CanadianEnglish

Out of reactions, co-signing as well. Ditto staying out of the mental health discussion. 
Sometimes it’s difficult to feel joy instead of envy when confronted with others’ success. When I’ve felt despair seeing that someone else has been admitted and I haven’t, I log off. I come back when I can celebrate with them. It works for me; if it didn’t, I would log off permanently. IMO, there should be no impulse here to censor your celebrations or your stress on account of another’s potential feelings, within the bounds of reason (no mocking others, for example). I’m afraid that impulse is developing within the forum as February wears on, and it’s disappointing. 
Edited to add: seconding comment just above from @punctilious. 

@surplus_value - My husband and I were in this process two years ago, so I get how incredibly hard and stressful this can be. But you have to recognize in yourself what you can handle when it comes to seeing other folks' success. Listen to yourself and see whether being in this community is helpful or hurtful to your mental health. You do not have to be here. For some people, the camaraderie is joyful, for others it is stressful. I think it is unfair to expect other people to cater to you, and not express their frustration at this process. This should be a safe space to vent about the process, not a place to tear down one another. @meghan_sparkle and every person here should feel comfortable engaging in this community, whether their applications have been accepted or not.

We all have a right to be here and express our frustrations, joys, heartbreak, and impatience, in whatever way helps us through this insane process. We can't forget that we are all in this together - regardless of who has gotten into what program or not. You, I, her, him, they, etc, we all completed these crazy applications, lost sleep, cried, yelled, worked our asses off to be the best, etc. We all have our heart set on that *ONE* school, and just because there are acceptances, doesn't mean there isn't a real fear for the next. We celebrate (even if we have to push through the jealousy) our fellow posters who've been accepted and stand united with those who may be struggling. 

first response: honestly wouldn't even be mad to be woken up at 11:59pm on the 29th by a call from penn
second response: "text from unknown number (maybe: harvard): hey u up?"

If you would like to chat with someone with in a similar situation, DM me! I went to an unranked English program at a mid-size public university for my BA (3.0ish student) and now I am finishing up my terminal MA at a large, kind of ranked public university (4.0 student now). I wasn't prepared or good enough to go straight into a top tier PhD program so the terminal MA was a good fit for me. Feel free to DM me with questions about my experience!  

If you would like to chat with someone with in a similar situation, DM me! I went to an unranked English program at a mid-size public university for my BA (3.0ish student) and now I am finishing up my terminal MA at a large, kind of ranked public university (4.0 student now). I wasn't prepared or good enough to go straight into a top tier PhD program so the terminal MA was a good fit for me. Feel free to DM me with questions about my experience!  

If you would like to chat with someone with in a similar situation, DM me! I went to an unranked English program at a mid-size public university for my BA (3.0ish student) and now I am finishing up my terminal MA at a large, kind of ranked public university (4.0 student now). I wasn't prepared or good enough to go straight into a top tier PhD program so the terminal MA was a good fit for me. Feel free to DM me with questions about my experience!  

