EmmaJava

I'm with you. Still on four waitlists, here, still no movement.

Exactly.

And oh yes these: - I could not for the life of me complete the ASU application on account of having no earthly idea how to navigate their online system; and, - After UC Berkeley and Santa Barbara, I abandoned all other UC applications on account of what a complete nightmare.

With the smoke clearing somewhat, I've had a little more time to reflect on exactly what has transpired since oh, say, Thanksgiving. And to my surprise, I have recently realized that all the heaviness of experience that is applying to PhD programs in English is actually laced with a solid dose of ironic humor - for me, anyway, and I hope this is the case for others. Here are some things I only just realized: - I completely forgot to apply to UMD. This, after openly soliciting the UMD-ers here and even at the encouragement of the UMD-ers here I literally wrote to, and got a favorable reply from, Professor Gerard Passannante. Unbelievable. I used to see this kind of anecdote posted on these boards and think, "gah, what a mess that applicant must be, I can't imagine being so disorganized." Yet, here I am. I totally forgot to make that application, it's that simple. - I completely forgot to apply to Indiana. I am using three Indiana scholars prominently in my work and am likely to have a peer-reviewed success based on their theory, and yet, I did not complete this application. C.f. UMD, above. - I was rejected by a program in which one of my three recommenders was the acting DGS. Yep, that happened. - I took the GRE subject test and completely fucking bombed it - all the way bombed it. Like, I would have scored higher by choosing C for every answer. The only reason I took this test was to apply to UC-SB. And I'm on their waitlist. - I have just checked it out, and yes, what I'm about to tell you is truth: in my acceptances and waitlists, I dispensed entirely with the vaunted "fit paragraph" in my SOP. Some TGC-ers may remember my post during application season in which I claimed to go full-on research-focus in my SOP, and not try to read the minds of ad-coms in terms of fitting in. Well, this was a half-truth, and anywhere that I did make an attempt to claim good fit, I failed. I even had a mentor tell me that my OSU SOP was "well pitched" and that I had "described a perfect fit." OSU was my first rejection and I haven't had anyone accept me except those who never saw a fit paragraph. And...between waitlists and acceptances, that's 6 schools. Sooooo...anyone else with some great outtakes or bloopers? The idea is to lighten things up, in the spirit of getting your mind off the March lull, and to laugh. Fire away.

Awesome, bhr. If you don't mind, can I ask what this looks like - are you asking for a higher stipend, for example, or fellowship dollars, or something else? And how are you entering into this dialogue? I feel compelled to negotiate as well but wouldn't want to risk my offers or shoot myself in the foot. I'm guessing I'll be pointed over to another negotiation thread somewhere, but if you're willing to share any wisdom, I'll be grateful. And if it's none of my business and you don't want to answer this, I would get that, too, but thought it worth asking.

The March lull indeed! It's like my damn email is broken. Nothing is happening. Or - "nothing ever happens":

Interesting stuff. I applied to Boulder mostly out of a sense of obligation, which was easy enough considering how mind-numbingly gorgeous the campus is, how amazing Boulder is as a community and a geography, that they let PhD students teach sections of Modern & Contemporary, that I know it like the back of my hand, and that I have a home and a family and a life in the area. Given all of that it probably would have felt even weirder not to apply even as I simultaneously admit it not being the best fit for doctoral work (notice that I didn't mention any specific faculty), and expressing some relief about not getting in. All in all, this was by far my strangest application and I'm glad it's over. As to this recent streak about rankings and placements - I subscribe wholeheartedly to the almost silent school of thought that would have all of us kick as much ass as humanly possible. How this isn't discussed more is beyond me, so let me loudly proclaim it: Do incredible work. Not good work, not solid work - every single one of us should strive for a masterpiece in every single classroom post, comment, every single critical bibliography, every single book review, conference paper, abstract, prospectus, seminar paper, or dissertation. I believe that any one of us can reach the top, but not without absolute commitment to craft. This goes beyond "hard work" to obsession. This will sound over the top, but I don't know how to get around it, I see it as the only way, and I believe that would be true of a student at any top-10 school as well as a student at any unranked school, and everything in between. Our writing must be magical, it must be crystalline, it must be transcendent. It must be a game-changer. My feeling is that if you find this kind of rhetoric embarrassing or silly or whatever, it's not going to work out, and rankings won't matter in any case. Sorry if this is a little soapbox-y, but I am bewildered that I've had exactly one (1) mentor preach this advice, and he did it and continues to do it tooth and nail, and I don't see how he's wrong, or even out of proportion. It never came up in a proseminar or any other kind of advisor-mentor meeting. I don't hear students or faculty talking about it. How totally peculiar. I say, let's ball and wreck shop and fucking kill it. If nothing else, we'll be living the dream.

