noneckmonsters
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Posts posted by noneckmonsters
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2 hours ago, WildeThing said:
I would try and skype with current students and faculty, several at different stages if you can. Get multiple answers to the same question.
Thank you for your answer. I've been doing that... I hope they extend the national deadline to accept offers
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How are folx working on their decision making with cancelled visits? I am very confused about the prospect of deciding without spending time on site. How are you guys working through this?
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3 hours ago, MundaneSoul said:
Maybe this is too vulnerable to post here, but I’ve just spent the day teetering on the edge of nervous breakdown because I was so excited about moving on to my PhD, and then after doing some reading on this forum and looking at the state of the job market, I’ve completely lost all hope that I’m going to be able to find a decent job at the end of it all. I just want to do what is right for my partner and child, and now I feel like maybe that’s not this. I don’t know. I feel so lost right now. Sorry. Sorry for oversharing.
Thank you for sharing this post. Academia is definitely a competitive field, but it is not the only field where you can find work after a PhD. I read your introductory post, and I'm also a first gen phd applicant. In terms of professionalization and securing a spot, the only recipe I can share is stay close to and work with people who will advocate for you, and have a good lines of communication with the grad center? I know it sounds basic, but it has gotten further than I would have by myself.
On a personal note: I am reconsidering if a phd is right for me as well. Today, I turned to my Fall notes for inspiration. I kept asking myself what things about each program inspired me to apply. It has been a crazy month. It's okay to take a couple of days to reconsider your situation. We still have fifty days to make a decision (April 15). Ask former professors, reach out to current and former grad students in the next couple of weeks. What are they doing now? What are their thoughts about the program? There is time to think about all of these things. For now just breath. This process is overwhelming. You are doing better than you think.
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2 hours ago, meghan_sparkle said:
I won't engage in further on this one because really that's my entire take, but I just do not see the point of an abstract for writing samples. If it's an essential component of compiling a polished file for you personally or a helpful structuring element of your style as a scholar and thinker, I'm sure it won't harm your application. But imo, if your introduction doesn't accomplish what an abstract would, something's wrong with your sample.
I'm not sure about that... I think it depends on the stage of your argument in the WS. I submitted a published chapter as my writing sample. The introduction is actually three pages of description, and the argument is not crystalized until page three. I've gotten accepted into ten programs. I am not sure that I would have been accepted to these places would I have submitted my MA thesis, which is a not nearly as finished as what I have already published.
Nothing is wrong with my sample. It's been published by Palgrave MacMillan. It sounds like you have a very well organized system in place for elite schools like Brown, Harvard, and Yale, so it probably works for them. But I just want to offer my experience of what works for well respected public institutions. Best of luck to everyone!!!
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6 hours ago, meghan_sparkle said:
Just to be clear, schools you apply to will definitely read your writing sample in its entirety—and if you get to the second and third rounds where candidates are narrowed down to 60/~20-30 applicants respectively, many people will read it! I really don't think anyone should be approaching or strategizing for the WS on the assumption or hunch that it won't be read. I'm sorry, that just sounds like a bad faith argument to me.
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.
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22 hours ago, vondafkossum said:
And with that, my season closes. After two cycles of shut outs, I want to be very grown up and mature about all this (like I said I was going to be). But I am just so sad.
Hi there. I am very sorry to hear that. Based on your profile interests, we are into similar stuff. Have you thought of applying to other departments? This is my first cycle and I've had positive feedback from women studies and ethnic studies departments? Unfortunately, a lot of schools talk the big talk about doing interdisciplinary research and expanding but when they get really cool interdisciplinary scholars they end up turning them down. I'm really sorry this has been your experience.
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4 hours ago, Rrandle101 said:
I know some people including myself still have nothing in their UCLA portal and wanted to share some comments one of my profs had about it. I told him what was up and said that I suspected someone was going through and manually updating them and that within a few days mine would just be a rejection but he suggested that some schools have an 'internal waitlist' where they won't tell you that you're on it but they have you on the hook just in case (isn't that fun?). Not sure if that's the case but it is something that happens apparently.
