Graograman

Simone, I was informed spontaneously of their decision to put me in the waitlist. However, I don't know if I would call their decision -decisively- spontaneous, given that, prior to my receiving that communication, I freaked out (yes, I am quite prone to this kind of incident), and I wrote my interviewers a message insisting on my interest. So perhaps they sent that e-mail in order to calm me down. I assume that you inquire in order to assess whether the other candidates included in the waitlist have been already notified. Given the specifics of my situation, that no one else has reported being wait listed at NYU Comp Lit in any of the sites similar to this one that I obsessively peruse, and, furthermore, that I was told before the rankings were defined, I would dare speculate that the other wait listed candidates are still in the dark regarding their situation, and will be told as soon as they define the actual rankings. But this is all conjecture. Allzumenschlich, thank you so much for your congratulations and your advice. I will be meeting with a number of students and professors from Columbia in the next few weeks and I will be allowed to sit through a couple classes. I am still very much interested in NYU's program, specifically because of the theoretical tendencies of my work and the greater intellectual freedom of a strictly comparative perspective, so I will heed your advice and postpone my decision. But frankly, Columbia (and Teodolinda Barolini, Dantist extraordinaire) tempt me quite strongly.

Heh, mi sono confuso, chiedo scusa. Mi accade spesso di confondermi in questo forum perch

Oh, per un attimo ho pensato che eri un altro studente di lettere italiane:) Il fulcro degli miei studi

Thanks again for the kind and informative answers. I did inquire Dr. Hamilton regarding my position on the waitlist, and it turns out that they haven't been defined yet. He kindly replied that he will inform me of my ranking as soon as he is able to do so. Furthermore, and confirming that allzumenschlich's points of view were quite well informed, I have been admitted to Columbia. So it does seem that I have a somewhat tough decision ahead of me. But it's the kind of difficult situation that it feels fantastic to find oneself in Now I find myself inclined to accepting Columbia's offer and waiving my position at the NYU waitlist. But then again, there are many variables to be considered... Any pointers?

Ciao! Grazie per la tua risposta. Stavo un pochino preoccupato, ma proprio adesso sono venuto a sapere che sono ammesso a Columbia. Mi piace sapere di avere compagni in questa avventura intelletuale. Posso chiedere quale

Has anyone heard from this Department? I know for a fact that the French Department e-mailed and called accepted students in late February, but I haven't heard anything from Italian. Chi sa dirmi con esattezza cosa accade?

Thank you so much for an informative, well-written reply. I am not as pessimistic anymore, but, more importantly, my bruised ego has healed somewhat thanks to your soothing comments Unfortunately, they weren't specific about my ranking on the wait list. Would it be improper to send an e-mail asking that particular question?

Well, I'm officially waitlisted and officially depressed. I knew that the interview would substract some points from my application. Now I'm praying, yet again, for someone to prefer another program. And still no word from Columbia... What -exactly- does it mean to be waitlisted? Should I completely give up hope?

In the results page someone posted that not having been notified of an admission yet is an implicit rejection. Is that true? Where do you gather that from? Comments? I'm depressed now...

For a number of personal and extra-academic reasons, I had to apply only to NYU (Comp. Lit). and Columbia (Italian - Comp. Lit). Haven't heard from the latter, and I have a bad feeling about it for no particular reason. I did feel that Dr. Hamilton was a lot more friendly and talkative; but then again, Dr. Basterra's questions were extremely well focused. Also, since we're being specific, it was Dr. Hamilton that answered the thank you note. I guess that it's just that he's more of a people person. Please keep me posted as well, and good luck!

Well, in the e-mail in which they informed me about the interview they stated that it was needed because I had advanced to "the last round of consideration for admission"; so, in my humble opinion, I do consider it a safe assumption that you didn't advance to that round. However, I wouldn't completely give up hope until you get a letter. /ramble on This morning one of the interviewers answered my thank you note briefly, saying that it had also been a pleasure to talk to me. I so, so, so wanna read this as a good sign... Oh, and, by the way, I'm being so self-centered regarding this that I completely forgot to acknowledge ondine's help. I prepared my interview using all your wonderful advice. I secured a time when the adjunct professors' office at the U where I work was empty, and locked myself in (lol). I jolted a few sentences about my work in post-its that I organized neatly in front of me and even got to use a couple of them (yay). I also tried and answer in writing beforehand some of the most typical questions, which helped me quite a bit. I even studied my interviewers' bios, and therefore reread a lot of my Grammatology, knowing that one of them would be interested in that. One thing that I didn't do, though, and that I felt hurt me in the end, was to prepare questions for them. When I finished rambling about their last theoretical question, I was told that it was time for me to ask them something, and I had to answer that I couldn't think of anything, which was rather lame. Man, I'm so charged up about this. I must have opened my e-mail fifty times today already, and it's only 9:00 a.m. Pray with me, folks...! /ramble off

Well, the interview just finished and I think it went well. I am definitely not as fluent when speaking as I am when I write, but still I felt that I did good. Curiously enough, I felt I answered the tough questions better than the simple ones. Now back to the accursed waiting...

Hello. I am new to this place and don't tend to post my worries in random virtual places, but I need some way to vent out, and perhaps even get some advice regarding my (somewhat ridiculous) predicament. I applied to a number of Ph.D. programs in Comparative Literature for the Fall 2008 term, and I just got an e-mail from NYU notifying me about a phone interview on the 21st of February. NYU is my top choice because my focus is Italian, namely Dante, and NYU's Italian department is quite good. Besides they have Freccero, who is brilliant and with whom I have worked in the past with great results. So far so good. The problem is that I have social anxiety, and I get extremely nervous at any kind of actual conversation. Worse regarding this kind of high-pressure situation, in which I have to speak coherently about subjects of a certain complexity. I am an extremely punctillious, perhaps even talented writer, and I rely extensively on this ability because whenever I need to communicate orally it tends to turn out for the worst. I cannot concentrate, I don't have the soothing whiteness of paper before me, people start wincing and I want to run away. I also learned that the professors who will conduct the interview are John Hamilton and Gabriela Basterra, two people I had never heard about. You might find this a little irrational, perhaps, but all this adds to my anxiety. I didn't know that this step was required for a Ph.D. application, and I'm really freaking out about this. It doesn't help that English is my third language and I have been living in the U.S. for only two years now, so I still make blunders now and then and my accent is very noticeable. I know that my application is strong, my interest is genuine and my knowledge of my field is more than decent. I also have a good case regarding my application to CompLit instead of Italian, since my focus is rather theoretical and I will be using a huge amount of Heidegger and Derrida. But whenever I think of actually speaking about these things, my mind goes blank. Of course, it is a huge relief that it is, after all, a phone interview, meaning that I will be able to frantically press my stress ball while I talk, and they will be none the wiser. But I also have thought that, perhaps, preparing conscientiously for the interview will help me relieve some of my anxiety. Therefore I thought of asking if anyone has been through this little process, and if they know what to expect. I thank you guys in advance for your kind responses to this neurotic post. And good luck to you all in your applications and academic endeavors!