KeelyMK

I'll rep ENTP. Hella N's. http://www.personalitydesk.com/personality-types

About the whole TA convo, It's interesting to learn of some programs *requiring* first year TA. I asked my schools about it because I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to live on stipend alone and I really wanted to get into teaching as early as possible, but I guess none of them offer it first year. Berkeley said you weren't even allowed to, the rest said they'd prefer you didn't and the maximum is 10 hours/week if you do. Apparently you can apply for the same positions as other grad students, but appointments go by rank of seniority so you're probably not even going to get one as a first-year. I *wish* they required it :/

Oops *for not "field". iPhone, you stupid.

My POI at Berkeley said yesterday that they had around 600 this year also, and each one gets read by like 10 different people, *and* there's the whole situation with no official grad advisor even working yet, just the interim girl. Also, they said they don't even know when funding info will be finalized but prob not for a few weeks. I want to read this as a good thing for everyone who's only heard silence so far. Either they're just too overwhelmed and disorganized to even bother with rejections until they've gotten all the admits sorted, or they might still be in the last steps of deciding. POI said they were planning on accepting around 20 with a goal cohort of 10, and I think there's only been like 4 or 5 admit results on the board so far? So we'll see

I don't, and I wish there were. Honestly, it's something that I'm very passionate about changing because former foster youth are one drain on our social programs and economy that is almost completely preventable. We are 2-5x more likely to be homeless, uninsured, on welfare, unemployed, uneducated, and psychologically unstable/drug and alcohol dependent. (I've been through all of the above-mentioned).This is mainly because of the instability in foster care - most kids, including myself, move to multiple new homes per year, where they (we) can't earn enough credits to graduate and are forced to earn a GED, then "age out" of the system with no follow-up, regardless of whether we have anywhere to go. Some Unis and CCs have programs like the one I volunteered for, but they are ENTIRELY privately funded, with no state or federal help beyond Pell Grants and such. A quarter of a million kids per year age out of the system in this country, and most become nothing more than those dire statistics BECAUSE we were never expected to. As soon as I entered foster care, they gave me psych meds and birth control instead of textbooks or positive words. Again, sorry, please let this thread be happy and shiny again lol. I didn't mean to cause a thing. If you're interested in former foster youth statistics, I can PM you the 20pg research paper I did on it last year. In the meantime, **think happy thoughts** I really do hope the very best for everyone.

asleepawake, I definitely appreciate your opinion and support, but my personal philosophy is that I've had to fight tooth and nail to even get to college in the first place, and it's made me a much more dedicated scholar than if I was just handed golden tickets for being a poor kid. I think it's wrong for applications to even ask things like race and socioeconomic status, BUT if you ARE going to ask me in the personal prompt if I've overcome any educational challenges, be ready for an earful. I'm not going to hold back, because ultimately I'm looking out for #1. I don't approve of AA as a general practice, but as DontHate says, it IS a current practice, so if one can take advantage of it, one should. However, I have made sure to try my hardest to pass on the opportunities and good fortune bestowed upon me in the last year or so - I've spent my time at Berkeley tutoring and mentoring the Guardian Scholars Program, which is a privately-funded program to help foster kids transition into college. ONLY 3% of us ever even earn a BA in their lifetime. Sorry, I'm just a little riled up now lol. And I think it's a statistic people should be aware of.

Yay thank you. It's an appropriate avatar for many reasons. Thanks! it's Ann Van Sant. She was extremely nice on the phone. Actually none of the other programs contacted me personally until now. She said Prof. Laura O'Connor really wanted to meet me and would be in touch soon, and she is one POI whom I did send a few emails back and forth with before sending apps out to notify her of my interest. Mmm that sounds decadent. I'm sure all my current profs at Berkeley think I'm crazy enough to take the deal for the price of a Big Box meal at Taco Bell and a certain Pan American advertisement poster they have framed and hanging in the department lounge that I've had my eye on for years now. (But if you hear that said poster disappeared and ended up in LA somehow, you don't know anything.) This would probably work better. The men, not the children. (re: Marilyn avatar) No offense taken and thanks for bringing this up because it's been on my mind a lot. To be honest, I am whole-heartedly against AA. If you heard about Berkeley College Republicans holding an anti-AA bake sale last year - yup that was us. So I actually sort of feel like a disgusting hypocrite if that ended up why I was picked over someone else, and it's something I've been feeling sh**ty about the past few weeks. Everything I said in my app was true, but I don't want that to be the reason why a school wants to take me, like some sort of scientific anomaly. I'm a 27yo little white girl, but I grew up homeless and in and out of foster care. My formal education was arrested in 7th grade because I needed to go out and start making enough money to live. After years of full time retail jobs, intermittent community college, and too many nights in jail, I finally earned enough credits to transfer. I've maintained my 4.0 at Berkeley, established excellent rapport with all my professors (none of whom knew my past situation), and earned my spot in the year-long Honors thesis course, which you have to apply specifically to take. So with merit vs. diversity quota, I'm not sure exactly which carried my app further. I'm going to see if I can ask adcomms point blank WHY I was chosen, and I'm going to take this answer to heart with respect to where I choose to study.

Lol thank you. Here's an update for those waiting to hear from Irvine. I just got a phone call from the grad chair who said that DGS wasn't actually supposed to send out the email yet. The only reason I got early acceptance was because of Deans fellowship nomination and diversity fellowship nod, but it didn't say anything about those things in the email. On the phone she said they would match and raise any other offer I've been given from other schools because they "knew they would have to fight for me". I feel so blessed and cursed :/ is it possible for a school to guilt you into enrolling? Too much to think about. Good luck in the coming hours and days my friends. I love you all.

