pippi

This is conjecture on my part, but I would assume that for someone going into a graduate program in English, learning new languages is most useful when it allows you to work with material that's relevant to your project but not widely translated. So, for instance, I would assume that a few terms of university German would not substantially improve your understanding of Freud; you're probably better off working with a good translation. But, let's say you're interested in drawing on cultural sociology for your dissertation: reading knowledge of French will probably significantly expand the amount of secondary material available to you (+ open up opportunities for research travel and transatlantic exchange), since that is an active field in France (from what I understand) and much of the work hasn't been translated.

pics or it didn't happen.

there's one northwestern acceptance on the board, so unless you want to claim it, i think both of us can count on a rejection from there as well?

I wonder if anyone else is considering giving up their U.S. grad school ambitions because of the political climate. I'm an American living abroad, and I knew Trump would be bad, but I didn't realize how bad it could really be until he was inaugurated. (And the scariest thing is, we still don't *really* know how bad it will be.) For me, it might not make sense to come back, even if I get into a great program. I want to have a kid in the next few years: the social safety net was bad enough under Obama; I can only imagine how much worse things will be in Trump's America. It would be delusional to expect any sort of positive government action in terms of health care, parental leave, daycare, or education. There are problems everywhere, of course, but I suspect I would be better off having a baby/raising a child where I'm currently living. (And *particularly* as a harried grad student earning somewhere near the poverty line.) Anecdotally, one of my professors here told me that he's heard that U.S. applications to European programs are waaaay up this cycle over previous years. On the other hand, I do feel a sense of responsibility. It's unreal to be here and not there while this is all happening.

thanks for head's up, congrats, and good luck for the interview!

seems like you have the right attitude. i will try to emulate. if anyone else hears back, please send smoke signals and put us out of our misery.

ugh yes. i'm also glad to be included. but on the other hand, now that i've gotten my hopes up, it feels like i'm watching them get crushed in slow motion.

Not me. I've been checking my email compulsively for the past two hours and am starting to resent U Chicago. Who thought it would be a good idea to inflict such a procedure upon already anxious applicants?

Haha yeah I guess people have different ways of dealing. I'm definitely NOT suggesting that anyone beat themselves up over anything admissions-related. It's just that, for me personally, it was really, really hard to get past my self-doubt and go through with the application process; the only way i could bring myself to do it was by treating it as an exercise in failure. I told myself that the object of the process wasn't to get in somewhere, but rather to summon the courage to put myself out there, knowing that the likely outcome would be rejection, given the hyper-competitive and arbitrary nature of phd admissions. I'm already ridiculously proud of myself for all the work I did to apply. Anything that comes after is just super delicious icing on an empowerment cake. Everyone on these boards should be proud of themselves for applying! Plenty of people quit before they even take the GRE.

Hi ThePomoHipster! unless a member of the admissions committee happens to be lurking, i would assume that no one here has a definitive answer to your question. but my general strategy for remaining sane throughout the admissions process has been to expect the worst. that way, i can be prepared in the case of bad news and pleasantly surprised if things unexpectedly go my way. my partner helps me out with that too, e.g. whenever i am like, "i will probably hear from X school this week!", he looks me in the eye and says, "come on, you're not going to hear from any schools this week, next week, or the week after that."