Two Espressos

This is excellent. A lot of posts on here--mine included-- iterate a lot of the same perspectives, but your above post brings some relatively new things to the table that I hadn't thought about before. Should I be worried about this as well? I'm a college senior, but I have (at least in my mind, as an undergraduate) lots of conference presentations: three at present, though I'll have six by the end of the year. Granted, three of the presentations on my CV are or will be at my undergraduate institution, as receiving certain writing awards on campus requires that I present those prize-winning essays at our yearly undergraduate conference, and the other three are or will be at smaller, undergraduate-only events. The CV I sent in my applications only had three conference presentations on it, but were I to apply next application season with the six presentations, should I be concerned about that? Am I permitted to omit conference presentations from my CV, or is that an unacceptable practice?

The answer: really fucking good.

As far as the M.A. is concerned: I think it would be a good option for me. I really just want to continue thinking about the topics that interest me at a very high level, and I'm perfectly at ease with pursuing an M.A. in either literature or philosophy and then going into a completely different field of work, a sensible option considering what has been said prior about the academic job market for English M.A.'s. Of course, if I am accepted into a Ph.D. program this cycle, I will gladly go and set my sights on an academic career, but I'm at peace now with the possibility of being rejected across the board, likely because I've received some good academic, but not admissions-related, news this week.

/thread Jesus fucking christ, guys.

Agreed! It's an ungainly practice, everyone. Only post explicit rejections.

Ditto!

If it really is a wait list (fingers crossed!), I'm totally stoked. Obviously not about admittance (if funding's iffy and such for waitlisted folks), but because it lets me know that my application wasn't total shit.

Yes, this is curious, isn't it? I'm assuming, as DontHate suggested earlier, that it's a rejection, but a part of me is still holding out for it signifying being possibly waitlisted.

Wow, awesome! Keep kickin' ass.

I kinda wish I just applied to M.A. programs this season. That's my plan of action if I'm shut out this time, though I'll probably apply to a mix of English and philosophy programs. And if that fails, I'll just try the independent scholarship route. I still want to read, write, present, etc. on the topics that interest me, irrespective of whether or not working in academia becomes my career.

I want to do this as well for a program or two, but I don't know (1) whether I should do this or (2) whom I should contact in the departments. What does everyone think?

So, what should I make of not hearing anything from Madison? The website still says "pending" for me. Is being on the waitlist a possibility, or am I just being foolishly optimistic?

I applied to UPenn, Wisconsin-Madison, UNC-Chapel Hill, NYU, Northwestern, Buffalo, and Georgetown. I count Madison, NYU, Northwestern, and Buffalo as implicit rejections.

Sadly, no. I keep vainly hoping that maybe I'll get an email later tonight or tomorrow, but I know it isn't going to happen...

Nope. We're here, writhing in our misery. Someone I was once very fond of used to say "whelp" all the time, so this made me smile. And frown, of course: neither you nor I are going to Buffalo. I'm with you. I'm not okay right now.

I still stand behind my earlier comments, though.

Ditto.

Wow, awesome! Congrats to you and to the Chicago admits.

Me! I have three to four implicit rejections but no solid responses. It's maddening.

This, a thousand times this.

I had my hopes up for lots of places, but I'm expecting a solid 7 rejections. Is it new? I can't remember if I've seen it before today or not.

I'm with you. This sucks.

Congrats!

I'm wondering this as well. My guess is they've all gone out, but I have no way of knowing. The NYU acceptance has majorly depressed me, irrational as that reaction may be. I'm going to be shut out this season, aren't I?

This. I have three implied rejections, possibly four, once we see how NYU turns out...