BunnyWantsaPhD

So much to respond to! Thanks for the caring thoughts and advice everyone! I am hoping that all the baby-boombers retire by the time we get done! So who knows what will happen! But, as far as the school goes, I'm not sure it is a great fit. I applied to it because it was close by and decently ranked. I've heard they only offer 2-3 classes per semester, and that their program is going down hill, so it doesn't make me excited to go there. I figure that I'll make the best of any place that I go to by trying to publish, etc, but it just seems like this place doesn't have good resources, and it makes me bummed that this could potentially be where I get my PhD. Thanks for the template! That does help! I didn't like teaching at a community college mostly because of the lack of control over the classroom and the type of students. I know that it's not the same everywhere, but at this place there were rigid guidelines about attendance and what books I could teach, etc. It just felt very micromanaged. The students were typically non-traditional, which I don't really have a problem with, but their skills and desire to learn writing were exceptionally low. The place I taught at was mostly for business majors, so they really didn't want to be there. And, while some students don't use spell check at 4-year universities, some of these students were so awful that they weren't even capitalizing the first words of sentences. I just didn't have the patience for it. Also, the place that I'm talking about having bad placement rates is the unfunded offer, not the wait listed one. Right? Boo. BOOOO. Thanks for the empathy. I appreciate it. I actually did visit the department and wasn't too thrilled with my experience. Actually, it depressed me. But, if I get funding, I feel like I should go. I can't go through this application process again with no guarantees that something better will happen. I'm glad that you had a cool experience teaching at a community college--it just shows that there are tons of different experiences no matter where you teach. But, I definitely did not have the same experience. The writing was poor both in terms of skill level and level of depth of their ideas.

I'm thinking about getting feedback from the schools so I can at least get a sense of how my application was perceived. Kamisha, didn't you send emails? Any advice on how to phrase them?

Thanks, I hope it works out as well. I haven't officially heard word from SUNY Buffalo or Maryland, but since others have I'm assuming they're rejections. I'm not too worried that it's ranked in the 60s, nor am I too worried about where I teach afterwards (though I don't want to teach at a community college---already have and hated it). BUT, this particular program doesn't seem to have good placement rates. So, that worries me.

Thanks. This process just totally sucks. I'm just worried that if I go to a school ranked in the 60s that I won't get a job later. It looks like this school doesn't have particularly good placement rates. The job market is hard enough, so I'm not sure what to do. I don't think I can go through this application process again though.

Couldn't wait any longer and called Iowa. They told me via phone that I was rejected and that they already sent out the letter a few days ago (via snail mail, I presume). Damn, I really thought I had a chance here still. So, right now I'm wait listed at one place, and I have an unfunded offer at another (with possibly funding to come). This really, really sucks. If you're accepted or wait listed at University of Minnesota, and you're studying in the 18th/19th century lit category, and you know that you're going to decline please do so asap.

Nope, no more news for me yet. The rest of my schools are implied rejections except for Iowa. Apparently there's two Iowa acceptances on the board from yesterday, so I'm hoping they're spreading things out. : ( If not, then I'm still waiting for my waitlist at Minnesota to turn into something.

Congrats!! Bummer that you have to wait on funding at two different places, but at least you got accepted! Rooting for you!

Let's hope so! It's odd that there's only one acceptance up so far...

And there's officially a University of Iowa acceptance on the board! Anyone want to claim it and share any of the details? They're my last hope! Come on, Iowa!

Yeah, a lot of it is luck. And, other things that we'll never know--until we are on the other side!

Hmm. Interesting. Sounds like maybe your SOP, writing sample, and letters were just awesome. Though, it's hard to know what awesome looks like when we all probably think that we write pretty well. If you're ever willing to share your documents in a private message or anything, that would be cool. No pressure ; )

Thanks for the information! Gah, I thought that I demonstrated similar aspects as well. It's so hard to know how they make these decisions. Do you mind sharing why you think your LOR are particularly excellent? I guess I don't understand how to gauge that. I mean, my letter writers knew me really well, said positive things, and one of them was from Oxford, so that has to mean something. Also, I'm curious what type of undergrad institution you went to because maybe that is a factor.

Not to say that the information provide thus far hasn't been helpful, but after reading everything I still feel like I'm waiting for the mystery of how to get into programs to be unveiled. It's just so hard to know what helped people get in without seeing their writing samples and SOP. I feel like I followed all of the advice that was given here--except having a cover letter--and I'm still not getting in anywhere. I thought I had a really good SOP and writing sample, good fit with the departments, good GPAs (3.7 undergrad, 3.92 MA), decent verbal score on the GRE (89th percentile), and still no success. I went to a good undergraduate program, but not ivy by any means (it was a Big 10 university). My MA school is unknown and not great--so my LOR were from people who were not well known. So, my theory is that since my letter writers and my MA institution were not prestigious, they are my demise. I guess I'll never know...unless I ask the departments in a few weeks/months for advice. Ugh. Grr. Boo.

I wanna know the dirt on how you got accepted ; ) ...but seriously, is there anything you could share about your profile that you think made you particularly competitive? I'm just curious how people get accepted to these big name places. Columbia was my number 1 choice, and sadly I didn't make the cut. Sorry to hijack your thread. You're welcome to just ignore me ; ) Edit: sorry, I just noticed that people were discussing this in a different thread, so if you answered there then no worries.

Alright, U of Michigan, you are killing me. I see that some people got acceptances, wait listed, and rejected--what the eff is my status? I assume it's a rejection, but can we get this over with already?

drinking wine before working out pretty much covers all the bases, right? That's what I'm doing tonight anyway ; )

Thanks for the info! I just want this to be over already!

Anybody hear anything or know anything about U of Iowa? It's pretty much the last school I'm waiting to hear from...so all my hopes and dreams essentially rest on this school. Ugh.

I didn't apply to IU, but I clicked on this thread because I did my BA there and thought I'd see what was being chatted about here. I'm a Victorianist with an emphasis in gender studies, so I thought I'd join the party, ha. Michigan is my #1 choice, but looks like that isn't happening. If anyone gets into IU or has any questions, let me know.

You must be my twin somehow--I'm going through the exact same thing. Though, my relationship wasn't really serious, I think it's over. And, Michigan, oh Michigan, how you break my heart.

Okay, didn't know you applied to the literature one. I didn't apply to Harvard at all, but I'm assuming that every part of your application has to be stellar because it's Harvard. I was just curious how you came to your conclusions. Thanks for sharing.

Wendy, I'm confused as to why you think that Harvard doesn't care about GRE scores. They state on their webpage that you should have scores around 166 for verbal... not trying to burst your bubble or anything, I'm just curious how you're reading their webpage...

In that case, that would imply that there was one person on the waitlist for each subfield, right? But, the problem with that is that you said you were the first for 18th/19th, but I'm a Victorianist too...so, I'm not sure what that means. I got the generic waitlist email mentioned above. I haven't had any acceptances anywhere else yet, so if you think you're going to decline, then feel free to do so, lol ; )

Oh, I guess I just missed those early acceptances. oops! I think that all rivalries are silly. I was just trying to give you a heads up that you'd get eaten alive if you got into U of M and accidentally called it MSU. There are some pretty big differences between the two departments of English as well. That's all.

They probably down voted it because there's a big rivalry between MSU and U of M, so it's important to know the difference...especially if you applied to one of them.