Warelin

I'd like to make a few notes here:
1) There are some programs which haven't made adjustments based on the recent inflations within their cities.
2) There are programs outside the top 20 that could offer you a more flexibility in being able to afford more types of living arrangements.
3) There are programs inside the top 20 which might require you to live with roommates to make sure your stipend is enough.
4) The same amount of money stretches in different ways in different cities. 
5) Bigger programs might have more opportunities but competition for those opportunities might be stronger depending on the number of awards available.
6)  There are so many great programs and it could be very challenging to say which would be able to make you feel the most supported due to the variety of funding opportunities available.
Side note: I find that Ice Cream is a good way of coping with both rejections and acceptances.

Congratulations!

So, I just have one question in this regard:

Is Los Angeles County or is Los Angeles - Long Beach - Anaheim metro a smaller area? (In these cases, I always tried to go with a smaller area or one that had closer costs to their area? 

Otherwise, either the $29,864 or the living wage multiplied by 2080 hours would be acceptable and updates would be appreciated!

For spreadsheet purposes, the spreadsheet only accounts for one individual.  A score of 1 equates to MIT's living wage * 40 hours * 52 weeks (or 2080 hours). This is usually the same as MIT's listed "Required annual income before taxes". However, there have been times that the number is slightly different. It is possible that cities that have seen inflation in living (Nashville, Boston, Austin) or cover really huge areas (Philadelphia, NYC, Houston) might present a less accurate number depending on how recently MIT updates their data. It is possible that MIT has updated some numbers, but not all of them. It is possible that some of the numbers might need updating within the spreadsheet as well.
The Living Wage Index is based on the school's stipend divided by MIT's hourly living wage multiplied by 2080 hours.

There were considerably fewer applicants many years ago. A lot of the "top" programs have a long history and admitted bigger cohorts than they currently do. Part of this is some of the reason why it appears that certain professors graduated from the same schools. One of my professors told me that he only applied to 3 schools and was admitted to all of them.

While they may not have faced rejection to as many schools as current applicants are applying to, I do believe a lot of them do fear what will happen to the profession as a whole.

There were considerably fewer applicants many years ago. A lot of the "top" programs have a long history and admitted bigger cohorts than they currently do. Part of this is some of the reason why it appears that certain professors graduated from the same schools. One of my professors told me that he only applied to 3 schools and was admitted to all of them.

While they may not have faced rejection to as many schools as current applicants are applying to, I do believe a lot of them do fear what will happen to the profession as a whole.

There were considerably fewer applicants many years ago. A lot of the "top" programs have a long history and admitted bigger cohorts than they currently do. Part of this is some of the reason why it appears that certain professors graduated from the same schools. One of my professors told me that he only applied to 3 schools and was admitted to all of them.

While they may not have faced rejection to as many schools as current applicants are applying to, I do believe a lot of them do fear what will happen to the profession as a whole.

Not true. Brown English maintains an invisible waitlist. You're still in the game if you haven't received a rejection from Brown. We discovered that last year when some of us asked why we hadn't been notified and the coordinator told us about a waitlist.

Not true. Brown English maintains an invisible waitlist. You're still in the game if you haven't received a rejection from Brown. We discovered that last year when some of us asked why we hadn't been notified and the coordinator told us about a waitlist.

Not true. Brown English maintains an invisible waitlist. You're still in the game if you haven't received a rejection from Brown. We discovered that last year when some of us asked why we hadn't been notified and the coordinator told us about a waitlist.

In at Brown. Email to check portal. 

I've never heard of any school reimbursing you for the amount of money you spent on the GRE. I would advise against asking for reimbursement as this is not something that is typically seen as eligible for reimbursement purposes.

It also may not be allowed by the department for you to keep a full-time job. A lot of times, departments expect you to be fully-engage with the program. This often means your attendance and participation in events outside of classes.

Fixed. It seems like someone did some resorting and unclicked California in the settings. I've undone those settings and schools in California are now listed again!

It also may not be allowed by the department for you to keep a full-time job. A lot of times, departments expect you to be fully-engage with the program. This often means your attendance and participation in events outside of classes.

I think this greatly varies depending on the university.
Some of the universities I visited had already taken note of the professors I had expressed interested in working with and had ensured that they had scheduled time for me to meet with them and discuss my interests. Some of the departments remembered very clearly who I was and what my interests were without having to look at their notes. These meetings were conversational in nature. The professors were really looking to hear more about your research and seeing how they best fit in within the scope of the project.

Some departments gave a more general agenda and it was up to the applicant to have scheduled time with any professors.

I'm not sure if it possible to realistically figure out a way to accurately interpret programs. There are a few factors that play into this. How many people were accepted into a cohort? What percentage of those applicants dropped out after earning an MA? How many people decided to not enter the National Job Market? How many people decided that they wanted an alternative academic job or decided to pursue another career instead? How comfortable was the student with leaving the city of their school? Does the student feel comfortable moving their family across the country if they've started a family? Was the student completing the degree as part of a passion project? I'm sure there are many other factors which I can't think of but these are some things which can impact placement data and which can often not be seen through data alone.

My cohort is mixed. Half of us have MA degrees; half of us only have a Bachelor's degree. I don't think 23/24 is considered 'too young' for a program. I don't think TA'ing or adjuncting count much for PhD programs. It might be a nice 'bonus' but I don't think it'll make a difference to whether or not a program accepts you. Fit is still and will likely always be king when there are so many well qualified applicants applying.

Congrats!

GUYS, I'M IN AT UPENN?!?!?!?!??!?!!

As another point of reference, Wisconsin has a nice record of information that list applicant stats. (There are more available by other universities as well. I think there are laws that Public Schools must make the information publically available somewhere.)

Taking a look at Madison's stats:
211 people applied in Fall 2015 for English. 35 were offered admission. 17 enrolled.
156 people applied in Fall 2016 for English.  9 were offered admission. 7 enrolled.
149 people applied in Fall 2017 for English. 10 were offered admission. 2 enrolled.

Comparing it to Biochemistry:
242 people applied in Fall 2015 for Biochemistry. 46 were offered admission. 18 enrolled.
243 people applied in Fall 2016 for Biochemistry.  60 were offered admission. 22 enrolled.
239 people applied in Fall 2017 for Biochemistry. 61 were offered admission. 23 enrolled,

If you do contribute changes, please make sure to update the year of the offer as well. This will allow other applicants to see how recent the offer was made. 
I've highlighted schools in green that are missing stipend information. These schools include: Oregon, Boston University, Missouri, Kentucky and Stanford. If you have funding information on those schools, please contribute it 
If you notice a number is wrong, please feel free to correct it. Please do not erase  entries from the list.

I'm bumping this thread because I think the current cohort could find it helpful when they make their decisions.

Hey all... Just received a phone call from the DGS at U of Delaware! I've been admitted, and it seems they're sending out their acceptances today. It's been quite the cycle for me. 9a/3r/many more pending

Just accepted to Berkeley!!! I had completely written off Berkeley as an implied rejection, and was bracing myself for a shut out, so try to stay hopeful friends.