Hi everyone, I know there's a separate forum for decisions, but I could really use some advice from within the discipline. I've been accepted to a Canadian MA program and waitlisted at two American PhDs. The department where I'd be doing my MA is by far the best match for my research interests that I've found, so I'm inclined to accept that offer now. However, I'm an American, I went to an American school for undergrad, and I've always been told that an MA should be a back up and that it's always a better choice to go straight into a PhD if you can. In general, I feel like it's usually best to wait to have all the information possible. I'm just not sure if that's true in this case. Finances aren't too bad--tuition at UBC is really low and the offer is partially funded, and I have enough savings that I likely wouldn't have to go into debt. Also, I've been reliably informed that though it's still possible I'll be admitted to one of those PhDs, it's very unlikely, and the other is sort of a second choice for me in terms of research interests. I'd also just really like to make a decision ASAP because I need to start getting my life in order, and because I'm impatient. Will doing a two year Canadian MA put me in an okay place for the rest of my career? Or is doing an MA separate from a PhD program enough of a back-up sort of plan that I should wait to hear back from those other schools anyway?

I got a rejection in the mail a couple of days ago. I would have posted earlier but the forums weren't working for me. I honestly don't feel too bad about not getting in. They spelled my name wrong twice in that letter. Now I just have to decide whether I'm accepting the MA at UBC immediately because of their strong medieval ecocrit research, or waiting to hear from Minnesota (where I almost certainly won't get in according to my source there) or Rochester (which I like less as a program) just for the sake of going into a direct entry PhD.

I never know what to do with rankings since I've decided I'm going to Canada. What's the best way to compare Canadian universities to US? World rankings don't seem especially helpful, and I've never really thought about it before, since I grew up in the US and didn't anticipate leaving until quite recently.

It sounded like they meant 10,800 across all graduate programs, because I don't think that letter was specific to the English department.

I'm told I'm "not at the top" of Minnesota's wait list and that several medievalists have already accepted, so if I do hear from them it likely won't be until or slightly after April 15. It was a very kind email, though, so I'm not too upset. From Rochester, I heard that no one has declined yet but they expected to start getting definite answers after their visiting days March 26-28. They said they'd likely be in contact around the first week in April. I'm getting more and more inclined to just accept my MA offer at UBC since I feel like it will be better for my academic development anyway. Minnesota even suggested that my application would be "greatly improved" by an MA, probably because of my mediocre undergrad GPA. Still, I feel like I'm "supposed" to wait until I hear from everywhere. I don't know, wait lists just feel like even more limbo.

Today's vent: I JUST WANT TO HEAR FROM TORONTO. That is my final piece. That is the only thing I have preventing me from making a decision about whether to just commit to UBC now and start arranging my life. I've pretty much settled on doing an MA because one of my wait lists told me my application would be greatly improved by an MA and more Latin, but I just want to know whether Toronto is an option because their Latin is so good. I just want to move on with my life.

Conversely, I wish I had been slightly more specific in most of my SOPs. The program that admitted me was the only one where I outlined an actual possible thesis topic--the others were all just descriptive of my interests. Also, I wish I had better researched and known to apply for outside funding earlier in the season. It looks like I had options I didn't even know about, but I missed the deadline.

Literally same. Like no one will have any jobs at all within the next decade because either global economic collapse, climate disaster, or all-out nuclear war, so I'm just like. Gather ye doctorates while ye may.

So far still radio silence from Toronto for me, @RurikNjalsson. Looking back through previous years on the results page, it seems like they don't typically notify MA applicants until somewhere from late in the first week until the end of the second week in March, so here's hoping we'll be hearing soon. Side note, I'm not sure how to feel about their Medieval Studies MA being only a one year program, which for some reason I didn't start considering until recently. Like, my extremely vague knowledge of Canadian higher ed means that I have no idea what that means for later PhD apps, in comparison to a two year. Any thoughts?

I call it "stationery sickness," which I think I got from Anne Lamott but I could be misremembering that. I'm a recent fountain pen convert--just started using a made-in-Canada Waterman's and so far I love it.

