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violaswamp

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Everything posted by violaswamp

  1. Hi there! I officially declined Rochester today. It broke my heart a little to do it--it's a fantastic place. My field is 18th and 19th century Brit Lit, particularly the novel. That said, I'm not sure that they're doing their wait list by field (though you may have better information than me about this). When I went up for the visiting day they made it clear that they expect that many students will change their fields once in the program. Good luck!
  2. Just turned down Stony Brook and West Virginia. Hope that helps someone out there!
  3. I just turned down a PhD offer at Iowa. It wasn't full funding, only 50% with a lot of teaching and research responsibilities, but the money seemed doable to me. Also, I had been accepted off the wait-list. Good luck!!!!
  4. Hey guys, Haven't read this entire debate, but wanted to weigh in as I am currently finishing my MA at Columbia. I've been accepted to five programs for PhDs of varying quality (ranked between the 90's and the 20's) and gotten full fellowship offers at all of them. I applied to 20 schools, which I think helped my chances. Also, I really tried to spread my apps out in terms of quality of program and location. My experience at Columbia has been difficult. I feel like I haven't thrived there, but I'm not sure if that's because I worked two jobs while going in order to pay for it and was pretty burnt out the whole time. That said, I definitely think that strong letters from my Columbia professors helped me a lot in terms of acceptance at schools that are in the mid-range. Columbia is a pretty cold place, so your best bet is to align yourself with good professors early. Privately message me if you'd like some names of people who are really willing to work with MA students. There are some professors at Columbia who simply won't give terminal MAs the time of day, so you've got to pick and choose your classes carefully. I agree with those who say that if you're trying to get into Harvard, a great essay and letters from a lesser MA program will be just as helpful as those from Columbia, because at that level it's all about the work. Most of the PhD candidates at Columbia who came in with MAs did those degrees at lesser schools. I know many Columbia M.A.O.'s who only applied to Ivy league PhD programs and were rejected everywhere. BUT, if you are shooting for a mid range PhD program, I do think the name can be helpful (just based on my experience). One last thing--had I to do it again, I probably would have taken the other MA offer I received from Rutgers Newark. I think I would have been nurtured more, done better work, and been more competitive for this process. For someone who doesn't need as much mentorship as I do, though, the Columbia MAO is probably a a good choice. Good luck to all of you.
  5. Hey guys, I'm finishing up my MA there right now. I've got a feeling decisions will go out today. The English department's secretary told me earlier in the week that they'd be going out very soon, and there has been all kinds of frenzy in the department this week due to preparations. Good luck!
  6. Cyriac, thanks for the info! In terms of class size and attention that sounds like a dream, but I'm concerned about the diversity of the coursework. What is your field? Are you going to visit in March? To the poster who is planning to apply--I am currently finishing my MA at Columbia working on 18&19C British novels. I did well on the regular GRE Verbal (not the Quant), but only scored in the 73% on the Subject Test. One of the reasons that I applied to Syracuse was their request for a teaching statement as well as a personal statement. I was impressed that they take teaching seriously. I have four years of teaching experience in a public high school. I'm thinking that they might have really liked that? Good luck! To those accepted without funding, there's a strong possibility that I won't take this offer as I have another good one closer to home. It won't be till the end of March though, because I'm going to go see both programs and figure out which one is really a better fit. I wish I could let you all know sooner. Good luck to all!
  7. I also got a message from the DGS with a fellowship offer. I'm thrilled! I'm looking forward to speaking with him tomorrow. I just feel like I don't have a real sense of what the program is like. It seems to emphasize teaching, which I like. On the website, however, it looked like there were only a few graduate classes per semester. Is this accurate? Can anyone out there shed some light? Thanks!
  8. It seems that MA candidates have been hearing from Penn State. Anyone know anything about when PhD apps will hear?
  9. I really thought they were going to notify today. Has anyone heard anything? Is there any chance that we'll still hear from them this afternoon?
  10. Can I ask how did people get feedback from their rejections from Duke? Did you call?
  11. Can anyone who has been through this process shed some light on the timeline for applying to this fellowship? Have the applications for the school year starting Fall 2011 already closed? The fellowship's website is a bit confusing; my sense from it is that one applies for the fellowship in August-September for the year in which one is beginning a doctoral program. Is this correct? I'm beginning my PhD in the fall, so do I apply in the summer? Thanks!
  12. I've also been accepted to CUNY with the same funding package that was described above. I was informed of the admission on the 8th and the funding yesterday. I study 18th and 19th-century British Literature. I look forward to meeting all of you at the open house. I have heard so many great things about CUNY and can't wait to know more. Good luck to everyone!
  13. Took the test on November 13th. The format was completely different than the available practice test. Except for 3 questions with theory ids, it was all reading comp and the ids were imbedded in the questions related to particular passages. I don't think the first sweep strategy would help with this new format, because there were very few questions which one could answer without having read the passage. Hope this helps!
  14. I've been told by professors in my M.A. program (at a PhD granting research university) that one should ALWAYS waive his or her right to read the recommendations. I was told they wouldn't be taken seriously if I didn't waive it.
  15. Hello, I've missed the GRE subject test in English deadline for registration. Does anyone know about the likelihood of getting to test standby, or have any insight into that process? Has anyone been in this situation before? What did you do? I've been planning for months to apply to PhD programs this fall and would be devastated to find my options limited to programs that don't require the subject test. Anyone had any luck signing up late with ETS? Thank you, Erin
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