Dr. Old Bill

I'm about one rejection away from diving into a pint of Ben & Jerry's. Then again, I'm also one acceptance away from diving into a pint of Ben & Jerry's, so it all balances out.

It is fascinating. In that distant day when I finally get to sit on an admissions committee, I won't be at all surprised if there are a few surefire cream-of-the-crop candidates, while the rest are decided by an epic canasta tournament.

Thanks! Yes, my day has been getting better and better the more I think about it. Even though I wasn't expecting to go down the M.A. path (and who knows? I still have a few Ph.D. tongs in the fire), knowing that I've been accepted to a good program does indeed lift a huge burden off my shoulders and gives me a lot of security. The funding situation at UMD is surprisingly good, even for M.A.s...so it's a very strong option for me. Something I completely forgot to mention earlier (and indeed, forgot about in general until I just re-read my SOP) is that I did, in fact, have contact with a POI at UMD last summer. I have no idea if that worked in my favor here or not, but it's probably worth mentioning. I'm starting to think that contact with POIs has more weight than we might think. As for UMich, I know that poetics isn't your focus, but if you decide to go there, you may want to make a point of taking a course with Yopie Prins. She's quite fantastic.

OOOH! Wonderful news!!

Woo hoo!!! Awesome news!!

Thanks again, folks. This process gets to everyone, of course, but I think you know just how dejected I was getting over the lack of responses. As the day has progressed, I've grown more and more pleased and relieved with this offer. It's definitely a viable option, and it wouldn't have been had it come from any of the other schools I applied to. ETA: Incidentally, UMD was the first application I completed...on August 15th. The reason I mention this is that it was probably the "roughest" of my SOPs. I don't mean it was rough, but that over the course of a few months, I polished it a bit more for every application. So it's particularly interesting to me to see that I got accepted with my "earliest final version" SOP, and have been rejected with a bunch of the "later final versions." I'm not reading anything into that, but it is a bit curious.

Aww shucks! Thanks so much for this! I've probably had a rather glum "net presence" here over the past week or so, so I'm glad I haven't alienated everyone. Also...the Canucks play Boston tonight. Just throwing that out there. *casts a sidelong glance at In Hac Spe Vivo*

Thanks Tybalt...that's great to hear.

Thanks, bgt! I'm feeling happier about it by the minute. And congrats, Eachevery!

Thanks folks. It's making me feel better about things overall. Yes, it sounds like there are some significant opportunities for at least partial funding, if not full funding. Given that my plan B was to enroll in an unfunded in-state M.A. program of lesser stature (but lower tuition), this is probably a step up in that regard. So it's definitely a consideration! The only reason I don't sound more enthusiastic is because of the hope for Ph.D. admittance. When the chips are down, however, if I don't wind up getting in anywhere for a Ph.D., I'll probably look upon this opportunity as a veritable life preserver.

Well, I suppose this is in the realm of "good news." While I didn't get accepted to UMD's Ph.D. program, I was offered acceptance to their M.A. program. So that's something, I suppose. It might be unfunded, or might be partially funded. The one reason why it's a true consideration for me is because it's fairly local -- my wife works in D.C., and we were going to be moving this year no matter what. Moving from the Virginia side of D.C. to the Maryland side is not a big deal, overall. Had it been an M.A. offer from any of my other programs, it would be small consolation...but this might actually be worth considering. If nothing else, I feel a little better about things overall. I was starting to fear that there was something profoundly undesirable about my applications in general...so to make the top 15% or so of applicants to UMD is at least partially relieving... (Oh, and there's also the intangible Proflorax factor!) Hmm...

Yo tambien.

Looks like I'm running at least 0 for 8 now, so...fingers crossed!

Amazing news, guys! So happy for both of you. I guess this ends my faint hope for getting into my top choice, but the acceptance couldn't have happened to a more wonderful person!

