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Cassifrassidy

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  1. Upvote
    Cassifrassidy got a reaction from werfsdfgsdgrrre in acceptance letter - is it ethical to withdraw before April 15th   
    Damn, y'all are being kind of hard on the OP. As an undergrad who comes from a generally uneducated family/background, I found the entire application process immensely confusing and difficult to understand its nuances. I have sympathy for you AbsurdLife, it's a difficult and emotional process. I personally am in a similar situation: I have a funded offer from a lower choice program, but I am waitlisted for funding at my top choice. My advice based on nothing more than my own sense of courtesy would be to call the DGS, explain your situation, and see what they're willing to do. I know most DGS I have encountered are very sympathetic and really want you to make a choice that's in your best interest. They obviously value you and want you to attend their program, but surely they don't want to trap people into their program when said students want to go somewhere else. That being said, I would prepare yourself in case they aren't flexible, and ask yourself how much you REALLY want to attend the other program and whether you're willing to bank on getting off the waitlist, no matter how likely it seems. That's the action I would personally take. Please do keep us updated!
  2. Upvote
    Cassifrassidy got a reaction from Regimentations in Funded English MA programs   
    I would like to point out that I think UK's English Dept does competitive funding. I'm from Lexington, KY, and I know someone who entered into the English program this year and he said not everyone was funded. Though Cotton Joe did specify that there were varying degrees of funding at each place, just wanted to emphasize that unlike somewhere like Alabama which funds all of its MAs, UK does not.
  3. Like
    Cassifrassidy reacted to ZTG92 in New Program Anxiety   
    I have been having these same feelings of anxiety, so it feels good to see I am not alone I guess. I just moved across the country a few weeks ago and was having severe anxiety leading up to the move and since arriving. I start my semester soon and every evening I have this crushing anxiety that I am going to be miserable, have no personal time, or not be able to rise to the challenges. Thank you both for the shared experiences, hopefully it goes away soon! Cassifrassidy, I definitely understand what you're going through and you're not alone lol
  4. Like
    Cassifrassidy reacted to klader in New Program Anxiety   
    Hang in there! First few weeks are scary. My program had a really intense TA training that met every day for several hours, so I was completely drained during & after it. 
    What I will say is that after finishing the intense training, everything felt easier. I had classes only a couple times a week and could spread out my reading; I taught only a couple times a week and had some space to leave an assignment description alone for a few days and think about how I wanted to write it. 
    Once you get into an established routine during the regular semester, things will start to feel "normal." But it is absolutely overwhelming at first. I'm sure your cohort feels similarly, too, so I'd recommend reaching out to them, as you are all going through this together. 
    Best of luck! 
  5. Like
    Cassifrassidy got a reaction from MaoistTowelette in ISO Statements of Purpose   
    I would be happy to send you my SoP! I'm not in a Ph.D program, but I am in a funded Master's (and I did get accepted to a Ph.D program with it)!
  6. Like
    Cassifrassidy reacted to jrockford27 in New Program Anxiety   
    You're not nuts, this is all - unfortunately - very typical and natural.  When I first started, I was convinced that I was the stupidest person in the room at all times, and that the admissions committee must have made some grievous error. Fortunately, my program spares us the anxiety of first year teaching on top of all the other first year anxieties, but nevertheless, things were daunting as hell.
    You're adjusting to new experiences, a new position, and a new way of being in the world and in academia.  It's going to feel overwhelming, and there are going to be growing pains.  It never becomes easy, but as you become more familiar with the lay of the land, and a new body of expectations, things will become much easier to handle.  
    If it helps at all, most graduate students I know also manage to have vibrant personal and social lives if they want them; and, likewise, grad school is isolating but also offers remedies to isolation. You're going to figure out how to make your life work.  Everything is going to be okay.
  7. Upvote
    Cassifrassidy got a reaction from hibiscus in Should I Accept an Offer or Take a Year Off?   
    I ended up committing to Syracuse!
  8. Upvote
    Cassifrassidy got a reaction from klader in Should I Accept an Offer or Take a Year Off?   
    I ended up committing to Syracuse!
