kayrabbit
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Posts posted by kayrabbit
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Hey everyone! I'm excited to meet you next Wednesday. Who else is staying at the hotel? Also, I'm thinking about getting to campus a little earlier than noon (10am-11am), so I can explore the campus and library before the shenanigans begin. I hope some of you will join me!
I'm also in the hotel. I'm arriving early on the morning of the 13th (flying in at 6:30 a.m.) and a graduate student is picking me up around 9 a.m. to take me to the hotel, so I'm not sure whether I'll be ready to go early enough to get to campus before the events begin, but I do have my heart set on seeing the library, so maybe we can connect that morning.
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I too have had the crushing blow of reality laid on me by just about all of my professors. Then, I threw it back and them and told them I didn't care. They gave me their blessing after that.
Yes, that seems to be how it works. They give you their most bleak assessment, and if you still don't back down, you pass the test. Very odd, as I'm not sure whether they secretly want you to pass that test and join them in fearless pursuit of your dreams or if they're hoping you'll turn back while you still can. Depends whether the professor is a pessimist or an optimist, I suppose.
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Hello! I am a fellow 2014 applicant! I applied a year ago while I was finishing up my MA but decided to take a year off and do some teaching. How are you all going about narrowing down programs? Rank, POIs, funding packages, etc? I have a couple in mind and do not want to shoot too high with rank, like the ivies, but I also want the schools I apply to to be good schools with great placement records. What are your thoughts?
I applied this year. I think the different processes by which one selects schools are interesting, because there really are so many great programs out there that at some point it starts to feel almost arbitrary which programs you look into and which ones simply never make it on your radar.
I started with rankings, even though they aren't necessarily reliable, and placement records because I wanted to make sure I was only applying to schools that were likely to help me be competitive on the job market. Some rather bleak talks with my current professors convinced me (perhaps incorrectly) that I would have a hard time applying my PhD in the way I hope to if I didn't attend a program with a strong reputation. I also looked into programs specifically recommended by my professors.
Full tuition remission and a stipend at or near the amount one could expect to make working a full-time, minimum-wage job were requirements for me. Many programs were ruled out simply because they didn't offer guaranteed funding. This felt unfortunate in some ways because many of the schools I looked at offered funding to some students through fellowships or TA positions that students had to compete for, so it's possible that I may have applied to one of those schools and received the funding I needed. However, I wasn't willing to gamble on that point, so I only applied to programs that offered full funding for all years of the PhD program.
Location also directed my initial sweep of universities. I admit I didn't look too hard for schools in places like Texas, Arizona or the deep southern US, where I simply couldn't imagine myself living (being an Oregonian who prefers cold, wet weather). On the other hand, if I was already interested in a particular program, I didn't let location deter me.
The previous factors led me to look into the programs, professors and research at particular schools, and from there it was all about how they matched up with my interests, whether there were people there I could see myself working with, and the impression the department website and outline of the program gave me. It felt odd to base my feelings about some schools on the content of their websites, but in some cases I didn't have much else to go on, and there is a very wide field of programs to narrow down, so some of these decisions are going to end up hinging on trivial things.
That's pretty much how I chose my list of 10 programs to apply to. This was my first year applying, and I felt completely overwhelmed at first by the prospect of choosing a small number of schools to bet everything on. And I still made some bad decisions, like applying to Cornell and considering it one of my top choices, even though I was more in love with the location than the fit of the program for me. I also let reputation and the kind of sticker value impact of top schools sway me to apply for their programs when there were probably schools with less famous names but still strong programs that would have been more suited to my interests. I did manage to work in a few of those non-Ivy programs that made sense for me and offered great programs and reputations, which I think will allow me to end up in the right place. So for me it ended up being a mess of different priorities to sort out while trying to make good decisions and hoping for the best.
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Just received a call from Professor Ray offering me admission off the wait list!
I'm really excited about this one. I had written it off as a rejection. Unfortunately, due to the late notice I can't get off work for the campus visit day next week. Whoever goes to that, please give the rest of us a detailed report when you get back! I'm really interested in learning more about the overall culture of the department, the (on the ground, vs on the website) sense among students about their job placement prospects, and I guess just how happy students currently in the program seem to be. I really wish I could visit...stupid temp job with no vacation time keeping me nailed firmly to Pittsburgh!
Congratulations! It's crazy to think that at this point some of the schools that we're assuming are rejections could still pull a waitlist admission out. I almost hope that doesn't happen with my remaining programs so I don't have more decisions to make. I definitely sympathize with you about having to make your choice without visiting, but I'll be happy to share my experience there with you afterward.
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Does anyone know if rejections have gone out for U Michigan Ann Arbor (English Lang and Lit) or U Indiana Bloomington? They're the last two I'm waiting on, and I know that their acceptances have been sent, but I haven't seen if their rejections have gone out. I would like to be put out of my misery, haha.
I haven't seen anything on the boards for U Michigan rejections. I applied and haven't heard anything yet. Have you created a Wolverine friend account to check your application status online? My information is listed in there but it all seems pretty ambiguous.
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On Maryland, I wonder if anyone wants to claim the acceptance that was posted today. I was accepted into the program over the weekend after previously being emailed about being at the top of the waitlist, and another gradcafe poster told me they received a similar email about having a high chance of getting in. I'm not sure if they have received official admission yet, but it seems odd that someone else was contacted via phone for the first time, without knowing they were on the waitlist. Maybe more students have declined than they expected?
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Yeah I don't think I indicated interest in the MA either. It's unfunded, so certainly not getting my attention, though it is a bit nice to be offered anything at all at UChicago, even if it is just to take my money.
