engphiledu

You and your partner have the same conversations my fiance and I have. A virtual +1 for you! I just want to be able to send a letter that says, "Look. I know you're trying to get me good deals for my wedding." "Hey, I know you're just trying to tell me about what's happening on campus." "I know I work for you, but no, I don't have time to write an email for you. I'm checking my grad school stuff for the billionth time this morning." "I appreciate it, but no, I'm not interested in donating money to starving kittens right now. DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!" . . . "Ok, I'll read the kittens one." Just. . . put all emails on hold. Just until April. Then, you can advertise to me all you want.

Yeah, I'm still waiting on all schools. I'm dying a little bit inside each day that goes by without any word. My advisors, recommenders, and professors have tried to reassure me, but they've told me they're anxious as well. Luckily, I'm working in a different department so I can largely avoid their looks of disappointment. It's always better to hear at least one acceptance first, I think! It helps you relax when the other notifications come in. My roommate had an acceptance first, and she heard from another school yesterday (rejection). Even though she wasn't expecting much from the second school, she wasn't torn up about it because, worst case scenario, even if all other schools reject her, she still has that first acceptance. My fiance had two rejections (in the same day!), but by the next day he had gotten an acceptance from a third. We're banking on going to the same school, so I think that's probably what has me most anxious. One of my schools says on their website that they start notifying on March 1, so at least I have that date to look forward to (or dread). Your thesis sounds really interesting, by the way! One of our philosophy professors is like an Alvin Plantinga with a St. Thomas Aquinas obsession, and from your mention in the other forum about Catholic fan-mail, I'd say you two would have gotten along! lol

My posts? Yours are quite fantastic! Especially since when you said "full of gold" and followed that with a story about getting HUGE envelopes from schools/organizations I immediately thought. . . What if schools didn't notify you about funding, but just sent you all the money. In the mail. With confetti and your acceptance letter. *Opens mailbox* *Struggles to yank out huge envelope* *Opens envelope* *Suffocated under a gigantic pile of money, confetti, and happiness*

It's at Seton Hall University on Saturday, April 12. I need you around to bolster my confidence! Thank you! I always get so nervous at presentations (for no apparent reason). I think I'm just overwhelmed by how awe-inspiring everyone else is. It looks as though your application season went well, according to your signature at least. I wish you well as you make your decision!

It's a major tease. Like sexual tension. . . but much, much worse.

"Ten dollars off your new. . . delete." "Are you looking for. . . don't care." "StudentHealth101: How to stay fit when. . . shut up." Inbox (1) *sweats nervously* "Act today and enjoy your coupon for 15% off!" *punches hole through computer screen*

I've started a new list today. It's almost like a hit list. Almost like a black list. Almost like a Death Note. It's a list of companies I have started to hate. And why do I hate these companies? It's all because they send me emails. Why, pray tell, is that a bad thing? Because none of those companies are graduate schools.

Although I'm (hopefully) going into English, I thought I would update this on behalf of my fiance. He has heard back from the University of Kentucky (M.A.), Auburn University (M.A.), and the University of Illinois - UC (Ph.D). All rejections. He received emails for all three telling him he was rejected or for him to check his status. Auburn sent a more personal rejection, so that was nice in a sense. He hasn't received an email or heard about funding, but when he went on and checked his status for the University of Tennessee - Knoxville there was an acceptance letter posted. If anyone is wondering about those schools, we've heard word at least. We are still waiting on notification from Purdue (M.A.), University of Alabama (M.A), University of Mississippi (M.A.), and Ohio University. The best of luck to all of you!

Thanks for the support, gingin6789! I've really looked up to a professor at my undergraduate university who has several PhD's and Masters. He's our resident degree hoarder, so to speak. When I told him that likely I'll be trying to follow in his footsteps, he told me he was sorry he inspired me so much. lol As an update, I received a notice that a second abstract has been accepted to a conference! The New Jersey College English Association Conference has accepted my abstract on cross-dressing in Japanese popular culture! Woot woot! Maybe I will be able to distract myself from waiting on grad school responses by writing/editing papers!

