Pezpoet

Can confirm that UOregon offers a $13,500 stipend, tuition remission, and health insurance to all its incoming graduate students.

FWIW, I know people who have done MAPH and it doesn't sound worth it. Expect a cohort of nearly 100 (imagine how many acceptances they initially sent out) and the above-articulated issues of timing (gap years). During my first round of apps I was offered a spot in the MAPH program and the money (plus moving and cost of living) just made it a hard pass for me. Like truly, that tuition tag is criminal. Next year I applied after bettering my application and got in to my top choice. I think nine months is better spent garnering zero debt and bettering your app. I also think MAPH preys on shut-outs, tbh. Sorry, OP.

Chiming in re: Oregon. I live in Eugene and have friends in the program. 5 years of funding are guaranteed, with amazing health benefits. Full tuition remission with stipends around 13/14k. Obviously, it could be different this year, but I doubt it. This has been their package for awhile. Good luck!

Hey @bigfluffybearcat! Nothing like making a major life decision right at the wire, eh? From what I can tell from your post, Penn still seems like the best option for you. The biggest indicator to me has less to do with timing and money then it does with your feelings about the program. It sounds like UW doesn't offer the classes, support, and environment you need. And those are the most crucial deciding factors. Like, hands down. Plus, Penn allows you to keep the prestigious government-aided funding and take the year to transition. It seems like all UW has to offer is the same amount(ish) of funding and its Seattle location. Personally, I am leaving the Pacific Northwest and also moving to Pennsylvania for my program. The change of landscapes will be so, so hard. But I assume I'll hardly notice with how busy I am. Those are just my thoughts. You do you, and best of luck deciding!

I've officially accepted at Pitt! It was my top choice, so I felt confident signing on the dotted line before a visit. Now I'm reading up, looking at apartments, and gearing up for a biggie transition this summer. Wut wut!

this.

I will for sure! I'll PM you when I get back!

Thanks for your response @a_sort_of_fractious_angel. The visit isn't until the end of March, so I'm just feeling super itchy eager. But I decided today, over a burrito and beer, to just wait until after the visit to officially accept. Because, broom closets and 3-headed dopplegangers!

Question for y'all! My Pitt visit is all planned and in the books. Since it's a top choice, I was pretty confident I would accept, but decided to wait on one other school. Well, I heard from said school today (a no go). So, now I'm 100 percent on Pitt (yay!). Is it a faux pas to go through the formal acceptance before visiting? Or should I hold off until after I visit, since that time/money is usually allocated as recruitment. Thanks for your help!

Congrats on the Pitt waitlist! And for having all your results in. Do you know which way(s) you're leaning? Perhaps one of us should start a decisions thread...

For those waitlisted at Oregon State (MA) I just declined my spot. Here's hoping it opens up for one of y'all! I also plan to decline my spot at UC Riverside, if anyone is waitlisted there too.

Congrats @bpilgrim89!!! And biggie congrats to everyone else. I love popping on here throughout the day to see how y'all are

Re: dog. Can confirm. I got an 11 week puppy mid-application season. It was rough city. There was, of course, little sleeping. But mostly, it was the constant disruptions that wore me down. There was never a time to sit and write for a couple of uninterrupted hours. She ate my GRE study book (good dog) and a bee sting on a sunday meant a 1k trip to the emergency vet. Dogs are expensive. That said, I wouldn't have changed a thing (except maybe rid our house of bees earlier).

Great! My strengths are 90s music and... well, mostly just that.

Can I play too?

Yup!

Quickie update on UO (lookin at you @chellyfish_). My friend can't give any concrete info but he said it seems early for all acceptances to be out. He said there's a meeting in two weeks that he's pretty sure is another deciding meeting. Hope that helps!

I think you can hold out hope. I have a friend currently in the program and word is that they just started making decisions. I think more's to come. I'm hanging with him tomorrow and will get the scuttlebug.

I'm rooting for you too. There's a lot of February yet! And for what it's worth, I did apply to one MA. I thought if I didn't get into any PhD programs then it would give me the opportunity to strengthen my application over two years. It is also an unranked MA and that didn't really matter to me. If I was going to gain solid teaching experience, write a well-advised thesis, and earn good grades, then all the better.

So here are my two pennies. I went to a nameless undergrad. And when I say nameless I mean like less than 1k students, off the beaten path, and totally unranked. There were no gender or queer studies classes (which I had to explain in my SOP), and the opportunities were just so limited. Also, for what it's worth, my GPA was 3.5. I really thought I stood no chance with such a background. But it's totally possible. I do think schools and programs take a more nuanced look at applications, and that it's not totally rigged. But, who knows, I'm not yet in the nitty gritty of it. To make up for my subpar undergraduate experience I took an advanced course at my local university (a gender studies class so I could put something on my CV). I reached out to faculty members at each school I applied to. I took that damn GRE twice. This is my second round of applications after my shut-out year last year. And I'm so glad I reapplied. Don't lose heart.

Congrats to the Oregon acceptances! I live in Eugene, so feel free to PM if you want any scoops on the town.

Got accepted into Pittsburgh last night, my top choice, and promptly drank several glasses of wine! Congrats to everyone!!

Anyone else losing their mind while knowing full well it could be another 4 weeks before admission decisions? What are y'all doing to stay sane? What are you binge watching (or eating)? Travel? Sports? Leisure? I for one adopted a puppy in the fall. (Super cool idea to get a dog when applying to grad school.) So now we're finally working on heeling.

Woof. I loathed the Subject Test. Here's my thinking, and please take it with lots of grains of salt. If you scored over 50 percentile, don't retake it. Even if you scored under, I'd warn against a retake. I mean, if it won't require a lot of stress or distraction from other parts of your app, then go for it. But I found it to be a huge waste o time. I tracked my study hours (thanks Toggl!) and came in around 100 total hours. I took the usual route of study, with notecards and timelines and reading important (short) texts. Come game day, it did no good. There was very little on the test that had to do with recognition. It was, instead, 230 comprehension questions. Ok, that's probably hyperbolic. But truly, I was only asked to name an author or text a handful of times. I bet at least 180 questions were the kind of reading comprehensions comparable to the general GRE. SO. If you do decide to retake, focus on reading quickly but thoroughly. And answer every single question. I thought I'd have time to do at least two passes (shakes fist at Princeton) but no such luck. As for what schools require it, I'm sure there's a list already floating around this forum somewhere. But, UVA, Stanford, USC, Indiana (?), are the few that come to mind. Best of luck!

Everyone has their own opinion on it, but the best advice I got was to do what feels best/most natural to you. So, if you're throwing a quote in just to have it, then maybe heed the professor and peer? But, I'm interested to hear what others say.