Deleted Because Useless

I say go for it if you have the financial means. It's a great chance to meet new people, make connections, and expand your research interests. This is more so if you are an international student studying at an institution where english is not the primary language. I don't think all the negativity towards unfunded MA programs are entirely justified / necessary / serious. There is no shame in trying to get the best education you can (especially when you have no other choice available to you due to whatever circumstances).
Edit: Not assuming the OP to be an international student. Just saying, if you are currently in an environment that does not fully support your enthusiasm for english literature, and IF you have the money for it, an unfunded MA is not really that bad of an option :S

University of Chicago needs to stop with these advertisement emails about "Come Join Our Institution and Work with Top Notch Professionals." I'm like, look man, the only thing you are giving off right now is annoyance... I already know you are going to reject me in a couple of weeks, so why insist with the ads? Is this going to turn into more Sierra Club unsolicited email/ paper mail situation? I swear I will form an alliance with all of the other Chicago rejects and pursue legal action... 

I find myself returning to this post every once in a while to read old posts and see if anyone added anything to it. Here’s a part of a song I have been listening to a lot this past month! It’s from Jason Mraz’s “Have It All.”
 
 
May you have auspiciousness and causes of success
May you have the confidence to always do your best
May you take no effort in your being generous
Sharing what you can, nothing more nothing less
May you know the meaning of the word happiness
May you always lead from the beating in your chest
May you be treated like an esteemed guest
May you get to rest, may you catch your breath   And may the best of your todays be the worst of your tomorrows
And may the road less paved be the road that you follow   Well here's to the hearts that you're gonna break
Here's to the lives that you're gonna change
Here's to the infinite possible ways to love you
I want you to have it
Here's to the good times we're gonna have
You don’t need money, you got a free pass
Here's to the fact that I'll be sad without you
I want you to have it all   May you be as fascinating as a slap bracelet
May you keep the chaos and the clutter off your desk
May you have unquestionable health and less stress
Having no possessions though immeasurable wealth
May you get a gold star on your next test
May your educated guesses always be correct
And may you win prizes shining like diamonds
May you really own it each moment to the next   Oh, I want you to have it all
All you can imagine
All, no matter what your path is
If you believe it then anything can happen
Go, go, go raise your glasses
Go, go, go you can have it all
I toast you

I have a real problem with the whole, " a PhD in literature isn't a real doctor," gag because it might actually be harder to enter a PhD program in literature than medicine.  Nothing against the work doctors do, but last I heard the numbers check out. 

the score is fine, but if they didn’t ask for it, i’m not sure what you expect them to do with it? 
and it’s totally appropriate to check in again. reiterate your interest in the program and ask if there is any update. if there’s not, that’s ok, but just reaching out to touch base shows how interested in the program you are. 
good luck!

I plan to officially turn down Brown's offer and accept Michigan's by the end of the day tomorrow, at the latest. The people at both places were really unequivocally lovely, and I hope this early-ish decision on my part helps encourage some pre-April 15 waitlist movement at the former. 

I did not choose the "most prestigious" program I got accepted into last year. I chose to go somewhere where I felt I could grow and be happy. I chose the environment and department which I felt would allow me to grow my potential and one where I felt that there were several people that I would work very well with. In order to produce the best work, I felt there were several important factors to consider.

1) Living arrangements: Can I afford a 1 or 2 bedroom based on my stipend without needing to live with roommates?  How far/close do I want to be to campus?
2) Do I feel the campus/city is bikeable/walkable? 
3) How do I feel about the department as a whole? Are there multiple people I see myself being able to work with?
4) Are there additional opportunities outside the department?
5) Are the schools placing in schools you'd be happy in? Getting accepted into a highly ranked school might help your job prospects in some of the better known schools. However, 90 percent of schools aren't considered R1 schools. Schools that focus on teaching make up the majority of universities doing the hiring and they care more about your teaching record than they do about what school you graduated from or about your publication history. (This isn't to say that either group doesn't care about the other at all. Rather, they just weigh thinks differently. Some schools worry that graduates of "elite programs" will leave their school as soon as another opening happens elsewhere.)

