CHP47

Congratulations!

Well, I'm officially out of the running for Rutgers. Fortunately, my other offer is a great fit for totally different reasons, so it will be a different but exciting adventure. Good luck to the other Rutgers waitlisters- I hope you get in!

You're waiting on Rutgers, right? Crickets here, so I hope that's a good sign for you! Good luck!

Thank you so much for doing the recon! I guess between three of us, we can keep getting info from the department without any of us becoming annoying.

I think there are a few of us on the Rutgers waitlist here. Have you heard anything at all from them in the last few days?

I'm planning to email the grad director on Thursday if I don't hear anything before then, but I'm also sitting on another offer (with an additional fellowship) and I'd hate for that to get wasted if I don't use it. My other offer is in a different field (I have an interdisciplinary research topic) so I'm not directly contributing to the English deadlock, but it's rough across fields.

I feel this so hard!!!! It seems like no one wants to say yes or no yet. How did no one get into their top choice programs?

You could not be more correct about this! I just heard from the DGS of my waitlist school and he said that they have still not heard back either way from an unusually large number of students. Hopefully people will start making up their minds this weekend and releasing seats they don't plan to hold so everyone can slot into their spots.

Ok fellow wait-listers, how often is too often to follow up with a program about their waitlist? The DGS has said in every interaction to feel free to reach out any time, but I don't want to abuse that, especially since I do believe I'd hear something quickly if there was a definitive answer one way or another. I've had two interactions in the last six weeks since I was first placed on the list- once to notify them about a competing offer with an additional fellowship and to let them know they remained my first choice, and once two weeks ago just to see if there has been any movement. Would it be inappropriate to reach out one more time just to see how things are trending? I was thinking of emailing tomorrow night (so they'd see the email Friday) when we are a week out from April 15th to see if there are still many outstanding offers or not to gauge my chances.

I think the most stressful part of a waitlist is that there's always a possibility (unless you hear otherwise) up until April 15th. I'm in the same boat about waiting on a waitlist and I'm torn between the hope that I could still get good news in the next 9 days, and the desire to just get a "no" so I can take the other offer I have.

Nothing yet. Emailed the DGS last week though. They had just had their open house and he said that they usually don't get a lot of responses from admitted students either way until after the open house. I'm hoping for good news soon (although I think at this point, I'd be happy with any news at all).

Oh man, the wait is so stressful. I hope you hear good news soon!

I would think so. Was it good news from a school you are excited about?

No idea what time zone you are in so this might come too late, but are the symptoms something you can treat with cold medicine long enough to do the interview? You could also mention right at the beginning that you are fighting something so they understand why you might not be at your best.

Oh no, I'm so sorry!

Is anyone seeing waitlist movement yet? We're getting close to April and I'm curious if people are starting to make their choices.

Oh man, that is tough! Did you have any contact with the program previously where they did respond promptly? They could just be really busy and they'll get to it or the email got buried in other messages. Is there a department coordinator or administrator you can find contact info for? They may not know the specific outcome for you, but they are probably knowledgable enough to let you know how the overall process is going. It may also help to go over the program again and compare it to the two existing offers you have to see if it really stacks up. One of the things that changed for me over this cycle was realizing that schools didn't necessarily have the same idea of "fit" about me and my project as I did. I only applied to 5 schools, three of which I thought were good fits and two that I thought were a stretch, but they had faculty that I liked. I didn't get into ANY of the schools I thought would be fits, but I was accepted with an additional fellowship/high on the waitlist at the stretch schools because they thought I was a better fit for their programs than I thought I was. After focusing on the programs at the stretch schools, I now have a better understanding of why those programs felt they could support my research interests and goals better than the programs that rejected me, and I have a better understanding of what my project requires. You may find that one of the offers you have on the table is actually a better fit than your previous first choice, or you may become even more convinced that the original first choice is correct and you might have a compelling argument if you are able to contact the school and find out you were on a secret waitlist or something.

Did the school explain their waitlist process when they offered you a spot? Is it just a ranked list or is it dependent on subfield? If you can find out a bit more how the program takes people off the waitlist, maybe you'll get a better sense of the odds. I think the April 15th deadline is pretty standard across schools so I don't know how much flexibility you'll have with them, but I might try reaching out to the fellowship to see if you can at least wait until the April 15th response deadline for the schools. Good luck and congrats on the acceptances and fellowship!

Just heard from the DGS from my waitlist school, and they basically confirmed that almost no one has committed or declined yet. You may be right that we are all waiting to hear about other schools!

I have been in touch with the grad director about the waitlist, and it's basically a question of whether someone in the right subfield declines. Apparently I'm 1-2 spots away depending on the subfield since my topic spans several areas, so I just need the right person to say no. I'm glad to hear you're waiting until April to respond. That makes me feel better about sitting on my offer a bit longer. As someone on a waitlist, I've been feeling bad about holding on to an offer I might not take if it means someone else can come off of the waitlist, but I guess that's just how this goes. Hope your waitlist offer works out!

Congrats to everyone who received offers and best of luck to those of you who are on waitlists or didn't have things work out this time around. I'd love to hear from anyone else who has received an offer but is on the waitlist for another school (I think @Shake829 is in this boat). How long are you planning to wait to hear back from the waitlist? Also, if anyone else is planning to start their PhD and has kids, how has that factored into your decision? I've been accepted to a program that is an incredibly good fit from an academic perspective, has good funding and an additional fellowship, but would be tough on my family, and I'm on the waitlist for a program that is still a very good fit (and more highly ranked) and would be MUCH better for my family. I'm trying to decide how long I should give the waitlist school before committing to the sure thing and I don't want to shortchange my kids if there's an opportunity for us to live closer to our support network and for me to avoid evening classes.

From what I hear, COVID deferrals from previous years are impacting the number of slots available. I currently work in higher ed and I know a lot of schools, especially public universities, had their budgets cut. I imagine that would impact the number of funded positions available. I started to apply two years ago, but stopped after submitting one app because I found out I was pregnant. I kept an eye on things even though I wasn't actively applying and the competition feels worse this year.

Thank you! It's been a rough cycle, hasn't it?

I have not. I emailed the person I consider the best fit back in in the fall but never got a response. I got the impression from the director of grad studies that my interests might actually line up with a few people I hadn't considered and they will connect me if it looks like there is movement on the waitlist, so I haven't reached out again yet.

I'm on the waitlist (my specialty is dramatic literature, especially 19th Century American popular performance). They were calling people on the waitlist, so if you didn't get a call, it's probably not great news. Sorry.