chellyfish_

Heeeeeey, I'll be seeing you there!

It looks like UCR for me! It's weirdly bittersweet to be at the end of this whole process (bitter for obvious reasons haha BUT, it's true what they say about it only taking one!) My question for everyone else is, what are y'all doing if you've narrowed it down, by voluntary or involuntary means, to one school, which you'll definitely be attending, barring some catastrophic event? Dialing them up before visiting days (not until the first week of April) feels almost too implicitly like "having been denied elsewhere, I choose you!" But masquerading as if I don't already know I'll go there also feels strange. I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on this, or what you've done yourself!

Another involuntary gap year here! First of all, I think it's a good step to assess what you need personally (health-wise) after your Masters. I did my Masters in NYC and I'm from a small, ocean and nature oriented town on the West Coast, so I spent 2 years being increasingly overwhelmed and depressed by the city. I needed to go back home for awhile, and I think the year back in a place I'm comfortable has been invaluable. But I also honed in on things I thought were lacking in my applications. I decided I could scrounge up a better GRE score and that I needed more strength on other languages (I decided to pursue English too late in undergrad to have room to learn an applicable language, and there was no credit room in my strictly scheduled grad program). Over the spring/summer of last year, I looked into online language classes and language classes at local universities I'd be allowed to take as a concurrent enrollment/post-grad student. Luckily, I live right by a fairly prestigious university that has a program for non-enrolled students, where for just a fraction of regular tuition, you can take whatever classes you want, and get a transcript and official grade for them (YAY!) but not an actual degree (I have two, so that's fine LOL). I wound up taking a Latin class and Ancient Greek class, and I'll have completed a full year in each before starting my PhD in the fall. If a local university isn't an option for you and this is something you're interested in, there are online classes some unis let you take too! UT Austin comes to mind. (And it doesn't just have to be language classes.) In retrospect, doing up a new writing sample might have been a good idea, but I find it sososoooo difficult to write them when I'm not in a class, talking with peers and professors about the texts, getting corrections and feedback, so I decided that whatever I wrote wouldn't be as good as what I already had. I reaaallllllyyyy wished I'd pursued some conferences or something though :/

Hey all! (I went back a couple pages to see if there was a topic like this and didn't see something, but hopefully I'm not being redundant.) I was wondering if anyone has any advice for transitioning from a Creative Writing MA/MFA into a PhD program in English. Mine happens to be an MA, but consisted mostly of workshops and Craft of Fiction workshops, with me just peeping over occasionally into the English department to take Masters level classes. My BA was technically English, but done on a Creative Writing track and not a Literary Crit/Theory track. So while I know I must have been admitted for some reason, I'm feeling major imposter's syndrome. I never got English-oriented support in either my BA or MA, so have no conference/publishing/manuscript study/etc experience or background. (I know. I KNOW.) Does anyone have any advice for transitioning over from a heavily creative writing background to an English-intensive one? I'm mostly nervous about being worlds behind my peers, and someone realizing they've made a terrible mistake (even though UCR obviously got all my transcripts, resume, and detailed background etc, and so knows my academic history). I'm interested in literally any advice you have. Know someone who went through a similar transition, did so yourself, or just have thoughts on it? Book/anthology/theory/criticism recs that are fundamentals I should know about? Anything you can think of! (Perhaps this will be valuable for other non-creative writers who are feeling underprepared as well, I hope.) THANK YOU!

Email for UCSB, I assume UCR is the same, though they haven't gone out yet. If you haven't heard from UCSB yet, you might be waitlisted. I was last year, and it came the same day rejections did, but at the end of the day rather than the beginning (when rejections were sent). I might check your academic portal -- mine's switched to the rejection letter, but a 'submitted' status might be another waitlist sign!

You're so sweet <3 I agree -- the process is totally crazy, and probably depends equally on what bizarre, specific thing they're looking for that year as the people themselves (this goes for everyone who wasn't admitted anywhere). And it's close...ish hahah, a little more than an hour, which seems like a lot compared to my current five lol!

Ugh, there's that UCSB rejection. That program and my interests are such an excellent fit that it's like a gut punch to the heart (and I keep thinking about all the steps I could have taken to up my chances, reach out more beforehand etc). I got waitlisted last year and I think my app was objectively stronger this year too Welp, grateful for one acceptance at least -- guess it's inland and away from the coast for me //sweats

Not sure! It was obviously a form so apparently they copied it over mistakenly. Still seems like a large mistake to make, but they sent a (very brief) correction

Uh, just got an email response from University of Oregon (I see someone else on the results page got the exact same one) saying I had been denied admission "to the University of Oregon English department Masters Program for Fall 2017". Uh....considering the fact that I already have my Master's, I double checked on the site and I applied to the PhD program, and it's already 2018, do I email back clarifying this? Considering their claim a line further down that they "read each file closely and carefully" I'm just a little bit ??!?!???? Maybe this was a near miss LOL

For the people hearing back from UCSB, have you reached out first to inquire about admissions status? I'm beginning to think I should since it obviously seems like they have their results figured out, but I'm always so hesitant to buck the natural admissions progress (especially from a notoriously kind admissions dept)

Ack, sorry to hear this <3 That is a super nice email though. Every interaction I've had with that department has been tremendously kind and positive, so I'm super bummed to hear we might be getting bad news soon agh >.>

Eek, acceptances and waitlists from Washington up on the board, probably time to chalk it up as implied. I can't be too sulky about it since I've got an acceptance elsewhere, but there was a POI who fit sooooooooo perfectly with me there /siighhh In other news...any other UCSB ghostees think we might hear something today??? (Please sweet baby jesus let us hear something today LOL)

LOL I was in the MFA program at NYU so I get this 10000% Four bottles of wine per workshop was.....not unheard of

Okay related to this topic -- how does one un-awkwardly ask for an address to which to send thank you's to recommenders? Are you just straight-up with the reason for sending and ask if they're comfortable giving out an address? ie/ "I'd like to send you a small thank you, and was wondering if you have a personal or departmental mailing address it's best to send something to?" (If this, does anyone have a less awkward way to state it? hahah) On the topic of gifts, what do y'all think about a nice, blank notebook as a gift? 'Nice' meaning not an office supply notebook, but something more like a journal, with a cover and maybe a tie around?

HUuuhhhhh...like an out of office bounce back or a 'this email does not exist' bounce back? Sorry for the prying, but my admissions curiosity/anxiety is at a high