CrunchyMamademic

I'm so sorry! One of my letters of recommendation was late, and I still got in-- he wasn't *super* late, so maybe that makes a difference. I wonder if you can ask them to try to submit the letters, and perhaps reach out to the school?

This forum is seriously a great source of joy -- congratulations to all who have received good news over the last few days! For those of you still waiting for some news, hang in there. As others have said before me, the professors on the admissions committee must be insanely busy. But there is going to be an end to the suffering eventually. While I was waiting and attempting not to obsess, I started stalking the CFP board on UPenn and drafting some proposals. Of course, that leads to its own form of anxiety, as I was waiting on PhD programs and a response about my anthology chapter...

Are there any parents pursuing graduate degrees here? I will be starting a PhD program (English) in the fall before my son's 2nd birthday. I'd love to hear about any ways people have coped with time management, the unique challenges we will face, and, of course, the rewards of balancing both parenthood and graduate school. There is a wonderful Facebook group for academic mothers, but since I no longer use Facebook I have been struggling to find a tribe of people going through the same thing I am.

I did not submit GRE scores to my PhD programs because they were not required, and that had no effect on at least one of the two (still waiting on word from the second). I was accepted, fully funded with an additional fellowship. I think before you decide you should look at what the scores would be used for. Are they just an addition to your application file, or are they the basis for additional fellowships? Edit: I actually don't have GRE scores. I work for ETS scoring the writing sample, so I cannot take the exam myself.

I second this! Congratulations, but I was totally looking forward to seeing you at UNL. I love seeing all this good news!

No problem. Hope lives on.

Do you know if this applies to Literature as well?

Wow, congratulations! You have so many amazing options.

I wrote about Maurice! I love that novel. In my thesis, I focused on the homoeroticism of the natural world and intellectual sexuality.

That's really interesting, @ThousandsHardships, and it sounds like pretty sound advice. My MA thesis advisor encouraged publication and conference activity from the beginning. I can absolutely see the benefit of holding on to some good things so that you aren't tapped out and pressed for time on the tenure track, but in my own experience I feel the nudge to start publishing and getting "out there" before I finished my program was really helpful in terms of my career (I'm FT faculty, non tenured, right now and a few years out of my MA).

Such great papers! I had two writing samples. My literature sample was a queer reading of novels by Virginia Woolf and E. M. Forster. I examined the ways the two authors used physical spaces to shape the sexuality of their characters. This was a portion of my Masters thesis. For Composition/Rhetoric, I wrote a new piece on supporting community college students who need remedial writing courses. I focused on the ALP program as a way to improve graduation rates of these at-risk students, and provided practical applications for designing a successful course. Is anyone planning on doing something with a writing sample? I'm hoping to tidy up the C/R sample and submit it for publication. I published the Lit sample two years ago.

Yay!!! I'm so excited to meet another potential Husker. Congratulations. I hope the TA-ship comes through, too.

Good luck! Maybe lit hasn't finished yet. I was also given until March 15th to decide, so if you do end up wait listed you probably won't have long to wait.

I was accepted to the PhD program in comp/rhet on Friday via phone. I don't know how far along they are, but an email I received sounded like they might have finished. Are you Comp or Lit?

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is a must read, especially now that there will be a mini-series coming out! I'm so excited, and it lines up nicely with when my students will be reading the novel. @Charlsa I will add you as a friend on Goodreads! I just started one.

Anyone planning on going to Lincoln for Fall 2017? How pet friendly is the city? I am going to be bringing two dogs, one a German Shepherd and one a Labrador/Pitbull mix. Both breeds tend to be problematic in states with breed specific legislation. From my research, it looks like we should be OK. Does anyone have experience with this?

I second this wholeheartedly. My inspiration came in a 20th century British Literature course, when I noticed a strikingly similar situation in Virginia Woolf's novel Jacob's Room and E. M. Forster's Maurice. It ended up being my thesis and sparked my interest in Queer Theory and homosexuality in the Bloomsbury Group. I never thought of these things being my niche until that class.

Lurker finally coming out. I was accepted to University of Nebraska Lincoln on Friday (PhD in Composition and Rhetoric)! From the email I received today, it looks like they're finished. Anyone else considering UNL? I only applied to two programs, so this is super exciting. Still waiting on Miami University.