InHacSpeVivo

I got the same email today. I responded by thanking them and letting them know that I would probably have questions down the road. Nothing elaborate, mostly just a quick confirmation so they knew I recieved the message and was excited to hear from them.

Welcome, and best of luck!

lolz. Well played.

Michigan State, funding information to follow--I know it's not an ivy, but their placement rates are excellent ;-)

Very first notification was an acceptance!!!! Considering the shut out that was my last application cycle, this is a huge relief!

This just made me feel a ton better about working in academic publishing for four years before applying. Here's hoping for a chance to make use of those connections one day!

There is a really fantastic rhetoric article by two profs at UMass Amherst about being working class (and working class pedagogy) in the academy. If anyone wants to check it out let me know. And thanks to the OP. Dispite the moderate upheaval I appreciate the chance to see a thread where other working class applicant can commiserate.

Yeah, I've been kind of compulsive about it. Only one place I'm applying notifies the last 10 days or so of January. The vast majority are over the course of February. For a few of them at least I'll know that if I don't hear in Feb. I can assume rejection.

My academia.edu profile has been getting some traffic, if that means anything. Emphasis on some here, though, being that only 2/15 programs where I applied have possibly searched for me (and that's assuming that it isn't just some random person in the same city as the university).

After boycotting the subject test last app cycle, I was all set to take it. Being an Americanist, I even went out and bought the Norton Anthologies of Brit Lit. However, I soon realized only two schools that were strong fits for my interests, the University of South Carolina and the University of Southern California, required the subject test. Given the cost of living in SoCal, I had to cut that school anyway, so I decided one program, as great as it is, wasn't worth the substansial time/money investment for just one school. On a related note, does anyone get the sense that there's a giant conspiracy re: GRE score reports? Most schools where I applied only require unofficial transcripts until you're admited, but everyone requires the official GRE. It seems like if unofficial transcripts are okay until after admitted, then why can't the same go for the GRE? At $27 a pop, it look me more than two hours of work just to send one score report! Yeah, ETS is evil.

I submitted the last part of my Florida app today (stayed off grad cafe this round until all apps were in). It's funny to hear anyone mention it as a sleeper program. After being shut out from PhDs in 2012, it's the only one I'm reapplying to, and it's on my list as "higher tier" given their acceptance rate is less than 4.5%. Anyway, it's great to hear good things about it. Florida is on the top of my list, not least because of the fantastic faculty and awesome placement rates. It's also great to hear that about UNCG and Kentucky. Generally, what I'm getting from profs this go-round is experience over prestige. A lot of the programs below the top 25 give more teaching opportunity, which (I am told) carries a lot of weight when on the job market. This app cycle will be a quasi-test of that for me, I guess. As a second-year MA student, I'm teaching a 2/2 this year in my little regional program. Meanwhile, at a recent conference I spoke with MA students from Toronto and Columbia, and they were shocked I was an instructor of record at a school without a PhD program. I guess we'll see when the letters start coming in... For those who can decipher NRC rankings (goodness knows it took me a while), I focused on stats like student outcomes, ignoring rankings. Then, I checked where people ended up (TT, research-based, etc). Finally, as some people have already said, I talked to profs to see if reputation countered anything I came across. I think I came up with a balanced list as a result, but only time will tell!

Thanks for the feedback all. Very much appreciated.

Last semester was my first in my current program, and I took mostly core requirements to get them out of the way. On my final for one class my professor gave me a grade for the paper (an "A minus") and a grade for the class ("A"). However, when my final grades came through my grade for that class was listed as an A-. I e-mailed my professor about it, and he said it was an error (despite the fact he actually writes the word "minus" rather than putting a "-" next to the grade) and that the A- was my actual grade. This has been bugging me, especially considering I never got my participation or group discussion grades (I had perfect, on-time attendence and my group discussions met/exceeded all the requirements listed in the syllabus), so I did the math and my numbers match the grade I was initially told, not what was put into my transcript. All that being said, I discussed this with a member of my cohort who was an UG here and she advised against appealing the grade to avoid the associated "politics" (the professor who gave me the grade is the chair of my department, tenured, and the sort who can hold grude). As much as it bothers me, it would make my life *much* easier to just let this one go. I'm applying to PhD programs this fall, though, and, I'm worried a 3.9/4.0 could be the difference between an admit/deny or a funded/unfunded. I'm doing conferences and participating on campus/submitting to journals, which I'm hoping will help my case. Is an A- the kiss of death or am I being an ultra-paranoid applicant? Any feedback is welcome!

