Warelin

An institution's prestige from the PHD or undergrad level does not translate onto Master programs. What does translate is whether or not they're viewed as cash cows for the institution. People often warn against going to places that have both terminal MA programs and PHD programs because a lot of the resources and faculty attention are often directed towards PHD students. There's a possibility that you'll be able to work with the professors you'd like but there's also a real possibility that they could be overbooked due to working with other students on their dissertation projects. Because of this, it's often easier to find support for your projects at the MA level at institutions that offer only the MA as the highest level. As a whole, departments don't care where you do your MA nor that you got rejected in previous cycles. People have varying reasons why they decide to do their MA.

I think it's always helpful to remember rejection isn't any indication of how smart someone is.

I'm confused with why you're concerned with the below then. Are you hoping to land a job elsewhere?

I think you really should consider adding MFA programs and looking into some PHD programs with a creative dissertation. McSweeney's is a top-notch publication that is often a goal for many.

What happens if you're laid off in the middle of your program?

Different departments at different schools have their own procedures. How you're contacted doesn't matter. People might even be contacted in ways that are different than in the past because of COVID. Some schools rank their waitlists regardless of field. Some do it specifically by proposed sub-field. I think it is sometimes helpful to remember that being on a waitlist already means the school is interested in your work. Some schools might have a very small waitlist because they accept 1.5-3x as many people as they have spots for. Some schools might waitlist as many people as they have spots for. Some schools waitlist 2-3x as many people as they accept. Some schools might also have a "hidden" waitlist. Some schools might not ever get to their waitlist. The number of available spots might also depend on if they had an unexpected amount of people accept or reject their offer in the previous year(s).

Congratulations!

If I recall correctly (pre-covid), few schools had welcoming events/visits for incoming students. Of the programs which offered days you could visit, not all of them reimbursed costs.

Congratulations! That's a huge achievement!

Quick note: What do you mean by transfer? I'm not aware of any grad program where you can just transfer into. Changing programs will often require you to reapply and start from year 1 if accepted.

Other schools are not notified when you've accepted an offer. However, it is expected that you'll reject all other offers as soon as you know you are not going to accept their offer. This allows them to pass offers to other candidates who hope to get in who might be holding onto offers that others want to get into.

Not at all schools. Some schools will have this information laid in either its handbook or FAQ. This is no option at some schools. Also, if you're looking for a school to increase its funding, the competing school should be closely ranked.

To add onto @mashatheicebear, There are several "top" programs that don't have certain subfields. It would be rather difficult to pursue a subfield if it isn't something the university currently has. If accepted, you'll be able to do your own research on it but not having someone to guide you through that process is going to make you not feel as supported by the department. It'll also likely make the job application process more difficult. I don't think there is any wrong answer to this. I think one of the best things you can do is figure out what your goals are. If your ultimate goal is strictly to teach at an R1 school, your chances are significantly higher if you attend a top 10 school. Though there have been cases where people not attending a top 10 school have gotten tenure-track jobs at an R1 school. Likewise if your goal is to teach at a small liberal arts college, certain schools might decrease your chances because they might not think you have a good understanding of what their culture is. Years ago, a job applicant got their job offer rescinded from a school because the applicant was making requests that would be more commonplace at an R1 school. A school is making significant investments when they make offers so they really want to make sure you understand the culture of the school and would be happy there. There are things that you can do to make you seem like you understand the culture more but it be nearly impossible to do for every type of school. This is often also the reason why a lot of schools also tend to place better in their geographical location. While nobody is guaranteed a tenure-track job, it might be worthwhile to consider whether there are any locations you be content to be living in and apply to schools within that region. It might also be worthwhile to consider how many students are a part of a typical cohort and comparing that with how many students get placed. There's a big difference between 2 students (of a cohort of 3) being placed per year and 4 students (of a cohort of 18) being placed per year. Think of you'd be happy being placed at the types of schools they're placing at. Consider if their stipend is enough for you to live on. If you prefer to live alone, is it enough to get by without roommates? If the city is expensive, how far would you need to be from campus in order to afford rent? Do students need to work additionally in order to live there? What's the college like? While sports might not impact you, it might also be considering how undergrads deeply involved with D1 sports might impact the way you teach or interact with the town at large. Would you feel okay with living to a town that revolves around the university (a college town) or would you prefer to live in a city? What about the weather? Do you prefer cold weather? Do you prefer hot weather?

