Kamisha

Congrats to all the acceptances on the boards today! It’s great to see. I hope that they keep coming (for all of us)!

Well let's hope all the trolling and drama are done for the application season. What do you guys make of the discrepancies between NCR and World News rankings? Why are some schools ranked highly on one and not on the other?

Haha wow, wasn’t expecting that. That’s a pretty huge, unfounded accusation and honestly I’m surprised on it. No, I’m not Redlight. No, I’m not creating dramatic effect for the fun of it. I’m not attacking myself for the fun of it. I’m not attacking other people on GradCafe for the fun for it. No, I’m not creating accounts only to report myself. And no...I would never speak in the manner that Redlight speaks. I don’t really see where you are noting similarities in verbal structure, but that honestly concerns me a little bit that you would create such comparisons. Wow...just wow.

It’s the darker side of academia, but it definitely exists. I’m glad you are in a supportive program Mine is too, for the most part. There are just a few stragglers who have a hard time with the fact that they don’t stand out like they’d want to. I don’t blame them; it would be hard to come from an undergrad program where you are the top dog and then recede into the background. Still, though, I don’t think it’s an excuse for slander. If I can ever trace the IP address to an exact location, said individual might be in trouble for that.

I’m out of up votes, but well said!

Yep, there are some humorously creepy people in the world.

This will be a mini-vent to ArthurianChaucerian that others are free to skip: Haha this person is a jerk. Given the personal nature of the message and the “claims” contained within it (my favorite of which were that I transferred to my Master’s program from community college, that I don’t own a freelance writing company, and--my very favorite--that I fake my RateMyProfessor Reviews), it was fairly obvious that it was a very bitter someone who knew me personally and was trying to alter facts about my life based in a way that would reflect badly on me. Who does that? Obviously it was someone with a hangup about my academic performance, my professional success, and my teaching experience/accolades. There are a couple of those people in my program who that could be (I think, like our friend Redflight, that some people still just have problems with strong women), but the language suggested one individual in particular: one super-douche who lives a bitter existence based on the fact that they think they should be top dog in our program and can’t handle that I outperform them and outrank their both in academics and in teaching. This individual considers themselves “my competition” and has been passive aggressive to me for the last two years. I showed it to a faculty member and they agreed with my guess on who it was. Actually, they guessed it before I even could offer up a name. I can’t prove anything solid at this point about who it was, but I’m 99% certain. I was upset at first, but I honestly find it super hilarious now. Seriously, who does that?

If you’re going to cyber-stalk me, you could at least do me the courtesy of spelling my name correctly.

Envious that you still have 17 schools left. I initially applied to 14 and am assuming rejection on 7 thus far. Also, the dog in your profile picture is stinking adorable. I want.

Maybe don’t report the thread. We can just report those particular posts and that user. Do you know who that person is, ArthurianChaucerian? I ask because one of my classmates (who I beat out for a job and a fellowship) got on GradCafe a few days ago and tried to discredit me by making up a bunch of crap. Like that, this feels personal. Side note: I run out of positive votes SO fast. I mean, I can understand limiting negative votes, but why positive ones? Haha

I appreciate this comment. I’m actually applying to Baylor despite its low World News ranking. They apparently have one of the strongest records in the nation for placing graduates in tenure-track positions and are #26 in faculty publications. Not only that, they have been consistently climbing in the rankings for the last year years. Further, even though they are only ranked 121 on World News, NRC has them tied for #1 under the Student Outcomes category, which includes completion rates, financial aid, and placement. They also hang pretty tough in there with a lot of the top schools in several other categories. Haha I’m not meaning to become a Baylor cheerleader. I guess what I’m just saying is that I find myself aligning more and more with opinions like the ones expressed here and in JLRC’s comment, which I’ve put below. Again, thanks for weighing in, guys. It’s helping me evaluate the way I think about where I applied. If you want to look at the NRC rankings: http://chronicle.com/article/NRC-Rankings-Overview-English/124728/

I’m not quite sure why someone voted down your post, so I sent some positive feedback. Haha.

Like I said, I posted this question just to see where current and future grad students land on this issue. What an interesting array of opinions. Thanks guys!

I only get my rejection from Davis because I emailed them. They are really great; if you ask for feedback on your application so that you can be more competitive in the future, the DGS will write you a really personal email with advice. That being said, I really hope you are accepted!

I had such a good day that I’m going to be an egomaniac and like my own post. Yep.

No acceptances yet, but I thought I’d share some positive vibes (even at the risk of veering into sickening sentiment): To be certain, this is a anxiety-producing, sleep-losing, self-esteem destroying, and emotionally wrecking process. I’ve said on here a couple of times that I just don’t know if I could do this again if I don’t get accepted. That being said, however, this afternoon I had my moment of clarity and comprehension. I'd sulked up to campus feeling the pains of yet another implied rejection. I didn’t want to see anyone, I didn’t want to talk to anyone, and I most certainly didn’t want to put on a brave face for a group of college sophomores who just wouldn’t understand why their teacher hadn’t been as “zippy” as of late. But I went to class anyway and I smiled and I started in on a new lesson that I’d never taught before--and my students responded. They loved it. We laughed, we debated, and we learned. I realized that I feel more at home and more like myself in the classroom than I do in any other context. I walked out of that room smiling because my students were smiling and because I was genuinely happy over something so silly as an effective lesson plan. And now, in this moment, I couldn’t care less that I may never become a tenure-track faculty member or that I might have to spend another $3000K applying to PhD programs next year. It just doesn’t matter because even though I’m a lowly Master’s student who didn’t get into Berkeley or Duke or maybe anywhere else this year, I still get to wake up every single day and do what I love. For that reason, all of this temporary agony is so, so worth it.

Congratulations! That’s such great news!!!

You’re like a British school info savant and I thank you for it!

Maybe I’ll contact them and see about applying for their American Studies program, as well. Thanks for the info!

This is so great to hear because I applied their MA in Film and Media Studies! Is it just the American Studies program that does the funding?

Yeah, I haven’t heard anything either, so it sounds like are both in either Waitlist limbo or out of luck Here’s to hoping for waitlists! For the record for anyone who is concerned: I didn’t call. A friend of mine is in the department and asked today. She relayed the info to me.

FYI for UC-Riverside applicants: apparently all acceptance offers went out by today. Waitlisted applicants are to be notified individually.

I just did a practice interview with my undergrad mentor (bless him for putting up with me for so long). Here are the questions he told me to be ready to answer: 1. Why this school? What is it about the university and the program, in particular, that drew you to us? 2. What are your professional and academic goals and expectations following the completion of your PhD? 3. What is your philosophy of education? More specifically, what is your philosophy of education in relationship to teaching composition? 4. If allowed to teach additional classes (i.e. creative writing, literature, or film), what would be your approach? 5. How do you plan to balance your schoolwork and teaching requirements? He advised me that these questions typically appear, in some form or another, on any sort of admissions interview/program preview. On “visits” they are usually worked into conversation subtly and asked by different faculty members so you don’t really pick up on the fact that you’re being interviewed. I thought the advice was helpful, so I thought I would pass it along. Best of luck on your campus visits! EDIT: Whoops! I forgot one of the questions. See updated #4.

I totally what you’re saying. That’s crazy.