vvolgate

Depends. Where I did my MAs, our three hour seminars generally always ended up having a 10-15 minute break somewhere in the middle. That even with a break would be too much for me, mentally, but I know people who genuinely prefer that kind of schedule. It can be handy for long commutes, sharing a vehicle, etc...

Which one? They’ve got 3 programs.

Ah, see, I would’ve never known that was a problem people have, seeing as I’m still waiting on news so I haven’t committed anywhere... ?

Anyone else still on waitlists and loosing their mind? Because I am loosing my mind.

Pretty small from what I can gather. I have insider information from a school I’m on the waitlist of, where they admit no more than two in my subfield at any given time. Their waitlist is just as small as their projected cohort, and they do it somewhat purposefully; if they end up with students in that subfield in a given year, it’s hardly a bad thing to them. Helps them, really.

I’m glad you posted this. I’m experiencing somewhat similar losses and have no real place to grieve them. I’m at home with my family during this pandemic but, none of them are particularly supportive of my educational pursuits or understand how great a loss I’m at with cancelled conferences, commencement, recognition ceremonies, and more. I’m devastated. And I know it’s all first world problems and it really doesn’t matter if I walk across a stage, but it just... feels so sad and unfinished, for all the reasons so many of you have listed and more. One of the Master’s I’m finishing (I did two concurrently) was in creative writing, and I’ve been working for years on this novel. I was supposed to present/perform some sections of it in a reading soon, and now I won’t be able to do that either. I’m so bummed.

As someone who has been in academia for a number of years... my friend, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but our entire profession is a dumpster fire and hot mess. Love it to death regardless but... yeaaaah.

I’m literally replying to this right now from a hotel room in Paris, where I am on my “dream vacation”, while using expensive international data to check this board every few minutes... so, same.

Sadly(ish), when I came home tonight, it became 1a/2w/1r/1p! So earlier I should’ve actually said it was 1a/1w/1r/2p. I know waitlists are technically good news, and I do have one really great offer to boot, but lawd almighty I can’t help but feel a little bit like I must be doing something so wrong....

First rejection of the season in from UCF! I’m 1a/1w/1r/2p now. Not too sad about the rejection, either, as it was my worst fit program and UCF notoriously has poor funding...

This is so true, and of so many schools. I can’t stress this enough. I’m finishing a second Master’s (both related to English Studies) and I’ve worked in higher ed long enough to really have a strong, strong testimony of this. So many things come down to minutia like budget fluctuations in a given year, how many people matriculate, how many people defend, how many are ABD... sometimes programs that have 10 and 15 spots one year only have 5 the next. I’m currently waitlisted by a school I’d prefer not to name; the DGS sent me a beautiful letter in which they stated that in more sturdy years, I would’ve received a first round offer. It was a hard pill to swallow, but it is what it is.

Just chiming in brand new to say I’m applying to Rhet/Comp programs and waiting on news. Nice to meet you all! Best of luck and I hope we have news soon!