mmorrison

I looked around a bit at places in Rancho Cucamonga after that advice, and they looked nice. More expensive, perhaps. But the schools were significantly better, too. I wonder if it would be worthwhile to buy--maybe a townhome or condo--rather than rent. I guess there are pros and cons. I think a lot of decisions about logistics/housing/personal stuff are going to hinge on details about the program, workload, schedule, etc. Has anyone heard back about plans for the Open House? How are they handling travel, etc.? I'd like to get my plans arranged soon.

That is AWESOME! Fingers crossed!

What are you all working on while you wait to hear from [the rest of] your schools? I'm revising my final MA paper. An earlier draft served as my writing sample, and I'm already kicking myself for how much it's improved (i.e., how much better my sample could have been if I'd done this earlier). It's out of my period, but I'm enjoying writing it. As soon as I get this piece together and submitted, I will be working on a conference paper that is also out of my period (but ultimately relevant to historical periods in general, so somewhat defensible). And I have two seminar papers to write this semester, so I've started research for those. What I really need to do is close my browser. :-/ ETA: and my bag of snacks.

Lack of language experience is why I opted against pursuing medieval lit, upon the advice of my mentors. I purposely selected programs that had medievalists doing work that interested me, though, in the hope that I can strengthen my knowledge of medieval lit in such a way that it can inform my work on later texts--medievalisms, appeals to origins and founding myths, etc. I'm slightly envious, so I'm lurking. :-) Oh, and I'll be at Kalamazoo. (Also lurking, I guess.)

That's a great approach. I am so glad, in hindsight (though I was pretty bummed at the time), that I didn't get in to any PhD programs right out of the BA. The MA experience has been amazing, and I appreciate the opportunity to work with a different set of faculty at this level, before going on. I wouldn't do it differently even if I could go back and magic myself into one of those PhD programs. ;-)

I really hope you are successful this year, but if not, remember that next year it will be a different set of departmental priorities, a different set of applicants, a different ballgame! Good luck.

I dropped out of high school and got my GED at age 31 so that I could go back to school. They are not going to hold high school class outcomes against you on a professional level. Your current "numbers" are not hurting you, so it will come down to fit. Really. Researching programs and communicating your potential in your SoP and writing sample are the best investments of your time--not worrying about water under the high school bridge! Hang in there!

I'm very torn right now, and I'm waiting for campus visits before deciding, but if I was the gambling type, I'd say that Riverside probably has a slight edge given the package and some family considerations based on location. I'm really looking forward to the open house. Have any of you heard back from the department after the initial recruitment letters? I emailed Tina Feldmann (asking if she could help me connect with current grads to ask a few questions) and Heidi Brayman Hackel (thanking her for the detailed letter), but I haven't heard back. I imagine they're swamped right now, though, of course. In addition to program considerations, I am really hoping to get a sense for the family experience in Riverside. Schools, neighborhoods, where do people with kids live, that sort of thing. I'd like to live close to campus, but I am afraid that the schools might be better a bit farther afield. It's hard to weigh those things out without being local.

What was your sense of the department? How were the relationships/politics/attitudes?

I hear you! I applied to PhD programs out of undergrad, and got 6/6 rejections. I was not expecting to have choices in front of me; I didn't even allow my mind to entertain the possibility, so I'm completely unprepared. It's surreal. Good luck with the rest of your apps!

Thanks for the info, Kamisha - and for the Irvine update; that's great. Good luck! Congrats to all today's admits :-)

Talk to me about this "implied rejection" concept. If I'm reading the signs correctly (mind the bowl of chicken parts), I have implied rejections from Illinois and Irvine. Is the criteria as simple as having seen acceptances from the school appear in the results search but not in one's inbox?

I'm on the fence. I love Oregon, but I have some other considerations that make CA more optimal, location-wise. And there's the money, which shouldn't matter, but it does. And I really, really, really want to work with a professor at ASU. I feel like by the time I weigh everything out, the only reason to prefer Oregon would be if there is something drastically wrong with all the other programs upon closer inspection, which seems unlikely. I'm waiting to hear back from my undergrad mentor about her PhD experience at Oregon; unless she talks me out of it, I am likely to decline their offer without springing for the visit.

Congrats! Are you planning to visit?

Thanks :-) It is only the first year stipend, because they have the first-years tutor only. After that it moves closer to a "typical" TA stipend. They do fund all their PhD students. The two fellowships they offered in conjunction with the stipend basically put their total package at the level that seems fairly common. However, they also lack funds for contributing to campus visits. She said that they could put me up with grad students, offer transportation, and cover meals... but not the flight. This is probably a deal-breaker for me, because flights are about $500 from my city, and their offer is the lowest I've received, so as long as I feel good about at least one of the other departments after visiting them, I can't imagine needing to drop another $500+ to get a feel for one more school (not to mention that I have a family, so it's important for me to spend a few hours cruising around on my own, looking at some pre-selected neighborhoods). One of my mentors did her PhD at Oregon, so I am waiting to run it by her before I decline, but I think I probably will, sooner rather than later, turn it down. My boys will be sad, since their best friends moved to Portland a couple of years ago. ;-)

7 pm Eastern time. We chatted for quite awhile, and she sounded very inclined to answer any and all questions during the call, so I suspect that she will make relatively slow progress through the list. Fingers crossed!

I hope so - best of luck!

She didn't say anything about number of applicants or offers, but she said she had literally just walked out of the meeting and picked up the phone. So they are fresh from the trenches and just getting started with contacting admits. She seemed apologetic for their inability to offer a heftier funding package, so I got the impression that they were in a belt-tightening stage.

My research focus, periodwise, is 18th-century British. I'm interested in origins, appeals to tradition and history, and metaphors of reproduction, and especially the way cultural changes from the middle ages through the enlightenment affected metaphors and representations of origin, so I chose departments for their strengths not only in 18th-c but also in earlier periods. Wow. I guess I could have done better with that 300-word limit at UIUC than I originally thought possible. ;-)

The generic basics - their GTAs are unionized, which sounds nifty until you realize that their stipend is nevertheless pretty low. The first year, you tutor, and the stipend is $11,700. It goes up once you start teaching comp, but is still under 15k.

Oregon here. What do you want to know?

Well, scratch that question. I just received the official "small print," and it appears that "half-time" or "50%" equates to three sections per year (2-1 or 1-2).

I assume that if [since] I didn't hear from them today, I will likely be receiving a rejection letter in the post soon?

Does anyone know: what does a 50% appointment equate to in teaching load? I haven't seen anything that specifies 2-2, 1-1, what have you. Just "half-time" and "50%."

Do schools typically finalize their decisions at about the same time every year? I've noticed that there haven't been any notifications from the schools I'm still waiting on, so I assume that they are all still deciding. I am thrilled to have a few acceptances already, but I am eager to be dealt my full hand and see where I stand.