angel_kaye13

@imogenshakes, @Yanaka, @KikiDelivery
Thank you, guys!
I agree with you. I contacted the UMN Graduate Admission Coordinator to ask about my supplymentary materials, and I mentioned the early acceptances. The coordinator said Yes, the others are awaiting program decision for two more weeks. I think this is a normal situation for every program. So let's be patient! 

Just wanting to send some love everyone's way - acceptance, rejection, waitlist, or otherwise.
 

Official no from OSU...
This is definitely recompense for all the mean things I've said about LeBron James. 
 

that's what i'm here for, sir.
 

Congrats on your offer! You can find out about the standard funding package here: https://english.osu.edu/grad/ma-phd/funding. Aman Garcha (our DGS) will be calling you sometime in the next week or so, and one of the things he'll discuss is your funding offer. If you've been nominated for a fellowship, he'll let you know, and you can find more about them here: https://gradsch.osu.edu/funding/fellowships/eligibility-requirements.

Happy reminder that OSU's first round of acceptances generally means consideration for an additional university-wide fellowship. ☺️

I got one I got one!!!
Completely over the moon - an interview isn't an offer obviously but I struck out last year, this is the first good news I've gotten!

Damn Yankees.

This one is searchable too: http://www.phdstipends.com/
and you can add your data as well.

Bumping this thread for this season's applicants.
 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1H7d9iuwSL8ZWE-DmFo2013lpF2cL7hDidWcDt4mic0Q/edit#gid=0

^THIS!!! a million times over!!! I bet you put forth your very best work, and my heart echoes that way: at the end of the day, what more could I have done that I didn't think I did? Rock on, all the way. 

We're all such dorks, in every good way.  Thank goodness we don't obsess the same way, else we'd drive each other, and our people, batty! ;-) 

i was just telling my husband the other day that this is going to be the first week that it would be totally reasonable and realistic to expect to hear something from the schools i've applied to. this is going to be a LONG week--and if i don't hear anything, i'm sure next week will be even longer.
it's ok. we can do this.

Out of upvotes for the last few, but yes...YES! We're definitely all in the same boat in this regard. With so many intangibles involved, it's impossible to be confident with one's application, but it IS possible to be confident in how effectively you prepared your own application (a subtle, yet crucial distinction). It might be the most amazing application in the world, and still not get you one of the rare slots, just because of factors you cannot possibly know. In other words, @angel_kaye13's infectious positivity rings the most true here. Whether any of us or all of us get in or not, most of us can take solace in the strength of our applications.

It's a grueling process -- one that, like @Caien says, most people just don't understand. There's a lot of attrition along the way, and in a way it's just nutty that anyone even goes down this path in the first place. But we do, and that's something.

^THIS!!! a million times over!!! I bet you put forth your very best work, and my heart echoes that way: at the end of the day, what more could I have done that I didn't think I did? Rock on, all the way. 

We're all such dorks, in every good way.  Thank goodness we don't obsess the same way, else we'd drive each other, and our people, batty! ;-) 

You guys are weird/a hoot!  (Meant in the teasing way between friends "weird," not in any actual mean or name-calling way.) I actually like that my husband thinks the sun shines out my rear - he tells me all the time that I'll get in, but we both equally and simultaneously agree that, if I don't? Well, then I get to be with him (we're military) and work and build up my resume. (And, personally, I like to think that maybe there are adventures I can't see yet, because I want my PhD so much...Life has twists and turns, yeah?)

All that to say, whether you like to beat yourself up or preen under praise, this was a hoot. And, to all of us, just...eternal ray of optimism: grad applications don't decide our worth. ^^ <3 Best of luck, to all!

You guys are weird/a hoot!  (Meant in the teasing way between friends "weird," not in any actual mean or name-calling way.) I actually like that my husband thinks the sun shines out my rear - he tells me all the time that I'll get in, but we both equally and simultaneously agree that, if I don't? Well, then I get to be with him (we're military) and work and build up my resume. (And, personally, I like to think that maybe there are adventures I can't see yet, because I want my PhD so much...Life has twists and turns, yeah?)

All that to say, whether you like to beat yourself up or preen under praise, this was a hoot. And, to all of us, just...eternal ray of optimism: grad applications don't decide our worth. ^^ <3 Best of luck, to all!

^THIS!!! a million times over!!! I bet you put forth your very best work, and my heart echoes that way: at the end of the day, what more could I have done that I didn't think I did? Rock on, all the way. 

We're all such dorks, in every good way.  Thank goodness we don't obsess the same way, else we'd drive each other, and our people, batty! ;-) 

You make a good point here. For months I've been in the library after work and at weekends, and put off visiting home or going out with friends to work on application materials. When I explain I'm applying to PhD programs, people always assume its just a matter of filling out a form and maybe firing off an old essay. Even when I explain all the research and preparation required, it really doesn't seem to me that people appreciate the amount of work and dedication involved just to get to the point where you hit submit.
Part of me seriously thinks that the real purpose of the GRE is to make us jump through as many hoops as possible in order to weed out all the people who might only apply out of curiosity or because they think grad school is an easy way to put off joining the work force for a few more years. Given that the consensus seems to be it signifies almost nothing about our ability or potential as scholars (particularly the Subject) and its ridiculous stress and expense, it must really reduce the numbers of applications the adcomms have to wade through...

