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jusrain

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Everything posted by jusrain

  1. Trader Joes has this ahmazing coconut milk ice cream if you ever get a chance to try it. Goes well with Xanax, I’ve heard.
  2. Ice cream, STAT! I’m gonna stock up today, I think.
  3. During my interview they said they expect decisions to be out before this Friday for Chicago!
  4. Thanks! If I get in, I’ll definitely have more questions. But for now I’m just wondering if you know when they’ll decide, approximately?
  5. Omg Sara Ahmed is amazing. I’ve only read The Promise of Happiness, what else have you read by her? I hope we’re talking about the same “feminist killjoy” lol
  6. Got an email from Purdue’s American Studies PhD program director confirming my acceptance! I can’t believe I’m going to grad school
  7. Depends on the reason for interviews. Some apparently do for specific specialisations, or to determine language competency (like for comp lit), or for international candidates.
  8. While this is probably reassuring for people who didn’t get an interview, it’s also a bit disheartening for those of us who did— and it kind of unecessarily pits the two groups against one another (which I’m sure you didn’t intend to do, @jonnyboy, so certainly nothing against your person or your verbiage). I wonder if, in the spirit of your sentiment that “rejections are rejections only when they’re finalised,” if this information from your professor is constructive at the moment. I agree that “implied” rejections are also problematic, but I for one am very freaked out about my interview, so I wonder what information like this contributes to the discussion at the moment. No disrespect intended at all, by the way. I just want to communicate that since this is an extremely stressful time for almost all of us, in which many of us are constantly questioning our own merits as applicants, it might not be very helpful to hear this after we’ve already submitted applications and begun to hear back. I don’t mean to speak for anyone else, either. For what it’s worth, I think everyone on this thread brings something valuable and unique to the table, and this forum has generally been an excellent resource and support system throughout this process.
  9. @bardie, I haven’t, minor freak out to ensue! Going to read everything I can manage of theirs since I didn’t list them in my SOP...
  10. I think all of us got ours at different times— minutes apart, but @snorkles was the first
  11. Me too... can’t breathe! Congrats, @snorkles
  12. If waiting for this is some sort of weird test I’m failing
  13. I’m getting close to my wits’ end here... it’s supposed be sent “later in the afternoon” today, which is nowish I think? Still radio silence for everyone?
  14. I don’t have any interviews planned at the moment, nor am I sure if I’ll have one at all this cycle, but this whole process has got me thinking: what is the function of an interview in the humanities admissions process? I know the interview is a vital part of business school admissions, which makes sense because people skills are vital to business as a field, generally speaking. It also makes some sense to hold interviews in the sciences because the advisor/advisee relationship seems more important to science doctorates, i.e. you work on specific projects/labs with specific profs and they should probably make sure everyone gets along before they admit you. But what about for literature? What can an interview tell an English or humanities adcom that they cannot gather from written materials? Is it about confirming that the applicant’s submitted work is indeed their own, or validating that their project plan is cohesive, or gauging whether or not one can put together complex ideas without a proof reader? Is it to determine who would make a clear, accessible future teacher? Or does it test one’s depth and breadth of theoretical knowledge, like an MLA interview? All of the above? I guess I’m more curious whether interviews make this process even more subjective than it already is, or if they have the potential to bring new, valuable, information to the table (and what that entails). How much should ‘likability’ matter in a humanities interview? I’m interested in any and all thoughts on this component of the admissions process. And especially opinions.
  15. I’ll have to check some of these sources out, I haven’t read them! Overall, very cool project. I have a Baldwin Christmas ornament so suffice it to say I’m a fan ?
  16. Today’s the day! Good luck to everyone. If someone does get one, can they post on here when?
  17. @beardedlady aww I hope you’re not up all night for this while working on your thesis! And your topics sound super cool ? we have I think 1 overlapping POI so I hope that doesn’t pit us against one another ??
  18. I’m adding @bardie here, too, @beardedlady! I’m hoping one of us will get an interview this week, if not all of us Do both of you have MA’s or are you applying straight from undergrad? And what are your areas of interest? Would either of you be comfortable sharing which POIs you identified in your SOPs? I got my BA from a small liberal arts school (e.g. my username) in 2016, and am interested in representations of race and class in contemporary Black and Asian American cultural production, broadly speaking.
  19. I’m not holding my breath for an interview, but if by some small miracle I get one, I’d be happy to! I hope you do!
  20. I read one of my friend’s SoPs after she got into a doctoral program at a big name Ivy League, and she used professors’ first and last names for both her own recommenders and POI at the school. I think you’ll be fine
  21. Thanks for this! Rutgers is one I’m worried about, too, because I didn’t send my lit score (optional for them, and mine was HORRIBLE). So I’m hoping they care little about GREs.
  22. I never saw this post, but really enjoyed reading your SoP. I find this quoted argument very intriguing— what theorists/research methodologies did you use in your capstone? Cool stuff!
