Medievalmaniac

It seems like there are very few English program acceptance notifications posted in comparison to other programs of study...several rejections, but not so many acceptances. Does anyone else notice this? I've only seen "full rounds" from UCLA , Duke and SUNY at this point...so, is that a good sign for those of us who have heard "nothing from no one"? Maybe later is better for English applicants.....I hope?

UVA has definitely sent out preliminary acceptances to Jefferson Scholar fellowship nominees. I think other decisions go out according to discipline / department after that. The acceptances appear all to be from the same areas of study. Courage!

Branwen - you wouldn't be a medievalist, would you? I'm in the same boat - waiting, terribly impatiently, DYING to hear back one way or the other. I have no nails yet. I am re-reading the Dragonriders of Pern series. I actually graded all of my students' 8 page essays in a week of their being turned in (what the heck?! lol) I even played ten rounds of Candyland with my daughter last night, just to avoid checking the computer again (because obviously, all graduate programs send their acceptances via email between 6 p.m. and 7 a.m....!) You're not alone....this is awful. Worse than when I was waiting for MA news. GAH!

I am waiting for my PhD admissions results, but I received my MA last spring, with a 4 year old and a 1 year old. I entered graduate school when my 4 year old was 2 and had my second child in the middle of fall term my second year. There are 4 things that were tough for me - 1. I was working full time, parenting, and going to graduate school - always overextended and exhausted. 2. As an English major, I never had the time to read - I am lucky that my husband took the girls every Saturday to give me some down time. While I was working on the first draft of my thesis, my in-laws took both girls for a full week (ten days) so I could focus solely on work and the thesis. Without this, I doubt I would have done as good a job as I did. 3. parent guilt. The girls did not really NEED me - they were too young to care who was playing with them/rocking them/feeding them/dressing them. Getting past my mommy guilt was a tough road. I know now that it was a great idea to get it done while they were younger, because they need me, MOMMY, more now than they did as young'uns, and that will increase with age....but I have two girls. Might be different with boys. 4. letting go of perfection and embracing "good enough" in my life - especially in terms of deadlines, housekeeping, bills paying, etc. etc. etc. There's no way to do it all, you have to prioritize. For me the priorities because kids, husband, grad school, work - sometimes grd school on top of the list. It varied in terms of what needed more of my attention, when - but in the end, I learned how to be flexible and to adapt to situations and think on my feet, which was invaluable. Feel free to email me if you want to know more, I've written a book already! lol

I went back to graduate school when my firstborn daughter was two, working full time and attending school part time. The following year, I gave birth to daughter number 2 in the middle of a term. I took off the week of the birth and was back in class the week after; back at work full time 6 weeks later. The following year, I gave birth to my thesis, graduated with an MA in medieval literature and a 4.0, and skipped my graduation to give a paper based on my thesis findings at the international conference in my field. I'm still working full time, and have now applied to doctoral programs. All of this is a DECADE after my first master's attempt, with no kids, back in 2000. I think as long as you are doing the program you want to do and are happy, your family will also be content. This has been the case for me. YES, it's hard as heck, especially in terms of time (I'm in literature, after all!) There's never enough time to go around. BUT, in the end, if you're happy you can always make things work out - have you ever noticed how that goes? I'm very worried about money - in other words, no fellowship/assistantship, no PhD work - it's that simple for us. But if I get in somewhere and am funded, we are going to go for broke. Because it's better for my family - especially with two daughters - to have me reaching for my goals and fighting for my dreams than to have me bitter and disillusioned and harping on how unfair things are for women with kids. I never want for a second to be able to look at my kids and think "if it weren't for you I would have..." - so I don't. I just press forward and chase down my dream, and they are very happy, bright, funny and well-adjusted girls, so I guess we're not screwing up too badly, yet (of course, they're only 5 and 3...! lol) My philosophy on having a family and going for the PhD is: there will NEVER be a good time to have kids, not if you are a woman. If you want them, you just need to go ahead and have them. (preferably not at the very beginning of the program, and not during your thesis/dissertation defense, or orals, lol). But really - you can wait until post-tenure (good luck with that) or wait until you have your degree - but in the end, when is it really going to be convenient to have the family? I refuse to compromise my dreams. I wanted a family - I have a family. I wanted the MA - I have the MA. God willing and up to the funny bunch of squirrels in the admissions offices, I'll get the PhD as well. I'm very lucky, in that my husband is extremely supportive of me. But don't fool yourself - he's not bending over backwards to accomodate my schedule, it's vice-versa most of the time, with me doing the majority of childcare/chauffeuring duties, etc. etc. He takes them out on Saturdays and I read like a maniac and grade papers. It works - but it only works because I want it badly enough to make it work and I'm willing to compromise on sleep and have no social life. That's OK. I have the MA, and I'll hopefully get a PhD, and then I can research and teach and write books for the rest of my life. Getting paid to read books and talk about them.....ah, heaven. Hugs and kisses and singing my girls to sleep, and baking brownies....ah, heaven. Hugs and laughing with my husband....ah, heaven. Put them together and for me - that's the greatest life I can live.