Disney songs. Because if grad school doesn't work out, I'm going to Disneyland to get a job as Ariel.

I like this short, sweet, and to the point response. Cornell Anthropology, PhD applicant: "D'oh!" Edit: Found another gem. It was hard to drop that much on application fees. . . Stanford, Modern Thought and Literature PhD: "Was it too much for an undergrad student to hope to make it to MTL? I guess with a less than 5 percent acceptance rate, I shouldn't even have tried and saved the $125 for a rave."

This one is more sad than funny, especially since we all hate general rejections, but at least a general rejection email is better than this. I just hope the guy eventually gets some type of email or communication for closure. "The application page says "Admission Denied". No mail. Is that it?" - Computer Science Masters, Purdue.

I would have loved to have that round-table discussion! Small, intimate affairs are sometimes the best opportunities. There were hundreds of people presenting at the MPCA conference, but there were only four people in my panel discussion. It was great being able to work with one another to answer questions asked by the audience since we all had a basic knowledge of our subject area. I'm excited at the prospect of going to this next conference, but it'll be a 14 hour drive! Road trip! And, philosophy represent! Some of my best experiences in undergrad were through our philosophy major, and someday I hope to get a PhD in it as well as English.

I attended the MPCA at St. Louis last year, and I would say that it was a great experience, especially for new presenters. Everyone was very welcoming, and though I was only an undergraduate, all the grad students and professors genuinely valued what I had to say. I would definitely attend MPCA again or any of the other PCA/ACA regional conferences. I don't know if it was just at MPCA or if they do it with all the regional conferences, but their mentorship program was also a great way to get involved. My mentor really helped me feel welcome, and I walked away from the conference with a great deal more experience and lots of contact information from a variety of people from different subject areas. I had no complaints, besides that they scheduled so many great presentations at the same time, so it was hard to choose which ones to listen to!

The first conference I attended was the MPCA conference last year at St. Louis. It was a fantastic experience, and it helped me realize that, despite the fact that I was still an undergraduate, my research and thoughts were still valued even among groups of long-time teachers and PhDs. Sure, it's a fantastic experience you can add to a resume, and for those who are socialites, it's a great opportunity for networking. I walked away with a ton of email addresses and several business cards, and the mentor I had for the conference said he would be willing to write a recommendation, solely based on our conversations and my presentation that weekend. But, being able to stand side-by-side with people who have been in the business for ages and who have attended more conferences than they can remember was both humbling (as if I needed more of that) and enlightening. I just received notice that my paper abstract has been accepted to the Northern Plains Conference for Early British Literature. I was delighted at the acceptance as I was not expecting to hear word (especially a positive response) so soon. I will be attending graduate school in the Fall (hopefully, as I have not heard word from any schools yet), and this semester I have been focusing on trying to submit abstracts and write critical papers. For some conferences, I have submitted abstracts to papers I have already written (such as the Northern Plains Conference). For others, I have submitted abstracts for papers I have yet to write (this was the case with the MPCA conference). For those who are looking at submitting for conferences, here are my recommendations. Granted, I am far from an expert, but from my discussions with my professors and with others at the MPCA conference, this is what I have gathered. I cannot guarantee that this advice will work for non-humanities folks, but I imagine it would be very similar. The best case scenario is to submit abstracts for papers you have already written. This is not only a good test for how that paper will be received, but it also is less stressful in the long run. In this case, when you are accepted, you merely have to revise the paper, spruce it up, and prepare a presentation. Most conferences expect nothing more than for you to read an excerpt from your paper (or the whole paper, depending on its length), but for the MPCA conference, I opted to do a presentation instead. It also depends on your subject matter. My paper almost demanded visual aids, but most other paper presentations I attended were abbreviated readings. Some were easy to follow, while others were so weighted down with jargon that it was almost impossible to follow along unless you were an expert. Depending on the panel, the papers could vary from less-serious and in-progress presentations to fully-researched theses. However, I have found that I enjoy submitting abstracts for papers I have yet to write. This provides more of a challenge, and it allows you to submit to more conferences since you are not limited by the topic. I submit abstracts to conferences for which I have an interest which allows me to practice my researching and writing skills in a variety of areas I might not otherwise investigate. The difficulty comes when you receive an acceptance, you have yet to write the paper, and they have a deadline for you to submit a completed paper. Unless you have the time and the focus to quickly turn over a paper from scratch, try to avoid those conferences who have a deadline. Many of them will post that information along with the conference listing. As an undergraduate, and even now as a recent graduate of December, I am intimidated at times submitting abstracts to a professor's personal email. But, the more one practices professional communication, the easier it becomes. I was terribly nervous for my first conference, and whenever I would email my mentor, I tried to remain professional, yet personable. As a result, when I arrived at the conference, the first thing he said to me was that he had never thought I was an undergraduate through my email communications. He imagined I was at least a PhD student, so when he found out I was an undergraduate, he was highly impressed by my professionalism. That was the greatest compliment I could have received. Take a few extra moments to edit and think about emails when you submit your abstracts, especially if you're looking to make a fine impression. Although there is a lot more that can be said, some final pieces of advice would be to start sooner rather than later. If you can include in your graduate school applications that you have already presented at a conference, it will show you have drive. Also, the best case scenario would be to be able to attend a conference at a university in which you have interest. That would be where the real networking would come into place. However, universities from across the nation generally are represented at any one conference, and though the showing for southern universities would be much lower at a conference held out west, there might still be opportunities for professional development. I now have contact information for professors in London and Hungary. Do I plan to go to school there? No, but developing professional relationships is never a bad thing. And, you never know, you may find use for that contact someday (or develop a good friendship!). Long story short, submit quality work, and submit it often. If I can be accepted to a conference, so can you.

