birchleaf

I had told a friend of mine that I would go grocery shopping for him, as he was quite sick and didn't have access to a car. I woke up at 10am to go, felt way too tired and fell back asleep after realizing it was Valentine's Day. Figured that would be my happy Valentine's Day present to myself! I woke up to my roommate talking to her sister, checked my email on my phone groggily, out of habit, and as soon as I saw the "Offer Letter Attached" I sat up completely straight and gasped. My roommate thought it was something horrible, haha. Then I cried for a couple of minutes and called my mom. "Mom! I got into my dream program! It's at (very well known school)!" "That's wonderful! Where is that again?" So kind of climactic and anticlimactic too Happy Valentine's Day to me!

I'm not very good at the what are my chances posts, but I will say that my school is not allowed to even send international students to Oxford unless their GPA is 3.7 minimum, and I'm at pretty good school. That being said, with the Masters especially at Oxford / Cambridge, it's kind of up for grabs. I've known quite a few people who were accepted there, and there's not really a hard and fast rule about being accepted. The only thing I can think of is having clearly articulated research goals (for my area of study, at least).

I'm never a big fan of what are my chances posts, because to be quite honest you never know what could happen. I will say, however, that you have an amazing life story and you should give yourself credit for what you've accomplished. Like jujubea mentioned, your language skills alone are such an asset! It seems like you're focusing mentally on grades you received over 11 years ago, when you've demonstrated that you're an entirely different person now than you were then. My advice would be, find an individual you may want to work with at a university, and send them a pretty simple email. Explain to them just a little bit about you; who you are, where your interests lie, and any part of your life story that feels appropriate. Ask them if they're taking on students next year, and if they would have any insight on the department's view of older or adult applicants. I apologize, I can't figure out the best phrasing right now as I'm on mobile, but I think you know what I mean. To be quite honest, I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit for what you've accomplished and how driven of a person you seem to be. Furthermore, it took my mother 27 years to finish her bachelor's degree. Frankly, if somewhere isn't willing to help you, move on to the next place. There will be someone who will hear your story and want to help you and work with you to make your goals more reachable.

Hi! I think a little bit of background info is required for this one Who did you specifically email to ask about funding? Are you accepted to the program already or not? I don't think you would need to contact anyone in person though. Also, are you asking them specific or basic questions? I know some places can be pretty quiet until they send out acceptances. Was your question to do with scholarships and assistantship positions, or was it specific numbers? Any background info is helpful

We aren't required to engage with you.

Literally have no idea what you're attempting to cite or prove. We don't need any negativity on this thread, thanks.

Like I mentioned before, despite being accepted to Cornell there's no update on apply web and I'm going to assume that's the norm for most programs. However, oftentimes some programs will have their own specific websites not streamlined through ApplyWeb which might post results.

They didn't, actually! I had actually applied to the Classics phD, got an email on a Saturday saying that they weren't going to take me in the Classics department specifically but that some people on that committee wanted to consider me under the CIAMS program (which I didn't think I even had a shot for!). I wholeheartedly agreed to transfer my dossier over to them and within three days I had my acceptance letter. Absolutely thrilling. So no, I wouldn't entirely give up on getting an acceptance without an interview

I got my acceptance at noon on Valentine's day. Happy Valentine's day to me! Also the faculty I've been corresponding with only answer me on the weekends. So don't rule out the weekends altogether!

Hello! Honestly, I'm not sure if checking the ApplyWeb website would yield the best results. I was officially accepted by Cornell and my status on there for the school still has not changed. I'm sure this isn't the news that you want, but at least in my case ApplyWeb isn't applicable.

Perhaps, but all departments do their own thing as far as I know. It is my understanding that at the grad level each department of a university operates on its own schedule.

Thank you everyone I am buzzing with happiness! I will note that nothing has been changed on ApplyWeb so if there's anyone who has been nervously checking the websites (as I have!) I don't think there will be much to be found there.

Man did it feel good to change my signature on here. Absolutely psyched (one of my dream programs!) though my brain isn't processing anything at the moment!

http://psychology.unl.edu/psichi/Graduate_School_Application_Kisses_of_Death.pdf

Yup, they can rescind acceptances for basically any reason. I'm sure there will be some people who disagree with me, I've just heard some hilarious "kiss of death" stories (if you will) about it from professors and grad students alike.

I agree with this point and the point you quoted! I know that in the beginning, frantically checking the general purpose boards nearly gave me a heart attack whenever someone posted stellar GRE scores and rejections! It's important to see GradCafe as a source of information, especially in regards to results postings, and shouldn't be used to attempt to rate yourself in comparison to others. That being said, it seems like most schools are defying their historical timelines. In the beginning, I thought that it was just me, that I wasn't hearing back because my application was rubbish (or something!) but it seems like most everyone is still stuck with either no responses or just a couple. Personally I'm stuck in a middle tentative stage that I don't want to report until anything at all is for sure. So I've held off from writing anything on the results page because I don't want to freak anyone out, or get too far ahead of myself! I also want to say that I know for a fact of a couple of administrative boards who look at this forum regularly. There are stories bouncing around from current grad students at my university of people who've been admitted and later lost their acceptances based off of a combination of actions during the prospectives weekend and comments on here. So GradCafe is a real, unofficial tool in the grad process, and I think that it causes the grad programs to be so opaque! μέν the programs could make it easier and more streamlined if they released at least a semblance of a timeline, δέ I think they would view it as making themselves less competitive, while they run down a list of the people they want for their program. That is, making us wait is beneficial for them and they aren't about to give that up!

I haven't heard anything from Brown at all.

Cornell sent out decisions.

Can someone claim the post about AAMW, about the non-selection for the interview process? Personally I'm not going to worry about anything until the rejection letter arrives in my inbox, because I know that all the programs I applied to are awesome and I'm sure there's scores of more qualified people than I who applied for them as well. But I'm just anxiously awaiting an update from anywhere, and I'll take what I can get!

The results search has been down for hours and I keep getting 404s for the entirety of grade cafe unless I navigate through specific forums. Just me or sitewide? edit: can't spell at 2am

I GOT THAT TOO I AM SO MAD

Nothing to report over here! Though one of my good friends (unrelated field) just started getting super positive and friendly messages from her number 1 professor at her number 1 school. So excited for her, and so excited for everyone who is already hearing back!

If any of you want info about Ann Arbor feel free to PM me! If I could go anywhere based on location it would probably be somewhere in Maine. Not that I applied anywhere in Maine, I just think it would be a nice place to study. I know that wasn't your question really!

Hi everyone! In an effort to get everyone's minds off of things, and to get us out of just that one small forum we've been posting in, I thought I would have a place to just talk about yourself and your interests. But one question I have for everyone is: What first made you interested in Classics? Does your family have a history in it, or did you happen to read a book about the Romans when you were younger? Which region of the Ancient World are you most interested in, and why? Are you a linguist, archeologist, archivist, artist, etc? Also, to continue in the vein of weird questions asked by me in an effort to make you laugh, if you had to have the torso of any animal instead of a human torso, which would it be? Mine would be that crazy Bird of Paradise because I could probably hang-glide with my body and also fit into narrow spaces.