Two Espressos

It's the best feeling in the world. I'm sure gwwg, It's (Not) About Me, and other former waitlisters would agree.

FUCK YES! Amazing work, gwwg. I was rooting for you so hard. Thanks, It's (Not) About Me! I'm psyched to be cohort mates as well; it's going to be awesome!

Thanks, asleepawake!

Thanks, TripWillis! I still can't believe I actually made it!

Thanks, gwwg! I'm really rooting for your wait lists to convert!

Thanks, everyone! I'm super excited. I got the email at work, and I was shaking pretty much the rest of my shift, haha. Thanks, Swagato! Grad Cafe members did awesome this season! For those who weren't successful this round, try again next year: you certainly have our moral support every step of the way!

Hello all, I just received a funded offer from my top choice, so I'll be declining my spot at Georgetown. Best of luck to those waiting for funding or otherwise!

YOU GUYS!!! I've just been accepted to UNC-Chapel Hill!

My one acceptance is--as of yet-- unfunded, so unless I'm notified of funding sometime between now and the 15th, I'm counting it as a rejection, as I won't take an unfunded offer.

Amazing! Congrats! I'm so ready for my wait list spot to convert. I have good reason to suspect that it will, but nothing is guaranteed, so I could still end up empty-handed this season. I still have to wait for up to 12 more days... ugh...

As a prospective academic, I'm cool with renewable fixed-term contracts, though I think they should be at least for 3 years or so (having to move yourself and/or your family year-to-year would be rough). And, of course, these contracts should include a livable salary, benefits, and protection from dismissal for political, intellectual, etc. reasons. I agree that tenure is a slowly dying institution. And the answer certainly is not to make us all adjuncts. The exploitation of academic labor is one of the most significant and pernicious problems that developed countries face right now: it's something acknowledged and pitied but largely left alone (or worsened).

This. I'm sorry to hear you weren't successful this season, The Whistler, but you should seriously consider the comp lit route.

Okay, so maybe not "bad," but a 52% TT rate isn't exactly something to get excited about either. It's discipline-standard at this point in time, I suppose.

I don't think you're crazy for considering WVU over Buffalo (maybe if it were WVU over Berkeley or something... ). I do think that rankings matter, but WVU v. Buffalo is a special case: the former has a strong placement rate, whereas the latter has a kinda shitty placement rate (I remember feeling "meh" about UB's placement stats when I was scouting out programs). Basically, I'm in accord with other posters about this: I don't think you can go wrong, really. Either program would be a good choice.

Bingo. I think it's still better to have degrees from different institutions, as enjoying a wide variety of perspectives and departmental cultures is never a bad thing, but, TheCleve, I don't think getting a Ph.D. at your alma mater would be career suicide by any means.

Sending you good vibes as well! Here's to hoping! Same, gwwg! You have three great wait list spots; any one of them could convert. In fact, let's hope they all convert, so you can be in the enviable position of having multiple options! Thanks for your kind words, Swagato. I got extremely positive vibes during my visit: to be honest, in some respects it couldn't have gone better. One of the faculty members I met with--on a whim, strangely enough-- practically begged me to attend! He's on the admissions committee, so if they turn to the wait list, I do think I have a solid chance of being accepted, but lots of people would need to decline before they'd turn to it, I think. And what's more, most of the people I talked to at the visit weekend were certain they'd attend the program... It's complicated, in short. Everyone I talked to told me that I would fit perfectly with the program, and the Director of Graduate Admissions straight-up told me that the department wanted me to attend. But they can only make so many offers, so I'm at the mercy of the accepted students.

So exciting! UT-Austin seems like a fantastic program, and the Austin grad students on here all seem friendly and awesome. Congrats!

It's not over for me yet either, 1Q84! I have a spot on the wait list of a great Ph.D. program and an acceptance from Georgetown that I will not accept unless I'm offered funding, so this cycle could very well be a bust for me. It's so hard waiting to see if the wait list will convert or not, especially after having visited the campus in question and having met the faculty and current/prospective grad students [like It's (Not) About Me], who are so cool! April 15th seems so far away...

Badass. So excited for you! A good choice. UChicago is one of the best!

Is it "super prestigious"? That's news to me. Decline. Living in Pittsburgh is comparatively inexpensive (I have friends there), but an only partially funded M.A. is almost always a bad idea as far as I'm concerned. Graduate degrees in the humanities aren't worth going into debt. Work on your apps and reapply next year if your wait lists don't convert (but I hope that they do!).

Hm, I didn't get that email. Perhaps I'll get it sometime later today, but if not, maybe that means I'm on a wait list for funding? I was told I was "a very strong candidate for funding" in my acceptance email, though others received the same line without being offered any support.

skybythelight, I know you won't want to hear this, but I strongly advise that you decline Washington's offer and work for a year, maybe taking undergrad- or grad-level classes on the side if possible. I think you'd be making a huge mistake were you to attend Washington unfunded. That's a ton of debt to incur, and your job prospects--assuming you make it through the Ph.D.; lots of people drop out for various reasons-- are marginal. I know how hard it is to be stuck with just working another year: if my wait list never converts for me, I'll be in the same place. In my case, I just cannot accept paying $50k+ per year to attend Georgetown's M.A. program: it's not worth it. The reality is that the majority of us will be adjuncts. Even if we get decently paying adjunct gigs, we still won't have the disposable income to make any sort of significant dent in our loans, so it's critically important that we have as few loans as possible.

Absolutely UW-Madison.