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This might be incredibly naive, but I can't imagine Yale accepting James Franco just because he is James Franco. UCLA or USC maybe, but Yale? Come on. Imagine the AdCom meeting: "OMG OMG I want to be on his thesis committee!" "I LOVED him in Tristan and Isolde!" "Well, I wrote a paper about the construction, deconstruction, and subversion of queer/religious binaries in Milk..." I can imagine, though, that life must be pretty awesome for people with enough money to hire private tutors for the GRE and GRE Lit, professional editors for their writing sample, etc etc. Oh, the infinite benefits of being wealthy...

I think being honest will go a long way here. Just tell them that you are still waiting for other schools, and ask whether or not they will release you from your contract if you get in somewhere that is a better fit. (Obviously ask this in a very tactful manner - "I'm so excited about your program, but I am still weighing other options, etc.") I have done this, and received a very good response. The competition was so strong this year, it's not like they don't have other students lined up who would love to go to their program... and they want students who are excited to be there, not students who were held there by some legal maneuver.

I am thinking along the same lines as yglesias. At one of my schools, at least six people would have to decline before I get in, even though I am the first person on the waitlist. And that is if everything works out with their budget - they are not sure how many students they can afford to fund yet. Another school made it clear that the waitlist is mostly an insurance policy for them - the secretary told me that they are worried that the UC budget crisis will make more people decline than in previous years. That said, I am on the waitlist for three of the four schools I applied to: UCLA, UC Irvine, and UC Riverside. (Because of my husband's job I am limited to SoCal schools.) It would be nice to hear from anyone declining one of these schools, just to keep my spirits up, though I know it might not come to anything

When I was applying I met with the chair of a top ten English department. In the course of the conversation, he asked about my GPA and GRE scores. When I started to tell him my math scores, he interrupted me, laughed, and said that they didn't care about the math score at all. I was surprised, I thought it would at least make some difference... I even studied for it, since I haven't taken a math class since junior year of high school. Time wasted, apparently!

I am also waitlisted thrice, with no offers. WOW I hope one of these comes through for me.

Obviously this is just my opinions, but I think with the humanities you can never be too careful about the future job market. People from great programs have trouble getting a good job... so, top 100 seems like an unnecessary risk in your situation. It will definitely change your job prospects later, no matter how great the "fit" was. Besides, if option one is ranked first in your subfield, it has got to be a pretty good fit too, right? If I were in your shoes (haha, wish I was!) and assuming your partner's school in option 1 is also a good fit for him/her, I would definitely go for option one. You live in a lame area with a lame commute for a few years, but if those few years give you more options for the rest of your life... well... could be worth the sacrifice.

I grew up in El Paso, and my brother graduated from UTEP. I have lots of family still in the area. It is an interesting place... lots of culture, lots of delicious Mexican food. (Griggs! Rancho Escondido! Find these restaurants!) It is an inexpensive place to live generally, but it is definitely important to live in a nicer area of the city. Recently a lot of crime is being exported across the border. It is a really ugly city... very dry, very hot. In Star Wars, it would definitely be that desert planet where they found Anakin. Don't go if you need a nice ambiance to survive, unless you have a thing for deserts, dust storms, and rock walls. My brother really enjoyed UTEP, made a lot of friends there, and even met his wife there. He said the atmosphere was very friendly, relaxed, and down-to-earth. The nightlife is pretty sleazy, especially in Juarez. El Paso is also a quaint little liberal stronghold in the vastly conservative Texas, if that matters to you.

This process is so incredibly stressful - applying, waiting, being rejected, being waitlisted, and even being accepted and trying to figure out where you should enroll. I have felt isolated and anxious since the day I registered for the GRE and started working on my writing sample. So - how are you feeling? How are you dealing with whatever circumstances you are in? Happy stories are welcome too :-) Just thought I would ask.

