anxiousphd

If you are unable to find gainful employment at your university, I suggest working at a community college. I currently have a job as a tutor at a local community college, and it affords me access to the basic databases (JSTOR, MLA, Ebscohost, etc.).

Maybe you could talk about the benefits of doing a terminal MA before the PhD. You could also mention a potential thesis topic, and explain how that would later on extend into a dissertation.

FWIW, when I applied to Georgetown two years ago, I was accepted in late April after I had already written them off and accepted another offer. My guess is that they use an unofficial waitlist. Though it's certainly possible that you might, when I was accepted that late it was without funding.

I'm on the waitlist at Duquesne! This isn't my first non-rejection and I am so excited. I desperately want to get in off the waitlist, but regardless I finally know that I'm at least a competitive applicant!

@FeetInTheSky The helpful document @eatthatbee shared also states: "In those instances in which a student accepts an offer before April 15, and subsequently desires to withdraw that acceptance, the student may submit in writing a resignation of the appointment at any time through April 15. However, an acceptance given or left in force after April 15 commits the student not to accept another offer without first obtaining a written release from the institution to which a commitment has been made." So, I would guess that you could accept your UNL offer by their deadline and then withdraw your acceptance if you get into UMASS any time before April 15th.

Congratulations! Have you thought about letting UNL know about your situation? Perhaps they would offer you some flexibility. Also, do you know if you would be funded at UMass if you did get off the waitlist? If not, then you may want to accept at UNL anyway.

I wonder where the kind of attitude your friends seem to have comes from. Perhaps it may be in part because our culture glorifies weddings to an unreasonable degree. People think that their wedding is the most important day of their lives, and maybe it is for them. I've definitely experienced hostility from some people who care deeply about getting married, and take it as some sort of insult that I don't care whether or not I get married (even if I express sincere excitement for them, etc.). I also think people who don't want to go to grad school often think that those of us who do are just trying to defer 'the real world'-- I even know people who have applied to Master's programs claiming they just weren't ready to leave college. I'm sure they had a rude awakening when they found out grad school is not by any means just a couple more years of undergrad. Ignore me if you just needed to vent, but have you tried asking your friends why they seem dismissive of your accomplishment and your need to deliberate your options? It could be that they're so absorbed with the wedding that they don't realize they're doing it. For instance, I have a friend who is chronically ill, and she sometimes needs to be reminded that just because her issues are very real and shitty doesn't mean they have to dominate everyone's life all the time. Just because your friend getting married is a huge deal doesn't meant that you choosing a PhD program isn't also a huge deal deserving of some attention. I'd say turn to your professors, advisors, and the good people here at Grad Cafe for advice. Your professors/advisors know you, care about your future, and have presumably been in a similar position. And, though I know having a close friend to talk to would be better, I've found that there are so many helpful perspectives on here. Best of luck!

@Bumblebea Thank you for all of your advice and encouragement.

I'm not sure I believe it's authentic.

Either on this thread or elsewhere, someone said that they spoke to someone at Chapel Hill and were told we would hear back "hopefully by the end of the week," or Monday "at the latest." Last year, they notified at 6am on a Saturday. I am not-so-patiently waiting to hear if I was accepted. I'd even take a waitlist at this point.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be shut out, too. I will have an MA in two months, so I'll probably spend the next two years teaching high school or working at a local community college (where I am already a tutor and could probably also adjunct). I am definitely going to reapply, but I don't know if I can improve my application substantially enough to reapply this year. I plan to retake the GRE and subject test, present at conferences, try to publish a chapter of my thesis, and revise a chapter into a new writing sample. I will also revise my SOPs substantially and apply to some different programs. I applied to 12 programs and would maybe reapply to a couple of them, but I'm a little bitter and don't necessarily want to face rejection from them again. I also think I'll apply to as many programs as I can possibly afford. I'll only reapply this year if: 1) I don't get into Teach for America and can substantially improve my test scores, 2) if I end up being waitlisted somewhere, because then perhaps a new Writing Sample and a much better SOP will be enough, or 3) If I feel like I can reapply to just a few programs this year and just suck it up if I'm rejected again. It's difficult to not have support from many people right now. Professors say that getting a PhD in this job market is a bad idea, my mom thinks I should do something more practical (i.e. lucrative), and almost everyone else thinks that getting a PhD in English is ridiculous or frivolous in general. Unrelated: @Yanaka I'm going to be in Paris in May! Fair warning: my French is abysmal, but I'd love to grab un café with you while I'm there.

