Katla

Sorry for jumping in, but I just have to say that I LOVE the sound of this research topic!

Welcome lunalit, and huge congratulations to you and all the other Northwestern admits!!!

I have no holiday excuse for why my room still looks like it's been bombed... but at least I've started to eat regular food again -most of the time. I also went to the Harry Potter Studio Tour today and I think it helped me to only think about admission worries every ten minutes -and I also didn't check my email once while I was there. I'd like to think that I have totally mastered my frazzled nerves but judging from the amount of times my email and gc have been checked since I left the exhibition I think I still have a long way to go before I can take any of this in stride.

Congratulations whoever you are! Their programme sounds absolutely amazing and obviously I'm not even remotely jealous :ph34r: I also totally did not expect them to have their acceptances ready, but hey ho, it wasn't like I wasn't feeling nervous already.

Congratulations Childermass!!! What brilliant news. WT I am so on board with your frustration about the lack of transparency of this whole aplication business. However grim it sounds I'm sure money is part of the issue, which is why I think it's worse if they don't actually read your applic... What exactly does the money go to if not the administrative hassle of our applics.

Definitely don't lose hope yet WT!!! It ain't over til it's over! And you're a rocking applicant, some uni will be wise enough to see it! But if you are having bleak thoughts can I just remind you about great literary figures like Mr Thornton and Mr Darcy who had to go through a first round rejection but still went on to win the prize? Basically, in the very unlikely event that you get all rejections you're still going be brilliant! But definitely don't lose hope yet, you still have many more applications out there waiting to wow some admission board!

What fantastic news!!!! Congratulations!

Congrats hypervodka!!!!

Do you think we're on the brink of hearing back from them? I might die.

I guess the question is, was it down just before admissions decisions were sent out in previous years? That's what I'd like to know...

Ugh, I'm really sorry about that Hannalore, but as snyegurachka said, don't lose hope! Sending positive vibes! Ugh, I can so relate to that. Part of me still thinks the acceptance might have been a fluke. I'm trying to tell myself that at the end of the day, one (funded) acceptance is really all you need.

I love the number of acceptances today! You guys all rock! hreaõemus I'm so so so happy you get to stay at your dream school! Big congrats to all you amazing people! Keep 'em coming!

This is how I feel about all the Californian programmes that i've applied to... (and the rest too, but decisions from the Cal ones seem scarily close and yet frustratingly far)

We'll be right here to catch you if you do. But don't let the little demons of angst mess with your head, I'm out of upvotes, but I agree so much with this, and it's what I've been trying to tell myself during those inevitable bleak moments and three o'clocks.

Yeah, I definitely think applications are the place to lose your humility and sell the heck out of your research, and it's okay to say yours is important and deserves to be funded because it totally does! Good luck!

Congratulations UMass admits!!!

It's not embarrassing at all, but a really useful way to go about it, especially if you feel comfortable/get along well with your professor and know that they know what you want to do Definitely! I think the thing to bear in mind is that even what we consider 'fit' probably varies a lot from applicant to applicant -and potentially the importance of it also varies a lot. Like for me, interested in Lat Am and South Asia, it would not make sense to go to a place that did would not be open to studying two geographically separate regions nor would it make sense to go somewhere where they don't have any kind of faculty in any of these regions. I hadn't considered how big an issue this could be, especially the former, prior to my Masters but while doing that I felt that while I was attending a simply stellar uni with great faculty and resources I wasn't able to really deal with the research questions which interested me, or at least they were considered inferior by my university. I still loved my experience of studying there but it did flag a few points that were important for me to thrive academically.

I think I completely blocked this out. Welcome back nausea!

Big hugs to all who got hit by the Duke rejection bus! Keeping fingers crossed and sending positive vibes galore!

Thanks everybody :wub: Ah no, not a downer but a realist! it's always best to be aware of potential hazards. The DGS said that they'd be able to offer me a three year package that tends to get extended and he mentioned that new faculty was being hired... But there's no saying how something like this will affect things... Also, huge congratulations to Duke WilsonWilson!!!

Thanks I hope more good news will continue to hit the members of this forum! Wehey! This is totally exciting news. Frankly, I know embarrassingly little of the place -I tried to not be distracted by location when I was researching unis, but farmers markets are amazing!

Thanks Let's hope we all get more good news in the next couple of weeks!

Oh, definitely, I don't think the about section works on its own, but in conjunction with the department's faculty and, I think perhaps especially, the research of current graduates I think one can guess whether a place is likely to be interdisciplinary (or something else) or not... and I agree, one should definitely consider checking faculty's publications elsewhere This is so true...

My process was about the same as yours sillyrabbit, including adding one or two potential wildcards. I didn't contact any of the universities prior to applying so I was heavily reliant on the departments' stated goals in their about sections and elsewhere and the research areas of their faculty -I think the theoretical/methodological interest was sometimes more important to me than an exact match literaturewise provided they had someone else working in my literatures. Due to my Comp Lit'ness I also looked at other departments that I saw myself working within and the kind of research centres and other resources which were available... I think something which also weighed heavily with me was the research fields of current graduates when available on the website because it gave me an impression of what kind of research was encouraged and I think also gives you an idea about how your own research will fit within that community.

Thanks And yes, I believe so... The comp lit ball is finally rolling!