Enough time on this website has taught me that if you're sure of yourself, you're delusional. 
I mentioned this on the "waiting it out" board, but whenever I start to freak out I work on my "what if I don't get in plan." Rather than sitting at home and thinking about it, I actually have like a physical document of which steps to take, what jobs to apply for, which summer programs to consider, etc. So if the worst happens, I have an "in case of emergency break glass" document  
I'm one of those colossal dweebs who finds solace in productivity, and so it makes me feel better to work on something that will remedy the very thing that I'm freaking out about. 

Haha yeah I guess people have different ways of dealing.
I'm definitely NOT suggesting that anyone beat themselves up over anything admissions-related. It's just that, for me personally, it was really, really hard to get past my self-doubt and go through with the application process; the only way i could bring myself to do it was by treating it as an exercise in failure. I told myself that the object of the process wasn't to get in somewhere, but rather to summon the courage to put myself out there, knowing that the likely outcome would be rejection, given the hyper-competitive and arbitrary nature of phd admissions.
I'm already ridiculously proud of myself for all the work I did to apply. Anything that comes after is just super delicious icing on an empowerment cake.
Everyone on these boards should be proud of themselves for applying! Plenty of people quit before they even take the GRE.  

Personally, every time I think I'm a sure bet to get accepted, I begin a sequence of self-flagellation and bathing in vinegar while reading Heidegger. Works like a charm.

You guys are weird/a hoot!  (Meant in the teasing way between friends "weird," not in any actual mean or name-calling way.) I actually like that my husband thinks the sun shines out my rear - he tells me all the time that I'll get in, but we both equally and simultaneously agree that, if I don't? Well, then I get to be with him (we're military) and work and build up my resume. (And, personally, I like to think that maybe there are adventures I can't see yet, because I want my PhD so much...Life has twists and turns, yeah?)

All that to say, whether you like to beat yourself up or preen under praise, this was a hoot. And, to all of us, just...eternal ray of optimism: grad applications don't decide our worth. ^^ <3 Best of luck, to all!

You guys are weird/a hoot!  (Meant in the teasing way between friends "weird," not in any actual mean or name-calling way.) I actually like that my husband thinks the sun shines out my rear - he tells me all the time that I'll get in, but we both equally and simultaneously agree that, if I don't? Well, then I get to be with him (we're military) and work and build up my resume. (And, personally, I like to think that maybe there are adventures I can't see yet, because I want my PhD so much...Life has twists and turns, yeah?)

All that to say, whether you like to beat yourself up or preen under praise, this was a hoot. And, to all of us, just...eternal ray of optimism: grad applications don't decide our worth. ^^ <3 Best of luck, to all!

I've been meaning to reply to this post for about a week. So, here goes in a nutshell. (TLDR version is to relax, don't panic, you're right where you should be.)
I would NOT worry too much about not knowing what your specialization is going to be just yet. You're a first semester MA student! You'll figure it out more as you take more classes, begin doing more research on your own, and work on your MA thesis. My own story is that I actually studied two pretty different things (think apples and orangutans) for my MA and PhD and it was fine. The background theory I learned during my MA served me well when I did my PhD even though the topics (and really, the subfield) were different. 
As for whether or not something matters, some of that might be up to you. There are people in my discipline who don't think that my topic "orangutans" really matters but, I see it as part of my job as a researcher to show them how and why it matters through the research I do. Some of that comes from the specific things I highlight in my research and some of it comes from placing my research in the appropriate broader context. Learning the big(ger) picture now as a MA student will help you do that in the future, regardless of the topic you choose. 
And, can I just be honest for a minute? If all of the "hot topic" convos in your discipline aren't ones you're super interested in, don't force yourself to do a project involving them. A PhD is enough of a slog that you shouldn't also do it on a topic you aren't passionate about. If you're passionate about multiple things, then you have options. You can try to do several and link them with some sort of connecting thread (theoretical, topical, temporal, etc.). Alternately, you can make one the focus of your thesis/dissertation and leave the other ideas for class/conference papers (or, as you advance in your thinking in these areas, for collaboration with other grad students or faculty with similar interests). That said, it does make sense to stay abreast of the current trends/discussions in the field (which you can do by skimming ToC and abstracts of journals) so that you can find ways to connect what you are doing to these bigger and broader discussions.
Finally, don't compare yourself to the PhD students. Assuming they've done a master's, they've got at least a couple of years of graduate training on you! You're not in the same place in terms of your intellectual development in the discipline so you shouldn't be expected or expect yourself to be doing whatever groundbreaking thing they're doing. And, newsflash: most of them have had the same concerns and struggles, likely when they were where you are right now. Comparing yourself to others is really a path to frustration in grad school so I strongly advise you against it. If you insist upon it, I'd say that you should have one-on-one conversations with some grad students to see how they developed their topics/interests, what led them to where they are, etc. You may be surprised by the answers. 
Good luck! Keep us posted on how things are going.

Chin up, friend; it's early, and (this goes for everyone) your worth isn't decided by whatever decisions are made in the coming months. 'Twil be alright, one way or the other.