osodulce

I do recall an earlier thread (I think in the Literature section) where someone had heard from the department that they would be sending out notifications this week.

I concur. I just finished my degree this fall semester. I've been working one full time job and a part time job for the last three years while finishing school. Last semester was insane--two jobs, three classes (was only supposed to take one but had to take three to qualify for health insurance!), PhD applications, and major surgery. Now, all I have to do is wait? What? That's a recipe for insanity. I need to start some overly ambitious projects, like building a new dining room table or something...

I broke down and called this morning. The admin I spoke with said that she had no information.

Congratulations!

Congratulations, rubyrunner and everyone who was accepted. I saw on the results board that someone got a rejection email from the department. Did anyone else? (You can just post on the results board if you don't want to say here.) I still haven't heard anything.

Congratulations and good luck with your interview.

Congratulations to the people who got the UMass acceptances. If you have any information about their process--is it complete, etc--could you share? Also, one person posted a rejection on the results board. Does this mean they're done? If any one else has gotten a rejection, care to post it on the results board? I'm going a bit out of my skin. The program director emailed me last week telling me that they had lost my writing sample and to please resend it.

I did, too. I saw in another thread that someone emailed the program asking, and they said that decisions would be out mid-Feb.

Ah, yes. I will remember this when the cannibals are sucking the marrow from my bones. And it will be worth it.

Ohhhhh, I'm going super extra crazy. Two people posted email acceptances to UMass this afternoon, and I didn't get anything. Not that UMass is the perfect, perfect program for me, but it's close to home, and I thought I had a shot. (Also, the more anxious I get the more my vocabulary seems to shrink, which is a bit of additional humiliation.) Just got home from work. The gin from last night is on the table--but there's only a quarter inch left in the bottle. I was planning on switching to bourbon tonight anyway. Sure, definitely going to get it somewhere--calculated that I will get into 2.65 programs--but will probably get in somewhere far away, endure a year or so of trying long distance relationship before my partner ends up leaving me during which my grades will suffer so much that I will end up teaching Sarah Palin's grandchildren at Juneau Community College, during which time Alaska will become a breakaway republic which will initiate a brief period of a once in a lifetime opportunity to study the rhetoric of nationhood in its infancy before I am cannibalized by starving hoards of rednecks alla The Road. Where'd I put that bourbon?

Oh this is excellent nerdiness. Truly wonderful. I've amused myself for a full hour calculating and researching. Thank you. I'll caution though that, as with everything, the veracity of the data is key--and I'm not sure how reliable the data is. Even if the data is correct, there are some built in assumptions. First, there's an assumption here that the department is both getting the same number of applications and has the same number of spots as last year. That's not necessarily true. A lot of schools have had their budgets cut or simply decided to have smaller departments, and particularly departments with names ending in "Studies" seem to be getting smaller. Also, there's no breakdown for departments which grant multiple degrees--and English departments tend to grant a lot of different degrees. Take the University of Iowa. They have a few different PhD tracks, a terminal MA, and the most competitive MFA program in the country. All this site says is that they have almost 1,500 applicants and accept 8% of them. If you're applying for a PhD at Iowa, these numbers are meaningless because of all of the MFA applicants. That said, Thank you.

Congratulations!

I saw a result on the board last night from UC Davis. Does anyone want to claim it? The date seems to be consistent with previous years. I am reminding myself that it is three hours earlier on the west coast....

Woodford Reserve is wonderful. I also love a 10 year old Talisker scotch--a nice salty punch in the mouth, perfect for rejection--and celebration.

Sorry for not explaining. In the past their conference has been in Mar/April. This year it's happening right now, so that could be throwing off their timelines.

It may be more reasonable to say that it has to do with AWP being earlier this year. If the literature and creative writing departments share staff--it may be that notifications will come out after AWP ends (on Saturday) and faculty settle back in next week. Go Packers--and good luck with your applications.

Thanks for the update. Also, as my adviser just reminded me, trying to interpret anything from this little data is essentially reading tea leaves. Don't give up hope. It could just be an overworked admin.

Congratulations, lyoness. I got waitlisted there, and I have an etiquette question. I got a very nice, apologetic email, which I think was implying that in addition to shrinking the size of their entering class they are also only admitting students for who they have funding, saying that they hope to be in touch soon with a definite answer. Do I reply to this email? What do I say? I have one offer which I would rank fairly equally to KU (from last year--I had to defer) and a lot of schools where I would rather be which I haven't back from. What's the politic thing to do in this situation? I'm typically a pretty straight forward person, but I am learning that this doesn't always play in academia. Thank you.

Having gone to both a big public university and one of those Ivy-types, I can understand your concerns. I had similar ones, and my Ivy-type experience hasn't been perfect. Mostly, I don't think that people at these places intend to be snobbish or elitist--most of the time--but there's a considerable amount of, shall we say, unexamined privilege. That said, the people who are going to be your peers all had to prove themselves intellectually to be admitted. That tends to weed out at least the people who have unfounded arrogance. There have been a lot of good points raised in the previous posts. I just want to add two things. About funding, my sense is that, in this economic environment, private institutions are less likely than state governments to run out of money and decide to stop paying graduate students. The place that I've found the most attachment to elitism is in the undergrad population, and if part of your funding package is teaching, you will have to interact with them. When you visit--and I don't think that you can make a fair decision without visiting--seek out graduate students from similar backgrounds as you and ask them about their experiences. Be open and honest about this as a concern. What people say in response and how they respond to the question will tell you a lot. Congratulations and good luck with your decision making process.

If you do email, let us know what you find out.

Has anyone heard from Minnesota? I heard that their adcomm met on the 11th to make final decisions. Based on the Results Board, in all previous years acceptances went out in January. Any news?

I'm waiting, too. I know that on January 11th the admissions committee met to make final decisions, but I hadn't hear anything yet.

Anal retentive kitchen projects are my preferred coping mechanism. Marmalade - take just the zest off of a dozen oranges, mince it, put it in a pot; cut the pith off the oranges and throw it away, separate the flesh from the membranes, put the flesh and juice in the pot, put the membranes in a bag, put the bag in the pot, simmer for a half hour; cool, milk pectin from bag, add sugar, boil to exactly 220.5 degrees - viola, six hours of focus. Croissants - makes some really rich dough, let it rise in the cold, roll and fold with butter until there are 72 layers of butter and dough, let it rise in the cold, roll out, cut into triangles, roll into crescent shapes, let rise in the cold, bake at high heat - viola, three days of mornings. I just got myself a ravioli cutter--stuffed pastas here I come.