My vote is for taking the terminal MA with funding anytime. I was in a similar boat as yours, graduating from a small liberal arts college with a pretty average GPA (I did 2 majors, and my other major besides English was crap, while my English major GPA ended up around almost A-minus range because I had no experience studying literature in English as an international student). I also applied to both PhD and MA programs my first round and was accepted into 2 low-tier PhD programs (with pretty low stipends) and a top-20 university MA program with full funding. This was an incredible stroke of luck, by the way; somehow I was awarded a rare graduate assistantship that paid my tuition and included a living wage. My MA was a tough time as I had to balance coursework and working 20 hours a week, and I sometimes questioned if I had been wrong in choosing it over the PhD offers.
However, I was also not certain at that point that I was ready to commit 5-6 years to a PhD program, having done little independent research in undergrad. I was glad that I took the MA to figure out my own scholarship a bit more, understand more about my field, and get to know younger, more active scholars (most of my profs in undergrad were older and removed from research because the school was teaching-oriented). I think a lot of people in my cohort used the MA to understand themselves better as well - most of us came in wanting to pursue PhDs, and after the program, only a few applied, while the rest found jobs in teaching, publishing, consulting, etc. I think you could also go through your MA with an open mind towards other career options. Like you said, at the very least you'd end up with another degree and no debt!
Realistically speaking: I think you can go from a middle-ranked university for the MA to a higher-ranked PhD program. Perhaps not Duke, but UC Irvine is not too impossible. The MA is a great opportunity to get a great writing sample focused on your intended subfields, gain more research/conference experiences, speak more knowledgeably about yourself and your work, and get letters of recommendation that represent you well as a mature baby-scholar prepared for PhD work. Of course, this is all dependent upon the dynamics in your mA department and whether the faculty is approachable and personable towards you, so that you can do your best research and writing and get good letters from them. 
For what it's worth, I'm standing at 4a/1w/2r/2p this cycle. 2 of my acceptances are from Johns Hopkins and NYU, schools that I couldn't have dreamt of getting in right out of undergrad (with generous funding). After everything, I still think that my undergrad GPA is the weakest part of my application, but with a good writing sample and rec letters and good MA records, it becomes much less important. The DGSs and PoIs I've talked to seemed to focus the most on the writing sample and what it communicates about my scholarly abilities.
I hope this helps, and good luck!

Idk who needs to hear this but my 19 year-old sister told me tonight that even though everything feels like it's coming down all at once that "you are in control of everything you are doing rn and that you are doing a good job" and felt inclined to share it with others because it made me feel tremendously better about everything  here's to hoping for more good news for everyone tomorrow!

Every email I get today drives me crazy and ends up being like:
 

Also in at Michigan!! What is my life rn?

I ran out of reactions for today, so congrats!!!! This is amazing!! Michigan is absolutely incredible!!! 

I’m in at Brandeis!!!! I am still in shock. Really thought I’d have a shut out this year. This is in my top 3 so I am so completely overjoyed. Now to figure out how to live in the Boston area with graduate student stipend ?

Yay! Go us!!!

Yay! Go us!!!

Thanks! Our mini postcolonial/Caribbean group is doing well! 

@Narrative Nancy and @CanadianEnglish congratulations to you both!!! Such awesome and exciting news!!

? I’m in at UVA!!! Omg I found out in the middle of a 3 hour class, ha. Idk what to do with myself. My first acceptance!! 

I’m in at Brandeis!!!! I am still in shock. Really thought I’d have a shut out this year. This is in my top 3 so I am so completely overjoyed. Now to figure out how to live in the Boston area with graduate student stipend ?

I’m in at Brandeis!!!! I am still in shock. Really thought I’d have a shut out this year. This is in my top 3 so I am so completely overjoyed. Now to figure out how to live in the Boston area with graduate student stipend ?

I’m in at Brandeis!!!! I am still in shock. Really thought I’d have a shut out this year. This is in my top 3 so I am so completely overjoyed. Now to figure out how to live in the Boston area with graduate student stipend ?

I’m in at Brandeis!!!! I am still in shock. Really thought I’d have a shut out this year. This is in my top 3 so I am so completely overjoyed. Now to figure out how to live in the Boston area with graduate student stipend ?

I’m in at Brandeis!!!! I am still in shock. Really thought I’d have a shut out this year. This is in my top 3 so I am so completely overjoyed. Now to figure out how to live in the Boston area with graduate student stipend ?

I’m in at Brandeis!!!! I am still in shock. Really thought I’d have a shut out this year. This is in my top 3 so I am so completely overjoyed. Now to figure out how to live in the Boston area with graduate student stipend ?

I’m in at Brandeis!!!! I am still in shock. Really thought I’d have a shut out this year. This is in my top 3 so I am so completely overjoyed. Now to figure out how to live in the Boston area with graduate student stipend ?