BLeonard

I'm in that same boat of hoping that calls take a bit to get through. Congrats to all accepted so far!

Thanks for that information about Brown as well.

Thank you for this; it's nice to know that there's someone in the same boat as I am. Although I have interests in 18th and 19th American history/literature, I'm primarily a 20th century person who has interests more rooted in popular culture that would make the more prestigious schools hesitant. One of the reasons CUNY's rejection stung, however, is they seemed to be very pro-genre studies (which is what I want to focus on in part).

Got my official rejection from Princeton today. I'm trying to be game about it but this one was particularly painful because I really liked the campus/environment when I visited, and it's one of the last schools (Rutgers is the other) where my wife and I wouldn't have had to move. Granted, I heard that it's hard for American lit students there, and I still have one of my top 3 choices to hear from, but yeah, dark night of the soul right here.

Congrats to all of those who have been accepted as well! I'm sorry I haven't posted in this thread in a while, but there are so many lovely and passionate people studying so many fascinating subjects that will bear such fascinating scholarship! (Could I say such more?)

Thanks; that does help. My issue is that I had some health and personal issues going on last semester and a courseload where I overextended myself, so I didn't do as well as I wanted -- that was my "coasting" semester. I'd really like to end this term on high a note as possible.

Sympathy and empathy to everyone else going through this -- I don't think I realized how hard and fluctuating my emotions were going to be. It has been a rough week. I got rejected from my top choice, another school I felt confident about, and then I got rejected from another program today. That makes three in a row, with many more to go. But I'm feeling pretty down in the dumps, questioning everything about my application and even if I'm right for graduate school. If you've gone through this while in school/during the semester, how do you keep from obsessing over the results page or waiting for a call -- how do you reset and maintain focus on the term? The last thing I need is to blow my final grades.

And of course -- even though I had professors look over my statement of purpose and they didn't mention it -- now that I know you're not supposed to mention too many, I worry that I did mention too many/came off as pandering. I think I mentioned between 3 and 5 -- but I feel like as an Americanist, I have two very different interests that I might pursue at the graduate level. Ugh. I think I was able to split the difference in some cases, like at Yale, in that there were schools with professors whose work was influential on me that I was able to talk about in that regard.

Yeah, that was the conclusion I ultimately reached, which is why I tried to make up for it with the statement of purpose.

Reading through this thread, I'm actually pretty happy I took the time to read through all the professors' pages on the department's website. It allowed me to strike that balance between well-known, superstar professors (David Blight, Henry Louis Gates) and ones who are lesser-known, but who I would be excited to work with. The only thing I worry about is that my work is in those subject areas -- but I was told my writing sample should try and grapple with the work of a faculty member, something I felt I wasn't able to do. Has anyone heard this as well?

That sounds like a great course of study! I grew up in NE Ohio, so I wish I had considered OSU -- didn't know they had an MA/PhD program.

The myriad of different software systems and application programs was what was the most surprising about my first time doing this. Most of my schools were applyweb or applyyourself, but there were a couple of outliers, and even then, I had some issues with elements of my portfolio going through the first time.

Great list. I had considered NYU's programs but decided not to (I went there for undergrad, briefly, and didn't have the best experience). I'd be over the moon if I got into Yale's American Studies program, though, considering some of my intellectual heroes teach in that department.

Oh, I didn't know we weren't supposed to hang around the forums if our applications were incomplete. Still waiting on a prof's recommendation for 3 programs, but everything else is done... Sillyrabbit, didn't mean to come off as rude. I'm applying to English programs at Columbia, Princeton, WashU, Rutgers, Harvard, Cornell, UPenn, and CUNY, and Am. Studies programs at Yale and Brown.

This has been a major factor in where I have chosen to apply to grad school. My wife, due to the licensing of her job, can only work in that field in New York/New Jersey, and as I am a returning undergraduate student (I'll be 31 when I graduate), any place we move to is a place where we might be spending more than the 7 years of a grad program. This initially proved challenging, as part of my interest was in slavery, the Civil War, and Southern Literature -- so, of course, the best schools for that would have been in the South and that would have been difficult with regards to a move. I eventually chose to limit my selection of schools to the Northeast. When we began applying to these programs, I had thought that my first choice would be a program in the New York City area, where we live, but we've actually been talking a lot about moving out of the city. Our dog was recently hit by a car, and that sort of solidified some priorities for me in the aftermath of his accident (he's okay). Personally, I'd be happy anywhere -- every program I applied to is one I could see myself studying at -- but I think my wife is leaning hard towards Princeton or one of the other "college towns."

I listed them in my signature (like it looks like many people do), but I applied to a bunch of programs in the East Coast/Northeastern region. I will say it's heartening to see so many people having applied to 10+ schools. I was worried 10 was too much! Congrats on your acceptances already.

Hello! I'm new to GradCafe and am applying to a combination of English and Am. Studies PhD programs for the fall. I already know that it's going to be an uphill struggle, as I'm going right from a B.A. to a PhD, but I'm trying to remain optimistic. Best of luck to everyone!