Gwendolyn

It's probably pretty bad from the perspective of the university to which you've already committed, but in the grand scheme of things, you've got to consider what's best for you. With that said, you should be pretty darn sure this isn't an impulsive decision.

I don't think it's so much about whether or not a school is private or public when it comes to levels of admission difficulty. It's really more dependent upon the caliber of the program. There's definitely lower ranked programs at private universities that are less competitive and relatively easy to get into and higher ranked public schools that are extremely competitive and relatively difficult to get into. I'd imagine the main difference is, as Swagato expressed, a matter of funding.

I'm more of a Project Muse gal myself.

I have a friend who was admitted to Penn State a while ago and went for a campus visit (she's comp rhet if that makes a difference).

were you at open house?

I wonder if this is different at smaller universities or programs that receive less applications.

I'll be around from Thursday evening until Sunday around 11am!

This thread should be stickied.

The document currently isn't allowing other users to make edits.

Perhaps a google docs might be beneficial here for a collaborative effort. Anywho, I've accepted an offer at The Ohio State University (English PhD).

I don't know what to make of this thread.

I think properly establishing fit and naming professors is rarely, if ever, a negative thing. Sometimes people just don't get in. Space is limited. I think attributing failure to get into a program on establishing fit in a PS is a bit unreasonable.

Woah! I definitely haven't gotten an email about that...

I hope not to sound redundant, but I firmly believe it's important to write about program fit. For what it's worth, I have to attend an annual conference for one of my undergrad programs (although there are several optional events throughout the year) and the majority of fellows in this region are from emory, rice, and wustl so we'll typically have graduate admission counselors from those schools, but we'll also have graduate admissions counselors come from other prominent fellow schools from other regions sometimes (when I say "prominent" I mean schools who produce a large number of fellows) to speak and answer questions about admissions as well (mainly ucla, university of chicago and northwestern, but I've seen harvard, dartmouth, and stanford and a few others). Over the course of two or so years it's been explicitly stressed over and over again from admissions counselors from these schools to make sure to write about how you fit into a program, but here's where some people might err. Don't just pick out professors blindsighted -- ASK if professors are willing to work with more students during the next school year. ASK if professors are interested in your research. ASK if professors think your research aligns with theirs before you apply. Writing about your fit means absolutely nothing if your POI can't work with you (they might already be advising more students than they can manage or they might be on a sabbatical by the time you enter etc.), if your POI doesn't have interest in what you're doing (their research interests do change - one professor at OSU told me he wasn't doing something I inquired about anymore, BUT he was interested in working with some of my other interest areas). This is why it helps to list 3-4 people you can work with in your letter (hopefully you've at least contacted the primary 1 or 2). If you can only name one person you want to work with and he's not taking any more students, then you're out. If you've convincingly written in two or three others you can see yourself working with then, if admitted, you'll have access to Professor of Choice and you'll prove that if something happens to Professor of Choice (they leave the school, they retire, they die... all realities), you'll still have other people in the program who can guide you. Appealing to 1 professor is like applying to the professor. Picking a few reveals your interest in the department rather than just one POI. A few other things I've taken away: 1. Write about why you want to study at the school; what resources does the school have that will contribute to your research? Is there a special collection or a special institute? Is the location particularly beneficial to your research? Are there local off campus resources? 2. Explicitly state what you want to contribute to the academy as a whole. What conversations can you join? What new are you adding? 3. Tell what academic experiences prepare you for graduate study (avoid too much extraneous personal information unless requested). 4. Know what you want to research, but be sure to indicate that you are a young scholar so your interests are evolving (this illustrates your flexibility and makes those professors with changing interests more inclined to work with you).

I'll definitely second this. I've heard this advice over and over again since I became interested in pursuing a PhD around sophomore year. Always write about the professors you'd like to work with and state how you fit with them. Very basic example: ...Professor One has conducted research concerning X, X, and X which informs my own interest in exploring X. Professor Two's work with X and X theory intersects particularly well with my own research on X . I hope to work under Professor Three to use his expertise on X and X to further my exploration of X.

I'm probably echoing others, but I've always been told to never go anywhere that wasn't going to fully fund. I think it's especially telling if other applicants to the program received funding, but you did not. Schools tend to fund those who they believe will be most successful.

Definitely what is written.If Professor Famous writes you a letter of recommendation that doesn't speak very highly of you, is very broad and generic, doesn't prove you why you're prepared for graduate study etc. then you're worse of than the student X who gets a very personal letter of rec from Professor Nobody that adequately speaks on behalf of her ability to do well in graduate study. Not sure about the environment of departments in larger school, but I think I was lucky to go to a school with a smaller department because it allowed me to get to know the majority of professors in my department on a more personal level. There's one I stop to speak with every day and a handful I see at least once a week. I think building those connections over the course of undergrad helped me get strong letters of rec. Alternatively, I've spoken to people from bigger universities who maintain many of their professors are hard to reach.

I will be attending and it'd definitely be great to know someone with similar research interests. Feel free to PM me!

Preparing for Fall 2013 damn near killed me. I wish you all the best at any rate!

Personal Statement Letters of Rec Conference Presentations Staff connections I'd also add undergrad awards/fellowships I think my GRE and my GPA were solid, but there's a lot of solid GRE scores and GPAs out there which is why I think the other things counted far more. When I applied I really didn't believe any of my package was good enough and I didn't think I'd get in anywhere which makes me hesitant to include my writing sample, but it was apparently better than I thought. I'm a pessimist.

Amazing, congratulations!

I'm in the program for US Ethnic literature and post colonial studies (partially). I'm entering with a BA (I can confirm what ZacharyBinks said about 9 students with a BA and 9 with an MA), but my acceptance letter states that I'm being welcomed to the Engish PhD program, so I'm lead to assume the program differentiates more between PhD candidates and pre-quals students rather than MA and PhD students.

I guess I was lucky to be able to visit 5 of the 9 schools I applied to already. Rejected from one of the four I didn't visit, declined 2 of them, and I haven't heard from the 4th, but it's extremely unlikely I'll be going. Far too worried about my thesis for Senior Seminar to mix in a bunch of visitation dates. I think I'd go insane.

It's early in the game and I know IU has already made offers of funding (first year and otherwise) to students in many departments and it's only early March. Many students will decline those offers, so the waitlist might convert.

I'll get there Thursday evening and leave around noon on Sunday. Scoping out neighborhoods as well.