solomonski

I'm certain of nothing, of course, but they did send me a waitlist notification several weeks back. Maybe they just do everything in waves? By the by, I also got admitted to U Michigan Ann Arbor today! Yay!~ (And rejected from Brown! Booooo!)

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, letting others move in off the waitlist is also a major factor of this whole thing. So, when you say that it might be prudent to let School A know I have the School B offer, do you think that's the kind of thing that would be well-conveyed by an email saying something like "hey, I'm very impressed, but I've got this offer from School B and want to be fair to them, so I'm waiting until after I visit them to make anything official," or better handled in some other way?

Hi all. I'm hoping to get a little bit of insight into the process of accepting offers from grad schools. My main question is: is it normal to keep a school waiting for another two weeks or so after visiting? I've got a visit to my top choice school shortly (School A) and if everything goes well there, I'd love to accept right away. However, I had already bought tickets to visit School B - also a very good school and a program I want to give a fair shot - about two weeks later. If (assuming the visit works out) I delay accepting at School A for those two weeks, is that a normal thing? I don't want to give School A the impression I'm not into them. If it turns out I do want to accept at School A, would it be useful to send them an email saying "I'm very interested, will likely accept, but I want to be fair to this other program," or is that just a total faux pas somehow? Also, is there any RISK that is associated with waiting like that? For instance, an offer changing because of a bunch of other people accepting or whatever? Just want a little insight to see me through this.

Nah, I totally get that. Get away from brooding/dwelling on the situation for a bit by distracting yourself with something totally unrelated and it should help; works for me, anyway.

I think you have nothing to worry about. From the way you described that conversation to me, it just sounded like he was trying to convey that he's committed to helping you, regardless of what other obligations he has. It really does, honestly, come across like a conversation one would have with a prof with whom one has a good relationship. I get the worry - I only feel like a stammering fool when I have meetings with professors I really respect but I sincerely think - from what you described - there's no occasion for worry.

What are those interests, if you don't mind me asking? This whole process really confirms for me that FIT truly is the most important thing. I've got good scores, solid application, great recs as well, and it seems what has made the difference is that my acceptances have come from places that are interested in doing the kind of projects I mentioned, and the rejections have come from places where they didn't feel that would be very well supported.

Damn, man! So what is that now -- Duke Lit, UChicago, Vanderbilt, now Brown?? You must have had one hell of an application!

Whoa, looks like some Brown English results are starting to come in! For anyone who has applied to Brown, did you ever get a link to some kind of application status checking site? Or are you just checking the "status" on ApplyWeb? I got emails saying they received my application, but never any kind of link to anywhere to check a status, so I've just been using ApplyWeb.

I got notified today about being recommended to their MA program. Not an outright rejection, far from an acceptance!

Seconding the opinion that you try to find out what some of the current threads of scholarship are in your area of interest. It'll get you up to speed on the ongoing "conversations" and also help you think about where you can jump into that conversation. Though of course there's also something to be said for reading for nothing but pleasure; I barely have time for it as an undergrad and I imagine that's only going to get worse in grad school. Maybe take advantage of your comparatively free time while you can!

As I mentioned in another thread, I'm just finishing undergrad there myself and have strong relationships with a number of professors. While I don't know the ins and outs of the grad school experience (of course), I'm also willing to answer general questions about the department if need be (in addition to whatever info silenus can provide).

I'm finishing up undergrad in the English Honors program at UT Austin and have a pretty good relationship with a number of faculty if anyone wants to shoot me some questions about the program!

Hrmm. I would always say hold out hope til that hope is officially squashed. I can tell you, however, they've already made arrangements to bring people in for the visiting weekend, and that it's happening rather soon. Note this is for the English department; not sure about Literature.

That was me! I'm not sure what questions I have beyond the typical ones, but I'd love to hear your overall thoughts on the place!

Also congrats to whoever got the WUSTL acceptance!

Waitlisted at Vanderbilt! Got an email with a bunch of positive comments; legitimately feels like an honor!

