purpleperson

I looked again and I still see only two. I also saw one Philosophy Ph.D. acceptance for Fordham. Could you be mistaking that for an English acceptance? Anyway, I feel your pain. Fordham was at least in my top half out of thirteen. Hopefully they're still contacting people into tomorrow. I'm slowly but surely running out of schools. If Fordham is indeed out, I have perhaps four viable options left...(and so far only one likely unfunded acceptance).

Two Fordham University acceptances are up. I applied there. No call for me (at least not so far, and likely not at all), but anyway, they seem to be notifying today/tonight by phone.

My prediction is holding up so far. I said 0 or 1 out of 13, and right now I'm at 1 out of 13, and that one is (from what I understand) likely going to be an unfunded offer. So it may as well be 0 out of 13 right now. I've become a little depressed. I still do have five viable options (and four of those are supposedly "in my league"). There is some hope. But those schools that are in my league are also in good cities and likely get a lot of applicants. Ugh...I'm so demoralized. I constantly get calls from my student loan provider (I'm behind on a payment) but never any calls from schools with good news.

Thanks for this. I appreciate the encouragement. I have five schools left that are viable options, and something good could still happen.

Looking forward to hearing from Rutgers next week. I only have six schools left as viable options. I haven't heard anything at all about Boston University (no acceptances, rejections, waitlists), but I'm so sure I won't get in there that I'm counting it as an implied rejection even with NO information. Has anyone heard anything about Boston U?

How many did you apply to, total? Was it 4? Anyway, sorry to hear you're out...

Congrats, despejado. Hope you get it! (the funded MA)

Medieval Madness, When I log into my Maryland application, it just says that my application has been submitted and is "in review" (not the exact wording, but something like that). There's also a statement in bold that says that decisions cannot be given over email or phone. I'm pretty convinced Maryland will not happen for me, but it was a major reach in the first place, so..... I feel your pain about the waiting. You have it even worse than most people, it seems, as you've heard NOTHING. I at least have definitive answers from 4 out of 13 schools. Not that they are good answers (one's not bad, but it's not great either on the grounds that I hear funding is unlikely.) It will be over soon. I actually cried on the way home from hanging out with a friend yesterday. It was the first time I've ever cried over Ph.D. applications. I didn't cry or get particularly emotional any time in Aug, Sept, Oct, -- all during the time I was working my ass off and dealing with LOR writers and all kinds of other stuff. But last night I was just like...this is bullshit. I spent a lot of money and worked so damn hard. I know I didn't work any harder than anyone else. I was just upset/emotional and thinking...this sucks. It will be over soon, and this is the time, I think, to count your blessings and think of all that is right in your life, and how the absence of a Ph.D. program doesn't mean you can't still, to an extent, study and research the things you love. And most of my academic friends got shut out of Ph.D. programs at least once or twice. And many who got in didn't necessarily get into Top 20, Top 30, or even Top 50 places. And these are people I think of as damn smart. So... Going to work now. I'll be on this board while at work, though (I teach, but when the students do group work, I'm on here thinking...what's gonna happen!!!!)

I think it's a good thing. I get the sense that even if there are others "ahead" of you, the school has way more good applicants than they can let in. I don't think them getting their "second" and "third" choices are much of a drop off from the "first" choices. I think someone earlier in this thread said that a DGS told him/her that each year they have about 100 perfectly qualified applicants, all of which they'd be happy to take but can't offer to nearly that many. If you are # 25 instead of #5, I don't think it means much to them. If nothing else, they are probably used to digging into later rounds to build a cohort. If you get in...in a "later" round, it's not as if you would be the only person ever to have gotten in during a "later" round. The school probably has, every year, a mix of people who were their first, second, and third choices. In other words, they're probably used to not having cohorts of entirely first choices, and there's no thinking less of you any more than they thought less of past second or third round choices, nor dramatic disappointment. Don't know if any of that makes sense. I typed fast and gotta leave for a meeting.

