tvethiopia

yooooooooo i will see you there, man!!! i'm going straight into PhD, but i'll be rhet/comp at umass also! i feel the same way about the community there, i think it's going to be an awesome experience. see you in the fall!

awesome! i'll be going to umass amherst also, though my concentration is comp/rhet. i'm honestly over the moon about it. i know a number of people who've attended and worked at the school and i've heard so many great things, and the professors and grad students who have reached out are so welcoming. they also provide so much pedagogical support for new teaching associates, i can't wait to get started!

heads up to any of the UMass Amherst folks who got that interview email before the actual acceptance: it looks like the online portal has been updated with acceptance info! log in and ease your worried mind!

hm, interesting. this is what the english dept website says about assistantships: "If you have applied for funding, once you are admitted to an English graduate program, you will be interviewed by the Writing Program. The selection process is competitive, but nearly everyone in our MA/PhD program receives a teaching assistantship. Students who have been hired by the Writing Program and who are in good standing in English and the Writing Program are reappointed annually. Students can count on five years of support (if they are admitted into the PhD program) or seven years of support (if they are admitted into the MA/PhD program)."

yup! "Greetings! First, I was recently informed you were admitted into your graduate program. Congratulations! Second, I am starting the process of scheduling interviews for Teaching Associateship positions in the UMass Amherst Writing Program, which is the reason for this email today." then just a bunch of stuff about days/times for interviews. i'm guessing the difference is because you're going for lit and the rest of us are probably comp/rhet? EDIT: it actually looks like one other person said they were doing lit and also got the interview email so who even knows.

that actually sounds like a more legit acceptance than what we got! our email was just about scheduling a TA interview, no mention of admissions committee or anything like that.

thank you for following up on this! i figured since they are trying to set up TA interviews to start next week, they may have jumped the gun a little in their eagerness to move things along.

congrats! there is too much good news today and not enough upvotes!

for what it's worth, since you're applying with a BA, if they offer you an MA position you might not be getting the same TA interview email that's going around today. so i wouldn't count yourself out just yet. oh, and i did finally get the damn rejection letter in the mail from pitt today.... just glad i didn't check the mail until AFTER i heard from amherst!

haha yes! i had to read it over several times to reassure myself. congrats and yes, go us!!!

YESSSSS just got my first acceptance from UMass Amherst!!!!!!!!! the email wasn't even the actual acceptance letter, but was from the writing program looking to set up interviews for teaching associateships. however, the first line of the email is: "I was recently informed you were admitted into your graduate program. Congratulations!" SO FREAKING EXCITED!!!!!

this is the best.

right?! i mean, an online application status system ALREADY EXISTS, all you gotta do is update it. i'm trying to tell myself they if they don't have their sh*t together enough to handle admissions then maybe i'm better off, but that's just me being bitter and resentful.

y'all pittsburgh is ON. MY. LAST. NERVE. people are getting rejections via the POSTAL SERVICE at this point and still no mail, no email, no portal update. i realize i must be rejected, but at least have the decency to tell a girl. damn.

don't be disheartened! i think the drift away from GC after acceptance has more to do with creating new bonds with your cohort than it does with stressed-out isolation. i've made some amazing BFFs in my MA program, but since they aren't all going into PhDs right away, GC offers a different community that's going through the same kind of stuff i am. it's something i'm absolutely grateful for and i hope that i will continue to pop my head in regardless of where i wind up, but i also hope to form new support systems as well.