Medievalmaniac

I think the fact they gave you a specific number is a good sign; clearly, they expect it's likely they'll be able to offer you a spot. Bear in mind, logistically it is most unlikely all 8 admits are going to accept their spots. There are two people ahead of you on the waitlist. If ONE of those people goes elsewhere, and ONE person says "No, thanks" to the admit already extended, you're first on the waitlist. It's more than likely there will be more than one person admitted who says "No, thanks" - so your odds are extremely good.

Agreeing with the above posters...if you're on a waitlist, you could be waiting until April to hear back and still get an admit in the end. Remember - the results board is only as reliable as the people posting to it - and between spammers and the fact that many, many people don't frequent the Gradcafe and apply to Grad School, there's just no telling. I always use the results board as a starting point, but with a grain of salt.

errrr.....wow! I thought I was making a light joke! Wow. Dude, I'm sorry!!! I sure hope everyone gets some good news soon!!

Haven't heard anything from any of my programs yet, either. Seriously. Who still has all of his or her hair at this point?! I feel for those of you wearing the Universal Kick Me sign right now...we were there last month, and it definitely didn't make anything better. Hang in there!

Somebody early on in this thread asked about beer/drinking in the RDCH area. I just wanted to pop in and say that we live an hour from there and go down several weekends a month specifically to get to Sam's Quick Stop, which is just down the road from Duke and boasts a truly impressive international beer selection, with many hard to find, high end and IPA labels. Also, in Carrboro, StarrLight Mead has just opened this last year - a full service meadery! YUM. You will not be disappointed if you are a fermentation connoisseur and choose to head there for graduate school.

I mean the applicants.

I guess my question in such a case would be....do you WANT to go to graduate school?

tropical island

Hey, Lyoness - first off all, congratulations!!!! That's FANTASTIC news, YAY you! And I guess in response to your question, here's my thinking on it: you already know you are not accepting their offer. What will it change in terms of your telling them that, if you wait several weeks up to a month to do it, or do it right away? In the end, you're still not planning to attend. Trying to see it from the perspective of a graduate studies director, I guess I'd have to say I'd prefer to know sooner rather than later, especially when budgets are tight, because maybe I have several really promising candidates, but I can't offer anyone anything until I know what the cohort looks like. I don't think it looks ungrateful. I think it looks like you got a better offer and you are considerate enough to let me know up front rather than sitting on our offer and ultimately rejecting it. Actually, from the perspective of someone in the department, I think I might resent the candidate who doesn't reply right away and then rejects the department's offer a month or two later. If I offer you an admit with funding in January, and you wait until April 15 before notifying me you aren't going to accept it, you've screwed my department out of some potentially very good applicants who maybe are on my waitlist but have since accepted elsewhere. Because we haven't heard from you in the form of turning down the offer, we probably think you are coming at that point, so it's a rude shock to find that position still open at the end of the admissions season. There may even be department wide or school wide ramifications for it in terms of funding - maybe, since you reject the position at the end of the admissions season and we have already notified all of our candidates, our department will end up short a doctoral student next year and that funding will be applied elsewhere. I could see that scenario play out in combo departments, like English/Comp Lit, or Romance languages, or something like that, where funding has already been cut or programs are threatened - if a Dean wanted to, s/he could make a case for "Well, this-or-that department didn't even attract a full cohort this go-around, so they maybe don't need five student slots a season, next year they'll just get four and we can put that moeny towards funding a position in another department where there are more candidates applying", etc. etc. I don't know. It could happen. I know that at a university I attended for Master's level work in French, there is no longer a Master's program in French, because they didn't have enough admits to the program to justify funding those students anymore, so it just...went away. Maybe we have the thinking messed up. Maybe it's best to try to respond within ten days or so, if we can...? I do think in the end, it would be the better way to proceed for everyone else involved, and I don't think a department will hold it against you if you made the decision to apply elsewhere, got accepted, and decided to accept that offer - I mean, it happens every year, right? They know you have likely applied to several programs.

I think one thing that frustrates to no end, is that in a lot of cases there are people sitting on three or four early acceptances with full rides, and even thought they "know" which one they are going to accept, they are not going to let the other programs know until March or even early April "just in case", because they haven't heard from "all" of their schools and they have been cautioned to keep their options open. So that's a number of slots that will end up going to waitlisted folks...who are in turn obsessing and going nutso wondering if they'll be accepted at all. I mean - obviously, it is totally the accepted folks' prerogative to wait until they hear back from all programs, but it definitely slows the whole process down. I do think that "keep your options open" is good advice, normally - but in this instance, if someone KNOWS s/he is not taking up an admissions offer because s/he has already gotten another offer from a school s/he KNOWS will be the choice if nothing else shows up, I think it would speed the process up some to have those other schools turned loose so they can in turn go back to their waitlists earlier rather than later.

Wow, that's depressing...I scored 89th percentile on the English section of my GRE, received a perfect 6 on the writing section, and received an 82nd percentile on the subject test. I had a 4.0 GPA at the Master's level, and have multiple publications at academic presses including Brill and Routledge, alongside five years of conference activity and thirteen years of teaching at the high school and college level, and the writing sample I submitted is currently under peer review for a major journal in my field...and you are telling me that all of that means crap, because my Math GRE was a 480, thirteen years out of school. If that is really the case, I sure wish that when I emailed to ask about that score prior to submitting my applications and fees, someone had told me "Don't bother, you won't make it past the first round because of your Math GRE score." But, I was definitely told that it would not keep me out of the running because of the rest of my application.

I'm still on the "I've heard nothing" bandwagon right along with you. Although, alas, I don't get to join in the menstrual club...at least, not this week. Hang in there, all!

Congratulations to the admits! Way to be!

What a great outcome! Many congratulations to you. It definitely reminds us that there is still hope!

Just want to add that you are a finalist for a doctoral position, but have not been extended an offer yet. Definitely at least do the "go-see" at School B. Traveling is always a good idea, especially on someone else's dime. Your concern for the department's finances is commendable, though, and speaks highly of your integrity. Either program will clearly be lucky to have you!

Golden Globe

Go, have fun, if you are rejected or accepted, the decision(s) will still be there when you return. It would be GREAT to have the chance to leave the country and go somewhere completely different right now, get out of my head a bit! Go immerse yourself in another culture and enjoy it!

I am also very sorry for your loss.

spirit world

I was going to say...we haven't seen results from anything "below the Mason-Dixon line" as it were, yet.

Blacksburg is no New York City, but it is a good, mid-sized city with plenty to do, good local music scene, good arts presence. Very livable city.

I think that means we are all officially freaking out....! lol