Don't lose hope on hearing back from those Ph.D programs if that's what you want; it's still early! But that said, if you do end up going into an MA, I think you'll have an even easier time folding stuff like the writing sample into your MA work than I did my BA work. I think a majority of people coming from an MA use part of their thesis as the sample?

Heya. I'm not exactly the kind of respondent you were asking for (no MA), but I have gotten a few Ph.D acceptances so far, and I did the application process during my last semesters of undergrad, in a program where I'm writing a lengthy independent thesis, so there are some similarities. In any case, hopefully this might be helpful: 1.) In my case, only about a month or two in advance of the Subject Test, but I've known people that start up to a year in advance. The trick is having had sufficient breadth of coursework already; if you've taken in-depth classes that hit all the major historical periods of English literature, you're going to have a big advantage. It probably helps to have had a course or two that focused on theory as well. In my case, I just studied on my own, using some of the commonly recommended study aids. I found two online sources to be of more use than reading the Norton cover to cover: (http://lasr.cs.ucla.edu/alison/hapaxlegomena/TheList.html is good but I found it better to re-order the flash cards chronologically, and https://vademecumgre.wordpress.com/ was tremendously helpful). 2.) No experience here. 3.) I submitted my applications at the same time as multiple seminar papers and exams were due, so I know it can be pretty rough (although, again, I'm referring to an undergrad honors program (with thesis), not an MA). The SOP is just something I had to cobble together in my spare time, but when it came to a writing sample, I was fortunate enough to be able to overlap my efforts with a seminar paper for one of my courses. In other words, I had a paper due at the end of the semester in one of my seminars, and asked the prof if I could tailor it towards a certain topic that was relevant to what I talked about studying in my SOP with the intention of using it as a writing sample. She was very supportive of this, and even met with me twice to give me feedback on it not just as the major paper for her course, but *as a writing sample* as well. This let me take down a major part of the application process without it seeming like "extra work." 4.) I absolutely asked multiple professors to read my sample, including two beyond the prof of the class I wrote it in. They were, however, both professors with whom I have a very good relationship and kept in regular contact after my classes with them, with whom I'd previously been forthcoming about my plans to apply to graduate school, and for whom I had demonstrated a willingness to "put in the work." Because of this, I think they must have felt slightly more invested in my efforts than they would have if I just approached them out of nowhere. Still and all, it never hurts to ask. Just be polite in your request, make it plain you know that they're not obligated and would be doing you a big favor, and the worst that can happen is they say no! Anyway, I hope that information is helpful!

Hrmmmm, I didn't get a phone call at all (yet), just an official email (including funding offer), but there's no mention of the visiting weekend in it! Ah well, they mentioned having one during my interview (although not the date), so I'm sure we'll both hear soon enough.

Congrats! That has to be gratifying. Who'd your interview end up being with, if you don't mind my asking? When I sent in my own Lit app (I applied to both Eng and Lit), I was terrified at the prospect of having to talk to Jameson. I kept thinking it'd be like that scene in Annie Hall, and he'd just blurt out, "YOU KNOW NOTHING OF MY WORK!" Did they mention anything about the visiting weekend to you yet?

Congrats on Vanderbilt, @haltheincandescent ! I've got an app in there as well, but haven't heard anything one way or the other. Same goes for Northwestern, from which folks were also getting calls yesterday apparently. If Duke hadn't gotten back to me yesterday, I dunno if I could have survived the weekend kicking off with what seems like two "soft rejections"....

Thanks! Yeah, I hope so too. My interview was last Friday, so it seems it took about seven days. I was worried at first because I just got an email saying "check the site for your decision," which I had sort of conditioned myself into believing was a sure sign of rejection. Hands were shaking by the time I clicked on "view decision."

OH MY GOD I GOT INTO DUKE

Yeah, that about sums up my investigations as well. My only concern with this school would be monetary, as the cost of living seems astronomically high and the DGS suggested that fellowships are extremely rare with over 90% of funding coming in the form of TA-ships. This is apparently the case for most UC schools?

Yep, PhD (well, hopefully a PhD anyway) here! Good luck to you; I think MA decisions almost always come later than PhD?