LouPlease

Well, it's finally happened. There are a couple of implied rejections still floating out there but it looks like I'm also shut out this season. It's a tough pill to swallow after thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of work. After a lot of reflection, I've decided that my expressed research interests were too specific/esoteric. A current phd student friend I shared my statement with said something like, "huh, that is really interesting but you probably should have gone with something more traditional." Oh well. I had a 170 verbal score, a Masters, a strong writing sample, years of teaching experience, enthusiastic letter writers, and I wasn't even waitlisted anywhere. Im not sure where to go from here, or if I even want to try again next year. Maybe I'm just bitter, but this process has left a bad taste in my mouth. I am so passionate about access to education for anyone who seeks it so to be personally denied the opportunity to continue my studies feels just awful. I am genuinely pleased for everyone whose hard work has paid off and hope you all have fulfilling experiences in your programs. For those who weren't offered a spot, I hope you are either filled with the fiery motivation of redemption, or the calm certainty that there is something else out there better suited to you. If you fall into the latter category (as I feel I might) please note that the teaching credential exam for English is like an easier version of the literature GRE so that massive pile of notes you couldn't bring yourself to recycle may yet have another purpose A HUGE thank you to everyone on this forum who offered assistance and assurance throughout this process.

I had to take a mental health break from GC and this is a delightful discussion to return to. Have any older adjuncts on here considered that they might be competing with former students for admission? That occurred to me today.

@Cain and @shoestofollow I assumed the rejection primarily based on other schools processes. I thought it was weird to see Columbia interviewing this year but just figured it was getting more competitive. I've been operating under the "give up all hope ye who enter here" mantra.

I tried to post this yesterday but I think the site was down. Happy late Valentine's Day to all ye GC dreamers and romantics! I hope your day was full of things you love, whether a person or a pizza or a poem that fills up your tired, anxious heart. In times like this, it's so important to take care of yourself and pause to recognize all the wonderful things in your life. Yesterday I thought a lot about the ways poetry and literature engender empathy and love. That everyone on this forum wants to dedicate their life to the study of it speaks volumes about your character and I'm proud to know you all. In recognition of love day, a favorite Poe quote of mine: "I was never really insane except upon occasions when my heart was touched."

There was an interview posted about 10 days ago. If you don't get an interview it's not likely you'll get an acceptance.

Welp, I checked my portal and had a USC rejection. I gotta say, 6 rejections feels so much worse than 5. I have a 99% verbal score, high Master's gpa, i had my sample and statements peer reviewed so many times and i puts hours and hours into tailoring them to the department and POIs. I'm starting to feel like my research area is not desirable or even worse, that my LORs aren't very good even though they all were enthusiastic to write them. It's 1:13pm... does that it's 5pm somewhere rule work if I'm extrapolating to Europe? Because I need a drink.

@FeetInTheSky I think we posted at the same time (name change?). I would agree if your goal is strictly, as FeetInTheSky nicely put it, to study "the manifestation and effects of prose" then a rhet/comp track is probably the better move. If you view linguistic studies as a TOOL or a LENS with which to analyze literature, then I'd say you'd like a literature program.

Can you be more specific? Prose from a specific time period/region? Or more about language as a construct? Cognitivism? Lacanian theory? On the surface i would agree it seems like rhet/comp is probably a good fit but I also employ a lot of socio-linguistic analysis in my research and I'm a literature route person. The two certainly overlap. Can I get an assist from a rhet/comp person over here?

I'm not super optimistic.. I still think I would have gotten a waitlist email. Going back a few years in the results forum only showed me that their admission decisions were different every year. I'm just trying to compensate for my impotence with research. Refresh on, my friend! Refresh on.

