Podsnap

Just thought I'd make one last attempt to resurrect this thread, since it's largely been me talking to myself... I know Irvine's recruitment weekend just occurred and I'm just wondering if anyone who attended would like to share any thoughts or impressions? Anyone still contemplating an offer and leaning one way or the other?

So this thread basically died over the past week. Anyone have any updates? Since this Irvine waitlist is my only potential option, I'm really curious as to whether other waitlisters have other offers and/or if any acceptees know of their plans yet... Just trying to break the silence!

Here's the email that I received back today from the graduate program administrator: "Your situation on our waitlist will probably remain fairly fluid right up until the deadline and, unfortunately, it's very difficult to give any precise statement as to the probability that we'll make offers to those on the waitlist. The amount of students admitted from the waitlist varies each year! I can tell you that we have kept the waitlist shorter this year than the past, and we don't rank it. We wait until a student declines an offer, and then review those students on the waitlist. We will notify you if a spot opens up." This pretty much tells us what we already know, but I suppose it may provide some peace of mind. I work primarily in British American modernism and am pretty theory-oriented, especially Marxism and psychoanalysis. I mostly work with fiction, so the history of the novel factors into my interests as well. The fact that they don't rank their wait list suggests to me that, in the event that someone drops out, that person's field may factor largely into who is accepted off the wait list. Obviously that is just speculation though.

Hey All, I, too, got a wait list email yesterday, though I just now put it up on the board. I promptly emailed the graduate program administrator back asking if she could give any information on how many were admitted, how long the wait list is, etc., but I haven't heard back. One thing that I should have asked---and now I don't want to email again---is when the prospectives weekend will be. I suspect that, as wait listers, we won't hear much (or anything) until after that date. Do any acceptees, wait listers, or insiders happen to have any more information? As we all know, the waiting and the uncertainty can be excruciating, so any information can really be comforting. Anyhow, best of luck to all!

I don't know of any "ranking" system either. However, if you're an MLA member there's an option on the sidebar of the MLA homepage that says "Search the MLA Directory of Periodicals." This is a search engine that lists a massive amount of journals and has information about their scope, submission requirements, notification time, acceptance rates, and other helpful information. I'm sure a lot of it is probably a bit out-dated but it can be helpful in searching for journals in your field and for getting some idea of what journals are particularly competitive, strict with requirements, and so on. I think that "ranking" journals usually just entails doing research in your field, finding out where the most "important" or "significant" essays are published and following the bread crumbs to books, websites, the library, etc.

Thanks for the responses. In my situation, I think I actually have a bit more on my CV than most applicants, so I'm hoping that including it will help more than it will hurt. I suppose my concern was potentially irking adcoms by including materials that weren't directly asked for. I've heard that this can be frowned upon in some situations. I can't really imagine it making too much of a negative impact, though. I think I'll probably follow your lead and just include it.

I've read a lot of talk around the forums about the importance of one's CV when it comes to Ph.D. applications; namely, people are concerned that they don't have any publications, enough conference presentations, etc. However, I'm planning on applying to mostly top 10 schools in English/Literature and, from what I've gathered, none of these schools appear to ask for a CV as part of the application materials. Am I missing something here? When people refer to their CV in this context are they more just concerned about what they have or haven't done, as opposed to what their CV actually looks like? As a follow-up question: Does anyone have experience with including a CV in an application when it wasn't explicitly asked for?

Hey All, I just wanted to let anyone interested in/accepted to the University of Arizona English program that I'm a current student and would be happy to answer any questions you might have about the program and/or Tucson. I'm also posting with another motive, which is that a friend of mine has applied and still hasn't heard, so I'm interested in what those accepted specialize in and whether or not you're planning to attend. As far as I know---and this is obviously frustrating---I think rather than generating an official waitlist U of A basically just holds off on rejections until they've made their decisions and have received acceptences. So if you haven't heard I would say you probably shouldn't give up hope yet, especially since at least two people on the results page have indicated that they'll be declining an offer. Anyhow, I'd be interested to hear any information you'd like to share and would be happy to answer any questions.