  9. Like
    Cassifrassidy got a reaction from klader in Oh, The Places You'll Go! (Decisions 2018)   
    Officially committed to Syracuse for an English MA! Very excited 
  10. Like
    Cassifrassidy got a reaction from Melvillage_Idiot in Oh, The Places You'll Go! (Decisions 2018)   
    Officially committed to Syracuse for an English MA! Very excited 
  11. Like
    Cassifrassidy got a reaction from sarahchristine in Oh, The Places You'll Go! (Decisions 2018)   
    Officially committed to Syracuse for an English MA! Very excited 
  12. Like
    Cassifrassidy got a reaction from PokePsych in Waitlist Success Stories for Hope   
    Got off the phone with my top choice about an hour ago, and they told me I am number one. They said they were calling another student they made an offer to (idk if they were calling to make the offer or calling to check on the offer). Fingers crossed that I get off the waitlist!
  13. Upvote
    Cassifrassidy got a reaction from meghan_paleoclimate in Waitlist Success Stories for Hope   
    Got off the phone with my top choice about an hour ago, and they told me I am number one. They said they were calling another student they made an offer to (idk if they were calling to make the offer or calling to check on the offer). Fingers crossed that I get off the waitlist!
  14. Upvote
    Cassifrassidy got a reaction from jasbee in Waitlist Success Stories for Hope   
    Got off the phone with my top choice about an hour ago, and they told me I am number one. They said they were calling another student they made an offer to (idk if they were calling to make the offer or calling to check on the offer). Fingers crossed that I get off the waitlist!
  15. Like
    Cassifrassidy reacted to Kilos in Should I Accept an Offer or Take a Year Off?   
    I'm at work and I don't have time for a long, detailed response, but there is absolutely no shame in taking a year (or two) off to get your bearings--especially if you're not fully sold on any of your options. Many people take a bit of time to figure out what they'd like to do, and it seems like an especially appealing idea considering the fact that you were given positive feedback on your Ph.D. application. With a year's worth of polishing and updating, you'd probably have a good chance at acceptance the next time around.
    If I were in your position the main question I'd be asking myself is "if I don't accept an offer, what am I going to do for the next year?" Everybody's situation is different, but it's important to really flesh out what a year off looks like. Working full time? Do you have any job prospects? Are you financially stable? Can you more or less relax and focus on refining your application for the next cycle? Is Starbucks or McDonald's employment in your future? Is that a problem if it is? Do you have some good leads on a career-building job opportunity? Internship?
    If you think you can take a year off and come out feeling stronger, more energized, and better prepared, by all means--do it! If not, then maybe taking a position that you're not 100% happy about will be the best move. If you accept one of your offers (especially the fully funded Alabama offer), a year from now you'll be one year away from finishing your M.A., and it's much easier to successfully apply to a Ph.D. program with progress towards a M.A. (both because it looks good on paper and because you'll theoretically have more experience and aim academically).
    At the end of the day, avoiding paying anything is my #1 priority. I'm in a similar situation to you, but I've made up my mind that I'm going back to school in the fall no matter what happens. I did take a year off (last year) and rather than apply to 8-12 schools this time around, I applied to three. I got accepted (full funding) to my undergraduate alma mater for an M.A., and I'm sitting on a waitlist for my dream school's Ph.D. program. I figure that regardless of how this waitlist shakes out, I'm not sitting around for another year; I don't regret taking the year off--I accepted a really lucrative position as a technical writer/illustrator and had a great experience, but my passion is academia, teaching, and rhet/comp, and I'm not going to let another year pass without pursuing it.
    This might be one of those rare situations where you should give yourself the green light to go with your gut.
  16. Like
    Cassifrassidy reacted to bpilgrim89 in Should I Accept an Offer or Take a Year Off?   
    Out of your options, your best two options seem to be to accept the UA full-funding offer or to take a year off, with a slight preference towards the latter. Getting an MA doesn't preclude you from applying to a PhD, and it might even make you a stronger applicant. Plus, like Kilos, I am of the very strong opinion that graduate study in the humanities at any level must be fully funded for it to be worth it, so UA's funding sounds great.
    That being said, you don't sound excited by UA, and I agree a 2/2 teaching load for MA students is intense. If you're financially stable now and can solicit feedback from an adcomm member or recommender about how to better your application, then taking the year off to fix your shortcomings might be the perfect solution. Rochester sounds promising for such critique since they've already been so forthcoming about your space in the admissions process. You might want to ask them what the committee's hesitations were, so that you can address them for future admission cycles. As long as you strike the right tone of "this is to better my application," it shouldn't hurt to ask and the worst they do is say no! (If anecdotes are worth anything, I've done this and received a pleasant and constructive response that I think helped me this season.)
  17. Like
    Cassifrassidy reacted to PETRAL6 in Jealousy or normal reaction?   