Yeah, but how long could this waitlist be? I physically know a handful of people who haven't received acceptances or rejections.... hmmm....
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Opinions: UCLA has sent out acceptances, waitlists, and rejections. I just checked both the application and the status portals but nothing has been uploaded as of right now. What does it all mean?!
Also, can we talk about how the thread for this English/ Lit cycle has 55 pages?! That is wild and a testament to our overachieving personalities. Cheers!!!
- Rrandle101, coffeelyf, Kelsey1599 and 1 other
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6 hours ago, Indecisive Poet said:
It seems odd that there are only 2 acceptances on the board for both Brown and NYU this year given that there are typically 4–6 on TGC for those programs. My best guesses are that either those programs are both admitting smaller cohorts this year (given lack of placement across the board in recent years) or that others who use TGC received offers but have not gotten around to posting them yet. Either way, I'm taking a loss on NYU.
Another possibility is that they nominated a few people for fellowships, so they had to process their acceptances first. I'm wouldn't mark it is an implied rejection till monday. this cycle I had one implied rejection turn to an acceptance and another into a waitlist
- MichelleObama, jm6394 and Brown_Bear
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11 hours ago, Lblack said:
Thank you so much! I’m still in shock. I only applied to three schools, and UCR was my top choice. So this was best-case scenario for me. I was really hoping to be able to stay in Southern California since I have a kindergartner and moving would be difficult. I’m so excited about the award since I don’t have to teach my first year now (and because of the additional $). I was anticipating a much more stressful wait, so I’m incredibly relieved.
I went there for my undergrad and kept tabs with some of the faculty. PM me if you have any questions about faculty. Some have left since my time there but I'm familiar with most.
UCR has a great department and good people in it. Enjoy every second of it!
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42 minutes ago, Lblack said:
I got in with the Eugene Cota Robles Award. Acceptances went out January 31st. I haven’t seen any waitlist or rejection notifications. Open house is March 4th, so maybe they will send out more notifications after that. Someone else said that they were aiming for a small cohort of only 4 or so students.
Congrats on the Cota Robles! That's great!!!
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52 minutes ago, Wimsey said:
Rutgers will apparently make their decisions on the 21st: https://english.rutgers.edu/news-events/events-98/icalrepeat.detail/2020/02/21/1167/-/admissions-final-meeting.html
I aspire to have your search engine skills! How did you come across such an obscure calendar reference?! LOL
Also, thanks for sharing this!!!
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On 2/7/2020 at 10:06 AM, caffeinated applicant said:
Alternatively, if your partner's $0 premium doesn't go up to $350 when adding a spouse... elope??? (This is like 70% a joke and 30% something that I am legitimately considering for when I age out of my parents' insurance.)
LOL! The thought has crossed my mind! And thank you for the tip. I was definitely going to negotiate. Your angle is a really good angle. We will see what unfolds in the upcoming weeks. Maybe wedding pics? HA!
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I am curious about the waitlist process. I've been fortunate to receive different kinds of feedback, from acceptances with basic packages, to aggressive recruiting, and yesterday I received my first waitlist offer. I am shocked by the offer. First year covered by department fellowships, years 2,3,4, and 5 with TAships at 20K, AND $350 A MONTH FOR HEALTH INSURANCE!!!!! This last part felt like lead in my stomach. My questions:
1- Is it normal to pay this much for health insurance a month for grad students?
2- do you think it is negotiable? My partner got an offer from another department at this institution with insurance covered.
Thanks!
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1 hour ago, Indecisive Poet said:
@poetryislit @TiredStressed @snorkles @merry night wanderer Thank you all so much for your empathy/kind words/perspectives.
What I will say for now is that we did leave other options open – I applied to five more programs that I believe I could be equally happy/successful at (and some others that I think it would be really tough to give up Chicago for). My partner has applied to programs that match those locations and we haven't heard back from any of them yet. So there is still hope! I think that more than anything, the news yesterday made me realize that all of those options could end up falling through; that I could end up faced with a choice between leaving my partner or giving up Chicago to go to, say, Boston College or Fordham (not that there is anything wrong with those programs – but I just don't see how it would make sense from a career perspective). There really isn't reason yet to think that this will happen, though – I guess I'm just wondering what the odds are of being accepted to more than one truly amazing program.
