hopefulwoolfian

25.

I got into Temple with funding and am pretty sure I'll be declining. But I don't want to officially say no until I've visited Tufts next week and made sure everything seems okay. Don't know if that helps you much on timing, though, sorry! Also, I don't know anything about your other offer, but if the school is a member of the Council of Graduate Schools, I believe they are required to not force a decision from you until April 15th. I don't know if it applies to you, but you might want to look into it: http://www.cgsnet.org/portals/0/pdf/CGS_Resolution.PDF

I reapplied this year, so I definitely know what you're going through! Anyone reapplying is free to PM me if you want to talk; I'd be happy to share my SoP and experience reapplying (I didn't get into my reach schools this year, but I've gotten two funded PhD offers and a few non-funded/funding iffy MAs).

I just got accepted to the MA program! But it came through the automated system and I've heard nothing from the department. I'll be calling tomorrow, but I'm assuming that probably means the terminal MA without funding rather than the MA/PhD, given that I've heard nothing from the department and wasn't invited to the visiting weekend. Anyone get something similar or have any information about Maryland's MA?

That's good to know. I'm sorry if my comment came off as rude, by the way; I wasn't trying to disparage Kentucky, just give hope to any waitlisters out there (which was me last year). And, where are my manners, I forgot to say congrats to both of you!!

Interesting; I got the same e-mail, but they told me funding was still being negotiated. I guess I'm not too high on their list . I got into a PhD program, though, so to anyone waitlisted, I'll be declining.

I second this question. Granted, I won't start academe proper until the fall, but isn't there a place for investigating how a text produces certain feelings in the reader?

Congrats to both of you! I'm interested in 20th century British Literature, especially aesthetics and the process of reading (generally in the novels of Woolf, as my username makes clear ). I'm honestly just happy to get a stipend (last round I only got an unfunded MA offer) that seems to be average to high, on the scale of things. Though I am quite worried about cost of living. Are either of you planning on visiting the campus soon?

I just got a call from Virginia Jackson offering me admission! Five years of funding, $18,000 stipend, no teaching in the first year (sorry guys, didn't keep my head on enough to ask how many were admitted). I couldn't be happier. I was waitlisted and then denied from Tufts last year, so it's especially sweet. Anyone else attending?

Just got the mass rejection email. Oh well, it was a long shot and upstate NY is really cold. Congrats to those who made it!

This is my second round of applications. If it doesn't work out (I do have an acceptance to Temple that makes me quite happy, but funding worries me), I think I am going to give up on the dream for the moment. The idea of this makes me extremely unhappy, but I really gave it my all this application season (loss of job meant that I had a lot of time and poured everything I could into this round). I may try to scheme ways to make myself more competitive (I've applied to some funded MA programs, and I could get my language skills up to par to help), but I feel like it really comes down to the writing at this point and I've made my sample as good as it's going to get. So now I'm trying to come up with a feasible backup plan in case. Right now it centers around publishing (I currently have an unpaid internship for a small press and am doing interviews for an EA position locally), but we'll see. Everyone keeps reminding me that I have other options, but I'm sure all of you know that it can be really hard to see that!

I'm a second-round applicant and last year I decided that I was going to do a shot for every rejection I got. Then I got five in one day and decided that my liver couldn't take it. I'm just praying this year isn't exactly the same....

Sigh. So much for my first choice. I knew it was a long shot, but it hurts anyway.

Hi Wuironi, I logged in at https://tuportal3.temple.edu/ using the information given to me in my confirmation e-mail. If you go to "Apply for Admission" and click on your submitted app, a decision should (hopefully) be up. I also got a letter through the mail on Monday confirming this (though with no concrete funding information). Good luck!

Right now I'm feeling so lucky that I have this new internship (unpaid, but what can you do? ) and some job interviews tomorrow to take my mind of waiting. It's so much worse when I don't have anything concrete to do except apply for jobs and work on the reading list I'm setting for myself. I've officially heard from 2 of 15, but the acceptance is Temple, so I'm not allowed to be really happy until I know the funding situation In the meantime, I wait...

