Katia_chan

Amen, sister.... Benedict would be a perfectly acceptable consolation prize instead of a PHD. Even better if he wears the deer-stalker...

Okay, it was always one of my fantasies that if I checked my spam folder, there would be an awesome acceptance in there. But I never thought that actually happened. Yall are living the dream--it's like finding a thousand dollars in a pants pocket.

Just curious if anyone lurking on here was going to be attending the visit weekend tomorrow through Saturday. Unless Minnesota...does what it loves to do and snow, I'm headed out tomorrow. Just curious if any GC-ers were going.

From what I remember last year, I feel like they did the notifying over one day. Strange that not one acceptance was a results board poster though. Waitlist notifications came out a week or two after acceptances, at least last year.

Ditto... I guess there's still waitlists....

I did as well. If history serves, should be seeing acceptances from them soon. Fingers crossed for all--fantastic program. Also, re: the Chipotle comment, from what I understand, feeling like a fraud never goes away. I have one acceptance, and i'm waiting for someone to realize they made a mistake and send me on my way.

Well, if you say I must come, then I must come. *salutes*. We should all go and have GC T-shirts. (I'm tired and silly, sorry. ) I agree with you about Rochester though. hear-say is only that, and I'm fairly sure I would pass out with excitement if I got admitted. It would be a tough choice for me though, so I think you should just take the Rochester luck, and then we can cross-university collaborate on stuff, and have a team of ass-kicking GC medievalists with our other folks here. I don't know anything about the restructure, but if I get a chance to work it in to my questions this weekend, I will. They're housing us with current students, so maybe I can even get the skinny from them. I will certainly report all I hear. And after St. Louis' generosity, which is fairly standard for a program but still kind of shocking to me, I'm really shocked about Oregon's financial situation. I hadn't heard about them also not flying the candidate out for the visit. If things are that bad financially around there, I admit I'd be a little nervous. But the quality of the scholarship would make up for a lot of that, as long as the students can afford to live. It's a school that seems to really put value on its medievalists in particular, which was what drew me to it for apps. It's nice when somebody shows us the love...

Dammit...so tempted. I'm gonna have to give this serious consideration. If it's that cheap to stay there, that could be super freaking awesome. Just have to figure out how to *get* there without it costing me a fortune. But I'm gonna sit over here with celebrity stars in my eyes and think about it... I would love to see her speak. Yeah, I don't know where my "no thanks" point would be for Rochester. I think my professor would work to discourage me from going there if I had to pick between the two, but as I said, he can be a bit cynical. So if you get in, definitely go--then I can pick your brain about the awesome faculty you're working with. I have my fingers seriously crossed for you. And bah--I'm convinced, at most, I got lucky with STL. I'm still slightly unsure, because some places I applied, like Rochester and, weirdly, U of Georgia, had better faculty fits. But St. Louis has lots of awesome resources... That being said though, their DGS is like one of the nicest people ever. And unless I get snowed in, I'm going to the visit weekend tomorrow. So I should have some good ideas by then. And I saw the Oregon stuff too...but from what that person said on the other thread, I'm a little nervous for there. Their stipend is... not looking so good. I think what you're getting where you've been accepted is way better. Oregon is a fantastic school though.

Rochester is amazing. I look at all their ongoing projects--especially Camelot project, and have to wipe the drool from my face. We have a professor where I did my MA who did her PHD there, and she was telling me about how awesome Sarah Higley was--nutty in the best kind of professor way. I had a professor express concern about the state of that university, so I'm a little skittish at the moment, but that's also just... him. So I take it with a grain of salt, or a shaker. And AC, don't count yourself out--I managed to sneak onto their waitlist last year, and I'm pretty sure your research is kicking the crap out of mine, so you definitely have a good shot! Stay strong! If the past guides us, they might be sending out acceptances this week... *eyes inbox warily* As for looking at manuscripts, I think you neeed some sort of letter or university approval. But I've never gotten it, so I don't know how. Also, now I want to go to Kzoo (can I call it that? I feel like an imposter calling it that). I want to see awesome panels and meet up with my medieval GC folks... I wonder if I can make this work financially. I've never been to a real medieval conference before...

...This is totally up to you, and you know what's best for you. But as a multiple-time reapplicant... Don't decide to pass on a program without visiting/talking to the faculty/...whatever just because you think you could improve your application. Please please please don't let dissatisfaction with your application make you throw away acceptances. You seem pretty focussed and driven; I have a hard time imagining you applying to six schools you couldn't see yourself attending. Count up your acceptances, check each one out, and evaluate. Once you're in somewhere, the application *does not* matter one flying fig. You can blow everyone out of the water with your scholarship and research; no one cares about your app after you get in. ...I'm sorry, this isn't any of my business. But I'm just begging you to take a long and hard look at wherever you get accepted, and *know* that you couldn't be happy there before turning it down. Because, even with a better app, this thing is still a crapshoot. You might end up in the same boat next year. Sometimes you end up at a program you could have never predicted, and it wasn't where you wanted to end up, but it was where you needed to end up. Anyway, I'm done now. I hope I haven't offended you or anything. Not my intention at all. I just know how things start to look around the middle of February.

