deka

meanwhile.... waking up this morning to discover that the first thing I did after getting home last night was get on gradcafe and post a MAPH screed seems to be definitive proof that applying to grad school has permanently broken my brain 

There aren't program-specific MAs at Chicago-- at least not for the humanities (only MAPH) and social sciences (only MAPSS).
I know people in lots of top programs (Columbia, Berkley, NYU, Northwestern, etc etc) who did MAPH... but then again, it seems likely that those kinds of strong candidates would have been able to end up in top programs by some other route, too. 
Anyways, I would guess that there absolutely is something great that you could get out of it-- the question is if that something is worth the crushing debt (i.e. how free are you going to feel to pursue a career in the humanities-- in academia or not-- that you love, knowing that those kinds of jobs often don't pay well, when you have massive debt from one year?)

In at Yale. My one admit of the season. I'm speechless.

To add: I have only heard of negotiating funding work with two programs that offer stipends, but one is higher than the other! That seems like a common enough scenario.

In my opinion, as someone applying to MA programs as well, it is ill-advised to go for an unfunded MA unless you are independently wealthy. This is advice I have received from every professor I talked to about the matter. If you already asked about funding and the programs said it is not available, I am not sure saying you got funded somewhere else would make any difference. Maybe somebody would have some different advice than me, but I say go for the one that is funded! Congratulations on all your acceptances!

Most of the admissions process was totally out of your control. I've said in many other threads that the most important aspect of the process is who is on the committee, and what the current makeup of the graduate student body is like in the program in terms of interests. Many people on this board get accepted by Top 10 schools and get rejected by schools in the 30s and 40s. Most people applying to grad school are great candidates, and the process is very capricious.
You'll learn as you become a more experienced scholar that the ranking of one's program does not necessarily correlate to the quality of their work, the originality of their scholarship, or the breadth of their wisdom. A degree from a Top 10 is also no guarantee of a tenure track job and indeed, the lack of teaching experience one receives in many of those programs can actually be a disadvantage when applying to certain types of jobs.  The only thing that the ranking of one's school can really predict is how much financial support they'll receive, and how bowled over their Uncle Gary will be when he gets the news they were accepted.
Be happy you made it, you're still in the game, still in the chase for the brass ring. There are many who aren't. This is a long hard slog that will be filled with disappointments and devastating lows. Savor the highs, there wont be many.

The money was definitely the biggest pain for me. Still feel like I'm getting stabbed if I think about almost $1,000 down the drain BUT after a really bad day of not getting out of bed and staring at the wall, I've shaken it off some. (It helped to remind myself that I was only ever going to accept at 1 school anyway, and even if more acceptances would have felt better it wouldn't have changed the time and money being gone.) When I was expecting a shutout, I had to remind myself that the time and money were useful even then for helping me figure out what wasn't working. Also, just picturing an ad-com sitting down to 300 applications and they have to somehow narrow it to 6 - thinking about the logistics of that makes me realize how much it's not a reflection of personal worth or qualifications.
Start planning for your acceptances and get excited about it. Look at apartments, places to socialize or do recreational stuff, etc. For me, that meant letting the top 10s sort of drift back into the realm of daydream that they once were. Also, thinking a lot about where I was at the beginning of my undergrad degree - I didn't have any ambitions about how good I was back then, I was just excited about chances to read and learn! For that version of me, there's no inadequacy because UG me is blown away that I kept going at all.
And I think it's fair to approach rejections like other grief and loss, even if it isn't the loss of a living being. Let yourself feel it and voice the pain, recognize what you're losing, but then move past.

I personally think visiting if you’re able to is so, SO key. I visited all the MA programs i was accepted to a few years ago and so far, this year, have visited 5 PhD programs (I’m including the interview/recruitment hybrids). There were places where I got an instant feeling I wouldn’t fit there, despite being a good fit on paper, and the longer I spent there the stronger the feeling became OR something happened to turn that feeling around. There were other programs where I didn’t think the fit as strong as others, but when I went there, found there had been resources and profs I had overlooked and wound up loving it. There were other places where I clicked so well with professors and easily spoke to them for an hour + and other places where conversations were forced and awkward and ended quickly. There is also the city fit to consider as well! It’s a long commitment and I think the city you live in is a big factor to consider too! 
I have been accepted to several programs and waitlisted at a few and will by all means decline places I’ve ruled out within the next week or so, but for the top two or three, while i am planning to make a decision before April 15 to give others time, I am not going to make a decision without all the facts and conversations I need. I think accepting a little before April 15 is both helpful to others but also gives you time to make a thorough decision. But I don’t think you must push it far earlier than a *little* before the 15, especially with visiting days so late. I definitely and strongly encourage visiting both, if you can, before making a call! 

I celebrated my acceptance to my first program by drinking an entire bottle of cabernet. Unfortunately, that was actually how I was already passing the days anxiously waiting for acceptances.

I hope so! During app season, first I was like ok once i have all the materials in, I will be better; by the time i submitted all my apps, then interviews rolled in, and I thought to myself, once the interviews are over + if I get an offer then hopefully i'll feel better. And then I got accepted to a program, I was obviously happy but then I still felt really stressed: hmm maybe i'll feel better if I get into a program with xyz better things (funding and what not)... You get the idea. 
Will I ever celebrate? Or will the stress of existing crush the potential for celebration before we even know it?

@whatislife69 i totally understand what you mean! i think i'm still a bit in shock and it hasn't really sunk in yet that i'm going to ACTUALLY!!! be doing a phd, so whilst all my friends and family are super thrilled, i'm sort of having to pantomime my own excitement/quash my own sudden uncertainty! hopefully once i have all the decisions in it will be easier to relax and really take it in?!