Don't get me wrong, the legal profession is extremely important, and the National Lawyers' Guild does some of the best work of any radical progressive organization I've ever seen. But in order to get to those (extremely limited, almost impossible to find, and frequently pro bono that you have to do on the side of corporate) jobs, you have to go through an educational experience that is literally designed to prevent you from doing that and to channel you into traditional legal careers. The primary document on the NLG website for progressive law students is not any kind of academic resource; it's a guide to not losing your values or becoming severely depressed in law school. It's just that law school is a place where you learn and succeed and grow despite your school, rather than because of it, and I think that's a key difference in the type of difficulty it presents in contrast to humanities PhDs. Thanks, though! I'm really excited about UBC, and I'm starting to think about accepting that offer even if Minnesota or Rochester offer me a place--I feel like it might make me a stronger scholar, and it matches much more closely with my research interests. At the same time, though, I'm not sure how I feel about getting a Canadian MA, because I'm not entirely sure what that will do to my later options in PhD programs.

I can personally vouch for this. I dropped out of law school after one semester for three reasons: 1) I hated all of the (sparse) career options law school career services pushed me toward, so why spend money on a degree to MAYBE get a job that I won't like; 2) the law was made by rich white straight men to disenfranchise everyone else and working with it made me want to punch everyone all the time; and 3) law school is such a toxic environment that they wouldn't give me a one day extension on a paper worth 60% of my grade so that I could go to my grandfather's funeral. PhD programs may be intellectually difficult and stressful in terms of work load, but law school is specifically designed to tear you down and sabotage your learning unless you're there to support the status quo. If that's not what you're about, then a PhD is absolutely a legitimate, better choice for you. ...Not that I'm bitter or anything.

Does anyone have any insight into why it takes so long to notify rejections after acceptances are notified in most programs? I honestly just don't understand how that process works and am curious. I'm sure there's a legitimate reason, but it's certainly frustrating. Also frustrating: I will probably not hear from either of the medieval programs I applied to for another week and a half at least.

I have nothing to contribute to this conversation, I just wanted to share with you all the following dank meme while you're gifin' it up.

It looked to me from their awards website/their cost of living calculator tool that that $3200 International Tuition Award was basically guaranteed once you enroll, if that helps at all. It might be a good idea to write to Dr. Kreisel, the MA Advisor who sent out the acceptances, about it. I asked her some questions about the timeline for acceptances and also about placement rates, and she was really helpful.

There are very few standalone PhDs in medieval studies in the US, so I imagine it's not very common based on that alone. And of those that do exist, some have even more stringent admissions requirements than the PhD in English at the same institution (which is why I applied to English at Yale instead of medieval.) I'd be pretty surprised if that happened anywhere but Cornell, but also this is my first admissions cycle and I only have a BA, so I could be wrong.

I applied to the MA since I'm applying with only a BA and (though my knowledge of Canadian higher ed is kind of shaky) was under the impression that it's generally encouraged in Canada to go through an MA program before applying to the PhD. In retrospect I'm not sure if I interpreted that correctly, but I feel like doing an MA thesis before going into a PhD program would be good for me as a scholar, so I'm alright with it if that's where I end up going.

Congrats! I'm the other UBC acceptance a few days ago, and I've started to consider it too! The costs, while still more than I'd prefer, are honestly less than I expected. Probably because I have American private tuition as a benchmark in my head since I did my undergrad somewhere that was like $24k per semester (if I hadn't had crazy scholarships and grants) and UBC is still less than half that per year. It's also pretty much the best fit for my research interest given the Oecologies group, so I'm pretty stoked about it.

Finally got my official Berkeley rejection, which I knew was happening because it was implied. I'm honestly not too upset about that, but I'm getting really tired of waiting for results that I'm like 80% sure will be rejections. I just want to evaluate my options based on one MA acceptance and PhD wait lists and be done with waiting. Waiting is the worst and I want it to be DONE.

GOT MY FIRST ACCEPTANCE from the MA program at UBC. I'm so happy, it's a great fit. I don't feel like I can accept immediately before I know if I've been admitted to any funded PhDs (since I'm American and a Canadian MA may be financially challenging) but this is such good news. It's such a load off to know that no matter what else happens I have at least one option for next year.

Congratulations on your decision, and on behalf of all other Minnesota wait listees, I thank you!