jillcicle

wtf 3 rejections from UVA sent through and my email is... still empty??? Did they lose the app can you just reject me already?! Columbia did gradually rollouts of rejections too and that also sucked. I just want to know! There's nothing on my portal, either. I checked just in case.

Dude. This. 100%.

That's the best sentence I've read in a while.

Yes, you can be Scrappy Doo and we even promise not to let you become hated and turn you into the villain

Thank you - this is a very helpful thing for me to keep in mind re: UNC Chapel Hill, and I'm sure others who will be scoping this thread out.

Definitely and also dibs on being Daphne. But like, edgier, who lectures Fred on his misogyny and why he isn't entitled to direct the group.

I... I went to Olive Garden and bought myself a nice silk dress from a thrift store. So that's my poor person version of celebrating lol. The relief was so good at first once I realized I was saved from a shutout but now all the stress about a potential move is kicking in. I'm trying to spend time outside in the garden and be peaceful!

That makes at least 5 of us on the UVA mystery gang. Ugh. Maybe today! I just want to knooooow.

Will do - thanks very much for the tips! And by the way, congratulations on your Davis acceptance - that's where I did my undergrad and their English department was such an incredible and supportive place. Do feel free to message me if you have any questions!

Duke: Feb 21-23 University of Alabama: February 28-March 2 Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL): February 28-March 2 CU Boulder: Feb 28-March 1 Indiana University: March 1 Queen's University: March 1 U Wisconsin-Madison: March 3-5 SMU Interview Visit: March 3-5 Illinois (Urbana): March 4-5 Stanford: March 6-8 UC Irvine: March 7-8 Northwestern: March 7-9 Saint Louis University: March 8 UC Santa Barbara: March 8 Florida State University: March 12 University of Minnesota: March 14-15 UC Santa Cruz: March 14 UC Berkeley: March 16-18 Kansas: March 17-19 UVA: March 18-19 UPenn: March 19-21 Vanderbilt: March 21-22 Rice University: March 21-23 USC: March 24-26 Penn State: March 24-26 UT Austin: March 28-30 UC Davis: April 2 UNC Chapel Hill: March 21-22 SUNY Buffalo: April 2-3 NYU: April 3-4 U Oregon: April 4-6

My undergrad mentors - lovely, kind, amazing people ❤️ - told me to not mention goals to focus on teaching instead of researching, and especially not alt-ac. So far, even just from peers in a social setting, the reactions have been ickyyyyyyy when I talk about other work. I said "I'd be really happy teaching at a community college" at my master's once (to friends, not professors or staff!) and I swear to god 3 people choked and looked hideously pained and embarrassed. Frankly, things like that are half of what makes me want to find a path outside of academia ?. But also to do the PhD and raise hell trying to advocate for people and poke at the sleepy, pissy bear that is the ivory tower.

I was lucky enough to have undergrad professors who warned me about this from the get-go, while being cautiously encouraging, and have always had this mindset. So many people from my master's degree are convinced they're going to stroll into tenure and make 6 figures. (Yeah, it was a top 5, but they all seem convinced that if you just work really hard it won't be you who's affected by the job market. Even within that one program there will be too many graduates to be hired in one year's tenure-track openings!) I don't know if this counts as "out" of academia per se, but I have my eyes on community college. (Probably unlikely to get tenure even there, realistically, and I'm planning for that. I think tenure will be eliminated even more by the time we're done with our PhDs.) I've taken gap years between undergrad and master's and then master's and PhD to try to stack teaching experience on my resume and I'm also hoping to build coding skills more through DigHum work. I'm hoping to leverage the PhD as a way to get in touch with education issues more and do advocacy that could potentially lead to education sector work. I'm also a substitute teacher right now and I know I can go back to that or teaching high school (which I currently sub for) happily as well. Also, edit to add @victoriansimpkins comment re: "HS just isn't ready for a woman who has as many tattoos and piercings and curses as much as I do ???" is basically why I'm shooting for college instead of high school. I think I'd be non-re-elected often in K-12, frankly. Kids love me but parents and admin do noooot. I cannot bring myself to do things like enforce petty sexist dress codes (have actually been coaching the kids on how to protest them effectively ?‍♀️). But it is joyful and fulfilling minus parents/admin, so it would be a mostly happy backup. My back-up-back-up plan is adjuncting + subbing + other gig economy work and I think frankly as millennials that's the realistic backup plan that we need to have.* *I say this as someone who is already 100k in debt for a v. specialized master's degree who might as well finish out school and get the "Dr.", especially since PhD will be funded and I'll be the first ever "Dr." in my family. Now, I would tell post-undergrad me to run like hell before getting an extra $60k in the hole. I know the scenario is different for a lot of applicants, because so many people who do post-grad come from wealthy families. That's the problem with my master's cohort, I think. I would be excited to make $40k a year. They fully assume that hard work will get you triple figures and I am bracing myself to see their meltdowns when they realize that isn't coming. Also, let's admit it, we all have a secret novel-writing dream in our pocket ?

