jrockford27

I'll just second that it's pretty conventional wisdom that yes, your GPA and GRE scores are often important for getting you in the door, or surviving the earliest cuts. But having actually spoken to people on the adcoms in my department, and also been privy to discussions about our admissions process, selection is much more nuanced in the later stages.  Different profs privilege different aspects of the application, the biggest factor in grad school admissions seems to me to be "who's on the admissions committee."  
I was told that the success of my application was owed primarily to two profs on the adcom really believing that my proposed research would bring a unique perspective to the cohort and strongly advocating for my admission.  If those two profs weren't on the adcom, then perhaps my high GPA and GRE scores would not have meant anything.  It wouldn't have meant that my app was bad, it just would have meant that it was an unlucky draw.  If you're say, really excited to get in the stacks and reveal something new about Milton and there's no early-modernist on the adcom, then you're at the mercy of the other members of the adcom to say, 'hey, this student would be a good fit to work with our early-modernist'.  
So in considering what's most important in the process, then yes, in the first round of cuts GPA and GRE are very important.  They become vastly reduced in importance after the initial field has been sufficiently narrowed.  The different steps of the process involve different contingencies.  

The writing sample probably is one of the last things departments look at. Grades, GRE scores, LORs, and the statement of purpose have more weight.

Exp, I'm sure you'll have a fine career at Starbucks or Barnes and Noble.

He's Chair of the Trolling Department at Under The Bridge University. In my experience, most Trolling departments are interdisciplinary, but they try super hard to hang out with the STEMlords so they can be Science.

First of all, it's not over until its over.  I had waitlist notifications come in late.
I remember being shut out was one of the more crushing periods of my life, and for a week or two I spent my evenings after work drinking wine and eating pizza and playing video games and not much else.  Then I woke up one morning, dusted myself off, and said "what's my next step?".  Two biggest things I did: 1) Asked my recommenders to look at my SoP; and 2) Refined my selection of schools to really get a good feel for fit -- which is to say, I honestly asked myself if I had a good reason to be applying to a particular school.  In a sense, it was very good thing that happened to me, because I wouldn't be where I'm at now if it hadn't happened (I look back at my first round school selection and wonder what I was thinking).
From what I've observed, a masters is probably very helpful.  My assumption is that at my school, the year I was admitted, they said "what if we experimented with letting in BA students this year?", since the other two students in my Film cohort also only have BA's, but just about everyone else recently admitted to the program, and the cohort before us, all have MA's.  I would advise, based on what I've heard these students say, to be very wary of going the "paid MA from a big name school" route, and consider the many funded or partially funded MA programs from non-name brand schools. We have people from both types in our program. 

Just got acceptance with full funding and stipend from University of Washington Seattle!!!! Crazy to think in just a number of months I'll be moving from little New Zealand down here in the corner of the world to start graduate study at my dream school... and they're paying me to do it  

Hi all! Long time lurker, first-time poster.
I got accepted at Howard University for their English PhD, but yesterday I got an email congratulating me on being accepted to U Pitt's program! If there are applicants/fellow possible peers here, I would love to get in contact with you!

I'm not really sure how to take this comment. Initially I hoped it was a dark joke about Trump's opinions, but on second thought, I'm not sure. The tone of this website normally seems so supportive, and this comment - if meant seriously - is troubling both here and in terms of how the admitted applicant views the academic world:
 
Cornell University English, PhD (F16) Accepted via E-mail on 12 Feb 2016  A 13 Feb 2016 POI, still unofficial. To American students who didn't get admission: try again after trump (if elected) lowers student visa numbers. That will help a lot. Good luck!  

We have a student in our program who got their MA at U Cincy and she's solid.  I regularly cite Stanley Corkin's work in my papers and just assigned one of his essays for a class I'm teaching.  Sounds like a plenty classy program to me!   There are people doing great work at programs that aren't "big name"!    Congratulations on the acceptance and good luck!

I got accepted in UCincinnati on Friday, with a very kind email! I know it's not really a 'high-class' program, but I'm beyond excited, because I'd already received 3 rejections and 2 implied rejections! So I was certain I'd be rejected at every single other school I applied to. Basically, I'm delighted to have gotten a fully funded offer anywhere! A huge heavy weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
Congrats to everyone who has gotten acceptances! We did it.

I want to link to this excellent post because I think we all need to reminded when we lose perspective and confidence in ourselves that this is a time that will pass. I've never heard it phrased this way before but, the sentiment is excellent. Hopefully, it'll help the community out!

If you have a good relationship with a recommender, offer to buy them a cup of coffee and see if they'd be willing to chat with you about a potential writing sample you're working on.  One of my recommenders did that for me with my personal statements.  I'd stop short of asking them to read a draft, since that would make a big demand on their time, but if they're interested they might simply offer.

I was working in the private sector prior to going to grad school.  I was making about $34k/yr and I was scared to death about the drop in salary.  As it turns out, it wasn't at all difficult to adapt to life on a stipend (between my TAship and various fellowships I come out to about 20k/yr).  You'll learn to adapt, but you'll also quickly learn that grad school doesn't afford you the time to spend a lot of money on various luxuries, and your social engagements will be spent primarily with people who also make very little money (your cohort/colleagues) and so the price will scale down.
If I had to list one financial anxiety, it's that it's very difficult to create a savings and plan for the future.
It's good that you've accepted that you wont be friends with everyone in your department, that was hard for me.  Nevertheless, I am friends with enough folks, even if what binds us together is our shared struggle.  Grad school can be very isolating, especially early on, especially if you're moving far from your hometown.  But if you make yourself a department citizen and you show up for events (people pay attention to this, and they notice), and keep an open mind, that stuff goes away somewhat.
In my department you can be as involved or uninvolved as you'd like in bureaucracy.  Though part of being a dept. citizen and being recognized for it means dealing with some of that.