In further craziness, I just had a paper on Frankenstein accepted for presentation at a conference on the Gothic! I’m shook! I didn’t think I would get accepted and I only applied for practice writing abstracts. It feels really good to be already be building my app for next cycle if I don’t get into Villanova. 

Just wanted to let everyone know I just turned down PhD offers at Purdue and University of Delaware as well as taking myself off the waitlists at Ohio State and University of Maryland. Hope that helps someone!

Glad I started calling/emailing for updates. Waitlisted at U of Delaware. I’m not sure what’s up with some of these schools and notifying. 

I’m sure many schools operate differently, but I will let you know my waitlist experiences. 
Last year I was waitlisted at two universities and didn’t hear anything other than my initial waitlist status via emails in mid- February. For a month and a half I touched base with the programs once to affirm interest and check status, but I mainly had no contact and just waited.
I thought April 15th would be the magical day to end all waiting! Nothing...
On April 16th I couldn’t stand it any longer and reached out. 
Both schools said they were impressed (etc.) but needed more time. Essentially, I wasn’t the first person on the list and they’d extended an offer(s) to someone and that person was allowed some time to think over the offer.
After a few days, one school sent me an official rejection notice from the DGS (who was very kind) and said apply in the future as they had been fighting for me.
After a week of waiting with school two, I inquired again. They said they were waiting to hear on a couple of offers still.
Finally, on May 7th, the person I had been communicating with emailed with the final rejection. ?
All of that waiting... for that....
This year I’m on a waitlist. They’ve assured me they’ll notify me the second my status changes ? I’m sure they will... that exact second...
And then I have an acceptance!!! But...it came with a waitlist for funding.... so I guess I’ll just wait on that... ? Again, they’ve assured me of their definite interest and immediate notification when/if there’s a change. And since they said “immediate” I’ll just keep checking my email sixty times a day...

FWIW: The unsubsidized Graduate direct student loan rate was 6.6 percent in 2018-2019. There are no subsidized loans for Graduate Students.

Let's assume you decide to go to this unfunded program and take out a total of 60,000 for tuition and living expenses. Let's also assume that you can't afford to pay any of this loan back while in school because you're focused on writing great papers and developing deeper connections with your professors. You finish your 1-year program and take a gap year while working  at a new job and paying for applications.

After the deferment period of 12 months, the new loan balance is $64,059.09 , including $4,059.09 in accrued interest.

Let's suppose you manage to make interest-only payments during your gap year. You work hard;  save up money for grad applications and get accepted into a Ph.D. program. Your stipend isn't high enough to cover payments though so you defer.
 
After the deferment period of 72 months, the new loan balance is $88,864.53 , including $28,864.53 in accrued interest.
Without the interest capitalization there would have been 120 payments of $684.34 , for a total payment of $82,120.80 (including a total of $22,120.80 in interest) plus an additional $23,760.00 in interest paid during the deferment period.
With the interest capitalization there are 120 payments of $1,013.57 , for a total payment of $121,628.40 (including a total of $32,763.87 in interest plus $28,864.53 in interest accrued during the deferment period).

But: I will pay that off in 25 years, you say.

Without the interest capitalization there would have been 300 payments of $408.88 , for a total payment of $122,664.00 (including a total of $62,664.00 in interest) plus an additional $23,760.00 in interest paid during the deferment period.
With the interest capitalization there are 300 payments of $605.58 , for a total payment of $181,674.00 (including a total of $92,809.47 in interest plus $28,864.53 in interest accrued during the deferment period).

(Information grabbed from FinAid's calculator)

Costs not covered: Conferences, Moving Expenses, Emergencies,  Private loans if unable to find work, etc.

