purpleperson
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Posts posted by purpleperson
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That said, I am pleased to have gotten into Temple. If I wereable to go, I think I'd love it there. The school's culture seems like exactly what i want. But getting an unfunded offer is kind of like them saying "we don't want you that badly." (at least that's what I hear).
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I was admitted to Temple on March 5th and have heard nothing about funding. First I was told that I would hear "next week" (from March 5th) about funding. Then when that week came, I was told I would hear "next week." I still have heard nothing.
Given how Temple is about funding, I kinda doubt I will get funding. If it's true they admit a bunch of people but fund very few, I just don't think I will be one of those few.
Hence, no Ph.D. program for me this fall, as both my acceptances seem to be unfunded.
It's kind of a shame, because I had already bragged to a bunch of people that I got into two Ph.D. programs, and many of them are like "so you're moving soon, huh?" They're giving me all kinds of praise. They will all be let down when I go absolutely nowhere this fall. Oh well. That's life.
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Am I the only one here who doesn’t care if I never land a tenure-track position? I have a dream of teaching two classes a semester (preferably pop culture related) in an English department and owning a coffee shop. Couple that with having a family and I think I would be happy for life.
Same. I'd like to teach two classes of something interesting per semester and do almost nothing the rest of the time. Almost nothing meaning .... write creatively/blog freely, get fresh air and regular exercise, read books, watch movies, listen to music, sleep 8-9 hours per night, see friends and family plenty. And I'd like to make at least $40,000 a year doing this.
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Sounds EXACTLY like my situation. I have been to the city I plan on accepting in, and I love it. In my case, I won't have time to make it there before April 15, so I'll be accepting without visiting first. However, I have had very positive interaction with the department and administration, and everyone I've talked to about the campus raves about it. I feel comfortable accepting under these circumstances, and it sounds like you should too, especially if you know you can find decent living arrangements and have a good feel of how the department is run and organized.
Thanks! Knowing I"m not the only one considering doing this makes me feel better. That said, I still *might* visit before April 15th. Just haven't decided for sure yet.
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What do you all think of accepting an offer without visiting if it's your only choice (basically)? I have two acceptances, mind you, but I've already decided that I'd probably not go to one of them, no matter what. So there's no point in visiting that place. The other school....I have already been to the city (years ago) and know I want to live there. It's a world-class city, and I"m all about it. As for the school, I haven't ever visited, but what I read about it sounds EXACTLY like what i want. Now I'm not saying I won't visit soon to make living arrangements and to visit the department. It just may be the case that I accept the offer before visiting. Is that crazy?
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p.s. I know my question is a weird one. But I have honestly noticed this and been baffled.
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During application season, I was interacting with a person named Alex Huang, and it was a man (based on the picture I saw on the faculty website) who did a lot of work with Shakespeare. He was the director of graduate studies. But in recent emails, this person's name is Alexa Huang. Also a person who does work with Shakespeare. I went to the website, and now it is a picture of a woman.
Did anyone else notice this?
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Congrats!! Bummer that you have to wait on funding at two different places, but at least you got accepted! Rooting for you!
Thanks, Bunny! Have you heard anything yet? I thought I saw some mention of you waiting on Iowa or something.
And thanks to the rest who congratulated me as well
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Congrats purpleperson! I just got accepted to Temple too!!
Yay!
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Wanted to share my good news. About ten minutes ago, I got an email from Temple University in Phladelphia. I'm accepted to the Ph.D. program!
I'm really happy about that, even though I don't know about funding yet. Something about the wording of the email sounds promising, though.
- back2black, MedievalMadness, gk210 and 6 others
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Holy cow! July... how does that even happen?
I'm hoping since she said that I'm "ranked very near the top" on the wait list, and she said "there is still a very good chance we will be able to offer you an assistantship this year," that people on my position on the wait list have been accepted with funding there before. I already got into the program, so it's just a matter of money now. They've used optimistic language like this with me before, so hopefully it turns out for the better (whatever that is). Thank you, Purpleperson
Her saying that there is a very good chance is VERY positive. I was told, in a very grave tone, to not hold my breath, and yet I got funding. So if she's actually saying "very good chance," that's almost like saying you're going to get funding. I think departments err on the side of caution when speaking to people about their prospects for admittance and funding. She's not being all that cautious in her wording with you, which means she feels she doesn't need to be. They are experienced in how things tend to play out over the months of March, April, May, June, July....
