claritus

Yeah, I am deeply attached to my "Berkeley self" even though I'm pretty sure I made myself sound deranged in the personal statement. It would be really hilarious if I wasn't so emotionally involved, because yeah, it does feel like a rejection even beforehand! The psychological push and pull of this whole process is surreal.

I swear too that submitting so many applications inevitable involves a sort of benign split personality situation. I mean, you're speculating on multiple potential futures; even though you only need/can choose one— it's hard to not feel invested in so many subjunctives. It's likely I'm overthinking it, but I see myself becoming a different scholar at each program I applied to, so I'm uniquely attached to each?

Well I'm just applying for the free vacations, so I'll definitely be back next year even if I am accepted somewhere

Nothing on my end. I don't think they've notified yet... or I hope not!

Email them. I applied to Berkeley English, so different situation, but as far as I can tell they're running a bit later this year.

Hell yeah, congrats!!!!

It'd be the most honest, transparent thing to do, especially if funding from the relevant school of graduate studies is tied to the GRE. I don't care how "holistic" a department's process is if the grad school is going to reject requests for funding. Re. Penn State—I can't say I know enough about the context to understand, I'm probably too Canadian. Is it a university town?

Oh for sure—you're not going to get any hard and fast cut-offs from the available data, but it is one of the only places where any modicum of data is available. Mostly I'm just curious about it as a statistical grouping. That being said, there may be cases in which no applicants have been accepted into a program with a score under X. I think thats where it starts to get interesting, though definitely not conclusive in any way.

It could be an interesting way to see if programs have an unofficial GRE cutoff. Not sure how much data you would need for it to be statistically significant, but you could see trends I imagine...

I know in at least one case, it is because too many students accepted admission offers from a program. Interviews allow them to whittle down applicants that much more, and get a feel for the students who will really be the best fit/want to accept offers from the program.

So if trends continue, tomorrow is when shit really starts getting real. Best of luck everyone!

But the restrictions also apply to dual-citizens, people with green cards, etc. There are Canadian and British MPs who would no longer be able to enter the country. It's completely unprecedented, and if this is happening only days into Trump's presidency I expect much worse to come.

Another Canadian here—and I'm starting to feel a little worried. I've been aiming mostly at American programs, although I do have a funded acceptance from a Canadian school already. The thing is, even if I get into an American program, I'm starting to worry about entering the country. I was arrested a few years ago for violating a civil injunction (environmental protest, etc), and even though the charges were complete bullshit, and were dropped, I know this stuff sticks around in less-than-official ways. That and I'm hearing reports about border services checking people's social media, asking opinions about Trump, etc. I'm definitely not secretive about my political leanings, and I'm starting to wonder if I should be self-policing my public opinions—or if I want to self-police.

ah!! I am glad to know I'm not the only one—I was feeling weird for not applying to English, but something about the department didn't click for me either. curious to see how this unfolds for both of us; hopefully we're not competing for the same spots

Unless you apply through another program! You can enter the Comp Lit program at Columbia through other language departments as well. In the broader context of the thread, I applied to Northwestern—sort of on a whim. I don't imagine I will get in, but I'll wait it out here with all of you

Think you're in the wrong place!! We're talking 'bout literature

Yeah so many schools have notified early this year too. Every day I wake up and manically check my email, which might not be sustainable through February.

Congrats!!!

I'm all outta good karma today, but I couldn't be more on board with the smoke signals. Maybe this is a good thing though—the UChicago campus has such a massive private police force it's basically militarized. I like the idea of the program, but the racist/class-based policing of the university leaves me cold.

Ok I'm giving up on Chicago now. I'll check my email again tonight, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Seriously! I haven't heard back either, and I'm losing my mind a little bit. Ambiguous emails and Doodle polls are probably the worst possible way to go about conducting/planning interviews.

I love this! I've been telling myself that I don't deserve anything, which has worked, but coming from a partner would make it even better.

Hope you get better news from another school soon—and in a less maddening form.

So I just received an email from Chicago about a potential interview. It says that applicants may be asked to interview, and includes a Doodle poll to provide availability. Did anyone else get this—I'm not sure how excited to be...

I don't disagree with anything you've said, but I also don't think any of would lead to a "tainted" process. The professors on these committees are intelligent enough to be able to sort through genuine, informed interest and applications tailored to flatter committee members. And it's a similar situation when it comes to annoying emails; if you've sent enough of those to faculty members to be known as someone who sends annoying emails, you've dug your own grave. People do this with faculty members and Graduate Directors as is, whether the Admissions Committee is made public or not.