@TiredStressed – he didn't apply to any other programs in the Chicago area except for Notre Dame. He interviewed there and it seemed to go well, so that may be an option, but it's far from his first choice. I applied to a whopping four programs in the Chicago area alone because I thought if either of us would get into Chicago, it would be him (he is objectively the stronger applicant).
Anyway, here we are... we'll see what happens, and I hope to be able to report good news at the end of the application cycle.
Ugh, I'm sorry. I'm on the same boat with my partner. It's been putting so much stress on the relationship. Compromise sucks. I hope you guys can stay close together.
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6 minutes ago, MichelleObama said:
Received an email from the ADGS at Yale declaring their interest and requesting more information about my breaks during school???!!! It took me about a decade to finish my BA while working full-time and often paying out of pocket. Essentially, I took breaks from school because I had lost hope or funding and worked in the service industry until I could save enough to attend again. HOW DOES ONE SPIN THIS FOR YALE??? HOW DOES ONE TYPE WHEN SHAKING BECAUSE YALE
I would write this information in a way that raises your eligibility and funding opportunities. Departments like to know students are committed to the field and can overcome obstacles (specially cause academia has so many obstacles!)... This is great! It probably means they are interested in your application!!! Best of luck!
- MichelleObama, mcoa1996 and Kelsey1599
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1 hour ago, Romanticist said:
I was told by my connection at UC Berkeley that the English department graduate admission team met last week. This might mean Berkeley applicants will hear back sooner rather than later. Historically, the first two weeks of February have been the time when acceptance emails were sent out, though it could really be anytime between now and April. Trying my best not to compulsively check GradCafe & my email & my application portal every 3 seconds!
I had to remind myself to breath after the first period in your post... Good luck to everyone!!!
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5 hours ago, merry night wanderer said:
OK, excellent to know (and very useful website!). I totally missed this message, so I got paranoid, as I applied to a bunch of UCs as well. (UCLA, UCB, and UCSB... I also applied to UC Davis, but that's either waitlist or rejection at this point - not surprising, since two of the three faculty I had my eyes on were actually retired! yikes. Make sure you double-check faculty lists at the beginning of the semester, anybody future applicant who's reading!) I'm already pretty concerned about the cost of living for all the UCs, but they are excellent fits for me, and if I do actually do get lucky enough to get into one, I am likely going to heavily consider it. Keep me posted (and of course if I learn anything, I'll do the same!).
Yeah, there are always ways around the stipends. I know people who got their Phd's at UCR and lived in LA the whole time. It's not impossible. Best of luck!! And yay for state/ public schools!! UCs are the best! I'm a product of the california public education system, all the way from Community College through MA. Went to an UC for my undergrad and a Cal State for my MA. Excellent institutions with top grade scholars and super interdisciplinary across the board. I can't recommend them enough to people.
Also, I feel you on the reading through your statements of purpose and cringing. As I go back through mine I'm noticing that I have positive results in the ones that I mentioned women as my PoI, which in retrospect makes sense: I'm a radical feminist/ queer scholar... I make men uncomfortable and I think it comes through in my statement of purpose. LOL! At the same time, I am who I am... too old and woke to trade who I am for a Harvard... (no offense)
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3 minutes ago, The Hoosier Oxonian said:
Haven't posted to the results board yet, but I am also in at Northwestern. The professor who called me (not one of my POIs, which I thought was a little odd, but she was nice!) specifically asked me NOT to say anything to other applicants until Monday because, she said, they can't call everyone they're going to call before then and they don't want everyone who didn't get a call yet freaking out all weekend. But since the beans have already been spilled, I thought I should let everyone know to rest assured that if you didn't get a call today it's not a surefire rejection.
Congrats!!! Also, time to change Northwestern in your signature to green
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4 minutes ago, MedievalIllusions said:
Hello! This is my first time posting here, I just made an account to comment on this question... I am one of the Northwestern acceptances on the board, but my apply web page also says "materials needed" and has since I submitted the app. (It shows up when you click "view checklist.") Also my portal hasn't updated since the phone call... was told I'd be getting a formal email on Monday. Also my POI apologized for calling "at an inconvenient time" so maybe they've stopped phone calls for now since it's getting late?
