janaca

I applied to WS/English. I'm thinking I probably will not hear good news but am still anxious, because it is one of my two remaining programs--and actually an amazing fit. But I guess time will tell....

Has anyone heard anything UCSB feminist studies or Michigan joint women's studies programs, by any chance?

Wow, huge congrats on the offer, Lorelai! That's amazing!!! But yeah, waiting until April to hear if you can fund it does not sound like fun.... :-/ Best of luck, though, and I do hope that it works out!

Yes, Lorelai, I second the good luck wishes! My fingers are crossed for you!!!

I'm there with you all, too. I applied to 7 women's studies programs and did not in my wildest dreams imagine that I would be rejected across the board, but that seems to be a distinct possibility now. It's just so frustrating, because I spent months on my SOP and writing sample (which had already won a departmental prize from the women's studies program at my school), did really well on the GRE, and got lots of reassurance that I would get in from both of the women's studies professors who wrote me recommendation letters. One said, "Oh GRE scores like yours will get you in. Don't worry. You're in! Maybe you'll get into all 7!" And then other also made a point of saying I would do very well. And it's not like my professors who were so confident don't know how selective these programs are, either. They are part of a women's studies M.A. program that regularly sends students to a lot of the PhD programs that are rejecting me. And now that I'm 0 for 4, with three more that I starting to look unlikely, I'm just sort of like, uh... I guess I grossly over-estimated my abilities at some point in this process?

Wow, congrats to everyone for all the wonderful acceptance/wait list news! Has anyone heard anything for UCSB yet? Looks like they notified just about now last year....

Anyone apply to/ hear anything from UC Santa Barbara? I am (figuratively) biting my nails over this one. Looks like they usually notify around now...

@feministfarmer Usually, you just log in to the school's application system with the username and password you set up when you applied, I think.

Thanks, FeministCorgi, and congrats to folks getting interviews. Also, I was stalking the Rutgers sociology results (since the WGS results are less numerous), and it looks like in sociology, at least, the interview emails went out over a span of a few days. So, who knows what's going on in WGS really, I suppose....

Hey all, I've been avoiding posting for a while, because of lack of news/stress, but there's a Rutgers interview posted in the Results today???? I didn't know Rutgers did interviews (and didn't get an email.) So...darn, I guess.

Yes, FeministCorgi, all it takes is one admit, and we've got plenty of programs yet to hear back from. So, I'm sure we'll be fine! Hm my Minnesota status also says "Awaiting Program Decision," so that has me a little worried, too. I mean, it does makes sense to me that they might have contacted first-round admits at this point, since I saw an acceptance in the results area about a week ago. However, it sort of seems like a lot of programs at Minnesota do acceptances in a couple of different waves. Also, I highly doubt they would have notified alternates yet, because most programs wait a bit to do that, even after they have made their alternate list. So I wouldn't give up hope just yet.... Ugh, yeah, and I am so nervous about the impending Emory interview invites. I feel like Emory is a good fit for me, so if I don't get invited, I'll be sad. At least we will know soon, though. Either way, I guess it will be sort of a relief!!

Thank you for the encouraging words, FeministCorgi! Yeah, I feel like I cast my net sort of widely with these applications, so it's likely that a number of my schools just won't be a good fit. Oh well. I applying to the following PhD programs: Maryland - CP, Minnesota, Rutgers, UC Santa Barbara, Emory, UC Santa Cruz, and University of Michigan. No word from anyone except for Maryland, yet. Trying to stay optimistic....

Oh good, there are others! *Waves back.*

Thanks the reminder not to worry too much, isilya. Such reminders are always helpful! For the record, though, "Under Graduate School Review" did changed to "rejected" today....

