bpilgrim89

I think the "checking for continued interest" emails are because the schools are expecting to get final decisions from the first round of applicants this week. They want to make sure that they can move as quickly as possible, so they can try to let people know by April 15th in case other people have offers. That doesn't mean it will go as planned, but again, this is all the professorial gossip I've got!

There are still plenty of people out there holding on for the waitlist, including myself! I'm sure most of us are just being silent because according to my professors, the real movement happens in that final run up to April 15th and even – ugh – after April 15th.

In terms of the "feel" or "intra-department dynamics" aspects of it, I don't know as I have not been to the ASW yet. I do know that their cohorts are larger than the average PhD program with roughly 18-20 people in each year, meaning there are about ~100 graduate students at the GC. I also know CUNY's Graduate Center is pretty highly regarded for its strong emphasis on cultural studies. Their main-line faculty are all in gender studies, postcolonial studies, critical race studies, etc. They have consortial faculty, i.e. their employment is hosted at other colleges, that teach at the Graduate Center as well, so periodization seems doable. As someone intensely interested in period (eighteenth-centuryist!), this will be something I will be asking about at the open house. Their funding package: nationally, it's very nice with five years of $26k with Y1 teaching free, and Y2-Y5 1:1 teaching load. However, it is not as competitive for its ranking since similarly ranked schools like Rutgers and NYU have much less teaching (usually only two to three years, not four). Other schools are also a little bit more generous by maybe $1-$3k a year, but that's not a deal breaker in terms of difference. Plus, New York is expensive and 26k seems hard to live on for this city. I will also be looking into conference funding, but I get the impression it is competitive. (If someone knows better, please chime in!) Placement: it seems comparable with similarly ranked schools, perhaps even a little bit better? This is much harder to gauge though. But as others have noted, that consortium is something else since Columbia, Princeton, Rutgers, and NYU are all very close. (Columbia and NYU more so, but Princeton and Rutgers seem manageable for a once-a-week seminar.)

Day 3,928: Still no rejection letter from NYU.

Since my letter-writers are also my thesis panel, I am getting them a larger gift, but in the past, I got people: fancier chocolates, spirits/wine, and even a decorative item that rings true of our relationship. And of course a nice thank you card, whether it be handmade or made of really nice material like cotton paper. I think that's the most important part of the "thank you," especially since we're all such hyper-literate folk. Whether or not you get them a gift (or can afford to because let's be real about that!), the main gesture here is to be heartfelt and thoughtful with your gratitude, and for most of us, writing is the best way to do that.

I do hope you're right. I had thought that was just for interviews. Either way, I need to devote all of my remaining hope to Penn's waitlist, so I will remain pessimistic and be happily surprised if proven wrong!

Thank you so much for the clarity! I am going to think that. There could still be waitlist decisions, but acceptances on the portal seem like a wave notice instead of a one-by-one notice.

Congratulations!!! Would you mind tell us if it's an informal email from a POI or an official offer letter from the DGS? Either way, it looks like you might not be the only one!

There is still hope for the waitlist! People do manage to get off of them! I too am trying to get off of one (though I have since gotten one other acceptance.) I decided to write a "letter of continued interest," where in two very short paragraphs I 1) affirm my interest in the program, i.e. telling them they are my first choice for graduate study, 2) relay notice about my other offer, and 3) update them about any additions to my CV. I don't know how much of a difference it will make, but I think being enthusiastic and concise is crucial.

Such, such good news!!!

I have asked for placement data, and I get mixed responses depending on the department. But I also think their response to that question is important! A department should at the very least be transparent with admitted students about how the current ones fare in post-graduate outcomes. Instead of asking directly, I also try "Does the department keep statistical data about graduate placement, and if so, is that information accessible to admitted students?" If they don't share the data, that tells me something. If they don't keep the data, that tells me something else. If they do offer the information, that tells me something too. If they do offer data, here is Princeton's (which is blessedly publicly accessible!) It should give you an idea of what the higher end of placement looks like: https://english.princeton.edu/graduate/program/job-placement/job-placement-statistics-1995-present

