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!

Knew better, but did it anyway.

Did you get that notification email from Dr. Kidd saying that you would be informed in a couple weeks? From the date of that email I would say you still have at LEAST a week until you should start to even think about being concerned... I applied, recevied that email, and haven't heard anything, yet. I assume that if the DGS took the time to email a pre-notification, he'll be kind enough to contact you with the ACTUAL notification when they know. There might be an unofficial waitlist and they're waiting to hear back from others or they might be working alphabetically or the posts might not be accurate, etc... With all that said, however, I agree with the previous poster; if it will give you much-needed peace of mind, go ahead and contact them, but I say they are one of the few schools I'm not stressed about because they've been keeping the lines of communication open. hope this helps!

Thanks!!! I really appreciate it! :mrgreen:

Oh, man. Do you remember Are You Afraid of the Dark saturday nights on Nick? and don't forget Ren and Stimpy!

I'm English Literature and Cultural Studies track. I've been talking with Dr. Murphy about scheduling a visit to check out the area and meet faculty and graduate students, so it you know anyone in the program, that would be awesome. It seems as if I'll be headed that way either before March 11th or after March 23rd...so hotel info would be helpful, but I can certainly so some leg work on the internet. Thanks again!

I'm one of those poor souls who had only received rejections thus far. This morning, UVA became my 4th, and I took it exceptionally hard. I literally ugly cried for two hours, thinking "this is all I've ever wanted. what the hell am I going to do if I'm not good enough for it?" I self-medicated with Swedish-fish, Dots, Twizzlers, AND Mike and Ikes...in a sugar shock I decided to handle my depression by making a list of errands and then forcing myself to complete it just to keep busy. (so, are you convinced, yet, I was pretty not okay ) I ended up in my department around 3, and I checked my email at the secretary's desk to find an ACCEPTANCE from U of Oklahoma complete with a teaching assistantship! The letter even said that the committee had voted UNANIMOUSLY to accept me. I nearly died. It was the best timing ever because my thesis director was there, my best friend was working in the building next door, etc. I am JUST SO GLAD to be in somewhere. I have 11 schools left to hear from, but I'm pretty sure, for me anyway, taking more rejections will be tempered greatly by this one acceptance. So, the moral of the story, boys and girls? Don't give up hope. It's not over until you have every single rejection in. I think we construct these scenarios and set ourselves up for melodrama and heartbreak because we're all so passionate about what we do (I mean, why else would we subject ourselves to this, right?) With this in mind, I thought I'd ask if anyone else had any uplifiting, turned out okay, it's-not-as-bad-as-it-seems stories...or wants to share how they ACTUALLY celebrated (I know we have a poll floating around about what we thought we'd do..) I went to Target and spent $85 I don't have on stuff I don't need

So, publicpolicy, I found out today I was accepted to Oklahoma!! WOOT, so excited. Thanks again for your help...your info will really help fill out my pro and con list!

You have been incredibly candid and helpful. I REALLY appreciate it. The way things are going right now, I just want to get accepted with funding somewhere and there are two faculty members at OK whose work I really admire...so I'm trying to entertain all possibilities. Again, this information helps A LOT. Thanks so much!

Yay! Thanks!! When you say 'in town,' how far away is that from the campus area? When you say tension between campus and the city community, I immediately think of the community hating "those crazy liberals" ...sorry, reductive, I know...but I couldn't help but notice every district in the state was red in the last election :| ...so, please forgive my knee-jerk reaction. Can you be more specific? Are there a lot of independent shops/restaurants etc...or are there mostly chains? What bands/shows/exhibits typically book there or within driving distance? Thanks so much!!!!

HA! Well, as a Floridian who is applying to 6 of the schools you listed... can we agree to shoot for colleagues and not mortal enemies?