MedievalMadness

Just curious to see if any of you applied to U Calgary's PhD program. If so, what are your research interests?

...when you email a statement of interest with CV and transcript copies to a professor and realize you misspelled his surname. I went back to fix this and then realized that I had sent my email NOT to the professor, but to an entire LISTSERV. DAMNIT. So, I had to send an apology email to the listserv, and then another apology email to the professor. Whoops. God, that was embarrassing.

Interesting! A friend of mine is doing a film studies PhD at University of Delaware. He seems to really like it. I wonder if they've accepted any medievalists yet, or if they plan to do so. Then again, I also wonder how they make decisions. Do they lump together candidates in different fields and then select from those groupings? Gah. I'm overthinking it. I still haven't heard back from any schools. It would be lovely to start getting some decisions back.

Out of curiosity, what are the specialities of those who have been accepted? I would love to know if any of you are medievalists!

collikl: Love the 'Life of Brian' quote in your signature! I really hope this application season pans out for you! This is my first time going through the process (aside from getting my MA), and I have NO IDEA what to expect. I technically applied to three programs, though I'm in the running for a fourth through a grant for digital humanities. (Really crossing my fingers for that last one!! The stipend is incredible.) While I anticipate that I will likely be rejected from all the programs to which I applied, I am still hopeful.

Also -- just wanted to say thank you to everyone again. The professor did actually respond and said he would take me into consideration for the position. Hooray!

Okay, maybe I'm paranoid. Maybe I've been over-obsessively checking status... HOWEVER... did anyone else's status shift to 'Your application is under review.'? Maybe it always said that and I'm just psyching myself out.

Congrats to everyone who got into Brown! I saw a flurry of acceptances come across the results page!

Thanks to everyone for the reassurances! I felt like such an idiot, but hopefully it will all work out. I haven't heard back from the professor yet, but I believe he's on PST. I'm crossing my fingers.

Oh god. Thank you for that! That honestly makes me feel so much better! I can't even imagine how that TA felt.

So... I accidentally sent a statement of interest to an ENTIRE LISTSERV with CV and unofficial transcripts. Even worse, I mentioned a professor by name who subscribes to the listserv. I feel like such an idiot. (Not to mention that I misspelled the surname of the person to whom I was directing the email.) Someone shoot me now. Or tell me about your most embarrassing mistake. GAH.

I have two years of French, but it's incredibly rusty! As in... haven't studied French since ...hmm, 2006? Way rusty. I would love to learn Old French though.

I have a semester of Old English, though that was awhile ago. It could be fun to brush up on that too! I really haven't done anything with Medieval Latin and would welcome your input. All my translation work has been with Classical text snippets, though I've recently been trying my hand at some of Gerald of Wales (mostly disastrous and slow). PM me your email too and we can get a group going.

Guys (Gals?): PM me with your emails and we can coordinate something.

I would recommend Moreland & Fleischer's 'Latin: An Intensive Course'. It will get you through the grammar more quickly. iKnow! and Brainscape are mostly good for vocab. Also, if you have the time for it, Wheelock's textbook is really the standard. There are some good workbooks out there too. If you want, we could form a Latin study buddy system! I really need to work on my Latin too.

Haha! Oh my god. Well, that tells me I'm not this new recruit! But it would be rather hilarious if the first word she received was a congrats from another grad student! Yep, we're snowed in too. There's at least a foot out there. It's higher than my corgi's legs go, so he's hating it. All the schools I applied to are in the DC area, so I don't think I'll be hearing anything for the rest of the week. (Not that I expected to hear from GW or Catholic this week... but still.)

Does this new recruit know yet that he/she is a new recruit? I'm crossing my fingers, but I have the feeling I'm not going to be one of those lucky few. Any idea on whether the admissions folks are working on getting responses out today? Everyone seems to be snowed in. (I live in Alexandria and work in Fairfax.) I have no idea whether admissions folks telecommute or work through snow or what.

Thanks for the Duolingo recommendation! I needed to brush up on German and this looks like a useful tool. To everyone else: I use iKnow! and Brainscape for Latin practice. Mostly for vocab. (In case anyone needed to brush up on their Latin.)

This is really great! If I don't get into any of my programs, I will definitely be following your advice.

Good luck!! I'm so horrified on your behalf! You go tell them what is what. I'm sure UMD isn't going to penalize you for what is clearly not your fault.

FYI to everyone: My coworker's friend, who works in admissions for UMD's Engineering program, said the Apra was down on their end for much of the weekend. So, they weren't able to get a lot of their decisions out. I don't know if this was just the Engineering department or if it affected the other departments too. I'm crossing my fingers that more decisions will be sent out for English soon!

FYI to all who applied to UMD -- apparently the Apra system was down for much of the weekend, so they were not able to get out a lot of their admissions decisions. So, expect to see a lot of decisions today and tomorrow. Source: My co-worker's friend works in Admissions for the Engineering school. The friend apparently said something to the effect of "I guess no one's getting admitted this weekend!"

Sent a PM back. I hope it's helpful! Your friend is welcome to contact me directly if she has more questions. I forgot to mention in the PM, but she should check out the Kalamazoo conference in May at WMU, even if she isn't presenting a paper. And I know! I can't stop checking status.

Are you only applying to the MA program? I'm crossing my fingers for you and very glad that you're not competing for one of those elusive nine or so PhD spots! The Apra is where we are supposed to check for admission, correct? I have checked several times now and it always just says that my application is complete. I hope I hear soon!

Just out of curiosity, what is your concentration?