cougarstigers!

also, don't know when this visiting weekend is, but i'd be HAPPY to talk volumes about my favorite restaurants/ice cream shops (you gotta visit jeni's -- absinthe & meringues just launched! and savannah buttermint is back in town! woohoo!) if you're innerested. or i'll just post a quick shortlist yay! welcome to town soon, all!

enthusiastic columbus native & osu-employee here. feel free to PM if you've got questions about the city -- esp. if you're interested in food-sy farm-sy things, or are looking to scope out potential places to live. i also have an adorable and extremely cheap apartment that my partner and i will be looking to sublet/turn over to a new leasee in mid/late july and/or early august -- $515/mo. currently! -- right straight down the road from campus (seriously. the road ends in thompson library) if any of you potential OSU-ers are interested! send me a PM! congrats all! and my infinite enthusiasm to anyone who ends up working with elizabeth renker, or barry shank in comp. studies!!! <3!

porridge, where are you considering? how do you priorities weigh out at each?

also, i am going to make ways to work "flocation" in my daily repertoire. e.g.: HAVE YOU SEEN THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER IT'S SUCH A GREAT ... FLOCATION ughughugh LOL

i'm considering penn, berkeley, and rutgers! anyone considering across these schools? any thoughts? feel free to post here or PM me. i'd love to hear thoughts on folks' considerations of each program; fellowships/funding; culture & environment; any other prevailing amazing things or concerns! thanks so much!!!

curious about the packages everyone got offered. ARE they the same across cohorts? i certainly hope so. it feels weird and, yes -- cash-signs-in-eyes -- but i'd love to hear if anyone wouldn't mind sharing, here or PM. so happy to hear that everyone is so happy, and that you've all finally heard!!!

for choosing choosers to post their concerns, priorities, considerations, and woes -- and for anyone else considering the same or same slate of tools to weigh in? hopefully this will help us sort through the robust whirlwind of recruitment propaganda/love ... and share insights on any critical strengths, similarities, differences, and resources at some programs! (maybe this would be helpful to Future Posterity as an archive-piece, as well! lord knows i wish i had one to see! feel free to delete if i'm blind & there's already one runnin' somewheres!) <3!

hurrrrrah! SO glad that everyone will hear. fingers crossed that everyone gets big juicy fellowships, or whatever your heart desires! very curious to hear what everyone is being told, so keep me in the loop, for the reasons some of us have talked about ... VERY excited to meet you all soon! can't believe this is all happening so FAST, yikes ... !!! (where's everyone coming from? or PM if you like!)

ugh, you guyyyys. when does it get any easier!

and truly, keely MK -- i'd really love to hear about your undergrad experience at berkeley, faculty you've worked it, sense of the university community as a whole! PM me if you get the chance/inclination? i'd appreciate it so!

sent you a PM, yo! any other questions folks have been asking of berkeley? important things to consider that some of us (like yours truly!) might not have thought of yet? is california really going to [fiscally, geologically -- is that even the right designation?] fall into the sea (of love, debt, &c.)? very excited to hear about all of your interests! where else are you considering? what's your likelihood of attending? yay berkeley!

thoughts from anyone considering rutgers?

hi friends! does anyone know how the funding situation shakes out at austin? is it widely disparate, or is it the same fully-funded package for each? i'm thrilled to have received an offer, and have heard such wonderful things about the culture at austin from prof. lessor and WendyMoira; AND, practically, at this date, i've received a number of offers at very compelling programs for double my ut-austin stipend offer, and with far more time in fellowship. prof. lesser has explained this as a very conscious strategy to build fantastic teachers, which i really appreciate; just not sure how funding looked across the board, within a given cohort. thanks for any help! feel free to PM if that is better, since sometimes i get weirded out by how public these forums are ...

strangely enough, i *did* hear back about funding from berkeley, along with my admissions letter -- not sure what that means?! is this unusual? i'm wondering, too, if all funding packages are the same, or if there's wild disparity? i'm concerned that that might -- mightn't it -- make for a somewhat, uh, stressful, or unequal sort of culture? perhaps this isn't the case at all; i've just wondered this about some programs that do fund some folks fully, others not; or dole out TAing & fellowship differently ...? (i feel NERVOUS saying that, in case it was just a fluke, or i'm blowing such departmental process plan, or whatever?! eek! but i'd also assume we'll all find out about the funding situation eventually, yes?) ((i'd assumed berkeley WAS one of the places that fully funded & gave the same offers to everyone, given how stellar the dept. is & how happy everyone i've talked with seems! -- thought i read somewhere on here that the program used to offer admissions to 2x the size of cohort, but with funding only to half? -- but i'd love to hear more if that's recently or not really the case.)) keely MK, what has been your sense of how funding works in the dept., since you're currently (i'd presume!) ensconsed in it? on a more exciting note -- will anybody be making it out for the long visit weekend in march?! couldn't be more thrilled! i'd absolutely love to hear about everyone's interests over PM!