To add to this, I think it's important to realize that school prestige is different between different departments and even between subfields and can change significantly in the years. I think Davis and Indiana are both new to the USNew's top 20 (2017?) list. Likewise, there have been schools which have jumped in rankings and others who have slid in rankings. I'd like to stress that professors leaving a program might also impact that program's overall rankings as well as their placement. Paying attention to new hires (whether they're at the assistant or associate or full professor level) might indicate the direction in which a program is heading. This article from the WSJ shows just how far rankings can jump depending on "information ranging from test scores to surveys of alumni satisfaction with education and job prospects." By contrast, I think it's important to note that current USNews rankings don't consider placement when they're doing rank. But rather the USNEWS process is outlined below: (Source is here) Programs in the social sciences and humanities are based solely on the results of peer assessment surveys sent to academics in each discipline by IPSOS Public Affair For the surveys conducted in fall 2016, Ipsos sent each school offering a doctoral program two surveys per discipline. Questionnaires were sent to department heads and directors of graduate studies in economics, English, history, political science, psychology and sociology – or, alternatively, a senior faculty member who teaches graduate students – at schools that had granted a total of five or more doctorates in each discipline during the five-year period from 2011 through 2015, as indicated by the National Center for Education Statistics' Completions survey. The questionnaires asked respondents to rate the academic quality of the programs at other institutions on a 5-point scale: outstanding (5), strong (4), good (3), adequate (2) or marginal (1). Individuals who were unfamiliar with a particular school's programs were asked to select "don't know." Scores for each school were determined by computing a trimmed mean – eliminating the two highest and two lowest responses – of the ratings of all respondents who rated that school; average scores were then sorted in descending order. 138 programs in English were evaluated. The response rate for English was 14%. This means that 276 surveys were sent and only 38/39 responses were sent back It's improbable that all 138 programs are paying attention to all other programs so the data can be impacted significantly from who's paying attention to which program. It's more likely that schools are paying attention to only schools that share overlapping traits with them or are within the same city. It's also unlikely that schools are not as aware with programs who are strong in certain areas if they are not strong in the same subfield.

What are your interests? I think your application is competitive but it's likely that universities might have felt that they did not think they had someone free who could currently advise you. It's possible that they might have someone free next year and it's also possible that they won't. Unless you're applying in specific subfields, most universities won't require you to have a working knowledge of foreign languages from the start. It is likely that they'll request you to either take a course or test out of a language at some point during the program. I don't think you need to spend time on more publications. @wildsurmise- I've heard the same things about several California schools as well as some other state universities. I think state schools generally tend to be harder for international students because of how much tuition waivers are for public schools. There is no cost difference in tuition waivers for international student at private schools.

Always happy to provide any help I can as well. Feel free to drop me a PM.

Congratulations @Bopie5! It has been so much fun watching you post throughout the cycles.

I think ice cream is a healthy way of dealing with both acceptances and rejections.

I think it's also important to remember that rankings does not equal placement. Some schools are better at ranking in certain industries. Some schools are considered better in certain fields than their rankings would indicate. Some schools might be better in placing in certain localities. Some schools are better at being able to provide certain professionalization opportunities. Some schools offer better funding or might offer a better healthcare package than others. Your advising experience would depend on who your advisor is. It is also possible the person responsible for certain placements might retire or leave.

Application deadline does not determine how quickly schools send out acceptances. Estimated acceptance dates can be found here or on the results page :

From conversations I've had, it makes no difference in the humanities. Professors understand that the department at large is funding you and also understand (and expect) that many applicants will change interests as they progress with their coursework.

There are a few schools that notify their graduate school fellowship nominees before they notify the rest of their acceptances.

This is a few years old but tends to be pretty close for a lot of programs:

Most schools don't conduct interviews. From the top of my mind, Duke (Literature), Chicago (their process was explained above!), UMass (because their funding is separate?), Emory, Northeastern, Notre Dame, and Southern Methodist University conduct interviews.

Please remember that you are not your acceptances. You are not your writing sample nor are you your statement of purpose. You are not your grades. You are much more than that. Please don't let your acceptances define you.