Dr. Old Bill

Yeah, I don't think there's any one thing that makes or breaks an application. I don't think there's any five things. It's such a hard thing to figure out, really. For my own part, I'll be getting my B.A. in May from a very prestigious college, wherein I have a very high GPA, and some great LOR writers...all at said high prestige institution. It hasn't helped me, really (assuming that "helping" means a Ph.D. acceptance). Once the application season winds down, I'm sure those of us Ph.D. shut-outs will convene to figure out what to do next. I know Pol4is just put up a thread yesterday in that vein, and more will surely follow. I don't anticipate any groundbreaking or enlightening points to come up, however. Until graduate admissions become a transparent process, all we'll be able to do is tweak our apps and get as much feedback from as many sources as possible, and perhaps contact as many POIs as we can to establish mutual interest and "fit." beyond that, I'm trusting in Hannalore's alchemy.

Well put, Morristr! Have another coffee. In fact, I think I'm finally going to go and brush the snow off my car so that I can head out and grab an Americano. Maybe when I return, I will have as interesting and insightful things to say.

If you're really in a bind, just dress like your area of study.

I had not one, but TWO pints of ice cream this past weekend. I've been eating healthily since last summer, but I took the weekend off...and I feel NO guilt for it whatsoever. Sorry for the rejection to Johns Hopkins though. The only reason I didn't apply there was because of the smallness of the program. One of my LOR writers went there too, but even so, I figured that it would be too hard of a nut to crack (and yes, I recognize the absurdity of that statement given all the other "nuts" I thought I could crack...)

Gah. That's a tough call, Pol4is. You and I are essentially in the exact same boat in a lot of ways, right down to about the same amount of UG debt (in fact, I might have you "beat" by 10k or so, but I've been too chicken to actually look at it for awhile... ). In any event, I think the first thing to do is find out about any possible funding options they may have. From what I gather, UMD is relatively unique about the number of tuition-reducing TAships and GAships they make available, but it's worth asking the DGS at UVA -- as well as other grad students there -- whether or not it is possible to get a gig that offsets some of the tuition cost. Another possibility is to check out the M.A. deadlines for any of your local universities. An unfunded M.A. is often a lot more palatable when it's in-state...and you do come out of it with an M.A. which (in theory) makes you more employable, even if you don't wind up continuing down the Ph.D. route. That's one of the main reasons why I opted to tentatively accept the UMD offer -- even if I'm destined for a lifetime of Ph.D. program shutouts, most of what I've read suggests that an M.A. will make you far more appealing on the job market in general. While you will no doubt take another kick or two at the Ph.D. can, there's some solace in knowing that you'll have a professional degree if those plans fall through... The real question is how much more cache an M.A. from UVA has over an M.A. from University of South-Central South Carolina (I'm hoping I just made that name up) when it comes to Ph.D. applications. I assume it will have some, but $70k worth? Hmm... It's a tough decision that only you can make. My gut instinct, however, is that while getting an M.A. will probably make you a better candidate, spending that much money on a higher quality M.A. is still not going to make you a shoo-in, and could ultimately leave you in the lurch with a fancy UVA Master's in one hand, and a bill for $140000 in the other. ETA: It's also worth pointing out that where you get your M.A. matters far, far less to an employer than it does in academia. I'm just putting that out there for if you ultimately don't get the "golden ticket" of the Ph.D. path and have to find a different job...

You most likely are! That's perhaps the single worst thing about this process: a large number of worthy people are invariably turned away. It's so hard to not take it personally, especially when what is being rejected comes down to how you did on standardized tests and in college, how you put forth your interests and abilities in your SOP, and the topic you chose to write about (and how well you wrote it) in your WS. But the reality is that' it's not personal. Not in the least. It's always worth remembering that there are large numbers of people who are not better than you in any categorical way (other than in a basic quantitative sense, perhaps), and are in the exact same boat. Even if you cut away 1/2 to 2/3 of the candidates for various reasons, the percentages of acceptances generally remain low. There are generally a few "surefire" candidates with impeccable scores, GPA, publications, conferences, LORs, a can't-miss WS or SOP etc., leaving maybe five or six slots open for potentially hundreds of otherwise qualified applicants. At that point, it becomes like a lottery. Statistics aside, if each program is picking six balls out of 100, and you've applied to a dozen or so programs, you're still one in 100 at each one. Perhaps there are elements of your application that can be improved, and if you do get shut out, you'll be wise to consult as many people as possible about your various application elements (hint: start with GC, but go way beyond). But in general, there's probably at least some solace in knowing that most of it is not about you, and it's no more personal than it is for ball 37, 39, 26 etc. Keep your chin up!

I'd say you should wear fancy pants. ... (Sorry, low-hanging fruit )

Yeah, I just read that too! Now if only someone would revoke one of my rejections...

Yeah, I've got five programs left (including PSU), and I have very little confidence about any of them at this point...but I'd rather like the whole thing to be done so that I can mentally move on and start devoting myself 100% to UMD. If one of these programs happens to offer me acceptance, that's great of course -- a dream come true! But since that's likely not the case, I'd rather have the finality.

Ah, congratulations Zanmato! You're going to love Santa Barbara. Such a gorgeous city!

I suspect that will be the case with Harvard and some other Northeastern schools as well.

