hopefulwoolfian
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Posts posted by hopefulwoolfian
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So... just thought I would throw this out there. I just heard from Temple that I am accepted, but the first round of funding offers has gone out and I am not in it. The wording of the email, however, makes it sounds as though I have a good chance of being offered funding once they hear from their first round of people.
What complicates the issue, however, is that I have another offer with full funding from another university who wants me to let them know if I will take it by March 18th. Obviously this is a FANTASTIC predicament to be in and I'm kind of shocked (in a good way) that it is all starting to happen. BUT, I have been interested in Temple for a long time and am reluctant to pass up a potential opportunity to go there just because of conflicting deadlines. Does anyone have any advice, or has anyone decided to reject an offer from Temple? Obviously its a big decision and everyone should take their time making it, I just thought I would put out my antennae and get a feel for what is going on
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
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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).
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I haven't heard anything. I didn't even realize they were taking MA students again. Was last year just a one-year moratorium? From what I've seen on the web-site/heard from a friend in the MLIS program, UMD is overhauling the MA program to make it an MAPhD (like Vanderbilt's program is structured).
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?
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If you get into Kentucky's MA program, you can continue ("roll over") into their PhD program so long as you are in good standing in the program and at the university. So getting into the MA program is basically like getting into the PhD program, just so people are aware.
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!!
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I just got an email with an attached acceptance letter to Kentucky's MA program with a TA-ship (stipend, tuition remission, health insurance). Anyone else hear from them?
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. -
Why not? I am not being glib or fatuous. I am very sincere because I do not think that statement is true; and if it is, then it is very sad.
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?
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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?
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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?
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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!
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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!
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No, wait. Make that five.
F-I-V-E
Mother of F*&k.
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....
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Sigh. So much for my first choice. I knew it was a long shot, but it hurts anyway.
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Hey, how did you check online? Through the banner system? I'm not finding that info on my app... Thanks!
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!
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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... -
I got my English BA from UC Berkeley in 2009, with coursework heavily focused on Anglo-Saxon to late medieval British literature. I was a transfer student - I began at UC Santa Cruz, transferred to a community college, then completed 5 semesters at Cal.
I've got so many loose ends to tie up I don't even know where or how to begin my search for Fall 2012 degree programs!
The hanging threads:
1) I received an Incomplete-lapsed-to-F grade in one of my English courses. My professor didn't get the paperwork in before the Incomplete lapsed. I have been trying to work with her remotely -- I live in the Bay Area still, but I work a Monday through Friday 9-to-5 desk job -- with limited success. She only seems to get every other of my emails, and her response rate is very slow even when they do get through. This is not incongruous with my experience with her during the school year, but it is admittedly frustrating when attempting to straighten out a grade from spring 2008! In our email communications, she had expressed interest in working with me on this. My most recent 'contact' with her involved making it to her office after-hours and leaving an envelope full of directions, appropriate paperwork, and copies of coursework for her review. I've heard nothing since, and I confirmed with the Registrar that the grade is still Incomplete-lapsed-to-F. I found out via the department website that she's currently on leave. What now?!
2) The aforementioned professor is one of my best potential sources for an LoR. To be honest, I feel confident in the potential reviews from 2 of my professors, and reservedly content with 2 others. In other words, I can't afford not to have this professor write on my behalf. Assuming I can find a way to contact her, is there any etiquette-friendly way to approach her about this while she's on leave?
3) I have been out of school since spring 2009, working this desk job which has nothing whatsoever to do with my field. It's not a long time, I know, but I've done absolutely nothing in my field since leaving school. Is this something I should remedy somehow (I envision summer courses), or is it only expected? In other words, need I be doing something concrete, outside of applications, to bolster my appeal?
4) I'm uncertain whether my application will be strong enough to apply straight to the PhD, or if I should instead consider obtaining an MA first. My GPA is somewhere in the 3.2-3.5 range, on the higher end of that range in English, and the GRE is ~700V/550Q. No Lit GRE score as of yet. I have a strong candidate for a writing sample - my final paper from a graduate course with Professor O'Brien O'Keeffe. My SoP is a sweet nothing at the moment, but I have a very clear path of intent for my scholarship and this should translate (with plenty of editing and rewriting applied, naturally) and is corroborated by the writing sample. My hesitation is re: my GPA, my lack of experience in the field outside coursework, and having been a transfer student. Any thoughts?
I know everyone's in the thick of the dreadful waiting phase, and I wish you all the best of luck! I hope maybe taking a look at my profile will distract you a little.
I've been an outsider looking in on this process for several years now, and I think I'm certifiable to want to join you all on this road given everything I've seen. Nevertheless, here I am.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated!
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!
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Oh my goodness -- I laughed so hard at this! But now that the laughing's done, I feel like crying again... the "dream of university" does seem so much like a "fancy" right now
I know; that's the despair part. But don't cry yet; at least we're all in this together.
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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.
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Denied as well. Oh well, I knew it was a long shot.
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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).
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I'm definitely beginning to feel like maybe my interests weren't clear enough or my fit paragraph in my SOP was too general. Or perhaps they are just reading my writing sample and thinking "Huh?" Even though there are many stories of people doing multiple rounds of applications and feel like if I end up getting all rejections that I would rather take it as a sign to pursue a different field.
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!
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I do this every single night! So much fun.
Hate to bring it up, but . . . are you having as much anxiety as I am about the possibility of being separated from the SO for a grad program? Gah I can't stand even thinking about it, and it makes the tension about decisions even worse.
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.
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I was doing fine today combatting the crazy until I had an email from UDenver which said...
"We are pleased to inform you--" (gulp)
"That your application is currently under review by your department".
The crazy came back. Now I can't stop thinking that someone, right now, has my soul in front of them, and a big pair of scissors ready to snip it in two.
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!
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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).
If you get in next year, how old will you be when you start your PhD?
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