JSTORPolka

Sure. I'll try to remember to hop on when I get back

I am currently waitlisted at OSU. Would anyone mind relaying information afterwards (can definitely PM)? Thanks!

Are you more excited about your waitlist options, or your acceptances (once funding decisions are made)? I applied to 10 schools and have landed on four waitlists. FOUR! I am that mediocre. However, I'm grateful to not have been completely shutout as I figured I'd be.

JSTORpolka & back2black - I feel your pain. I am also in waitlist hell for several schools. It puts EVERYTHING in your life on hold.
Also being on the waitlist makes me feel so blah. Like close but not quite good enough. Gah. I'm also doubting my decision to apply to only 5 schools, but as an international student I only had enough money for 5.
 
PS. Grishko Out of Toronto, UBC and McGill I would definitely pick Toronto. I went to UofT, UBC and Concordia (the other school in Montreal) and the UofT English department was way more together/I actually felt like they tried with me. McGill tends to have less of a presence than other schools in English and doesn't offer as much variety of classes and UBC is an absolute disaster in terms of organization/classes. Although if you go to McGill you can take classes at other Montreal institutions which I did (a lot of McGill people take classes at UdeM and Concordia).

If you've been accepted to OSU, you should definitely decline the offer as soon as possible. 
 
Just kidding.
 
But my SO is on their waitlist, and I would like my SO to get in.
 
So...you know, consider not going, for me, your friend from the communication side of the academic world. Also for my SO, who is from the English-y parts.

4 wait lists here!

I hesitated to respond but I know that crappy feeling and I just in general have a difficult time keeping my mouth shut, so here goes!
 
From my stats this season I have no reason to complain, 3 accepts/2 waitlists and from great schools. However, when I got my Stanford rejection I was incredibly disheartened. It wasn't about wanting one more acceptance, it was about my dream school. I'm really lucky to have the options I do but it has been a long time coming. In high school I worked my butt off b/c I desperately wanted to attend college on the east coast. My over protective parents put an end to that idea and instead I worked my way through a no-name state school. During my last two years of undergrad I went through a hell of a lot of emotional/family crap leading to depression and almost getting kicked out of school for failing grades. I also met my ex-husband (which was its own kind of disaster). That turned into almost 10 years of putting my dreams on the back burner for someone who had no direction (and as it turns out, no morals). Once I saw that there was no saving us I went back to school to get my credential so I would have a means of supporting myself. By this point I had almost completely given up on my dreams of a PhD. I thought no way could I be out of school for so long, with such a lackluster undergrad record and still get into a graduate program. Who would want me? What could I possibly have to offer?
 
I took some time to just review where I was and what I wanted, what I absolutely had to have. Then I came up with a plan to get there. I knew that I couldn't walk straight into a PhD program, my only chance was to get an MA first and to somehow effing rock it. This would be challenging b/c based on my past academic record, the only place I might get into was another no-name state school. I was so embarrassed, I was supposed to be this great brain and here I was 30, trying to finally do what I should have been doing in my 20s. After meeting with the grad advisor (who was not very optimistic) and figuring out a way that I could be admitted despite my low undergrad gpa I applied and got in. Here I am, three years later having met the cohort of my dreams (they really are like family) and some amazing professors who have my best interests at heart.
 
The point of all of this is to tell you that a setback is just that. It's a temporary pause. YOU decide how to respond. What do you want? What can you absolutely not live without? Look at how many times I messed up and got in my own damn way! The things that held me back weren't even outside things, they were my own stupid decisions. That Stanford rejection felt like death when I got it but after taking a step back I can see my way again. This is all my long-winded way of saying don't give up. Rejections are the freaking worst, let yourself feel that and don't feel guilty about it. Just know that 1. obstacles can turn into blessings, 2. if you want something you can make it happen. I believe in you. 
 
If you ever want to vent off-thread, feel free to PM me. Also, if there's anything that I can do to help you if you decide to apply next year, let me know. I feel like I got some incredibly good advice from the professors in my department and it's worked out well for me. Another classmate who has applied this round also got into several great schools, I'd be happy to share the advice we were given.

Rule 1: the Doctor lies. 

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. 

Yep, I'm in a similar situation and feel your pain. I am currently waitlisted at a couple of places (with the possiblity of more waitlists), but I'm trying not to get my hopes up in case I end up rejected. I applied to 10 schools this year, and I tried to cast a wide net as far as applying to schools outside the top 20. However, you bring up a valid point, in that a lot of these schools simply lack the funds to accept a sizable class. I didn't think I had a chance at my top programs, but those were exactly the ones that waitlisted me. If I do decide to do another round, I'll stick to programs that not only match my interests well, but are capable of letting in more students.
 
And I'll talk to the professors beforehand... Definitely.
 
But I wish you good luck on the rest of your schools. -We applied to a lot of the same programs.

I hope everyone hears good news today or this week.
 
I want to hear from Rutgers because even though I believe it is way out of my league and my chances are extremely slim, I still (probably foolishly) have that "you never know" thought.
 
We've all said that these things are a crapshoot.  Which means that even if you've gotten rejected by eight in a row, you could still get accepted at one.
 
I keep thinking of how, when my LOR writers were reading my writing sample (they helped me with that too), it really resonated with one as "excellent" (he even told me it needed to be published), while the other just saw it as "solid/passable."  The same things can happen with different committees.  You just never know!
 
I'm in a slightly optimistic mood, but that is likely to change.  
 
Anyway, I've vaguely thought of re-applying next year if my one acceptance doesn't have funding and/or even if it does but my boyfriend and I find that we don't think we could happy in the new city.
 
But even if I did re-apply, it wouldn't be to 13 schools again.  More like 6 or 7.  And I'd choose strategically and aim less high.  I applied "widely" this time as it was, and wasn't applying to all top 10, top 20, or even top 30 or 50.  But I would aim even less high, maybe, but still with careful selection and more attention to how many the school typically lets in per year.
 
I applied to a few schools that only let in about 4 to 6 per year.  
 
About the letters...I'd probably just ask the same people to send some variation of the same letter.  They were really cool this year about it; they'd probably do it again, especially given that they can virtually use the same letter with minor tweaks based on....whatever changes.
 
That said, I don't know that I will re-apply.  

Accepted at U Michigan Ann Arbor! 
 
I may have accidentally danced my way across campus when I heard the news. This is my first acceptance, and before I got an acceptance...well, the mind goes to dark places. Like, "I'm not smart or qualified enough to be an academic; I'm a fraud; I should give up this fanciful dream of academia and manage a Chipotle" sorts of places.
 
Good luck to everyone else who applied!