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Penn is KILLING ME. This unusually competitive cycle has fully flubbed the projected acceptance dates. I too am ready for my rejection.Or acceptance. Or waitlist. I don't care anymore but also I fully, deeply, truly, care. Having the time of my life. Heaven is a place on earth.

HELLO, FRIENDS! I just received word that I'm on the waitlist at UNC Chapel Hill!! I am so excited and so flattered that they are seriously considering me and I would absolutely die if I got in! The DGS sent a very kind letter and he sounded positive about the likelihood of admission! Still, I know I shouldn't get my hopes up too much, but I really am extremely pleased that it wasn't the rejection I expected. I had thought I'd have my decision made by the middle of March, but it looks like I'm going to be in this for the long haul! 
(Also, I sure wasn't expecting an email from the DGS at 10:59pm.)

I pledge allegiance
To the Susans*
Of the Princeton University English department
And to the novel
For which it stands ...
*Wolfson and Stewart obvs
---
Okay I'll stop now. My heart is being pulled in 10,000 directions and beating very fast because I wasn't expecting anything over the weekend but ... I just ... got in ... to Princeton.
I know it's obnoxious but I'm posting 1. For posterity, so people know this can happen 2. Because my entire family asked me repeatedly over Christmas "What will you do if you get rejected from everywhere?" and I was so terrified because I'd worked so hard night and day on apps I didn't have an answer. And while I was feverishly working on them an awful ex-boyfriend asked to "swing by and wish me luck" a few days before the deadline and walked into my living room to say "You know you're really not smart, right? You try to make it seem like you are but you just never ... produce much of anything" About that, luv. About that.
I felt like a loser for two years after a particularly shitty time during my masters, and I've struggled with having zero self confidence even longer than that. I have had embarrassing failures that made a huge dent in my ability to move forward. This? It can happen. Admissions is a wildly unfair process and I think more than anything I've just been incredibly incredibly lucky, but I lurked on these boards on and off for years thinking, "I'm too stupid, I'm a loser, this will never happen for me." For anyone who remotely fits that description reading this now or in future just please know that it can.

I've been devastated these days for the nine rejections I've received. Now all my hope is on the MA programs. 
Does anyone know anything about the MA programs at Columbia and NYU?? I clicked on my application form that I was interested in those programs if they could not offer me a PhD. But I wonder if they are of good quality? (for I know some very prestigious universities offer master programs of unsatisfactory quality) OR, does anyone know other good MA programs that I can still have a try if I'm rejected by all schools? 
(And: everybody, hang in there!!!)

So after I got my rejection from USC at 4 AM yesterday, I woke up today with a phone call from Rhode Island. I've been accepted to URI with a TAship, and I admire several of the faculty members there. I saw on the results page someone else was accepted this morning, too, so if anybody wants to compare notes or share thoughts about the program and other offers, please reach out to me! I have a feeling I'm going to be torn between my current options. 
I'm honestly just happy to have the win right now. Having eight rejections was starting to weigh on me. 

WHAT IS HAPPENING! WHERE ARE THESE PEOPLE?

Pants are definitely fitting tighter from all the stress eating. 

I was rejected from Cornell's Comparative Literature program but had my application forwarded to Medieval Studies and ROSE FROM THE ASHES LIKE A MF PHOENIX, LADIES AND GENTS WITH THAT ACCEPTANCE FROM THEM! Super thrilled about this offer even though I made the DGS uncomfy by sobbing on the phone at him when he told me. 

Am having the world's worst day otherwise but: Harvard!

Thank you so much for your insightful reply. My boyfriend and I have been together for almost 2 years. We've been talking for a while about moving in together, but nothing so serious as marriage. I do love him and I'm very attached to him, but I don't feel comfortable calling him my life partner at this point in our relationship. I don't know that, if I had never applied to school and if I were planning to stay here for the next 50 years, we would stay together. It would be very painful to have to end things, but I know I would live. And rationally, I know he's not the only person in the world. I don't think I would never love again. But I don't want anyone else. I don't want to even look at anyone else. This person feels like...he's almost a part of me. He's such a good person, partner, and friend. This is the happiest, most fulfilling relationship I've ever had. I feel like I would be throwing it away if I ended it. I'm crying just thinking about it, but when I read this paragraph over again it seems obvious what I should do.
As far as programs, it would be a significant dip. Like, 13 to 35. I feel I have to consider that. Thank you for your thoughts and thank you for sharing your own experience. I'm so, so sorry you're in such a difficult position. It must be frustrating to watch the goings-on in this forum from a heart-wrenching place. I wish you the very best moving forward.
 

