Dr. Old Bill

Here you go! Yup, my wife and I are mourning the loss of P&R too. We always watch our weekly shows on Hulu the day after they air...and suddenly, without P&R and Agent Carter (high five for loving it too!) our Wednesday nights are empty! Frankly, it's a good time for TV these days. You couldn't say that five years ago. Game of Thrones, Mad Men, The Leftovers, Modern Family, John Oliver...all excellent. We need to get caught up on Justified, Hannibal, and House of Cards at some point as well. I'm sure there are other shows we watch regularly...I just can't think of any right now. Oh. Duh. Can't forget about the British stuff like Luther, Sherlock, Broadchurch, Whitechapel, The Fall, Black Mirror, and...Doctor Who, of course.

Oh, Birdman was definitely worthy of best picture. I watched Whiplash on the weekend, and it's perhaps the most intense movie I have ever seen. J. K. Simmons and Miles Teller were incredible.

My wife and I just started binge-watching The Americans. We admittedly watch a fair amount of TV, since we live in a bit of a cultural wasteland at the moment.

Yup, me too. Well, you and I both have acceptances on the table, at least -- they may not be exactly what we were looking for, but there's some major solace in being accepted to something, somewhere!

I used to write a little scrap of verse on the front page. Sometimes a couplet, sometimes four lines... Sometimes it had directly to do with the book itself, and sometimes it was just a random line or two that seemed appropriate at the time. The problem, of course, is that I got into this habit when I was around seventeen. And while I have some "juvenilia" that has stood the test of time, a lot of the front-page-writings that I thought were pithy at the time have not aged well at all. In many cases I have torn out the front page entirely, figuring that a missing page is less damning than an awful scrap of pseudo-poetry attributed to my name! Having said all of that, I do fondly remember the inscription I bestowed on the first copy of an Auden book I bought (I had loved Auden for a long while, but for some reason never had a copy of my own): Ah, to own the book of a certain Wystan Hugh Is to find a gem amidst a field of residue, It's been a long time coming, but in my hands I hold A paper book of Auden more than worth its weight in gold!

Thanks, and good luck! Congrats, Morris! Honestly, while I'm not in the same position (in that I had no "decision" to make, per se), I imagine that I would have wanted to focus on one place as soon as I could. Having the peace of mind of a decision made is probably more fulfilling than having the relative luxury of decisions to make.

I have no business being in this thread...BUT my two cents regardless: I would frame it just like you do above. Be honest and forthright about the fact that you have a hard deadline coming up, so anything they can tell you about your chances would be helpful. At this point in the process you really need to look out for your own best interests. It's March, and most schools have made the bulk of their decisions by now, so I don't think there's any real harm in checking in for a reason like this.

Yeah, that's the only place I still have faint hope for. VERY faint, but still a little niggle, given the strength of their poetics program and my poetics orientation...

Just curious if anyone has heard anything official from Vanderbilt yet. I'm guessing not, judging by the lack of results on the results page...but it has been a month now, which is a little ridiculous. I mean, I know it's an implied rejection, but that delay is a bit annoying nonetheless...

Congrats again, Caroline, as well as other recent acceptances I may have missed! (I'm trying to wean myself off of GC for a little while. )

Don't think it hasn't crossed my mind to crash the Yale admitted students weekend and be all like "Hey, it was a true joy to be accepted! Can't wait to get started!" and feign complete obliviousness to the rejection letter.

Just wait till you get the singing telegram...

Yes, my wife and I have already started putting our feelers out about good areas in the vicinity of UMD. We want to live on the Maryland side for obvious reasons, but depending on your funding situation, living in Northern Virginia or D.C. proper is an option as well (though as ProfLorax mentions, it would be isolating). We're eying Upper Marlboro, Greenbelt, and Hyattsville at the moment, though we won't have to start seriously looking for a few months yet. Rent in the D.C. area fluctuates wildly, so it's possible to find a good price on a good place in a good location, just as it's possible to find a bad price on a bad place in a bad location. UMD has a particularly excellent Off-Campus Housing Finder that is highly sortable etc., though since the D.C. metro area is quite large, you can find other sources that may fit your needs depending on whether you drive, metro, bus, bike etc. You'll probably want to avoid Anacostia and Oxon Hill (no offense to anyone who might be living there, of course). A lot of other areas on the northeast side of D.C. are very much YMMV. (I always hear great things about Takoma Park though!)

Aaaah! Wonderful news, Megeen! Glad it all worked out! Feel free to PM me if you have questions about the D.C. area or just want to say "hallo"!

Blah. Sorry Katla. (tight hugs)

Yup. Me too. One of the nice things about "implied" rejections is that they really DO take the sting out of the real thing. Yale was my top choice, yet seeing the email come through evinced no more than a shoulder shrug on my part, since I had already written them off. A little surprised to see a Yale acceptance up there though, unless it was a misclick? Hmm...

Good lord. I've been around since the dawn of the Internet, and never have I seen a meme go crazy like that one has. I'm going to start taking a zen approach to it. There is no dress.

I agree completely with Wonton Soup. I may be biased, since I will be attending UMD in the fall, but it sounds to me like they're essentially "bargaining in good faith." It sounds like they want you, but if you have other offers on the table, they'd like to know so that they can move down their list. I can't guarantee this at all, but like Wonton says, if you respond enthusiastically--and sincerely--I think an offer will be forthcoming. ETA: Another possibility might have to do with the fact that you're an international student. Deadlines etc. might be tighter than they would otherwise.

I wonder if some lovely mod could perhaps give it its own thread and make it a locked sticky? Hmm...

Congrats to you both, my fellow Canucks! I hear nothing but great things about U of T!

Congrats! A great program I regret not applying to. Ramie Targoff is fantastic.

Ah, thanks for mentioning this. I just checked now as well and see I've been definitively "denied."

It's all relative. At the precise moment that the first of the Twin Towers was hit, fifty people across the world were pitching a fit at various Starbucks because the barista got their order wrong. They're completely different issues on completely different levels. I'm really not sure who suggested this or what you're responding to here...

I don't know why, but I'm actually ever-so-slightly miffed that I didn't get that recommendation! I never would have taken it, but the notice that was sent was very terse. Probably more terse than it ought to be, in my opinion. Oh well!

Oh, one of those is mine. Sorry -- forgot to post in the Rejections thread.