FeetInTheSky

Yes they did! Thanks so much. (I know you didn't do it to do me a favor, but I still feel indebted.)

I haven't heard anything about visits... maybe that info will come sooner? Do you know anything about it? I would like to see it. I've never been to Nebraska. Maybe visits are only for PhD and not for MA (Also we can totally switch to PMs so we don't crowd this thread with Nebraska, if you like).

Apparently it does! I have funding for graduate school! I can go! Yippee!

WOO!

As a person on that waitlist, I thank you! They said I'm number one on the list, so I really hope that in the MA program that lit funding can slide over to rhet/comp!

I just want to underscore this point with some concrete detail: I currently work in undergraduate admissions. This year, I have about 500 applications assigned to me. I've been reading them since November and finished last week. The thing about these applications, though, is that none of them contain twenty-page writing samples. The Common App essay is 600 words and can be read by a normal person in a few minutes (if you don't totally space out while reading yet another story about a kid who got cut from her soccer team). I also don't have classes to teach or research to conduct. I also don't need to think about whether certain faculty can mentor the students in admitting, or if they're prepared for a TAship, or any of that stuff. The nuance isn't really there. If a student is qualified, we say yes. That's it. I have a staff of fifty students who I need to supervise, and that takes about 25% of my day. So I basically have 5-6 hours a day for four months to read 500 very short applications, and I still get stressed by the deadline. I cannot imagine how graduate adcoms process 200-300 applications that are probably at least eight to ten times as long, while also juggling departmental budget and political issues, while also also, you know, being a college professor.

I really appreciate that story -- I'm sure we've all done things like this! And thanks! You're gonna kill it at Amherst.

What's worse than getting an implied rejection from Northeastern and UMASS within a few minutes of each other? Accidentaly sending your staff of fifty student workers the link to the Northeastern application portal when you meant to send them a link to a scheduling form. Whoops. Seriously, though, congrats to those who got into both those programs. They're awesome and you totally deserve it. I'm very thankful to probably have somewhere to go in the fall, so I'm glad opportunities rolled in to you.

I don't remember who made this point several weeks ago on this forum, but you'd really think that English faculty would know how to be more explicit with their writing.... If I were in your shoes I would be a flurry of excitement and confusion.

Yup, we're 100% on the same page. And a name change indeed... I figured it's probably best to keep this space private, and my previous username was a little on-the-nose in terms of identification. I STRUGGLED to come up with a replacement, though.

I've just applied to Rhetoric and Composition programs, so I'm not practicing/quite an expert in any of this, but here's my general impression from the research I've done thus far. While you're chasing the right horse with the Rhetoric and Composition focus, you really want to be narrowing that focus to Rhetoric specifically. Rhet/Comp programs are not only interested in writing, but also the teaching of writing. (I, for example, want to study how students from various backgrounds acclimate to academic discourse. Others will want to focus on writing centers, writing across the curriculum, writing-to-learn, or a host of other topics.) If you're really just trying to study how prose works, you're more likely to find success in a Rhetoric program. Compare for example, the faculty at Carnegie Mellon, which is purely a Rhetoric program, with that of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, which is listed as Composition and Rhetoric. Sure, there are faculty at Nebraska who study rhetoric, and some who do both composition and rhetoric, but if you're looking for all-prose-all-the-time, I'd advise you to look at programs that are just listed as Rhetoric, like CMU's. Other examples of Rhetoric programs include Berkeley and Northwestern (who actually house their Rhetoric and Public Culture program in their Communications (rather than English) department). You're just more likely to find a cleaner fit. Again, I'm new to this whole scene so this might only be a slice of the whole picture, but it's what I've got for you right now! Edit based on @LouisePlease's comment -- there is of course plenty of prose analysis and rhetoric-based work going on in lit programs. (I was in undergrad in lit and practically wrote my thesis based on Wayne Booth's The Rhetoric of Fiction), but I think you'd be remiss to apply to lit programs with the intention of studying the manifestation and effects of prose. Again, we have little info in the OP on what the whole goal is, but that's a guess.

True, true!

I totally agree with what @engphiledu says as well. Something I noticed is that there's a lot of application-related activity on this forum, and that's really great to have a support system like that now. I really don't like competition at all, and it's such a relief to have such a kind-hearted group here. Now, I've never been to grad school, but I imagine it's somewhat hard? Just a guess. And so it disheartens me a little to imagine that the group will fall apart once the shared stress of application season wavers. If we can remain active, I think it will create a wonderful support network for students to discuss graduate school things with people who aren't necessarily in their own program. Sometimes an outside perspective is really necessary. And it would be fun to meet up at conferences and the like. And since this group is so tight, we can lay a bit of groundwork for further cohorts to have a similar structure pre-built for them. tl;dr, maybe we can transition this application community into a scholarly one. Here's hoping, you know?

Congratulations! That's got to be awesome to have the peace of mind to be totally done with everything. even though I totally wanted to be your friend at UNL

Oh it's totally unlikely, but this kind of thing would have to happen eventually, just based on probability and stuff. Maybe I should pop over to the Math forum to see if any of them can let us know the likelihood of such a thing happening...

Real-time footage of me:

I promise to tend to their horses (e.g. TA) in exchange for said meal!

Trying to move from a lit BA to a comp/rhet PhD, I sent in my senior capstone paper which essentially made a rhetoric-based argument for the categorization of metafiction as a formal genre (like sci fi or fantasy) rather than as an offshoot of postmodern realism.

Ah thank you @anxiousgrad @RydraWong @Mippipopolous(and congrats to you too!) and @Wyatt's Terps for saying such nice things! This board is so wonderfully supportive. I love it. For people still waiting, I believe in you! You can do the thing! And @engphiledu posted as I was writing this, so congrats on South Carolina!

You are my favorite.

Implied rejection, shmimplied smejection! I got admitted to the MA program at University of Nebraska-Lincoln! I'm completely beside myself with excitement. After so many acceptances went out I was sure that I was toast. I applied for the PhD program, but I think the MA will be a great way for me to get my feet wet in rhet/comp. I'm number one on the waitlist for funding, they said, so if they're able to offer me a position, I'll be off to graduate school! Listening to this on repeat all day:

Do all of your friends live in Boston too? Your friends and my friends should hang out! But just a heads-up I'm looking for rhet/comp... the lit program is still funded, I just know nothing about it.

81. Consider dashing off an application to UMass Boston's terminal MA because they're close to where all your friends live, fully funded, taking apps until March 1, and you're becoming worried that your lack of MA (and associated lack of teaching experience) means that you don't have a shot at the PhD applications you filled out for this cycle... 82. Look longingly at the all-faculty photo for one of the programs you still have standing and whisper "I just want to be your friend"

Based on all of the really excellent speculation that goes on on this forum, I think that we should spend our summers developing conspiracy theories. We'd come up with some great stuff.