I called the English graduate department and just spoke with the person who answered. They weren't on the admissions committee so they weren't comfortable speaking in absolutes which I understand. They offered to take my information and ask someone who would know for sure but I'm paranoid and didn't want to be known as being annoying so I said no thank you. If I don't hear in a few weeks I might call back and own up to my identity :/ Mostly I just wanted to know if all current rejections and admission offers had gone out (they have) or if I should consider my lack of response a rejection. From scouring the forum I knew that austin had a history of leaving people hanging and that some of those people were ultimately rejected and some were waitlisted. It feels kind of like a waitlist to be on a waitlist? As if this process needed more unknown variables. This happened to your friend with Austin as well?

I wonder what it's like over there. I wonder if they'd look at our forum and think we are peculiar, illogical creatures. In my mind they are all either Mr Spock or C-3po.

Truthfully, it's a relief to have it as an excuse. Long before everyone began asking me what schools I've heard back from they asked if I was dating anyone yet. Although... now my answer to the dating question leads to the school question... so maybe I need to rethink this...

Oh! oh! My mom also tells me i should have gone to law school and last week she asked me when I can take the LSAT! @crugs I don't think you're being overdramatic. I wake up every morning feeling pretty bleak. My parents are divorcing and being very juvenile. I had a bad breakup last year and have avoided dating because "who know's where I'll be in 9 months"... except the answer is starting to feel like "here, here is where i'll be." I'm staring down the big 30 this year and feeling like a big big failure. I tell all these things to my dog and she gives me this look:

Got mine too and feel the same! In other news, I was told my "in review" status for Austin means my application IS still under consideration and that they're waiting for the first round offer folks to make their decisions. But they could not confirm that it was a waitlist... hmmmm.... April 15th is feeling lightyears away.

I am so excited for the UCLA admits (!!!!) eeeeeven though my rejection feels imminent. I did my undergrad there so I'm happy to answer any questions about the school or the area around it. I'm 6/6 for schools over here. Wondering why I thought I deserved to go to a top program? Holding onto hope that the silence from UT Austin is a waitlist and not a rejection. I have a deal with myself today where I must complete one housekeeping chore in between every email/GC check. My house is gonna be reeeeeeaaaaaal cleeeeaaaan. Happy Friday, everyone!

ah, welp, probably not a good sign I haven't heard anything. If anyone else still has an "in review" status from Austin please send up a flare.

Austin? Are you sure? I haven't gotten anything and my status is still "in review".

Amazing!!! Despite the anxiety of this process it has been such a pleasure to interact with such a clever group of people! I've gotten a lot of catharsis out of this forum. Thanks, guys.

Whole new meaning to a case of the mondays, eh? Solidarity ?

So true. I wish I was the kind of person who wanted to workout in situations like this.... then I would have a headstart on my new career as a body builder.

2/6/2017 Woke up. Got rejected from Duke whilst still in bed. Stared into the dark and wondered what was to become of me and if perhaps I have secret, yet untapped talents so that I could say to friends and family, "I didn't get in anywhere but I'm happy because now I know i want to be a _________." Ate brownies. Posted on GC. Ate more brownies. It is now 7:40am. Gonna be a long week.

Ahh thank you! I was approaching full panic mode.

Guyyyyys where's my UT Austin email?? Is anyone else still waiting to hear??

The two most annoying questions for me are: What's your top choice? -I hate this because I am trying not to put too much energy into something so out of my control. I don't want to tell everyone I'm set on a school and then have to admit I was rejected. Have you heard anything? -If I had good news don't you think I would have hired a blimp to broadcast it across the city???? Any news I've gotten that I haven't shared is probably not good news!! In the end I know everyone means well but jeeeeez this waiting process has made me such a crotchety hermit.

First official rejection from Northwestern this morning. I went back and looked at my SOP and am not surprised- all those dec 1st deadline applications got earlier SOP drafts that I'm not very proud of. Oddly it's a relief to have any kind of definitive answer even though I've got a few implied rejections floating out there. Sincerest congrats to those that were accepted to Northwestern! They've got a couple really interesting gender studies professors! On to the next..... Duke literature- where are you?? Feeling like a needy girlfriend over here. My mom suggested I call with an accent and say I'm writing a (very specific) article for a very (no don't ask you haven't heard of it) famous newspaper about English PhD acceptance result dates............