 

So, I am someone who is attending MAPH currently, and wanted to add my two cents:
1) The money issue is 100% valid. It costs a lot of money, and I would not have gone if I had to pay the full cost. I got a scholarship (for 27k - half the cost of the program), and I'm doing their new TLO second-year option (it makes MAPH into a 2 year program, with the second year focused on language study - the cost of the second year is 90% discounted, so comes out to about 5k). For me, this means that I ended up paying 16k/year. I had worked full time for several years before hand and had a decent amount of savings, worked part time during the program, and ended up with ~20k in loans, which is a lot less than what someone without those resources would have to take out; still, it's a lot of money. I don't think I can say if it's worth it to take out more loans than I did, or even as much as I did - it depends on your own situation. I don't think I would have gone if I hadn't gotten the larger scholarship – because of the financial burden, not because of the quality of the education. Fwiw, the TLO option gives you an automatic 5k grant to use on summer language study (which is more than enough to do a full intensive summer study abroad program, flights and all). You apply to PhD programs in your second year, having already finished your thesis, made connections and found recommenders, and taken a year's worth of classes – this avoids the gap year issue.
2) MAPH, like any unfunded MA program (which are way more numerous than funded ones), is of course a cash cow for the university. That doesn't mean that you don't still get something in exchange (a UChicago education). You pay for your undergrad, no? 
3) Like anything else, the program is what you make of it. If you want it and you work for it, you can squeeze every penny's worth out of UChicago, and get a great education. You have full access to UChicago resources, faculty, facilities, events, and grad student career counseling. I have worked with some of the most brilliant people I have ever met; I went to a highly-ranked state school for undergrad, and the pedagogy at UChicago is just leagues beyond what I had experienced there. I am leaving the program working and thinking on a level I never even imagined I was capable of, speaking 2 new languages, and starting my PhD at Northwestern in the Fall. 
4) The part about professors not caring about MAPH students is pretty bullshit. I did not have a single experience in which I was made to feel less important. My advisor, who has many PhD students and is a top name in their field, gave me a lot of feedback, time, and advising. I never felt slighted. There are, of course, exceptions, and some professors will say that MA students in general are not allowed in their seminars. Just go to the first day of class, say something smart, and ask the Prof. after class for permission to take the class. The one time this didn't work for a student, they petitioned the professor with help from the MAPH admin and the prof. opened up the course to MA students.
You are treated the same way the PhD students are treated, and it is pretty universally recognized among the professors that the MAPH year is significantly more intense than the first year in a PhD program (this is true – full course load, a thesis, performing at a UChicago level, and adjusting to a new place in one year was really, really hard). I have seen many course descriptions that say "MAPH students are welcome", and have heard several professors express that they quite like working with MAPH students and advising MAPH theses. 
5) MAPH is a really, really expensive way to realize you don't want to get a PhD. Unfortunately, that is something that a lot of people figure out while they're here. If, however, you realize that you do, in fact , want to get a PhD, MAPH is an absolutely excellent way to prepare for further graduate study. Performing on a UChicago level means you'll be able to perform almost anywhere else (in this regard, this school is kind of ridiculous, but that has nothing to do with maph). The MAPH office provides you with a ton of support and professional training, as well as teaching you what it takes to actually be a professional scholar (i.e. PhD student, professor, etc.). This is important: I re-read my SOP from when I applied originally (shutout, except for MAPH), and realized that I didn't understand the exercise at all - I had no clue what grad school was really about. Being at MAPH gave me a much clearer understanding of the field, and made my applications this round a lot stronger. 
6) This year, it seems that about half the people in the program applied to MAPH *directly*. There are many students in the cohort who went to T1 schools for undergrad (Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, etc.) These things make me suspect that MAPH's reputation is increasing, because the program does turn out some incredible students, who are also being placed well: many of the MAPH alum I know have gotten offers to phenomenal PhD programs, both T1 and T2, as well as great jobs in the pubic humanities, publishing, the art world, etc. 
7) It is shitty and elitist and snobby, and it shouldn't be this way, but a MA from UChicago opens a lot of doors and gets people's attention. That's just the way it is, because people who are on ACs know and respect the institution. Yes, it is a matter of 'prestige', which for some reason people seem to think is negligible in this process... while prestige doesn't guarantee you a spot in a PhD program, it does make people pay attention and really read your dossier, at which point it is really dependent on your application materials. Not to mention that UChicago recommendation letters are a really big deal, and carry a lot of weight.
? As some other people have mentioned, yes, you can of course get into PhD programs without going to MAPH, but it definitely makes it a lot easier, and you learn a whole lot in the process. If it were up to me, MAPH would be completely funded – it is so shitty that MA programs tend not to be, especially in an admissions environment where it seems that having an MA gives you a leg up in your PhD applications.
tldr; MAPH is expensive, but the quality of education you get is excellent; you get what you paid for, if you work hard for it, just like anywhere else. Academia is fundamentally elitist and exclusionary, but if you're trying to be in it, UChicago opens up doors. 
ok, that was more like 7 cents. Feel free to DM me if you have any questions! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Can we, for the briefest of moments, reflect on the fact that Berkeley’s accepted students weekend is next weekend and they’ve yet to send out rejections? I’m under absolutely no delusion about my status with them, but it’s just rude. 

