victoriansimpkins

this is the exact same boat I'm in right now. I'm still waiting on 2 programs, and losing my shit every second.

kind of stupid/anxiety induced question: when you email the DGS to inquire about your application status, what do you say in the email besides...that?

YEP. FWIW, I went to a small, rural MA program that was completely funded: tuition remission, two-year teaching appointment that came with a living stipend (and actually livable), and they funded 1 conference a year (for me, not all, but I applied for funding like no other). The school, otherwise, has little-to-no money and the graduate students make *almost* as much as the adjuncts, but they put every dime into their graduate students --- even those who are going alt-ac or K-12.

@kendalldinniene YOU ARE FIRE. I'm so so so happy for you!!

I wouldn't say they are "generally...helpful experiences" -- they are required for advancement in your field. Put everything on your CV that is relevant. If you fill out an application for funding and are awarded it, it needs to go under an "honors and awards" section. I have 5 grants so far that I had to apply for (3 conference and 2 research grants) and they can only help since not everyone gets them automatically. The humanities need people willing to apply for grants that are not just NEH grants (since an average of 2% of people are awarded those). If we want money like the sciences get, we have to be willing to apply and fight for it like the sciences do.

Anyone heard from WSU's PhD?

YES YES YES FOREVER YES. Though my "true" scholarship begins just a wee bit after this, I've been focusing a lot on Frances Burney and Eliza Haywood's works and depictions of the time. I relish in the majority's misunderstanding of the eighteenth-nineteenth centuries. These folks were FAR from boring.

Has anyone heard anything from UCR? There were a few interviews and only one acceptance on the board, so i'm not sure if I should keep this on an implied rejection list or?

waitlisted at Michigan State! "high on the waiting list"

I've been pretty open with my students this round. I let them know that I applied and would be spastic until I find out for sure, but I was really honest about the odds and job market, etc. We've even talked about my backup plans, and they were very kind with their thoughts. Most are *sure* I'll get in, but the less idealistic ones were brainstorming all sorts of avenues I could go after I'm finished with the semester (I've already decided to move, regardless, and give up my current teaching gig in favor of something (fingers crossed) more stable). I've been where I am a while and have established a reputation among the writing instructors (I'm the cursing prof who has tattoos and piercings), and a lot of my previous students have expressed sincere sadness at my leaving.

@kendalldinniene CONGRATS!!

This is what my partner wants to do ultimately, too. My idealistic goal is to start a homeschool/group home situation for displaced LGBTQ+ youth. HS is my backup, but I'm actually already getting the ball rolling on applications just in case. My mentors all want me to keep going at it, but if I don't get in with funding, it's absolutely impossible for me to attend right now. HS just isn't ready for a woman who has as many tattoos and piercings and curses as much as I do ???

I am WITH YOU ON THIS. I even had my 3 LOR writers tell me 3 vastly different things about contacting. I ultimately contacted to request a phone conversation about the program and to update my CV with them, but ffs it was pain trying to figure out what i should do.

can I ask what you said to them? I'm toying with the idea of emailing UNL (I have some questions about the program) but not sure what I should/can say. Feel free to pm me if you want, or I can you.

my mother's already planning trips to Nebraska, no matter how many times I explain that if the funding doesn't come through I can't go there..

I truthfully didn't explain bad grades in mine (I had an F in calculus 2 and a C in world literatures my first semester freshman year), because I had nothing below an A-/B+ sophomore-senior years (even the calculus that I needed to retake). My mentor told me that if adcoms can't figure out that I (along with 90% of freshmen) screwed up but fixed it, then they just didn't want me anyway. I focused primarily on my research and what I'd done in my MA and what I plan on in the future. If anything, I'd only give it a line or two but not dwell?

you've just described my entire life (and arms. and back.) My most recent was an American Traditional style Bob and Linda with my partner!

Three of my programs haven't said a peep either. My #1 had a late deadline (january 15) so I'm expecting a later notification and my heart may give out.

@jadeisokay i wouldn't have ever made it to the filming stages. also, can anyone tell me anything about the UC Riverside interviews/acceptance? i.e. should i expect a rejection soon if i haven't heard yet?

@jadeisokay YOU ARE AWESOME AND RAD AND AMAZING AND FIRE AND EVERYTHING AND GO YOU!

Two random questions/thoughts: Do you think it matters what our LOR alma maters are? Do adcoms really look that closely at WHO is writing our letters or just WHAT they say? Do you think it makes a difference if we applied to our LOR writers' alma maters? (I applied to 2 programs that my LORs went to and not sure if that matters one iota or not and I'm curious what you all think!)

I've been teaching, working at my university's writing center, and going to conferences, publishing as much as possible, giving guest lectures on my campus, and doing huge lectures (this year I'm doing a huge bicentennial celebration Queen Victoria's birth for women's history month). I stayed on teaching at my MA institution, because I wanted to keep fostering those relationships and bugging tf out of them for advice weekly. Basically anything that I can think of within reason to help me stay happy, working within my time period/interests, and closer to the goal. I'm a pathetic mess sometimes but my anxiety likes for me to stay as busy as possible.

accepted to UNL's PhD in English (focus on Victorian and Digital Humanities) but waitlisted for funding. CURRENTLY CRYING AND JUMPING UP AND DOWN AND NOT GRADING MY STUDENTS' PAPERS BECAUSE WHO CARES RIGHT NOW KIDDOS.

I agree with this -- i would prefer answering 10 specific questions in 250 words or so than writing another SOP ever blindly trying to figure out what they want to hear. I know a couple programs who give a sort of "write about your past, present and future, but be sure to mention this, this, and this too" and I appreciated those a lot.

also anxious and terrified!