Dr. Old Bill

Thanks...and you as well! A GC cohort would be amazing. I'm rather surprised that I didn't do this earlier myself! I mean, committees change from year to year, so it's hard to say how predictive such endeavors can be...but they're oddly comforting (and simultaneously nerve-wracking, if that's possible)... While most of me wants just one -- ANY one -- acceptance...OSU is one of my top choices, and has at least two hand-in-glove POI fits for me. I have a slightly ominous feeling that how OSU goes for me might telegraph how the rest will go. My rational mind tells me that feeling is almost certainly nonsense...and yet...

Not to get all forensic, but January 24th was a Wednesday in 2013, while January 20th (the main acceptance day) was a Wednesday last year...and January 20th was a Tuesday in 2015. So if past results are any guide, then it's probably more likely that we'll hear from OSU mid-week. But a science, this ain't. Reading tea leaves or animal bones might be just as fruitful.

As much as I've had today highlighted as "OSU Day," I'll actually be a bit surprised if they notify today. I hope I'm wrong, of course, but I simply don't think a lot of work is going to get done across the country today. But I guess we'll find out soon...

It's a bloodbath...

Congratulations! Way to go!

Looks like I can assume that Notre Dame is an "implied rejection" since a.) I didn't get an interview call, and b.) another early modernist on this board did (congrats @Sunsy!). I had completely forgotten about the whole "implied rejection" element of application season, but it's all coming back to me now... I'm not considering UMD an implied rejection, since I'm pretty much a known quantity to everyone there, so I'm not sure what an interview would tell them that they don't already know about me. Still, I can't deny that I'm starting to feel a bit of apprehension about this application cycle for the first time. Meep.

I have a feeling that even if I get shut out this time around, I'll continue to stick around GC, akin to the old guy who sits in the corner of a bar, saying vaguely interesting things from time to time, but mainly becoming a part of the atmosphere... Or perhaps more like Old Bill from Westworld, the "host" who would have been impressive in his own time, but now just looks like a primitive, creaky android... (And yes, you can call me WT!)

I guess we know where she stands on the Imogen vs. Innogen debate. (For what it's worth, I'm in the Innogen minority... )

Woot woot! Way to go!

Whoa whoa whoa. Don't assume the worst from UMD just yet. Like I said, this is uncharted territory for UMD, so it's anyone's guess as to how they're doing things. For all we know it was left up to the subcommittees to set up interviews (meaning that some fields might have more applicants to wade through than others etc.). I applied to the Ph.D. program at UMD as well, and I'm not counting myself out yet just because I haven't received an interview offer. It's hard to relax in such a stressful process, but trust me -- pace yourself on the dejection!

Good luck!!

I lived in the Norfolk area for a couple of years, and while it's a bit of a cultural backwater, there are some decent pockets. I lived in Old Town Portsmouth, which largely consists of 19th century houses that have been separated into duplexes etc. Things are very sketchy even a mile away, but Old Town is quiet and quaint, relatively "safe," and only a ten minute drive (or a short, free ferry ride across the river) to downtown Norfolk. Ghent's fine, though pricey. Some of the newer neighborhoods around Suffolk and Chesapeake are cheaper, but of course further away from Norfolk itself. I didn't exactly love my time in Hampton Roads -- there's an odd atmosphere that saturates the area -- but you can find some good locations, and there are some interesting things to do in the area. Being a two-hour drive from the Outer Banks isn't a bad thing either.

According to the results page, it looks like Emory has started sending out interview requests this morning... Fingers crossed for our hopeful Emorites!

Yeah. Perhaps not all schools, but I know that Cambridge did the same thing a couple of years ago when former member (and wonderful human being) Hraedemus was accepted there (and prompted her to start the official 2015 acceptance thread...).

That's fascinating. It obviously works for NYU, since they're a fantastic program, but I can't help but wonder how many more emails admissions committee members there receive, not to mention how many more SOPs with adcom members listed as POIs... It's funny, because from an applicant perspective, transparency seems like the ideal...but realistically speaking, I think the typical hermetic nature of the process is probably better in the long run.