I know what you mean. I stayed an extra year and a half for undergrad to finish out three degrees, and there are some people who are getting their acceptance/rejection letters before I've heard any word. I'm really excited for them, but at the same time I'm complaining, "But, you're younger than I am! That's no fair!" I thought finishing applications was tough enough. I'm not cut out for this waiting game. Don't give up hope, though! What I have been told is to try and keep your mind focused on something else, like getting prepared for graduate school by studying or working on brainstorming ideas for a potential thesis focus. That way, you're still remaining positive about your chances and getting prepared without obsessing over your email/facebook. Although, I must admit, each time I get a new email I have a mini heart attack. It's always a stupid advertisement or something. *grr*

Still waiting on word from graduate schools, and from what I have heard, what you do with the summer before your grad. program partially depends on your program focus as well as personal inclinations. Personally, my fiance and I hope to hear from graduate schools soon, start researching the areas for living arrangements for those schools which we are accepted, and start pouring into recommended reading lists for our subject areas. I think that is particularly helpful for those in the humanities (English, philosophy, history, etc.), especially since we will have cumulative exams which will test our knowledge of the classics, even those outside of our focus area. My roommate who is attending Kansas State for mathematics spent the summer at a graduate school boot camp in Florida for statistics. She said that was probably the best decision she made, though she hated it at the time. Many of my science-oriented friends look out for internships for the summer before grad. school. I also have been submitting abstracts and papers to conferences, so attending some of those conferences will be on the schedule for the summer as well. I would highly recommend conference submission or attendance as it is a great professional development, resume-building, and networking experience. There are conferences for all areas of study, though I mostly check call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu and philevents.org for listings. Other than that, the big deal will be finding a place to live, moving in, and becoming acclimated to the campus. My fiance and I are hoping to drive out to the schools that accepted us as soon as we hear word to help us with the decision-making. We're getting married in August, so I guess that might be something else one could do before grad. school!

I still haven't heard a word: rejection, acceptance, or otherwise. I'm starting to freak out a little bit, especially since my roommate and my fiance have both started hearing from schools.