I would take that course. I think it would be absolutely fantastic. It's amazing how applicable Tolkien is--one of my medieval history professors uses him frequently in class, just to illustrate medieval social structures, but having a real lit class would definitely bring undergrads in. See, kids? Medievalists are fun... Also a guy I used to adjunct with is in your program. It sounds like it's a really fantastic place to study, from what he's told me.

Unfortunately, it's not Medieval Welsh at this point. It's one of the "say something in" language courses--I don't know much about the whole company, but it's free downloadable lessons. I haven't gotten very far, but I feel like getting a handle on the modern is good for now--I'll try to work on the medieval under some guidance. (Also I am so drooling over your Medieval Welsh copy...that is just so freaking awesome. [yeah I use scholarly terms look at me. ]). Your paper sounds really interesting; is it published anywhere? I'd like to read it sometime. And I have no problem with you reading my paper, except for being embarrassed. The ideas are alright, but I'm not very confident on the execution. I don't like much of what I write...but I'm fairly sure you're not going to, like, steal it and run away cackling, so I'll send it over sometime if you want. I have yet to make it to Aberystwyth, but having the chance to look at those manuscripts sounds like it was *amazing*. I hope to be able to go when I'm officially attached to a PHD program, and can maybe get access to things like that. As is, my professor from my MA was going to look at the Cambridge thing for me if he got over there this year, but we still don't know if it'll happen. I've spent about a grand total of 12 hours in Wales, and all of that in Cardiff, either at the castle, the Doctor Who museum, or eating Turkish food. But I really want to do actual *work* there, hopefully over some sort of summer study program. And I've only gone to two conferences... ever, a graduate one at Purdue, and the midwest MLA. I'm not officially part of any university right now, so cost is fairly prohibitive. But if you're going to anything, let me know. I have a feeling if it's a conference that hits your interests, it'll hit mine. It's going to be very exciting to have access to some travel funding again...

I haven't read that, but I certainly will--thanks so much! I'm, er, trying to learn the language online. Haven't read anything in it so far. Most of what I've done has been in Latin translation as well, or books written now discussing what other scholars have done. My work kind of locked me in the eighteenth century for a while, and I'm just getting back to actual medieval Welsh lit. But I've got a fun project coming up that's been a long while in the making. I haven't published anything yet. But my sort of mini-thesis was on Geoffrey and his manipulation of Welsh lore to enable the Norman conquest. I talked about how he tweaked Welsh folk tradition, to the point where his twisted versions influence even the "core" mythological texts like the Mabinogion. I love the ways the culture has sort of been twisted around, to suit a multitude of purposes, native or otherwise. I got to present that at a conference, but it's not ready for publication yet. I hope someday. It served as my WS for apps. I actually considered doing the Celtic PHD at Harvard, but was talked out of it by my professor, who told me that my lack of language skills would basically knee-cap me in the apps process. But maybe a study abroad someday... one of my professors is going to try to get time to look at Geoffrey's annotations on a manuscript in Cambridge. Fingers crossed. But I'll take a summer in Wales.

My short study abroad is the reason I love Indian food now. We were in Burmingham...oh my God so wonderful. I also liked the British food. Didn't have a *ton* of it, but we found a place that did half-price meatpies after 5, and we ate there all the freaking time. I miss it. Also, weirdly, some of the best milkshakes I've ever had.

First off, AC, I am having a crappy day and your Avengers reference made it so much better. You win the interwebs today. And I have to take another second to geek out at MM's Welsh love, because that's also part of what I do, and I never find other Welsh folks, and I'm super super excited right now (possibly in an over-caffeinated under-slept way). I guess I should probably introduce myself too. I'm a mid-to-late period person, mostly, and have two focus areas that I'm still working on connecting, though I've come to terms that they might never do so. My first area of interest is medieval codicology. I love lit, but I also love the study of the actual manuscript construction. The book as an object, and how it fits into material culture, and what happens to the idea of a "book" when we hit the digital age, and not only are we not hand-crafting them anymore, we're not even holding them. But first and foremost, I love studying how they were made, what decisions went into their crafting, and what that reflected about the society where they were created. My other interest is in the development of identity, from the medieval period up through the end of the eighteenth century, centering on Wales. I started the process by looking at Geoffrey of Monmouth, and his manipulation of Welsh lore and culture, and have moved on from there to try and pinpoint the origins of Welsh identity, assuming that it wasn't naturally occurring. So, a combination of Welsh folklore, culture, and literary nationalism. When I'm not buried in the medieval period, I spend a lot of time exploring this through Iolo Morganwg, infamous forger and magnificent bastard. I wish I was going to school with all of you, because I want to geek out with everyone who's listed interests so far. And I apologize for the scattered nature of this post. As I said, I didn't really sleep last night, and I'm not fully with it today. Lastly--MM, did you ever look at U of Rochester? Sara Higley does a lot of work on the very areas of Welsh you mentioned (though I haven't read much of her stuff, so I'm going off her faculty profile mostly).

