pannpann

Got an acceptance to UVM. Waitlisted for funding. Applying to MAs was my backup, so not getting funding has left a crushing anxiety on my chest. (I want to make a Giles Corey joke here.) After five rejections, I'm more devastated by the terms of this acceptance. Edit: Sorry for the melodrama, I know I should feel more grateful.

Congrats and welcome, Macabea!

I think both of the MA programs I applied to are unranked but they boast good placement. The only information I could find in that regard was "Recent graduates have gone on to Rutgers, Tufts, etc. etc." instead of any concrete statistics. Is there some way to get more specific information, or is that what's generally available? My biggest factors are placement and funding.

Thanks Ramus!

Just got invited to an open house at Villanova. It's only two hours long though (from 5-7PM), and my transportation would take three hours driving or four/five hours if I have to take a train/bus/train. Is it worth taking off work? This is the only school that's sent me any personal emails and I'm freaking out/ecstatic. Edit: And lyonessrampant you are a saint, I'm going to print that list out.

After accepting the likely scenario that I won't get into any PhD programs, I applied to Villanova on Friday. Last night I got a call from a curren grad student there, asking about my interest level in the school and offering to answer my questions. She was kind, helpful and seemed very honest. I have to say, after getting nothing but crickets until the rejections started flooding in, it was wonderful to be contacted by a school, even if it was just a preliminary call to gauge my interest. Things are starting to look up. How's everyone else doing, as February winds down?

Got the official rejection from BU yesterday. And by yesterday I mean it sent last week but ended up in my spam folder! I figured it wasn't meant to be, but god I would have killed to work with Marie Satya McDonough! There are so few professors in top schools who are seriously interested in graphic fiction!

Yes of course! I meant to mention, UVM and Villanova both offer funding, I don't know if they offer it to all applicants but there are assistantships and fellowships that are offered each year. I'll definitely take note of schools which offer MA funding (and I feel like most schools that have MAs and not PhD. programs do). Thank you and Appppplication for the schools!

I can't (I assume) be the only one who went boldly forth with my PhD. applications, only a BA to my name, only to be slapped back with the cold reality of just how difficult and exclusive this process decidedly is. In a panic of "I don't have enough options!" I submitted an MA application to the University of Vermont in February. Last week, four rejections deep, I threw my name in for an MA at Villanova. I'm sure I can't be the only one who regrets submitting to too few schools, or PhD. programs exclusively, so I'd like to create a masterlist (since I can't find one elsewhere, please correct me if I'm wrong) of MA or PhD. programs with late deadlines, for those of us who panic and decide to give ourselves just one more try, or maybe two. It won't help us this season, but it could likely help GC applicants next year. So far I have: SUNY Buffalo, MA: February 1 University of Vermont, MA: February 1 SUNY Binghamton, MA: February 15 Villanova University, MA: March 1

I had a dream I got into UPenn. Then, I woke up.

Thanks Ramus and Lycidas. I'll count it as an implied rejection then. Ah well. It 's better than false hope.

Thanks, that's what I thought. The thing is, there's only one acceptance on the board and it was a POI phone call. I wasn't sure if maybe decisions were going out in waves?

This is such a horrible boat to be in. It's where I currently stand with BU and Indiana, both in my top 3.

That is AMAZING hreaðemus! A million congratulations! Good luck with your decision, but before you get to the hard part, take some time to enjoy what is truly an incredible accomplishment.

There's been too many postings to even mention individuals, congrats everybody! All this GC success is really giving me hope. I love those kind of admissions flukes though, where you get notifications in the wrong order. I remember in undergrad, I found out I got accepted to transfer to NYU because they sent me my web login info, I didn't get the acceptance for another day. It's anxiety-inducing, but in an exciting high-energy way, like when it's 2am and you're writing a paper that's just heating up. Or is that just me?

You are a saint for posting this. Their deadline is March 1, so it would be a crunch to send out GRE scores, but everything else should be fine. Unless by some miracle I get accepted to a school this afternoon, I'm absolutely applying. They don't pay tuition for everyone but they do have several scholarships and assistantships.

Hey, anybody else waiting to hear from BU? According to the submissions, there's only been on GC admission, a small handful of wait listers and a few rejections.

Thanks Ramus! That gives me some hope.

Okay guys, not to take away from the caliber of intelligent conversation regarding the future of the academe, but this week of rejections has been awful and I just discovered Cats of Instagram (late to the boat, I know) and I've decided that the only way to truly feel better is cats with bow ties. Now please continue with all the great points you guys are making.

I'm concerned about this same thing. Especially seeing so many acceptances on GC where they list a MA GPA of 4.0 and great GRE scores. Obviously those aren't everything, but they are usually not the worst indicators of why an applicant wasn't chosen. The name of a school matters so much in academia. I wonder if there's any way to outweigh a not-stellar MA university. Publications? Stellar GREs? I think LOR, SOP and writing samples are probably the most important parts of an application, but what if your choice of school doesn't even warrant a glance at those more personal attributes? I really don't know what to tell you, expecting a shut out from my PhD. programs and crossing my fingers for admittance to UVM with a fellowship, I'm in the same boat and unsure of how to proceed. (Especially since my scenario is largely hypothetical at this point in time.)

Thanks guys! I have to say, before I found this site (literally last week) I had no idea I'd hear back so early, had never heard of "implied rejections" and, based on this article I thought GC would just enable me to be more obsessive with my applications. But it's been a wonderful community and a great place of support. Here's hoping my next four schools go better than the first four.

Just got rejected from Hopkins. I knew it was a long shot since their program is so small and my POI is in both English and Creative Writing, but my mentor went there and wrote the letter specific for the school so I was hoping I had a shot at the waitlist. This is so much more devastating than I imagined. I remember in high school (many moons ago) I got rejected from my first choice school and I burned the letter and that was cathartic. And the second rejection letter from a school I really loved came when it was raining so I dropped it in a puddle and dropped food coloring in it and it came out tie-dyed. What in the world can I do with all these emails? I am definitely turning to knitting and Ben and Jerry's tonight. Grad rejections are the worst kind of breakup.

As always great advice from WT. I just saw on the results that someone was accepted via email to Hopkins? If whoever that is is around I'd love to know if the email said anything about other notifications going out, and if it was from the DGS or a POI?

I gotta say, seeing all that red on the results page is really disheartening. Thanks for giving us hope, and much congratulations hannalore and allplaid!