I asked to not be admitted to the MA bc I already have a Master's. But radio silence for me too.

There is just literally no way - I'm from a working class family, made $14,000 last year, and I already tanked my savings and ran up my credit card paying for the app fees this cycle. This has me questioning their support in general, I guess - in the first place, there was no diversity statement option in the app or anything like that, so they can't know my financial circumstances except from FAFSA. But I find it a little concerning. I will definitely ask them about Skype meetings. I've edited to clarify there's hotel accommodation offered, but getting there is on the visitor according to the email. I will go ahead and ask - I was worried about irritating them when they've already stated that we're expected to arrange travel. My letter says I'm being offered ten semesters of a Teaching Fellowship and that "most students" in the past have been able to fund a 6th year via Teaching or Dissertation Fellowships - if the admission offer is saying that, should I still be concerned/trying to verify those funds? I still haven't heard from my POI, just the PDF from the grad studies director. Anyway sorry for the rambling - I'm just stuck between not wanting to sound whiny to the department and not sounding excited enough, and very frustrated as I thought a PhD would finally be the first time in my education experience that I would get to go to the orientation type thing, as I wasn't able to afford it in undergrad or my master's. *sigh*

If my admissions email says "visitors are asked to make their own travel arrangements," (as far as the flight - they're offering two nights in a hotel on them and say they'll cover "pretty much everything else") am I guaranteed out of luck getting any assistance from the university for my flight? I'm bummed because the cost of a flight to North Carolina is more than I have in my bank account right now. How important are Open House events? If it's my only admit, should I just assume I don't need the Open House anyway since I don't have a decision to make?

Updated term on UNC Chapel Hill and believe I fixed the living wage stuff for there using @Warelin's resource (the mit.edu one) although someone may want to double check me.

I'm in at UNC Chapel Hill as well! (Medievalist.) Email from DGS with attached PDF containing acceptance and info. Also, yes, the timing was weird - email arrived at 11:32 pm PST yesterday? So I'm still too asleep to react except blind relief because I had become certain I was shut out this year. Hold onto hope, my friends!

University Of Californa, Los Angeles (UCLA) Sociology, PhD (F19) Rejected via Website on 9 Feb 2019 ♦ A 9 Feb 2019 report spam Nothing like waking up to a rejection from your dream school right before getting your wisdom teeth out. Bring me all the PaAAaiiiNnN. Whoever did this I would like you to know I was shaking from opening my own UCLA rejection (that's how my body is coping with this, apparently, no tears but lots of shaking ?) and I saw this and burst into guffaws. Had to tell my mom I got another rejection so I could explain what was funny but the laugh was worth it.

This is so nice thank you ?

So anyone have any clue what the deal is with emailing programs after a rejection? Seems like they are sometimes willing to give you feedback (although I assume NOT Stanford since there was some bit about "cannot provide individualized responses" in the email) but I'm not sure how to go about getting this. Should I email immediately after the response? What's the protocol here?

See I thought my weekend would be safe from status updates so I checked my email anxiety free, only to discover that UCLA sent out rejections at 2 something AM on Saturday. Wtf.

Saaaaaame! I've been subbing this year during my year off after a Master's already and it's not bad. I mean, I'm SO poor but the work is satisfying and I can get by and have time for creative stuff/working on apps. That's the big problem, is I could only afford 7 apps this year and I don't see that changing drastically for next round unless I get a way better job.

Oh my gosh this is EXACTLY what I've been trying to explain to people. Both rejections so far has just been this feeling of a gate slamming down between me and what was previously a potential reality. It's especially weird the longer you've wanted to go somewhere - Stanford's been my top choice since undergrad so that was a lot of potential reality I'd daydreamed about over 6 years being cut off. People keep asking if I'm sad and it's more a weird adjustment feeling. (Although today I am in a MOOD - ups and downs I suppose lol.)

Honestly my GRE subject score is pretty great and no one seems to care. Esp. with already having a master's, my advisors have told me that GPA and writing sample will be the only things that hold much weight other than fit. They were basically like "ahh, that might be a nice little boost, but don't count on it to get you anywhere." And so many places now (like Stanford) are phasing out GRE consideration anyway. Here's hoping everyone finds a place with a solid fit!

On one hand I feel you bc I keep dreading the mental burden of just weathering 5 more potential rejections, and I can't imagine more, but on the other hand it would have been nice if I could have afforded to broaden the net!