yank in the M20

Really? I'm interested in British 20th Cent.--Modernism, but also a lot of the outsider texts of the time. I'd love to work with Cooper and Nadel, but also Marlene Briggs, don't know if she was there during your undergrad, but she's very interested in reception of WW1, which is a big interest area of mine. What's your area of focus? Have you decided between Edinburgh and Madison yet? I have to say that I got into Edinburgh and Manchester and did my MA at Manchester and when I visited Edinburgh the following summer I was like, what did I do? It's absolutely stunning!

Thanks for the info. I'm on pins and needles--both because it was always my first choice and because I'm slowly but surely running out of other options. Congrats on your acceptances and good for you making a decision quickly! It must be exciting to plan/think about next year now.

Has anyone heard back from UBC? I've seen other Canadian universities go up on the results board, but still nothing here.

I emailed the graduate secretary and she said that all notifications have gone out--those nominated for fellowships were informed by email/phone, the rest of us will get hard copies of their decisions in the post. At least we'll know for sure soon.

This is the only university that I've seen that's posted a bunch of rejections before the acceptances. Weird. They'd better accept someone or I'm going to be really pissed off that they took all of our application fees with no plans to admit anyone. Good luck to all of you that are still in the running--I'm rooting for you because if some of you are accepted, then at least I'll know my application was given a fair chance.

Hey Anxious, I thought I'd read people saying on this board that the second MA could be a problem, but perhaps I was conflating the problem for teaching with the problem as a PhD applicant. Will you be able to teach on the one year MA? If so, I'd take it. If not, I'd think about it. As I said, the lack of teaching experience at the university level might be an issue, though maybe not with someone that taught high school like you, The only other question I'd ask if I was you is what the attitude towards people that get their BA and MA at the same institution is. I know that getting one's BA and PhD at the same university can make things tougher for you on the job market, or so I've read on these boards, but I'm not sure if the BA/MA at same would affect chances of getting into a PhD. Anyone want to weigh in? And I see you have a waitlist to consider--don't count yourself out yet! Good luck!

Hey there, I did an one-year MA in the UK, but didn't apply until the following year, after graduating. I would say that you won't have had much time to build up your reputation within the department in such a short time and your letters of reference will likely be less strong as a result. Also, you won't have gotten back a graded essay so you won't have the help on how to craft one that might be needed to perfect your writing sample. Two related things that you didn't ask, but that I feel the need to point out. First, completely secondhand, I've heard that having two MAs in different programs can be quite an obstacle to future jobs and getting into PhD programs. I would guess that the only exception here would be moving from a widely different field like the sciences into the humanities. And, based on my own experience doing my MA abroad, I would hesitate to recommend it. It was an amazing experience, I would recommend it for that, but there are almost no funding opps and no teaching possible during the MA. I've felt that the lack of teaching as well as feeling isolated from the US academic community has contributed negatively to my PhD applications. Also, my lecturers here are lecturers, not professors and, while they were amazing teachers and researchers, the US community really relishes titles for one's letter writers. Last of all, it's not normal to request support from your lecturers here during the PhD application season. They invited me to university events and chatted with me about my potential areas of study, but they did not read my SOP or my critical writing sample and they were unaware of the requirements and difficulties of the American PhD application system. Just a head's up...you might get that MA and then find yourself in my boat, unable to get into a PhD program.

I really don't want to know. No news is good news in this case since only those that have been rejected have heard. Therefore, I'm avoiding checking the website until I receive an email linking me there. Big flaw in my logic, but makes me feel like I still have a chance...

Come on, no need to be petty.

I'd say that those of us first rejected were the ones they wanted the least--no hope. They will turn to their waitlisted folks if/when people decline and then to the unofficial waitlist, as I'm calling you guys that didn't receive a rejection today. So, some hope. Unless rejections are going out alpha by last name or they are submitted to the graduate school by each subject area and only some subject areas submitted theirs? I don't know how these things work. My last name begins with a G and I'm interested in 20th Cent. British/Modernism if that's any help to you all still waiting.

quoting--'Maybe on round 2, I won't tell anyone I'm applying.' I thought the same, but I was such a stressed-out mess Aug-Dec and such a worried mess now that there is no way that I could not mention what I was doing without people seriously worrying about my well-being--if nothing else it explained my odd behavior. Plus, it's one of the only things you think about while applying and when decisions start coming out that it's hard not to share that with the people in your life. I agree with you about just wanting to know which schools will be more likely to like me for my experience. If I knew that certain schools had a preference for people just out of undergrad or even with a masters that they got directly after undergrad, I wouldn't have bothered to apply. It's like the rumor that BU doesn't like people with MAs--at least it's known around here, though obviously not advertised by them. So which universities don't like students over 30? And which care the most about previous program's prestige and/or the prestige of the letter-writers? Too late for me now, but would have really helped.

The rejections are rolling in now--I just received mine.

I know exactly what look you mean! I HATE having people feel sorry for me. And I know they aren't judging me, thinking I'm not good enough, but I can't keep that nagging suspicion at bay. I also have to say that I'm a bit jealous of all the support you guys have gotten--if it's offered, make use of it. I felt guilty getting my profs to submit to seven universities--the only people to see my SOP were from my MA cohort and same with the writing sample, plus a newly minted PhD. I didn't presume to ask my profs to read them and they didn't offer. I'm in England so I know it's a different sort of process here--if you were applying to their university, you would get their help, but it's not normal when applying elsewhere. And do any of you guys start to get annoyed with the schools for the perceived reasons for not admitting? I think about the long list of reasons I might not get in--because they favor young hotshots that'll have a PhD by 27 and a book, or two, by 30. That I said something naive or just off in my SOP, that my writing sample is on an unpopular author, that it looks at Freud, only in a historical context, but that this is unfashionable, that my letter writers were lecturers, not professors, because that's normal here in the UK but not in the US and so their letters will have less clout. And I get angry with the schools for some, like the last, thinking how ridiculous it is to be so focused on position, or the first, because I will be a dedicated student after knowing what it's like to work for years to support myself. Then I think that I was stupid to do my MA in England because my letter writers don't know people at the schools I applied to, there's less crossover abroad, and that can make a difference, as people on these boards have suggested. Or I think I fucked up in some tiny way with my writing and if I had only known--but also, why didn't I know, why wasn't I able to sense it? Okay, rant over. Just wanted to share with others in the same boat.

Thanks boppel88--that's good news for the rest of us. Not an implicit rejection yet. And congratulations, it's a great program.

Hey guys, I saw a posting on the results board yesterday that someone had heard from Bloomington, email from faculty. Do you know if they've contacted all of their accepts yet or is this a late fellowship notification (there were a few fellowship nominations a few weeks ago)? Any news would help all of us sitting here biting our nails.