NatyC

Accepted off the Michigan waitlist! Beyond thrilled.

Mostly worried about people who have already committed and who are either intentionally or unintentionally delaying denying other offers. 

After a ridiculously wonderful visit at Yale, I've decided not to visit Michigan and Cornell and have officially accepted Yale's offer. SUCH PEACE!

I think we should all be aware of our positionality when making these arguments. In addition to a great reading load, it is unfortunately true that some scholars will not read all parts of the application. For example, when conservative scholars in English (which there are A LOT! in both public and private school committees) read an application from a private US or British school, they spend more time considering the parts of their application. These biases are real.
Although I have published for respected publishing companies and journals, attended regional and national conferences, and have letters of recommendation from highly respected scholars, private schools will not spend as much time on my application because of my background as a community college and state school alum. That is my experience in academic circle at large. I have been caught in binaries of tokenism and "inferiority" because of my gender and race. So, I think that conflating experience with bad faith is dismissive of people with different backgrounds. I think as scholars and future teachers of english we should be very aware of how we respond to other people's experiences in academia. 
I am curious as to where you received the knowledge that they extend unbiased attention all WS. 

It feels like it has been February for several years now.

From everything I felt going in and all of the replies I've had so far, what set me apart was my writing sample. It was a revised combination of my undergraduate dissertation and a masters seminar paper, both on the same (contemporary American) poet. It ranged back to 19th century, had original archival work, careful close readings, and chewed on broader issues of genre, criticism, reading and the ethics of handling a writer's work and papers.I reaaaaally worked my ass off on it. I usually hate everything I write, but every time I opened that pdf file in between submitting and now, I didn't think 'oh god this actually sucks', I thought 'yeah that's really about the best I could humanly do and I think they'll like it.' Once the cycle is over, I'll have more thoughts—feel a bit weird being so specific in such a public forum without having made a decision yet, knowing that a few places I have left to hear from are probably still deliberating. And again, I really don't think it's helpful in the sense that certain interests = a secret sauce; that kind of logic just isn't correct. 
Edit: I will just say that even though I worked my ass off on it, it had typos. And I think I'm the first person ever to get into Chicago with a statement of purpose that referred to the fiction of—I kid you not—'David Foster Fallace'. Do not edit your statement at 3:30 AM before the 5 AM deadline (I'm in the UK). It will not "get better". Point being, my app had flaws, and I don't present as a "smart" person, and in many ways I really am not lol. My best friend was over for dinner when the Yale email came in and in the course of screaming and celebrating she said, "It's actually really encouraging that someone who is as much of a mess as you are could get into these places" and reader, she is RIGHT.

Just to qualify my earlier reply re: Berkeley: it might be the case that like most schools they extend more offers than they want to enroll, knowing a few will decline, so they might not actually pull from the waitlist every year if the no's hovers around the same number—but still I think that grad coordinator's framing, if true as conveyed, is kinda disingenuous.
I have a question, though unless current students are lurking maybe it won't get answered. When is a good idea for international applicants to book flights to visit dates? I'm an American living & working in the UK, and still have 6/8 schools to hear from (expecting nothing, though; even if I get rejected everywhere else I'll consider this cycle a success) so not 100% sure what days in March I should plan to be in the US. Right now it's Berkeley (weekend around the 13th) and Chicago (6th). I don't want to book a round trip flight just for the two I've heard from assuming I'll fly back after Berkeley's because these tickets will be nonrefundable (I know you can book flexible tickets, but they're way more expensive and probably outside of the travel allowance).
But then again, I guess most other schools I haven't heard from—even if by some miracle/poor choice on their part I get into any—would have visit dates much later in March, so the choice is already between two trips (one early March one later March) or one long trip (staying with family in between visits). I work from home so could do this. Just not sure what is the best idea ... organizationally. Anyway, this is silly, maybe I should just book now assuming I won't get in anywhere else? Tickets will only get more expensive the longer I wait, and judging by past years, I will have some news next week, and then the rest the week after. 

Hello! I am so happy to see this thread! I am a Victorianist with specific interests in queer and narrative theory. Canadian, so taking the GREs feels like the BIGGEST drag. I have studied a bit, and am a little nervous, but feel good about the verbal portion (quant? not so much). I love Dickens, Bronte, James, Sedgwick, and thinking about shit (literally). Can't wait to have this little support group to guide me through this fall!

Hello! I am so happy to see this thread! I am a Victorianist with specific interests in queer and narrative theory. Canadian, so taking the GREs feels like the BIGGEST drag. I have studied a bit, and am a little nervous, but feel good about the verbal portion (quant? not so much). I love Dickens, Bronte, James, Sedgwick, and thinking about shit (literally). Can't wait to have this little support group to guide me through this fall!

Hello! I am so happy to see this thread! I am a Victorianist with specific interests in queer and narrative theory. Canadian, so taking the GREs feels like the BIGGEST drag. I have studied a bit, and am a little nervous, but feel good about the verbal portion (quant? not so much). I love Dickens, Bronte, James, Sedgwick, and thinking about shit (literally). Can't wait to have this little support group to guide me through this fall!

Hello! I am so happy to see this thread! I am a Victorianist with specific interests in queer and narrative theory. Canadian, so taking the GREs feels like the BIGGEST drag. I have studied a bit, and am a little nervous, but feel good about the verbal portion (quant? not so much). I love Dickens, Bronte, James, Sedgwick, and thinking about shit (literally). Can't wait to have this little support group to guide me through this fall!