dangermouse

Can confirm that Chicago has probably made most of its decisions. I just got an informal email from a POI telling me about this fellowship they're offering me and I confusedly asked whether that meant I was accepted! She said yes and added that she was surprised that the administrative gears were turning so slowly.
Anyway, I'm beyond excited and hope everyone will be released from this agony soon!!

I just finished my Columbia interview. My interviewer basically told me that at this point they want to accept everyone they're interviewing (for my specialty, which is eighteenth-century British), but funding won't allow for that, hence the interviews. It'll likely be one, or potentially even none, of us from c18 that gets selected. In retrospect, I wish I'd spoken a bit more intelligently, made a stronger case for myself, and explained what set me apart from others. I think I'm a solid candidate, but not necessarily worthy of Columbia when I'm put up directly against others, and I'm definitely not good at interviews or first impressions. I do feel like I somewhat blew a chance at that school but I'm trying, trying, trying to remain positive and not shroud myself in negativity. I'm just happy to know I was seriously considered.
I think you guys will find this information useful: He told me I'd hear back before the 22nd, but no sooner than the 15th, since that's when the admissions committee is meeting. Hopefully that gives all of you a date to keep in mind for Columbia.
To speak to what @pdh12 said above, yes. If I get shut out this year, which is a strong possibility in all of my wide-eyed naïveté applying to ridiculously hard schools, I'll be re-applying next year. I want this badly and I feel like getting shut out will only make me a stronger applicant next year. I'm trying to remain realistic, but not pessimistic. It's a hard process.

that's me!! just made an account to respond to this because i'm still so floored. my focus is american studies/poetics and specifically i'm interested in tracking linguistic change in radical/avant garde poetry movements! i'm also a comp instructor so i want to explore how white language privilege affects the creative writing workshop classroom, which is something i expressed in my SOP.
let me just say i am completely floored by this acceptance. this is the main school i truly did not expect to hear from, and the rejection from the MFA 4 years ago still hurts, so this is some real vindication. 

Update: I was waitlisted at CU Boulder! @The Wordsworthian check your portal!

Long time lurker here:) Just writing to claim the UChicago Comparative Literature acceptance on the board. Received an email from the head of the Admission Committee a couple of hours ago welcoming me to the program.
Excited as this is one of my top choices!

accepted to UNL's PhD in English (focus on Victorian and Digital Humanities) but waitlisted for funding.

CURRENTLY CRYING AND JUMPING UP AND DOWN AND NOT GRADING MY STUDENTS' PAPERS BECAUSE WHO CARES RIGHT NOW KIDDOS.

congrats @illcounsel, and @trytostay for the columbia interview!!! 
i haven't had any more acceptances but i DO have an interview for cambridge, which is also exciting! it's scheduled for lunchtime so that should be an interesting break from work  

Just got a wonderful acceptance call from Saint Louis University (MA). They are also nominating me for a Diversity Fellowship which is very sweet news. YAY

@kendalldinniene i used two as well! mostly because the lengths for the writing sample varied so much from program to program and i was nervous about excerpting my thesis for the shorter ones instead of using a full length paper. my thesis was on thomas de quincey and the conflict/anxiety of life-writing, whereas the shorter paper was a commentary on a textual edition of two poems by coleridge that i produced, so i made sure to send the shorter one to programs which had a more robust interest in book history & material culture  

@kendalldinniene i used two as well! mostly because the lengths for the writing sample varied so much from program to program and i was nervous about excerpting my thesis for the shorter ones instead of using a full length paper. my thesis was on thomas de quincey and the conflict/anxiety of life-writing, whereas the shorter paper was a commentary on a textual edition of two poems by coleridge that i produced, so i made sure to send the shorter one to programs which had a more robust interest in book history & material culture  

shot(s) Fired. that is brutal

it REALLY goes straight for the gut doesn't it! but i love waking up to a gentle neg so it really does work somehow.
in other news, villanova (who i haven't applied to nor shown any interest in) have moved on from emailing me suggestions to apply to their masters and have actually sent me a leaflet about it, all the way to england?! i do respect their commitment but my GRE wasn't THAT good haha.

i'm not sure if anyone here's a fan of hamilton, but on the note of chicago's polar vortex... 
 

UChicago is opening back up tomorrow, according to their website. I'm guessing we will get news Friday. 
*also jk about having doubts about Chicago. Admissions, if you're out there, I love youuuuu ?... ??*

I would very much like to know where/if I am going to graduate school !!

no word from any program yay or nay, but i did just hear that I'll be teaching a class for VA's gov. school this summer and possibly a second class

i received some really nice words from one of my letter writers today basically reminding me that pretty much everyone in academia experiences rejection--multiple forms of rejection--at pretty much every step. from PhD programs, from fellowships, from postdoc positions, from jobs even after a grueling interview process, from journals, from publishers. it may not all feel as horrible as what we feel right now, but certainly we will be rejected in some form again even if we believe in ourselves and believe in our research. it's all about persistence, so don't let the rejection kill your ambition

Duke English holt ShIT I can’t BREAThE

OMG I got into Duke English too!

Sooo...I just received an email saying I've been admitted at UT-Austin's PhD program! This is all happening so quickly, yet so slowly!

one of the professors i mentioned in one of my SOPs has just followed me on twitter. i am sure it is a very mundane and insignificant decision, but hopefully he isn't a sadist who wants to watch the carnage unfold when my rejection comes in  

one of the professors i mentioned in one of my SOPs has just followed me on twitter. i am sure it is a very mundane and insignificant decision, but hopefully he isn't a sadist who wants to watch the carnage unfold when my rejection comes in  

one of the professors i mentioned in one of my SOPs has just followed me on twitter. i am sure it is a very mundane and insignificant decision, but hopefully he isn't a sadist who wants to watch the carnage unfold when my rejection comes in  

one of the professors i mentioned in one of my SOPs has just followed me on twitter. i am sure it is a very mundane and insignificant decision, but hopefully he isn't a sadist who wants to watch the carnage unfold when my rejection comes in  

Disclaimer: do not freak out!
 
I was just scrolling through all my app portals and opened UCSB’s to see “accepted”
...had minor stroke
...immediately thereafter noticed the accepted was referring to my app fee waiver, my app status is still very much submitted.
Lol why am I like this? Reading is supposed to be my thing, right?