i'm so glad to hear that this discussion has finally broken -- i've been wanting to say something since i've started lurking around here, because these conversations are the bread & butter & hope and woe of my partner & i's existence, as well. my partner and i both applied this year -- me for a PhD. in english, and my partner is in another humanities field -- to the same nine programs. my partner wasn't as absolutely keen on applying this year as i was -- he could just as well have waited a few more years -- but we decided to go for it, on the condition we'd try our darndest to go together, and knowing, full well, the odds. i've had an incredibly, humblingly lucky season, and have several options, and my partner has a few, as well. we're very lucky, too, because, blessedly, two of these overlap -- in at two of the same places! one of the programs is very much a top choice for both of us, which i am constantly thankful for. still, it makes the consideration process sort of tricky -- i'm thrilled about a number of the places i've been accepted, and have one other offer that i am VERY deeply and strongly considering, to which my partner has not been admitted. (worse yet: he really only applied because of me; his department there doesn't really do his sort of work at all, so we wonder about how much hope there would be for him to become accepted or find a home there in the future.) i'm torn about faculty fit, and think that this other place may well be a FANTASTIC program for me -- but, of all the schools to which we applied, it couldn't be FARTHER apart from the school that my partner will most likely attend. one logical argument, of course, would be to just SIGN THE HECK UP for that other equally fantastic, but different, program, where my partner & i could happily co-habit, co-study, co-cook, and continue our shared-time-&-space partnership! the most difficult thing, i've realized, is giving each program my full attention and a fair hearing, even with the terrible worry and anxiety tearing at my heart, that to GO to one of these programs would mean being apart from the person i love the most, and the person with whom i want to have this experience. it's difficult too, because the importance of having a happy and stable life, collaborative best-friend around, and a vibrant support system doesn't get emphasized enough in any of these discussions. i've mentioned our situations to a few of my prospective programs, but mostly, i'm struck by a worry that letting on that things other than programmatic considerations will or may, ultimately, play into my final decision is somehow an 'unprofessional,' immature or condemnable gesture. i know it's not, and i know, too, that i don't necessarily have to let everyone in on what all i'm thinking thru as i navigate this process; but the feeling of partnership's tough suit for the realities of academic life hasn't waned ... i'm visiting two of my schools, at present -- i'd absolutely love to visit more, but i have several jobs and can't really get away any more than i've already scheduled to. i'm hoping that these visits will help to clarify. i admire all of you with the courage to go it long-term, long-distance -- my partner & i have done it once before, but i'm not sure, after living together as we have for the past year, i'll really want to go back to that. AT ALL. (still, though, from talking around, it does seem that some programs allow/encourage domestic 'study abroad' or exchanges with partner institutions; that summer research funding could land co-academic partners in similar places; or that it's definitely possible, in dissertating years -- with some sacrifice, i'd suppose, of departmental culture & access to peer/cohort/faculty resources, local libraries & archives, &c. -- to find a mutual, or even, two homes somewhere. that doesn't, for the most part, make the thought any easier though, now does it?) excited to hear the ideas that come out from this, even if it's just folks bein' sweet & supporting each other as we all try to feel our way through this. it's strange that such an exciting, blessed moment can also be filled with so much heartache. i guess that's the way some of the true things really are. for now -- I FEEL YA.

yessssss holy cow, i am in the same boat. i've been SO lucky, and now things are also WONDERFUL BUT DIFFICULT!

yessss! today is nuts! anyone have an insights on cornell? i'm torn between still being tentatively hopeful & wondering if the folks sending the emails are using some sort of artful/anxiety-inducing (!!!) 'stagger approach,' and steeling myself for some sadness ... maybe there'll be hope for all of us until midnight rolls around?! hmph. ! and here i had myself thinking michigan + rutgers would be next! good luck to all, and congratulations to folks who have already heard the sweet news!

so: the princeton thing's not real yet, right? hm!

thank g-d for this. absolutely this is relevant! i've applied with my partner this year, and it's been a ride to navigate how to do this process together! i'm struggling, at this juncture, whether this is something we tell programs? i'm in at a place that is great for me, but not the best dept. for my partner -- and he's not in, anyway -- but we've got our fingers crossed that something will come thru for the places still in limbo! it's definitely a BIG exercise in faith. but, since both things are important to us, ain't any other way to go about it! i do have a good friend who, miraculously, was able to PULL a partner into a program to which he hadn't even APPLIED, during her accepted-students'-visit-weekend, because he advisor wanted her there that much. they both love it. yay miracles! <3! thoughts from everybody? ya'll have some Grand Fortitude to attempt the 2-7 years' long-distance -- and long-long distance, in yr case, g-------n! xo!

hi pals! new here, but have been watching! question one: do any of you know what the funding situation is at austin? seems like it's all teaching? i would worry that this might skew time away from genuinely developing course content, like at some of the places that also offer fellowship years? thoughts? similar question for berkeley -- anybody know if it's the same funding package for all people, or if folks still get individualized packages? girl without glasses -- holy cow, your gradschool area interests sound similar to mine! don't know how to PM on here, but i'd love to hear more about the work you hope to do! congratulations to everyone as this all goes on! good luck riding thru this storm-of-a-week; and thanks to all for being so candid & funny throughout! it's really been saving me! xo!