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I understand that both of these schools do consolation MAs, so they have extra decisions to make, but I feel like they've been assumed rejections for ions. I don't need another MA. Just reject us!
Looks like Chicago is answering our pleas — I just got the rejection with a consolation MA offer haha.
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I received this offer as well. It sounds like an opportunity that could lead to further work with UChicago if one was particularly interested in attending there. In my case, they were not offering scholarship assistance, so it would be all financial aid/work study help I received if any. Not a better option than five years of fellowship/assistantship in a Phd program, certainly.
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I also wish that Chicago and NYU would just hurry up and send rejections...
Right? They appear to be done at this point so there's no need to prolong our wait. I'm not expecting anything but rejection from the schools I'm still waiting on (including NYU and Chicago), but it would be nice to know for sure so I can think about my options without hypothetical but unlikely possibilities thrown in.
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Thanks for the responses.
Quantum - the problem is my lacking math background, not the memorization. I have not taken a math class since high school and was always terrible at it.
Is there anyone who has been in a similar situation?
Now that I've officially been admitted to a program, I'll also add that my C+ grades in calculus and chemistry did not keep me from receiving an offer. Those grades were, however, from my freshman and sophomore years, and my understanding is that admissions committees look much closer at grades from your last two years.
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Congrats! Will you be attending the visit day on March 13?
Yes, I was planning to already, and I'm happy to now be attending without the pressure of feeling like something I say might sway them one way or the other on me!
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Just got offered official admission to University of Maryland after receiving a tentative offer a week and a half ago depending on how things played out! Excited and relieved!
- ProfLorax, mostlytoasty and HHEoS
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My tiniest female professors have been some of my scariest, FOR SURE. But putting on fierceness has absolutely got to be a coping strategy because shortness absolutely 100% has an impact on perceived intelligence and competence. Those of us who are short (and I'm 4'11") will probably need to consider classroom presentation more than those who are not. And we may have fewer options open to us for the kind of teacher we could be -- I don't actually want to be the scary/intimidating one but I have never seen a short person be the nice one and get the same respect (which then translates to lower perceptions of teaching quality).
Exactly. I agree with champagne that being short doesn't prevent one from being intimidating or commanding respect, but it does add another layer of complexity to how you present yourself to a class. Those who fit a certain standard (the distinguished, tall, white male probably being the highest) are more likely to receive the luxury of being respected without having to be intimidating. In person-to-person interactions, one's intelligence and personality quickly trump assumptions made based on appearance, but in an interaction between a professor and class of students, it seems like the initial assumptions become more important and more difficult to overcome. It will definitely make for a lot of conflicting thoughts the first time I find myself facing a classroom of undergrads.
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I don't think a C or a C+, if you could manage it, are going to look horrible to committees who are reviewing your transcript for admission into a program in English. Math and science will be absent from your graduate career, so if you have an otherwise strong record it would make little sense for a committee to hold some less-than-stellar science grades against you. The biggest downside is the effect it will have on your GPA. If you're in your senior year with a 3.8 though, you probably have enough credits at high grades that it wouldn't have a huge effect. Or do you have a change of grading basis option at your school that would allow you to switch to pass/no pass or satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading for the class? If you feel confident that you will be able to get up to a C/C+ that would keep it from lowering your GPA at least.
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That's great! Depending upon word from Dr. Ray, if we are able to get a hotel I was planning on staying in DC somewhere. Nothing has been confirmed but if you'd like to share a room, I'd be more than happy to give you my contact information. I will also be hoping for the both of us. The rest of the universities I have applied to have been quite reticent... so this appears to be the one shot I have. Good luck to us!
Sure, you can definitely message me so we can talk about this further. I'm arriving early morning on March 13, so I'll be staying the night on the 13th rather than the 12th — not sure if that's the case for you. I believe Dr. Ray is setting up accommodations for everyone, but I'm not sure what that entails yet.
This is the best news I've heard so far as well. I noticed that there were two posts on the results board about receiving this kind of email from Maryland. I posted one of them — was the other you? That would at least suggest that no others on GradCafe have had this result.
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Though I am excited to start teaching next year, I'm afraid my students will walk all over me because I'm 5'2" and look like I'm 12.
Love this! I'm 5 foot and a couple years ago when I began seriously considering graduate school as a next step, one of the first snags I ran into was that I can't imagine a whole classroom of students taking me seriously — especially if I'm standing behind a podium that comes up to my chest.
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Hi! Same here for me. It was the "very high chance" and the "top of the list" that sounded so incredibly hopeful. I do wonder however, just how many of those Dr. Ray has sent out. Hmmmm. The email and attached offer sounded promising enough to buy a ticket to Maryland, and I sincerely hope that I didn't just give myself false hope!
Yes, that was my concern too. I wonder how many of those emails went out. It's quite likely that they're expecting a few of the nine they offered admission not to attend with good reason, but I hope there aren't more than a few of us who have been sent tentative offers. Here's hoping that we'll both end up in — I'm coming to the visit day as well.
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Dr. Ray emailed me to say there is a very high chance I'll be accepted into the program, but no official admission yet as they're waiting to see what happens with the nine they've offered spots to. I did receive a tentative offer letter with funding and program details. So I guess for now I'm just hoping one of the nine admits will go elsewhere.
Fall 2013 English Lit Applicants
in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
Posted
My silence from NYU turned into a partially funded MA offer. At least the offer of some funding and the statement that MA students are welcome to apply to continue in NYU's PhD program afterward makes it feel a little better than the unfunded UChicago MAPH offer (not that it's not a good program — I just wonder how interested they could have been in me if they weren't offering any funding).