Totally! Couldn't have said it better, you took the words out of my mouth. My application to Boulder was basically for appearances' sake (it's complicated). But I'm glad to not have to agonize over it, and to be super honest with myself I'm probably not a good fit there, anyway - my MA notwithstanding. I'm one step closer to being able to make a decision and get on with the business of figuring it all out.

I have 2 masters degrees. My first was in a different field, not right for me. When I made the decision to switch to English Lit, I thought I'd be able to apply straight to PhD programs (what with my other masters and all), but that turned out to be mostly not so doable, and I was happy to get the advice to pursue an MA in English first. I feel like this gave me the foundation I needed to keep going for the PhD in English. But from what I can see, this situation is different from yours because I switched fields (??). You mention your MA in humanities/social sciences - was this a degree in English, or would you be switching fields, too? I don't want to say that I'm the expert here, but my inclination is to echo ExponentialDecay's suggestion that a second MA in the same field would be redundant, whereas if you're really switching gears into a new field then I don't think it's redundant at all. Just my instinct, though.

Yes, I applied for the PhD in English at CU Boulder. And yes, I believe that HumanCylinder is correct that they only accept 4-ish students each year, so also not holding my breath on that one. More curious than anything. Thanks to both of you and to DaniB23 for the update as well. March 15 sounds like a long way off when I consider the time line for making a firm decision and a commitment and, you know, planning the next half decade of my life, so these later notifications may well be timing themselves out of the process anyway. A spot opening on the waitlist from UC SB or Virginia? Definitely worth waiting for. Just about anything else? It gets harder to justify.

Yo, HumanCylinder - any word from CU Boulder? I haven't heard a peep.

Just got into Purdue w/ a TA-ship! The waitlist situation is now much easier to deal with...still wouldn't mind seeing one or more of those turn into a true offer, but meanwhile this along with Hawaii really takes the edge off. Whew.

Sorry, that last post was weird, I couldn't exit the box that had the text I was quoting, so I just hit submit to clear it out. Anyway, just wanted to say kia ora to the Kiwi, and congratulations and welcome to 'Murica. I spent some good time down in Dunedin and have been to Auckland as recently as May. Good luck with the international education experience, that's a really cool undertaking.

I love him. I've read roughly half of his novels, and I took a workshop with him at CU Boulder. Best. Workshop. Ever. Happy roadtripping, happy reading.

@HumanCylinder - thanks! And look at you, with offers across the American Southwest (and TX, which is a sort of overlapping outlier). I hope you read some Peter Heller, Rebecca Solnit, and Stephen Graham Jones. They are geographically critical, yo.

Funded offer from Hawaii, and now I'm drinking Hawaiian beers like a boss and a champ and marveling at the prospects of island life. Online, of course... ...I...am...IN! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! If there are any Hawaii-attending lurkers out there that would like to connect, I would be grateful. I'm considering a trip out there in early June, too, to figure out the ol' living situation, see the campus and the department, etc etc etc. Thanks in advance.

Fair enough, but I think the perspective needs to be broader across a range of schools. For your prompt and helpful person who answered one way, there are...eh, the others. I'm on three waitlists and I am experiencing a full spectrum. My experience on one of those waitlists matches what you're saying here, but I have learned quickly that it totally varies. Likewise, you may have been the department's 6th, 7th, or 8th choice for a given program, but I know that I'm one department's 13th, 14th, of 15th choice. Some schools take in 18-20 PhDs depending on the year and cycle. Some take less than 4. I know of one school that accepts around 10-ish but offers funding to about half of them. Some committees reconvene, but there are others in which a lone DGS has full reign after decisions are made as to how waitlisters receive their offers. I realize you were probably just speaking to your specific case, firstsummerinthesierras, but just to temper here in case people read your post as somehow definitive. Full disclosure: I originally did read it that way (definitively, that is), and then realized you probably didn't mean it that way, so - yeah, just in case this is helpful at all. If not, please feel free to downvote me, throw me out, kick me to the curb, spit on me, stomp on my kneecaps, and call the cops. Oh, and hey. I'm now part of the acceptance club with a funded offer at U of Hawaii Manoa (!!!!!!!!!). And here I shall take great relish in updating my signature, posting on the acceptance chain, and soliciting some Hawaiian love. Please note that I still profess my undying devotion to this thread as my three waitlists are truly amazing fits and would pose quite the decision-making scenarios. Plus I may not only gain from this thread but perhaps even help others, too, once people know how my own situation shakes out. I will stay current, here, y'all. I beseech any accepted people at UC Santa Barbara, UVA, or Mizzou to please for the love of everything holy please please please please say if/when they decline any of these offers.