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I definitely won't take it if there's not funding. They said I'm high on the wait list for funding and said there was a "very good chance" they could offer me an assistantship this year based on previous years. Still, I was expecting an acceptance with funding. More waiting feels like eternity.
I'm still waiting to hear back from Nova as well, so hopefully I won't have to reapply. No matter what, I won't be taking on debt this year.
There's a good chance you'll get funding. I mentioned in another thread that back when I did an M.A., I was accepted in February with no funding, put on a funding waitlist in April, and then got funding in JULY. So...it could happen.
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Well, it's good to know that they are starting to contact folks. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I have no idea what my chances are.
Maybe we'll both be going there in the fall!
Oh, just to be clear, I contacted them, they didn't contact me. I'd sent an email that asked for a ballpark estimate as to when they'd be releasing acceptances and rejections. The lady (I think the DGS) replied to me about my specific status even though I didn't ask for it. It's funny, because when I read the line "your file is not being moved to the next stage..." I immediately started to think...yet another rejection. But then I read on...
I still don't feel that I have a "waitlist." More like a "not a rejection." (Really, REALLY ambiguous). But I guess it's something.
Anyway, if you're curious to know your status, you could do what I did and ask the general question over email. (Anywhere from Feb. 25th and onward, I don't think any school would consider it pestering.) I've done it twice now -- once with Loyola Chicago and once with GWU, and in both cases, they gave me my specific status.
In Loyola's case, though, it was a rejection.
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OMFG. No, I haven't heard a peep out of them! I wonder if they've contacted their top candidates. Was the email from JJC?
I'm excited for you that you seem to be on a waitlist! GWU is my top choice and I would love to hear something from them!!
I'm still waiting to hear ANYTHING from any schools, and it is driving me a little nuts.
I'm not sure if they've started notifying yet. I don't see results from them on the results board, but that doesn't mean they haven't started notifying. That said, they seem like they are really slow in general, so I think it's perfectly plausible that they are STILL belaboring decisions. You're still in the game.
As for me, yes, I'm excited that I'm not rejected. I 'd feel even more hopeful, though, if she explicitly used the word waitlist. Not rejected could be a part of just a huge pile of files that aren't rejected but not in the top or middle either. Who knows! I'd feel way more comfortable knowing I was on a waitlist, how many else were on it, what position I held on it.
That said, her saying "we'll have a clearer picture in six weeks" tells me that I could get accepted sometime between now and April 15th, depending on how things with other folks pan out. I would totally take that. I'm not too proud to be part of the second or even third choice crop. lol.
I hope you hear from GWU soon!!
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It sounds like maybe you're being waitlisted? As in, it sounds as though they have a crop of people to whom they will send offers and you're in the second sort of 'runner up' batch to whom they will send offers if the first group doesn't take them.
If I were you, I would take it as a good sign. They clearly like you. They did not flat out reject you. So, hang in there!
Also -- was this email from the DGS at Maryland?
Medieval Madness,
No, it wasn't from Maryland. But come to think of it, Maryland is, in fact, a place at which my status is ambiguous. I've not heard anything from them. But since I know acceptances have gone out (and because they are such a prestigious school), I've been counting it as an implied rejection.
The email I quoted above is from GWU!!!
I'd love to get in off the waitlist -- that'd be cool.
Anyway, I guess I was concerned because the note does make it sound like I'm in some sort of 'limbo' -- like I might be in a pile of files that are strong and could get offered if first rounders and/or second rounders choose to go elsewhere.
But since the word 'waitlist' was not explicitly used, it made me think I might be something less than a waitlist. Then again, it could be that that school just doesn't like to use the word waitlist, nor call people about them, but rather just have a pile of 'maybe' people.
Thanks for your input!
Have you heard from GWU??
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Hi all:
Can you tell me if this sounds like waitlist to you?
"Thank you for your email. I am sorry to report that the graduate studies committee and the English Department were not able to move your file to the next stage at this point. However, this does not mean your application is being rejected. We hope to have a clearer picture in the next 6 weeks."
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Has anyone else just not heard anything at all from Boston University? I haven't been accepted, or rejected. It looks like acceptances went out last week, and rejections this past weekend. But I still haven't heard anything!
I got a rejection email....I believe it was yesterday.
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I almost applied there but didn't at the last minute. Kinda wish I had. Then again, my reason for not still stands....so...it's all good.
About not getting a T.A.-ship (to the above poster and anyone else): things change sometimes. Back in '09 when I got into my M.A. program, I was admitted in February. In April, when I asked about TAships, they said that they were already given out and had no more available. In July, they called me and gave me a TAship. Weird stuff happens with grad admissions, so you just never know.
