havemybloodchild

Does pretty much every school conduct visits? I never even thought about this until I saw a thread on here a week or so ago.

@Bopie5 I wish more schools would include this sort of thing! It was so helpful. Glad you found it also!

@sugilite Happy to! https://ls.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/statement_of_purpose.pdf Let me know if you have issues with the link.

@Warelin At first I thought I'd be bummed to be stuck in Oregon (was in Ashland for undergrad) but at this point I would pop about 1000 bottles of champagne if I got in ?

@Warelin true, that's the one MA I applied to since it was fully funded. I didn't realize they didn't have a PhD though. Guess that answers my question.

@toasterazzi Can I ask if you're at Ohio or Oregon (or some other "O")? I applied to both.

I think Chicago is the only school I applied to that does interviews and frankly there is no chance one will be extended to me, so I'm just not worrying about them. Except when I allow myself to hope and then am filled with panic that I might face a question like the one CUNY posited, haha. Isn't this process grand?

Has anyone done the optional video interview for SMU? I'm planning on doing it tomorrow and wondering what I'm in for.

I used the one offered by Berkeley, and also a couple one of my professors sent from previous students whose graduate applications had been successful. My research interests are very intersectional and therefore could be construed as too broad for PhD study, so my SoPs all listed specific research by current professors and correlated their interests to mine/how their research has impacted me personally and my work. I mainly focused on feminist research, as that's the main thread of my own research that sort of ties it all together, but looked at professors who layered feminist issues with other issues of marginalization, as I plan to do. My advisor did caution me about being too specific in terms of faculty in case I mentioned just one and, unbeknownst to me, they were going on sabbatical or retiring, etc. I also mentioned specific opportunities at each school such as GSWS certificates or Disability Studies courses that I would benefit from. I mentioned schools' successes in creating fine educators and placing them in jobs. I feel like no matter how much research I did it would never be enough...

Got a very generic email from U Chicago about their MA program today...wondering if they've already cut me from PhD consideration (wouldn't be surprised), or if this is a regular email they send to every applicant? Anyone else get this email?

I may or may not have gone through last year's results pages to see when each of my programs were likely to get back to me, and added that information to my grad app spreadsheet. And then color coded the spreadsheet depending on those dates...anything to make myself feel like I'm doing something!

My professors helped. They were all wonderful, so I knew my applications were the best effort I was capable of, after all their assistance with my materials. Also, they were shocked on my behalf, and said some very sharp things about departments which rejected me, and that took care of some of the initial sting. Just knowing they cared and believed I deserved to get in was very helpful. They also went through my materials with a fine tooth comb yet again after I'd heard back and helped strategize changes for this go around. Having people you respect in your court and a plan for how to persevere is the best way to process, in my opinion.

In the spirit of mutual panic, here's my story from last year, which was my second go around. The year prior I applied to an MFA at Uni Glasgow and was accepted, but declined after talking with my professors and getting a better idea of what I wanted my career to look like. I applied to dual MA/PhD programs at Ohio, Cornell, UW, and Amherst, and an MA at University of Denver. The first school I heard back from was Ohio, my top choice, which waitlisted me for their PhD program. That was January 29th. I was then rejected from Amherst, Cornell, and finally UW. The last I heard back from was Denver, an email to check the portal, which told me I'd been accepted to the MA program with 50% tuition remission. I considered the offer but ultimately turned it down. Although I had specifically stated in my SoP that I was looking for GTA/RA opportunities (I found Denver's website kind of vague about whether this was an option), I learned in a phone conversation with the director of the program that this wasn't possible for MA students. With that all my eggs were in the Ohio waitlist basket (more of a wet old envelope, really). I contacted them in the end of March for an update and they'd only had one student accept their offer and one decline, so there was really very little movement. Eventually I heard from them on April 17th I think, saying I hadn't been accepted. All of my decisions were communicated through the portal, not in the email from the school telling me a change in my status had been made. I was really naive last go around, I didn't do nearly as much research as I should have done and I didn't understand the process nearly as well. It made the process more pleasant, but hopefully less successful than this year will be.

Last night I woke up at 1 or 2 in the morning and couldn't get back to sleep for about 4 hours because all I was thinking was that I'm going to get 20 rejections and I'll never get in and I'll never be a professor and I'll just work at a coffee shop or something until I die, bookless, catless, exceedingly grumpy.... The panic is oh so real.

This. No one in my life quite gets what I'm going through - a friend of mine told me I shouldn't be anxious about my applications because the anxiety isn't "useful." ? While I definitely feel anxious reading through these threads, it's also so helpful to see I'm not the only one feeling such terror and joy awaiting the results of all of our hard work.

A) Lauren Berlant b) JUST SOMEONE LET ME IN I just relate to your comment so hard

Or U Nebraska Lincoln or Stanford!

I have been working hard to prepare myself emotionally and intellectually and (lets be honest) physically and spiritually to not get an interview in the middle of next month and then just flat out forget the school exists.

U Chicago. I would kill to work with Lauren Berlant, I love the city, rent is cheap, the funding is amazing, and with the current state of the job market graduating from a top ranked program would provide some comfort. Also my favorite professor and advisor from undergrad, her son goes there (she lives in Oregon), and I would just love to be her spy to let her know he's okay and eating and paying his electric bill ? I would also DIE if I got to work with Suzanne Bost at Loyola. About half the funding of U Chicago but I swear I've read everything she has published a dozen times and I just find her inspiring as heck.

I LOVE THIS BOOK! And everything James Baldwin ever wrote. I did my senior capstone in undergrad on Giovanni's Room. James Baldwin is amazing.

Loved LFE as well but, like to said, there was something about EINTY that just completely grabbed me.

I need this thread to come back to life! Recently read Cats Cradle, always a fun one, especially for an ongoing existential crisis like myself. Reading Cat's Eye now. What? I like cats AND great literature. As for favorite books I've read this year, I would say The Round House by Louise Erdrich, Bearing the Body (can't remember the author's name right now), and Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng- one of the most gorgeous books I've ever read. Also always love anything by Ana Castillo. Please distract me with your faves, folks!

Is anyone else dying to know what their recommenders wrote about them? Is there any kind of established protocol for asking to see recommendations after the admissions cycle is completed or is this a total no no? I think I may need the pick me up come April ?

What did you end up doing? This is such a good question, I'd love to know the answer!