bumbleblu

Wow, what a Sunday! Congratulations @la_mod, @punctilious, @littlelotte, and @clinamen (x2!) !!!!! I'm so happy for all of you! And keeping my fingers crossed for you, @katie64!

Wow, congratulations @colin_cloute, @maengret, @HopefulRhetorician, @turtleducks, and anyone I may have missed! How nice to have some good weekend news!

Huge congrats @TaliaTee!!!

I would be too! Perhaps you can bribe someone to travel with you??

Excellent responses, all, @a_sort_of_fractious_angel! Will modify and save for later.

Congratulations!!

@Yanaka, yeah, I was traveling with my partner, so we were at the ideal human-to-cat ratio.

Yes!!!!!! Congrats!!

Congrats @mk-8!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wowww I love waking up to all this good news! Congrats to @Elle Coronaria, @Yanaka, @unicornsarereal, @more.truly.more.strange, @Wabbajack, and any others I (probably) missed!

Congratulations!!

Thanks @midwest-ford!! I haven't decided yet whether I'll go to the visit, so I might hit you up!

Congratulations to everyone!!!!!!! I'm so happy to see all this good news today!

Congratulations, @Pezpoet!!!!!! What an awesome feeling.

Congrats!!!!

Congrats to everyone who heard good news yesterday!!!!!

Yep, I'm pretty much hoping that somehow, between now and April, things will become clear and the choice will be easy (or easier). We'll see!

Same. After my rotten luck two years ago, I was wary of applying to certain schools, so I applied to programs that I liked and felt like good fits, but nothing that felt like too much of a reach. And I really wasn't expecting being able to have a choice. I'm sure I'll be happy wherever I end up (though as you say, there are some cities I would prefer over others), but choosing has its own difficulties.

Yeah, I know I'm quite fortunate, and that has obviously made this waiting way less awful. I'm not sure I have a top choice (perhaps I did this whole application this wrong?) -- I feel equally interested in all these programs, but for different reasons. So really, I shouldn't making any decisions (even hypothetically) until I know what's what.

I'm not expecting to hear from my last two programs (Stanford's MTL and UPitt's Critical and Cultural Studies -- anyone else?) until next week. It's very odd going so long between responses, especially considering they've been mostly positive so far; I feel like I'm already making my decisions even though all my eggs haven't hatched yet. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I am hoping for good news for those of you expecting responses this week!

Congrats @Wabbajack!!!!!!!!!!!

I moved with my two cats to France two years ago, and will be returning with them to the U.S. this summer. I moved here for work, and leaving them behind was never an option. I found this website and this blog post to be very helpful, while I was trying to figure this out. Definitely start talking to your vet, so they can be prepared and can get your cat chipped (if they aren't already). In preparation for moving, I'd suggest two things: first, start giving your cat bottled distilled water -- the tap water in the U.K. might taste different, so it would be good to be able to transition them from distilled to tap slowly once you get there. Also, look and see what brands of cat food are available over there, and try to find something that's also available in the U.S. and start feeding that now. For example, I switched my cats to Royal Canin, as it was one of the few decent brands available both in the U.S. and France. International travel is enough of a stress without forcing your cat to adapt to strange water/food right away. For the actual travel, I got both my cats the TSA Fast Pass harness/leash (they need to be metal-free, obviously), and the Sleepypod Air carrier. My older cat is very strong, and I was worried that he would panic and tear through the Sherpa carriers. The Sleepypod is pricey ($150 two years ago), but I'm really glad I went for it. Both my boys will sleep in them even now. I carried some jerky cat treats to give them while we were in the air, to help with their ears popping. (Maybe it helped, who knows.) I don't know if you will find a vet who will let you sedate your cat, as the altitude/air pressure (?) makes reactions to sedatives unpredictable. You can try some kind of calming spray. I just put a t-shirt I had slept in for about a week in the carrier, and that seemed to work okay. My older cat has always been a pretty good traveller, while my younger cat always used to scream the moment he was near a car. I am still amazed at how well they managed flying (three separate flights, and two decent layovers, and they were calm and quiet almost the whole time), and I can only hope they'll do as well going back. Obviously the process depends on the country you're coming from/going to, so I can't give you specific advice about moving to the U.K., but if you have any questions about the process, or need some tips, I'm happy to help!

Hey folks, I'm looking for some advice/input. Currently, I live/teach in Europe, so going to a campus visit wasn't really something that I was considering. However, on Friday I heard from UW-Madison that they'd managed to increase the reimbursement for international travel to $1,000. So now it's financially feasible, and I'd just have to see about getting my classes covered. However, it seems an awful lot of bother just for 4 days. On the other hand, this is the school I'm leaning toward, so I might be spending the next 5 years of my life there and it would be good to get a feel for the department and the city. What do you guys think? Did anyone not go to their program's open house and wish they had? Or did go and think it wasn't really necessary? I haven't seen an itinerary or anything, so I don't know what to expect in terms of interaction with faculty members (I'll probably ask about this tomorrow -- I really wouldn't want to deal with international travel for an experience like @jrockford27 had at School A.)

Congratulations on this and your interview!!!!!!!! Congratulations!! Sending good vibes so you find your way off the waitlist!!

Best wishes for your interview!! And for the responses from the rest of your schools! I was accepted at Madison, and that was the only rhet/comp program I applied to.