Well said. Of the three LOR writers I had, one was the "warner" type, the "Do you know what you're getting into? Do you know how bad the job market is? Do you realize...? Do you understand that.....?" variety. The other two were just like, "Do it. You're good. You'll be great. Do it." I'm not saying the former is ill-intentioned or means to do anything more than what they say they're trying to do -- that is, warn people and make sure they go into things with eyes wide open. But I have to say, both hearing it directly in relation to myself and hearing others say it to other people -- the speaker always sounds bad. I say...stop squashing people's dreams. It's not so much the warning at all; it's the tone. It's 85% negative warning; 15% encouragement. Need to shift that to 80% encouragement; 20% warning. Most people know the deal with the market for English Ph.D.s. There are only 70,000 articles on the Internet about it. It's only the subject about 40,000 YouTube videos. Many people want to pursue their Ph.D. because they want the chance to earn the degree and be an active academic for a while, to write good things, to contribute to their field. Not all are after a job. A Hispanic woman I know told me (while she was doing her Ph.D. between 2005 and 2010) that she didn't even want to teach college; she wanted to go back to teaching high school; she truly, genuinely has a thing for high school teaching (middle school and elementary are out; she specifically likes high school). I asked her why she's doing her Ph.D. if she doesn't want to be a professor, and she pretty much said, "Well, I just wanted my Ph.D...." I know not all people are like her. Many want jobs in universities and are only just tolerating that they very likely won't get one. But probably just as many really don't care. A lot really want the degree, the enrichment, the time as an academic, the time to contribute to scholarship, etc. p.s. I know a bunch of "ghetto," lol, Hispanics doing their Master's degrees and Ph.D.s. I live in Houston, too, where there is a huge Hispanic population. Many of the "ghetto" students are the most popular among their cohort. One dude is all tattooed up and is cursing all the time. It's awesome, lol.

I'm reaaallly appreciate of the early rejections this year (didn't know it was different in years past). The one thing that pissed me off a lot when talking to past applicants was their claim that some schools never even notify you, and if they do at all, it's not til August. Mind you, I don't mind being "kept hanging" into late March and early April because I'm somehow still in the running but they are awaiting other factors. But "left hanging" into late March/April/and beyond when the school knows for sure that I'm just not what they're looking for, no matter what happens with their top choices, etc., grrrrrr, that's really bothersome. I got my third official rejection today (from Northeastern; randomly checked the website). It was sort of a middle choice for me, so I'm not terribly disappointed. The thing about Boston is that, while I would love to live in that city, something about the schools doesn't give me the greatest feeling. I feel like I wouldn't fit, just personality-wise, school-culture-wise. I could be totally wrong, but that's my intuition. I would have, of course, taken it if I had gotten into Northeastern, but given that I felt this not-great vibe, I'm not inclined to be crushed....

I agree wholeheartedly.

I have cold feet, too, and I haven't even gotten fully accepted. (I have one acceptance so far to a last choice school, in a last choice small town, and am absolutely not assured funding). I think my feet would be less cold if/when I get into a city I'm more keen on moving to. That said, the cold feet exist despite my boyfriend happily, voluntarily, and even enthusiastically going with me. I'm bucking for a Chicago-area acceptance, also, in the hopes of getting my mom and brother to go with me. (My brother already works for a company in Chicago -- he flies there often and works half time there and half time here in the city where we live -- I think it would be easy, if I get into a place in Chicago, to convince him to let's just all move there (he, my mom, and I are kind of a "single people" trio (well, for me, unmarried) -- my sisters are married and have families.) In other words, I'm trying to take my life with me to graduate school, if I get to go. I think, in fact, it's the ONLY reason I could get myself to apply (because I had the assurance, as I was applying, that the boyfriend would go with me. He approved places based on location, etc. I had thought of applying in 2012 (for fall 2013), but ultimately ditched it because I could not imagine leaving my life and going alone. (I was with my S.O. then, but we'd only been together for about four months at that point; the relationship wasn't settled enough to be a "let's move together for me..." thing.) That being said, I think you should take the plunge. Change is painful and hard, but in life you have to propel yourself forward. Later you'll look back on it and find that, more often than not, it was worth it, and the way you grew and evolved was worth it. Fiz, are you and your signif. other planning to do long distance? I'm glad you made this thread because I've been very curious as to how people's personal lives are going to change (or might change) if they go to graduate school.

I'm sure Oregon is doing the best it can by its Ph.D. students, stipend-wise. I don't condemn the department or the school, just the concept of a low stipend! That said, if I got in, I would consider going even with the low first-year pay. I have other means of income, though, so it might be more do-able for me than most others. Anyway, sounds like you have lots of options! I don't see any reason for you to visit Oregon, though, if they're pretty low on your list compared to other schools. As far as schools paying for visits, I'd be happy if they could handle something -- like either my airfare, or put me up with a grad student so I don't have to pay hotel. If they could do one or the other, I'd (probably) spring for whichever one they can't provide. I'd try to, anyway. Anyway, congrats again on Oregon (and to everyone else who got in there). I actually applied to Oregon as well and haven't heard anything, so I'm assuming rejection (though I'm aware that one can still be surprised up until mid-March or so, depending on how a school's first offers and accepts/declines play out). I feel pretty safe saying there's a 70% chance that I'm rejected, though. The good thing, though, is that I wasn't vying for Oregon. It was/is in my bottom three out of thirteen.