Out of reactions, but let me just say, thank God for ya'll and this forum. I love being a sad sack amongst other sad sacks! Bless you Gradcafe community. Bless you.

Where are you Boston University?? Help me BU, you're my only hope!

Can we all just collectively close our eyes and see if we can make time jump? If it could be like, Thursday, that would be super. Or March. March would be good too. 
The continued waiting.......   madness. 

I'm making some chocolate cake and raspberry sauce, because if I have to endure admissions uncertainty on Valentine's Day, I might as well do it while eating good food.

Never give up! I was in a similar position after being rejected from a lower rank program, and that same day I received a call from a much higher ranked program about my "unofficial" acceptance. 

Stay strong everyone!! It's not over yet!

There’s an NYU acceptance on the board... ?

Howdy y'all. Long time listener, and now a first time poster. I just sent in my final app to Columbia for their English MA and can finally bask in the bliss that is of having completed ten applications! I'm wondering when NYU usually sends out their notices...

I'm deeply relieved to contribute to this board after receiving acceptances from both Yale and Georgetown (MA)! I got my Yale acceptance an hour before I started a Friday night double shift. As a bartender, I get asked about 900 times a day how I'm doing or how my day has been and since Dec 15, I have wanted to say "I spent a sh*t load of money to put my future in the hands of several strangers and am currently waiting to receive judgment on an application I have spent years and hundreds of hours developing, and now I'm just waiting on the confirmation that I'm a full POS. What can I get you?" One of my friends yelled to the whole bar that I had gotten into Yale and everyone clapped and I didn't cry so...Today was a good day.

? I didn't even apply to Yale and that seems alarming...
Reading down this thread, the same seems to be true at Chicago:
and Columbia... 
(Sidenote: this Tweet embedding thing? Very neat!)

Yale's DGS tweeted that applications there have increased by 40% this cycle. Interesting.
 

@whatislife69 @mandelbulb @sugilite @jillcicle @jrockford27
Thank you all for your thoughtful replies. I've struggled to focus on my acceptances despite the initial euphoria they brought. I can't help but feel like I've let down my professors, family, and friends who had high hopes for me and encouraged me to shoot for the top 10s. The rejections seem to be confirmation that their confidence in my potential is misplaced or overinflated. I felt foolish for thinking I stood a chance.
At least that's what I thought when I started the thread. It was unwise of me to apply for top programs that didn't fit my interests but I can't be faulted for applying to the ones that did. How can anyone be faulted for striving and hoping for the best?
I still lack the equanimity needed to handle rejections gracefully. What has helped the past few days was focusing on what it took for me to receive all those acceptances and rejections. Given how hard I've worked in college, studied for the GREs, and toiled away at preparing application materials, I should give myself more credit. Not because of the outcome, but because I knew what I wanted and was willing to put in time, effort, and -sigh- money to achieve it. The fact that I had the determination to power me through the application season is proof that somewhere inside me is the drive needed for a career in academia life.
Uncle Gary may not be impressed with me but I sure as hell am.

Honestly, with those numbers your best bet is probably to apply for (funded) MA programs. Because there are so many strong applicants,  you will likely have a very hard time getting admitted to a PhD program, even if all of your application materials are stellar. However, admissions committees are more apt to forgive a less than stellar undergraduate records if you have completed an MA with high marks and good letters of recommendation. It won't necessarily reset your numbers, but I do think it would give you a much stronger chance. It's increasingly common to earn an MA at another institution before moving on to the PhD and is a good way to develop the skills necessary for success.
You would also probably benefit from a GRE prep course, or at least a study book. To some degree high test scores can mitigate the impact of a low GPA (though not entirely). But if you have both a low GRE and a low GPA, your application is unlikely to get a close look.
Finally, it may be important to address your grades in your statement of purpose. If you can provide some explanation for why they are low, that might cause an admissions committee to be more generous in reading your application. You need to be careful here though. Explaining your grades doesn't mean giving excuses. You still need to demonstrate that you take responsibility for them. A "woe is me" narrative is unlikely to be read sympathetically be an admissions committee. 
 

