cougarstigers!

so many OSU-ers! ah! welcome to town. i'll be heading to upenn for the fall! ah! but, it was such a close call with berkeley that i'm still really confused, so let's talk about it later! <3! somehow, i'm getting the sense that remote apartment-hunting is not necessarily a step-down in stress/intensity from what the last couple-a months have been? congratulations, all! what a wild season. hope everything is wonderful, enlightening, and still full of great non-academic human things like kale and egg sandwiches come fall! summmmmerrrr rooooooooad tripppppp ya'all! xo!

i also loved my visit -- i've just declined, too, but i don't know if that will affect the waitlist any. michigan's a truly friendly, interdisciplinary, down-to-earth sort of a place, with a degree of public & popular engagement on the part of the english faculty -- in such stunning combination -- that i think you'd be hard-pressed to find anywhere else! 19th & 20thc. american (my field) seems to be particularly booming; and graduate students seemed friendly & happy all-around. PLUS, ann arbor really is a PLACE -- a held-in, comfortable, fairly progressive and culturally dense one. i think, if you guys are interested and can harbor the brinksmanship game of waiting, it'd be worth it! good luckkkk! hope you guys get slots!

my lease ends sept. 1st, but i'm serrrrious, guys, i'm sure they'd let us do an august split or something if one of you wants this lovely place. cats only, unfortunately (but some other folks have not-so-secret dogs!), but it's the best, best, best location i could think of! some have already PM'd, so sorry for bein' so slow -- let's talk after i make my decision, haha! but, again : 1 living room 1 bedroom french windows lovely verdigris walls crown moulding cozy big closets cathedralesque american bathroom, &c.! 295 west hubbard in victorian village, if you want to check it out on streetview! in the mighty CHARWALDE! i'm gonna miss this town! congrats to you all! xoxoxo!!!

declined at michigan & stanford a few days ago if this helps!

bump! i'd still love to hear any feedback on the visit, if anyone has anything to say! i'm worried they made you all sign a pact-of-silence! very curious!, cougars!

you guyyys make sure to eat at northstar and 2nd & high! and check out the NORTH MARKET! spruce street! i'll be working at the greener grocer there this afternoon if you want to say HI! coolest indoor/local market evvvvvz. (also seriously JENI'S SPLENDID ICE CREAM. try the absinthe + meringues or savannah buttermint. you won't regret this. unless you are a vegan. and even then prolly not!) GOOD LUCK !!!

hiiii! ah, you guys, i missed the visit. can anyone fill me in on what it was like? sounds like everyone had a really good time?!? i'd love to hear more !!! sorry to miss out on meeting everyone! <3!

ps -- is anyone else interested in american-sy things? glad this thread finally cropped up! i've been waiting! yay!

hi all! i will be heading up briefly for a visit on thursday -- glad to work this out, since i didn't think i'd be able to fit it into my schedule! i also attended michigan for two years undergrad, so have some -- albeit now dimmed! -- perspective on the life & times in ann arbor. the telluride house (www.telluride-house.org) is also an interesting resource for folks considering graduate school in ann arbor; definitely not for everyone (i couldn't do intensive live-in communities anymore, at this time in my life!) but they provide a full room & board scholarship for interested parties, with a deep committment to service, intellectual engagement and building democracy. see you sooooon!, cougars! ps -- you guys are making me feel like i'm nuts if i turn down berkeley for a colder locale! ugh: maybe i am, haha!!!

hey there, potential bus-towners! as i make up my own final decisions, i did just want to reach out again and say HEY! i have a cheap cool lovely apartment in the best neighborhood, ever -- SERIOUSLY, i wish i didn't have to move anywhere else; and am actually kind-of super-bummed to have to! -- that i'll need someone to take up in either early july or august, depending on what i find elsewhere. i'll be out of town for most of next week, but will definitely be home by sunday, march 31st, if anyone is still around; i could also try to share pictures! again: WISH I COULD STAY HERE FOREVER; and, since i know i'm so freaked out considering neighborhoods and only having craigslist as a metric for the places i'm considering moving to, please feel free to PM me for any neighboorhood suggestions, or if you have specific buildings, streets, &c., in mind! yay columbus! and welcome to all who are gonna be coming to visit!, cougars!

exxxxcited to see you all at the visiting weekend! i'll most likely attend the little reception thing on friday, then lay low for saturday, since i'm not too much into party-type socializing. but, i'll be around oakland, so if anyone wants to meet up or talk grad-school things or even OTHER things about life, haha, it'd be lovely to get coffee or take a stroll, &c.&c.! safe travels to everyone flyin' in! gee whiz i hate planes! <3! i mean I LOVE THEM AND TRUST THEM AND THEY WILL BE GOOD TO ME. haha.

just turned down my offer at u.t. austin -- so hopefully someone doing american studies-y things or popular culture will hear soon? nods, though, to fishbucket -- this shit's important, too. trying to balance keeping *myself* from being overwhelmed with too many options, being courteous to the waitlisted folks, and, of course, trying to hold on to some options, too, in light of catastrophes (i.e. the fickleness/full-changin' vision of my mind!) whew-o! ready for this blessed process to be over, folks! good luck to everyone still waiting!

hello all! just turned down my spot (sad, right?! sounds like the visits have been really incredible!) to do american studies-y things, so hopefully someone out there will be hearing the good news, and can make the visit instead! YAYYYYY!!!, cougars!

yeah hopwoods! man -- those things sure did structure my time in ann arbor as an undergraduate! what an incredibly generous program! and the hopwood room is so cozy!

