Narrative Nancy

Imposter syndrome is real. Remember your programs want you to succeed and are (literally) invested in your doing well. In a way, the adcomm are able to see better than you that you are no imposter. They waded through all those applications of stellar candidates and said "yes" to you, and they likely have the experience of previous cycles to make solid predictions about who will do well in their program. Between their expertise and self-doubt, go with the former. And ultimately, now especially, grad programs need you more than you need them. One other general tidbit I have is don't let imposter syndrome cause you to clam up from fear of looking unknowledgeable. I've seen this in my masters' program: people who I know are capable but too timid to talk in seminars; it's such a lost opportunity because this is the time to ask a million questions so you and your instructors can figure out the gaps in your knowledge. And chances are other graduates have the same questions as you and will be grateful someone has the guts to speak up. 

Some tips for y'all--mostly made up of things I really wish that people had told me back when I was applying:
 
1 - Admissions committees often look to admit applicants who match up with their own interests or with the interests of faculty who have openings for new advisees.  Don't just look at who you want to work with.  Try and find out if they even take advisees.  Are they half a semester away from retirement?  Do they already have 15 advisees?  Are they the dept oddball who gets hidden during visit weekend?  Look at recent commencement info.  Most schools will indicate recent graduates and their advisors.  Those advisors may well have an opening.  So much of this is based on logistics as much as and even more so than pure talent on paper.
 
2 - People will tell you to apply to a range of schools.  I used to be one of those people.  You need to be thinking about your future job well before you even apply to grad school.  Do you want to get a TT job with a teaching load of 3-2 or less?  You need to limit your applications to top 10 programs. Yeah, there are outliers, but that's exactly what they are. Are you pretty sure that you want to go alt-ac after the degree?  Most top programs have NO experience in doing that, so much of the training they offer in that area will be woefully inept (I've even heard--refreshingly--a DGS at an R1 say that she's not remotely qualified to offer advice on pivoting out of academia).  You can't really change your institutional pedigree, so if you start at a mid-ranked school and then decide that you want to teach at an R1 or a SLAC, you have just given yourself absurdly lower odds of ever achieving that goal.
 
3 - Don't get all twisted up about the SoP.  Use it to give a clear sense of what you aim to do and why the people/resources at that school make it a good fit for your work.  Ask 15 people for advice on the "correct" format for an SoP, you'll get 20 different responses.  I went narrative in my first version.  A prof at my MA school told me that nobody cares about that stuff, and that "you are your project and nothing more."  So I revised to make it sound more Vulcan-esque.  My application cycle?  An admit and a pair of wait lists using the narrative SoP and an admit and a pair of wait lists using the Vulcan SoP. You can't predict how adcoms will react to things like style.  A style that generated acceptances one year might lead to rejections a year later under that year's different admissions committee.  Beyond making sure that you are conveying the info clearly (see 2nd sentence above), the rest is unpredictable and not worth stressing over. This goes double for the GRE, which most schools don't give a flying fart about.  
 
4 - The thing that IS worth stressing over? The writing sample.  Good writing is the universal greeting for grad school.  Someone earlier mentioned including an abstract.  That's excellent advice.  Other good advice--avoid the "biggies."  Are you a medievalist?  I guarantee you they don't want to see ANOTHER writing sample on the Canterbury Tales.  Find something interesting to say about a text.  Look to the top journals in your field for models to emulate.  Spend the lion's share of your time on that document. Spend even more on the first two and last two pages.  They may well be the only pages that get read, so make them perfect and make sure that your argument, methodology, and the stakes are stated clearly in those pages.
 
5 -  I was non-traditional (31 when admitted to PhD program).  If you are non-traditional, don't try to hide it, but don't shine a spotlight on it either.  People will say that emphasizing it will show all the things you've gained from those years of experience.  Your CV will do that.  There are schools who seem generally welcoming to non-traditionals (Indiana has a long track record in this area).  But the reality is that again--it's less about the school and more about the attitudes of the profs on each admissions committee.  If a school has one member of an adcom who is predisposed to toss non-traditional applicants in the bin, you likely aren't getting in there if your app makes that too obvious.  My own advisor, who was the head of the adcom the year I was admitted, had no idea how old I was.  In most cases, they aren't Googling you--they don't put THAT much time into each applicant.  Your age will never be the thing that gets you in, but it COULD be the thing that gets you tossed.  Don't emphasize it and don't apologize for it. TL/DR: Own your accomplishments.  They will be what gets you in. 
 
