Grizbert

Just to update, I emailed the GC a week ago and still haven't heard a peep by email, mail, phone, or UT Direct application status online. I am perplexed.

I pay $575 downtown for a small one bedroom, but I've lived here for 9 years with no rent increase. And the building is frmo the 50s with no dishwashers or washing machines. So, yeah... As someone who has lived here for 18 years, this thread seems pretty accurate to me: http://www.trulia.com/voices/Rental_Basics/Average_rent_for_a_bed_bath_in_Austin-499481

Note that the average rent in Austin is now $1,500/month. You can still find some deals < $1000/month with sleuthing, but it's difficult in Central Austin. If you can find an older complex or an owner-rented garage apartment, preferably by word of mouth, you can just about still live the "Austin lifestyle." But not for long. /longtimer whine

FWIW, I love California! Get ready for some extreme heat down here. And enjoy the breakfast tacos! So, so many breakfast tacos.

Welcome to Austin! It's still a great city, though the rapid population increase has meant many changes, and a lot of grumbling. If you're from California, never tell anyone.

How did you get the notice? Email directing you to the online admissions portal?

I have not heard a peep. Online status still says "in review." I am already on campus here completing my MSIS. Baffled that others have received admissions offers, rejections, and waitlist notices...

Boo hoo. :/

Yep. I am at this point, too. I really want to work as a tenure-track research archivist in a university hybrid library-archives-museum setting. Many of these positions have a dual appointment in an English department. A PhD isn't absolutely necessary otherwise, and I already have a subject MA, so I should be good. This was my last shot at trying for a PhD. Not to imply that I have applied before; I hadn't. But I had been thinking about it for 15 years. And more and more of these types of jobs want PhDs, plus I would genuinely enjoy continuing my research at a deeper level in an English department. I guess I'll have to stick to continuing ed in the form of MOOCs, staff course benefits, and Rare Book School. Not too shabby.

I haven't received an offer, a rejection, or a waitlist notice from UT! WTH.

As someone who has spent the past decade on the campus of an R1 as departmental staff, this rings 100% true. $0.02.

Hang in there! Fingers crossed.

I've been told repeatedly by faculty (back when I was a departmental admin for 6 years) that getting a PhD anytime before 40 is fine, and that academia is much less ageist than most fields. I know several people who got PhDs after 40. Some are TT, some are lecturers, some are adjuncts, some left the academy. My issue is more with an additional 4-5 years of lost wages at this time in life than my longevity as a scholar/worker. We'll all be working until we die, anyway.

I am perhaps less invested in the PhD route than some others here owning to my advanced age (35 ), but I am actually more excited for the admits than I am sad about my own implied rejection! Congrats, all!

I'm 35 and have an implied rejection.