HEY GUYS. are there like graduate student satisfaction surveys anyone, from folks at various programs?! i sorta wish, and i am randomly trolling googlesearch in vain ... anywhere on here that folks know about? all of this talk about admissions has been SUPER helpful; but i'm wondering if there are fora people use once they're actually in the programs?! it would be so great to hear follow-up; things folks wished they woulda known about/asked, &c.&c. !!! thanks so much!

someone remind me of what the teaching situation is like at austin? i'm now comparing a much better-funded offer with a similarly high teaching load at rutgers, which has a comp. program -- same at austin? or teaching lit courses, something else?

this really makes me want to go on the darned visit. ugggggggggggggh i love sandwiches!!!

-- i'd especially love to hear from any americanists considering the dept.!!! ALSO, if anyone out there did accept at rutgers, or visited/considered and decided not to accept for X or Y reasons, i'd also love to hear from you, and you reasons for doing/feeling whatever you did! tough decisions on the heart! love to hear from anyone! <3!

bump! hello! anyone coming to the open house this year? strongly considering the program? let's talk! i want to know more about new brunswick; and i want to know more about what the teaching arrangement is like! other than that, i am super excited about the faculty (!!!), and folks could NOT have been more friendly, kind, helpful and exciteable in reaching out to me about my work and coming to rutgers! thoughts??? here or PM !!!

this is brilliant. i love it! how does everyone else feel about recruitment emails, unsolicited letters from faculty, 'woo-factor,' &c.? i'm getting very different vibes from the different places i'm in, due to the tone/frequency of these pushes on their part, and i don't want to end up getting the wrong impression (i.e., that some places Just Aren't That Into Me) based on this, if it really is just a matter of different guerilla campaigns ... thoughts?! SERIOUSLY THIS LIST. THE BEST. WONDERFUL.

sorry to harp on this -- 'tis Important to me! for any of you lurkers who are current grad students at berkeley, or other prospectives from years past -- could you fill us in on whether the funding situation really does vary from person to person? moreover, can you let us know what that's actually LIKE, as far as the culture of the dept. goes? does it feel like a hierarchy? bad vibes? does it really not matter? i'm making a very tough decision, and this will weigh heavily in it, since i'm comparing with a school that (and this feels good to me) is able to give equal funding across the department and even across departments ... very interested to hear. please PM if you'd prefer! xo!

if this helps anyone, for program-specific waitlist admissions -- i have an offer from austin (i do american studies & sound studies, 19th-into-20thc., and history of reading, reading theory) that i'm fairly sure i am going to decline, as well as offers at michigan, stanford, and cornell. not sure how those other ones work, but hopefully this might help somebody anybody? hoping to notify fairly soon, but i think i will visit cornell first, since i am still very interested ... i definitely will let michigan, austin & stanford know before the visit days, if i choose to decline, so that some other person can go in my stead! best of luck to everybody! <3!

-- that ALL said: so excited to meet you all! can we eat all of the delicious california things? keely, did cafe gratitude REALLY go out of business!? i should have splurged there more often ...

yeah, bigrelief -- this really is interesting to hear. i got, as i shared with some over PM, what i think is a really nice offer -- two years of fellowship, and three of teaching; and it seems like most folks on this package/in the dept. get to apply for a dissertation-completion fellowship for year 5? if anyone wants to talk amounts over PM, i'd be happy to, esp. (maybe keely?) since i'm not sure sure what's really liveable in the bay area ... i too would, i think, just be a BIT (and maybe a lot more!) uncomfortable, as you say, knowing that i was a lower offer (i don't mind hearing it now, and, like i said, would really love to hear; and thank you SO much, keely, for sharing! this is so helpful, and i'm glad you love it there! everything sounds GREAT!, otherwise ...), OR knowing that i got alot more money or had to do alot less of Onerous Thing X than some of my beloved colleagues? it just doesn't seem to resonate with some of my strongest beliefs, despite the shining star that is the dept.!!! -- still would love to hear how this shook out for everyone else. sorry for sounding so snoop-y -- this just isn't a question i think i can ask the graduate program or get from the website anywhere, haha! bigrelief -- where did you go instead? thanks so much for your two cents; it's really valuable to hear that this does happen some places and really effect people! love to all potential berkeleyans, and definitely curious to still hear this one out! <3!

porridge -- so cool! thanks for the PM, pal; and conGRATS! zinc -- do these places even HAVE mascots?! or just stylized font choices? but, yes: BEST METRIC EVZ!!!