MinniePup

Hello again! Regardless of what you're doing today, congrats on surviving to see the sun rise on April 15th! I declined fully funded offers from Boston College (a few minutes ago) and West Virginia (on Tuesday). I am also taking my name off the waitlists at Northeastern and the University of New Hampshire. I accepted an offer from the University of Florida. I hope this helps some of you out! Goodluck to those still waiting!

Hi! I can claim one of the Northeastern waitlist spots. They said they would know whether I am accepted or rejected in the next 10-14 days. I just received the email this afternoon. Hope this helps! This is my fourth waitlist. Looks like I'm not going to be making a decision until the night of April 14th...

Do you mind sharing details about how the waitlist works? I haven't talked to anyone about it, but because it is short & unranked I assume there is one waitlisted person for each subfield and our status is pretty much dependant on which of the current admits accepts/declines. Is that your understanding? May the ivy leagues shower acceptances upon the current admits in Early Modern and Victorian studies. I will definitely let you know when I hear more news.

I just found out that I'm on the waitlist for UNH's English PhD program. If anyone here was admitted, I'd love to hear whether you plan to accept or not either in this forum or via private message. Apparently they only accepted two people, so congrats!

Hi EddySpenz, I haven't turned down an offer from either school, but I'm also waitlisted at BC. What's your subfield? I'm interested in Victorian Studies.

Hello again, artist_lily, My apartment search is also on hold right now as I wait to hear back results from a few of my wait list schools (as well as the stragglers who haven't notified me at all). I will let you know when I find out more information on Gainesville housing though. I am also very excited about the University of Florida, and it's the school I'm leaning towards right now. As I said in my previous post, U Florida seems to be one of the schools in which MA students can easily continue on to the PhD, so that's good news. And yes, we can private message each other regarding funding--is there a way to do that on here or shall we exchange email addresses? I didn't discover the forum section of the grad cafe until a few weeks ago, so I'm still a novice.

I applied to the PhD program at UNH and haven't heard anything. Are those of you have heard one way or the other PhD or MA applicants? Also, did your online status change? Thanks for the info! And congrats to those who have heard positive news!

Hmmm, I'm not sure what that means. If it helps, I was notified of my BC waitlist spot at the end of February and they told me it was a short waitlist. I've seen others post BC rejections on the results board; however, so maybe they are waiting to see what happens with the current waitlisters before deciding on your app? I should also mention that I'm talking about the PhD program; I'm not sure whether they have started notifying people on the MA waitlist yet. If it's any consolation, I'm still waiting on schools too (Penn State, University of New Hampshire, and Northeastern). I propose a new law that states all applicants who have not received a decision by April 14th be awarded a full refund of their application fee and additional fees for pain and suffering. Goodluck!

I am still holding out for one of my waitlist schools, Boston College. The incoming cohort is only 4-5 people each year. The waitlist is unranked and based largely on on field. I'm going for Victorian Studies. I would be grateful for any news!

To woolfie: As artist_lily said, I believe the MAs and the PhDs are all fullyfunded. Their philosophy seems to be togive everyone a decent amount of funding rather than a few people a lot offunding, because they want to avoid the competitive environment that kind of hierarchalfunding structure creates. On top of thebase funding, they do offer some fellowships. I spoke with Dr. Wegner about this year’s cohort, and, basedon that conversation, I gather that 1) they do have terminal MAs and 2) UF alsogives their MAs the opportunity to continue on to the PhD. Moreover, there are a lot of studentscontinuing on this year, so I’m guessing they don’t put a strict limit on thenumber of students they accept from the MA into the PhD. To artist_lily: Regarding your funding question: I also applied for the Kirkland fellowship. When I was accepted in mid-Februarythey still hadn’t decided who the recipient would be and they told me I wasbeing considered, but I am starting to think I am out of the running at thispoint because I haven’t heard anything further. Sorry I can’t offer any more information on that one. Regarding potential roommates: I could also see myself going either way onthis, because, as you said, the cost of a studio and the cost of sharing anapartment seems pretty similar. At leastwe have options, right? J I’d like to live with another English gradstudent too and I love your idea of starting a forum for finding Englishdepartment roommates. Perhaps as April15th approaches and everyone decides which school they will beattending we should start one. To everyone in the thread (and to those who are justbrowsing J): Skimming through other boards on this website, I saw people cautionagainst the following Gainesville apartments (due to high undergrad populations—theyare not necessarily bad for other reasons): Lexington Crossing, Gainesville Place, CabanaBeach, Oxford Manner, The Polos, Campus Lodge, The District on 62nd,Tivoli, & University Club. I should stress that I haven’t visited Gainesville, let alone these apartmentbuildings. This is just information Ifound on here that I thought might be helpful to others who haven’t visitedyet. Best of luck to all!

Thanks for the advice regarding places to avoid, mushpuddle. Are there any apartment buildings/complexes that you would recommend? Do you know which buildings typically attract grad students? Any that are a good deal considering location, living conditions, etc. (as opposed to being dirt cheap...and dirt filled)? By the way, I've been accepted to U Florida's English PhD program. I haven't decided on a school yet and I am not able to visit this one, so any info on the campus or Gainesville would also be appreciated!

Hi, Thanks very much for starting this thread! I've been accepted to U Florida's English PhD program for the Victorian Studies track. I haven't decided on a school yet, but I'm strongly considering accepting U Florida's offer. I really wanted to visit, but because the plane fare was so expensive I decided to save the money for my years of voluntary poverty. I'm very interested to hear others' impressions of Gainesville, the UF campus, and the English department. More specifically, can anyone recommend (or caution against) specific apartment buildings/complexes? I've seen many very reasonable rents, (some are even below $500 per month) but I'm curious about a) the safety of the location b )the types of people the buildings attract and c) the experience of past renters. I'm also trying to decide whether I should live alone or get a roommate--anyone else debating the same? Also, do you think a car is necessary? For anyone else with questions regarding public transit, I've read elsewhere that the bus system in Gainesville is pretty good and that UF students ride for free. Apparently, the transportation linking Gainesville to the surrounding areas is more limited. Anyway, it's very nice to speak with other prospective students! Perhaps we shall meet in person in the future.