·       
A few weeks ago, I was asked to talk to first-year M.A. students about the Ph.D. application process. I prepared a list of what I figure to be key elements, and I figure it might be useful to many on GC who are preparing to go down this path as well. I'm quite certain that some of these points are purely subjective and open to discussion / debate, but having gone through the process a couple of times now, these items ring true based on my experiences and observations.

----------------

Others have surely told you about the state of the industry, so I’m just going to assume that you already know the “there are no jobs” spiel.
·        Others have also surely told you about how relatively difficult it is to get into a Ph.D. program—I have yet to hear of a program that admits over 10% of applicants.
o   Because of this, if you are committed to applying to Ph.D. programs, I strongly recommend considering applying to at least ten. Even though merit is a critical part of determining who gets in, there is a very real element of “luck of the draw” which pure numbers will help to mitigate.
·        With that in mind, NOW is a good time to get started on your program research
·        Your first consideration when entering the process should be to determine what era you would like to study, and ideally a general sense of methodologies you want to employ. These elements will be reflected in the two most important components of your application: the Statement of Purpose (or SoP), and your Writing Sample (WS).
·        Some basics:
 
o   The SoP and WS should ideally work together
o   When thinking about potential areas of study, avoid proposing transatlantic or transhistorical concepts: admissions committees are still very much set up by period, and your application should be easily sorted into a field group (i.e. you’re clearly a Romanticist, or you’re clearly a 20th century Americanist).
o   GRE scores, GPA, and other elements are important, but remember that the things you can control the most at this stage are the WS and SoP.
o   Given the importance of these two documents, you will want to get as many eyes on them as possible as soon as possible.
§  My SoP and WS were read and commented on by at least five professors and several fellow students, and ultimately went through at least six rounds of revision each—several of them top-to-bottom revisions.
·        There are multiple factors to consider when looking at programs. Some of the most important include:
 
o   Are there multiple professors actively working in your chosen field
§  By “active” I mean that you should be able to find publication credits from within the past five years—they need to be in touch with current scholarship.
o   What level of financial support do they offer—not just the annual funding, but whether they fund in summer, and how many years of funding are guaranteed
o   What courses have they offered in the past? What courses are they offering in the fall?
o   What is the teaching load like, and how do they prepare you for that load?
o   So-called rankings matter to a certain extent, but remember that those rankings are almost completely arbitrary. USNews rankings are helpful as a list of all programs offering Ph.D.s in English…and a very, very general sense of the strong programs vs. the less strong. But FIT with your interests trumps all.
§  (E.g. the Strode program at U of A is highly regarded, even though U of A itself is somewhat less so)
o   Location and cost of living. A 20k stipend will get you a lot further in Lincoln, Nebraska than in New York. And elements like small town vs. large city, cold vs. warm climate etc. are all perfectly valid factors when looking at programs. You’ll have to live in this place for 4-6 years, after all!
·        A few quick and random tips:
 
o   It can be helpful to contact professors ahead of time to determine research fit etc., but it can also be quite valuable to contact current grad students to get a sense of the program and the environment.
o   Remember that an important part of professionalization in a Ph.D. program is publication. More than anything, this means that before you go down the road toward application, give some serious thought to whether or not your writing and research inclinations have that kind of potential. And whether or not that’s something you really want to deal with at all.
o  Also remember that teaching is a huge part of your job, and always will be. If you don’t enjoy teaching (or the prospect of teaching), you’d better really love the other components of your position, because there’s not going to be any getting away from it for many, many years.
o   It might go without saying, but be very courteous in all of your communications with professors and other graduate students. And that courtesy should be sincere!
o   Consider the total cost of applications: application fees average about $75, sending GRE scores is $27 (more if you need the subject test), and if you have multiple transcripts, that can tack on another $10. In other words, each application will likely be upward of $100. Given that I recommend applying to at least ten programs, you’re looking at a commitment of over $1000. There ARE fee waivers you can find, however.
o   Forums like GradCafe are a good way to socialize with fellow applicants, and commiserate with people in the same situation. Just remember to take all advice you see on those forums with a grain of salt.
o   Finally, there are NO SAFETY SCHOOLS. Just to reiterate, rankings are arbitrary, and almost every program gets ten times as many applicants as they can admit (let alone fund). As a result, you want to look at the best overall fit for you.