common_refusals

This is the best site I know of--fairly comprehensive list of American & international conferences (you can sort by subfield on the left): http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/category/all

Awesome, congrats!

I have a question about submitting a conference proposal that I'm hoping someone(s) on here can help me with. (This is my first time submitting, so I have no idea what I'm doing.) The instructions say to submit a 300-word proposal to the committee members via email by such-and-such a date. My question, which I realize is a trivial one, is how, exactly, one would generally submit a proposal by email. In other words, should it be written in the form of a letter addressed to the committee members (Dear So-and-So, etc.) and just stick the 300-word-ish proposal in the body of the letter, or should the proposal itself be sent as an attachment with just a short message in the email (Dear So-and-So, My name is Such-and-Such, I am writing regarding __ conference, please see attachment, etc.). And if it should be sent as an attachment, how should that be formatted (name, date, etc.). Any help/advice on any of this would be great!

Oh, got it. I didn't mean to be rude (I reread my post and realized it might sound that way), I just genuinely didn't, and don't, see why it would be a problem. I'd say go for it, but maybe other people want to weigh in differently. I'm not really the best person to talk to when it comes to questions of etiquette.

Why would that be an etiquette faux pas? I'm not sure I really understand the question...

Well folks, it looks like I will not be going to Minnesota next year--I got a very nice email from them this morning saying they would not be able to offer me a spot in their program. I'm not too disappointed, though, because I am extremely excited about what I will be doing instead: completely ROCKING a 2-year funded M.A. at a school, in a place, and with people I know and love, after which I'll get to do this whole thing over again! WAHOO, the excitement is killing me!

Gwarner13 and thebeatgoeson: %$@($%&@(@)$!!! AMAZING NEWS!!!! You two completely ROCK!

Well, everyone, we've made it: final days in Purgatory. I hope this week brings good news to all!

I just noticed that someone was accepted off the waitlist for University of Minnesota(!) and am very curious who that was...? Anyone? Congrats whoever you are, that's awesome!

Seconded!

Bluecheese, I'm so sorry, but would you mind PMing me too? I'm waitlisted at Minnesota and if admitted will have to choose to accept or decline sight unseen. Any info/insight you have on the program would be extremely helpful!

Ha, as an anthropologist-turned-literary scholar/theorist I find this pretty hilarious. Nothing worse than becoming one of those second-rate social scientists...

Wow, that's awesome, those are all great options! Best of luck with whichever you choose. I've never read "Wars of Position," but Timmothy Brennan and Tony Brown (not sure if he teaches in CSDS too (?), but he's a big theory guy) were two of my main reasons for applying to UMinn. I do already speak & read Spanish and am hoping to learn French while in - or perhaps before entering - a program. If it looks like I'll be applying again this fall I may try to do that on my own this summer.

Ha, glad I'm not the only one! I too am on the Minnesota waitlist and am hoping to hear something by next week. Good luck!

Thanks Bennet, this is helpful. I did apply to Stanford's MTL this year as well as the English program at UMinn (I'm currently on the waitlist, so fingers are still tightly crossed!), but I didn't apply to/have only recently discovered some of the other programs you mentioned. I never thought of applying to comp. lit. programs, but that sounds like it might be something to consider. Out of curiosity, are you planning to enter a comp lit. program this fall?

Bluecheese (or anyone else who cares to respond): which English Lit. programs do you consider to be especially theory heavy/continentally inclined? I'm a current English PhD applicant, but the thinkers/writers/ideas I'm most interested are not all that popular - if not positively ridiculed - in most English depts. (think Blanchot, Levinas, Agamben, Derrida), and I'm thinking I should reformulate my list in case I have to do this again next year. Any suggestions? Sometimes I wonder if I'm not even in the right discipline...

Nice. Yeah, I read it my final year of undergrad--pretty much sent me into an existential crisis and made me want to study literature.

If you haven't already read it: Waiting for the Barbarians (Coetzee).

I posted about this on a different thread, but am wondering if any of you might have applied to Chicago's program in Social Thought and if so whether you have any idea where they are in the admissions process? A number of people have posted rejections (but a fairly small number) and other than that I can find nothing. Any news/updates/unfounded speculation would be hugely appreciated!

I apologize if this has already been addressed on here, but does anyone have any news/updates re: the program in Social Thought at UChicago? I see a handful of rejections have been posted on the results board, and one person said that they were notified that they were at the top of the waitlist, but have any acceptance notices actually gone out yet? I am dying to know what is going on with them, if only to come to terms with my almost-certain rejection...

Hi all, this is my first time posting here, although I've been reading for a while. Mostly I just want to say thank you to everyone on this thread who has unknowlingly helped keep me afloat during what has been (or had been, until this morning) an utterly dismal application season. This is my first year applying to English PhDs, but not my first year applying to grad programs (I applied to MFAs during my last year as an undergrad, three years ago, and was rejected across the board), and after being rejected from four of my nine programs over the past few weeks I was fairly certain this year was going to go the same way. (There were plenty of tears, anxiety, feeling like an idiot for even thinking anyone would ever want me to attend their program, let alone thinking I could be a legitimate "scholar" someday...etc.) And then this morning I received notification that I am WAITLISTED AT MINNESOTA!!! I am absolutely thrilled right now, esp. given that I had already written them off as sure a rejection because I hadn't heard anything and other people had. It's just amazing how crazy this whole thing is--yesterday I spent the day crying/moping about receiving official rejections from Emory and Stanfors...and now this! I know it's not an acceptance--I need to keep reminding myself of this--but regardless, it's so unbelievably nice to know that someone actually liked my application. Amazing. Anyway, I feel a little odd writing for the first time only after getting good news, I don't want to sound like I'm gloating. It's just been great seeing all of the reactions on this thread, from tears to acceptance freakouts, and getting to "know" some of the regular posters, and I just wanted to give a shout out to everyone who's decided to put themselves through this highly stressful and demoralizing process. To people on the "outside," it must look like there is something seriously wrong with us.