Congratulations! That stipend, I agree, is shockingly low. I didn't think Ph.D. programs would go lower than 13K or so.

I hate all of these schools for the psychological damage being done to all of us.

Yes, I'm a Rutgers applicant and am very eager to hear from them as well. Even though I have absolutely NO business applying to a program so highly-ranked and prestigious, it is a school from which I get the following vibe (and have for some time): "top program that against all odds actually accepts me, much to my shock and disbelief, and to the shock and disbelief of others as well." Well, not that I truly think that I'll get in there. But of all the high-ranked schools I applied to, it's the one I think could shock me / admit me. I was just in the Fall 2013 thread looking at posts from around this time (February 18th through 28th) and the applicants from last year were just as eager to hear from Rutgers. They were saying that Rutgers tends to notify third weekend in February. And a couple posts made vague references (somewhere around the 24th or so) to being rejected, but no one said so definitively, and no one ecstatically announced an acceptance either. Rutgers is actually not my TOP choice (only because I want to live in Chicago a bit more than I want to live in NYC or anywhere near it, mostly because Chicago is cheaper and because my partner has more interest in living in Chicago), but I would soooo take Rutgers if I got in there and not into the Chicago schools I applied to. Good luck to you and to me and to anyone else who would love to get into Rutgers! We will know soon enough... p.s. waiting absolutely sucks. I have tried (today) to not obsess. Of course, PhD stuff is on my mind constantly, but I told myself I would not actively verbalize it to my boyfriend or on here (until now) because that makes it even worse. I'm trying to fake it til I make it. That is, fake not being obsessed until I become not obsessed. It only works a little, but it helps slightly.

I actually did a 4-4 when I was in my M.A. program (but that wasn't the school's fault. I had a 2-2 with them and chose -- because I needed the money -- to teach two more classes, besides, each spring, fall, and summer semester at a community college.) 4-4 while in grad school is horrible. But it has the effect, now, of making a 2-2 seem like child's play to me. Getting a 1-1 would be magical.

lol, well, no harm done, really, when the fakeness is owned up to. I actually wasn't alarmed anyway. I don't get alarmed until I see a bunch of acceptances. Anyway, all of this will be over in about three weeks. Seriously...we'll have answers and the anxiety will be overwith. It's the weirdest feeling. I live my life -- teach, watch movies, spend time with S.O., have lunch with friends -- but 3/4 of my brain is on PhD apps. It's like I can't be normal again until after March 10th.

I just was on the results board and saw a single acceptance (via phone) for today. It may or may not be authentic. (I'm not one to assume any result posted is fake, yet...people have talked about that happening, especially when there is a lone acceptance for a school posted.) Even if it is authentic, though, I don't think there's any reason to be alarmed unless you see a bunch of acceptances. A single acceptance could mean they just contacted some very tip-top candidates and more are to come. Anyway, I actually haven't been in my applications much. But I do refresh email on my phone CONSTANTLY. I'm defnitely starting to annoy myself, lol.

Awesome. Good luck to you! (and to me).

Wendy, Don't feel too bad. I am a native English speaker, and the highest I've ever scored on GRE Verbal (even just on practice tests with no pressure) is a 162. I'm not aiming for Harvard or even the notably "high-ranked" schools (although I "reached" for a few in applications), but I wish my score were higher because I imagine all programs, even ones that don't expect a really high score, would like to see a highish score. My verbal is more in line with a solid Master's student than a Ph.D. student, but I'm thinking I might still get in based on other things. Good luck this week, everyone. This is it. I feel like from here 'til March 15th is when things really start to heat up. Our futures hang in the balance. Either our dreams come true or we are destroyed forever. (melodramatic) But seriously, "not knowing" is killing me. I absolutely cannot deal with the unknown. I am doing all of those things that people do to rid themselves of uncertainty, a la "If I make this basket (balled up piece of paper), I'm getting in to one of my top choices..." And doing the two out of three, four of five thing. I do this for everything that I'm dying to know the answer to but have to wait for the future to arrive to get that answer. It doesn't work AT ALL (as in, accurately predict), but that doesn't stop me from doing it.

I think you're right that there's still hope. But we'll see.... Thanks for the words of encouragement!

Sorry it took me a while to answer this. I didn't see it at first. My area of interest is African American lit.

Oh ...I don't mean lying on the forum. I mean on the results board. And maybe not most, but some.