Renzi

Officially rejected from NYU, Berkeley and Northwestern. Congrats for those who won admission this year! ?Now it's time to prepare for a next round at the end of the year. I've learned a lot from talking to you guys, so thanks for sharing your experiences, thoughts, tips and expectations during the last weeks/months. I didn't make it this time, but I feel encouraged to try again.

Thanks, Ciboney! I'll take all that into consideration if I end up not being admitted this time. Actually I wanted to apply for at least 5 universities, as most of my American friends suggested me, but I couldn't afford all the fees. Let's see what happens now. OMG that would be my dream! hahaha

Awesome! I wish I were in the same mood. haha. And no, no news on my side. Actually, I'm not so confident anymore I'm going to make it this time. It had been my plan to start the PhD in September, but I have already started to remake my plans for the next months and be prepared to start everything again at the end of the year. I have learned a lot about the application process after I submitted all my applications, and I think that, in the case I'm not admitted this year, my chances could increase reasonably next time. Well, of course I'm praying for good news to come; at the same time, I'm trying to be mentally prepared for more rejections.

Sounds interesting! And I hope you celebrated a lot yesterday! That's nice! Unfortunately I haven't been to Uruguay yet.

My undergraduate major was in Aesthetics & Theater Theory and my master's degree is in Literature, Culture and Contemporaneity. (Alguém aqui também fala português, além obviamente de espanhol e inglês, ou estuda qualquer assunto de algum modo relacionado à literatura/cultura brasileira ou de algum outro país lusófono?)

From Brazil. We have already talked actually, I'm just using a new name now ?.

Saúde! ?

Hey guys, just changing the subject a little bit: why is everything so anonymous here on gradcafe? Sometimes I feel very curious about you all and we don't even know our real names most of the time haha. I know there is a matter of privacy, but it is still quite weird I guess. (Sincere question from a beginner here).

@Ciboney haha. You can't imagine how hard it has been for graduate students in Brazil regarding financial aid. Those who get a scholarship (my case) are very underpaid here (R$1500 – about US$400 – per month for master students), and this is actually one of the reasons why I'm trying to get into an American university for the PhD.

Thanks, @Ciboney! I think the same about Northwestern. All I can do is wait now. And finish writing my master's thesis haha.

Well, I've just been officially rejected from Berkeley. Still waiting for decisions from NYU and Northwestern.

@Ciboney yes, I'm brazilian and I'm applying for graduate programs in Spanish and Portuguese.

Awesome! Congratulations! I was quite hopeful to be admitted there but Northwestern or NYU would also be great in the case I'm admitted. Waiting for a response has never been so hard.

@correr oh, really? ? how do you know that? have you been admitted?

I've just received the following response from the Graduate Director at Northwestern (Department of Spanish & Portuguese) after asking her a question about interviews: "(...)Thanks for your email. Although I know that some graduate programs interview the top applicants to their program, Northwestern’s Spanish and Portuguese program does not conduct interviews of prospective graduate students. Our admission decisions are based entirely on the applicant’s written materials. We are currently in the middle of reviewing the materials of all the applicants to our program, and expect to have made an initial decision within the next couple of weeks. Thanks for your patience!" I also applied to NYU and Berkeley – haven't heard anything yet from Berkeley. As for NYU, this is all I've got so far (received by e-mail): "(...)The Department will begin to contact selected applicants for interviews in February. Interviews are usually conducted via Skype. Final decisions will be made in March and April." However, this made me quite confused, considering that some people posted on the results page that hey have been contacted for interviews between January 30 and 31st.