I can only speak from my experience on Ohio’s waitlist last year and what BU told me about the waitlist this year: all bets are off until 4/15 or later. Not great news, I know, but that’s been my experience.

Looking through a number of "from the waitlist" acceptances, it makes me wonder, when is it appropriate to consider the waitlisted university a rejection? Do they send out additional rejections for waitlisted students when they have no shot or do they have to simply wait it out until April 15th?

Looking through a number of "from the waitlist" acceptances, it makes me wonder, when is it appropriate to consider the waitlisted university a rejection? Do they send out additional rejections for waitlisted students when they have no shot or do they have to simply wait it out until April 15th?

I agree with you wholeheartedly but I would also give all my surplus organs to work with Berlant ??‍♀️

I agree with all those who are giving advice on this issue. By no means should you pay for an MAPH if money is a factor in your decision. I myself will avoid them. Never did I suggest the op to go for the Chicago program over other funded MAs (I understand though that I may have been misleading in my choice of words).
I said what I said because I don’t think it’s fair to have those who will be attending, as I am sure there are, feel like naive students who are either filthy rich or misinformed. If possible, I suggest the op contact current maph students at chicago and listen to what they have to say.
If I sounded way too optimistic about the program in my previous post, I apologize for the confusion.

https://www.cfplist.com/ (Which was created by a member of this site)
 

I agree with all those who are giving advice on this issue. By no means should you pay for an MAPH if money is a factor in your decision. I myself will avoid them. Never did I suggest the op to go for the Chicago program over other funded MAs (I understand though that I may have been misleading in my choice of words).
I said what I said because I don’t think it’s fair to have those who will be attending, as I am sure there are, feel like naive students who are either filthy rich or misinformed. If possible, I suggest the op contact current maph students at chicago and listen to what they have to say.
If I sounded way too optimistic about the program in my previous post, I apologize for the confusion.

I say go for it if you have the financial means. It's a great chance to meet new people, make connections, and expand your research interests. This is more so if you are an international student studying at an institution where english is not the primary language. I don't think all the negativity towards unfunded MA programs are entirely justified / necessary / serious. There is no shame in trying to get the best education you can (especially when you have no other choice available to you due to whatever circumstances).
Edit: Not assuming the OP to be an international student. Just saying, if you are currently in an environment that does not fully support your enthusiasm for english literature, and IF you have the money for it, an unfunded MA is not really that bad of an option :S

I say go for it if you have the financial means. It's a great chance to meet new people, make connections, and expand your research interests. This is more so if you are an international student studying at an institution where english is not the primary language. I don't think all the negativity towards unfunded MA programs are entirely justified / necessary / serious. There is no shame in trying to get the best education you can (especially when you have no other choice available to you due to whatever circumstances).
Edit: Not assuming the OP to be an international student. Just saying, if you are currently in an environment that does not fully support your enthusiasm for english literature, and IF you have the money for it, an unfunded MA is not really that bad of an option :S

I say go for it if you have the financial means. It's a great chance to meet new people, make connections, and expand your research interests. This is more so if you are an international student studying at an institution where english is not the primary language. I don't think all the negativity towards unfunded MA programs are entirely justified / necessary / serious. There is no shame in trying to get the best education you can (especially when you have no other choice available to you due to whatever circumstances).
Edit: Not assuming the OP to be an international student. Just saying, if you are currently in an environment that does not fully support your enthusiasm for english literature, and IF you have the money for it, an unfunded MA is not really that bad of an option :S

I e-mailed UNC yesterday for a status update because I haven't heard anything since they acceptances/waitlists went up on the board a couple weeks ago. Will report back