6 - Wait lists are WONDERFUL things.  Getting in off a wait list doesn't make you a lesser candidate.  Out of an initial cohort of 8, I was the only one admitted off the wait list.  I'm also one of the three who finished the degree (two are still dissertating), and only two of us ended up with tenure-track jobs (both with a heavy teaching emphasis).  Anecdotally, I've noticed that wait-list applicants in my old program tend to do better in the long run, possibly due to that anxiety that they weren't a "first choice."  That brings us to...
 
7 - Getting into a program is step one.  It's the starting line.  From that point forward, it is ALL about the hustle.  Build a network.  Start filling out your CV.  Don't look at seminar papers as "coursework"--look at them as first drafts of articles aimed NOT at your professor but at a particular journal.  Don't go to EVERY conference, but pick two (one regional and one national) to go to regularly.  Talk to people when you are there.  Get involved in committees and such.  We used to joke that you had to have the dossier of someone coming up for tenure just to get an interview for a TT job.  The job market was that bad.  It's about to get much worse.  You need to be ready to start the hustle from day one.  If you DON'T feel ready to do things like major conferences, networking, publishing, etc, then think about doing an MA first.  I did, for exactly those reasons.
 
8 - As PART of that hustle, build your CV in a way that shows you can wear more than one hat.  Teach/present outside of your main specialty in some way.  Do your thing and theory. Your thing and Digital Humanities. Your thing and Film. Your thing and one of its adjacent fields.  As schools get fewer and fewer tenure lines, departments are going to continue searching for candidates who can cover more than one area.  Build your CV with that kind of hybridity in mind.
 
9 - No matter HOW much you want that tenure track job, it might not happen, and it won't be because you did anything wrong.  The numbers are absurdly stacked against you.  I missed out on a job last year that was PERFECT for me.  It went to an Ivy candidate who was three years out from his PhD, had two prestigious VAPs, several journal articles and a book already published at a major press.  I would have hired him over me as well. I ended up with a TT position because I hustled from day one and I got absurdly lucky (a school that posted a position looking for my primary field with "preferred secondary interests" in literally everything else I do). Before that offer came in, I was already preparing to reach out to my alt-ac network. There will come a time on the job market where many of you will need to make a choice--toil as an adjunct for year after year, or walk away and refuse to be exploited in that way.  That's a very personal choice for most folks.  I recommend setting a set time frame (ala: 2 or 3 application cycles post degree conferral).  Set it, and then stick to it.
 
Insomnia has apparently inspired me to write a small novel here.  Apologies for the length and for any sense of doom and gloom.  For what it's worth, even if this job hadn't come through, I wouldn't change my decision to do the PhD.  I found my time in the program personally and intellectually rewarding and I met some of the best friends I've ever had, both in and out of the program.  I'm not saying "don't do a PhD because the job market is scary."  I'm saying "do a PhD with your eyes wide open." 
 
Best of luck, everyone.  And always remember to support each other.  Academia is (or rather should be) a community, not a blood-sport.  Don't aspire to grow up to be Reviewer #2.  
 

OMG congratulations!!!!! ?

Accepted off the Michigan waitlist! Beyond thrilled.

Officially signed my SIR for UC Irvine, and I'm super excited!!! 

Very happy to announce that I have accepted Washington University's offer of admission! It was an immensely tough choice, but I am thrilled to be joining such a welcoming and supportive program.  

After much deliberation, I have decided to accept UNM's offer! Albuquerque, here we come!  
Best of luck to everyone else who is still considering their options, and a BIG congrats to everyone who has already made their decision!

