DyslexicBibliophile

Unfortunately, one of my top choices is an implied rejection, and it'll be a miracle if I get into my other top choice. Still, I got hope for a miracle! We'll see next week. Thanks for the luck - fingers crossed for you too!!

That is absolutely perfect and beautiful. It hits the perfect tone of appreciative and humble. Thanks for sharing - it'll definitely be helpful when I write my own. I plan to have someone read over whatever I end up writing to make sure it's okay. Again, thank you so much for sharing!! You're awesome.

Mostly ice cream, though unfortunately I don't seem to have any in my apartment right now. I plan to buy a few pints in preparation for Monday's bloodbath. Also: whatever liquor is in the house (at the moment red wine or angry orchard) and lots of fried food or pizza.

You are a very, very nice person. Thanks for the encouragement . . . though I'm still worried. And thanks for the info regarding contacting schools. I will definitely do this with the one rejection I already have (even though I suspect that was mostly an issue of "fit") and any future rejections that come in. Do you have any advice for wording (I was going to send an email)? I'm a little afraid of it sounding peremptory or arrogant.

I don't even believe in a higher being and I'm praying like a madwoman . . . even so, I have a feeling Monday is not going to be a good day for me.

So it's okay to contact the schools and see if they can give you information as to why you were rejected and what you can do differently next time? I was wondering about this a few days ago; it's something I would like to do, I just didn’t know if it was an acceptable practice or not. So it's okay to contact the schools and see if they can give you information as to why you were rejected and what you can do differently next time? I was wondering about this a few days ago; it's something I would like to do, I just didn’t know if it was an acceptable practice or not. I'm also a little scared now - I didn't have any viable writing sample for my area of interest. My concentrations are Victorian/Women’s & Gender studies, and I have a big thing for Gothic literature. The best sample is American gothic, but only ten pages. Another sample has gone through extensive editing and review over the last two years, but it’s Restoration with a Women & Gender spin (and while I have improved the grammar/mechanics in the paper, the analysis is still from when I was greener & less sophisticated). The final option is my most recent work – has received the least review – but I feel is the strongest where analysis/central argument is concerned. Unfortunately it’s on Melville with a Queer studies spin, so it barely relates to my future interests. I went with the Restoration paper for most schools, and where some schools would allow it, I submitted it with the Gothic paper or with both the Gothic and the Melville paper. I was told this was also risky (even when a school allows or encourages multiple samples), but I felt it was a risk worth taking. I hope I was right. As for what personally I would do differently (and what I will do differently this next round) - start the applications much earlier. I was delayed this year because I was still indecisive about whether I wanted to pursue Lit or Psych - which means I was really behind once I made the decision. I seriously would make sure I got every application done over the summer, so that all applications would be submitted in September/October. Additionally, I would keep re-taking the GREs until I got a score I felt was the best I could do. And finally, I would write a sample that fit my actual future concentration.

Totally with you on that - I'm not quite sure how I'm going to survive next week. Even though I'm so done with snow, I now have my fingers crossed for that snowstorm I keep hearing about . . . at least then I can stay home and throw myself a pity party instead of just having to carry on like my entire universe wasn't just shattered. I said it in another thread and I’ll say it again here: oy, my heart.

Thank you so much for sharing! If I get in, I'll definitely take you up on your offer (though I'm going to resist doing so until then, because I can't risk falling deeper in love and then getting rejected). Again, thank you for the information! You really made me feel a little more at ease.

I totally agree - I just wanted to check b/c my sarcasm meter was going off, but I wasn't certain.

Wait, arober6912, are you also a Victorianist? I can't tell if that's sarcasm or not . . . ?

Me too! I especially have remorse because my application fees were waived this year (McNair Scholar) but won't be waived next year. I know I'm incredibly lucky even to have had this first round of app fees waived, but still, I feel like I should have taken more advantage. I also got a waiver for the GRE general test, and I really should have studied a little harder and re-taken it, but I sort of just hit a wall and gave up. Additionally, I would have had different people look over my SOPs. After reading over the general template I based each unique one off of and finding a weird/silly/obvious mistake, I'm starting to have doubts about the people that reviewed it & all the individual SOPs.

As you know from the Indiana Bloomington thread, I too am a Victorianist.

You got me! Someone suggested that maybe acceptances went out today today too, it's just that no one with an acceptance posted on results . . . I'm really hoping that's not the case as that only leaves rejections, and Rutgers is tied with UMich as my top choice (and as I haven't heard from UMich, I've sorta lost hope where that program is concerned/but still secretly hoping for a miracle).

That definitely helps, but oy, I might have to wait until April? I don't know if I can be that patient!

Amen to that! I think it is just about time to drown my sorrows in a pint of ice cream . . . unfortunately I do not have a pint of ice cream . . . darn.

Was anyone accepted to Rutgers, or did they only notify those that were Waitlisted today? I'm starting to worry that today was good news day and Monday is the bloodbath. I hope not!

My heart can't take this! If I didn't have so much homework to get done, I would totally just try to knock myself out for the weekend.

I aim to please. : )

You mean clicking refresh on my email/grad cafe/application status pages isn't suppose to take up all 24 hours of the day?

I hope this works out for you! Unfortunately I totally and completely BOMBED the Subject test. I have no idea what happened - all my practice test scores were much higher. I got to the test and just . . . choked, I guess? I went through my spreadsheet and took off all the schools on my list that needed the scores, except for Rutgers, just because I had already fallen in love with Rutgers. Then during applications, I got emails requesting the Subject Test scores from schools I had listed as not needing them – I freaked out! And because I had already submitted the SOP for those schools, I couldn’t include my “this is why that test score sucks so much” explanation. And sorry to hear about your grandmother – My boss/incredibly close family friend died in December. I somehow missed submitting a few applications because of it. I regret now not calling, explaining the situation, and seeing if they’d let me submit a little late.So please – call them regarding your situation! Don’t have regrets like me!

Exactly! I have been super nervous about applications because my understanding has been that Victorian Lit. is an INCREDIBLY popular field, and so it is much harder to get a spot as a potential Victorianist.

Me too! But really - you haven't met a lot? I feel like it's one of the most popular concentrations within the field . . . I guess not?

I love this quote . . . makes me feel all warm, tingly, and . . . devious. Thanks for posting it! : )

NOOOO!!!!! I didn't see any acceptances in the results search, has anyone here been accepted to Rochester? I thought maybe they were sending out rejections first . . . I was trying not to let my hopes get crushed just yet. : (

I'm also a Victorianist with a concentration in Women's and Gender studies! UMich & Rutgers are tied for being my top choice, but I also have pretty much given up on Michigan, as I haven't heard from them yet. Still have my fingers crossed for Rutgers though!