Kilos

Just received a response from the DGS at my top choice (UConn); he says it's been a very strange year for admissions, because they're still waiting to hear from an unusually large number of applicants. He also said they haven't yet gone to the waitlist, but if they do, it will happen this week. I'm a bit nervous about the way he said "if" we turn to the waitlist, but at least I've heard something. Wishing everybody else still in limbo a positive, anguish-free week.

Congratulations! I'm really happy and excited for you. It certainly sounds like a perfect fit.

Not sure if they pick rhet/comp applicants out of the same pool as the lit folks, but I'm still encouraged by the UConn spot!

This is just my gut feeling, but I think you've got reason to be optimistic. I don't think they'd casually throw around an email like that unless they were considering you for the spot. I've got my fingers crossed for you!

Yep, still waiting in silent misery here! No joke. I've been able to tolerate it up until now, but this last week has been torturous. It's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that the trajectory of my life may very well hinge on where my name is written on a list pinned above somebody's desk. I'm usually pretty good about controlling my anxiety, but having something so important be so completely out of my control is heart-wrenching. My neurotic side has definitely started showing itself. I have an email that I've been painstakingly editing for about three weeks, and it's just sitting in my drafts folder; it's a simple six-sentence note addressed to the DGS of my dream program (where I'm waitlisted), reaffirming my desire to join their incoming cohort should a spot open up--but I can't send it. I'm afraid that sending it would label me a nuisance, but then I'm conversely worried that not sending it makes me look apathetic. Then I realize that sending or not sending it won't change anything at all, and I chastise myself for acting like a dunce. Really, I feel like I'm stuck in some chaos theory time-warp where each and every one of my actions has some karmic butterfly effect on the outcome of my admission status. Can't wait for it to be over. (I'm mostly joking here. Mostly.)

I second everything @jrockford27 said. An extremely thoughtful response.

Not me! I'm waitlisted for one funded Ph.D. (Rhet/Comp) program and accepted at a different funded M.A. (Rhet/Comp) program. I only applied to three schools, so it all comes down to this waitlist (which, as the cruel fates would have it, happens to be my top choice school). These next two weeks are going to be the worst.

It's so great to see some waitlist movement happening in people's favor! Congratulations to everybody who's received great news. I'm still on what UConn called a "selective waitlist" (Ph.D. Rhet/Comp concentration) but I haven't heard any additional news. I'm not expecting anything for another few weeks, but that doesn't stop me from jumping every time my phone beeps. Positive thoughts to everybody still waiting for news.

I'm excited to hear that! I'm even more excited that you seem to have an acceptance somewhere you'd rather go! Congratulations. I've had a couple of other people tell me they're likely to decline as well. Here's hoping the waitlist isn't that long.

I'm waitlisted at UConn (English Ph.D. Rhet/Comp concentration). It's my top choice school and I'm really hoping there's enough movement to open up a spot. The letter was kind, but it lacked any details about the length of the waitlist. Fingers crossed!

Man, if you end up skipping grad school and you need a job, I'll hire you to be my hype guy. You just made my relatively glum day.

Thanks @hotpotato! Best of luck back at you. I'm doing everything I can to not get my hopes up, but it's hard to be so close and so far at the same time. If there's a silver lining, it's that I got into a fully funded MA program close to where I live. It's no perfect-fit-UConn-Ph.D. program, but I love the faculty and the school.

Just got a waitlist email from UConn. It's my top choice, so here's hoping enough people get in somewhere they'd rather go!

haha, I'm a tech writer and I'm doing the exact same thing! "Alright, you need to do one illustration or one section between every check." I've been super productive since I implemented this new policy. Better slow down before I run out of work. Happy Friday back at ya. Don't get too dispirited about your chances--still plenty of schools to go.

Ohhhh nooooo. I don't think they would have trashed your application outright, especially if you're a well-qualified candidate. I read about a guy who got into a top-tier education program after horribly misspelling a professor's name and using the wrong first name in his SoP. I'm sure they don't automatically disqualify you--but for the sake of complete honesty, it probably doesn't look too hot. It miiiight give them the idea that you were just using a template letter, which, if you were on the bubble, might have a negative impact. Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it! What's done is done, and I'm sure rest of your SoP/app is just fine! I am curious what school you accidentally inserted though. It'd be pretty funny if it was a school that UCLA's department had a rivalry with for some reason. /internet hug

Ugh, I feel your pain there. One of my moonshot schools hasn't announced acceptances or rejections yet, but I'm certain I didn't get in because I didn't get an interview (it was a rogue education program I applied to). Just twiddling my thumbs, knowing I'm out, but not being able to say it. If you've still got 13 schools to go, I'm confident you'll get some good news soon! It's not like I know you or anything, but if you're concerned and motivated enough to have found this place I'm sure your app is strong!