Tenure, health insurance, and about $50,000 a year and I'm set.
A mentor of mine who worked at a community college once told me that he didn't know anyone with a PhD who didn't get tenure as long as they were willing to go where the job was.  That might mean Calgary or Topeka or Fargo, but I don't care as long as I have the above.  Most of us wont be upper middle class and living in a cosmopolitan metropolis.

Tenure, health insurance, and about $50,000 a year and I'm set.
A mentor of mine who worked at a community college once told me that he didn't know anyone with a PhD who didn't get tenure as long as they were willing to go where the job was.  That might mean Calgary or Topeka or Fargo, but I don't care as long as I have the above.  Most of us wont be upper middle class and living in a cosmopolitan metropolis.

When I saw the thread title, I thought I might encounter some some really positive/helpful scenarios. Notice that the slightest criticism inferred from my post resulted in condemnation (name calling) by the privileged, self-centered element.
I probably am in the wrong place to expect more. In real life: In Public Health, graduate students (who do not expect to make much money) express their goals of helping the less fortunate on an almost daily basis.
 

Tenure, health insurance, and about $50,000 a year and I'm set.
A mentor of mine who worked at a community college once told me that he didn't know anyone with a PhD who didn't get tenure as long as they were willing to go where the job was.  That might mean Calgary or Topeka or Fargo, but I don't care as long as I have the above.  Most of us wont be upper middle class and living in a cosmopolitan metropolis.

Hypothesis: Even in a "dream" scenario, there will be no indication of wanting to benefit people who did not have the same opportunities.
Theory: There is no correlation between intellect and morality.

I took some time to read a chapter or two or an article by POIs that I felt strongly about but whose work I hadn't read.  Gather some articles or go to the nearest university library, take a few hours, then you can write your statements with confidence.  And yes, focus on recent work, and armed with your recent reading you should be able to make your SOP all that more personal and specific.

You'll find in many cases that you don't have a lot of time to spend money on the things you used to blow a lot of your money on, and that your social activities will be with other people who also have very little money, and the cost of your activities will scale accordingly.  I took about a 40% paycut to come start my PhD.  I still manage to eat well, keep gas in my car, pay my bills on time, go out and have a good time with my colleagues/friends on the weekends, and still have a little left over in the bank at the end of the month. This is in a mid-sized metropolis with an average cost of living.  I rent a converted attic apartment from a family that lives near the university, affordable places are available if you're willing to look and be flexible.  While it's not exactly easy living, I think the financial doom and gloom of grad student life is overblown if you know how to spend wisely.

Funny, acceptances are accompanied by the same things.

You'll find in many cases that you don't have a lot of time to spend money on the things you used to blow a lot of your money on, and that your social activities will be with other people who also have very little money, and the cost of your activities will scale accordingly.  I took about a 40% paycut to come start my PhD.  I still manage to eat well, keep gas in my car, pay my bills on time, go out and have a good time with my colleagues/friends on the weekends, and still have a little left over in the bank at the end of the month. This is in a mid-sized metropolis with an average cost of living.  I rent a converted attic apartment from a family that lives near the university, affordable places are available if you're willing to look and be flexible.  While it's not exactly easy living, I think the financial doom and gloom of grad student life is overblown if you know how to spend wisely.

I was admitted to Buffalo last year, though I didn't end up going.  Two things to note.  One is that they did two rounds of acceptances last year, one in late Jan and one in early Feb.  I believe it's determined by what fellowships the applicant qualified for.  Second, if I recall right, my application still said "Not Reviewed" for several days after I had been notified that I was accepted, don't read too much into it.

While it's not quite where you're at, there are people in my incoming cohort who are 33 or 32.  I know that when I was an undergrad we had a PhD student in the department who was in his 40s.  Naturally, people under 35 are going to be better represented because it's not all that common to start a PhD in your late 30s.  I wouldn't take the current age demographics in a department to be a statement on whether they'll admit an older student.  I think it will have much more to do with the fact that there are just simply more applicants in younger age ranges.

I might be qualified to comment on your specific question.  I went to Minnesota for undergrad.  I was accepted to SUNY Buffalo and waitlisted at Vanderbilt (there were plenty of other results too, but those are the ones you asked about), and I currently attend a PhD program at a school ranked in the 30s by the USNEWS list.  Bare numbers.  My GRE was 164v/156q/6.0w and I had a 4.0 undergrad GPA.  
 
My first year, I applied mostly to "name" programs in the top 20, because I had my head up my ass.  Yes: If you go to Yale, Chicago, Harvard, Stanford, etc., your job prospects improve.  Those are wonderful schools.  I didn't get into them.  I suspect I didn't get into them less because of the quality of my work, and more because what I was doing simply didn't fit.  I'm in a fairly niche field as far as English goes, and I was silly to try and make a case for those programs.  My second time around, I cast a wider net, and I found a lot of really delightful programs.  In fact, I found a program that I didn't even really know about my first time around, and realized it was perfect for me.  I got in there, and I'm exceedingly happy about it.  Every day I'm reminded why it was an awesome choice, even if we're y'know, in the 30s.  Pick programs you like, and once you get to where you are, you'll quickly forget about where you didn't get in and what your school is ranked.
 
I tend to think that if you do good work, you rise to the top.  So I don't sweat the ranking too much.  Prestige helps, no doubt, but it's not everything.  There are profs in my program from non-Ivy schools, and it's a school where anyone would be happy to get a tenure track position, I think.  Though, at this point, I'm sure anyone would be happy to get a tenure track position anywhere!