Hello fellow Cal Bear! I also graduated from Berkeley's English dept. in 2009 The general wisdom seems to be that it is the SOP and writing sample that really get you into PhD programs. Having experience outside the field isn't necessary and GRE scores tend to not matter that much. I think if you have a great writing sample and can come up with a good list of programs to shoot for (keeping in mind that the process is very competitive and subjective, so you really want to base your list on where you fit with the research going on there), it is definitely worth applying. And I feel your pain with the incomplete- Berkeley bureaucracy is the absolute worst. Have you tried talking to the department directly about getting the prof's on leave contact info or perhaps an L&S counselor that can help you mediate this? Best of luck!

I know; that's the despair part. But don't cry yet; at least we're all in this together.

Wonderful! A bit of doggrel to add (may Donne's ghost not haunt me for this desecration): I WONDER by my troth, what thou and I Did, till we heard? were we not wean'd till then? But suck'd on games of waiting. childishly ? Or snorted we in the Grad Cafe's den ? 'Twas so ; but this, all pleasures fancies be ; If ever any acceptance I did see, Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of university. And now good-morrow to our waking souls, Which watcheth the results page out of fear ; For waiting all love of other sights controls, And makes one little email an everywhere. Let sea-discoverers to new programs have gone ; Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown ; Let us possess at least one acceptance ; each hath one, and is one. A letter in thine eye, one in mine appears, And true crazed waiting does in the faces rest ; Where can we find two better universities Without sharp TA load, without declining stipend ? Whatever result comes was not mix'd equally ; If our two hopes be one, or thou and I Wait so alike that none can slacken, none can die.

Denied as well. Oh well, I knew it was a long shot.

Anyone else get into Temple? I just checked my online status and it was an admit! I'm freaked out still because I know nothing about funding and have heard that temple tends to screw people on that. But after a year of 0 for 12, I'm thrilled I made it in somewhere (especially on a day when I didn't get the Loyola- my first choice- emails).

I think with that it depends on the application year and where you applied. Last year I applied to mostly Ivies and Top-15 schools, with a few "backups." Between last year being ridiculously competitive, even by normal English grad school standards, and now realizing just how competitive top places are, this was a dumb move. This year I focused more on places I thought might actually take me, fully understood that there is no such thing as a backup in this process, and worked much harder on my application (especially as I lost my job and moved back home, ensuring that this was all I had to focus on ). If I don't make it this time, I will probably not try again, as I gave it my all. But realize that a bad application season can definitely be because of external forces!

I haven't heard from anywhere yet... but I don't want to scream so much as whimper in fear that I won't make it. I know it's early for that, which is why I keep ranting here so that I don't completely drive my friends, parents, and boyfriend insane!

I'm in the same boat! He's applying to CS Master's programs, but our best shot was for me to get into Pitt, which doesn't seem likely at this point :/ He wants to follow me, which is sort of awesome, but also really scary because I don't want to make him miserable. Woe.

I got a similar one from Loyola Chicago today, which is one of my top choices. I'm glad they're telling me my application is complete, but it's so nerve-wracking when you get them!

My $0.02: I asked for feedback last year from both Tufts (waitlisted and ultimately rejected) and NYU (accepted to unfunded Master's). In both cases, I had points of contact (the DGS at Tufts and a professor at NYU e-mailing me about the Master's). The NYU prof couldn't comment on my individual application, but suggested that most people go wrong on polishing the writing sample and writing fit paragraphs that only target big name faculty without seeming to engage in their scholarship. The Tufts DGS was extremely kind and told me directly that reactions to my writing sample were mixed. I only asked for feedback from places where I came close and had an actual contact. For me I think it was quite helpful (also because it informed the contact that I would be reapplying and to keep me in mind... again, I think it works best with places where you're close to getting in).