I've officially accepted my offer to Tufts!
What a wild ride. I was quite petrified when I decided to decline the deferral Oregon offered me for 2020, but deep down I knew I wouldn't attempt that move for a second time after the first was such a nightmare. I think Tufts is a better fit, and I'm looking forward to having a more personal experience with my POI's and the department in general. The substantially higher stipend and lighter teaching load don't hurt either! Thank you to everyone who has endured my complaining, poor attempts at humor, and obsession with my cats over the last few months. Not being alone this time made the experience much more tolerable. For those of you who have a place to go in the fall, I wish you the best of luck! For those who will be trying again next year, don't give up if this is truly the path you want! It doesn't always work out the first time (even with offers!), but each setback provides new lessons to learn and overcome.
You know what this means? Celebratory cheesecake!

I have a lot of hard emails to write over the next few days, but I will be officially committing to Yale on Monday. It really hurts my heart to walk away from all the lovely people I met at both Northwestern and Michigan (not to mention Michigan's Rackham Merit Fellowship!), but I think deep down I've known Yale was where I most wanted to be since even before I applied. In spite of all the turmoil in the world right now, this really is a dream come true.
Best wishes to all who are making tough final decisions in the next few days!

Heading to Yale!!!!!!!!!
Was genuinely so tough to decide between Yale, Princeton and Columbia, as they were all legitimately tied as #1 in my mind and each had unique strengths for me personally, but something about New Haven just already felt like home. Whether that was just because they had their visit days and Princeton/Columbia didn't, it's a little hard to say, but at one point I just had to say to myself that counterfactuals aren't helpful in this scenario, it is what it is, and I have to go with my gut. If I'm honest I'm going to feel pretty sad about turning down Princeton/Columbia for a long time, but still feels like the right decision, if that makes any sense... 
Good luck to everyone in the next few days! Hang in there.

Annnnd I just accepted my offer from the University of Pennsylvania. This was an agonizing decision but I'm convinced that I've made the right choice. So pleased to be joining a program featuring so many brilliant and generous scholars in and beyond my field. Equally thrilled to be doing a PhD in a city that I know and love. My path to the PhD has been rough, and for a long time I did not expect to get here at all, so this feels especially sweet. 

I'm heading to UNC in the fall! My decision was tough but after talking to a number of students and faculty members at my two top programs, I really believe this is the best choice for me. Super excited! 

Never mind! Happy to say that I've finally made my choice and I'll be attending UW this fall

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. 

After a solid two months of agonizing, I am beyond thrilled to say that I've accepted my offer to the MA/PhD program at Penn State! If anyone else winds up PSU-bound, hit me up--I'd love a chance to get to know some of the incoming cohort since we weren't able to meet at the open house.
Also, good luck (thoughts, prayers, the best of vibes) to those of you still deliberating--whichever way you go, hopefully there's some comfort to be found in the fact that there are only nine days left of this part.

Accepted to Johns Hopkins off the waitlist. So thrilled!

Well, I just received an offer from UNC off their waitlist. I am now officially going to have a heart attack.

I accepted Syracuse's offer yesterday! OSU is not taking anyone off their waitlist this year, and I got the official "no" from Virginia on Monday. Is anyone else heading to Syracuse in the Fall? If so, feel free to reach out to me! I won't be checking this site as much now that my application cycle is over, but good luck to everyone else who is still waiting to hear definitive news or who still choosing between programs!

Just got a very kind and understanding email from Michigan (looks like it was sent to all waitlisted applicants) talking about how they understand the frustrations caused by these delays, expressing thanks for our patience, and also answering some common questions about deadlines, etc. I think I just fell a little bit more in love. 

I was thinking of you, but didn't want to be a weirdo and tag you in my original post, haha. Best of luck!

Currently on that waitlist. ? Congrats on your decision! 

'Twas hard, but I officially declined my offer from the University of Michigan. I hope it helps someone on the waitlist!

not sure if this affects anyone, but I have just accepted duke english's offer of admission ?

A little bit of good news came to me a few days ago in the midst of all this craziness and uncertainty: I've successfully leveraged one of my offers to increase my stipend at another institution! I got word that the college's dean approved an increase, and I should receive further details this week. I really wasn't expecting them to bite, so this is a very nice surprise! 

After several great, slightly patchy virtual conversations, I've accepted my offer from NYU. This is literally everything I dream of in a program (complete with a small cohort size), so it's unbelievable to me that it happened. This means I will give up my other offers and my waitlist spots. Best of luck to everyone making a decision!