Thank you! And a BIG CONGRATS!!! That is awesome! Northwestern is such a good school and with good funding.
In terms of calls and acceptances, it's such a dookie-chute... who knows when they will call. I got the Davis campus visit email before I got the email from the grad advisor LOL
Thanks for logging in to assuage us and, again, congrats!!!!!
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4 minutes ago, onerepublic96 said:
Yes! I get you completely. Northwestern is one of my top choices and I’ve been going slightly insane waiting for this particular decision. I’ve checked my email and my portal both but it’s been silent so I guess best thing to do is just wait. I really do hope these 2 acceptances are not the only ones, and in my anxious perusal of the results board back to 2015 (lol) it does seem like acceptances can trickle out over a couple days, and usually it’s more than just 2 per cycle.
For what it’s worth, I also have a ‘Materials Needed’ under my application status, but when I look through the checklist itself everything seems in order. I’ve just been sorting this one off to the back of my mind as a glitch in the system.
Bottom line, fingers crossed for us both!!
Out of curiosity, where does it say materials needed? Is it through apply web or the actual northwestern page?
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3 hours ago, merry night wanderer said:
This is so helpful - do you know if the internal funding situation applies to the other UC schools?
UC Davis is the only UC I know of that advertises this kind of procedure on their website. As far as I know all UCs have basic funding packages that they match you with. UCD is the only UC I know that advertises differently. I don't know if I am misunderstanding their message online. I am also getting my info from phdstipend.com. Who knows? I'll keep you posted if you want. I applied to UCSD, UCSC, UCB, UCD, and UCLA.
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4 hours ago, Shakespeares Sister said:
Me too!
7 hours ago, vondafkossum said:I feel pretty gutted waking up to see Riverside notifications on the board. Gonna log all the way off this weekend. See y’all, and may the odds be ever in your favor!
Riverside was super competitive and POI specific to available faculty. What I know is this: Riverside had to take less people this cohort. I think they were trying to cap it at four. I hope this helps. Good luck with the rest of your applications!!!
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12 hours ago, jm6394 said:
Me! Already feeling like it's a rejection...no sense of how often acceptances go out in waves on different days, though.
From looking at the most recent waitlist (2017), waitlist notices were sent out about a week after acceptances. Judging by the note on their website and a note in the acceptance email, UC Davis matriculates only a portion of the people they accept. My personal assessment is that their basic funding package is 20,000 (not a lot for the cost of living in the area), and to receive additional funding you have to apply separately for internal funding and the deadline is Jan 15th. If you are like me and completely forgot to apply for additional funding, you might not take the offer. But what do I know? Maybe the department does nominations for special fellowships. Not sure. But on statistics alone, if I were you I would give myself next week to see if you are waitlisted at least. Best of luck!!!
"For Fall 2019 admissions 163 applications were submitted, 24 offers were made and 8 students matriculated. The previous year our program received 124 applications, made 26 offers and 12 students matriculated." This info comes directly from their website.
14 hours ago, Ida16 said:Congrats to all the UCD admits!
Anyone here who applied to UCD and hasn't heard back? I haven't heard anything and I am anxious, lol.
From looking at the most recent waitlist (2017), waitlist notices were sent out about a week after acceptances. Judging by the note on their website and a note in the acceptance email, UC Davis matriculates only a portion of the people they accept. On statistics alone, if I were you I would give myself next week to see if you are waitlisted at least. Best of luck!!!
"For Fall 2019 admissions 163 applications were submitted, 24 offers were made and 8 students matriculated. The previous year our program received 124 applications, made 26 offers and 12 students matriculated." This info comes directly from their website.
- Ida16 and tunic_youth
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2020 Acceptances
in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
Posted
Hello,
First, I hope everyone is managing during these difficult and unstable times. I'm not sure if anyone is still reading this thread. I have a question about CVs. If you get a national and prestigious fellowship from your grad studies department, do you include it in your CV?
Thank you!