winterbearr

I’m not in the MA program but during coursework it’s basically the same thing so I do have familiarity with it. In terms of cohort sizes it probably depends on the amount of applicants but the last cohort was 11 and the previous one was nearly 30 (there’s also a small group of students who are BA/MAs). These cohorts include the partly-funded teaching concentration MAs. The 30-person cohort was abnormally large so I think most years it’s 10-20.
MAs do various things. I know some go into K-12 teaching, other humanities positions, and some go into PhDs. I don’t know their placement rate but it might be something you could ask. I don’t know many of the MAs from the cohort above mine but I do know that one got into a PhD program and another was waitlisted by a couple. This year I know at least 2 have applied to PhDs and one has an offer but this year is strange and he cycle isn’t over anyway. I only know of one person who did their MA and then got accepted for the PhD here, so I would say making the jump is unlikely.
Generally speaking I’d say MAs are useful for two things: the prestige/name recognition of the institution and developing your potential research proposal. If you come from a top program already I’d say the first is mitigated. The second will depend. Personally I have learned a lot during coursework and if I was reapplying now I’d imagine I’d do much better (in a normal cycle anyway) and that’s despite having done previous MAs. I know a lot of the MAs have learned a lot and developed exciting projects and established good rapport with professors so with 2 years with the MA I’d say you’re likely to develop a more competitive candidacy. The department also has a wonderful placement officer who helps students during the application process.
Now, is that worth paying for an MA? That’s up to you, and you can read up on advice here about paying for a graduate degree. My general approach, and this has nothing to do with UVA specifically, is that paying for a graduate degree is very risky given the academic job market. If you DO decide it’s a risk worth taking I’d say UVA is a good option but I don’t know how equivalent programs operate to make an informed call.
(Also I don’t think departments care if you got rejected in previous cycles or that that they assume someone from an MA program must have been rejected from a PhD).
 

Anyone else getting this weird message on their pending applications or is it just me? Guessing this is a hint from the adcoms that I should refresh a few more times

johns hopkins, what about you? 
 
I don't think it's a mandatory thing at all, just something I chose to do. unless they directly asked you if you're still interested in which case you should respond! 

johns hopkins, what about you? 
 
I don't think it's a mandatory thing at all, just something I chose to do. unless they directly asked you if you're still interested in which case you should respond! 

johns hopkins, what about you? 
 
I don't think it's a mandatory thing at all, just something I chose to do. unless they directly asked you if you're still interested in which case you should respond! 

does anyone know what one should do when waitlisted (other than confirming that I'm still interested)? like is there any way to appeal to the department further?? any thoughts would be appreciated. desperate haha :') 

I feel this on a spiritual level. I'm also in East Asia and because of the time difference, I stay up until 5am everyday to refresh my mailbox every 5 seconds, only to find nothing in spam. Yesterday I totally messed up my sleep schedule and slept at 9am. Now I'm sleep deprived, on the verge of becoming insane and having a heart attack. 

Same (I have one official rejection and three implied). This has contributed to my insomnia, too. I sleep at 4 or 5 am here, just waiting, WAITING for good news, only to be greeted by acceptances not mine on the Lil Uzi Vert page. I swear to my cat, if I get one acceptance letter this cycle, I'll have that implanted.

I live in East Asia, and mind you, each day starts with finding one more rejection in my bed. Which makes it five rejections in total thus far. I mean, five. Although the horror of being (that is, having been) shut out sometimes gets eclipsed by many other things to relentlessly and obsessively worry about my life at this point, but still this barrage of rejections is not very uplifting. 

tired of seeing Lil Uzi Vert and that damn pink diamond

I got an acceptance from UW-Madison at 7:15pm! It may have been automated but definitely after 6pm

I asked this elsewhere as well:
How much of a difference (if at all) does your POI being or not being on the admissions committee make towards chances of acceptance?

I find myself unhealthily wishing that gradcafe had a "time notified" slot on the results board! ?
I had convinced myself a couple schools would definitely notify today... alas 

Granted, I'm on the east coast, and granted, neither of these are in English...but I got my rejection from Berkeley at 10pm and my acceptance from Michigan at 1am lol!

ahh okay thank you for your responses! my anxiety is killing me haha :') 

I received my acceptance from OSU at like 11:30 at night. However, this was an automatic email from OSU as a whole and not from the English department. That email came a few days later. 

Can’t imagine they would work overtime on this... lol
 

Well, the results page has rarely been updated after 6pm ESTish, so I would believe that!

It strikes me that many of the schools I applied to this year are behind on delivering results... Why can't they generate a return as fast as the Gamestop stock? lol 

Waiting for Duke to release results is like sitting in front a microwave watching the seconds tick down

Hi everyone. Thought I'd log back into the good ol' GradCafe to see how this year's application cycle is looking. If anyone wants, I'd be happy to share my SOP from last year's cycle. Just shoot me a DM. :) 
In terms of advice, I would caution people against applying to more than 10-12 programs. I applied to 16 programs, and, tbh, I regret that decision. My rationale at the time was that I would send as many apps as possible and see what sticks, but I would have been less stressed during the application season if I had focused my efforts on a few programs that interested me the most. I also don't think that applying to a school solely because of the prestige is worthwhile. I applied to Stanford and Berkeley despite not seeing a strong fit with those schools, and, in retrospect, I should have just saved that energy for other activities.
Also, I know this has been repeated on this forum ad infinitum, but fit is important. Whereas with my Stanford app, I could see a fit only if I squinted just right, with WashU my research interests and interdisciplinary approach were clearly a good match for the department. Correspondingly, when admissions decisions rolled around, Stanford rejected me, while WashU welcomed me as their top candidate for admission. The DGS at WashU specifically mentioned my research interests as a major reason for my acceptance. Obviously, this is anecdotal and might not apply at all to your situation. But don't discount your own intuition as to what programs are best suited to your goals (keeping in mind, of course, that your goals will change over time).

does anyone have concrete info about whether any other ivy / ivy adjacent schools / berkeley & UCLA are reducing cohort sizes like UChicago? UChicago was one of my top choices so it's really disappointing to hear they're only accepting about 5 : ((( 
are people still hoping to apply this cycle? or am I better off waiting until next year?