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Narrative Nancy

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Posts posted by Narrative Nancy

    2020 Decisions

    in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition

    Posted

    22 minutes ago, The Hoosier Oxonian said:

    A query regarding decision etiquette: is it good manners to contact all the POIs you've had contact with at schools you've decided not to attend to thank them for their kindness and attention and (regretfully) let them know of your decision to attend elsewhere? Or is that weird? I have for sure one professor I feel I owe a very grateful "it's not you, it's me" message to, as he went very far out of his way to be kind and welcoming to me, but for those I just chatted with on the phone, for instance, is that excessive?

    I've gotten varied responses on this subject, but I'd say do what you feel most comfortable with. For some profs I'd spoken to quite a bit I felt the desire to send a personal note so they'd be hearing the news from me, and it seemed to go over well/wasn't awkward. Idk if there's a 'right' or 'wrong' way with this sort of thing but I'm a pretty sensitive soul so I sent some emails, had some phone calls etc. - maybe excessive to some but that brought me some measure of peace. But bottom line, I don't think you 'owe' this to anyone, my goal was to communicate my gratitude and ultimately my decision. 

    Campus Visits

    in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition

    Posted

    10 minutes ago, meghan_sparkle said:

    Yeah, it's a little disappointing if I'm honest—and of the remaining schools I'm considering that I couldn't visit, Berkeley has been on the more-proactive-than-not side of the spectrum, so it doesn't seem to bode well for the rest of the others.

    And I was just saying the same to someone else too re: how much work this is placing on applicants! Totally agree with you. The time needed to reach out and email various people, or respond to multiple emails if it's the DGS, admin, faculty and/or students getting in touch, set up the calls, prepare all the questions and then have the call/Skype meeting ... whereas with a visit, everything is coordinated for you, provided you indicate some names of faculty who you'd like to speak to, and it's the faculty that lead the meetings, no pressure to prep. Now it seems the only other option is either mammoth coordination or an information dump; Columbia for ex sent out an FAQ doc of commonly asked questions about the program and a list of course offerings for the next couple years—soooo yet another item on my to-do list is going through course offerings for fall 2020/spring 2021 at like 5 different programs and comparing. In addition to reading through the entirety of the Princeton graduate handbook and continuing to pray that Harvard does not keep ghosting me lol. 

    I realize this is like the least of the world's problems, but it's just a lot esp for people who already work full-time. (You graduating seniors too—I can't even imagine.) I work from home and always have, thank god, but still. Spending pretty much every day now on my parents' couch (my flight back to the UK isn't til the 29th, no changes possible and not refundable) staring at a computer screen, either for work, for emails to professors/students, or scrolling through the madness on Twitter/the news. 

    Yes, I signed up to be wined and dined haha. It really is difficult balancing all of this with writing my MA thesis, news that my campus is closed for the entire semester and more and more confirmed coronavirus cases in my home country. Ugh. My email inbox is busy enough with 3 programs, I can't imagine yours! Who knows, maybe Harvard ghosting you is their way of being considerate. 

    Hopefully things fall into place one way or another.

    Campus Visits

    in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition

    Posted

    43 minutes ago, meghan_sparkle said:

    Just got the info email for a virtual Berkeley visit that is ... a couple hours, 12-2 PM EDT Monday on Zoom. And a virtual icebreaker (not clear if only a few people responded or if the admitted cohort is small) with the instruction to just start emailing each other if we want to.

    .... Alrighty then.

    Sigh, only 2 hours?? 

    I just got info from Rutgers for the first day, and it's a series of phone calls. While I'm certainly interested in having these conversations and asking questions it feels like much of the work is placed on applicants to prep for these 'virtual meetings'. (Like I don't already have enough scheduled phone calls at this point lol). It's totally different if one is meeting with a group instead of always one-on-one. 

    2020 Decisions

    in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition

    Posted

    48 minutes ago, CanadianEnglish said:

    Although my visit to Brandeis was cancelled, after talking to the faculty and students I have decided to accept the offer from Brandeis! I'm excited for this new journey to begin!

    Thank you everyone for your supportive words of wisdom throughout this application season. Good luck to all of you in your future endeavors and I hope to meet some fellow Grad Cafe members in the future!

    Congratulations! So awesome you made a decision!  

    2020 Applicants

    in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition

    Posted

    20 hours ago, Wimsey said:

    In the Rutgers application, did anyone upload a personal statement as a supporting document, even though the initial application already had an area to copy and paste the statement? I copied my finished statement into the first part of the app, but I'm thinking of uploading it as a supporting doc as well, since the drop-down list of possible supporting docs includes the personal statement.

    I also uploaded the SoP as a supporting document, I figured it couldn't hurt. I submitted my app a while back and my status page has the receipt of the personal statement along with all the other supporting documents, and I am not sure it would be there otherwise - so I'd just go ahead and upload. 

    2020 Applicants

    in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition

    Posted

    41 minutes ago, Warelin said:

    For what it's worth, Washington University in St. Louis has a January deadline but has traditionally been on the first schools to accept students. In some cases, applying to different places might mean less waiting as long as you're interested in all schools you're applying to.

    WashU, Emory, Notre Dame and Duke have also traditionally paid for flights and accommodations for accepted and/or final round candidates.

    I literally just came back on the forum to search for projected acceptance dates, haha. Thanks for feeding into my desire to lengthen the process on one hand, and shorten it on the other. I'll check out WashU! 

    2020 Applicants

    in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition

    Posted

    5 hours ago, Wimsey said:

    I noticed a missed call from an unknown number and hastened to look up the area code, because the irrational side of my brain told me that it might, just might, have been a grad program.

    And so it begins...

    I was wavering on whether to apply to a Jan 1 school and I'm sure part of me is doing it to delay the anxiety that comes with the waiting phase

    2020 Applicants

    in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition

    Posted

    Are official transcripts required for Rutgers? My portal says they have received my unofficial ones (that I uploaded) but not my official ones. To me that implies they want them to be sent in, but since they don't have check marks or X's it feels a bit ambiguous. Also feeling dumb thatI haven't figured it out... 

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