cicada123

One comment: How would a PhD know if your MA was funded or not? And if the MA does not have any funding available, that is probably an irrelevant thing to consider. They accepted you, believed in your potential, but don't have funding available, period. As far as the prestige of the MA, I find myself considering this as well. I never thought I'd turn down an Ivy, especially WITH funding. Brown is my dream school, but I have decided that I don't want to do an MAT and would rather do a program that will help me place into a top PhD. The thing is that for jobs outside of academia that do not know about the best English grad programs out there Brown would look amazing on a CV. But since I do want to go onto a PhD in English, it seems that a MA at Virginia would look better actually, since the it is an MA in English and not an MAT. This opinion is shared by the director of admissions at CUNY and Virginia, along with a past director of admissions at Chicago and several professors. Nevertheless, it still will be painful to turn down Brown.

Thank you both so much for the advice and information. I keep hearing about these specific problems with MAPH. UVA's program does appear to be successful in placing students in top-ranked PhD's now, and it also appears that there has been increasingly more support for MA students there in the last two years. Everyone I met there was very kind, and I liked the fact that the MA's and PhD's seemed well-integrated.

I have a lot to say about this just having visited the English department at U of Virginia last week. My options/offers are: 1) Virginia MA (obviously, unfunded) 2) Brown MAT (Master of Arts in Teaching, good scholarship money) 3) U of Chicago MAPH (no funding) I did apply to PhD's this time around and have received positive feedback on my application from two top ten doctoral programs and one in the top 20, all of which were considering me. Nevertheless, in the end, no goat. Originally, my plan was to go to either an English PhD or a MAT (alternative plan). I did not really know about PhD referrals.cI have begun to lean against Brown, the Teaching program, and toward Virginia or Chicago. My goal is, without a doubt, to do whatever it takes to get into a top PhD and soon. I plan to apply again in Fall 2012. Considering this goal, it appears that Virginia and Chicago may help me more. Two Directors of Admissions, at both Virginia and CUNY, agree with that. My experience at Virginia: 1) It was important to me to learn if the PhD and MA students were well-integrated. I hate the idea of being considered "second-rate" and have enough pride to strongly believe I do not deserve that label. If I am going to pay all this money for an MA, it is imperative, I believe, that I get respect from the institution in which I enroll. I sat in the Graduate Student Lounge for a while this Wednesday. Every student (out of about fifteen in there) was extremely nice, and both the PhD and MA students in there said that in all their time there they had not experienced a separation between MA and PhD students. A couple PhDs told me that, in fact, they are always sad when MAs leave Virginia, because some of their best friends oftentimes end up being MA students (since there are more of them). The Director said that they try to make sure there is only "one universe" (not two, one for the MA and one for the PhD). I believe that to be true. 2) The campus and Charlottesville are beautiful. 3) I like the department. Too many reasons to explain here. 4) PhD placement rates in the last two years there have been excellent. This year, the placement director (for both MAs and PhDs) told me that all eight MAs who applied to PhDs this year got into at least two top funded PhD programs, one student even got into eight-ten. I started to exchange e-mails yesterday with a current PhD student at Virginia who did the MAPH program at Chicago. Much of what he said about MAPH is something I have heard before but wished were just rumor. Many seem to benefit placement-wise and intellectually from MAPH, and in some ways, the Humanities aspect of it and the philosophical nature of Chicago's English department attracts me, not to mention their recruitment tactics have been very convincing in some regards. What continues to frighten me about the program, however, is that there is a very negative attitude towards it on the part of some members of the university outside of it, and that negative attitude is similar in kind. Most complaints from admitted students concern (1) no funding for most people and (2) the negative attitude toward MAPH students within the university at large. The later criticism is so commonly repeated in my experience that I wonder if it is wise to continue considering this as I am. Why am I still considering Chicago then? 1) I may actually like the more philosophical nature of the English department (but not entirely sure). 2) Chicago is a larger city, and part of me likes to be lost in a sea of anonymity. 3) As the person I corresponded with pointed out, Chicago is more diverse in a variety of ways. 4) The program claims to help with placement (but when I recently asked the Director about placement rates, she said that it is pretty impossible to keep track of that but that many students report success in placement after the program). Anyway, I am still in need of further advice and just wanted to provide others the information I have.

Dear Leto, I am also sorry. I can imagine how terrible that would feel.

Ah, I see. I'm sorry about that. I didn't realize you were on it. Congratulations! I bet they were on the top and got off, which is good news for everyone else on the list. I really shouldnt be on this forum anymore since I have all my results now. I just kind of what to know who is doing the terminal MA there next year, or just who was admitted. quote name='the giaour' timestamp='1300811331' post='229113'] Thanks for the reply, cicada, but I was asking whether the admission posting (via website) on the results page was from somebody who had gotten in off the wait list, or from somebody who had already known for a while that they had been admitted and had just noticed that their status had finally updated. I am aware that decisions have been made, but for people who are already on the PhD wait list, it's confusing to see a post about someone being accepted to the PhD program from the website--I was just trying to get more information about that specific post on the results page.

