snagsby52

I will be there for an English Ph.D.!!! Yeah! So how are you guys going about looking for houses/apartments in Bloomington? Congratulations to everybody! I will see you there!

I'm sorry, but like I said earlier, there are a lot of people who don't get in their first year who have to apply again next year--people with PERFECT records. It is a weird process. Hannah's advice is great advice as far as I'm concerned. In every field, it is about having more work experience/awards/conferences/events on your CV, and the lab experience sounds like a really good idea. This professor doesn't seem to have acted completely honorably, but hopefully you do get in for the spring term. If you don't, you might be better off (a blessing in disguise...) and you will be accepted a school next year that doesn't have a crazy admissions process and accepts you right away. In any case, good luck with everything!

Did it turn out okay?

First off, why did you only apply to one school? There must be a reason. It seems to me that people who only apply to 1-3 programs near their area are doing so because they don't want to move and be tempted by attractive offers elsewhere. By doing that, you have decided what the most important factor is in your decision--staying where you are. If you are okay with this decision, then I would accept the school and the lack of funding. However I feel I should say what the problems with this decision are: if you are interested in getting a job as a professor, then you will need to move whereever you get a job, and no graduate school--not even an Ivy--can guarantee you a job nearby. If the program is near the bottom or unranked, it will be difficult to get a job--at least right away. I personally believe that going to grad school and working without funding is almost always not worth it, because it is really hard to get your own school work done if you are also working/teaching a lot, and no one knows whether there is light at the end of the tunnel in the shape of a job. I think the most important issues to consider are: a) the ranking IN YOUR FIELD (ex. if you were in English: Victorian, Medieval, 18th century) and the professors who you could work with, the job placement, c) if they are not offering funding the first year, are they guaranteeing funding for other years, such as a TA position with tuition plus a stipend. I hope it turns out okay, but if you decide to apply next year, I would consider applying to more schools. :roll:

I am in agreement with the "Where's the enthusiasm?" title of this thread. Where is it? I think I have the post-decision blues, and I keep on second-guessing my choice instead of being really happy about going to this amazing program in my field. I guess I am just exhausted, but I keep on wondering what it would have been like if I had chosen my other top school (UNC-CH)...and since everyone wanted me to go there, no one (except one friend) is excited that I am going to Indiana. Perhaps it is making me less enthusiastic...

Yeah!!! That is so great. Good Luck!!!

and no--I don't think they are allowed to take away funding after they have given it to you, and especially not after April 15th when you can no longer choose another school (unless you received something in writing that said this). However, I'm pretty sure there is very little that you can do about it.

That is so out of line. The school should be ashamed of doing that to a student. I'm sorry--I hope it turns out okay.

I'm headed to Indiana-Bloomington for the English Ph.D. program! Declined offers from: UNC-Chapel Hill, Wisconsin-Madison, Illinois-UC, UC-Davis, Boston College, and MAPH at UChicago ...not accepted at several other schools Good luck to everyone on this thread!

I just turned down UC Davis yesterday, and I turned down UNC-Chapel Hill less than an hour ago (which was REALLY hard and sad), but it made me happy to see that someone posted right afterwards to say that they were accepted. Good luck!!! It is a fabulous place, and the people are awesome. It was a sacrifice to give it up--I just needed to because of my field.

I hadn't heard anything from one school, and I knew that all the rejections had gone out. When I called, they told me that I was on the waitlist. I was told to email a professor to see where I was on the waitlist and she told me that I was the first alternate in my field. They didn't tell me because they knew that I would eventually be accepted and they wanted to wait in order to tell me good news. This may be the case in your situation (or it may not be.) I would try to get ahold of someone and ask about the situation again. If you have been accepted to another school, you can say something like: I may have to accept this other school, but I am really hoping that I will eventually be accepted to your school (if this is true). good luck with everything!

Don't listen to people who insist on being negative. There is still hope. If you don't get in this year, you will eventually get into a good program if you want it enough--and it seems like you do. I hope it all works out!

Sashababie: Have you made a decision yet?

I think you may just need to wait at this point for the final result. If you want to go there, I would take the spring admission offer if they decide to offer it to you. I would write back and say that you believe it is the right program for you, and that you would be wiling to wait until the spring if they felt that it was necessary. Be incredibly nice (not pushy at all) and articulate. No one thinks these matters--such as making sure to be ridiculously thankful and writing well in these emails--is important, but it REALLY is--on both a conscious and subconscious level for the reader. Hopefully some people decline the offer and you get in this fall. However, you need to think about how much you want to go there, because you can also build up your resume and apply again next year. I'm rooting for you!

So...does NYU actually notify EVERY applicant? Do they select groups that they want to notify, and then throw some other piles out the window in the hope that some of the rejections might be carried by the wind in the direction of NYU applicants? I am already accepting elsewhere, but it would be nice for a note saying "SORRY! you have not been accepted to our program. Goodbye forever." Full stop. Now was that so hard?