Minnesotan

I'm glad the situation did not go too far in a bad direction. Let us consider my comments as a general reminder of forum policies, then, and let it stand at that. Please carry on with the debate.

Maybe that's why I haven't heard from most of my schools, still. Grr...

Play nice.

phds.org has customizable rankings with many criteria from which to choose. There's no Rhetcomp option, but there is general English department info. I've been hanging around here and LJ for a few years, now, and I've never heard of anyone finding reliable rankings for that particular field. My ears have been open, too.

I find it difficult to blame the U.S. economy alone, when Canadian schools are reporting similar growth in domestic grad school applications. I think there has to be a deeper issue, or more variables than have been brought up thus far. Do any students in the U.K. or on the Continent know what the picture is like over there? This information could tell us more.

I'm not sure whether I agree or not, but I applaud your sticking to your guns, Santana. The "honor" or "reputation" argument certainly seems a little one-sided in this situation. The universities have all of the power, so they get to jerk you around as much as they like; if the grad students, however, want to do what's best for themselves, then they're obviously immoral and need to be blacklisted. What say we begin a departmental blacklist, where we keep track of all of the times the adcoms jerk a candidate around, huh? I bet that would get their dander up!

Okay. I realize that I started this thread, but I am also quite willing to lock it if abusive or threatening behavior is the result of its continued existence. As a reminder to all: people posting abusive messages, in public or private, on this website will lose their posting privileges. Threatening comments will be referred to the proper authorities. snagsby52: if the person messaging you persists, please let any of the moderators know. We will deal with the situation.

I'm not sure. When they told me it was a mistake, I thought about appealing, but then realized that if I got in somewhere because of an appeal, I would probably be treated differently than the other students. Maybe some professors would even resent me. Worse than my situation, my buddy had a similar thing happen to him at Madison, and he did appeal. I don't recall the full story in all its glorious detail (he was pretty animated when telling it), but he told me the grad secretary lied to his face about something, then changed his status on him after he had been rejected, accepted, then rejected again (none of which was his true status, apparently). I guess the program director emailed him, after the secretary admitted to lying to him, claiming it was an "honest mistake." LOL! I don't know how it went, exactly, as beer was available at the establishment we visited last time we hung out; nonetheless, I promised him never to attend a conference or deal with people from Madison's English department. They sound like right pricks! Oddly, he never heard back from the department about his appeal. I bet he used some choice language. I know I felt pretty bad in my situation, and nobody lied to me - they just sent the wrong letter, then called me when they realized. There should be a blacklist somewhere for departments that pull this shit. I mean, in my case it's probably not that huge of a deal, but people should hear about situations like what happened to my friend.

I'm just in it for the chicks. (In the interest of avoiding another "flame the mod" festival, I will point out that the comment above was merely a joke.)

I meant that the person who told you it was "good news" had better be sure it was an acceptance, or else he's kind of being a jerk by leading you on. It reminds me of a girl I dated in junior high.

How about a mistakenly sent acceptance letter? That one was my favorite.

Welcome aboard. Pull up a chair and grab a beer.

Mommy, Billy's foot is on my side of the car! Seriously, kid! If you don't want to participate in the conversation, then don't. However, seeing as the majority of the posts on this thread are by you, I find that claim highly suspicious. I know you're probably just some teenager without anything better to do on spring break, but at least be woman enough to admit you want to argue. If you can't get over the fact that I asked a question you didn't like, then you are free to argue the point with me, or ignore me. What you can't do is argue with me and claim you don't want to argue, because that's as ridiculous as the rest of your claims on this thread.

After reading your most recent posts, I am not convinced you are in grad school, let alone out of grade school. By the way, your ellipses filed a complaint with the union -- they're being overworked.

Maybe the addition of textspeak would improve my thesis. Or perhaps this conversation has nothing to do with research practices. It's hard to tell, since I'm so ignorant about the process.

This sounds like a vicious rumor.

