stella

Oh, and to answer the last post: it's hard to answer that. I'm not trashing the program at all. I mean, as UF has told us, in this incredibly competitive year, schools are deciding upon degrees of excellence, so I'm certain every candidate being offered a slot is qualified. However, it IS late in the game...

Hey guys, I thought I'd help out some. I know for a FACT that Jill is still working her way down the waitlist. So now you're at the mercy of how quickly her contacts respond to her. You're right. They're only offering people they can fund and the funding is roughly 13-14,000 to my understanding. Hope this helps someone.

Yes, it WAS crazy. Even crazier was that it took it two hours to get out of Memphis....but that's another story...my back is still sore. I actually had to hop on the Internet and research to see if it was possible to give yourself scoliosis The first choice question is hard because, yes, now that I know what I know, it undeniably is. However, I started this whole process with a large number of schools (all of which I would have loved to attend) and was determined to not rank them. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that professors, friends, etc make it impossible to not rank. I visited 3 programs before I applied and fell in love with Carnegie Mellon. Had I visited OU at that time, it would have been a more prominent topic of conversation during my application process. My visit there far exceeded all other schools I went to (they're this perfect combination of brilliant, successful, passionate, supportive, and invested in the professional success of their students). I've been accepted/waitlisted at 4 other schools, but they were the first to accept me, they are offering me the most money (in relation to the cost of living which is crazy cheap), and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it....so all signs point to yes. I compare it to a typical teenage-love movie where a girl spends an hour and a half pining for the seemingly ideal super-stud and then in the last 10 minutes finds out the shy quiet guy in the corner is a million times better than anyone at the school....lame, I know....but you asked

I just (like two hours ago) got back from a 15-hour drive there from Florida, and it was worth every minute. I can't say enough good things about the city and OU. In fact, and I'm not kidding, I like it a LOT better than Florida. The people were amazing, too...kinda reminded me of Canada.

I was accepted via email a little over a month ago....I'm sorry I don't have any other informaton that that (if they're still making offers, etc)

Oh, and my vote is for Northwestern Linguistics, but this is solely based on the fact I had a friend that would have given his first born to get accepted to that program....sorry it's not more helpful.... :roll:

That's crazy!! Thanks for the help, and good luck to yoU!

I'm on the waitlist, too. To my understanding they have 3-4 slots, and they've tried to represent a range in time periods. Please tell me some of you have an interest in Renaissance or Victorian cultural studies???? :wink:

I hate to be obnoxious because I realize that, generally, it means something good, but I know a lot of you are more savvy than I am regarding this whole process, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to tap this fabulous resource one more time... I received this message in response to a status check email that I sent: "Sorry it took so long to get back! I was out of the office. You're in the top tier for consideration of admission and a teaching assistantship. I'll contact the director and get back with you. Next week is spring break so it might take a few days" Does this mean- a) they haven't made decisions yet, but it looks good. they've made decisions, and I'm close to the top of the waitlist. Thanks so much for your insight. I hope everyone's Friday 13th has been as unexpectedly eventful as mine has.

I'd be happy to share if you want to pm me. Admittedly, I did not do the research to hunt down graduates from the program and see where they ended up and do the math, etc, so I might have been lied to, but one program even has it posted on their department page--that'd be CRAZY unethical if a lie, no? But, yes, this this is going by what they've told me. :?

yeah, what these guys said Dude, seriously, though, I'm aghast. My gre was similar to yours, and my subject GRE was lower (as is my gpa). I am graduating with a masters from a school that one professor I met with responded with, "Wow, I didn't even know XXU EXISTED." No joke. My point is that I did MEET with people ahead of time. I researched extensively before I applied and kept up on all the journals in my areas of interest. I picked 30 schools I liked (I don't pay attention to rankings, I paid attention to 'fit' and 'placement'). Day by day, when I had time, I wheedled it down to 16 and picked my top four favorites and made arrangements to meet with the profs I would die to work with. I am NOT from a wealthy family at all. I don't have any "back-up" money to ask for/borrow, etc. I've known I've wanted to do this for a while, so over the years I stashed away $5 here $10 there and saved up $3,000 with the intention of never having to do this again. So far, I've gotten into 3 programs and I'm wait-listed at another. None of them are in the top 20 (or 30....come think about it) but they ALL have placement percentages of 80 or over and have professors that have personally expressed that they appreciated my sincere enthusiasm/were interested in my projects/would love to work with me, so they "fought" for me in the admissions committee meetings, or if not a member of the committee, wrote the committee a letter asking for me. I think having a professor in the department at the institution rallying for me was more valuable than any other aspect of my application (and my SoPS kicked ASS, if I do say so myself---they had to because everything else was poop). So, from my experience, I can't stress enough that opening a line of communication is key. That said, if you're not a "people person,"...I don't know if this works....

Congrats!!! I'm not surprised to hear that they were quick in responding, every encounter I've had with anyone from CMU has been nothing but professional, kind, and sincere. Now, you've tempted me to email....

I know that they are on Spring Break right now (but I don't think that alters the office proceedings in any way...some profs might be away, though..), and I know that some rejections have been emailed already. I haven't heard a thing. It seems that in previous years acceptances typically have been phone calls and emails, and waitlistings have been mailed....

I haven't heard anything, either. I guess I'll jump on the bandwagon and email Jill, also. I'll let you know if I hear back.

W.O.R.D. Thats is SO the way I want to do it. My mentor got his degree from a state school and is a FORCE in his field (published multiple books, fast track to tenure, invited to lecture and edit, etc...in fact, the elitist profs from ivy institutions in my department are jealous of him because they can't publish...weighed down by their own neurotic pressure for perfection). It's so rock and roll--I love it. I'm not at all trashing the Ivys. Sure, a top-raked institution can prepare you to do this, but so can a decent school, as long as you sprinkle a little bit of your brilliance, determination, and passion for your research on top. :mrgreen: Regardless, good luck with Georgetown!