spikeseagulls

Wow ngl, I'm pretty embarrassed about posting this in the wrong place: I was contacted by the DGS at UC Irvine for an interview (video I'm guessing) and I'm shocked ngl. Happy shocked though! I just received a rejection from a significantly lower ranked school today, so I kind of assumed the worst lol.

Congratulations!!!

Not finishing a thesis, but finishing up my last semester of undergrad. Trying to focus is hell. You would think the fact that I can't attend grad unless I finish undergrad would be enough, but nope. ?

Just got back from Notre Dame's recruitment weekend, and I had an amazing time. I wasn't sure what to expect honestly, but they surpassed my expectations by far. The director of graduate studies was absolutely amazing and transparent about everything. She's very dedicated and involved with the students, and there was so much praise coming from the students of color (something of particular importance to me as a black student). She has everyone's back and that extends to the professors as well. I even had someone tell me she made them believe in allyship again— just wow. The professors I spoke to were also amazing! I wasn't expecting to receive that much praise regarding my work (this is usually me with praise in general though, LOL). What was really touching and super important is that fact that they were professors who genuinely want me to succeed. It's a pretty close knit department which I also love. The desire to be there for their students came across as truly genuine. I even had a professor tell me he had office hours for 6 hours just to accommodate for his students. I definitely feel like I could go cry in their offices without judgement if it came down to it. Overall, it was an incredible experience. Everyone was transparent about what it was like being a student of color there, as well. I was aware that my experience at a PWI will heavily be affected by my being black and a woman regardless of what school I end up at, so what I was really hoping to figure out was how supportive the department was. I was told by various grad students how supportive the Late American/Contemporary professors were, and how they stuck up for them on various occasions. I honestly wanted to cry because that warmed my heart so much to hear. I would love to attend and my faculty interviews went super well, so fingers crossed! If there's any other questions I could maybe answer for someone then let me know! ?

Yup, nothing. ?

Thank you so much! I appreciate this, and I honestly feel the way. It was my dream school, but not necessarily my perfect fit, and that's something I came to terms with. Notre Dame definitely suits my interests more. Congratulations on your acceptance, and I would love to hear more about your interests. I will actually be at the NeMLA conference this year. My first one!

Anyone else hear nothing from Yale? Congrats to all the admits!

After having my flights delayed for nearly 10 hours, I finally landed and opened my phone to a Berkeley rejection. Knew it was coming; it still stings a bit though!

I love that! My writing sample had a lot to do with identity formation in Nella Larsen's Passing.

I'd love to hear more about your interests!

Sounds like it was meant to be!

Amazing!!! Congratulations.

*waves* Hey, everyone. Longtime lurker here... I feel kind of weird because I feel like I'm familiar with a few of you as a result of my lurking and no one knows who I am, LOL. My name is Elia, and I applied for English Lit PhD programs for Fall 2020. I'm currently finishing up my last semester of undergrad. I'm interested in the interestion of race, sexuality, and gender within the African Diaspora (primarily African-American and Latinx) within literature. I applied to the majority of the UC schools because of a summer program I did, as well as Penn State, Yale, and USC. Other than that I've been anxiously waiting and obsessively checking Grade Cafe and Reddit like most everyone else, lol. Curse this neverending humanities decision wait time!