Fair enough, but I tend to disagree on the last point. If you are too concerned with your honor or dignitas you're going to come off as a jerk. I prefer to laugh at myself, and laugh at others in equal measure. I think it is much healthier than getting all holier-than-thou every time someone dares make fun of you. You can see how excel just won't let this go. It's because of her self-important attitude stemming from low self-esteem, evident by her repeating that she's doing so well in her academic career, and that everybody loves her in real life. The fact is that she's so terrified that something about her might be found funny by somebody else that anyone who makes a funny remark about her needs to be cut down to size, either through direct attack, or by implication (e.g. saying this is nonsense; or repeatedly insulting someone's intelligence by asking rhetorically if her point is so hard to understand, even though it's not a matter of comprehension, but a matter of disagreement). Luckily excel has now put her "main point" in bold font for us (twice), and has stated it explicitly three times. Maybe through further repetition she can brainwash us all into believing she's right. =)

If you're already "miserable" at school #1, how will you feel about it after 5 more years? Will you even last 5 years there? Personally, I would get in contact with school #3, and make my decision with the best information I could gather on all of the options available. Based on your own words, however, I would take the financial hit, if it meant not being miserable any longer. Money is important, but so is happiness.

Pointed: just so you know, I wasn't trying to attack you, and I'm sorry if you felt I was. Like I've said a few hundred times now, I have been having a laugh at the expense of the textspeak crowd. If people can't take a joke (again, I'm not trying to be rude or attack you), then yes, they do need to grow a thicker skin. How on earth did you people make it through junior high?

Haha! To be honest, I wasn't trying to offend anyone in the first few responses. I was trying to make some funny remarks to bring my point to light in an amusing manner. Maybe it was another instance of the internet not communicating the wry smile on my face as I razzed my fellow freakers-out. Anyway, this has gotten a bit out of hand. I made my point three pages ago, and if it's going to cause excel's undies (which seem horribly afflicted by static cling) to continue to bundle, I don't want her (?) to burst a vein in her (?) eyeball trying to formulate semi-logical responses to my jabs. My original point is pretty clear: People who use textspeak appear stupid to me, and they possibly appear stupid to others as well. If that is okay with you, then that is your choice, and you're welcome to make it in all future communications on this forum. My second, and much more important point is: Some potential/grad students really need to learn to take themselves less seriously. This kind of attitude, especially when combined with emotional fragility or feelings of entitlement, will be harmful to you, to your colleagues, and to academia as a whole. Nobody owes you anything, and we are not required to think, much less tell you repeatedly, how great you are. If you need that kind of reassurance, or if people need to walk on eggshells around you, HistoryGirl is right -- you have chosen the wrong line of work.

That's a slightly different situation, though, Crusty. If you think there is a possibility that a great visit would change your priorities, then it makes sense to check things out at your #2 school. I know a lot of people who have changed their minds and gone to programs much lower on their priority list because of a good visit. Most of them are happy they did. My point was that if you know absolutely that you will not attend the school, accepting the free trip seems a bit dishonest.

This part tipped me off: "I do not respect such a person."

I searched the entire thread, and the only word or phrase I've used that could even be considered mildly vulgar is "asses." Considering this word (and other forms of it) is used on prime time television, I hardly think I am out of line using it among members of an adult community. Moreover, I do not consider it vulgar, and to accuse me of "consistently" employing vulgar language in this argument is the furthest thing from the truth! You have not been courteous at any point in this argument, and to make believe you're sinking to my level is absurd. You flew off the handle because I asked why it was so hard to spell out the word "you." After taking some abuse, I decided to fight back. Do not try to turn this into some war of morality, because neither of us are acting in a mature or professional manner.

"One more thing: if someone does not consider the content of a text with seriousness because there are a few instances of the use of "u" in place of "you", that person has an attitude problem. I do not respect such a person." How's that? People who disagree with you deserve no respect. How much more clear can this be? Your views are worthy of respect, and the views of others are not. The rhetoric is quite clear -- everyone should come to your side of the issue so that they are worthy of respect. It's funny. In the same breath, you disrespect someone and demand theirs. If you're not going to treat your opponent with respect, why should he treat you with any? What makes you so special?

Thanks. And, no, I won't even be suggesting this policy to the other mods. It drives me nuts on a personal level, but that's my problem. I'm not going to attempt to change the rules of an entire community, just because I find that the actions of some members offend my sensibilities. =) **Edit: I do, however, reserve the right to speak my mind, whether I am an "authority" or not. My original post asked a simple question in an obviously humorous manner. In response, excel said she would not take any more of my "nonsense," and tomsmith said I was petty and should direct my comments only to the "geeks" at the English Lit. forum. Now the opposition claims to be preaching from the moral high ground. I just don't see it.