Liz

I'm about 90% sure I'll be going to Berkeley for English next year (still have a few visits to other schools before I decide for sure). Carlula, I think I got the same fellowship you did, which my adviser tells me is about as good as it can get at such a great school (his exact words were "it's an embarrassment of riches"). But I'm still kind of worried about not being able to make ends meet in such a notoriously expensive place to live. But I guess there are worse things in the world than being a poor grad student at Berkeley. I look forward to hearing what you all think about the school. Anyone going to the prospective students weekend?

Unfortunately, I think it is correct. Again, from the GW English blog (http://gwenglish.blogspot.com/): "I've written on this blog before about how, economically, it is not easy to be a graduate student at GW because our programs are in general underfunded. This paucity of resources seems especially evident in English, where we possess the means to fund a total of only EIGHT students at any one time. Graduate programs our size at comparable institutions typically fund three times that number. I've outlined on this blog what a fully funded English graduate program at GW would look like. I stand by my assertion that such a program would be the envy of anything in the Ivy League: we have resources here in DC (the Folger, the Library of Congress) that other programs simply cannot match. Our faculty are unparallelled. It disappoints me that we do not possess the resources to create a graduate program in English that achieves our actual ambitions, because everyone would benefit: undergraduates, by having the best possible teachers and role models in their survey classes; faculty, by training and working with those at the cutting edge of humanities research; and graduate students, by having the financial support they require to undertake advanced literary study. "In my annual report last year, I observed the following: "Major Challenges & Obstacles Our greatest obstacle is our meager budget. Some pressure has been alleviated through the influx of donor and research money, so that for the first time we can afford to sponsor visiting scholars. We do not, however, have a reliable source to pay for faculty travel, office equipment, or new initiatives. "Where our poverty in resources will impact us most, however, is our graduate program. We have so few GTAs assigned to the department that we cannot actually sustain a sufficient cadre of graduate students: we cannot, in other words, attain the critical mass that we need in order to become the program worthy of a Research I university that we know we could be. As things stand now, we will likely be able to support and therefore admit NO doctoral students in 2008-09, a catastrophe for a PhD program that has burgeoned in strength and quality over the past few years. This lack of GTAs will impact undergraduate education as well, compelling us to rethink our ability to offer the successful English 40W course since it relies upon GTAs for sections. "Sadly, nothing I wrote in that second paragraph has changed since I composed its dire words last June. The English Department has seen no increase to its support for graduate students -- and may even face a reduction due to budget cuts. That lack of funding means we may not be able to attract any PhD students this year, preventing a doctoral program of great promise from achieving its superlative potential."

Thanks, Minnie. That definitely helps, disappointing as the news is. Fortunately, I have other options, but it's just a shame that such a cool program with a great relationship with the Folger is in such dire straits. Here's the link to the blog, should anyone else need it: http://gwenglish.blogspot.com/2008/10/w ... html#links

Actually, I check this forum quite regularly. Perhaps there is some confusion due to the similarity of names. I'm wondering about George Washington University in Washington, D.C. I may have missed it, but I don't think there has been much discussion of this school.

Has anyone heard anything from George Washington (the university, not the dead president)? Their website has application information from two years ago. This does not inspire confidence.

If you haven't heard yet, then, well... "Update 02/20/2009: Admissions for Fall 2009 is closed. PhD decisions should be available online shortly. The Graduate Chair has already contacted those students accepted into the PhD program this week. Letters for all students will also be sent the prospective student's primary address. MA decisions will be made by mid March." Oh well.

I was wondering about the veracity of that post myself. I don't have an update either, which I want to take as a good sign, but I think it's no sign....

I, too, am waiting on UCLA's English lit Ph.D. program. You are not alone.

If I were in your situation, I would definitely choose Virginia, even though I specialize in Renaissance lit (a strength at Chicago) and actually live in Chicago. The U of C area, as mentioned by a previous poster, has a very mixed reputation. The area is pretty dodgy, and the parts that aren't are expensive as hell--not places you would be able to afford at $19,500 a year. You could, of course, live in a less expensive area of the city, but public transit is a disgrace, parking in that area is at least $3/hr, the Olympics might come to the city (more debt for an already poorly run, corrupt city), and the weather is just plain bad. We've just been ranked as the third most miserable city in the country, and I wholeheartedly agree with it! Perhaps this is turning into a diatribe against the city in general, but U of C also has a reputation for being particularly demanding of their grad students (see the following article: http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/s ... ss/080501/). But things at the school are a-changing, so it would probably behoove you to speak to come current students when you visit the campus (definitely a must). These are my two cents, but you probably should count them for all that much. And to answer your question, hopskipjump, I was lucky enough to get into Berkeley and am still astounded by it. From the professor I spoke to, my personal history statement left quite an impression (I got into "dream" schools as an undergrad, couldn't go because I was paying my own way, went to a state school and excelled, have dedicated myself to diversifying graduate education). And from the other schools I've spoken to, the writing sample was paramount. Still, I think an element of luck/fortune/chance cannot be discounted.... Good luck making a tough (but enviable) decision!

I don't really know about how/when more people will be accepted to Berkeley, but their prospective students weekend is the second weekend in March, so I doubt they're done notifying everyone yet. Good luck!

Thanks for the congrats, lyoness. But please don't freak out! Unfortunately, I don't have any more info about U of I, but I don't think you should give up hope yet. This is still really early in the game, and I'm shocked to have heard from anyone yet.

In the case of Minnesota (a PhD), I think the early date was due to an impending deadline for a university-wide fellowship that they wanted to nominate me for, but I'm speculating there. As for UIUC (MA/PhD), I did a summer research program there over the summer and worked with a senior faculty member, so perhaps that was my foot in the door for an early acceptance (again, speculation). I hope these details don't make you agonize any more than you already are. Good luck.

Silibance-- I found out about Minnesota first, and that was by phone on Jan. 18. I got a letter from the English department at UIUC on Jan. 30, and I got an official notification via a message from the application system today.

Yeah, potential bummer about Michigan for me too. I just found this website today because obsession is setting in, and I promised myself that I wasn't going to look at it anymore...but here I am. I guess I don't have much of a right to be disappointed; I've been accepted to Northwestern, Minnesota, and U of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (I'm not trying to rub it in, honestly. I realize how lucky I am.) But I'm still waiting for the really big ones: Berkeley, UCLA, Penn, and Michigan. Well, I guess I can cross Michigan off the list. Best of luck to everyone, really.