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I mostly lurk on these forums, but I just wanted to say that I'm really pulling for you. I hope things work out with the rest of your schools.My partner is in a PhD program in Indiana, and we've had the same heated discussions about relocating. He thinks I'm silly for sympathizing with anonymous internet users, but I can't help but root for the ones that 1) know how to spell (yes, it's pedantic to judge random misspellings by users who are probably typing from their phones, but whatevs...) 2) share similar problems.Now, back to my lurking.
Thanks, JSTOR, I really appreciate it. Today was actually a good day, as we continued talking about it. Much was said to alleviate his anxieties. He is more and more on board.
It's a relief because I need the support. I wish I could say that I could pick up and move halfway across the country on my own, but I am not that person. At least not as much so as other people seem to be. But not just that. I love him and want to stay with him.
Everything's good. Now I just need either funding at my place of acceptance or another one or two new acceptances (with funding)!
Thanks again
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So, here's my conundrum. First of all, I have two schools left to hear from (and both are not incredibly out of my league [like Rutgers, Northwestern, Ohio State were], but I still could easily get rejected from both of them). I have one acceptance, but so far I'm not assured funding.
The school is in a location that my boyfriend "approved" when I was compiling a list of schools/location; he even said he was interested in the same school to apply for a Ph.D. himself in the coming year. That being said, it was our last choice location. Not so much last choice school, but last choice location.
He wanted a bigger city because he's heavily into politics and activism, and he wants a place where there's a lively, vibrant scene in that regard. I think he approved that location because he just felt so sure that I was going to get into more than one. But nope. Not so far.
Anyway, we don't get the sense that the location at which I have a chance (if funding comes through) will work for him in that way (the lively political scene). He's very much committed to me and our relationship (I've never had a guy be as in love with me as he is, and for that I am very thankful). And he does not want to be without me, but he's just in a hard place because the location is not what he had in mind. He and I talked about it for no less than three hours last night, and he kept flip-flopping. "I'll go"..."I can't go." He also just has anxieties about finding work easily.
It's just a mess. And it might not even matter, because if funding doesn't come through, it's like I have no offer.
Suffice it to say that the two remaining schools are in cities he would love. And so I have to hope one of them does come through. But I am not counting on it. And a part of me is a little disturbed that he is balking about moving after he told me he was fine with that location (the one in question.)
Realistically, though, I don't blame him. Last night when we were talking, I tempered the conversation by saying that what we were going through was not unusual. I said that grad applicants all over the country -- and not even just grad applicants but people who are in a relationship in which one gets an opportunity in another city and the other doesn't know if he/she can be happy in that other city -- or whatever variations of this type of thing -- ....well, lots of people are going through this.
My boyfriend is a great guy -- very giving, sweet, sensitive, and just....loving. But I understand his reservations. I suggested we do long distance, and he said "absolutely not." At the end of the night, he said "I'm going with you. It'll be hard for me, but I want us to stay together."
But suffice it to say that I anticipate more conversations, reservations, flip-flops, anxieties, etc. from now until the summer, etc. Like I said, it may not matter if I don't get funding. But for now...it's causing tension and anxiety. Tears were shed last night.
I remember a friend of mine having the same situation in the spring of 2011 when she got into her MFA / Creative Writing program. She'd been with a guy for six months at the time she got accepted, and he was crazy in love with her. They had the same deal. Tears shed....anxiety over what to do. Relocate together or not.
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Just got my rejection letter from Oregon via postal mail. I'd been waiting for it for days, almost a week now. It's funny how one masochistically becomes eager to read even rejection letters.
Anyway, it was a very gracious rejection. Kudos to them for that. They make clear that there were many great applications and that they would love to work with many of the students who they don't accept, but that they just have limited numbers they can let in.
The letter also states explicitly that they had 188 applications this year (and they let in 10%, so...around 18 people). I was surprised by this number of applications. I imagined Oregon getting around 300 applications, because I'd read somewhere on these forums that Oregon, even though it's a 52 rank, gets an "unexpectedly high number" due to people having a thing for Eugene. But 188 seems pretty reasonable.
Makes me feel a little better about my remaining two schools, which are of similar rank. Maybe they, too, don't get 300 to 400 applications!
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Family pretty much just thinks...as long as you're smart, you'll get in.