I'm very curious, in a macabre, masochistic sort of way, what the GC record is for the most applications made without an acceptance or waitlist...

No shame in that! I've read a lot of Shakespeare, but haven't read Shrew either.

Well, I contacted the POI at Rice a few minutes ago, and he got back to me right away. He's sorry I didn't get in, of course (he wasn't on the adcom and didn't know anything about their results etc.), but gave me a few pointers for if I apply next year. He suspects that being somewhat untethered to a specific time period might have worked against me, and suggests that I might make my research goals even more specific. I had thought that my research goals were specific, but reading what some other folks here are doing, I see that I still might be too broad in my stated interests. So there's that. I will also make a point of contacting more POIs next time (if I wind up getting shut out, of course). It seems to have helped Hypervodka and others, and I get a feeling that it's just a good idea in general. It sucks that this is a very EXPENSIVE learning curve, but I think a lot can be learned from rejection regardless.

Thanks. It's okay! It's clear that the universe is telling me that the best job for me is to be a cheerleader at Grad Cafe! The universe wants me to get shut out now so that I can do my usual rah-rah for the 2016 cohort.

Officially rejected at Rice. I had a POI personally flagging my application to the adcom, but to no avail it seems. Disappointed, but not shattered. Overall, Rice wasn't a perfect fit -- that POI in particular was a perfect fit, but institutionally it was near the bottom of my list. And hey, I don't have to move to Texas! (Bright sides, right?)

Way to go!

No, definitely not. But...um...I hate to break it to you, but you'll probably think I'm WORSE than a Caps fan. I'm a... *gulp* Canucks fan. Hey, I can't help it...I'm a Vancouverite! I will say, however, that in the last few years I'm much more of a fan of hockey in general than I am of specific teams. When I have some downtime I'll often tune into any random game for a period or three. I have Center Ice and also subscribe to HockeyStreams to catch any possible game. I also tend to make a big event out of trade deadline day, and when I worked, I used to actually take the day off... ---------- Back to rejections! I wonder if I should make an Implied Rejection thread...

ME TOO! I've seriously considered it a few times now, since we've had a few music discussions within other threads... I haven't bought anything new in the 2015 calendar year as yet, but am looking very forward to Torche's new album Restarter which comes out in a couple of weeks. Torche has a very unique sound -- dense and heavy, with a lot of rumbling low notes...but there's something unmistakably positive and optimistic about their music. It's considered "metal," but is generally more like QOTSA in terms of heaviness. Some of the albums from last year I'm still playing pretty regularly include TV on the Radio's Seeds, which I would probably call the 2014 Album of the Year, for me. A close second would be The New Pornographers' Brill Bruisers. I've been a big fan of them for about ten years, when my best friend at the time worked on a couple of their albums. I also met one of the members while I was doing a recording session in a small studio, but it was before they were big, and I didn't know who he was! I'm actually seeing them in concert down in Richmond on Saturday. Great Valentine's Day outing for my wife and I. I've also been listening the heck out of Wolf Alice. They're a UK band and don't have any albums out yet, but have a couple of EPs and a couple of singles. I heard the first eight bars or so of "Moaning Lisa Smile" as incidental music on an HBO series last year, and had to find out what it was...and wasn't disappointed! I'll be seeing them later this month as well during their first brief American tour. I think they might become a fairly big band, and I'm rather tickled that I've caught on to them "before they were famous."

Nice. I had the opportunity to study it in depth last year. It was an eye-opener, to say the least.

Sorry for the UVA rejections, folks. I very nearly applied, since it's a great school and technically the closest to where I currently live...but I didn't get a good sense of "fit" for me personally. So...my two retroactive rejections are Northwestern and UW-Madison, but I'm pretty sure Brown, U. of Chicago, UC-Irvine, and Vanderbilt will convert to official rejections soon enough. It's tough going 0-for-6 at this stage, though I'm still holding out hope. As an avid hockey fan, I always like a good comeback...