As someone who is in a funded MA program, I want to second the "please be careful about unfunded MAs" sentiment. An MA in English/Rhetoric guarantees you nothing - maybe even less than nothing! Taking out a sizable amount of debt for that is terrifying to me personally, but if you had a clear, concrete plan for that MA where all paths did not necessarily lead to academia, then it might be worth it. If your goal is a PhD, there is plenty you could do to bolster your application that does not include taking thousands of dollars out in loans. You could take one or two courses (which would be significantly cheaper!) You could rewrite your SOP and WS. You could retake the GREs. You could get new LORs. Last round, I was lucky enough to have a professor on an adcom tell me with pretty brutal honesty what was wrong with my application. For me, concerns were raised about my GPA, so additional coursework was needed. Even if you're not that lucky, you can still ask your recommenders to do an "autopsy" and see where the problems might be. If, however, you're independently wealthy, then of course do as you please! If not, think carefully about that unfunded MA and what you would get out of it.

I so admire your courage! I can barely manage to compose an email to my advisor, let alone cold-call another university's English department!

Huh, I haven't heard anything, and my decision page still says ND, though I am sure I am rejected as well. And there haven't been a lot of rejections posted to the Results board. I wonder what's going on.

I think what matters more is post-graduate outcome. How does the department track what happens to its students once they graduate? If they track placement (and placement matters to you), will they give you numbers/names of institutions? How about the students who do not go on to teach at the university-level? What do they do, and how do they measure the success of what happens to their students? Most departments will at the very least have a "spotlight" section where star candidates are highlighted, but that is more for marketing. How a department follows post-graduate outcomes will show you whether the department cares about what happens to you after you graduate and how much help they will provide in finding you somewhere to go.

I would also emphasize the natural rushed-ness of an MA. It's only two years. It goes by so quickly! I also think how the department is structured matters. The institution I attend only has the MA program, so there are no doctoral students who would take up valuable faculty time. There may be departments that have both MA and PhD programs and give enough support to all, but I believe attending a program where the faculty were fully devoted to the MA program made all the difference for my study.

Someone posted a Rutgers rejection, so I am wondering if today is when that floodgate opens?

In other news, I got my official acceptance from CUNY today for anyone still waiting on this. It also looks like WLs were released.

If I had more reacts, I would up this, but I am out. So, all I can say is yes!

In all honesty, they are a great scholar who will do amazing work no matter which program they end up in. They just also need a lesson in self-awareness, but I am sure that's obvious from the post. And is also true of many academics tbh!

Unfortunately, I've known people like that (or at least people who get into the same constellation of schools). Good luck to whoever ends up in a program with them!!!!

To the first item, I totally empathize with that (finishing up my thesis is feeling like an impossible task) but I also think that's the academia cycle. An initial stage of enthusiasm, then solid working progress, and then finally the "Oh my God, can this please be over??" stage. At least, that's how I work! As for Jersey, don't believe the hype, i.e. criticism. I have lived in New Jersey, and despite all the hate it gets, it's actually a lovely space. There's a reason why it's called the Garden State! You get NYC and Philly being so close, but at the same time, there is so much greenery and lovely parks abound!

I don't know, but I am asking myself the very same questions!! Both in the past have notified over the course of a few days, but this year, they both seem to be more centered on a single day. If I don't hear anything from them tomorrow, I am chalking them both up as rejections.

So Yale has this weird website which seems like the best resource I have seen. It's a little dated (Top US 30 Rankings here include Chicago down at #9!) but importantly, it's divided up by assistant, associate, and professor. So, you can see who is producing a lot of assistant professors, i.e. their most recent placements. Also, this is by raw number. For example, Johns Hopkins might seem lower with their placement, but you have to keep in mind the size of their graduate class is tiny as well. I know this isn't helpful for those applying outside of these arbitrary rankings, but for any of you who are, this might be of some use.

I am always SO excited to see people read TS. It is insanity - in such a good way! Any book that starts with the narrator detailing his conception is going to be a wild ride! I just finished Vanity Fair, and I like Becky Sharp way more than I should. Maybe it's because I also want to contemptuously throw Samuel Johnson's Dictionary out a window.