Yup just before 5 (CA time)

That's me. It was a generic email from DGS saying I should get more info from "whatever program I applied to" in the next few days. So I wouldn't be surprised if all the acceptances went out just now.

1. Location 2. Rank 3. Funding 4. Department size/culture. I feel like this encompasses fit and faculty... I'm a mess right now :/ I've tried to promise myself not to even think about this stuff until visit weeks and just focus on finishing up my last semester of undergrad well, but this hasn't really worked thus far. Does anyone know what I'm supposed to do the summer before I start a program? Idk how I'm going to afford to live if I can't start coursework with financial aid/work study early. Do people normally just find a summer cafe job or something until September? The prospect of moving to someplace new AND being broke really worries me. Thanks for any input!

just got the good word from UCLA. Now I have some serious decisions to make :/ Good luck and congrats to everyone who's posted news today/yesterday.

I crossed many programs off my list to apply to for the same reason, but now I'm realizing that was a mistake. I did HORRIFICALLY on the subject - something like 37th percentile. I failed it with flying colors. I knew that it was going to be a ridiculously abberant portion of my application so I made sure to strengthen the rest of the profile and take a shot. I'm glad that I did because I'm 2 for 2 so far. Anybody (in the future) who is thinking of ruling out programs because of any single requirement shouldn't do his or herself that disservice. It really is the whole package that counts!

t1racyjacks I'm pulling for you. it looks like all the schools are posting things over a few days' time. *thinking happy thoughts*

Not personalized, just a general letter on the status page that the email from DGS directed me to. Still nothing updated on UCLA though, who I was hoping to hear from today. So this comes as an earth-shattering surprise. Thanks everyone and good luck.

Oh my god. I got into Berkeley. I'm shaking so hard right now. Heart asplode.

that prob should have gone in the other thread, sorry. this was just the page i had up when i got the email. ach, scatter-brained today.

email from the grad admissions officer at Berkeley just now saying they need a copy of the fee waiver letter that financial aid issued when I was submitting an application...hoping they wouldn't even bother to ask if I was going to be rejected anyway. we'll see. the waiting is keeellling me! And as I've been lurking the last few days I've seen and sympathized with all of the good and bad news on the forum. Congrats to everyone who made it thus far, hang in there and good luck to everyone else.

Yesss it's one of our texts. I'm about halfway through it and I love it. I think the whole embodied simulation hypothesis could be integral for my thesis - I'm really behind in writing, but I want to look at the causes and effects of various deictic dynamics in narrative...the cognitive processes that influence an author to choose second-person narration over first, let's say, or to narrate in the present tense rather than past.

Hi everybody, I looked around quite a bit and couldn't find a topic that specifically explored this, so if you know of one, I apologize and please bump or direct me to it. I applied to UCLA, SB, Berkeley and Irvine for an English PhD. They're all great programs, so if I got accepted to more than one (I just jinxed it, I know), the decision would really come down to location and campus/department attitude. So can any Grad or UG who went to any of the rest of the UCs comment on the general vibe of the city, campus and/or English department, both students and faculty? City: There's some stuff on this in the City Page forum, but I think it would be helpful if anyone who has spent time in more than one UC campus city could contribute a comparison of their impressions and experiences with places and the people who live there. Department: For example, here at Berkeley as an UG I can say that the faculty is *amazing*: every professor I've had has been brilliant, accomplished, and approachable. However, I find I haven't really gotten along with/related to most of the students as easily. I don't mean to overgeneralize and I'm sorry if I offend anyone, because I have certainly met a lot of great and genuine people here - but the overall feel of the social culture among both UGs and Grads in the department can often seem a bit too homogeneous in the way of pretentiousness and hypersensitive hipster-ism in my experience. If anyone can comment on the social atmosphere, diversity or "character" of the other UC English departments I would love your input. Berkeley is also a very large department, with 150-200 grads total and enrolling 18-20 new grads per year. I know UCLA's is also pretty big, and then Irvine and Santa Barbara are much smaller with less than 100 and enroll about 10-12 annually (I don't know about the other UCs). If you've attended one of the UCs, what do you feel are the pros and cons of its department size? Sorry, I know this is long and you probably didn't read it all, but you get the idea of what I'm asking so thanks to anyone who responds. Cheers

Last undergrad semester at UC Berkeley: 2nd semester of a year-long Honors thesis seminar "The Romance" - mostly 16th century stuff. I put off my pre-1800 requirement until now :/ bad choice "The Mind and Language" - with George Lakoff, who is kind of a big deal around here so I'm looking forward to it. Should be really intense but fun. I am NOT looking forward to writing this thesis...60 pages is more than I've ever attempted so far. If I'm going to be lurking around this forum until decisions come out, I would really appreciate it if someone told me to get the heck off the internet and start writing lol. Oh, and Riotbeard, I love Stephen Crane He's probably one of my favorite authors from that era.

I enjoy working mostly with Joyce and WWI soldiers, trying to use cognitive linguistics and trauma theory to look at how war/wartime memory affects narrative. Doing my senior thesis on David Jones' In Parenthesis at the moment. I notice that a lot of the people on here applied to the same few schools, so I look forward to hopefully meeting members of my future grad cohort! Thanks for the welcome and good luck, Data

Hi people I just signed up for this forum and will probably be spending way too much time on it until all my results come in. I received my first communication yesterday, an email notifying me of nomination for departmental fellowship for UCSB's English PhD. Not an official acceptance, but it sounded like an assumed acceptance after committee review. 1 UC down (probably), 3 left to hear from. Good luck to everyone as we wait out the next couple months!