The Hoosier Oxonian

@WildeThing I'm sure you are absolutely right. I always feel a bit as if I snuck in the backdoor to get into Oxford (my undergrad institution does not have a relationship with Oxford, but we are a regional campus of a higher-ranked state school that does and I was able to apply to Oxford through the main campus), but my time there has probably made all the difference. As a student who loves and is loyal to my no-name undergrad institution, I can't help but feel it's somewhat unfair that it takes a credential like a year at Oxford to offset having gone there, but I guess if I want life to be fair I've definitely picked the wrong profession. ?

FWIW, I've received offers from three top 20 programs this cycle, including Yale, with a BA from a huge public school that's not even ranked in the top 225 in the nation. I was absolutely terrified going into this process that I would be a shutout (as I decided to run the risk of only applying to T20 programs) and the professors from my undergrad institution who helped me through my applications were similarly skeptical (though supportive!) of the likelihood of my success. I'm flabbergasted at how this cycle is turning out for me, and I definitely think you are right that prestige seems to mostly carry the day, but I've learned to my surprise that it is apparently possible - if not probable - to get into top-ranked PhDs with a BA from a school no one outside of my state has ever heard of.

I'm in at Michigan!!! ETA: Also offered a Rackham Merit Fellowship!

I also have no word yet from Michigan (just English, not a combined program) and I'm dying!

I am in this exact situation - as of now grad school visits are going to cause me to miss at least a week of undergrad classes (plus I was already going to miss another week to present at an international conference in April). And I'm still waiting to hear from five schools, so there could possibly be more visits on the cards. Among other considerations, I've taken the attitude that meeting my prospective cohort mates is an important part of getting a sense of what my experience of any given school would be like, so I've opted not to try to rearrange visits. My undergrad professors are very excited about my grad school prospects and have been kind and flexible about giving me excused absences and letting me make up assignments, but I definitely am feeling stressed about it!

Thanks so much!!!

I've just humiliated myself by snorting loudly in a public place. Thanks for sharing!

Huge congratulations!!! Did the department share when its prospective student visit is? Being on the waitlist I am not, of course, included, but I'm thinking of waiting up until the visit happens to email Cornell and ask them to take me off the waitlist just in case there might be some change in time for me to visit (even if I were to get a spot later than that, I wouldn't commit without having visited).

Just learned I'm waitlisted at Cornell!

I'm wondering the same!

You are not alone - I feel just the same!

I am not trying to finish a master's thesis, but I am in my last semester of undergrad, and juggling messages from different schools about making visit arrangements while constantly waiting for the phone to ring (still waiting to hear from six schools!) is definitely taking a toll on my ability to focus on my undergrad homework (not to mention the fact that I'm going to miss at least two weeks of classes!)

That's how I feel! If by some miracle I got Oxbridge funding I would probably ask Yale about the possibility of deferring for a year, but if they said no I definitely wouldn't take that risk!

Thanks for the info! Didn't even notice the result on the board was for a PhD - that makes a lot more sense. Honestly, funding headaches are the primary reason I will probably turn down an Oxbridge MPhil/MSt offer if I get one (much as I loved Oxford during the year I spent there as an undergrad) in favor of one of my PhD offers.

I also applied for Cambridge's Criticism and Culture MPhil. I didn't think they typically interviewed for that program, though - now I'm extra nervous! Honestly I don't have very high hopes for Cambridge - I applied all the way back in October (long story) when I wasn't yet very well prepared for all the ins and outs of graduate applications, so it's definitely the weakest application I submitted. Would definitely love to hear whatever you care to share about your interview when it's done!

I second Michigan and Cornell! Also hoping to hear from Brown and NYU. Is it bad that I'm sort of hoping all the rest of my decisions will be rejections because I feel stressed enough already about picking between the two offers I currently have?

Thank you, good to know! I haven't actually gotten anything from the DGS yet; I got an email telling me to check my portal, and in my portal was my acceptance letter with funding info from the Dean of the Graduate School. Hopefully I'll get some info from the department itself soon... ETA: Email from DGS just came through, and it was kind and lovely!

I've committed to attend Northwestern's visit - can't wait! Does anyone have any data about when Yale's visit typically is? (Or, fellow Yale admits, did anyone receive any info about it?) I'll go, of course, but I'm a little stressed about not knowing when it is because I'm still in my last semester of undergrad and going on visits is going to make me miss a lot of classes!

Holy sh*t, I'm in at Yale!

Just found out my panel was accepted!

What the heck? It's super early for Yale!

Ooh, are you a Goodreads user? I need more GR friends to swap good recommendations with - feel free to send me a friend request if you're interested (profile link)! (And any other Grad Cafe folks looking for opinionated Goodreads friends are welcome as well!)

Guess my complaining about the six-week wait was premature - I just got mine too. Bye, Berkeley!

In all honesty, hearing this makes me a little bit gladder about the rejection I expect in the next few weeks (which I was already somewhat happy about - I applied more because I was encouraged to shoot for the stars than because I thought it was a good fit).

I would say roughly 75% of my pleasure reading is at least tangentially related to my field of interest (in that category of at least tangentially related I'm basically counting any Anglophone literary novel or memoir written between 1890 and 1990 that deals on some level with queerness. I also read criticism in my field for pleasure upon occasion, so I'm counting that too). The remaining 25% of my pleasure reading is a mix of foundational texts across periods other than my own that I haven't gotten around to (e.g. the Divine Comedy) and purely fluffy, even trashy, fun (for instance, I'm currently audiobooking my way through Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner series with much glee - LGBTQ fantasy, especially with a heavy dash of romance, is my favorite guilty pleasure).