lesabendio

And philosophe - your concerns about diversity are legitimate, and I appreciate the cordial tone of your posts. I will still say, however, it is still not clear to me that abandoning the principle of evaluating applicants based on academic merit alone is morally justified. Far from it.

I'm here to vent about the severe racism and sexism among admissions committees. In an application to any sort of university, the only relevant features of the applicant should be those over which he has some control. (And back off, determinists.) Being a female or black or Latino or whatever should mean absolutely nothing. But this is not the case.
And it's no small matter. My white male friend and I have received only rejections and anticipate many more. I applied to a ton of schools and anticipate maybe one or two acceptances (but only after sitting for many weeks on a waitlist). But we know two gals at our program, of equal caliber with ourselves (perhaps lower), who each got into nearly every program they applied to, some within the top 10, with full funding. In fact, when one of these gals was flown out to a top university, they practically begged her to come.
Obviously, I don't think that every person on admissions committee is a racist bigot. They are pressured by the university, yadda yadda. But I think there are some spineless cowards out there for letting this crap get this out of hand. Some disparity will always exist -- whatever, not much anyone can do about that. But when it becomes pretty much the ticket for securing acceptance, it's obvious the system is corrupt.

I know these two personally, know their scores, their letters, and their writing samples. I actually helped one write hers. I've also got better GRE scores, and an MA. (She's only an undergrad.) So it is frustrating to watch her get in to so many places while I've gotten pretty much nothing.

I'm certain of nothing, of course, but they did send me a waitlist notification several weeks back. Maybe they just do everything in waves? 
By the by, I also got admitted to U Michigan Ann Arbor today! Yay!~ (And rejected from Brown! Booooo!)

I second ProfLorax. It's easy to start going down a rabbit hole of what-ifs and politics, but for most cases it's quite simple. And, don't forget, the schools go through this every single year with a whole bunch of people, so you can be sure that you're thinking about the situation a lot more than they are thinking about you.
Some rules of thumb:
1. Offers are valid as long as the letter says they are valid (i.e. usually April 15). You should not feel like you need to respond sooner if you are not ready.
2. It's okay to wait to make a decision until you have 100% of the information you need. For example, it is a good idea to wait to decide on School A until you visit School B. You don't have to tell School A anything. They might check in with you every couple of weeks and you can just say that you are waiting until you finish your visits (by X date) before you make your decision.
3. While you should take your time until you get 100% of the information, when you do have enough information to make a certain decision, do it. This probably means you will be making your "decline" decisions earlier than your final acceptance. For example, if by March 1, you have visited 3 schools and you already know one of those 3 is not going to be one of your choices, go ahead and decline them right away. No need to wait until you have accepted an offer before you start declining.

Solomonski: Take as much time as you need (well, until April 15). This is a big decision, and don't let worries about politics or wait lists force you to rush. Once you are 100% sure you don't want to attend a program, let them know-- there's no reason to wait. But until you know, take your time to really process the pros and cons of each program. Heck, for most schools, visiting day hasn't occurred yet. Unless the DGS inquires on when you will have an answer, you don't owe them an explanation of why you haven't accepted their offer yet. Sure, if you haven't chosen by April 1, you could email and let the DGS know what factors are preventing you from saying "YES!" But really, this is your time. Take it! DGS's are familiar with the process and expect students to wait until they receive all their offers, visit all the admitted schools, and weighed all the risks and rewards of the options. 

Got my acceptance call from University of Kansas today. So excited! First acceptance with funding. I already got in to two other schools and was waitlisted for funding at one, while no word on the TAship application for the other. 

Just saw some posts on the results side and wanted to clarify:
- All UC TAs are paid the same, regardless of school. We all have the same union contract. 
- UCR gives a 5 year package for students w the BA and 4 year with the MA but a 6th/5th year is never a problem. Students are encouraged to apply for fellowships for part of the time, but TAships are no problem for the last year, it just isn't put into the package. 
 

No word on funding yet, but I received an unofficial acceptance to the Literature and Cultural Theory program via email on Friday!

Hey, tuning into Grad Cafe late in the season, but I'll claim a SUNY-Buffalo acceptance, a UC Davis wait list, and a WUSTL wait list (all in digital humanities/film studies). Still waiting to hear from 9 schools... 

No, I never did. I have also received only a confirmation email that I successfully submitted my application. None of the programs I applied to have a portal site where you can check on the status of your application, so thankfully that's one fewer thing to compulsively check. I'm refreshing my email enough as it is.

Hi all,
The CUNY offer is mine. The email was pretty non-specific; just a congratulations, offer to answer any questions, and a notification that a later email will "provide you with funding information and other details related to your acceptance." Nothing about other decisions.
Reeeeeeeally excited. Best of luck to y'all.

I honestly think the biggest piece of advice is a mindset. Have the mindset that your job is now to read at least 4+ hours a day, sometimes things that aren't that enjoyable, and sometimes things that are mind-blowing.  And you are reading, very often, for "take aways" and things that you might potentially use in academic scholarship.  

I was in a similar position, and I asked my now-advisor for some suggestions, a starter kit of sorts. That was really helpful. After I devoured her suggested readings, I moved onto YA novels! Because I love them. Once your program starts, you'll be knee-deep in theory and criticism for five solid years (and then after that, too!). So make sure you spend time reading for fun before your program starts. 
Congrats on your transition! 

Seconding the opinion that you try to find out what some of the current threads of scholarship are in your area of interest. It'll get you up to speed on the ongoing "conversations" and also help you think about where you can jump into that conversation. Though of course there's also something to be said for reading for nothing but pleasure; I barely have time for it as an undergrad and I imagine that's only going to get worse in grad school. Maybe take advantage of your comparatively free time while you can!

Without knowing your area, I'd actually suggest reading up on your area of interest from other fields/perspectives. So, for example, if you're interested in Victorian literature, I might read histories of the Victorian era, biographies of key authors, etc. It's not exactly what you'll be studying in grad school but the additional background information could prove incredibly useful in the future.

What is your area of interest? I mean, you could read a lot generally, which is always useful, but maybe reading theory and criticism relevant to your area of study would be more useful. 

For the last 5 years, I've worked primarily as a paralegal in the legal and insurance industries.  Now that I know I'll be leaving the white-collar world for good come this fall, I'm wondering what I should be doing between now and then to re-acquaint myself with academic study.  I've always been a voracious reader of contemporary novels and poems, even after I graduated with my BA in 2010, but I haven't read much that would be considered "academic" or "theoretical" in years.
I guess I'm asking for advice about preparing intellectually and professionally for a career change from office work to academia.  Some have suggested that I dive into Norton Anthologies. (But I remember the nausea of reading author and chapter introductions to study for the subject exam and would really prefer not to.)  Others have suggested looking at syllabi for upcoming and past courses offered by my prospective English departments.
Any advice would be appreciated! I'm just thrilled to have the opportunity to return to school after so long; it's always been an ambition of mine, and I've put it off for too long.