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margate

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Everything posted by margate

  1. Just to chime in (since I'm apparently procrastinating this morning) from my own experiences last year -- If you're declining an offer, make sure to go through whatever online system they have -- just telling the Department itself isn't "officially" enough. If you're not certain whether a particular program has some online button to press, ask. I let several programs know in early April that I wouldn't be attending, but then got e-mails/phone calls from them on/around April 15, because they needed an "official" decline before they could offer someone on their waitlist. So help out the programs and the waitlisters, and avoid my mid-April guilt.
  2. As someone currently in the Michigan program, if anyone accepted/waitlisted has any questions, feel free to message me and I'll do my best to answer. (I don't check my account too frequently, so there might be a delay in my getting back to you.)
  3. Re: Vandy -- perhaps this was just coincidence, but I got my rejection less than 24 hours after e-mailing to let them know that even though I hadn't heard anything from them, I was accepting an offer elsewhere and letting them know. It was amusing.
  4. I don't remember whether I posted it on the board or not, but I got a wait-list letter -- it sounded like the department was holding off on sending letters until they heard back from the university about possibly getting more funding for more spots, but they still haven't heard anything, so they went ahead and sent out wait-list letters. I don't know if everyone on the WL got one, or if other letters went out; it was a pretty exasperated letter on their part -- like they were going through with the university what it sounds like many of us have gone through when trying to figure out whether there's any method to the madness in the notification system, or what silence/non-commital responses mean.
  5. What he said. (EDIT: Or she! How is one to know, behind internet anonymity?)
  6. Vanderbilt, too. And no one has mentioned the potential for disaster that expecting ETS to send the correct scores to the correct places by the correct date can be. As a heads-up: if you had a different mailing address when you took the GRE General from when you took the GRE Subject, you should call to make sure they have merged the damn files. I learned this the hard way 3 hours before a flight in late December.
  7. For what it's worth, subject-test-wise, the best thing I did to study (without realizing it!) was to take a survey course in pre-1798 British lit. There's shockingly little on the exam from after 1900, so be warned.
  8. The one by phone was me. I got a phone call this morning from the professor in charge of admissions. She definitely mentioned having had trouble getting hold of people, which may explain why there's now an e-mail on the board.
  9. I got an e-mail late last night to check the website. I couldn't find any real information about the cohort or funding there, though there was an implication that contact by the department itself will follow.
  10. Google Books and/or Amazon's "preview" feature (or your university library, I suppose) are wonderful tools for this. So is Google Scholar, even if all you get are titles and/or abstracts -- that's more than the faculty webpage will offer, and often more than a CV will, if you're lucky enough to find one. I narrowed my list of schools and POIs based on CVs and descriptions of interests on faculty pages, and then skimmed their actual publications and took notes before I wrote each statement. It's not that you have to fully read each article or book -- I mostly just skimmed introductions and conclusions of books (depended on what was available), maybe doing the same with a particularly relevant chapter; and since I no longer have access to JSTOR, I wasn't able to burn too much time on articles. If there are other fields that also deal with some of your interests, investigate their departments, too; see what type of official/unofficial cooperation among students and professors there might be.
  11. And ... a definition of the 50% load for TAing:
  12. Just checked their website. They do have a terminal M.A. program, separate from the PhD.
  13. My eyes just about popped out when I saw the stipend on that one. That is, I suppose, one way to make sure that those you choose, choose you. Congratulations.
  14. I just received a reply to some questions about post-first year funding from Michael Lambert. The relevant portions: I'm not certain how many courses a quarter 50% is, however. Just wanted to share the numbers, since they weren't in my letter and I couldn't find them on the website.
  15. I didn't apply to Rhet/Comp programs, and I don't know how well this applies to your given situation, but: I majored in both Classics and English, but spent more of my time/energy in Classics, including an undergrad thesis that became my writing sample. My SOP talked about 20th/21st c. Jewish-American fiction; my writing sample was a study of a Greek poet from the Archaic period. It sort of showed something of the theoretical approach to literature that I was claiming I'd use in graduate study, but only if you were looking for it. The more important thing was that it showed I could write well, think clearly, and do literary research. I could have used things "more related" to my field, but I went with the stronger paper and applications have been going pretty well so far. On the other hand -- you've got plenty of time. Contact departments you're interested in, and see whether they do, in fact, care.
