Katzenmusik

I'm looking forward to the feeling of possibility that goes along with being a full-time student. Your ID card gives you access to infinite library stacks and databases. For the most part your days are filled with reading and writing and absorbing new ideas. Possibly you have access to an aesthetically pleasing campus with every sort of convenience at your doorstep. You're part of an academic community, with events and workshops and speakers who come from all over the world to share their research. Of course, there are downsides to prolonged studenthood -- in the words of Joan Didion, "it is distinctly possible to stay too long at the fair" -- but in general graduate school is preferable to any other occupation I've experienced. With the transition from MA to PhD, I'm mostly looking forward to being around scholars and fellow grad students who will challenge my thinking and push me to do better work. (My MA program was excellent, but there I was a short-timer. The PhD will be a more intense experience for sure.) By the end of the program, I will have produced something that is more or less a book. And that is pretty exciting to think about.

Aside from the other considerations already mentioned, telling them they're your top choice means they don't have to work as hard to recruit you, and that means you could be offered a less-competitive funding package.

Yeah, that's what I was trying to say -- Goingcrazy was wondering if not contacting POI's had killed his/her chances, and the answer is "no."

Congrats, Benedictite! You're on a roll!

This is what I had heard. I didn't contact professors because I didn't want to risk annoying anyone. Figured my best foot forward would be my completed application. It would have been nice to get some inside info about whether or not certain profs were accepting students. Possibly a few of my applications were dead on arrival without my having any idea. But I generally applied to programs with multiple scholars whose interests intersected with mine -- I was looking for a good fit with the overall academic community, not just one individual. We'll see how the no-contact strategy pans out, but I tend to doubt that acceptance turns on an email or two sent over the summer.

Congrats, Benedictite!! Glad it was good news for you too. :-)

Thank you!!! I feel a great sense of relief knowing that I'm in at a strong program. Maybe now I can stop being so neurotic. (Well, probably not, but now I can be neurotic about new things!) AHHHHHHHHHHH happy day! Best of luck to those still waiting to hear back. It's early days yet!! (and regal renegade: I'm trying to remain somewhat anonymous on here, but I'll PM you!)

AHHHHHHHHHHH I'VE BEEN ADMITTED TO A PROGRAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wowowowowowow AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

LeatherElbows: Haha! If mine was a little long, here's the animated GIF version:

Czesc: Classic! I hope we both get to slouch somewhere next fall. Hanbran, your selection is jolly but lost me with the first line: "Here are the essentials of a happy life, my dear friend: money not worked for, but inherited..."

My emotional landscape is best described through the poetry of T.S. Eliot: Between the idea And the reality Between the motion And the act Falls the Shadow For Thine is the Kingdom Between the conception And the creation Between the emotion And the response Falls the Shadow Life is very long Between the desire And the spasm Between the potency And the existence Between the essence And the descent Falls the Shadow For Thine is the Kingdom For Thine is Life is For Thine is the This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper. [okay, the world isn't OVER yet. but between the applications and the response, lies the shadow...]

There's "life" beyond clicking refresh? Oh yeah...

I now have this mental image of Ivy League barbarian tribes carrying out scenes of pure carnage at the Grad Cafe. We're all just hanging out, drinking our double shots and lattes, when they storm the place. First came the fearsome Princetons. And then the Yale... Only a few survive, and these are taken as captives.

Czesc: This thread on the Chronicle fora might be of interest to you -- I'm linking directly to one comment that references the Grad Cafe (yes, they talk about us!): http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,60689.msg1288540.html#msg1288540 It seems best to wait a while, give admitted students some time to respond, then email to ask politely about the status of your application. Perhaps mention anything new that might have appeared on your CV since you applied, but avoid strong-arm tactics and questions about how you could improve your application enough to be admitted (not that you seem like the kind of person who would pester them).

Yeah, I can't help thinking these programs are better off without a bunch of bad sports.

