Shake829

Your situation could be different! I recommend reaching out. The director is very kind and complimented me on my application. It should feel good to know that your application has potential!

Received response about the CUNY status. Those who have not received results were close to being admitted but we’re in specialties that did not take a large amount of people. When people accepted their offers, there was no use in putting us on the waitlist, because all spots in our specialities had been taken.

I’m thinking I got ignored. Sorry, y’all—I tried!

Congrats! I went to one of these last year when I was waitlisted at a school, and I think it’s super important to note that they don’t expect you to have all of the answers and to know/ask everything about the program at this stage. When I met with my POI last year, she said that she could tell that I was nervous, and she emphasized that I should relax, because I was just starting and she didn’t expect me to know exactly where my studies would go or to even ask questions about how we should tackle my research. She jokingly said that before me, two people asked her about their future dissertation and where she thought it would go. She said that she has just as many answers about that as they do—aka zero! They’re mostly looking to meet you. They read about you and read your work, and now they just want to learn more about you and your interests (generally). They will answer questions if you have them, obviously, but they’re not expecting you to ask all of the “right” questions. Relax and remember, they’re not going to take away your admission because you didn’t ask a specific question.

No response as of yet. I think it is safe to assume that if the DGS ignores my email, we should expect rejection. I know that some directors don’t like giving rejections by email because they’d rather just wait for the admissions team to update the portal.

I’m teaching, too, but the perks of zoom make it so that I can multitask, ha.

Reaching out to CUNY to find out more about the status of those of us who have yet to hear back. Will update the forum when (or if) I receive a response.

Well, I saw someone shared the waitlist letter, and they said they took 13 people. Only three acceptances are up. Let’s just hope for the best Also, what is your specialty? Mine is early modern. Maybe decisions weren’t made in our field(s).

Anyone else not get waitlisted while also not hearing back from CUNY?

Believe it or not, the best advice that I got for my writing sample was from an editor who rejected my paper. He went through it on Word with track changes and sent back his advice: Great, but not researched enough. He then proceeded to send an entire list of sources that I should browse through to help with that.

Advice wanted: I’m one of the few who has yet to hear back from CUNY. I emailed the department to inquire about when decisions would come, but I haven’t yet received a reply. Is it pushy to follow up on that email or call on Monday? Should I just wait it out? I’m wanting to start considering my options early, and I won’t be able to fully do this without the CUNY confirmation.

Did you reach out to the department for this info?

This is true. I was mostly referring to those who straight up ask whether or not their research interests align with the POI. If you’re confident that they do, I see no harm in asking if new students are being considered.

Is there anyway that you can put the “old” and the “new” in conversation with one another in your writing sample? Remember, most of our work is us building from what others have already done. One of my professors said it best: a graduate-level literature paper is basically saying, “Well, everyone has already done this, but I’m doing THIS instead.” Given this, all of the “new” people have probably been inspired by and have read the people you’re referring to. They’ve probably cited those people in their essays, went to conferences that those people have spoken at, and maybe even had conversations with them. So, you’re referring to such scholarship is, truthfully, probably not a reason to fear. Instead of worrying about that, I would work on perfecting the writing sample and getting input on it from those writing your LOR.

Oh man. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to explain this situation when applying.

Another note that I forgot to add: when I asked why I shouldn’t contact POIs, she said that it could give the impression that you’re not entirely sure what they do and that you’re asking them if you’d be a good fit. This makes sense; most POIs interactions are “I do this. Would you be able to work with me if I was admitted?” She said that if you feel the need to ask, the fit is likely not there.

When applying, I had a former professor help me. She advised me to not reach out to potential POIs (unless I had specific questions about the program). She said the naming of POIs should be in the SoP. But she also advised not to tailor it towards only one professor, because that doesn’t show that you are a good fit for the department; it shows that you are a good fit for that specific person (I hadn’t thought of it like that before she made the point). She said that a good fit meant articulating why a number of different professors could work with me. That was her advice, but it’s not the same for everyone. Reach out to whoever is writing your letter of recommendation and ask for their advice.

I also applied assuming that less people would be applying this time around. For me, I thought that, with the pandemic, less people would be willing to spend money on the crapshoot that is the admissions process. I remember reading that the uptick in applications actually correlated with the loss of employment. Prior to the pandemic, people may have had aspirations for graduate work but were not able to move due to employment and other factors. Now, the stipend provided is more valuable and people are willing to take a chance for 5-6 years of guaranteed payment.

Just curious: do you anticipate a better or worse cycle next year?

Ha, disregard me reading too much into things. It seems that more phone calls did go out!

Also, in response to your last point, I think most schools who have less funding find out after the applications are in. Quite a few applications were suspended after the deadline, for example. Frustrating? Yes. But I honestly believe that departments do not find out until after the deadline. I’m sure that most programs want to be as transparent as possible, but things are murky with the pandemic. Plus, I could be wrong, so let’s hope for an anomaly year that deviates from their usual timeline!

Just Google search, “Rutgers hiring freeze.” I could be wrong about it affecting admissions, and I very much hope that I am. I have no inside information as to whether this affects admissions; I’m just saying that I read about it before, and it could be a reason that there are less acceptances on the admissions page.

There is a chance that just very few acceptances were made. Rutgers is under a hiring freeze due to the pandemic, so I’d imagine they wouldn’t want to dedicate a lot of money into letting the department take a large cohort.

I applied to CUNY and have not received any communication from the department. According to the decisions forum, rejections were sent out, but my application still says “submitted.” I’ve tried reaching out to the program but have received no response. Looking at the history of CUNY decisions, this seems to happen to a few people each year. Has this happened to anyone (or is this currently happening to anyone) on here, and if so, can you share what happened? Were you waitlisted? Were you accepted? Or were you, unfortunately, rejected much later?