bfat

Okay, I'm the biggest dork evar, and I'd do pretty much anything to avoid working on my thesis because I am procrastination incarnate. So I went through the newest NRC rankings (yeah, that big ass spreadsheet of numbers) and averaged across the board for the schools I applied to, a bunch of ivies (for comparison), and some other programs I know a lot of people applied to. Lowest numbers are good: Princeton - 11.7 Stanford - 12 Harvard - 23 Cornell - 23.8 U Michigan - 26.4 Penn State - 27.5 U Penn - 27.6 Yale - 30.6 Duke - 33.1 Maryland CP - 41.6 UVA - 44.8 NYU - 45.1 UC Berkeley - 46.7 C. Mellon - 56.3 U Pittsburgh - 65.2 SUNY Buffalo - 74.9 I dunno... I don't really feel like this accomplished anything except my procrastination goals.

The whole rankings thing makes me cross-eyed. So many numbers all over the place! Someone should just take all of them and average them together and maybe we'd have a vague idea of where actual strengths and general reputations converge.

Yeah, I'm really curious to see where Penn State will fall (as it looks like it will be my only acceptance). It was my 3rd choice program, so I'm pretty happy, but it seems to be all over the place now. PhDs.org and the NRC rankings put it in the top 10, but USN has it at 29... Others I've seen put it between 10 and 20. It's not like some of the ivies that consistently stay ranked in (relatively) the same places.

Just texted a friend (really more of an acquaintance) in Cornell's program to see if she knows if all offers have been extended... I feel like such a pathetic asshole. But it's still my #1 and I want the agony to be over already.

And in the worst crossover of the century, they converge in DT7... now I'm depressed because I just reminded myself of that atrocity.

FWIW, I asked and the DGS said they are aiming for an incoming cohort of 16-17 for the MA/PhD, and there are only 2 (serious entries) on the board, so... definitely still hope.

Damn, I'm out of upvotes, but this made me lol. Also, I'm working on a chapter/article on Galatea 2.2 right now, so it was extra funny.

I feel totes boss. lol, nope, but Cornell moved into its spot. er, yeah, that's not me. lulz tho.

You guys!! I just got in to Penn State!!! 6 years of full funding!! AAAAAHHHHH!!!

Congrats, asleepawake, and happy birthday!! I'm jealous, but also happy for you! Are you leaning toward Buffalo?

Yeah seeing people with four or five awesome acceptances kinda makes me want to jump off a bridge. Not that I'm not happy for them--it just kinda drives home my own failure even more.

Two Espressos, every time you post in this thread, I get my hopes up for you. I'm really really rooting for you this year. But if you don't get in, it looks like I might see you back here next year.

I really put my all into my app for Cornell. I visited twice (2 years in a row, once with an 8-week-old baby in tow) and met with several professors. Got really great vibes, fell in love with Ithaca... I know it was still a long shot, but I'm pretty heartbroken right now.

Okay, who's going to claim the Cornell acceptances and officially break my heart?

I don't want to post in the Acceptance Freakout thread because I haven't been accepted, but... but... I heard a peep. I can't hold it in anymore... I MIGHT NOT BE A TOTAL FAILURE! But... I still might. So I don't wanna say anything else. Except AAAHHH!! (I was really expecting to be massacred today, and it was already a shitty day because I was teaching all night, so this is a super nice turn of events.)

Upvoted for using the term "butthurt." And just because:

This is utterly and completely off-topic, but, girl who wears glasses: I just read this in Mary Ann Doane's "Film and the Masquerade" (which I'm teaching tomorrow): "The woman who wears glasses constitutes one of the most intense visual cliches of the cinema. The image is a heavily marked condensation of motifs concerned with repressed sexuality, knowledge, visibility and vision, intellectuality and undesirability; but the moment she removes her glasses (a moment which, it seems, must always be shown and which is itself linked with a certain sensual quality), she is transformed into spectacle, the very picture of desire." Made me think of you (and, of course, She's All That).

I'd just like to point out that this is, like, the definition of intellectual snobbery, which is just as offensive and off-putting as class-based snobbery. http://youtu.be/ymsHLkB8u3s Why do we love Will Hunting? Not because he's smarter than that other dude, but because he's not a dick about it. [i realize this clip brings up a heck of a lot about class and also perpetuates the Ivy-Snob stereotype, but I just wanted to draw attention to the fact that intellectual snobbery is just as bogus as class elitism.]

I got my first rejection today, and in some way, it actually felt good. I mean, I totally want to throw a hissy fit and stomp and scream that it's not fair... but at least I know my anxiety over the past weeks was justified. I just want the rest of my rejections so I can curl up with booze, fattening food, and my misery and tell the rest of the world to FOD. Fruitless hope is so much worse than rejection.

Since the silence and cruel anticipation of rejection is currently eating away my insides like a burning Hellfire of doom, I thought I'd see if anyone else on this board is gearing up for NeMLA next month. I just booked my hotel room (yay! but now I'm broke...), and I'm assembling all the research for my paper (long overdue, I know). I'll be chairing a panel on Saturday afternoon. Who else is going?

Is there anyone else left on these boards besides me who is still facing the soul-crushing agony of absolute silence? At this point I am assuming rejections from all but 2 of my programs, and they are both such long-shot pipe-dreams that I should really just admit that I'm out for the season.

Does anyone watch Walking Dead? I keep thinking that they're all kinda turning into pirates. Peg leg, eye patch, hook hand... Yarr! Someone needs to make a jpeg or gif or something.

I was actually really really good at math in high school, and tested out of the requirements for college (I didn't actually like it). For the GRE, though, my initial pre-test quant was 151, and after 3 months or so of reviewing, I ended up with a 159... because I suck at timed math tests. I probably could have gotten a much higher score if I didn't choke whenever a clock was running. It was an 86% at first, but then dropped to a 79%. Boo! I put in quite a bit of effort, but so far it hasn't done me any good.

I asked my adviser, who was more than happy to give me a few that she had submitted as examples. Following her model, I had a panel picked up for NeMLA.

Is it possible that having too much of an "incestual" background can be a problem for admissions into a top program? I've ended up earning my BA and (will this spring earn) my MA from the same institution--which is not very well known or ranked--simply because of life circumstances. I have had some really great professors, but I don't even really like the school. It was a desperate fallback when I was an undergraduate because my financial situation hit the fan, and then a few years later (after life in the "real world") I was able to get a job there, so they paid for my MA. But now I'll have 2 degrees and most of my work/teaching experience at the same lackluster institution... could this be a kiss of death? I suppose I could try for a second funded MA next year--there are a few good programs sort of near me, but the commute could be a nightmare (Capitol beltway, anyone? UGH).