FiguresIII

Just got accepted at Penn! Got a call from the DGS, and he said he has more phone calls to make, so there's still hope!

GUYS, I'M IN AT UPENN?!?!?!?!??!?!!

GOT ACCEPTED AT UPENN! I'm still in disbelief. Got a phone call from the DGS, so seems like UPenn isn't closed today after all?

If Rutgers can see how many times I've checked their app portal then it's almost definite they're going to deny me on grounds of insanity.

It’s funny how we all thought this week was going to be so informative. I’m still where I was last Friday! Sigh. 

Hey there. Good questions.
1. If you are at a campus visit, the school is trying to woo you. They are probably not going to answer the "hard" (but important) questions that will actually be helpful, like "Is this department toxic?" or "Will I receive the full support I need here?" Grad students may be more open about this kind of thing than professors, so I would just try to talk to as many grad students as you can during your visit who work in similar areas to you, and try to get a sense of both the opportunities and challenges that those students have faced. Ask where they are now in the program, what's been the hardest thing for them so far, and what kind of supports they've had to manage those difficulties.
2. In preparing for your first year, I would suggest, more than anything: read stuff that you like! It will be a while before you have a chance to do this again, and reading widely in the genre or period that you really love will actually help you later down the line. Start a book journal. Write 1 or 2 pages of quick notes on each thing you read. Think about questions like, "How could I write about this?" and "How could I teach this?" When it comes time to actually develop a project, or even develop a syllabus, you're going to want to go back to those things you love and find exciting. Also, get an ipod. A little one (the nano? not the tiniest one, but the small one with the screen). Download audiobooks of works you want to read but don't think you have time for, and put them on there. Listen as you walk the dog, do laundry, drive, etc. They will save your life and keep you sane. Audible, LibraVox, and AudioBookBay. They're your friends. (Ask me how I survived a course on the Victorian novel while teaching, doing an RA-ship, and raising a 3 year old, lol.)
3. There's really not much I would have done differently. My general advice to new admits is: trust hesitatingly until you get a sense of the department dynamic; know your limits as a human and respect them; stay curious; stick with the people who make you feel good about what you do, but listen to criticism and try to understand where it's coming from. Academia is weird. It's full of personal politics that manifest institutionally, and institutional politics that manifest personally. It takes a while to figure out the lay of the land.
I hope this was helpful, and not too jaded. ?

Nay, I can attest that this is decisively not true. I did my undergrad and master's degrees at two of the top 10 schools in the world, and was rejected from 10 out of 12 of the programs I applied to, with my acceptances being my two safety schools. A woman in my English MPhil cohort also applied to 10 schools and was rejected from all of them, and she was an excellent writer working on a pretty bracing topic. I am fairly sure the most important aspects are how good your writing sample is, how original your research is, how stellar your letters of rec are, and then maybe toward the middle of the list the prestige of your schools. But the humanities is an extremely qualitative and subjective field, and grad schools admissions are already extremely political to begin with. School prestige will only get you so far. 

I think if you really want proof of this you can take a cursory scan of some of the top programs' current graduate students. Many if not most of them come from schools you've probably never heard of or middle-of-the-road places. It comes down to how good of a candidate you've made yourself, in combination with how well you've come to understand what the humanities academy is looking for (discursively, topically, etc.).

Spam folder caught CUNY acceptance email from professor... not an academic address so hoping this is real. 

As a current student, and someone who has a lot of friends in many different kinds/feels of programs, let me try to answer as best as I can, re: what to think about when visiting:
You MIGHT click immediately with the campus/faculty/students. Or you might not. Neither one is (necessarily) an indicator of anything. You might not click immediately because you're nervous, or the students you'll get along with best weren't around when you were visiting, or because some people take a while to get to know. Or you may click, and then it turns out that that faculty member is actually fairly hands-off when it comes to advising, or that student goes on leave, or the one conversation you had turns out not to be indicative of any further connection. 
I have a friend who is super close with their cohort and faculty members. I have a friend who gets along with some of the people in their program, but not all of them, and isn't close with any of them. They're both very happy in their situations. I'm somewhere in the middle, and also happy. 
Remember, this is a professional situation: as long as you feel like you can get along with people, and won't mind shooting the shit for a few minutes before talks/class/etc... that's the main thing! The friend who isn't close with anyone in her program has a huge friend circle totally outside of the school, and thinks of being in her program as going to work (note: this is, of course, easier to do in a big city. If you're in a small college town, maybe care much more about potential friends). While I know not all of you are coming right out of undergrad, if you are, remember that grad school isn't necessarily an all-encompassing social situation like college is. 
A few things I'd recommend thinking about, during visits:
1. Do you think the conditions here will allow you to work as best as you can? Will the stipend REALLY work, or might you have to get some loans/work an evening job? Does there seem to be a lot of structure? Is there a grad student union? What's expected of you over summers? Ask current students about one thing that they wish they could change about the program. 
2. Rates of burnout and depression are really, really high among grad students. Maybe you're the sort of person who likes to put your head down and do nothing but work... but if not, what other resources are available to you, to help you avoid that? CAN you find friends outside of the university if you want to? Is going to live music important? Do you like being able to go hiking? Are you really into, say, yoga-- and is there a yoga studio around that you think you'd like? Don't forget that you have to be a person, too! 
3. What's the insurance like? Do you have any specialized medical issues that might be affected? For instance, I know two students in my program who had to switch off of the school insurance plan because medications they needed weren't covered/weren't covered well enough.
4. Think about not just "can I survive?" on the stipend, but what it will get you. What I mean by that is: will you have to live with roommates? Are you REALLY ok with not living by yourself for the next six years? Will you have money to go out to eat every now and then? Do you like flying to see your family often? Yes-- you're probably going to have to live tightly and compromise no matter what, but genuinely examine what things in your life that cost money add significantly to your happiness, and decide if they can stay there on the stipend you're being offered. 
5. If you're a woman (and this probably applies to PoC and queer folk, too!), ask other female (PoC/queer/etc) students about their experiences there. Is there some institutional sexism? Are there other students (or faculty) that they complain about? 
 
 
Anyways, just a few things to consider! Good luck to all of you in visits!

I got into Columbia !

Just got into Brandeis! Got a call from faculty member, still shaking...

In at Princeton! wtf.....

I'm sorry but FUUUUCCCCCKKKKKKK, you guys,  I am invited to SMU's PhD visit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am sobbing and screaming and SO THRILLED!
Happy birthday to me!!!!!!!

i got into Michigan!!!!! my first offer!!! i cried at work!!!!!!

Can do this weekend!

(NYU acceptance here - don’t add NYU to your implied rejection list! My POI just happened to be on the admissions committee [pure luck for me] and she said she was excited and wanted to let me know ASAP. I think I happened to be the first person to hear back and most people will hear later into the week.)

hmmm hm in at yale comp lit hmmmm
 

CONGRATULATIONS @FiguresIII!!!!! holy moly thats incredible

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