I'm not adding much to @Ramus' excellent post, but I do think that a transhistorical approach isn't the way to go on an SOP. I say this from experience: last time around, my stated intention on my SOP was to study the evolution of sonnet form, grounded in the early modern era, but by no means limited to it. As I recall, I even made some vague claim about anticipating where it might go in the future. Needless to say, I had very little success in that cycle, even though I'm ultimately happy with how things turned out. I realized after the fact that despite the "trendy" appearance of transhistoricism, transatlanticism, interdisciplinary studies etc., adcoms are generally (as Ramus states) stratified by eras, and applicants need to be categorized in such a way. One huge piece of advice I received from a former adcom member is that the goal in an SOP is to get admitted. The research goals stated in your SOP are in no way binding. In other words, while you should never be disingenuous in any of your application materials, you can also be a bit strategic in how you frame the picture of who you are as a scholar. In the OP's case, I imagine you could discuss the "phantomization of culture and the pathos of distance" without breathing a word of transhistorical interests. Mentioning one or two modernist works that are emblematic of your research interests can position you as a modernist, and you can then mention a few modernist POIs who could support those interests. If you get in, you can start working with postmodernists, premodernists, or pretty much anyone else who might help further your research. Or you can shift gears entirely if some other line of research strikes your fancy. Personally, I have every intention of doing the things I mentioned in my SOP this time around, but I was also careful to craft it in a way that makes it both specific to a period and genre, but broad in potential. Frankly it was only the experience of going through the process a couple of years ago, combined with getting some excellent feedback on assorted drafts of my SOP this cycle that made it as strong as I think (hope?) it is.

Just re-record your voicemail message to say "Thank you so much for calling -- I am truly grateful for the acceptance. I know that your program will be an excellent fit for me, and I will be sure to return your call shortly!" That way, anyone who knows you will understand the reason for the message, and any DGS / POI who happens to call will have a delightfully polished response! Foolproof!

That's pretty standard, actually. Some places will have the decision itself in the body of the email (or as an attachment), and some will require that you log in to the website to see if the decision is positive or negative. The thirty or so seconds it takes to do the latter feel like an eternity, let me tell you... I was just looking through my email folder for my decisions from two years ago, and one subject line reads: "Decision Made," which is arguably more imperious than "Admissions Decision," while another subject line is "News from University of _______ English Department" which remarkably ambiguous. News! That could be anything! Like...hey, we got a new mascot! Or...one of our professors got a major research grant! The body of the email is a polite rejection, but still, I suspect a direct subject line might save most of us several seconds of anxiety...

DGS. Without question. Don't discount the value of touching base with current graduate students as well, however -- they can often give you a slightly different perspective than those on the admin side of things.

Yes indeed! I'm not freaking out, per se, but it's certainly exciting knowing that we'll probably know something next Friday...

Ha! Yes, and the older you get, and the more books you accrue, the wider the gap between the read and unread becomes... As I was telling a friend the other day, my rule of thumb is to always have half of the books on my bookshelf read. Since I'm a sucker for buying books (I even keep an inventory...608 books of literary merit and counting...), that takes some serious discipline!

Hurrah! Way to go, ProfessionalNerd! What's your area? I've visited Buffalo a large number of times, and know the city fairly well -- just PM me if you want any tips / general impressions etc.

Whoa. That's a month earlier than usual. Interesting!

So now I'm intensely curious: anyone care to claim the Michigan State acceptance posted today?

Weeell...fair enough. One of the nice things about being Canadian (especially with regard to politics) is that we can legitimately agree to disagree...and very politely. I liked Harper, but I'm not going to deny that I understand why so many did not like him in the least. At the end of the day, I'd take Trudeau, Harper, Mulclair, or even Fortin over the poor excuse for a human being that is taking office in the U.S. next week... Yeah, I poked my nose into SSHRC grants, but it just wasn't viable for this cycle (I can't remember the specific reason -- perhaps a deadline?). Ultimately, however, I think there's a VERY good chance that if I get into a Ph.D. program down here and if I succeed and go on the job market, I will look very seriously at Canadian programs. A few weeks ago, completely on a lark, I looked at the job openings for early modern English professors, and there was an opening at the University of Saskatchewan with a starting salary in the six figures. Not that I'm in it for the money, but still... That's a good one! I haven't read a ton of Rich, but I've truly enjoyed what I have read. I'll be revisiting a few of her works in one of my spring courses ("Diving into the Wreck" and "Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law).