I'm applying for Women's Studies, too! Mostly to PhD programs. And ... I got my first rejection today, from University of Maryland. Sort of shocked that the decision came so quickly... The letter came from the Dean of Graduate Studies and said "Based on our requirements for graduate admission, we are unable to offer you admission to the PhD program at this time." Sort of makes it sound like I didn't meet the minimum requirements, but my stats are pretty good (3.75 undergrad GPA from a top 50 school, GRE 330 (V168, Q162, AWA 4.5) 4.0 master's GPA. So, I'm guessing that's just the generic rejection letter? Anyway, who else is applying this year??

Yes, I agree that you should retake if you think you can improve your AWA score. I once had a science professor tell me that in his department, the primary purpose of the AWA section was to weed out international applicants who might not be fluent enough to teach. It sounds like you are very fluent in English, based on your high verbal score, so I would just study a little and retake. Maybe look at some of the sample prompts on the ETS website and, if you can, try using their scoring service for your practice essays? (I forget what the service is called, but basically, you pay a few dollars and they grade a couple of practice essays for you....)

...unless only one type of app goes through the "graduate school review" phase (i.e. only rejections or only admits?) For the record, my application has shown this status sometime right before the holidays, if i'm remembering correctly. Also, I sort of assume the program would have contacted when they forwarded me to the grad school if it had been an acceptance, based on stalking past UMD acceptance posts. Sigh. :-/

Thanks for the responses, y'all! The deadline for my program was 12/8, and I do have a vague memory that my app was "Under Program Review" after that, although I can't be sure at this point. Anyway, good to know that my app is (probably) moving along and that a decision is (probably) coming soon, I guess.....

Hi, I am just wondering if anyone has any thoughts or information on the meanings of different application statuses at University of Maryland. Basically, I noticed over break that my application status says "Under Graduate School Review," and I sort of feel like that usually means a decision has been made--because if it hadn't, wouldn't the status say "Under Program Review" or something? Anyway, so, I've been going slightly crazy all break wondering what this status means--if anything--and thought I would ask here. Thanks in advance for thoughts!

Wait, is a 6 on the writing section a thing that is highly desirable in political theory, specifically? I've been talking to a political theory professor at my current institution (a middle-tier state school) who tells me that the AWA score doesn't even appear on the forms that the admissions committees see here. The university sees applicants AWA scores, I guess, but the adcoms only see Quantitative and Verbal--and this is the throughout our entire graduate school.

Thanks! I totally just asked them. Looks like I've probably got a couple more weeks. Whew!

Hi, So I've heard many times that most schools will take letters of recommendation that come in a little late, but I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts on exactly how late these rec letters can be. I'm still waiting on one that's nine days late right now, and it looks like the system will actually let me swap this recommender out for another one. I do have an extra recommender, so I could do that, but I'd really prefer to keep waiting for my original recommender, since I worked with her a lot more closely than I have with my "back up" recommender, and she's in my field. Thanks for any advice!!

Anyone have any thoughts on using a totally above-board academic editing service designed for researchers preparing their articles for publication if you can't find any faculty willing to give you feedback on a dense, 20+ page paper you wrote a couple of years ago? Just wondering....

In most programs, creative writing faculty do not care about your GRE scores at all. I'm in a top-20 CW program right now, and I know for a fact that the ad coms don't care about GRE's here, from friends who have worked in the office here during admissions time. The only time GRE scores matter in CW is when you're below the university-wide GRE "floor" or when you have an amazing score and can qualify for a university-sponsored fellowship. That said, if you really want to be safe, I guess you might want to contact the schools and/or try to find out the university-wide minimums, to make sure that the 3 on the AWA isn't going to be a problem. I highly doubt it would be, but I guess you never know. Some schools might be weird.

I might just sent them both? That way, programs will be able to see that you're a strong writer and that you're capable for improving your AWA score, and they'll be able to see your higher math score, too. The problem with just submitting the second score is that you might not meet the universities' minimum requirements for Q and that departments that liked the rest of your application might have trouble getting you in.... If they had both sets of Quant scores, though, they might just be able to count the higher one to get you to meet minimum score requirements in that section?