softcastlemccormick

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That's so exciting, CarolineKS! I'm glad to hear your good news to outweigh my bad! I contacted the UW-Madison DGS about my wait list position, and she said that so many people in most subfields have already accepted their initial offers that they aren't foreseeing hardly any movement off the list in the next month. A huge disappointment, but again, I'm glad your wait list worked for you!

As someone with relatively low grades who just finished her first application cycle, I'll tell you that yes, you can be considered by competitive PhD programs (in the top 20 if USN rankings matter to you), but yes, your GPA will affect your prospects--most likely your funding. My English major GPA is a 4.0, but because I started out in the music school and got a couple of C's and a D in advanced music theory classes and an F in a particularly challenging math class, my overall GPA is a 3.42. However, the fact that this all happened in my freshman year, my major GPA is perfect, I did a lot of internships at academic journals, I have a couple of conferences and a publication, I'm fluent in two languages, and my test scores were really high, really mitigates the the grade issue. I didn't even mention it in my personal statement. With that being said, I was rejected from my two top schools (UPenn and UNC), and I'm fairly certain that a significant portion of that reason is my unimpressive cumulative GPA. In your case, applying for a master's might just be a better option in general for you so you can get some really specialized research and maybe a conference or two under your belt before applying. Little arbitrary differences like a high master's GPA and solid publications can mean the difference between a basic funding package and a sweet fellowship. EDIT: I totally agree with 1Q84--dig up your old papers for professors, scan them with the comments attached, and send it their way when asking for letters. You could even take it a step further and edit the essays as per their comments to show your growth as a writer. I had taken a class with one of my LOR writers earlier last year, and she still asked to see every paper I'd ever written for her, as well as my honors thesis, my transcript, my SOP, and my writing sample. It all really helps to get the best picture of you as a candidate as possible.

Caviar, Myanmar, mid-size car!

I strongly urge everyone to check out Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. It's so uplifting. EDIT: Somehow just missed your post, 1Q. It's the best!

To combat the stress and anxiety, I've been watching a ton of Buffy and other various shows, reading a bunch of comics and graphic novels, taking up a bonsai hobby, and baking every dessert I can think of. Seriously, the amount of pies and cheesecakes I've made and given away is now at a staggering number.

Just got my first outright acceptance at University of Washington-Seattle! My offer of admission popped up on the website after my obsessive hourly checking, and I couldn't be more excited (especially since I've been aching to get my hands on their collection of H. Rider Haggard ephemera). Still waiting on funding details and an official e-mail, as well as my wait list options from Madison and OSU. Congrats to anyone else accepted!

Me too. I've got nothing in my e-mail and my status hasn't changed on the website, but I've yet to see anyone post anything about acceptances or wait lists on the board--just rejections so far, it seems.

I guess I just have a hard time understanding why you (or any reasonable person who has spent time reading up on the application process and state of the market) would think that anyone is guaranteed a spot in any PhD program across the country. Having perfect scores, grades, affluent LOR writers, and contact with important POIs still won't guarantee a spot at a university ranked lower than 50, much less at a place like Harvard or Yale. I'm sure that there are many of us who were perfectly qualified to attend the programs we applied to, but were still rejected for a multitude of reasons, such as not having enough space for that subfield in the program, mentioning working with a professor who was about to retire, not enough money for funding, etc. I doubt that your work was "too socially disengaged" for the adcoms at UCSC, but there might be other problems with your WS that you didn't detect. All this is to say that nobody in this process is guaranteed anything, and it's foolish and entitled to think otherwise.

That's a smart idea. Also, is it just me or has anyone else gotten more spam phone calls with random area codes during these past two months than they have their entire lives? Because...it's really stressing me out!

Me whilst constantly refreshing my emails and checking the results page:

I just graduated from IU this fall. I've chatted a lot and very frankly with my mentor about IU's admission processes (he's on the committee this year), and it seems that the wait list is largely decided by who turns down what in which subfield. However, IU has a large focus on Brit Lit, especially 16th-19th century, so if you're interested that subfield they often have more places for you in their program. Any other questions--feel free to message me!

Long nineteenth-century novels, Victorian fringe fiction (gothic, sensational, erotic, adventure), race and colonial issues during the British Empire. How about yourself? Congrats on Michigan, btw

I'm feeling the same way about UW-Madison and OSU...

Oh, GOD yes. I mentioned her and her publications in my SOI... Sigh.