joeygiraldo

Well, I have an editing job lined up for this summer before I start. If you are in a Literature PhD program (as per your profile) no doubt that you are capable of being a decent editor of writing... so check up on craigslist and click on Writing/Editing under jobs to start looking. What else... a lot of people teach. I will adjunct next year and although most places require an M.A., if you are *enrolled* in a doctorate program and provide proof to some schools, community colleges, etc., they will consider you. Another fun thing I personally considered was bartending. If you live in a busy town or a metropolitan city, you could make good money on weekends! If you are an attractive woman anywhere is good, but I'm a guy so I would have to look for dive bars and less "trendy" establishments.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30048425/?GT1=43001 That really sucks. I can't believe how incompetent some school departments/offices are.........

Well, looks like the person got into a funded PhD program at MSU. They beg to differ.

^Above is an example of a pretty decent SoP. It's quite good... To OP, realize that an SoP requires several re-writes. I know I wrote one version, revised it, got comments on it, revised it based on those comments (this was September). By the time December rolled around, that first, ALREADY heavily edited SoP shared only about 30% with the finished product (after dozens more revisions) I sent out. Hope OP has success rewriting/reapplying.

No idea, but their basketball team right now is BONKERS!!!

Which is why the best advice anyone can give a prospective grad student (with only a B.A.) is to apply to a combination of Ph.D. *AND* M.A. programs.

SBrook rejection today by postal service (not me, I just saw it on the results)

easy answer: Boston University

As if this season wasn't bad enough, now there's sightings of an "amorphous waitlist." Haha... sounds like some terrible cryptid like the Abominable Snowman. Man, some schools just suck at processing apps....

When I did my M.A., I definitely tried to make the rounds of all the available resources. I think the success with my Ph.D. applications now is a direct result of my M.A. work... my LoRs and my writing sample were products of my program. Make sure to try and participate in all the departmental events, even if they seem doctoral student-exclusive. Attend workshops and esp. symposia., and if you can, you don't have to present papers at big national conferences or get published (I certainly didn't), but I did present a paper at a departmental symposium (tiny, only about 20 people attended) and submitted a writing sample that was publishable quality. I also think that getting multiple perspectives on applying/schools from professors is key... and use your noggin, if your professors are super optimistic but they are a little bit old age-wise, get some input from the younger faculty members because they are most likely closer in-touch with recent grad school movings.

Hm, I see. True that.

Hogwash. If a department has an undercurrent of latent animosity among its faculty members, I wouldn't want to go anyway. What's more likely, two professors who hate each other, or one of four professors that you mentioned in your SoP being on the adcom? You are going to be entering this grad program and will be *representing* the university. You need to make it clear from the beginning that you are willing to do some research and reach out a hand to everyone in the department.

what school? lol so much talking and I have no idea where you got in

I feel like people are overconfident about the "fit" aspect of their applications. I've read dozens of posts by people who have stellar stats and "claim" that they are the perfect fit for a department. Let me tell you, the "fit" part of your SoP isn't one or two sentences. Likely, it isn't even a paragraph. You need to link your research interests with the strengths of a particular faculty. If you want to study under one professor, mention him/her *but make sure* you mention two or three others!!! What if that one professor you love (you know, the one haven't even met) is planning on going on leave or isn't on the adcom? You need to appeal to the entire department. It's simple logic: an adcom is made up of several professors. On my best fits, I mentioned four professors that I wanted to work with, and connected my interests to each of theirs. And I also second the motion to apply to a broader range of schools. 30-40 ranked schools aren't "safety".... EVER. Not even the schools 40-60 should be considered "safeties." I know sometimes the issue is money, but applying to a broader range of schools seems to be the key to success according to all the grad students I've talked to.

Hi Spritely. Sorry for the vague, terse, response above. I heard from fellow applicants in another grad community. Brown called all the acceptances already (19 of them) over a span of two days, and they've always done this.

Brown is all done notifying acceptances, and there's no waitlist. If you haven't heard from now you rejected. My sources: Multiple people

Fair enough. mentalyoga? Want to shoot them something brief and polite about the wlist? "Is it ranked, etc.?"

One of us should ask if the waitlist is ranked and/or how the waitlist actually works...Orin I nominate you, ha.

any new news?

So anyone wanna call them?

I've been in touch by email and they keep telling me to wait until April, wait until April, wait until April. I think this is a stock answer and they really don't want to say. I even asked super politely if the committee has even met yet, and they told me once again, wait til April. But previous years have notified by email as early as now, and the visiting weekend is always at the end on March, so this "wait til April" business doesn't make any sense. Does anyone want to try and contact maybe the DGS, Prof. Lee, and figure it out? Unfortunately, I can't contact them again because I've done so one time too many, and they will think of me as an annoying applicant and I don't want that. I just don't know why there's so much mystery here... Anyone with info. please post!

If you are in grad school and are being given 35k/year, you are living like a king. There is no school in the country that gives that amount for an English PhD, the most I've seen is 20-22k/year. Even the science programs, which obviously provide larger stipends, AT BEST offer 30k/year..... so you must understand that 35k/year for an ENGLISH PROGRAM and for Brandeis WHO IS IN A BAD FINANCIAL SITUATION RIGHT NOW is impossible.

Yea you're forgetting Orin too (see last page). Already three of us in this lil' forum, seems like a big waitlist....ha Yep, I'm really not holding my breath. I'm sure all three of us will reply saying we're dying to get in (already did, in fact) along with the others on the list. Ugh. This app. season has been so brutal I would expect nothing less than so much firefighting to even hear the slightest inclination of acceptance.

Same boat for me. Same worded letter too. BTW: I don't think I need to tell people that the acceptance in the results with $35,000/year and first class flight is fake as hell.

I'm still pissed I haven't heard ONE WORD! Ugh.........