I am siting on one rejection, two waitlists, and one school that still hasn't notified me either way. From what I've heard, the best thing to do is call the school and ask if there is anything you can do to increase your chances of being accepted from the waitlist. If they will accept any addition information, they will tell you. Also, if they are your top choice, tell them so. I wouldn't email professors unless they say it would help - you don't want to look shady. Both of my schools said that there is nothing to do but sit and wait. At this point they have already ranked everyone based on their original applications. One school told me that the chances of being accepted go up after April 15th - in other words, the people higher than you on the waitlist may have taken other offers by then, so if you are the last person still uncommitted, you might have the best chance. Clearly this won't be a problem for me since I don't have any offers to accept Honestly, I think that this is emotionally harder than the original waiting period. I have no idea how likely it is that I will be taken from either list, and I can't bring myself to ask. At least before I felt really prepared for rejection. Being on the waitlist is agonizingly hopeful.

I just had a conversation with one of my UG profs about this, so, passing on the advice: It is important to look at your job prospects from either school, and ask them what they do to help you prepare for the job market. She had great funding at an Ivy, but ended up not getting a tenure track job for a long time in part because she never really received any help from her advisors. Academia is a jungle - you need a program that goes out of its way to help your prospects after graduation. Ask where recent graduates have been hired. Prestige does not always mean the program is very supportive. On the other hand, it would obviously be foolish to take more money in the short-term if it hurts your financial prospects later. The cost of living in either area will also obviously make a difference... a small stipend in Virginia beats a huge stipend in Manhattan. More advice from the same prof - keep in mind that being a TA or (especially) an RA can be an asset in the job market. Obviously you do not want to be worrying about bills and you need to be able to have a reasonable standard of living. However, if you want to be a professor, being a TA is not a waste of time. Also - absolutely agree with rising star. Sometimes visiting makes all the difference.

There is a post in the Literature folder addressing this topic, though I don't think any current students have weighed in yet. I can second prolixity from personal experience. UCLA English implemented a waitlist this year rather than risk accepting too many people and then not being able to fund them. Unless they were lying to spare my feelings, they aren't even sure if they can afford their normal class size this year.

USC let me know on a Friday evening at about eight o'clock. My husband and I were celebrating Valentine's day early because he works on Sundays... and then rejection from my second choice school in the middle of the date. The people in the movie theater must have thought I was extremely sensitive to the deep, heart-wrenching themes in "Valentine's Day." UCLA told me I was waitlisted at about 4:30 p.m. After a whole day of watching acceptances post on this site, it was really nice to hear something.

One thing to keep in mind - Berkeley has a great reputation and a great job placement rate. In my opinion, having to take out a small loan for the first two years at Berkeley would be a better bet than going to a lesser-known school with worse job prospects after graduation. You might be poorer in the short-term, but it could save you from perpetual adjunctdom.

I'm also on the waitlist. UCLA is my #1 choice... and I only applied to four schools. I would like to call and ask a million questions - what my chances are, when I should know for sure, how many people have to commit elsewhere in order for me to make it in. Does anyone have any advice for waitlist etiquette? I don't want to be a pest, but it sure would be nice to know some details.

The 38 might not be so far off: http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/asis/progprofile/result.asp?selectmajor=0345 I still haven't heard anything... and I second the request for any accepted or rejected to post approximately where you are in the alphabet. I am near the end, so I hope that it is not alphabetical!

Yeah, the guy said that they "should" start notifying today. He was not very definite. I won't be surprised if nothing comes up until later this week... though that will probably not keep me from checking the site multiple times today.

Just thought I would let you guys know - I called and asked last week, and the UCLA secretary told me that they should start releasing decisions tomorrow.

I was one of the rejections. I applied after the priority deadline and barely before the final deadline. Hope this helps.

I heard this question posed to an admissions panel (with reps from Claremont humanities and UCLA, USC, UCI, and UCR English), in the form of "I did badly on the AW but don't have time to retake. Should I address the AW in my SOP?" All of the reps said that a bad AW will just make them look harder at your writing sample and SOP, and they basically advised the girl to make sure those were really strong to balance out the AW score. UCLA, which is known for putting a lot of emphasis on test scores, also said that the Verbal and GRE Lit are much more important to them. (Also interesting: UCLA said they do not even look at the math.) So, anyways, I thought that might help. A bad AW will not break an application if all your other ducks are in a row.

To confirm what mastermind said - I called, and they told me that no one will hear back until late February or early March. They received a lot more applications than in previous years, so it is taking more time to sort through them. So, sorry allegheny, making it this far doesn't mean we're in. I wish it were true, though!