kitties

UCSB finally decided to put us out of our misery...how benevolent. That was also the shortest rejection letter I've ever read.

Is anyone else waiting to hear back from Fordham? I know acceptances were sent out but they literally will not just reject me...it was my top choice so it really hurts

Hey UCSB...tick tock.

Yes!! I'll message you, go banana slugs!

Accepted at UC Santa Cruz! Not my top choice but my God, does this ease my stress level a monumental amount. Plus, the phone call was super personal and kind, I'm kind of flabbergasted they seemed so interested in me.

UC Santa Barbara has a lot of good ecocritics!

Thank you for this! I'm gonna send you a PM about the programs. You are 100% correct that African-American and Southern lit are super closely connected/overlap. Maybe this is the reason Southern lit as a specific field isn't always used - it seems to imply "white Southern lit" almost - or basically Faulkner haha.

I'm another 2021 applicant! Just finished my MA at Columbia and am now nervously preparing to apply again. I'm a 20th-century Americanist and I'm interested in feminist theory, particularly theories of the body. I applied the first round focusing on Southern lit and was rejected from every PhD program (accepted to two Masters), so I think that might be a bit too narrow of a field for me (if anyone knows any good Southern lit specialists, however, please let me know - it's a bit of a dying field and many notable academics only work at small Southern colleges that often don't even have grad programs). Also happy to swap SoPs or have a look at anyone's!

This is a good idea! Could you let me know who you emailed specifically? Dunno if I email a specific person or if there's some generic email.

Speaking of Davis rejections, what could this mean? Like does this mean the classes I took or the degree I have (BA American Studies) isn't good enough? Dunno if this is an indication that I shouldn't bother to reapply anywhere next year, as it sounds to me like something that can't be improved upon...? The program to which you applied indicated the following as the reason(s) that you were not selected for admission:- Not competitive with other applicants because: - Inadequate preparation for advanced study in the proposed program

Excitement was short-lived...I'm twelfth on a waiting list of twelve. Welp. I'm glad I asked, though, so I won't have to bother visiting the campus.

Hi, I just was waitlisted for USC, even though people were already getting accepted last week, so they seem to still be notifying and maybe will keep notifying. Good luck! I think UCD and UCI already finished all their notifications (that aren't rejections). I'm also waiting to hear back from them, pretty much given up hope

Waitlisted at USC! So excited. Is there any waitlist etiquette to follow? Like, am I supposed to email back and say thanks or something? Haha.

Thanks ? I think your theory about the LOR being not that important unless bad is probably right, sad as that may be. I think I was hoping that my letter writers would throw in a good word for me, or maybe be able to sway the decision, seeing as I listed both of them as professors I would be interested in working with (and both said they would be interested in working with me). But I have no idea if they even got to look at my application (or if they even know I was rejected?). Just shows how little I actually know about what goes on with the application decisions!

Do you guys know how much a difference it makes which school your LOR writers are from? Two of my recommenders were from UCSB (I did a study abroad year there), so I thought I was more likely to get in there than anywhere else, but now I've been rejected (despite fit etc. also being good), so I'm guessing they don't care about that after all? Pretty hard not to be bummed when the one school you actually thought would work out didn't...

The logical part of my brain told myself that too haha. Thanks guys for calming my anxious mind!!

Hi everyone, fellow English Lit applicant here! I just created an account to ask possibly the stupidest question: I had no idea schools called you to notify of acceptance/conduct interviews. I thought that the phone number you give is just a formality. So my dumb self put down my American cell number. Now I'm in Germany visiting family and freaking out because my two top choices (Davis and Irvine) seem to be notifying by phone and of course they won't be able to reach me with my American number. If they can't reach me by phone, will they reconsider their decision? I'm seriously going crazy rn. I have a German cell, should I log in to the portals and see if I can give them my German number?