havemybloodchild

Those acceptance tears are the best. You deserve this!!!!!! I just can’t wait to see what you do as a scholar!

FUCK YES! GRAD SCHOOL BOUND!!!!!!!!! Ahhh, I am so proud of you and happy for you!!!

This is so funny to me. I am a staunch atheist and all my PhD options now are at religiously affiliated schools. I didn’t even think of religion as a factor when looking at where to apply, except for wondering how it might impede my research interests. Weird to think that it might impede my job search...

I don’t think so at all! I don’t think folks applying with BAs are expected to have conferences or publications under their belts. Lots of people don’t do honors theses (is that the plural? I had a lot of beer last night and words all look wrong today) and I don’t think that’s a problem either. What you need is a clear, concise, and intriguing SoP (that is also magically aligned with whatever the dynamic needs and desires of the department are that year, haha), and an excellently written and intriguing writing sample. Have hope! You can do this! And I would highly suggest taking that year to reapply over doing an unfunded MA. Just my two cents.

I had a lot of professors at SMU ask what I’d done during my gap year. My response was working, reading, and counting down the minutes until grad school. Some professors I felt didn’t love this answer. I could have said I’d been working on things for publication, but after taking with one professor about publications at length the night before, I didn’t think what I’d been working on was really ideal. The prof stressed that, in his opinion, publications were really important if they contributed to a coherent idea of the scholar’s specific research goals. The things I was working on did not necessarily do that. They were related to my interests, but that’s all. The majority of the faculty seemed to find my answer, I dunno, charming? And then we talked about other stuff. And then I was accepted two days later. Obviously this is just one school but personally I did not feel any pressure to justify my gap year. I think with how difficult it is to be admitted to a program, gap years, willingly chosen or the result of a shut out, etc., there really shouldn’t be any prejudice against them. Not that academia gives a single shit about my opinions, ???.

THIS

Have fun!!! They already know how awesome you are, you have nothing to prove ?

I just emailed BU with some questions and got a really nice response about enthusiasm for my application and saying movement after the visit day is likely. Fingers crossed for us both!

In off the waitlist at Loyola

I would definitely express your interest and ask to potentially meet with some grad students and faculty, if possible. Could you sit in on a class? Etc. They should like that you’re trying to get to know the program a little more before making a decision!

I second this motion.

Does the program website not give any details about funding? I’m in English and I feel all my programs mentioned funding somewhere online. Congrats on your acceptance!

I would have focused much less on my desire to teach and much more on my passion for research and projected course of research in my phd. I wouldn’t have tried to inject some earnest personality...I don’t think schools cared an ounce about it, haha. I would have approached researching programs differently, mostly looking at recent publications of recent grads and where’d they’d just graduated from. I would have gotten on the boards sooner and asked highly successful applicants from prior years to look over my samples.

When your English PhD rejection letter has a typo... I'm not sure if I should feel relieved or even more mediocre for not being in the "less than a quarter" of applicants that were spared the "pleaseure" of reading this gem of a rejection letter

Does prestige really matter in MA programs? I feel like the quality of the work you produce in the program is far more important, and that will be highly impacted by a) having reduced stress about money and b) being in an institution that is truly wanting to invest in you. Good luck and congrats on your acceptances!

Thank you for letting me know!!!!

Yeah his email was just really lovely. Feels good to be wanted, haha!

I asked my questions at Loyola and got a very kind and detailed response, which also let me know I am #1 on the waitlist. *excitement*

For me, funding is turning out to be a bigger deal than the idealistic Kendall of yesteryear (fall 2018) thought it would be. Maybe it's because of my age, but I have to be real with myself about what kind of lifestyle I'll be happy living for the next 6ish years. If I'm miserable and overly stressed about money, I will not be capable of doing my best work. The quality of my work is the most important factor in getting a job I want after graduation. Therefore money is a big deal. I also want to be at a program that values my work and my future enough to fund me a truly livable wage. This should be a baseline expectation, imo. However, in your case you're talking less of a time commitment, so maybe the funding doesn't have to be such a big deal. I think you should trust your gut- it's done well by you so far!

There hasn’t been Playyyyyzure here in 25 years!

Hahaha, I didn’t even see that error until y’all mentioned it. I kinda stopped reading after seeing the comically small font my name was in that didn’t match the body of the email (classy) and “regret”. However now I’m reading “pleaseure” (which my phone wants to change to “please uterus”) like some creep in an animated movie says “treasure”: playyyyyyyyyzure. What a great morning.

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.

Hahaha, my roomie my jr year was an accounting student from Germany and she struggled a lot with English comma usage, it’s so different from German. It was an undless battle for her ?

Hey y’all, so with my offer from SMU I’m questioning staying on the waitlists at Loyola and BU. Really their respective attractions are Suzanne Bost and ranking. I’m thinking I’d like to email both and ask some questions that might make my decisions easier. For example: what’s the conference funding like? How easy is it for students to work interdisciplinary tracks? Etc. Do you think this is appropriate for a waitlisted student to do? Thanks in advance.

That's about what I figured. Congrats on your acceptance, btw!