The Maritime Scholar

Just got a letter from DGS in an email about being waitlisted. "Due to an especially strong pool of applicants this year, we have only been able to offer acceptance to a small number of the many outstanding candidates who applied. However, the Graduate Executive Committee was very impressed with your record and has placed your name on a very selective waiting list to which we may return later in the admissions process." Not totally bad news!

I just checked, and I have one as well. Maybe it’s automatically created for each applicant.

Out of curiosity, where on your application portal does it say that?

Ah, okay. Yeah, they provided a specific dollar amount. And yes, I was nominated for a fellowship, which they said the decisions would be made on February 16. They would go over my funding package and the fellowship decisions with me during the phone call.

To be honest, if I had gotten a rejection first instead of an acceptance, I’d probably be worried. My mindset now is that if all else fails, then I already got an acceptance. Haha ?

Ugh. Every morning I wake up to at least 150 emails. Most of them are deleted because they're just random emails that I'm subscribed to. But the fact that I have to go through all those and delete them while trying to see if there's an acceptance (or rejection) in there somewhere is nerve-racking. Hah ?

Hey, @LtotheOG! I didn't reach out to a POI at any program actually, except for one. This was the only school where they actually saw me and talked with me during an info session, which is ironic. But I guess that didn't really do much for me. And to answer your question about whether they accept more of their MA students, I saw that on their website. Which I guess makes sense, but it shouldn't be like that. I knew I'd be rejected, but I at least thought I'd be placed on the waiting list. Maybe they don't have a waiting list. Also, one of my recommenders knew a POI I mentioned in my SOP, but I guess his letter didn't hold any weight there.

Did you realize them just now? Are they obvious? If you carefully edited and you just caught them now, I'm pretty sure the admissions committee will glance over them.

But I just checked the English department's email, and it was delivered at 10:30 PM. So who knows...

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.

Haha. I mean, for me, OSU and Illinois were the first two applications due back in the first week of December. So I was already expecting to hear from them early on.

Thanks! If all else fails, Ohio's got my back ?

Yeah, that's BS. Haha. But whatever. They could if they really wanted to. DGS just replied to my email. I was rejected. First rejection! Woohoo! ??

I was wondering if anyone else received an email like this from the director of grad admissions. It seems that I will be receiving funding, but it may not be the max. I'm not sure. I guess these are questions for when he calls me in February. Let me know. Thanks!

I'm sorry to hear that, @LtotheOG! I guess they put the decisions out one by one. I'm sensing a rejection for me, but let's see what happens. Haha.

Thank you for this, @Warelin! ?

Ah, okay. Makes sense. Thanks, @Warelin!

You're welcome, @mashatheicebear!

@mashatheicebearHere's the link: https://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/. I usually search like this: NAME OF SCHOOL ENGLISH. So for UIUC, I typed in: University of Illinois English. All the results should come out if you do it like that. You can also find the results page on the menu bar where it says: Results.

I saw that someone posted an acceptance for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on the results page. I went to check my email and nothing. My portal also still says "awaiting." I'm assuming they don't send out all decisions at once. Let's see what happens!

I agree with you about OSU. I saw that post on the results page and it made me wonder because when I told my mentor about my acceptance, he said that OSU has a very good English program. He's in his early 30s and just finished his PhD a couple of years ago, so he's in the know with a lot of things in academia. Also, he started the tenure track position he has now where I got my MA right after he graduated with his PhD. So I really do think it depends on the person and the work they put into job searching and presenting yourself professionally. We picked 10 schools together and he knew more than I ever could about each program and the program's faculty. If he says it's a good program, then I trust him. You're also right about the job market. It's shit now, and I'm not sure it'll be any different in five years when I graduate. So yes, I took that post with a grain of salt. To be honest, if that person wouldn't have said anything I probably wouldn't have given much thought to it. However, I do think it is important to understand the percentage of tenure track positions being offered to students graduating from specific programs. I still have other schools to hear from, but I think the feeling of me getting accepted to OSU and it being my first acceptance just makes me happy. It also stops some of the worrying that I had about getting into a PhD program.

I received an email last night from the director of grad admissions at OSU regarding my acceptance and how I was nominated for a Graduate School Fellowship. They also mentioned that they would call me around mid February to discuss the details of the program and to answer any questions I may have. There was also mention about a stipend through a GTAship. It says how the stipend’s final number of appointments is contingent on the availability of funds. Toward the end of the email where it mentions the phone call, it does say that they would discuss with me the fellowship decision and my funding package, so I’m assuming they’re offering me funding. Just thought this may be helpful if anyone is wondering about OSU.

Thank you! And thank you for responding to my question. I really appreciate it ?

To be completely honest, I wouldn't worry about it. It happens to everyone. I even found a typo in my advisor's dissertation on their acknowledgments page. Believe me, I was so obsessive when it came to reviewing my WS and SOP. I looked over them I don't even know how many times. It was ridiculous. Haha. But once you submit them, you forget and then the time comes for acceptances/rejections. You'll be fine. I wish you the best of luck, and I know you'll get into a program that you are the best fit for! —The Maritime Scholar