Heulwen: They're probably making calls to a bunch of people, then they'll get together and confirm the group of admitted students. But it sounds to me like you said the right thing -- like they're trying to make offers to people who have a real desire to attend.

HistoryPhD, have you hung out around the Chronicle of Higher Ed fora at all? Adjuncts post over there, and they all seem completely miserable. They're fighting tooth and nail to escape long-term adjunct-hood. http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/board,52.0.html You know yourself and your goals and desires best, and I'm sure this comes across as unwanted advice. But adjuncts tend to be underpaid and exploited, with no job security and no benefits. It might be okay for a couple of years, but then what happens if you get sick or your car breaks down, and in the meantime you're trying to pay off debt from a PhD program? It doesn't bode well at all.

Caroline 5, I see you're new, so you may not yet be aware of the Results Survey: http://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php May you find the answers that you seek.

Haha! I remember being really surprised when I ordered "Canadian bacon" for the first time and received a piece of ham. It was a shocking disappointment. In other news, no news today! My mind unravels; my body is paralyzed. I can neither sleep nor work. Food has no taste.

Another day of Acceptance Zero. I sound my barbaric yawp over the grad schools of the world.

HistoryGrad -- yes, it seems to me that you should either go with Miami or do another round of applications. Not only would you probably have to pay a lot for the UK schools, but if you intend to work in the US later, you might find that they are not as well positioned to connect you with jobs. I have an acquaintance who did her PhD in the UK and found that when she returned to the US, she had to rebuild an entire professional network from scratch. Her program didn't have any reputation here (not good or bad, just none), and her advisors weren't able to help at all with the job search because no one in the US knew them. She's been hopping around different short-term positions for the past while. Of course, none of us are guaranteed jobs no matter where we go, but it seems to me that leaving the US is an extra gamble. If you end up with a tuition waiver and TAship at Edinburgh, it would definitely be worth considering, but once in the program, you would need to make a greater effort to connect to the US through conferences, publications, and so on. Also, it would be good to figure out how your advisor's past students have fared on the job market and if any of them have gone on to work in the US. Good luck!

HistoryPhD: This is my opinion. $150k - $400K in loans is way too much, and if I were you I would try to avoid taking on any significant tuition debt from a PhD program, but it also seems like you aren't all that excited about Miami. Having been accepted to Oxbridge, do you think you would you be a contender for top-flight programs in the US? (Just not sure how to weigh unfunded offers for international students in the UK.) Perhaps you could try again next year with top US programs and figure you'll aim to do a Fulbright, spend summers in the UK, or figure out some other study-abroad program for a good chunk of it. Edited to ask: Would Miami possibly let you defer your admission?

When I was doing this a few years back for history MA's, I pulled up a long list of graduate programs (I think I used the US News and World Report rankings list -- a strangely hateful yet useful thing) then went to every single department's web site to check if they offered the remotest possibility of funding for masters students, whether it be a shot at the one MA assistantship offered or a chunk off tuition. I noticed that elite universities almost never fund MA's. They're banking on the idea that you'll shell out a lot to have their name on your CV. But the truth is that you don't necessarily want to attend a name-brand kind of place if they're only using you as a cash cow and are lowering their standards to let you in. You need professors who will help you, who are invested in your success enough to offer you financial support. These will likely be found in reputable but less prestigious sorts of places. It's a really good idea to make a list of funded MA programs. Perhaps I should update my history list and post it -- it could save some future applicants a lot of time and money.

I told myself again and again not to get my hopes up about any of the programs where I applied. They're all highly selective, and the chances of getting in to any of them are low. But then I started PICTURING myself at one of my top choices. Looking up neighborhoods where I might live. Figuring out how much it would cost to rent a place. Reading the "city guide" forum to get a handle on local grocery stores and entertainment. And this is the worst -- I even chose a funny YouTube video to post to Facebook when accepted. My spirits are now ready to be crushed.

I know what you mean! There's a world of difference between "I've been waitlisted at Princeton" and "I've been rejected everywhere so far." I feel that way about my one interview. I'm not in yet, but hey -- interview!