StardewDropIn

Ditto! Back on GradCafe because this whole finding funding thing is so stressful. Good luck to everyone!

Question for next year: my advisor hinted that as a white (disabled female) Humanities PhD, I'd be unlikely to receive a fellowship such as the President's Postdoctoral Fellowship, even if my research, teaching, and service emphasize diversity and inclusion. Should I take the time and effort to apply for that next year? After all, this kind of program *should* support scholars of color, and is already so competitive. Same goes for the Gettysburg Consortium for Faculty Diversity (which I did apply to--no word yet.]

Hi! I'm an English PhD candidate applying to dissertation fellowships and research fellowships, plus a couple of post-docs. I've cleared my absurd number of Fall applications (16 currently) with my advisors, who've agreed to write LORs. But I'm wondering if this quantity is foolhardy/overwhelming. How many fellowship apps do you consider reasonable? Thanks!

No from Davis They couldn't take anyone off the waitlist. Sadness

I'm a Scripps student (one of the surrounding undergrad schools). I'll warn you: CGU has a pretty pathetic reputation amongst english profs at the Claremont schools. Their program is "a mess" according to my advisor. They don't fund many students because they want to raise money-- it's a business, not a strong education program. Don't go into debt over CGU. There are some awesome professors at Scripps and the other sister schools, though.

Great, thanks!

Thanks for the reminders-- I do know how hard the job market is, and that only adds to my fears. It was just extra worrying to look at the list of grads at UW from the last 10 or so years and see a small scattering of schools I've never even heard of before. Yay academic job market...

Another question: do Masters students get a primary advisor right away? Someone we meet with who helps guide our studies, etc? Would I be assigned to a prof, or choose an advisor after arriving?

I was accepted yesterday for the masters! No funding for first year But first acceptance, so that's exciting! skybythelight, can you PM me with that info too? Thanks for all your help! I must say that the placement at UW scares me a bit. The only info I can find is on the recent PhDs page, and it doesn't seem like all the grads got job offers. The ones that did seem to be going to rather random and not at all prestigious schools. Is the placement really not good at UW or am I just not well informed?

I'm doing this at the end of the month...I'm also nervous! let us know how it goes!

I'm wait listed at UC Davis, top choice Great fit for me, strong POI Someone release me from this stress...

Thank you! I've actually been wait listed at Davis, and am desperately hoping to get in. Do you happen to know about the likelihood of wait listed students being offered admission to the English program? I know this probably depends on a variety of factors. I'm looking forward to the visiting day!

Hi! I know UC Davis accepted students day isn't for several more weeks, but I was wondering if anyone knows any details about it? All I know is that it's on March 31. Anyone want to share about why you're considering Davis, and whether you're considering any other programs? Thanks!

Hi, Just popping in here to make a request ... I've been waitlisted to one of my top options (Davis) and wanted to ask that if anyone has been accepted to a school and doesn't want to attend said school, please let the department know ASAP... I'm sure I'm not the only one who's eager to get in off a waitlist! Thanks

Hey, I'm the wait list at Davis. I emailed yesterday to inquire about my app, so that could be why I was notified about the wait list today? (Although the person I emailed was not the DGS who emailed me today). Keep hoping! I thought Davis had rejected me for sure and was really sad.

May I ask what type of internships you're doing? Not sure what types of internship I should maybe think about ;P And thanks for all the suggestions, everyone

Starting to panic a little... 1 official rejection and 2 implied... all from my top 3 choices! I'm starting to think about taking a gap year, so I don't have to "settle" with an English PhD program that doesn't have good placement, isn't well ranked, etc. Is it possible to improve an application so much during a gap year that one might have a shot at a top program to which they were denied in a past year? If I reapplied, my stats would go up (3.7 to 3.8 GPA, would have "graduated cum laude" on my app, etc). What do people do during gap years? I'd ideally like to get a fascinating job and take more classes at a top school to boost my application. But I'm not qualified for any jobs really, and does taking a couple of classes actually help an app?.... Thanks for any replies!

Already freaking a bit because I don't think I got into my 2 top schools (people have begun to receive acceptances, and I'm guessing my rejection letter will just take a week or so). I think I may apply to be a dancer in a small company (I'm trained in ballet and ballroom), or be a dance teacher. Take some courses and try again next year

Yeah someone heard from Berkeley and now I'm panicking... feeling like if they don't tell me soon it's because I'm being rejected... ahhh. Has anyone else who applied to Berkeley found out yet??

Fun game I really hope my first notification is a "yes" or even a waitlist, so that I don't feel disheartened too early. But that's not too likely... 10 schools: 1 "want to do the master's instead"? (I think 3 of the programs I applied to sometimes offer a master's instead of PhD if they don't love you and want you to pay) 1 waitlist at a program I love 3 acceptances, 1 that I'm actually really happy about 5 rejections, 2 or 3 of which make me very sad.

Yeah, I think you're right I emailed Stanford and they essentially said "Calm the f' down" because the scores just haven't been confirmed yet. You'd think they'd have a warning about this on the application pages...

I submitted my Stanford app, but the page says "incomplete" because my GRE scores have been "received" but aren't official... what does that mean?? Trying to call them...

Hi, Does anyone else worry that their GRE scores might not have arrived at the schools, or got sent to the wrong department?... I don't really want to email the programs unless I have to, but does anyone else ever get the urge to ask whether GRE scores and transcripts arrived safely?

Hi! Quick question: A friend who's a first-year History PhD at UC Berkeley is strongly recommending that I include a 1 page, single-spaced abstract at the beginning of my writing sample (which is an excerpt from my longer thesis). He says it was the strongest part of his history application because it summarized his writing sample really well. He also says it's useful because apparently professors often skim the writing sample; they rarely read it full out. An abstract grabs their attention, and lets them know the purpose of the sample, without them having to read everything. However, none of the English programs suggest including an abstract. I'm not sure how they'd feel about it. I've written one now and think it's pretty good. I also emailed a grad program about whether it'd be acceptable, but haven't heard back yet. Any thoughts?

Are other people getting their scores back from the September test? I got mine back today-- 630, hoping that will be adequate for most of the schools