Katia_chan

Okay, I don't want to be one of those "is my score okay?" people, but I'm just really trying to ration out the money for this process, and if I don't have to fight ETS for this test, I'd rather not. So, I got a 620 (which I'd thought was a 660 after not looking at it for a year or two and good grief was there egg on my face when I realized I'd been accidentally lying on applications). Anyway. 620: retake or do not retake? Is improving this going to make any difference? I'm going into my sort-of 3rd or 4th application cycle, so I'm willing to do a lot of stuff, but I figured I'd check here.

(I effed up the quoting thing and my computer is rebelling. Ignore it).

I unfortunately already have an M.A, And if I were to get a second one, I'd probably do it in history or some other field. But maybe I'll get in touch with them anyway and see what I can figure out. Thanks for the tip.

Hello all, Just adding my name, officially as of yesterday, to the 2014 applicants list. I'm exhausted and broke and unemployed, but can't imagine myself doing anything but a PHD, so I figure that will be enough to get me through this crap-shoot again. Third time's the charm... I've got a tentative list of schools, but would love advice/suggestions. Interests are a bit scattered, but I am primarily a medievalist with interests in book history and its material culture/codicology, as well as in literary nationalism, particularly with the Welsh (which sends me traveling into the 18th C).. 1. University of Rochester. 2. University of Oregon. 3. University of Missouri. 4. Washington University in St. Louis. 5. North Western. 6. University of Iowa*. 7. Purdue. ** 8. UT Austin. 9. U Penn. 10. University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign *Iowa has fantastic book history resources, but a disappointing lack of faculty in any of my related fields. Going to a place with a CENTER for book studies would be amazing, but I seem to be a crap fit with the faculty. **I have applied to Purdue 3 times already, with no success. Wondering if it's time to call them a no and move my love and application fee elsewhere. I would love and adore suggestions. Suggestions of places to omit would be fine too. Currently the top choice and recently-rejected love of my life is Rochester, but I am willing to look anywhere at this point. Sorry for the long post, and thanks!

Last unit reporting...Rochester finally made their call. Time to get friendly with ETS again, and try not to vomit as I re-do my SoP for the bajillionth time. 2014 application season, here I come. (after this long I was expecting this, I'm just put out at the idea of restarting the madness again).

Fun topic. My main goal as I work on a (probable) reapplication is to brush up on my Latin. I took an intro course, and an intermediate reading course that I clung to my classmate's coat tails to pass, and as a medievalist I need to get better at it. I don't know what my block is, but I need to vanquish it. Another goal is to learn Welsh, because my alternate work is in Welsh nationalism studies, and it would be really, really nice to learn the language and read the original documents for my research. Will I be able to test on it in my eventual language exams? Probably not... But I need to know it anyway.

I'll take all the advantage I can get. Thanks. And again I'm so happy for you getting in to Minnesota. It's really a fantastic campus, and a fun city. You'll have a great time working there.

So Rochester Emailed me this morning. Apparently they only had one WL spot to offer, and it got offered to someone else. DGS said that person had a few weeks to make their decision, so I might not know for certain for a while yet, but that she was sorry she didn't have better news for me. So I had a little meltdown, and am now working on reestablishing a positive attitude, and hoping the WL-er decides quickly, and that if they say no, that I could possibly maybe be in the small consideration pile. She didn't actually say, since the list is unranked. It's been an intense morning. Time to go continue the anxiety-march, I guess. Sigh.

Ditto. Aside from all the academic aspirations and fulfilling my dreams, I want to get into school to avoid taking the bloody damned test again. ETS is satan's layer, and I don't wanna go back. Also congrats Concert!!!!!! Just don't look at our weather. The university is great.

Yes, but it is the beginning of the end, one way or the other. And thank you all for the good wishes. I hope everyone here has amazing luck, and that we all learn today and it's a magical explosion of acceptance rainbows. Going to continue barfing now. Excuse me.

Anyone else wake up this morning feeling like they were going to throw up?

I did Email them a while ago to ask. All they said was that they evaluated the WL folks in the adcomm to choose, and that there were no "positions" assigned. So I don't think I'll get much information there. But thanks for the advice.

This may sound like a stupid question, but do schools send out notifications when they've officially made all decisions and plucked all from the waitlist they're going to pluck? I only ask because I was on Iowa's waitlist last year, and I eventually had to Email them in, like, May to find out for sure. (As I type this I have a weird feeling I asked this question before. If I have, forgive me, and still answer...my brain doesn't work anymore). I still have hope for my spot converting, but I'm curious about this, especially is Iowa's not known for great communication so I don't want to take them as a great example.

On a similar but different question, if you are on a waitlist, will you definitely hear by the fifteenth? (barring those weird three month later things that seem to crop up on occasion). Or, in the case of some situations, do committees sometimes need time to figure out who they're giving spots to after they've gotten replies from all their accepted students. Aka, I'm just chilling in my nervous breakdown and wondering if silence on the fifteenth means insta-kill to this year's hopes and dreams.

Make sure you've done a website check too--that's how I found out. No actual notification. Though I hope it's good news for you. Also yes Jill is amazing. I've only dealt with her a few times, but I really, really appreciated how good she was at her job.

Thanks so much for the well-wishes. It does look like a wonderful program, and a nice city. I hope you ended up at the place you want to be; you have some really great acceptances. Also it makes me feel a bit better that someone else is getting the radio silence too--maybe they just don't start any form of notifying until they know how many spots they'll for sure have open. (not that I'm glad you haven't heard anything, just glad it's not only me).

I almost wish I was in this boat... My WL has been relatively silent. I have a compulsion to Email them (with the blatant intention of the "don't forget me" hand flail,") but can't, at this point, think of a reasonable excuse to do so. I also fear the heart attack asking for actual movement news would induce. ...Does anyone else feel like they're literally going crazy?

CONGRATS!!!

I'm dying, and have possibly turned into the crabbiest most uninterested composition teacher ever. Sorry, students--it's the grad apps faults that your teacher looks like a crazy person.

Just a heads-up, I found out about my status for Purdue by checking the website. I don't know when they plan on actually telling me, but I had to work to find my own rejection. Forgive the peeved tone--this is rejection 7, and I'm far more easily annoyed at this point by things like not bothering to put me out of my misery. Do hope others have better luck than me though--for a town in the middle of nowhere Indiana, Lafayette is pretty cool.

I haven't heard anything from them either. They've been really slow for me in previous years, though.

No, it's good to know what I'm up against--in this vast empty void that is application season, information, no matter how stressful, is welcome. And I hope, slightly for my sake but mostly for yours, that whichever program you want most has a visit that goes amazingly well. You've had some awesome outcomes this season. Thank you for keeping me updated on what you're doing; you didn't have to, and I appreciate it very much.

That's some rough shooting on the Rochester list...ouch. Imma go back to nail-biting now.

Agreed. Rankings are something to be looked at, but if you fit with a school, and they're offering you money, and you like the look of the program, rankings are not even close to a reason to turn them down. Also, maybe I'm mistaken, but I didn't think UIUC had bad rankings at all.

I'm primarily Medieval lit, so I don't know if area-wise we fit into the same slot. But the more open spots, still the better the chance. Though if it ended up being the best school for you, I'd still send best wishes--everybody should end up at the best place for them.