Warelin

Congrats! Boston College is a great school for irish lit.

I think most colleges have campus listings of people who are looking for roommates. Craigslist is also a popular roommate service. Oftentimes, people use more than one listing service to find potential roommates. The less restrictions you have, the easier it will be for you to find a suitable apartment.

Out of curiosity, do you have a Master's degree? I scored a 620 but am unsure of what a program considers low. It's hard to speculate on older threads at times. Last cycle, Notre Dame had a literature program. They no longer do as of this cycle when I last checked. It could mean they're cutting costs to put into newer program initiatives. I think one of the recent things that ND did last semester is guarantee a lectureship/one year fellowship to anyone who completed their program in 5 years.

I'm not convinced GRE scores make a big difference in the grand scheme of things. I think the Writing Sample, your fit within a program, and your SOP make a major difference. I ended up doing a lot of tailoring to ensure that the program understood why I was interested in them specifically.

I just want to say that you do have purpose even if schools say no. You are much more than your test scores or your admission results.

Six professors? That seems rough. Best of luck to you! Out of curiosity, did you submit your subject score to ND? I know they say it's optional but I'm trying to figure out for next cycle if it's worthwhile to spend the money to send them the results.

Sidenote here: In previous years, Madison and Seattle while ranked highly do not guarantee funding to all their applicants. Madison used to guarantee a full 5 years of funding if you were funded but last year, someone only received a 3 year funding package from them (Due to Scott Walker?) . It's unclear how many people received similiar funding offers from them. From my understanding, the literary studies department is the biggest department in English. The Grad School has linguistics listed as a "minor" so it's also possible that the number includes them. Last year, they admitted 37 out of 213 applicants; 20 accepted their offers. It isn't unusual for a program to accept twice as many people as they have room for because programs expect top applicants to have multiple offers.

I think as more information gets added, more people will start to feel comfortable sharing their info.

Congrats on the Minnesota waitlist.

First off, it's great that you're considering all your options. I think becoming a professor is the end goal for many of us here and we've been forewarned about how bad the job market is. As disheartening as it is, many (most) of us will not end up with a tenure track position. I'm not sure if you know this or not but: -Adjuncts and other nontenured faculty now make up three-quarters of college and university teachers. -In many fields, from the humanities to the sciences, universities are accepting far more Ph.D. students than there are tenure-track openings. -https://chroniclevitae.com/news/1438-so-you-think-you-want-a-tenure-track-job -https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/01/08/economist-offers-critique-job-market-phds-english While there are a number of MA programs with no funding, there are some that do pay with a stipend. However, this stipend is low compared to the amount of income a full-time job has the potential to make. (Things to consider: Each year of working is less money saved up for retirement) My goal here isn't to scare you away from becoming a professor but rather to inform you that getting a PHD does not guarantee you a position in Academia. If you find that your passion is still there after reading this, by all means, continue. I currently teach at 2 colleges (while applying to Ph.D. programs) and my teaching experiences have taught me that there is nothing I'd rather do in life. I realize that there may not be a teaching job at the end of the tunnel and I'm okay with that but I'm going to give it my all.)

Small note: Not sure if you applied to English or Comp lit but Comp Lit might have different requirements than English.

Jumping into the game of submitting apps is half the battle. There are a lot of applicants which would like to apply but something holds them back. I think part of the reason why people apply to a multitude of schools (besides fit) is that it increases the likelihood that the pool you compete with is different even if both schools get a similar amount of applications. People have a wide range of determining fit. Last year, I found a school in California that might've accepted me but I'd be miserable in California so I elected not to apply. I ended up getting shut out but got a tuition waiver for an MA Program which I ended up accepting. I know that I am not looking forward to starting the application process next semester. (Or rather this semester, since @Wyatt's Terps has reminded me of the importance of peer review by professors.)

FWIW: A few years ago, there was a candidate that got rejected from all schools (including those outside the top 50). They were accepted into one program: Berkeley.

I vaguely remember this question during my last application cycle. PSU also addresses this here: http://bulletins.psu.edu/graduate/programs/E/GRAD ENGL Applicants entering with only an undergraduate degree should have a junior/senior cumulative average of at least 3.00 (on a 4.00 scale), and, where applicable, a minimum GPA of 3.50 for all graduate work previously undertaken. Exceptions to the minimum GPA requirement may be made for students with special backgrounds, abilities, and interests. Each applicant must submit the scores of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) taken within five years previous to the date of application. In short though: There are two ways to apply for admission into the dual degree program. First, they can apply to the dual-title program when they apply to Penn State’s English Department, following that department’s admission requirements and writing a statement of purpose that addresses how the student’s research and professional goals intersect with the objectives of the dual-title graduate degree program in English and African American and Diaspora Studies. Second, students who are already enrolled in the English Department can apply directly for admission to the dual-title degree before their admission to candidacy. Answering yes to that question would have resulted in needing a SOP on why Engilsh and why AA. It might have been that the question wasn't required originally but they changed something in their system for the following cycle.

Bumping this thread up to try to gain fresh perspectives while acceptances are new.

I'd hate to kill this theory but I think @Ashley828 is in rhet/comp. I think it's me that you're referring to here. I'm not sure if we knew this about OSU before this cycle but it is very possible that is the case. It might also be that fellowship offers went out or that "guessing" an MAs ability to succeed at the grad level was easier to assess. What might be interesting to see is if at the MA level they prefer people who focused all their class electives in one field or if they prefer a more-mixed applicant and see if there's a correlation to accepted BA applicants? Might also be interesting to see if learned languages play a role.

Congrats WT! Well deserved!

Congrats on the UC-Davis acceptance, @Mazinha88. Some schools like NYU (in English) offer a salary to teach in addition to their stipend. Others use the term to distinguish it from their fellowships. Does your letter make a mention of either? The salary might also be determined by what your official tasks would be and how much time is involved. For Davis' program in English, half-time is considered to be the equivalent of teaching 3 courses per year and the program pays over 9 months.

Congrats to both of you. Did Madison send funding info? I know last year that someone was admitted but was only offered 3 years funding.

Bumping this thread for this season's applicants. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1H7d9iuwSL8ZWE-DmFo2013lpF2cL7hDidWcDt4mic0Q/edit#gid=0

Note to self: Reading this at midnight will make you have all the feels. You are only allowed to give reputation 5 times per day. You cannot give any more reputation today. And I've run out of upvotes for the day. First time I've run out within 5 mins.

Congratulations!

According to the results page from 2013 (last presidential year), Jan 24th was the earliest OSU accepted. But anything can happen. Please save me.

Based on @RydraWong's previous posts, English.

Congrats on getting an interview from Notre Dame! For those who applied and were accepted, did you submit a lit score? Did you have an MA? I'm trying to figure out what it means that they weigh subject scores more heavily from those who have an MA. (I scored a 620 but am trying to keep spending to a minimum next year.)