Indecisive Poet

Yep - someone's just posted on the results board that they received one today.

Woah!! Congratulations to you on this wonderful, early, and under-the-radar acceptance! You must be feeling so relieved and hopeful about the rest of decision season.

Hm! All very intriguing. I'm trying not to get my hopes up about being on a possible long list, and although I think I'd be feeling the exact same way as some of you if I hadn't received the email yet, I also think it's too soon for anyone to go crying themselves to sleep! I've been digging through last year's thread and it looks like Chicago might send out interview requests in multiple waves, in which case it may just be that you haven't received your emails yet. Let us know – you might get an email tomorrow!

Oh boy! That's exciting, if true – I applied to Chicago on a whim, thinking they would toss my application aside at first glance with a chuckle. I'm a Romanticist and my partner does C20/21 fiction.

Hm – I wouldn't count yourself out yet! My partner and I are both living abroad, so it may well be that this was only sent to non-US applicants. I did notice that the times on the Doodle Poll were very generous to our time zone – I was expecting them to be in the middle of the night our time.

Nope, not an interview request – it's just what looks like an email that was sent to all applicants (my partner applied as well and he also received it). It's a request to fill out a Doodle Poll for interview availability, saying that they'll be sending out interview requests on the evening of the 21st – but it says that not all applicants who this email was sent to will be receiving those requests. That suggests to me that this was sent to everyone and that they'll decide who they actually want to interview in the next week.

Shellacked so hard by Chicago's interview email!!!!

As @Rrandle101 has said, Northwestern's website (or was it an email? can't remember) mentions that they send out decisions in "early February."

This! I spent an hour or two this morning in a half-asleep state having multiple dreams about waking up to an interview notification. I didn't know if it was real or not until I finally pulled myself into a fully-awake state and checked – alas, nothing yet.

I totally understand your anxiety but I wouldn't worry about anything just yet. The vast majority of programs send out decisions in February and March – there are just a handful that send out interview requests in January. If Notre Dame keeps to the same schedule as last year, you could hear from them today or tomorrow! But it may be a few days or even a week or two later this year – who knows.

Congratulations to everyone who received interview requests! I didn't apply to Emory but three of the programs I've applied to typically do interviews, so I'm curious: how is everyone preparing for interviews, if at all? I'm not sure what to expect if (fingers crossed) I am offered an interview with any of my programs.

Using this limbo time to do a bit of reading for fun – I just read One Hundred Years of Solitude for the first time, a novel that's been at the top of my reading list forever. While I deeply appreciated much of its lyricism, commentary on capitalism, inventiveness and use of the magical realist genre, and probing insight... I was also deeply, deeply disturbed by Garcia Marquez's seemingly un-self-conscious representation of "love" as pure sexual desire and the book's unrelenting misogyny and obsession with sex. Am I missing something here!? I've been talking to my partner about the book and he keeps asking me if maybe the representation of sex/sexuality/masculinity in the book is meant to be a critique of it, but I'm just not seeing anything but endorsement. Would love to hear from anyone else who has read it! I'm feeling bummed out because so much of my experience of reading the book was incredibly uncomfortable. Edit: in case anyone does want to offer perspectives, I'll say firstly that (1) I understand that incest was certainly represented as problematic, and that (2) there are interesting and capable female characters, but that neither of these things make up for the fact that the author seems to think that human beings are at their core lust-filled cretins and that women are first and foremost sexual objects.

Just dropping in to say all of my applications are now 100% complete! I intended to apply to 9 or 10 but ended up applying to 14 because I had the time to write a few more personal statements. I'll be staying off of TGC for the next couple of months – I want to practice thinking about things other than "will I/won't I get in" – but I'll check in come February. My fingers are crossed for all of you!!!

I haven't applied to UW Madison but several of my programs showed (or even still show) my GRE scores as missing even though I sent them in November. I think the systems just take a while to update and I wouldn't worry about it.

Hm...mine isn't doing this – but weirdly, it does list "GRE Score Report" in my checklist twice and it lists them both as received even though I only sent them my general test. Rest assured, though, ST is not required, so you should be fine.

Speaking of, I emailed him a few days ago to ask whether my application would be disadvantaged because one of my letter-writers is submitting his letter late. I never received a response form him, but Yale's general grad admissions said that there is no deadline for letter-writers but that the adcom will start reviewing applications a few days after the deadline, so I'll want my letter in by then. I expect he'll get his letter in by the 17th or 18th. Should I be concerned? Edit: I actually just got a very reassuring email from the woman who said she's replacing Caleb Smith as DGS in January. I'm not too concerned ?

Oof. That's awful – I'm really sorry. In the time it took her to send that email, she could easily have uploaded her two remaining letters (I noticed that it took my recommenders an average of 2 minutes per program to upload). FWIW, both December 15th programs I emailed said that they accept letters past the deadline (but not as late as January). Is there another professor you know really well who you can ask to write you a letter within the next week? Perhaps they'd take pity on you if you explained your situation.

Ahh yes, I think I hadn't registered this as a shellacking since it's so early yet. Hopefully there won't be any of this nonsense come February...

Are we? What have I missed?

I'd love to read yours if you don't mind! I have no teaching experience, so I'm just trying to mention a bit of everything I've done.

In another surprise twist, recommender 3/3 hasn't uploaded his final batch of letters yet because he's at a conference until the 16th and not checking emails ? I've emailed my two December 15th programs to ask if they'll still consider my application if his letter is late.

Have all of my applications sent in + 2/3 of my referees have submitted all their letters! Unfortunately I sent in Illinois @ Chicago thinking that the application for fellowships was optional (turns out it's not). So now I'm trudging through another surprise 300-word statement. Has anyone else done this one? It asks for a description of my previous experience in my proposed field of study, including teaching, extracurricular activities, professional experience, etc... if only I could just refer them to my CV and to the personal statement I've already written for them. After 3.5 months of full-time application-writing, I no longer have the energy to pour forth anything that is remotely creative, so I plan to write a very functional, very bland description of my tutoring experience, etc. Not sure what they're even looking for, since the only funding I would get is guaranteed anyway ?‍♀️

Sorry if my wording wasn't clear – the diversity statement is mandatory on the application form itself. My suggestion was that Yale's English department website should list the diversity statement under the application requirements, since it comes as a surprise when one is actually filling out the application.

Thanks both for the advice. I had a draft written out to you earlier today about how I was taking x approach but wasn't sure if it was the right move, but I've just finished writing my statement and I'm actually really pleased with what I've come up with! I didn't feel like it was appropriate or relevant to talk about my gender, my not-excellent home life growing up, or some mental health issues I've had – I don't want to pretend that my gender has disadvantaged me when it hasn't, and I don't want to pretend that various issues I've had have had any bearing on my career plans when they haven't. Instead, I went for a more traditional approach to diversity that involved nothing but honesty about my own privilege and how I've confronted it in educational settings and elsewhere. I think it's pretty good! It would be great if Yale's English PhD website could mention that the diversity statement will be required. It's helpful to know and prepare for something like that in advance, I think, especially for people who are submitting at the last minute.

Dah! I was completely prepared to submit Yale today only to find that they have a space for a surprise, mandatory diversity essay in their online application form. I hope this doesn't count for too much because there's no way I'm going to come up with something good, especially last minute. I purposely avoided applying to programs that asked for these ?