  16. I got an e-mail back from him saying that a schedule and travel expense information would be coming soon -- it sounded like there's definitely SOME money, but that they're trying to figure out exactly how much, and how to divide it up.
  17. Just got the rejection e-mail. 164 applicants; 2 fellowships. It wasn't entirely unexpected -- because of the deadline, it was the first application I wrote and as I worked on others I realized it was not anywhere near as good a fit as I thought when I applied. Congrats to the two who made it -- though there doesn't seem to be a history of their using GradCafe...
  18. I've heard nothing. But I've also been trying not to over-think response time-frames (so I only allowed myself one investigation of the results page archives) so I can't even remember when they "should" be notifying.
  19. Ditto. Of course, I think one of my problems with last year's set of applications was that I used them to take my mind off my (undergraduate) thesis, rather than the other way around... On the other hand, the thesis won an award, which came with some cash, so there's that. (Unfortunately, $200 does not equal a year's funding...)
  20. I don't know how relevant this is, because I went 0-for-too-many in a different field last year (Classics), but: after a series of life crises in which I realized -- after submitting applications but before hearing back from any -- that I probably would be miserable in a Classics PhD. program (for which my Latin was probably too weak anyway; I'm a Hellenophile thru and thru). And eventually I realized I still wanted to teach, and that I should never have talked myself out of English programs, blah blah. But last year I didn't even know why I wanted to go to graduate school. And that came through in every part of my applications, I think. The biggest difference is that I now have some idea of what a statement of purpose is. Compared to what I wrote this year, I'm embarrassed at the thought of anyone reading what I sent out last cycle. This is going to sound stereotypical, but: be FOCUSED and be CONFIDENT. Try to avoid saying what everyone's thinking. Last year's were trite and rambling; this year's were tight and knew what they were about. (Even if I'd gotten in nowhere, I'd feel this way about SOPs -- in fact, I was worried they were still trite and rambling.) My writing sample was also much stronger: last year's was a good paper (I presented it at a conference and got a lot of positive feedback), but nowhere near the quality of what I used this year, the strongest chapter of my undergraduate thesis (which is about Greek poetry from the Archaic period -- so not everywhere seems to want your sample to match your interests). Finally, and no one really wants to hear this, but not applying as an undergraduate (while losing my mind trying to write a thesis) was a big help. Even my extreme under-employment was useful: I had plenty of time to work and worry, all in the same day. Not to mention that I didn't even write my writing sample until this time last year. And keep your chin up. I was convinced I was going to have no options other than Buffalo's M.A. program until about 1:45 this afternoon. And if there was any thought worse than no option for next year, it was my only option being PAYING to live in BUFFALO. (I dug my car out of several feet of snow last Thursday; I'm still traumatized.)
  21. I got an e-mail with roughly the same information. And had basically the same reaction.
  22. Attempt reading long hefty novels that you won't ever have time for in grad school. Bourbon. Cook something. Preferably something time-consuming and difficult that you're convinced you'll fail in making. Because then, when you succeed in making something edible, you'll be reminded that certain failure is not always so certain... Clean. (I finally got around to giving the kitchen sink a thorough scrubbing in the last 48 hours.) Attempt to learn another language. Finally, and most important: strive to become the world's foremost champion in computer Solitaire, Hearts, and Minesweeper.
  23. The e-mail I got said 250+ applications for 13 spots. Also, if you're the person in the results (or elsewhere!) who mentioned having gone through Buffalo's MA program, I may want to assault you with questions. It depends on how the rest of the season goes for me. (And I thought I was impatiently awaiting to hear back BEFORE yesterday afternoon...)
  24. I'm 20th century; I think I heard from Prof. Hammill because of he's one of the graduate coordinators. As for the website, mine still says "Not Reviewed" so at the very least they haven't updated wait-listed ones yet.
  25. So I've been out here lurking for a while (and, like everyone, hitting refresh too many times), but I just received an e-mail from Graham Hammill letting me know I'm on their PhD. wait-list. (That was me on the results page.) Over 250 applicants for 13 spots, apparently; the wait-listing came with an unofficial (details to come, apparently) acceptance into their M.A. program. Has anyone else heard anything? Anyway, I guess I've got mixed feelings -- but it's certainly better than the days when I still thought I wanted to be a Classicist and went 0-for-everything.
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