apieceofroastbeef

So what if they aren't the same degree? I know of professors who teach creative writing courses with doctorates in English/Literature, especially if they've proven that they are authors. It seems like he is trying to buy his way into the fields by getting degrees from schools who won't refuse him admittance instead of becoming a scholar on his own after earning a more than adequate degree from Yale. What is he going to do after collecting an MFA, a PhD in English and a PhD in Creative Writing? Apply for a PhD in Film Studies? At any rate, one has to admit that double enrolling in doctoral programs and probably not being residential in either one requires exceptions that the average graduate student would not get. /end bitter rant.

I'm going there for English too. Fall-11 and I actually met during the open house! The prices on craigslist are crazy compared to where I've lived in the past; regardless, I'm definitely going for a studio or something by myself. I've applied for the 580 commonwealth apartments, but I wouldn't mind finding a nice place that I could live in for a few years. Moving is hard!

But it is a program we didn't apply to! Do we even legally have to tell them anything? I'm just going to send an email and ignore any other emails from them giving me more instructions.

Only a jury summons for me Would have rather had a rejection letter.

letting me pay the rest of the postage for an absurdly large acceptance letter to a program I did not apply for. Sincerely, Catherinian

But what does that even mean? That they've winnowed down the pile to 40-50 applications and they still have 10-15 spots to offer? When are they finally going to sort through that tiny pile? April 14th? Baah. Is it pretty clear at this point that they aren't offering funding to their PhD students coming in with BAs? If so, I might as well notify my other schools...

Nope. I haven't heard either! And I'd really like some closure at this point.

I cracked and called today and got the same line about "decisions going out daily" but also got that it should take "a few weeks." WHAT WEEKS? April 15th UW! APRIL 15th!

Bleeeh. Nothing today from UW. I'm waiting on just two schools (UConn and UW)-- should I call? I don't want to bother these programs, but I have a great offer from a school that I'm visiting on the 25th and I'd like to be able to tell them that I'll be accepting, if I can.

Well, you'd be looking at a few thousand dollars, at most, for online courses, whereas two years of completely funding your own masters? That would be a BIG investment. If you are financially able to do it, sure, but I wouldn't go into debt for it with the job market being what it is. Letters of recommendation were an issue for me as well. I recently graduated, but I wasn't very personal with my professors and, while three to agreed write them, I was most anxious about this part of my application. Taking more English courses somewhere is the only thing to do to get more LORs. Don't just go for an A: ask deeper questions and discuss ideas with your professors, whatever you decide to do. I wish I had done this more in undergrad. I wrote my writing sample in complete isolation. I ordered books from my local library, which had to ILL each one from various universities and this took a long time, but I didn't have many resources so it was all I could do for books. My grad student sister loaned me her online access for journals. I didn't ask any of my LOR writers to read it because I didn't have it done in time and was too self conscious. I baited two people on one of these grad foras to proofread it for me in exchange for a giftcard a day or two before my first application needed to be submitted. My point is: it can be done with limited resources. On the other hand, try to enroll in online courses that give you borrowing or online resource privileges if you go that route, because that would really help. Fingers crossed that funding comes through for you, though!

For what it is worth: your scores are almost identical to mine (and higher in Q, but I don't think they look at that too much) and I was accepted to one of the PhD programs you list. Like other people have said, fit is the most important aspect of your application-- this was very true for me. I wouldn't spend time re-taking the GRE at all. I'd work on perfecting your SOP and WS (maybe even creating new ones; it can be done out of school!), and looking for the programs who have faculty doing what you want to do. Definitely contact a POI when you have a research project you're excited about that matches theirs in some way and create a rapport if you can. Doing this in a non-obnoxious way can be difficult, but if you set yourself up as a scholar with similar interests, and not a potential graduate student looking for some favors, you should be alright.

Nope. I just looked over mine and there was nothing. I can only imagine that: 1. We are on some sort of waitlist. In which case, if I am eventually rejected, I hope they mention. 2. My mail is being lost. 3. They just don't care. I think three is the most likely. I already have a good offer, but I just want all my ducks in a row, you know?

I've still heard nothing from them... wtf? Are they doing waves like U-Washington?

Still nothing today! I'm not interested in the MAPH program, so I wish they'd just send me my rejection

Yeah, I saw that (thanks for the information btw), but I'm just waiting on the official letter. I want to wrap up this whole waiting process and forget about it.