dangermouse

obviously it doesn't matter now but... did anyone actually receive an official rejection from maryland? i know they sent out acceptances/waitlists but i can't help but feel it is pretty poor on their part to not have actually ever sent out rejections, especially as i emailed them about a month ago asking and they just... ignored me. still, there is a part of me that loves that sweet emotional negging.

i've officially accepted michigan!! (which is a relief as my birthday was recently and a lot of my friends bought me michigan-related gifts... would've been an amazing but shortlived punchline to have been like "haha actually i'm staying at oxford but thanks anyway i guess").

what are people's thoughts on emailing a program to ask if they might consider offering some funds towards relocation expenses? i know the answer will probably be no but i think i'd kick myself if i didn't give it a try as i'd be moving country - does anyone have any tips on how you might word this email, who you'd send it to (the DGS?), ways in which it can be asked whilst sounding polite rather than presumptuous?

outside of my specialism, but I've recently reread angela carter's the infernal desire machine of doctor hoffman and loved it even more the second time round (tw/ rape, more cannibalism than you would expect, phrases so luridly beautifully you will want to throw the book through a window or against a wall on several occasions). and for a truly delightful early-Romanticism read, i always have to recommend ann radcliffe's the Iialian, which has brought me innumerable joys over the year. it is a wonderful example of the development of the gothic genre, it is melodramatic and unselfconscious and has an absolutely insane plot that just keeps on getting madder and madder with each revelation. when i was in undergrad me and one of my friends drunkenly performed a two-man version of it at predrinks (... i know ...) and it was a Hit.

@whatislife69 i totally understand what you mean! i think i'm still a bit in shock and it hasn't really sunk in yet that i'm going to ACTUALLY!!! be doing a phd, so whilst all my friends and family are super thrilled, i'm sort of having to pantomime my own excitement/quash my own sudden uncertainty! hopefully once i have all the decisions in it will be easier to relax and really take it in?!

in my dream last night i was accepted to brown without funding so i experienced the full range of acception-rejection emotions and now feel prepared for whenever brown decides to get back to us. maybe it will be today! maybe my brain Knows i needed the warning!

maybe i was being too generous reading it as sarcastic, but my go to response against rejection is always sarcasm so i always assume that is how everyone else copes as well ?

i feel you! the email was so friendly & encouraging as well, i feel Very Good. best of luck to you !!

waitlisted at UNC :^) i figured i'd been rejected when i didn't hear earlier but it seems they're still rolling them out!

thanks to everyone so far for your incredibly helpful answers! as an international student, it's unlikely i'm going to be able to attend the visit days - michigan have offered pretty generous travel reimbursement but it still doesn't quite cover what i would need, and getting the dates off work is tricky. i know that it's less expected of international applicants to attend these visits so i guess my question is - how else do i get a 'feel' for the programme/school/course? is it okay to email the DGS and ask to maybe set up a skype, or ask to speak with current grad students, and are these things helpful in getting a sense of the school without physically being there? what else would you recommend doing to learn as much as possible about the school's environment? my issue is that there are other dates that i could visit (although i would only get one day in michigan as it would be added on to a holiday i'm already taking in america around that time) but is it worth going for such a short time/without the actual visiting events on? sorry that this is a very long-winded way of asking probably quite a simple question, but i'd appreciate any thoughts on the matter - especially from any students who were international applicants, or didn't get the chance to visit their school before accepting :^)

i'm a Romanticist/Victorianist hybrid depending on the programme i applied to but i agree there doesn't seem to be too many of us around this year, at least as far as the forum goes! maybe everyone is too busy channeling the internal shadow & seclusion of the era?!

congrats @Englishtea1 !! did you receive it just now? that's an early start to the day for them haha

@WildeThing that is SUCH an impressively devious trap on your brain's behalf. i don't know if i admire it or not - i think my heart leaped a little just reading your description of it...

@WildeThing congrats !!!!

congrats @3131 and the other columbia admits!! and @trytostay getting waitlisted is a very exciting outcome itself just on a numerical level, and you have offers from both NYU and UVA so as much as i know how disappointing it can be to not be straight out admitted to schools you have your heart set on, there is so much to be positive & excited about !!!