Double.

Congratulations and thanks for the intel. My hopes are still alive at UVic.

Sometimes you gotta just Hold on, hold onYou really got to hold onTake my hand, I'm standing right hereAnd just hold on

Speaking of Canadian schools - anyone willing to claim the UVic acceptance posted earlier today? And if so, can you say whether you applied to the CSPT concentration? Thanks in advance!

To be totally fair to you, opuskyle, I'm not sure we have enough information about your situation to really weigh in just yet, and these very well-intentioned posts are frankly making me a little uncomfortable on your behalf. There's some talk about how to move forward, as you solicited, but there are also some underlying assumptions bound up in this talk that, if they were directed toward me (and my situation), would probably be more depressing than helpful. For example, the advice about pursuing an MA could be good, sure...unless you already have an MA. In which case you probably want to light something on fire or punch a hole in a wall. The advice about retooling your application could be good, sure...unless you've already done so and you're in some cycle other than your first one already. In which case you probably want to scream into a pillow. There are comments pertaining to embarrassment as well, which are dicey to say the least. Granted, you solicited it, but let's get some further info so that we don't unwittingly and in good faith drive you out of your hopes and dreams forever. I may be a little extra sensitive, here, because I've been tempted to post something similar and have had some pretty severe ups and downs the last few weeks/months - which is to say, I can relate - goodness, more than relate - and I could have well been the one posting what you posted. Verbatim. Those could have been my words, and had I received the comments you did - and even understanding how well-intentioned they are - I'd either go completely bonkers or else set the record straight pretty quick. I invite you to do the same. Now, even if you are getting comments that accurately reflect your situation (a decent possibility, sure), I have more to say. I need to go ahead and disagree with the notion that a stranger can't or won't or shouldn't comfort you on an anonymous board. For all the talk about support and encouragement and all the warm fuzzies that I constantly see spouted around here, and the rhetoric about this website having the potential of a supportive and helpful community, fairness demands that it goes both ways, and you don't have to be intimate with anyone to commiserate. Period. And so, opuskyle, I commiserate! The plain fact is that this is a brutal process, and I say that if you want to wallow in self-pity for however long, you're well within your rights to do so. I may even join you! Just understand that it will only be productive to the extent that it's a function of how you process things, and to keep it within those parameters. Me? I need a good bout of letting it all out in order to move forward. It's not rational, but it is productive. Be safe, but yeah - throw on some Tom Waits or Beck or whatever and get drunk if you need to. Go on a hard run. Find a punching bag. Have a root beer float and a cue up a movie marathon. Etc. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that these might be good ideas even for those of us hoping that it's not yet over. What the hell? What's it gonna hurt to go on some comfort bender only to get accepted sometime in April? I say, let it rip! The other academic fields have spawned various incarnations of "venting" threads, and perhaps you'll find some good info or an outlet or material to help process on one or more of those. Or maybe you want to create one for this field (or bump a past one, surely there are any number of dormant ones full of heart-wrenching stories...). Or maybe all of this is in itself presumptuous and unwelcome/unhelpful, but that just brings me back to my point - I am nervous about the commentary you've received given what we know of your story, and I hope you'll appreciate my humble gesture of solidarity in recognizing the relative unknown of your personal situation. I know that for myself, a total shut-out this round would be it for me, for a lot of reasons, and as excellent points are being made about how this doesn't have to be the case for everyone, it does have to be the case for me. Whether it is the case for you, or not, I think depends on a lot of stuff that we have no idea about, based on your post. Anyway. Best of luck, here's genuinely hoping that something comes through for you!

No movement yet, too early. Here's the kind of stuff getting me by - in the immortal words of Guns n Roses, Said, woman, take it slowIt'll work itself out fineAll we need is just a little patienceSaid, sugar, make it slowAnd we come together fineAll we need is just a little patience(patience)Mm, yeah

I love this. And thanks for the rest of your reply, too, that's a really poignant post. Congratulations.