I was already in at UNCW, but I didn't get a funding offer until last week. I imagine some PhD programs with those off-the-record waitlists may still be doing some shuffling, too. Those are all highly ranked programs. In the NRC rankings, Yale would around the top of the list of schools you give and W&M at the bottom (the "bottom" being roughly #7 of AS programs, depending on how you read the rankings). I went to W&M for my MA, actually. I was accepted to MA/PhD, but wasn't able to continue on because of a lack of funding. That's really the biggest issue there, limited funds. I absolutely loved W&M, though. Honestly, "strength" really depends on what you want to study. For example, I think W&M is stronger than NYU if you're specializing in colonial studies, and Harvard doesn't really have a pop culture studies program, but Brown does. I'm surprised Minnesota isn't on your list, they're usually the #4 AS program in the NRC rankings. Rankihngs aren't really the same for PhD programs as they are for UG; it's about your particular speciality and what the faculty at a given department's strengths are, though, so it's not really about the rankings as much as the resources for your area of study. BGSU, for example, is usually toward the bottom of the NRC rankings, but their popular culture program is particularly strong and they have a lot of resources for students interested in that field. You really need to examine faculty and placement rates to get a sense of which program would offer the most of what you need. As far as selectivity, in all of my research the average selectivity rate for this schools is around 2%. I applied to some this year that were 1% and some that were 5% (one was 10%!), but they definitely avergaed to the lower end. If a program assures funding to all admitted students, you're definitely looking at a 2% acceptance rate at best. Again, you can't really judge PhD programs by selectivity the way you can UG programs. They are all ridiculously selective.

Yup, just the MA. Thanks! Of course I was hoping for a PhD acceptance, but I am thrilled to have gotten into a funded program to build my resume and experience. Hopefully 2015 apps will go better! Thanks much! You're right; a lot of MA students are terminal, so I'm guessing the acceptance rate is fairly close to the percentage of students applying to PhD programs. They don't advertise where students are admitted like some other programs, which I think was my only hesitation. I got into College of Charleston, which has placements at places like BC, Auburn, UVA, and Tennessee, but I didn't get an assistantship there so that's a no-go. I went to a top 30 UG, and a classmate of mine ended up at an unranked MA program. She's now ABD at a PhD program in the top 30. Based on the comments so far, it seems like she isn't a total anomaly, which is exactly what I was hoping for. Thanks so much for the positive feedback, and, of course, I'm happy to hear anyone else's thoughts!

Sorry to bother everyone, but I wonder if anyone's heard anything about Winthrop University. It's a public school in South Carolina. I ask because I got an assistantship (yay!!) with them, and I really like all the faculty I've spoken to, but I haven't really heard anything about placement rates or any perspectives from people outside of the campus community. Any input is welcome!

Congratulations, phigirl! Thanks for giving us rejects hope.

Is it in English? I have an MA in American Studies, and I asked to be considered for an MA in a couple of the English programs I applied to and it didn't seem to be an issue.

Congrats on Stony Brook! That is amazing! I applied to Iowa's American Studies program and received my rejection last Friday. I'm not sure if Film Studies has started notifying, but hopefully that helps?

I had the same issue. I e-mailed last month confirming I would be considered for both the MA and PhD. I never heard back. I e-mailed again this week and was told I would receive a response right away, but I never heard back. It's disappointing because UF is a really great fit for my interests and, you're right, things definitely don't seem super organized. :-/

They seem completely templated (I was addressed by my full name, including middle initial, and directed to their website should I want to re-apply). It was sent as an attachment by a grad secretary. I honestly don't know why they're coming one by one.

I'm one of the Florida rejections.

Thanks so much to everyone who offered to read my essay! I really can't tell you how much I appreciate it.

Would any of you admitted English people be willing to read my revised statement of purpose for MA programs with April 1 app deadlines? I figured I should re-do it because it clearly didn't work for PhD programs. Fortunately the programs limit it to two pages, so hopefully there's limited opportunity for me to screw up.

WEGMAN'S IS AMAZING! I used to work at TJ's and I live down the street from the biggest Whole Foods I've ever seen, but nothing is like Wegman's! I am VERY upset because they're building a Wegman's less than five miles from my house and we're trying to leave. Fresh Market is awesome, too, but it's super expensive and small compared to Wegman's. I didn't believe my boyfriend, but now I'm a total convert. Sorry for the outburst, I'm not really sure what I'm doing on the acceptance thread!