Shao

Still have not received any information. Although I assume to be rejected by them, I cannot be sure by receiving the mail itself anyway. I must say they are so inscrutable in insisting in using ONLY snail mails to inform the applicants of the decisions (Am I in 1990s now?). Called the office today, but still automated message. They are not only making me wait, but also making those schools who gave me offers wait. And most importantly, they are making those waitlisters wait for a much longer time! Please, to people who plan to apply to PSU, beware their sluggish speed!

Hi all. I am an Asian student applying for English PhD (literature major) program this year (all unfunded). Now I have mainly three offers to choose from, and it's really a difficult call for me. My three offers are from... 1. Arizona State University: Compared to NY, I l think I am best fit to the local climate. The ranking of ASU is rising strongly in recent years, which seems very promising for prospective students. But the department's graduate classes are fewer and less appealing to me compared to the other two. 2. SUNY Buffalo: Best ranked among the three schools. Excellent faculty members. Abundant and attractive courses. But it's mandatory for full-time student to take four courses each semester, which is a formidable workload for international students. Besides this, UB is really a wonderful choice for me. 3. SUNY Albany: Friendly DGS and nice faculty members. Less classes options compared to UB but most of them look interesting and inspiring. But its ranking is the lowest among the three. I am strongly interested in one professor's research field but he's an assistant professor (since 2007) and accordingly cannot be my advisor if I need him in the future. Also I don't know if he will obtain tenure in the future (I know he's completing a book, and it's going to be published very soon) and don't know if he will stay at Albany if he gets tenured. It was originally my first choice because of the similarity between my research interests and the professor. Please give me some suggestions. Any advice will be appreciated.

I've done same things here too. Just can't help thinking that every year PSU has so many applicants and so few spots for them, and wondering why does rejecting early seem to be so difficult for them?

Can't agree with you more! PSU is the only school that I am waiting out now. Come on, people got their life to plan here!

I am an international student. When I thought of studying PhD in the US years ago, this problem confused me too, because there are rankings from various sources. Recently I also found in PhD.org (http://tinyurl.com/4zzemog) that there is a ranking specifically of PhD programs in English for this year, which I think is quite unconventional from the rankings I've seen before. But as you said, I finally decided to choose the schools to apply mainly according to "how fit" I am to the specific program and the available funding it provides. Below are the top 30 English PhD programs listed in PhD.org: 1. PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 2. HARVARD UNIVERSITY 3. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 4. UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 5. YALE UNIVERSITY 6. STANFORD UNIVERSITY 7. DUKE UNIVERSITY 8. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 9. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES 10. CORNELL UNIVERSITY 11. JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 12. NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 13. VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY 14. BROWN UNIVERSITY 15. EMORY UNIVERSITY 16. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS 17. RICE UNIVERSITY 18. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - BERKELEY 19. UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 20. CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY 21. UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA 22. TUFTS UNIVERSITY 23. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 24. NEW YORK UNIVERSITY 25.UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SANTA BARBARA 26. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA - CHAPEL HILL 27. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE 28. UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER 29. BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY 30. UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA