Lighthouse Lana

FINALLLYYYY! Just got my rejection from Penn State! I'm so glad this season is over. I'm wishing all of you the absolute best!

Right?! It seems pretty rude to make people pay a stupid amount of money just to never hear back... I just emailed them again to ask what's going on.

Hi everyone! I just turned down Syracuse. I was waitlisted for funding, but I really hope this helps someone else!!

Congrats!

Well first, CONGRATS THAT'S AMAZING! And second, yes, I got some pretty intense feedback from a student (and I'll DM you for more on that), but I also was able to reach a few students who are really passionate about the program! At the end of the day, it wasn't that one student's feedback that made me decide not to choose UCSD. It's just too far from home and there are scholars at another university I really want to work with. Congrats again!!!

Hi all! I just turned down UC San Diego, so hopefully that should open up a spot!!

I haven't heard anything from them since I emailed them the last time!! So frustrating!

That's BANANAS. Hang in there ❤️

Thank you!!!

I was finally freed from my agony like 20 minutes ago! Best of luck to you

This so helpful! Thank you both for your input

It's still super unclear! They do everything on a rolling basis, so there's no way to tell when we might hear back. Hang in there!

I am also in this boat! I will say that I recently reached out to a lot of grad students at one of the programs (which is higher ranked, but I know I'm not supposed to read into that too much) and one student offered a SCATHING condemnation of the literature department... I wanted to take it with a grain of salt because it's a really cool opportunity with some very interesting scholars, but the fact that I couldn't seem to get a response from any other students made me a bit nervous. The other program, however, made it incredibly easy to reach out to professors and students for guidance and everyone seems relatively happy with their choice of program. Tell me if this is an unwise approach, but I feel like it's important to listen to current students when making the decision. The next 5-6 years of my life are going to be intense and I want to feel supported by my peers and the department. So I think I'm going to go with the other program, but making a solid decision at this point is making me feel very uneasy. Have I done enough to ensure that one program is better for me than the other? Am I setting myself up for an uncertain future with a lower-ranked school?

...or not lol

I wonder if they're playing with us because we're the two who reached out to them LOL. Obviously just kidding BUT DAMN THIS IS MEAN.

OKAY NOW IT'S RIDICULOUS. Did anyone else look at the U Rochester portal to find not just one hyperlink that says "Decision Released," BUT TWO?! Both go nowhere. I let out a scary laugh when I saw it.

I wouldn't read too much into your situation! I also got my app in right under the wire. Idk I think they're just procrastinating... I find the whole system really odd and I doubt they would keep half of the applicants in suspense "just because."

LOL honestly I'd bet money that we don't hear A PEEP from Rochester, Syracuse or UCSB this week. They're either just trying to appease us with false promises or they don't have their collective shits together. In both cases, I AM NOT AMUSED. ...also me secretly hoping that by putting this statement into the world, the app decision gods will look favorably upon us...

Me waiting on Rochester, UCSB, Syracuse and Penn State

Yes, that was me! It's from last Monday and this is the exact wording: The committee has just concluded the first round of reviews and you will be hearing from us soon. My thought process (and again, I'm a pessimist at heart, so it would be wise not to read into it) is that a) they already had their first wave of students accepting or declining admissions, so we could be waitlisted or b) we were just the first ones in the batch of rejections and everyone else will get the annoying notification soon enough.

"Who knows?" should definitely be the mantra for this entire cycle!!

MY HERO!! Thank you so much for emailing them. What an obnoxious system that puts applicants on red alert for almost a week. I don't mean to be a pessimist, but given the people who were already accepted/waitlisted... my rejection senses are tingling... or maybe I'm just dehydrated?

I don't think so! I'd support you if you want to start a thread

That's a good point! You're right, I'll give it another couple of days. Man, I so desperately want this process to be over. I can't believe I still have 4 more pending schools...

Ugh, when am I allowed to email Rochester about my portal saying "decision released," but not actually showing the update??? I feel weird about it because I literally emailed them last Monday for a status update... I don't want to bother them too much, but dangling a decision in my face for three days is just RUDE.