kurayamino

I see some UMass Amherst acceptances rolling in, bravo!!

Hahah, I had the same thing said to me about Johns Hopkins and Brown.

That was a great article 1Q84, thanks for posting it. I had a creative writing teacher (who later became a good friend of mine) who refuses to acknowledge how much her husband's income and family money allows her the ability and time to write. Not to mention writer residency programs and other things that seem to cost tons of money, but provide those elusive "connections" one seems to need in the publishing industry. Of course, I could just be bitter since I found it hard to even find the inspiration to write the required poems/stories/plays that didn't, in some way, involve serious poverty.

Sorry for the nausea and horrible awful nervous feelings everyone, but I just couldn't suffer alone! Bgt28, I believe I found this information in one of the literature forums where someone had posted the average months that schools gave results. If you go to results and do, say, "English Berkeley" you'll see that January 31st was the day acceptances were posted. That would have been the last Friday of the month last year and thus.... tomorrow. Stanford also showed up that day as well (one or two, some others were posted early Feb I believe). UCLA is one of my top choices so I completely understand the nerves. I know I'll probably be furtively checking my phone starting at midnight and throughout the rest of the day

Welcome Wilsonwilson! and huge congrats on Duke!

Congrats to the Duke admit! I can't see the stats you're all talking about as I'm on mobile, but I would guess that they were creative too, at least in part. As an aside... Is anyone else feeling terrified that Stanford, ucla, and Berkeley may all be sending out emails TOMORROW. Ack!

mighty mouse

Congrats Katla! That's good to hear!

I had a hard time with fit, but I did a lot of research to find potential professors whose interests I could at least see meshing well with what I want to do. I applied to 10 programs that I felt had sufficient faculty whose interests worked with mine and then two wild card schools as a sort of "hail mary". I like what NowMoreSerious said about how adcomm's don't just take "fit" into account, but look at potential for growth. This makes me feel relieved in some ways because I work in the niche field of masculinity studies in a shrinking pool of eighteenth century scholarship.

Congrats to the three (!) SUNY buffalo admits!!

Ahh, yes I was rather unclear. I meant that it should prepare you for grad school if it's your intention to go that direction. It's been a very long day! In regards to your passion feeling like your job, I can see how that could be the case, but personally I've been working towards just being competitive for grad schools for the last few years through fellowships and so forth. Therefore it was both my passion and my job. But this's is just my own understanding of what grad school will be like of course. And I wasn't trying to suggest that it won't be rigorous or that aspects won't be difficult, but that the amount of rigor one experiences may be directly related to how one went through undergrad.

Yes, this represents my experience as well. I remember a fellow English student, who entered into her/his PhD program Fall 2014, admitting that they hadn't read a book through all of their undergraduate career at my institution. Not only was I really surprised by this admission, but I was deeply offended too. Somehow he had made it through, to a top 10 PhD program and he hadn't read a book. Needless to say, he's finding the "rigor" of the program pretty difficult, but I suspect it's because he made no attempts to develop a strategy on how to handle workload. Undergrad is supposed to provide a stimulating and rewarding environment to give you the skills you need to be able to handle the challenges of grad school. I think the "rigor" one feels is the disconnect between that readiness and the expectations of your program.

Congratulations hreaðemus! That's great news. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

Yes, same here. I actually was trolled by U Chicago today which sent me an "Inside the Summer Business Scholars Experience" email, but all I could see was that it was an email from University of Chicago. Let's just say that didn't feel too great.

Yes, thanks for the info REOSlowdeath.

Congratulations IQ84 and LCB!! SO good to hear good news

I can see how, as the the shifting ranks in English professors could cause this stark distinction. The debate between high/low culture is unending in the humanities though. I can remember being at a conference when a very well respected (for his work... not so much his acerbic nature) 18th professor railed against studying material culture in the middle of someone's presentation. Not only was it embarrassing for everyone who witnessed it, but it was also eye-opening into how divided English scholarship is. I think that studying popular genre is just as relevant and valid as looking at Pride and Prejudice for the millionth time. The difference is in how it is presented and studied. There's also nothing wrong with creating introductory courses with popular material in order to garner more interest in literature as a field of study. Every person who reads critically has the opportunity to produce enlightening original ideas about any piece of work because any work of writing is a representation of who we are, in my opinion. I recognize that other people's mileage may vary.

dog bite

I totally get your dissatisfaction with where humanities is headed, but I think it's just a symptom of the "decline of the English major" thread. I think humanities majors are just trying to find a way to make themselves marketable and showcase their skills. I know in the research program I was part of this summer (for humanities and social science majors) there was a whole seminar dedicated to professionalization and how to make your linkedin work for you. All of this is to say, it's a part of a large problem, one that I don't think has an easy solution.

Nemo was way worse! I fully expected to be cutoff from all civilization with how serious they kept saying Juno was going to be.

As one of my mentors told me, "you can always do your research. They can't ever take that away from you."