crutch

I have a Master's and have one semester of teaching experience, so I guess that might've helped. Most likely I will be turning the offer down soon, so that should open funding for at least one other person, I would think.

I received an email last week from the graduate secretary. It stated that funding would come in the form of a $15k stipend, which was part of a TAship, plus an additional $3k from a graduate fellowship. It also stated that tuition and fees were covered.

Lit - specifically 18th-century British lit.

I just received my ASU acceptance tonight via email. Anyone else here received an acceptance? I'm wondering if anyone has actually heard from the English department; I only received a very short, generic letter from graduate admissions...

Congrats, Catherinian!

I just received my rejection from BU. Apparently, they're in the process of notifying everyone that has been rejected because they don't want people to have to wait any longer. At least that's what the email implied. Good luck to everyone still waiting!

Yes, it certainly is depressing. I am probably going to end up at UCLA anyways, however. (Unless I get an outstanding offer from UVA, which I don't think is going to happen!) I've talked it over with several professors I've had in the past, and they all seem to agree that the benefits of the program, for my specific research interests, outweigh some of the negatives listed above. Plus, I'm lucky enough to have some financial assistance from a family member that is happy to give me a small amount of support to keep me afloat in LA. I realize that without that support, LA would probably not be so viable for me, and I can see how the offer isn't quite so appealing to many.

To me, it sounded more like he was just preparing some information specifically about the visiting days, and that he will be emailing out this information some time this week. I don't think it will be coming with the official acceptance letter. I'm anxious to read over my official letter as well.

I think they might actually be reimbursing expenses for the visiting days, although I'm not sure. Their graduate advisor told me he'd be sending out more information this week about the visiting days, and it sounded as though they will be covering some expenses like food, travel, etc. Again, I'm not sure, but it seemed implied. We should know for sure by week's end, though.

I live in Texas, and have for the past two years. I applied to UT and have yet to receive anything from them like what you're describing. So... maybe that's a good sign for you - I'll keep my fingers crossed for you! EDIT: I'm stupid! I'm already a resident, so my situation doesn't apply! Sorry!!!

Keep your head up, cquin. I've been told exactly the same thing as sarandipidy. No need to give up yet!

I had a hard time editing two papers down to UVA's page limit; I haven't written a 12-15 page paper in ages! So, I just said "screw it" and sent them two 20+ page papers. It was one of the last apps I submitted, and I was tired of working on apps. Obviously, I'm expecting a rejection.

Congrats, cheshirequeen!

So, to the others that have been accepted, do any of you have UCLA at the top of your list? It is actually a great fit for my interests (and I'm a fan of their job-placement record ), so they are probably my top choice right now... although that could change as I take visists, do some number crunching on living expenses, etc.

I received a letter via snail mail just yesterday, so I'd look for yours sometime this next week.

My field is Restoration and 18th-century British lit, with a focus on material culture and celebrity.

Well, I'll be brief, but here are the main things I did throughout the past year that I think have helped my applications this time around: -Got a job as an academic advisor at a middle-of-the-road university -Got a job teaching part-time as a freshman-level English instructor at a local community college However, the biggest things, I think, are those listed below: -Wrote individual purpose statements for each school to which I applied. Each statement listed faculty members I admired and works that they've done that have influenced my own methodology. I also emailed back and forth with several POIs for almost an entire year before application committees started meeting. -Wrote a completely new writing sample. My old sample was well written, but it was just going over things that scholars have known for years. For my new sample, I made sure to read book upon book upon book of the very latest criticism in my field. I then incorporated that into my sample in order to make my argument relevant to debates that are actually taking place in 18th-century studies. -I dropped one of my referees and picked up a new one. The old one wasn't in my field, while the new one is. The new referee read over all of my work from my previous master's course, critiqued it, critiqued my SoP, critiqued my writing sample, and basically just helped make everything in my package better. -I got advice from Gradcafe members! One thing I didn't do: -I didn't retake the GREs. I'll be frank: my scores on the tests are very average (630 verbal - 91st percentile, 640 subject - 82nd percentile, I think). I took both the general and the subject test over 3 years ago, before my master's course. I think I would score much higher now, but I honestly didn't have time to retake them (one full-time job, one part-time, two toddler-aged children, etc.!). One of my referees informed me that he didn't think it was a big deal and that the scores aren't nearly as important as the SoP and writing sample. He was right. I hope that helps! Keep your chin up; I know how hard it can be! Also keep in mind that sometimes it is just luck of the draw. I typed this out really quickly, so hopefully it makes sense and doesn't contain too many typos!

Wow - I'm in, too! I can't believe it... this year is SO different from my 0/14 round of apps last year!

Well, we're in two different fields (my SoP focused on the link between celebrity and material culture in 18th-century British drama), and it seems as though there were more than just 2-3 UCLA acceptances last year, so I'm going to assume that there are more on the way and that I still have a (very small) chance of acceptance. Congrats again, guys! UCLA is one of my top 3 or 4 schools - you should be quite proud of your achievements!

Hey, hey! Congrats!

Huge, huge congrats, tumtumtrees! I'm hoping to receive good news from UCLA soon as well, but I'm not counting on it. Felicity Nussbaum informed me a few months ago that they only accept (at most) one student in my field each year, so the chances just aren't very good for me. Speaking of that - what's your field, if you don't mind? If you're the same as me, I know I'm out of the running already!

The other school so far is Ohio State. I hadn't heard about the visiting session yet; I was just told that I would be receiving more concrete info via an email from Gina Bloom sometime in the next week or two. That said, I definitely plan on making the visiting weekend if at all possible (if the wife and I can find someone willing to watch two toddlers for a couple of days, that is ).

Thanks for the encouragement, Crae! I actually just got a phone call that said I was admitted to UCD, so I didn't need to worry after all.

Well, keep your chins up everyone - it looks like they're still admitting, as I just checked the website and saw that I was accepted! It's a great feeling, especially since I went 0/14 last year. I have a British master's degree, so I think I applied as a direct admit PhD, although I can't recall for sure... I may have applied for MA to PhD since my master's doesn't exactly equate to an MA...

Thanks for the info, and congrats once again! My field is Restoration and 18th-century British lit. In my SoP, I mentioned Christopher Loar, as he's done some work on violence in literature (Defoe, in specific) that I like. I've got my fingers crossed that different professors were assigned different people to call, and that many of them just haven't gotten around to it yet! (Or any number of other theories that don't involve me being rejected!) I'm trying to keep hope, but this is too reminiscent of last year, when I went 0/14. I imrpoved my writing sample and SoP, did much more research on schools and where I'd fit, etc., but I still worry that it's going to be another year of all rejects!