Amalia222

I just found out that my acceptance offer is only for 4 years of tuition funding. After that, I will have to pay the in-state tuition. Is this a big deal? Are there other ways to get funding for that last year? Is it actually possible to take summer classes and graduate early (one option I've thought about?) I've always been under the impression that it is tough for someone like me to get scholarships (my family is middle class, I'm white). And creative writing is not exactly a big moneymaker. Any ideas?

Hi All, I just wanted to leave a note here in case anybody else ends up in my position. I graduated from my MA in 2002, and left to travel the world. When I started thinking about going back to grad school in 2006, I recontacted the profs from my graduate committee. They all declined. Every single one. They didn't remember me, they had retired from academic, they were too busy....blah, blah, blah. I started trying other professors, but it had just been too long. I could only get one person to agree, and she was my teaching assistantship supervisor, rather than a prof I'd worked with. It wasn't ideal, but I was grateful. That left two spots vacant, and no ideas. I ended up not applying, because I was so discouraged by the whole LOR situation. Fast forward to 2010. I decided the only way to fulfill my dream meant getting LOR the hard way. So I enrolled in 4 community college courses, going to school full time for just one semester. I figured I'd choose 2 of my four profs, the ones I liked the most and who might be sympathetic to my plight. I did everything I could to excel in those classes, often offering to help them with outside projects. It worked out. Now, a lot of people say you shouldn't get LORs from community college profs, and that major universities will not look at you if you do. That is NOT TRUE. I was accepted into grad school this year, despite having community college profs do my LOR. I explained my situation in my SOP, and now I finally get to do what I want to do. So I guess I just wanted to tell people not to get discouraged by LOR. For me, getting LOR was the hardest part of the whole process! Oh, I also recommend giving your profs a portfolio of your work, a CV, and other information, especially if they haven't had time to get to know you that well. I also kept my recommenders informed whenever I published anythting, so they felt part of my application process. Good luck!

I would just email them and ask them when the deadline is for decisions. Then you'll know for sure.

world news

monster mash

oooooooh this is so exciting! Is anyone else having heart palpitations every time they open the mailbox? I know I shouldn't be so anxious, because I already have one acceptance, but I can't help it! I want to know, DANGIT!!!

.....um. continuing from above. CROCODILE HUNTERS

I was accepted at Texas A&M with a 1230/mo. stipend. I am most interested in renting a 1br or studio, since I don't want roommates. Can I afford to do this, and live, considering the amount of my stipend? Any thoughts?

close encounters

THANKS!!! This is great advice. Most likely, I will take the offer I have on the table. It's a great school/great offer, and a good program. It's just hard, though, because I don't want to be thinking about the "road not taken" two years down the road. I want to make sure I made the right decision. But you're right, I can easily notify my "less desirable" schools now, because I already know I won't be going there, even if I got in. Good suggestions!

I could totally turn this question around by saying that (especially in the humanities!) I HAVE to go to graduate school if I want to work. I've had an MA for years, and every time I've tried to apply for jobs at community colleges, people with Ph.Ds beat me out for the jobs. Prior to applying for graduate school, I've only been able to get part-time and low-pay jobs due to the economy. I taught for years abroad, yet when I came home to California, I found that you cannot work in the CA education system without taking 1-2 years to get a credential (and I can't afford the expense and time not working!) and then you are stuck working in underfunded, miserable high schools and elementary schools. For me, the Ph.D. is a godsend--not only do I have a 5 year reprieve, where I can work on my writing and educate myself (I confess, I'm a school nerd. I love it!), but when I get out, at least I have a shot at being a college professor, when before people wouldn't even blink at my MA. I had no Plan B other than my Ph.D, because I've been looking for work for MONTHS and only could get part time jobs, and never enough income to support myself. A big part of my decision had to do with the economy--I'm just lucky it worked out in my favor. But I don't think it's enough to go to grad school just because you can't find a job. You have to really have a passion for what you are doing, and commit to 5 years of hard work and scholarship. I've been planning to get my doctorate for years, and the economy was only one aspect of my decision to apply now.

best man

Hey, I saw on the results board someone else got in to the English dept. Drop me a message!

How do the other schools know that you've accepted an offer?

northern lights

I got small, personalized gifts for my recommenders. For example, I know one of my recommenders loves horses, so I got her a ceramic mug with some horses on it (about 15$). Another professor is very healthy, so I got her trail mix and other healthy snacks in a small gift bag. To the third one I simply sent a card with a heartfelt message, since she lives far away. hope this helps! Even just a card with a nice note is usually fine with them. They know we're starving students. :-)

bedroom eyes

I think many schools overlook low GRE scores if the rest of your application is good, and you are a good fit for the department. If you don't get in anywhere, I suppose there will be nothing for it but to try again and do better on it (they're getting rid of analogies on the new gre!! YAY!!!). Good luck! (I studied for an entire year for my GREs, just to be safe. The GRE literature is freakin' impossible!!)

Hi all, My first response was, amazingly, a yes. It's a great offer, and I'm stoked, but it makes me wonder--- What if some of the other schools I applied to notify after my April 15th date? If I got another acceptance from a "better" program after April 15th, that would be a horrible situation to be in, to have to back out after the deadline (and thus piss off one school), or (even worse?) turn down a great opportunity in order to avoid causing problems. What to do?

I emphathized with your situation, T.... After my first year of my MA, I went through a funk like that, for sure. It was the beginning of a dawning realization--that I was in the wrong field, and I was not studying/doing what I really wanted to be doing in life. So maybe what you have to do is some soul-searching. Is it possible that the path you are on something you really, really want to do? Or is it something less severe, like loneliness, or lack of a satisfying social life, that makes your grad school experience seem bland? There are so many factors that play into someone's general happiness, so it's hard to give advice, because you never know what someone is really going through. I can tell you, though, that when I finished my master's, I went off and traveled the world for many years, rather than return to academia. It is only now that I am really more "gung-ho" about coming back. If the magic is gone, I advise looking into what is missing from your life. Is it simply the predictability of life? Maybe you need a summer trip or adventure to recharge your batteries? Just sayin'.

I think it depends what you are applying for, right? If you are a perfect fit for the department, and you have great stats, and you think you are a shoe-in for it, I guess it makes sense to apply to only one (although that would scare me, too!!). I went big, because my GREs were about to expire, and I don't have the money to apply again next year. So it was all or nothing. With creative writing, it's sooooooo competitive, so I decided to apply to as many schools as I could. As everybody on here keeps saying, it's a "craps shoot", and you never know if you're going to be the thing they're looking for, or if you will get beat out by somebody who's just an inch better. I wish you all best of luck!

cackling witches

I know what you mean about March. I am having pre-mailbox panic/anxiety attacks. When i discover only junkmail inside, I vehemently tear it into shreds while simultaneously feeling a deep sense of relief that at least it wasn't a rejection letter!!

trying times

It seems to me that all the responses are going out this week *gulp*! I got my first one today, and I have a feeling more are to come this week! Best of luck to all! They're on the way!