  23. Yup! There’s another thread on it here if you’re interested , and it’s discussed a bit on the results thread https://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/115185-uchicago-doodle-poll/
  24. Hey, folks. I had a major meltdown this morning so my mom sat me down and gave me some insight into the admissions process now that I’ve turned my applications in. She’s a tenured English professor at a large public research university (with only MAs, no PhD program), and has served on an admissions committee a handful of times. She walked me through the review process at her institution and what she’s gathered from peers who also review doctoral applications at other schools. She shied away from giving me too much information before I sent in my apps because she’s way too ethical and has students applying to some of the same schools as me, but now that they’re in she unloaded a bunch of useful information (which, on second thought, might be more helpful for people applying next year than those who’ve already applied). Either way, I thought I’d share this information in case it gives others some insight into this nightmarish process, or at least assuages some of the dread that comes with waiting for decisions. As always, please take this with a mountain of salt, since its only one person’s experience and mostly hearsay since I didn’t take amazing notes when we were chatting (but I did read this post aloud to her and it has her stamp of approval). And of course, apologies if hearing about the process from a professor’s perspective after submitting applications might feel unhelpful/provoke further anxiety. It was comforting to me just to take the mystery out of it, but might not be to others. At her (small-ish) program, there are only 2 professors who read the entirety of the applications each year Admissions or the college of liberal arts have some basic guidelines, and the department administrator separates out the people who don’t meet these requirements before forwarding the applications to the faculty members The adcomm faculty members still review the applications of folks who don’t meet requirements like GPA minimums, however, especially if they have supplemental letters/explanations for poor performance or test scores (mom says she wouldn’t want to miss a ‘diamond in the rough,’ lol, but she’s been listening to a lot of Hamilton lately) The first thing she does when reviewing an application is independently read the SOP and writing sample There are some expectations for both pieces that determine whether or not the applicant is likely to be considered ‘graduate school ready,’ mostly the candidate’s reason for pursuing graduate study and their demonstrated interest in literary study She says a surprising number of people say things like “I want to go to graduate school because I love reading,” which to her doesn’t show that they understand the demands and expectations of grad school, and it comes across to her like they’re unsure of what to do after undergrad so they just want to bide time Even if the SOP and writing sample do not pass this initial litmus test, she and the other faculty member are expected to read the rest of the application, with the exception of applications that are to the wrong school or unreadable or clearly plagiarised etc. She and other faculty reviewers at her institution almost always place more weight on LORs than transcripts and test scores. I asked her to rank the pieces of the application from most to least important and she said the following: SOP, writing sample, LORs, transcript, test scores (pretty common knowledge already, but it was reassuring to hear that the pieces I have the most control over are the most important) The 2 profs then independently make shortlists of applicants they want to accept, with around 10-15 more people than the average cohort size They then discuss with the other reviewer, and most of the time end up with unanimous ‘rankings,’ but sometimes have to get outside readers (i.e. other faculty or trusted admin) to determine who to choose if two candidates are especially close The top however-many of the list are guaranteed funding or a GTA (since their school doesn’t fund all MA students) My mom’s colleagues at both private and public schools who do have PhD programs review applications in a similar way, she believes, and last she heard there are usually double the number of faculty on their adcomms (so, like 4 or more people looking at each application) depending on program size/number of applicants Her institution does not recalculate GPAs, and she says most faculty are (hopefully) human enough to not put too much weight on undergraduate ‘pedigree.’ She says she approaches applicants like she would her own students, i.e. she’s generally on their side, want them to be successful candidates, and gives people the benefit of doubt when it comes to things like grades and test scores if they have adequate explanations However, really poor writing is the only thing that will automatically remove an applicant from serious consideration when she’s on an adcomm, and of course negative LORs or other similar red flags (like mostly C’s and D’s in English courses, or no academic progression/clear patterns in performance) She also doesn’t view older applicants negatively at all, and the only time she will really question an exceptionally large gap between undergraduate and graduate (like, over 12-15 years) is if their writing isn’t demonstrably graduate-level (and even then she said she’ll consider the possibility they might just be out of practice compared to an applicant fresh out of college who probably have more resources/proofreaders at hand) She said that sometimes older applicants demonstrate a lot of maturity and seriousness because they’ve had enough time to consider their career paths— they’re often her most engaged and dedicated students If a candidate is still in undergraduate but shows they clearly understand what grad school is about, this also will not be held against them Diversity of experience counts a lot in her department She always tries to assess how a student might change the culture of the program ‘Fit’ to her is very much about determining who may contribute to the diversity of perspectives upon which the humanities classroom thrives Academic interests are important, especially if what they want to study isn’t offered in the department, but so is admitting students who can learn from one another, and from whom faculty can learn as well. This sounds cheesy, but she said its an important way to foster a well-balanced program The last thing she said to me is that graduate admissions varies immensely from year to year (which, sort of unhelpful but I guess a harsh reality) Usually its a different set of people reviewing each year at her school, and she’s seen her own top students shut out entirely one year and then accepted nearly everywhere the next Many of the most successful scholars she knows have had entirely unrelated careers before going for their doctorates, or they’ve faced the challenge of having to apply twice or even thrice before finding success It really is a crapshoot, but that also means applying again and again won’t reflect poorly on you for most adcomms because it really depends on who else is applying that year (And she also said some sappy mom-stuff about this torturous experience having nothing to do with my worth as a scholar or person, but that’s not coming from her as a professor so maybe not as helpful) If you’ve made it this far, I’m sorry this is so long, but my mom offered to answer any questions if anyone has any I didn’t think to ask. She didn’t know I have been on gradcafe for so long and is worried that I check it too often, but was also excited when I told her I was posting this stuff because she remembers her application days and how horrible it feels not to know. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope some of this was helpful to you!
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