    Yeah, sexism is reality. I have come to terms with that. Doesn't mean I sit idly by and not bring attention to it so it can continue. Making comments that suggest that women have it easier and get special privleges only makes it even harder for women to get a fair shot and have to worry that people think they just got where they were because of affirmative action. There is nothing further from the truth. And calling things PC is just a way to try to make people feel bad for calling attention to inequality. And I don't feel bad, so it doesn't work on me.

    And nice guys like you... You said that you we're doing fat women a favor and that only supermodels are worth your time basically. Yet, you don't comprehend why women don't flock. hmmm....

    And don't say it's only a joke, chill out. Because the joke part was fine. The affirmative action comments belittles women by implying (actually stating) they are inferior and only got a position over you because there aren't enough good female applicants so that have to take not so good ones.
  18. Like
    Cassifrassidy reacted to ClassyBrat420 in Oh, The Places You'll Go! (Decisions 2018)   
    Yes! It's a work study on the QED Journal of queer worldmaking, and a 60% tuition waiver. I wish it was a full waiver but I decided it was worth it.
  19. Like
    Cassifrassidy got a reaction from ClassyBrat420 in Oh, The Places You'll Go! (Decisions 2018)   
    Omg you got funding?? That's so awesome!
  20. Like
    Cassifrassidy got a reaction from Kilos in Here Comes the Sun/ Waitlist Movements   
    I am also an MA applicant waiting to hear back from a funding waitlist! Fingers crossed for all of us as April 15 draws nearer
  21. Like
    Cassifrassidy reacted to nichts in Here Comes the Sun/ Waitlist Movements   
    Cue aneurism.
  22. Like
    Cassifrassidy reacted to M(allthevowels)H in Oh, The Places You'll Go! (Decisions 2018)   
    I've decided to officially accept Vanderbilt's offer of admission. I just got back from Ole Miss and while the program and people are even better than you can imagine, (seriously, if anyone in the future wants to talk about Patrick Alexander or Cristin Ellis, hit me up) Oxford is not ideal. So I am going to be accepting Vanderbilt's offer and becoming a...I don't actually know what Vanderbilt's mascot is, but it's not a "rebel" so that's a plus.
  23. Like
    Cassifrassidy reacted to LibraryLivingJT in Oh, The Places You'll Go! (Decisions 2018)   
    Congrats everyone on making their final decisions!
  24. Like
    Cassifrassidy reacted to Melvillage_Idiot in Oh, The Places You'll Go! (Decisions 2018)   
    @FishNerd and I are off to University of Denver! Took us a while to get that figured out, but the visits made everything clear.
    Now to look up terrifyingly expensive apartments!
  25. Upvote
    Cassifrassidy got a reaction from jusrain in 2019 PhD Cycle - Narrowing Down List of Programs   
    Hi! I was a similar candidate as you are--I am in my last year of undergrad at a small liberal arts school, have a 3.7 GPA, and made a 163v/150q/5.5w on the GRE. You will have a huge advantage in applying because you already have a thesis that you can revise and make a lot better (I had to create a writing sample from scratch while I was working part-time and going to school and it was HARD). I have presented at a couple of conferences, but that isn't super significant to acceptance in my understanding. You also have a very clearly developed area of interest which I think is a big part of what sets the MA apart from the Ph.D (is my understanding--I am entering into an MA program so can't say for sure). I applied to 8 programs this year, 4 MAs and 4 Ph.Ds. I got waitlisted at 1 Ph.D and accepted to 3 MAs, one of which is a fully funded offer. I would definitely suggest not applying to less than at least 6 schools, and I would do closer to 10 if you can manage it. I would also look into fee waivers! I saved up for grad school expenses for a year beforehand, and I still ended up not being able to afford a couple apps. I did get one fee waiver from University of Rochester, which is an awesome program and ended up accepting me. I will also say that my acceptances were kind of across the board. I got immediately accepted at Rochester and Syracuse, but was waitlisted at Alabama, which is a lower ranked program. I got funding at Rochester but am waitlisted for funding at Syracuse, which is lower ranked than Rochester. Additionally, I do think rankings are somewhat arbitrary. Like others have said, I don't think there is any "safety" school, and most programs have similar acceptance rates. That being said, I don't think you should discount top 20 programs! Everything is about fit and a little bit of randomness. There are people on the forum who get shut out by every program except one, which happens to be top 10. It's all kind of random and dependent on numbers and factors that are out of your control. I would recommend applying to a wide range of programs, but I don't see why you shouldn't apply to top programs as long as the fit is right and you've created a strong writing sample and SOP!
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