Do you dislike the places you still have left to hear from? If you reapply, simply because you think you could put together a better application, then yes, you might be a little nuts. If you get in somewhere and you *really* hate it, there's nothing wrong with reapplying, but just don't assume you won't like it because it wasn't a top choice. Plenty of people on here have had their minds changed by an amazing visit weekend, or communication with the faculty. And to be honest, with the way apps go, totally revamping your application doesn't guarantee any better results. Not to say it couldn't happen, but you could re-do everything, and still not get into the places that you want most. Just saying...unless you think you'd be miserable wherever you land, it is an *acceptance*. In a less formal wording...take that and run like hell. . Your application just gets you in--what you do once it gets you there is a totally separate bag.

Screw 'em! They don't know what they're missing. Anyone else get two rejection Emails? Also I think this calls for a long-distance but mutual have a drink/eat a cookie/buy something for yourself moment..

I will be making more as a PHD student than I make working right now. So I'm taking what they offer and running with it. Yes we are getting paid for teaching, but if you think of it, we are also getting paid to *study*. Where else will someone give you that opportunity? It may not be much, but someone is still paying you to go to school. My teaching load will be the same as it is right now, as an adjunct, and I will be making more plus being able to go to school. I'm not saying you shouldn't bargain, but I do think we need to be careful not to lose sight of the fact that we should be a little grateful. There is no law that they *have* to pay us any more than an adjunct makes per credit hour. I know it's expected, but it's still a nice opportunity.

I don't know if I count as friend, but I already tanked. Pulling for you guys though! Is an awesome school. They'd be dumb not to take you.

You're not alone. I don't necessarily think about the "better" ones, but I did have one or two near and dear to my heart, for faculty, or location. And I still get bummed about rejections, even with an acceptance. So you're totally in good company. But, and I'm hoping this will be true for you too, every time I start getting meh about things, I'll get an Email or something from the DGS, (we have a visit weekend coming up next weekend), and he is so freaking nice, and it makes me excited. That's helping a lot--I'm fairly sure I've been rejected from Austin, Boston, Missouri, and WUSTL this week, but the more cool things that come from St. Louis, the happier I remain. So hopefully once you get in contact with your program, you will get more excited about it. And hopefully you do have more to choose from. You're pretty awesome, so you should.

You win. Everything. Now go put up some cabinets. ETA: Agh you have to stop with the Who references--I'm going to run out of up-votes just on you. I feel like I have to use them sparingly now. ...is it September yet?

Keeping my fingers crossed for all of you. And honestly, it's probably for the best. It's a fantastic school, but I practically live in Canada... I'd probably melt and die in Texas.

Maybe you guys are all waitlists? I got my rejection already, and I'm a K.

I am *very* cautiously adding a side note here, so as you read keep in mind that I am doing the equivalent of timidly raising my hand and flushing and staring everywhere but at anyone while I talk. I think the main issue with the "reality checks" that a few people have been delivering here is two-fold. First, intended or not, they do come off a bit condescending, especially to the 60+% who already know these things. That's not necessarily the fault of the writer; the internet is death to actual intended tone. So what is supposed to come off as friendly and concerned often comes off as "what are you doing, you idiot child, even if that was not how it was meant at all." Secondly, especially at this point in the game... we've all submitted apps. We're all having anxiety attacks and refreshing the results search and trying not to look at our application packets. If someone made an uninformed comment like "There's no chance I won't get a job immediately after because I did XYZ," or if they came on in September and asked if they should go to grad school to get a job/make billions, then that would be the place for comments of this nature. But except in a very rare circumstance that someone decides in the next month or two to do a total life switch... we've all sort of committed already. So the reality checks are not helpful, especially since our only response can be "I threw my chips down already, and I can't/won't take them back. So why are you telling me this/what am I supposed to do with that info?" It either comes too late, or comes off as someone telling someone to abandon their dreams and clear the way for someone else following those exact same dreams. I will restate that I know that's not how those comments are *meant*. But when there is clear evidence that that is how they are *taken*, it at least might be worth a moment to consider how urgently you feel you need to pass on the information, and why. Hopefully I haven't pissed anybody off. I'm just observing, not trying to add fuel to the fire.

The more the merrier (or the more people for me to embarrass myself in front of.) And maybe you can offer some tidbits on old English? Or we can also work on French together? ...I think my "long story" is looking about the same as yours...