I am sorry you guys, but I know the situation pretty much for certain. I was accepted to the English MA and know that all acceptances and waitlist decisions were finalized as of the end of last week, acceptances as of a while ago. It may be that not all have been informed by now that they made the waitlist, but I kind of doubt it.

It sounds like a good program. I would not mind having that freedom.

Woolfie, I sympathize. I'm in pretty much in your same position. Master's offers for an assortment of programs from Brown, Rice, probably Chicago, and City University of New York. I applied to the Brown Master's and Rice Master's directly--those were separate from Ph.D's. But Chicago and CUNY were referrals from Ph.D's. I was a hair away from acceptance at CUNY. The Master's is unfunded though, so it is not under my consideration. I, too, am happy about the Master's programs I was accepted to. Brown has been my dream school since I was 16, and I am very happy about the acceptance. Rice's and Brown's offers are well-funded. Nevertheless, I do plan to get into a Ph.D. in the very near future, like you. I, like you, am very serious about a Ph.D, and I do not doubt my abilities, despite not having been accepted (though I still have the unlikely Virginia to hear from). I'm fresh out of my Bachelor's, though. After hearing what the Director of Admissions at CUNY had to say (I got application feedback), it seems that everything about my application there was positively received, except for the fact that I did not mention the professors I wanted to work with (and the fact, less important than that, that my GRE writing score was a 4.5--probably due to a rating of being off-topic). What I have learned from this process: (1) I had a respectable application with a writing sample, recommendations, personal statement (minus the missing paragraph about professors), good GRE quantitative and verbal scores, and a near-perfect GPA from a good University as my primary assets; (2) I have not had enough time to network and learn about professors in the various departments, although I did quite a lot of research on each of the schools I applied to; (3) It is in a small way, at least, to one's advantage to have time between undergrad and the Ph.D. for reason number two. All of this could be wrong, but it is what I am going to conclude for myself.

Jesus Christ. I finally just cracked and called MAPH. This is what I have discovered: My application indeed was referred to MAPH. They were unable to tell me the decision at this time but said the Ph.D. only refers applications that they believe have a good chance of getting accepted to the Master's. MAPH does try to personalize all acceptance e-mails. If you were accepted to the program, a faculty member who read your application should be in touch with you through e-mail by the end of this week at the latest. Letters were also mailed last week sometime. <br>Looks like absolutely all Ph.D. decisions (including wait-listing if there was one) have been made, and if you have not heard, you were most definitely referred to MAPH.

Ah, well then, I think you have solved my riddle. Thank you. I will now actually go enjoy my Spring Break and try to stop evaluating currently-nonexistent possibilities.

Gdom87, have you heard anything back from Chicago yet? I'm trying to figure out what is going on considering that some MAPH offers have now gone out.

Was it a form e-mail? Or was it written to you personally?

Congrats on the waitlist! This probably means that rejections are on the way.

Waiting this late is really difficult.

Great information to know. I will certainly be asking you more about it if the situation arises. This is getting incredibly nerve-wracking. I'm visiting two schools on opposite sides of the country this week and do not know all of my options yet. Does anyone know if Chicago has wait-listed anyone yet? Maybe, we are on some kind of alternate list, lyonessrampant?

Have you enjoyed the MAPH program?

I don't know, but maybe something is going on. The Program Coordinator's words were (when I emailed asking about my status at the beginning of this week) that she was sorry that I was having to wait a while but that I should be hearing from the Division sometime at the end of the week or the week after (this coming week). Thus, it is clear that my letter was not lost. She seemed to know why I was still waiting. Maybe we are in the same boat? Ah, so tired of this.

Has anyone received any news recently? Still no word for me.

Is anyone else still in my position?

I have not received anything from Chicago yet. I see that there is a new post on the results board--said person received an MAPH offer e-mail today. Any ideas why I have still not heard?

Perhaps. It depends on the funding and a couple of other factors, such as the track record in job/Ph.D. placement afterwards. Additionally, I believe I have a chance at Washington. And I would go there if I were accepted. Virginia seems unlikely, and I'm not getting my hopes up.

I would like to hear good news today. Cicada - Platonic myth, bugs as nymphs. They are fated to sing beautifully for a short time, then to die--analogous to human life.

I'm in the same position, and I think it means that our files have been deferred to the MAPH program or that we are wait-listed (this seems less likely to me).

I'm sorry for asking this. But could someone who has received a rejection letter tell me if their online graduate page has been updated with the admissions decision?

Seven schools is a lot left yet. I was certain I wasn't going to get in anywhere at all after my third rejection out of the twelve schools I applied to. I had four rejections before I was accepted somewhere and the last two before I was accepted to the second place. Aside from the two acceptances I list, a Ph.D. offered me a Master's, but it was unfunded. Although I want to get into one of the three doctoral places left very badly, my other options are nothing to complain about. I really need to know about these other programs soon, however. April 15 is not that far away anymore.