You'll get one! Or more! How many do you still have undecided?

Wonderfully put! I think I agree, and I hope you're right.

I varied my writing sample depending on the program/school I was applying to. The rhetoric program I applied to got a tailored excerpt from a huge 40+ page research project I wrote/presented on comfort levels/instructional anxiety and success rates/productivity in writing tutorials and classroom composition instruction; it focused on the relationship between comfort and metacognition--the science behind the way in which comfort levels can directly affect (boost) self-efficacy and (decrease) writing anxiety--and how practitioners can go about making the tutorial experience a more comfortable one for all involved. It was geared towards writing centers and tutoring, but I branched it off to directly address comp/rhet instruction. For another program I used an essay exploring the way in which absurdist authors/playwrights (Beckett/Stoppard and a few others) use intricately developed personal relationships as a bulwark to defend their characters (and subsequently their readers/viewers) from unmitigated nihilistic despair. It included a bit of a deep-dive into the foundations of the Absurd, exploring some of Camus' and Kierkegaarde's work/theory. I actually regret using this essay, as I think I could have used something more fitting, but it was easily the most enjoyable thing I've ever had the pleasure of writing, and I felt that my enthusiasm may have shone through in the finished product. /shrug p.s.: totally blown away by some of your topics/ideas/theses. It might just be my impostor syndrome piping up, but for a few brief moments here I felt completely out of my element! You guys are awesome. It's no surprise you're all headed off to amazing programs.

It's impossible to tell everybody individually, but I wanted to say congratulations to all of the amazing top-tier acceptances everybody's received over the last week or two! It's so cool to hear all of your great stories, and it's a bit humbling to know that I'm surrounded by the next wave of literary scholars and academics! So happy for everybody; I'm still waiting on most of my schools, so I've been living vicariously through you all. Here's hoping the next month is as kind as the last--good luck!

Plenty! In many cases (unless there's phone calls involved in smaller programs) they send out a mass email saying that decisions have been reached. Those who got in get good news. those who didn't... don't. Every program's different though.

Haha amazing! UO is one of my six schools too. I'd move back in a heartbeat if I got in. Yeah, their app said "no more than 500 words," so you can bet your ass I used 500 words. All five hundred. And yeah, you nailed it--it's quite limiting, but I think that's the ultimate point; they want you to be able to woo them in a very clean, concise manner. I suppose knowing how to edit yourself takes more skill than being able to blather on until you get a point across. Meh, I'm torn. Yep, I went to the University of Oregon for two years. I was a journalism major at the time, and it was quite a while ago. One of my parents had some serious health issues during my sophomore year, and I dropped out to move home and help out. Fast-forward nine years, I transferred my UO credits out here, and I'll get my B.A. in May. I love Eugene, though it's definitely gotten a bit busy over the last fifteen years or so. When I was growing up it felt sleepy and quiet.

Yep, one that was 400 and two that were 500. The rest were 1000+, but still rough. I understand that they simply don't have the time to read everybody's personal autobiography, but 400 words seems like an awfully scant explanation--especially when some of these programs place such heavy emphasis on SoPs. I'm really not complaining, I understand the situation, but it's definitely the one thing I worry about above all else. p.s.: If you don't mind my asking, whereabouts in Oregon are you from? I moved to Ohio a few years ago, but prior to that I spent my entire life in/around Eugene. I'm happy enough where I'm at (it's actually affordable to live here), but there isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss pine trees, mountains, and moss-infused air. Gaaaah.

SoP. Without question. I applied to schools that I thought were perfect fits, and I tried to express that (without directly addressing it) using my SoP. What if they don't think it's a perfect fit? What if I could have changed or added two sentences that had the potential to alter the course of my entire future? It's such a shit-show, in my opinion. I realize there's really no feasible "better" way to do it, but I'm left with this feeling that five hundred to a thousand words isn't enough to adequately explain my passion and drive. I did my best.

It may be opinion, but I think you're spot-on with your reasoning and your conclusions. I agree entirely, though I too might be a bit biased. Institutional discrepancies aside, GPA does seem like the best overall indicator of (theoretical) graduate-level performance.