Congrats to the folks I individually missed! A good day on GC. As you can probably tell by my ridiculous post count, I just went with it. I didn't avoid checking in several times a day. While it probably contributed to more emotional ups and downs, it also facilitated a few connections that have become legitimate friendships outside the purview of Grad Cafe. The mass commiseration has also helped me to deal with the disproportionate number of rejections I received this season (and just as importantly, helped me to recognize what a boon the one M.A. acceptance I received actually is). So all in all, I'm glad I've stuck around here on a day-to-day basis. It also helps that I live in a fairly distasteful and culturally isolated area right now (confederate flags aplenty...), with a long commute to my current campus, meaning I've lacked a social outlet for the past year and a half. This place has filled that gap a bit as well.

Very much enjoyed As I Lay Dying. I used to say that I didn't care for Modernism (I still can't do Joyce, sorry), but I've read enough of it in the past year or so to realize that that's just not the case. Some brands of Modernism I still find obnoxious, but I find I'm opening up to some of the different approaches certain writers starting using in the '20s and '30s. Next on my docket will be The Two Noble Kinsmen and Brucker's Giovanni and Lusanna, followed by Jean Toomer's Cane.

UMD: "8 or 9" acceptances to the Ph.D. program from "some 200" applicants. UW-Madison: "Less than 12%" from "several hundred applications." The others I have received are even more amorphous in terms of numbers. Great idea though, Hypervodka!

Woot woot! Keep 'em coming!

Out of upvotes, but this is hugely encouraging. Thanks.

Congrats Morristr! And yeah, Hannalore? See if you can work your magic on those Stanford, Harvard and Rutgers adcoms for me, if you wouldn't mind.

Ahhhhhh!!! Congratulations, Hannalore! I know how worried you were about being shut out. Way to go!!

Yes, I'm trying to be as gung-ho as possible about touching base with the DGS and sorting out deadlines etc. It's important to not let my disappointment over all my rampant Ph.D. rejections affect the excellent options that this M.A. opportunity provides...so I'm effectively "powering through" the rejection dejection, making my election for the UMD selection one of affection, since I have a direction (and thanks to Proflorax, a connection)!

Officially received the Brown rejection. Always more of a relief to turn an "implied" into an "official" rejection. *exhale*

It's alright! I think all of us mass-rejectees have had our moments here. I know I sure have...

I'm obviously a prime example of the UMD Ph.D. -> M.A. offer. I'm actually grateful for it, but only because a.) it's local and is a feasible option (i.e., no long-distance relocation for my wife and/or I), b.) there are funding opportunities, and c.) it means that I'm not getting "shut out." UMD's offer is looking more and more like a godsend as the days go on, and I've started to treat it more of an alternate plan A than a plan B. Having said that, I recognize that this would not be the case if it were any other school on my list. Generally speaking, I think an M.A. offer is something of a consolation prize...but in my situation at least, it's some very appealing consolation.

*hug* For what it's worth (probably not much), when I first got into the cycle of sending my poetry out close to a decade ago, I received a lot of rejections. I had a large body of work built up, so when I decided to finally do it, I went at it pretty hard. Most poetry publications wanted you to send 3-5 poems in a submission...so I had a master list of which poems were going where, and every weekend I would pick a few out, write a cover letter, and send those poems off to a publisher...maybe six or seven different submissions per week (this was before online / email submissions became the norm). After a couple of months, I started getting responses. I had the fortune / misfortune of having a mail slot in my apartment door at the time, so I would get home from work, open the door, see my own handwriting on an envelope (SASEs!), and have the moment of hope while I tore it open...only to see a form rejection slip tucked inside...usually with the poems I sent included (sans comments), as if they didn't even want their garbage cans to be tainted with my verses. This became a daily and weekly ritual. I'd open the door, get a rejection, then effectively "recycle" those poems into another submission on the weekend. I started filling up a shoebox with my rejections. That shoebox became a dresser drawer. Then finally, I got an acceptance! The same poem that had been sent to a few other places, but finally someone wanted to publish it! Then eventually I received more. And more. And more and more and more. I was firmly in a cycle by this point, and it was truly anyone's guess as to which publications would take my poems and which would reject them. Sometimes I sent out what I considered "mediocre" work that happened to fit a theme, and sometimes I sent out what I considered to be "excellent" work to publications I figured would be shoo-ins to print it. There was just no predicting what would strike an editor's fancy and what wouldn't. The moral of the story is this: I have a box full of at least 200 SASEs containing rejected poems and rejection slips. Beside it, I have another box full of acceptances, contributor copies, and even a few receipts for checks, paying me for my work, if you can believe that. It just becomes a cycle, and at some point you start to take rejection in stride...because you realize it's just business, and that you really have no clue what's going to pique an editor's interest. Some of what I consider to be my "best" poems remain unpublished, while a fairly large number of what I consider to be "inferior" work exists in journals with print runs exceeding 1000 (and in at least one case, exceeding 20,000). I recognize that it is different for academic publications, just as it is different for grad school applications...but fundamentally it is the same: an impersonal process that doesn't address the core of who you are. You're going to have some great work published in the coming years. Before that, you're going to have some great work rejected. Keep those rejections and cherish them -- not in any malicious way, but as a reminder that good work can be turned down by good people, and it doesn't reflect on you OR them.

It's also worth repeating ad nauseum that a rejection is always impersonal. It's going to feel personal, but more often than not your application is quantified -- all the elements either work with what a department is looking for, or they don't. A large number of rejections probably reveals a deeper flaw in your application, but even then that flaw is not about you so much as it is about how you framed your strengths vis-a-vis (again) what adcoms are looking for. Sometimes there are irreparable issues, to be sure, but usually it's a combination of bad luck, bad timing, and a slightly misguided approach to application materials. In other words, nothing innate. I'm trying to treat all of these rejections as expensive lessons.

Well that's ONE class of problems us mass-rejectees don't have to face.