I feel like my close friends/family are more excited than i am. I haven't really celebrated besides going out for a casual meal. It really didn't feel celebratory...seems like the stress of life keeps on coming and leaving me no time for celebration ?

Hi friends! I've realized that I've been so focused on hearing back from all the schools I've applied to that I haven't truly celebrated my acceptances. Is anyone else in the same boat? 
I would love to talk about how we are celebrating, and bring a little joy into our forum
 

I think this only happens at universities where there's competitive funding. They can't guarantee full funding for 5 years, and so the department has to appeal to the wider university (to whom the GRE Q is supposedly a quick and easy indicator of the student's viability). My advisor was adamant that I not study. I scored in the 30th percentile, but I also promised myself I wouldn't consider schools without incredibly good/ guaranteed funding packages. I don't know if that helps. I certainly don't have experience in an admission committee like bfat, so I would definitely trust their advice over mine!

I scored 11th percentile on quant. I'm sure it might matter to some programs, but I don't know that it would be advisable to spend time studying for a better quant score when more important elements of the application could be improved. Of course, an amazing overall score can't hurt. For me, though, it would have been a waste of time. Also, my writing score was only middling. 
That's interesting about the reused sample. I was only accepted to programs I didn't apply to last year, and I was rejected by all of my resubmits (with one waitlist). I did tighten my sample up quite a lot, but now I'm wondering if reusing my updated sample played a role. 
Great advice overall, especially about developing a research interest for the current state of scholarship. 

I got into the University of Washington!!

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?

I was shutout my first time. That seems a million years ago now, but I'm in a program that is pretty open about its processes and here are my best thoughts:
1. Really think carefully about the list of schools you applied to. I know for a fact that I was blinded by wanting to go to a place that was a household name, and that I was convinced that the only way to land a TT job was to go to a "Top 10" school. The school I'm at now was not even on my radar the first time I applied. My experience actually being in grad school now for six years is that both of these ideas are odious and wrong. I'm in a program well out of the top 10 but we are well regarded in my subfield and two people from my subfield just landed TT jobs. I truly think who your adviser is matters much more than the school you go to.
2. I really don't think that what you do in the meantime matters in the sense that there's no way you're going to get anything worthwhile into publication before the next cycle starts (unless you've got something going already). I continued working my job. I don't think having publications going in really matters that much for a grad school applicant. The only things that really matter are whether your SOP and writing sample get in front of an adcom who are interested in the kind of work you're doing. I think the best thing you can do is try to become more conversant in your field/subfield by reading important (especially recent) articles/books by scholars whose work interests you, which should result in a stronger SOP.
3. Get members of your committee to look at your SOP and--if they really like you--your writing sample.  [Edit: Sorry, not your committees, your recommenders. I'm too deep in 'job market mode' I guess].
4. Your SOP doesn't need to articulate a dissertation (literally zero people write their diss on what they put in their SOP), it needs to align you with a specific set of scholarly concerns that identify you as a serious scholar who is engaged with the field. What scholars influence your work? What are the specific theoretical questions and concerns that drive you?  Even if you don't "do theory" you should still be able to articulate that sort of intellectual scaffolding that holds up your critical lens. If you can't, then devote the next few months to building it.
5. Understand that the most important aspect of the admissions process is the one over which you have the least control: the composition of the adcom and of a program's current crop of graduate students. You can have a dynamite application with a publication, a 4.0 GPA cum laude, and a degree from Harvard, but if the adcoms at the schools you applied to aren't feeling your SOP, or they already have several students in your subfield, you're getting shutout.  You may have done everything right this year, and being shutout is not necessarily a reflection of the quality of your application. As Captain Picard once said, "It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness, that is life." 

Hey all. One of my friends just told me about this site. Not sure if this is the right place to post, but I've gotten in to a few places. If anyone is interested, I can talk about my app, etc. I'm broadly interested in new media and contemporary theory, as well as marxism/capitalism, game studies, machine learning/AI, and digital/computational aesthetics.
Accepted to:
U Chicago Cinema and Media Studies
U of Michigan Film, Television, and Media 
UC Santa Cruz Film and Digital Media
 
I haven't heard from any other programs I've applied to.

Received some really warm and upbeat emails today from SMU, and from Loyola about the likelihood of movement on the waitlist in the next couple of months. It’s really a nice feeling to hear positive things at all during this process!

Yeah, everyone says picking is the hardest part. I think we’re both pretty lucky to have this problem, though! I’m trying to just chill (for the first time since last June) and bask in the combination of hard work and the universe being on my side. Then in a month or so I’ll resume the stress, haha. 

Congrats on all your success @deka! Welcome

Hey all. One of my friends just told me about this site. Not sure if this is the right place to post, but I've gotten in to a few places. If anyone is interested, I can talk about my app, etc. I'm broadly interested in new media and contemporary theory, as well as marxism/capitalism, game studies, machine learning/AI, and digital/computational aesthetics.
Accepted to:
U Chicago Cinema and Media Studies
U of Michigan Film, Television, and Media 
UC Santa Cruz Film and Digital Media
 
I haven't heard from any other programs I've applied to.

Hey all. One of my friends just told me about this site. Not sure if this is the right place to post, but I've gotten in to a few places. If anyone is interested, I can talk about my app, etc. I'm broadly interested in new media and contemporary theory, as well as marxism/capitalism, game studies, machine learning/AI, and digital/computational aesthetics.
Accepted to:
U Chicago Cinema and Media Studies
U of Michigan Film, Television, and Media 
UC Santa Cruz Film and Digital Media
 
I haven't heard from any other programs I've applied to.