Hard times!

With rejections outnumbering acceptances so early on my fears of a shutout seems very real! Though I didn't apply to Northwestern, the number of rejections going up has been rattling all my heart bones. And as someone said, yes, it seems many decisions have gone out earlier than usual. Lord knows what to make of that especially if there has been total silence for you!

There are chances you might still hear from them! They said they are done with their deliberations but never said they have sent out all acceptances. The competition though is indeed high--not because there are more applicants but because most humanities departments have lost multiple funding sources since the pandemic started. They can accept fewer people because their funds are severely strained...

Oh, yes, in case it helps--UIUC has already made their decisions. I am not sure if they have notified everyone yet but they have decided on the admits--the DGS confirmed. UIUC is certainly a rejection for me because it was a bad fit and my application was horrid. However, I hope they send out more acceptances soon in case they haven't sent out all their acceptances already.

Huh! Well, I am with my six-year-old cousins at the moment. If two six-year-olds can't distract you enough with their antics and incessant questioning, not many things can distract you haha! Shameful because after what the pandemic has done to the world, mourning over grad-school rejections seems outrageous. Hope you have been holding up well!

Hello! Monday is here already. Good luck everyone! I am an international student and dread waking up in the morning lest a rejection letter is lurking in my mailbox--anyone else sharing the dread? Also, would someone know how one copes with being a shutout twice? I don't expect to hear from any school until next week but I have started losing my sleep over a probable shutout cycle already. The last time I had applied I was severely under-prepared--my SoP and writing samples were cringeworthy and had not even been through two rounds of revision. I had applied because as an international student I had misgauged the competitiveness of the process. I knew very well the cycle would be a washout for me. But it's been two years since then and I have worked a little harder though when I am feeling masochistic I revisit my applications and am appalled by what I read. I am kind of having the same feelings I had last time though I think the quality of my writing samples is a tad better. But oh... there has been covid to make the competition far worse than what it was two years ago! So, the scale hasn't tipped a bit--a more competitive cycle nullifies slightly better writing samples anyway. Is there anything at all that people can do after a second shutout? Honestly, I can't prepare for a third one--I have spent too much already on what has been a mirage so far! An MA is not an option because I have one already. Haha! Any coping strategy therefore has to be along emotional or psychological lines. Thanks in advance and sorry for the shameful self-indulgent rant.

Oh yeah! The last two days have been incredibly quiet--the calm before the storm. Adcomms have decided to go gentle on some before the storm arrives. Most schools I have applied to usually release their decisions in February and I have been dreaming of saying goodbyes to the grad-school-dream (or fancy, as time will decide) once and for all! All the best to everyone! February is certainly the cruellest month for prospective grad students.

Have you mentioned this in your SoP? That's a winning line! Humility, yes! And the dearth of it in academia makes it invaluable!

Exactly! Why can't they send out rejections along with the acceptances? The only exceptions should be the waitlist perhaps, if at all! From what I have seen UIUC never sends out rejections until the second week of March--no idea why. Even if they have a waitlist I am sure not everyone other than the ones accepted is on the waitlist--that would be absurd! Implied rejections are far worse than actual rejections. Hope they send out more acceptances for those looking forward to the programme.

That was my first application and a botched one. I am sure it's a rejection for me but I wish they would just speed up decisions, whichever way! Hope you were happy with your application--all the best! It's only the 14th (don't be unnerved just yet)

I hope this is not true--even a modicum of logic should blast such an assumption. But waiting out has its own logic I guess! Phantom logic hanging by the window rod once thrown out. Right now these phantoms are crowding my days and nights as well. Wishing you peace!

Yes! I am not yet done with all my applications but I keep putting them off until the deadline so that I don't start worrying about hearing back. That doesn't help though, because I have been dreaming of rejections! The post-application period is the purgatory and the worst place to be in! There is this looming possibility of a shutout (in my case at least) and a faint yet strong hope of at least one acceptance.

Yes, I did as well! And I think when I was working on the form they said something in the way of everyone receiving such a form!

My primary essay has quite a few images and even the reduced versions are over 1 mb. For one of my applications I had to make do with a completely different writing sample because the system didn't allow anything over 500 kb. So much for intelligent systems. My sample is over 20 pages and some programmes want 10 haha! Some programmes are really considerate and are willingly to consider anything between 15 and 25 pages (oh so nice!)

Has anyone applied to U of Pittsburgh? Something very weird happened. It is only today that I realised that they still have the 2021 portal active and I had registered with that. All my letter writers have sent their letters to that portal. I had uploaded my No matter what I did, the dropdown lists for sessions and courses didn't return a single result and I assumed that they had closed admissions already-- I am an international student and often confuse eastern and central time zones. But later in the evening went through their website and saw that you were supposed to apply with something called gradcas. I wrote to the graduate coordinator but of course it is a Saturday for everyone and the deadline was December 10. Is there anything at all I can do to address this absurd situation? Pittsburgh was one of my best fits-- I wouldn't have cared so much had it been a reach school.

Thank you! That was a brilliant read! And worrying too! Though I have spent a lot of time 'thinking' about my writing sample, it seems only to get worse after each revision! There haven't been people who could offer feedbacks since the first revision! All the best to everyone!

At least had proofread it earlier! I also realised today that my personal statement (not sop) has one of those dreaded kisses of death!

I applied to UIUC yesterday as well and one of the writing samples was a disaster. I submitted that horrid application because my recommenders had already turned in their letters. What are your research interests?

Submitted my first application and almost died in the process. The deadline was 12 PM and I turned in the WS at 11.57 AM and didn't breathe for the next two minutes. And yet the sample has no name or an email address which the dept. had specifically requested for. If 'morning shows the day' were true, I am done for. Best of luck to everyone!

Also, I think this has been discussed before, but does the stated writing sample length include the bibliography, especially when we are looking at the upper limit?

Thank you so much!

Also, I think this is a repetition, but how specific does your SoP have to be? If you were to compare SoPs for UK phds with SoPs for US phds, what would the differences be?

How do you know if you should apply to Stanford because the fit seems great but your 'self-knowledge' warns you against such a move? Thanks in advance!

Thanks so much for your pep talk! I wrote to my old supervisor and he was so forthcoming! If not for your post I wouldn't have dared to write to him

Yeah, Purdue has a separate pathway called philosophy and literature but they didn't do admissions last year and haven't said anything about this year's admissions. The UK has many options in that direction but unfortunately their funding situation is quite bad. I will look up Binghamton, thank you. I think UNC, Chapel Hill has the 'philosophy and literature' tag as well.

Does anyone have insights into which English departments draw on philosophy a lot? I mean of course much of literary theory is based off of philosophical ideas but there are certain issues in philosophy which English departments do not typically deal with anymore because they tend to border too much on 'formalism'. Issues like how metaphors are conceived, current theories of imagination, phenomenology (a lot of affect theory does draw on this but not enough), time and cognition and so on-- does anyone know which English departments (not Stanford or Berkeley and the like but more 'modest ones) would perhaps be interested?