My new favorite is from someone who was rejected from Harvard's English Phd: "It was a perfect fit, with two really great POIs. But apparently they didn't think so. 0a/12r. This is my second shut-out two years in a row. Maybe I should channel my rage into law school, become a DC hack and defund the arts out of spite."

Yes, absolutely! It will show that you're interested in accepting them, should they have the spot to make you an offer.

Out of upvotes, but I appreciate your kindness. Congrats on your waitlist, and I hope an acceptance comes through for you soon! It's tough not to give up, and it's really tough not to contact Duquesne-- they gave no timeline and not enough stats are posted in the results for me to make an educated guess. It seems possible that non-GCers have been accepted and I just don't know about it. I'm glad someone else bit the bullet and contacted UNC, at least. I'm also waiting to hear back about whether or not I got a Teach for America interview, and the possibility that I won't even be accepted for my backup plan is killing me. I'll most likely know everything by March 10th, but it still seems ages away!

The only places left for me that aren't rejections or implied rejections are UNC Chapel Hill and Duquesne. I am so dejected. Carolina is a long shot. I thought I was competitive, but after 10 rejections I doubt I'll even get into Duquesne. I know it isn't over until it's over, but to be completely shut out without even so much as a wait list would be really demoralizing. Meanwhile, my non-academic life isn't so great right now either.

I just got a 6-pack of moleskins for $15 at Marshall's!

I tend to employ different strategies based on what I'm reading and why. If I'm reading articles in print or on a PDF I can edit, I just highlight/underline and make minimal notes in the margins. If I can't highlight, I summarize and write down important quotations in my notebook for that course or project. Sometimes, I'll write a short paragraph summarizing the article in my own words after I'm done reading. I like to do that with especially dense articles. If I don't come up with my own summary right away, when I get to writing about the article I tend to end up paraphrasing random parts of the paper without keeping a main idea in mind. If I'm reading literature, I underline and write minimal notes (longer notes if I get an idea from something I'm reading). When I go to write a paper, I go through and skim what I underlined/annotated and type out quotations and explanations. I consider that my "pre-writing" so that when it comes time to actually write, my quotations are in chronological order with context, and I can just copy and paste them into the paper. Recently, I love Clementine brand notebooks. I find them randomly every now and then at TJ Maxx for $6 or so, but I'm sure they're also available elsewhere. I like them because they have nice hard covers and thick paper. They come either spiral-bound or bound like books (there's probably a word for that...). Aesthetically, I prefer the hard bound, but the spiral bound pages tear out much more easily.

My entire hometown's collective response to higher education, in a nutshell.

Is this an appropriate place to vent about my mother? Because she has been trying to manipulate me into not breaking up with my boyfriend and into taking the LSAT "just to see" because law school is "so much easier than PhD programs." I DONT WANT TO DATE HIM ANYMORE AND I DONT WANT TO BE A LAWYER. I said I wanted to be a lawyer once when I was seven and also wanted to be a zebra

Yes, it seems to be a site-wide issue. At first I thought it was just me, too. Great name, btw.

Thanks for the info, and congratulations!

I have decided to just call it a rejection so that I can sleep tonight. If I'm pleasantly surprised tomorrow, then that will be great. I was telling my friend earlier that I imagine this is a lot like people who play the lottery waiting to hear the numbers being called. They are not going to win. They know they are not going to win. Yet, they keep buying the tickets and waiting as if they are about to get the news that will change their life. I'd take an acceptance at Penn over all the money in the world.

I'm dying for those Penn acceptances to hop on the forums and give us details

Staring at my phone now. Trying not to cry. Or implode.

I'll have you know that I was 13, thank you very much ?