Warelin

Consider your wish granted.

The April 15th deadline is a resolution by several universities. It only applies to funded offers.

Did you accept through the portal? April/May tend to be quiet times for universities because they're focused on dissertations and exams. It's likely that you'll start to hear from them in June/July to talk about your orientation. It is unlikely that they'll withdraw your offer.

I'm afraid that the answer here is that you'll have to notify the director of graduate studies or the administrative coordinator. Some programs won't consider the MFA as equivalent. Others might expect you to show the same level of literary sophistication and knowledge as someone who has an MA. (All this means is that they might expect you to have some professionalization experience, have higher test scores, and/or show a deeper understanding of current literary discussions.) I'd double check with the graduate school on this. Often, this is posted on their graduate website FAQ. Some schools don't allow you to submit more than one application per graduation cycle. Others have no restriction.

I think there are a few things to acknowledge here. 1) Admission rates are tricky. Unfunded/underfunded programs might have more spots available but often need to recruit a much larger class in order to fill these spots if they're not offering a full tuition stipend + stipend. There is no college (that I am aware of) that is successful in obtaining a 100 percent yield rate. As a result, colleges have different ways of deciding how many offers to admit at once based on previous trends. 2) Consider the living expenses. Paris, NYC, and Chicago are world-class cities but they're also expensive to live in. Are you comfortable taking out tens of thousands of dollars in loans if you decide to not work/can't find work? Are you comfortable working long hours in addition to going to school full time? 3) One year programs can be tricky. In a lot of cases, you'll end up spending an additional year doing something else. It's unlikely that you'll be able to obtain strong letters of recommendations during the first cycle because that would involve asking for letters during the first 2 months of your new university. Often, this might mean asking for letters before a major assignment is due. 4) There are likely funded Master's program in Political Science. Find them; find which ones interest you. The nice thing about doing a Master's is that they don't often expect you to have your research interests down. They are a wonderful way to figure out which specific areas you're interested in. They also allow you the opportunity to figure out whether or not you want to pursue a PhD.

As mentioned before, the April 15th Resolution applies to funded offers only.

The majority of cohorts for this upcoming cycle have already been decided. There may be some spots that are still pending but waitlists have likely gone out for all those spots as well. I think it's important to remember that "transferring" to a program means something different in this context. You'll still have to formally apply for a spot. Since you are currently in a Ph.D. program, it's likely that they'll have higher expectations that you'll have to meet rather than someone who has just finished their Bachelor's. It's also likely that you'll need support from your current department to explain why you're seeking to switch to a different university. Despite all of this, it is still possible that your application may be unsuccessful. If unsuccessful, are you sure you'd be willing to go through 2 or more additional cycles of applications?

Were you applying to programs in the US or the UK?

I just want to add a note here that it seems that UT-Austin wants outside employment to be reported to them prior to accepting the position. The documents can be found here. I'd double-check with individual departments to make sure everything is good to go because there are some contracts which prohibit outside work during the school year or require permission from the department. Best of luck to everyone.

For Sociology, people generally refer to the USNew's rankings of Sociology programs. Per U.S. News methodology, Sociology's response rate was 33 percent. By contrast, the response rate for Criminal Justice programs was 90 percent. Rankings were based solely on the impressions of department heads and director of graduate studies that responded to the survey.

Congratulations on passing your comps, @Quickmick! Keep up the good work!

Thanks for fixing it for Mississippi! I've noticed that Google Sheets does sometimes rearrange where data is inserted if it's resorted. I'm not sure if there's a way to prevent that from happening.

I just want to note that the April 15th resolution only applies to funded offers.

I think this is a good idea because it is after April 15th and would help provide closure. At the very least, it helps convey your interest.

I think more information might be helpful for people to help you decide. What field are you in? What offers are you considering? How do you feel about the location of the places you're considering?

I've always been curious on how much impact one group could have if everyone collaborated with each other on various opportunities.

You can do this. I believe in you. You have this!

That's awesome! Congrats!

Did they tell you whether their waitlist was ranked or unranked? If you haven't heard from the department coordinator, have you tried reaching out to the DGS? Do you know if others have had success in contacting them? Have you tried calling the department coordinator? Depending on when you contacted them, it is possible that your e-mail was buried or went into spam. A phone call might allow you to receive a faster response and be able to receive a better idea of the likelihood of an offer being extended to you. I think most colleges are willing to provide you with an idea of where you currently stand.

FWIW: A number of universities accept twice as many applicants as they have spots for. Some universities also have waitlists that are determined by time periods. It's likely that 2 people in your time period will need to reject their offer before an offer from the waitlist could be made. It's also possible that the department could be buried under preparing for classes next semester.

Congrats! Congratulations!

Congratulations @Bopie5! Such wonderful news!

I think that's a good strategy to have. I mention my earlier post because people in Literature often think that USNews rankings (and their response rate) extend to Rhet/Comp. It doesn't. I would also like to note here that some rhet/comp programs are considered to be "top" programs for Communication and/or Digital Media. I'd caution you here to carefully explore your journals to ensure that they're producing work that you're interested in. It does sound like this is something you've given thought to. As far as I'm aware, there is no "official" ranking list in Rhet/Comp but some programs are given more publicity through publications than others. This could be due to the size of a cohort, influenced by your adviser, or be driven by one's motivation to publish. Some universities might be more active in encouraging you to publish. I don't think the MA has to be as focused on one very small area of study; I think the MA allows someone to gain a better understanding of what they're interested in so they could better focus on what they're interested in with a Ph.D. It is always nice to have professors who are supportive in your pursuits though. I think the results section is considerably more helpful for programs that place a heavy importance on test scores. I think it's more helpful in the humanities with providing when acceptances/rejections/waitlists have gone out in the humanities.

The OP mentioned that they were interested in Rhetoric/Composition in the title of their post. Those rankings differ from English rankings so it's quite possible that the OP is applying to some top rhet/comp programs. I agree though that the OP should apply to a wide variety of schools. Some programs might weed out applicants and might have a preference for certain scores. However, I think most will look at the entire application process as long as the score isn't very low. A high score alone won't be the reason someone is admitted to a university. Depending on what you write, I'd see if there is anyone who's interested in either that or gender studies. If someone has a dual appointment, I'd heavily consider adding the school they teach at to your list. Each grad school has a different way that they expect FYW to be taught. Some find it easier to train students with no prior experience; others find it preferable to have students with prior experience. Neither will make a difference if you don't fit within the department. What fit means to you might be different with what each department considers to be a fit. I'm not sure if the results section represents an accurate representation of all results though. I think the sample we get often ends up being from a very specific crowd.

I don't think any of us can say 100 percent what does or does not happen on the job market. I think we can only go off of what we see. And what I know is this: My university is not considered a top 20 school for English but it is well ranked as a university. People are well aware of its name in Academia. They are rich with resources. They are also generous with their time and feedback. People who knew they wanted to teach have put in a lot of effort. They've published in very well-regarded journals and have been placed in tenure-track positions. I'm not sure if they were placed in their preferred school, but I think having a preferred school for a t-t position is something that a fair number of us wouldn't consider given the unlikelihood of a position opening up in any given year. I think this is an excellent point to make. We often don't know what current changes a program is in the process of making.