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I don't have to return my stipend for this past year i guess. And I actually haven't told my dept yet because i'm a bit afraid of them cancelling my summer funding next month (plus this hasn't been finalized yet, i still don't know how long will the sshrc doctoral fellowship last, 3 yr or 4 yr etc.)

I am first year in my program at a US university, and my department substitutes external scholarship with a 12-month tenure for the entire annual stipend (summer funding included).... I get to keep about 3k then the rest will replace my internal funding dollar-for-dollar. On the bright side that releases me from some teaching responsibilities. Oh well, hope those of you in other unis have better luck on how much you can keep

Congrats to you too!!

I have! I received an email today saying that they're converting my award to the SSHRC doctoral fellowship. They didn't tell me if I get it for 4 years instead of 3 though, just said i'll find out on extranet soon (and didn't specify how soon)

Congrats to you too! I heard that when this happened in previous years, they will eventually find out and send an email asking us to choose between two options, either switching to a Canadian university or opting for the SSHRC doctoral fellowship instead. I emailed them to make sure anyways, but I don't think they'll withdraw the awards

Same here! I emailed them to ask about it. I thought I was the only one in this situation!

Hi Taihoku, congrats on being accepted into your top choice! I was in a similar situation and here's my two cents: I responded to the rejection by expressing my disappointment (need to be very diplomatic - you don't want to sound bitter, sour, or salty), reaffirming my interest in their program and their work, and asking if there would be opportunities in the near future to visit/collaborate/etc. My POI was very nice and gestured towards possible opportunities. I might be overthinking it, but not mentioning the rejection, or saying that there's no hard feelings, might come across as a little bit arrogant. Academia is a small world and that's the last impression you'd want to leave. Also, I don't think there's a need to tell the POI that you got into another school before they ask. They probably will ask you though, given that they showed interest in your work, then it's time for you to answer and express your interest to stay in touch. Hope it helps and best of luck! Congrats again for getting into your dream school!

Congratulations! And best of luck for the interviews

Thank you! I don't know whether all acceptances have been sent out. The notification message was very, very brief

I’m in at Harvard. There wasn’t an interview

@WanYesOnly Congrats! I'll miss the first day's events but will be there for the second day. Will you be flying out of country to join? The interactions I've had with Penn State have been very positive and welcoming, and their program seem quite vibrant and structured. The offer is indeed a huge relief.

The department admissions committee will meet with GSAS on February 14. I don't know when the results will be out, but if it's on that day then Happy Valentine's Day in advance...

This is very true as research proposal and SoP are very different genres. Research proposals especially for grant applications require concrete plans and a confident tone. SoPs on the other hand need to show that one is intelligent, curious, informed of the current state of the field, and has the potential to grow as a scholar. Donald Asher's Graduate Admission Essays: Write your Way into the Graduate School of Your Choice was very helpful when I was writing mine.

I think this is field specific, so if your undergrad advisers in your discipline advised you not to do it, they probably have very good reasons. In my case, I just sent out very brief emails with one sentence of self-introduction, one sentence connecting our research interests (showing that I've read their recent publications), and the last sentence asking if they were taking new students for this application cycle. I agree with @ztshin that their responses don't mean much. Some people don't reply, some might reply with encouragement but in fact have acceptance rate or even application fees in mind (sorry for being a bit dark here but I've seen this). The important thing for me was not to get in beforehand (which is obviously impossible), but to see if people were *not* taking students so that I could narrow down my list. I second that. The balance is tricky though - you sort of need to have a coherent and feasible "proposed" project to demonstrate that you are able to come up with one, but at the same time it cannot sound as if there's no room left for the program to nurture/mold you. This, however, is also field specific. I recommend asking junior faculty and/or current PhD students about expectations in your field.

@trolloped I don't think you are too old. I myself am a nontraditional applicant and have encountered many others in the discipline of comparative literature starting grad school after exploring lots of other possibilities in life. Your SoP and writing sample sound well-polished and your CV sounds stunning. Grad admission could be a random process about luck and doesn't speak to how good you are as a student/scholar. Let's wait for the other 6 programs to get back and hope for the best! I am not sure if you talked to potential advisors before you handed in the applications to see whether they were taking students, interested in your proposed project, etc. Apart from credentials, matching and timing are very important, too. I emailed almost 20 professors of interest from August to October last year, and found out that some of them were retiring, some leaving for a new school, some going on sabbatical, some not having the quota to take new students this year, and some simply not interested in my work. There are many possible reasons for rejection and many of those are not even related to how competitive you are as an applicant. You are a great student/scholar. Best wishes!