trotskor

Any updates? Anyone going to be visiting Michigan for their open house, by the way? I've heard back from everyone except Berkeley -- although I assume that, given the future departure from the department of the specialist in my field, a rejection wouldn't be too surprising, and would be essentially based on fit with the department. I can assure you that the process for Oxford and Cambridge is perfectly tuned to maximizing the anxiety. I've been essentially admitted to both programs, but the departments don't control funding. Rather, the departments recommend admission and nominates the candidate for funding opportunities, the university admits, and the university (or funding committees in the case of special programs) then determines funding. So it's a long stretch, and being admitted doesn't mean squat until you get funding ....

I got an acceptance from Chicago yesterday, but I’ve also had acceptances come later than other reported confirmations, so I wouldn’t panic.

I would pay little attention to the idle inklings of anonymous posters online.

I wouldn’t recommend calling. It’s a busy time for graduate admissions, so I’d simply get back in touch by email if you haven’t had a response for four or five days. On edit: I’m not sure if this information will be useful, but my interview with Cambridge was in English and quite rushed (15 minutes is nothing, really.)

I haven't heard anything from Berkeley lately -- I did have a note from the department that they would be beginning their reviews in "early January," but it seems that some people (and this is a practice I've noticed on this forum) refer to dates around the 15th as still being "early," so perhaps the process is simply taking a bit longer. Shorter interviews, like shorter pieces of writing, always pose a particular challenge, in that brevity is tied in with clarity. I have a twenty minute interview with Cambridge today, so I sympathize with everyone.

No one is nervous. Everyone is calm. You’re the only grad school applicant in the world feeling anxiety.

Hello all - I've been lurking along the interwebs, and noticed that this year's string seems a bit less lively than in years past. I've been in France since 2013 when my grad program placed me as a language instructor at a Parisian university. I was offered a full time position here as a language and lit instructor, and exited my grad program in the US with an MA. I'm a medievalist by training. I'm returning to my field in the fall to finish my PhD research and applied to Berkeley, Chicago, Michigan, UVa, Cambridge, and Oxford. Good luck to everyone.