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2. Telling my boyfriend is the worst thing ever, not because he feels sorry, but because he’s a super-realist and then I am required to answer questions affirming what my back up plans. Today I was told by the head of my McNair program that I need to apply to at least three MA programs this week, when he heard this, his response was, “well it looks like you’re getting rejected across the board for the PhD programs, why would you only apply to 3 MA programs? Shouldn’t you apply to at least 5 considering the response you’re getting from the PhD’s?
3. I’m dreading the conversations about applications. Not only do I have to meet with my academic advisor later this week, who will me sure to ask (he emailed me saying he was “anxious to hear”). Also, my entire place of work knows I am applying, as well as my family (including siblings, parents, & step-parent/siblings) and my boyfriend’s family knows I’m applying (including his grandmother with a PhD who is incredibly judgmental). Luckily the last time anyone at work asked about my applications was two weeks ago before I had anything to report, but now . . . it is going to be incredibly depressing telling them the results. And my mom? She tells EVERYONE she meets that I’m applying, because she’s assumed that I would be accepted across the board. The face she makes (or change in voice modulation) whenever I tell her about another rejection is heartbreaking.
My boyfriend doesn't quite "feel sorry," but he gets this look on his face like "aw, man" and I feel like I"m disappointing him. He actually stays upbeat and is like, "Yeah, but you haven't heard from all schools yet. Stay positive until you have the final, last result." Technically, he knows how difficult it is. He's applied to Ph.D. programs before -- once in the fall of 2009 and again in the fall of 2011. He was rejected everywhere both times, except for a lone waitlist the 2nd time that didn't end up converting to an admission. So...even though I feel lame for not being able to impress -- even just a little -- I'm sure he's just thinking...yep, same as what he went through.
About other family and friends. They are so naive about stuff. My family would have no idea about these things. I didn't tell them ANYTHING because I have the type of family who doesn't even truly "get" going to grad school because (in their minds)...well, yeah, but why not just work and make money and live with financial comfort?....
Ultimately, they'd support me in what I want to do, but always with the thought that I'm just being a kid who refuses to leave school. (Not true, of course; I've been out of school and working for the past three years and have also worked and "not been in school" plenty in the past).
But anyway, the guy friend I mentioned in my other post is naive. He believed I could get into BERKELEY. He's an idiot. lol.
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My boyfriend is now (somewhat begrudgingly) doing the required ice cream run for such an occasion as this. I also told him it wouldn't be a bad idea to get whipped cream while he was at it (with a look that communicated very clearly if he doesn’t come home with whipped cream he’s a dead man). This whole process has made me feel like a one of those stereotypical raging-food-eating pregnant ladies.
When I tell my boyfriend of rejections, I can tell he feels so sorry. It makes me feel even worse. I had wanted to dazzle him and a few other close friends with how many acceptances I get. Or by at least getting 2-3, which I think is respectable. But I have just the one and it is possibly/probably unfunded.
One friend emailed me Sunday and said, "Any new acceptances?" (he meant since the last time I'd updated him on February 11th with 1 acceptance and only 2 rejections.) I then had to tell him...no, everywhere else has been rejecting me.
Fortunately, not many people know I applied. My family doesn't even know. And aside from the above-mentioned friend, only two other close friends know, and they are long distance and probably won't think to ask until next time we talk, which could be in several months. Everyone else who had some idea of my applying only knew of it in passing and very easily could have mostly forgotten.
For anyone feeling really horrible about it all, just remember that getting rejected everywhere or at most places is the norm. Every time I start to feel really crappy, I remind myself of friends who have done this exact same thing and gotten rejected all around. I actually did better than some of them (with my one acceptance, even if it is unfunded or possibly unfunded).
The good thing is that as we draw to just a few schools left, I'm resigning myself to it more and more. I don't feel terribly depressed. I feel more like...damn...wasted money...wasted energy...the whole thing is like playing the lottery.
I don't want to do it again. I think I want funding at the place I got into and want to go there so as not to have to do it again.
Anyway, back to grading papers...
Temple PhD details?
in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
Posted
I got the same thing. I am an alternate for a TA-ship. He said it would be a few weeks before they know who gets offered what. I guess it's possible I'd get offered something, but I kinda doubt it. I'm not holding my breath. I remember when I got a TA-ship offer in my M.A. program, I wasn't told until July. Mid-July. That was okay at the time, because I already lived in the city where I would be going to school. But I don't know if I could gear up for a move across the country on one month's notice. I guess it's do-able, but I wouldn't relish it. And I might feel so resentful of super-late notice that I ask to defer for a year or something. I don't know. I actually am not counting on any kind of TA-ship offer anyway, so it probably won't matter.