firstsummerinthesierras

Most of the people I know who went into publishing after getting MAs were doing something journalism-related and had been working in the field before and/or during their time at graduate school.

I am talking about Literary Studies.

Has anyone heard anything from University of Denver? I know it is a small program and there aren't a lot of folks who applied, but so far my email and call to the graduate coordinator of GSAS have gone unanswered. I am finding that being ignored feels much worse than just being rejected.

Whomever is in charge of liaising with waitlistees knows that it is a stressful situation to be in. The person who emailed me about my status (I think he was the graduate program's administrator) told me to feel free to ask questions and check in with him, and I took him up on that. I asked how many people were on the wait list, if people have been accepted off the list in previous years, whether the order is fixed or if it depends on the course of study, etc. He was very prompt and helpful in regards to my questions and eased a lot of my anxieties. What I learned is that the order is mostly fixed but faculty reconverge just to make sure everyone is on the same page about who they accept, about 10 people are on the wait list, 3-5 students are accepted every year depending on the funds available, students accepted off of the wait list are funded as much as anyone else, last year two people were accepted off of the wait list, I will be notified if either a space becomes available or the cohort is full, and I am apparently "very high" on the wait list. That last bit is the most stressful because it isn't specific and mostly just lets me know that I was the department's 6th, 7th, or 8th choice. Anyhow, just ask if you are curious. It won't bump you down points on the wait list or anything.

That is really the sort of thing you have to ask the program advisor/coordinator about. Even so, knowing how things went last year or the year before does not necessarily tell you anything about your odds this year.

This has happened to me before—twice, actually. I applied right out of undergrad the first time, and my work just wasn't sophisticated/developed enough for me to get in to the schools to which I applied. I am actually really glad that I didn't get in that time. I wanted to do Film Studies, which is something I know I am not interested in anymore. I did get in to a summer research fellowship, applied to two MA programs, worked at a bookstore for a while, then enrolled in a Media Studies program on scholarship. I realized that it wasn't really the kind of thing I wanted to do and ended up transferring to a different MA program. I was not offered as big a scholarship, but the program ended up being a way better fit for me and my work and writing really developed. It also gave me the opportunity to teach, publish, present at conferences, and develop my research under advisors who were able to give close attention to my work. I applied to a total of five Comp Lit and interdisciplinary programs and didn't get in anywhere, which was very crushing to me. However I applied only to very competitive top-tier programs, and the feedback I got was generally that I either was a) not the best fit for the program or b) was a good fit and people were interested in my research, but I just wasn't who the department needed at that time. In the mean time, I am just living my life on a day-to-day basis, working on my writing, trying to travel, reading (for pleasure), working a job that isn't really what I want to do but isn't terrible either. I applied again to programs that seemed like possible better fits and/or less competitive. I am wait-listed at one quite competitive program that is a great fit, rejected from two less competitive programs (which in retrospect were not the best fits), and waiting to hear back from two more. If I am shut out again, it will suck, but it isn't the end of the world. I think it is fairly common these days for very intelligent, talented people not to be accepted into Phd programs—for a whole slough of reasons. I wouldn't be embarrassed by it. Both the graduate school application and job markets are very competitive, and way more people are applying than there were, say, 20 years ago, because way more people go to liberal arts colleges and think academia seems like a great idea, and the economy is shit so our generation's options for careers are not so open. Graduate school offers a very appealing oasis from these problems for a lot of people. I have tried a number of careers and worked very hard to get where I am today, and I don't see myself applying to PhD programs for the same reasons I did a number of years ago. And am not saying this is how you engage with the process—just that the pool is a lot bigger, so it is easier for an application to be overlooked and a lot rides on your applying to the right place at the right time with the right idea of what you want to be doing there. Sure, not getting in may be a hit to your ego, but so what? You will be rejected by plenty of jobs/fellowships/publishers/opportunities, and it sucks, but it is what it is. Your job or where you go to school isn't your whole life or identity. It's just an aspect of it. The best advice I can give is to take a good hard look at yourself and what you want from your life. For instance, I want to be an educator, to have the kind of job that helps people see and think critically about their surroundings. I want to have enough flexibility with my schedule to be able to travel. I want to live somewhere with access to nature. I want to maintain my relationship with my partner and continue to support each other as our lives progress. I want to maintain my other strong relationships, to have good friends and be one. I don't ever want to stop thinking or learning. Going into academia will help me achieve a lot of my career/life goals, but if it doesn't work out, there are other ways to get there.

I study (primarily American) folk culture, storytelling, and historiography. I applied to American Studies and English/Cultural Theory programs, and the more I think about it, the American Studies programs just seem like better fits for my research than others. The sort of historiography you study will dictate the kinds of programs that might work best for you. I would look at the people you are reading (who are still alive and well in academia), find out where they teach, and then look into those programs. UC Santa Cruz has a program in History of Consciousness, Rhetoric at UC Berkeley (of course), a variety of Anthropology and Cultural Studies programs—really any kind of Humanities discipline that ends in "Studies" will have an interdisciplinary theoretical focus. Edit: I got my MA in an interdisciplinary Art History/Visual Theory program. My advisors came from all sorts of backgrounds—British literature, Architectural History, American Studies, Studio/visual arts.

It must depend on the school. Mine was very clear—it seemed like a form email bcc-ed to a number of applicants with an explanation of how the school only accepts as many spots as it can fund, so if someone declines the offer and we are pulled from the wait list, we will be guaranteed that same funding. I responded to the email with a thank you, expressed my enthusiasm for the school, and asked how many people were on the wait list. The departmental graduate administrator then sent me a personalized email about my standing, how the process works, and some idea of how many people have gotten off the wait list in past years. He also said that I should feel free to ask more questions or check in, and that he would inform me as soon as he knew of any movement on the list. He told me twice that I am "very high" on the list and this order rarely changes, which hopefully means I am #1 or 2 and have a good chance of being accepted (it is a top choice!). I have heard that larger programs rank people on the wait list by field/area of study, but that is not the case for this department. It is a great program with only 4-5 spots, so I won't count any chickens.

I guess it sort of only makes sense if school B (or C, etc) offers you more money than school A. But yeah I don't think any school expects you to accept right away.

Most schools anticipate that you will want to survey your options; maybe you will fall in love with one city over another, or you haven't heard back about funding, fellowships, and TAships and so can't make a decision. It might also be prudent to let school A know that you have been accepted to school B and have X offer to go there—oftentimes a school may offer you a little more if it is worried about losing you. Most schools are now moving to a system of only extending as many offers as they can fund and having longer wait lists because programs are so competitive that they can't really estimate anymore how many prospectives might accept an offer in a given year. The only reason I would accept an offer sooner rather than later is to ease the suffering of those on your other programs' wait lists. Right now I am "very high" on my top choice school's wait list and haven't heard back from anywhere else yet. I would love to hear back about being accepted or the class filling up sooner rather than later.

Was anyone here admitted to UT-Austin, or only wait-listed? And if you were put on the wait list, do you have any idea where you stand or if funding will be available?

Was everyone who was accepted/waitlisted/rejected from University of Pittsburgh in the Film Studies track? I applied for Cultural Studies and haven't heard anything. Mostly anticipating a rejection due to fit, but it is strange I have not heard anything.