lyonessrampant

Congrats Disney and books!

So far posted on results have been only rejections and the one acceptance described above, and it sounds like that one wouldn't have been notified except for extenuating circumstances. There has yet to be a wave of acceptances.

Thanks ! It was accepted to Quidditas. I'm an early modernist and that's a Medieval/Renaissance specific journal. The peer-review process took FOREVER (like I literally mailed it back in September or October), so I just thought I'd share that time frame in case anyone else is thinking/in the process of review. This is my first real publication (some little ones that aren't the same field), so I'm pretty excited!!!

I love everyone's literary and sophisticated handles too. Mine refers to my favorite YA lit book series. Yes, that's how mature and awesome I am I haven't heard anything from UW either. There's a rejection posted today (sorry!), and I just got an email that an article I submitted was accepted for publication, so I'm taking this as a portent of good things . . . Dear portent, please bring good things! Sincerely, anxious applicant/supplicant begging at the feet of the grad gods.

To the artist formerly known as. . . Stesha Good luck! Good luck to all waiting. So just ready to know. Here's to hoping they notify everyone SOON.

Congrats on the admit and thanks for sharing! It sounds like they'll be sending out most of the first round offers later once they figure out funding. Good luck to all of us waiting and best of luck on funding!

So Germaine, were you accepted to the MA/Ph.D program? Is the admit on the results board yours? Congrats if so and could you share any info about admit numbers or anything?

LOL Congrats again. I haven't gotten the funding email yet either. I'm sure they're on the way!

Does that mean you got in wanderlust? If so, congrats!!!!

That is so depressing

I know we're all in agreement, but thanks for the opportunity to vent. I also appreciate all of the opinions and views people have shared. Here's to hoping things change soon.

Rargl! To the infinity power!!!! Both because we haven't heard from any admits (a courtesy I know, no insult to any of you BUT most importantly to the department. TELL US IF WE'RE REJECTED!!!! I just want to know. That's all.

I mean no disrespect at all( please understand I'm a person who turned down a funded Ph.D. offer to do an only partially funded MA), BUT I've never heard of decent programs making you fund part of your Ph.D. However, based on results here and on the results board, there are people in the humanities AND hard sciences (like NYU's Math Ph.D. . . WHAT?!) who are being asked to foot the bill for the Ph.D. This is absurd, in my opinion. Is this trend because of the times or something that has been existent for awhile? I mean, these are EXCELLENT programs asking candidates to fund part or all of the Ph.D. for AMERICAN (please don't read this as imperialism, just border considerations . . .ahem taxes and residency shit) students. I don't mean to sound ungrateful for admits or anything like that, but really? Is this the course American higher education is taking? In light of our abysmal primary and secondary system, I could see that America would want to capitalize on what has been, to date anyway, a largely superior grad education system, but I highly doubt any of these excess fees are going back to the state, etc., so what's the deal? Is the inherent business nature of grad schools overcoming the dedication to education so that the interest in making money is motivating these insufficient funding offers? That seems TOTALLY counterproductive to the idea of scholarship and research in my opinion. Please, please, please, American House, don't abolish the DOE AND, more importantly, Senate don't approve. That is the means that many people get access to education at the post secondary and then, by extension, graduate level. Sigh. It's so sad to see the way politics is going in this country.

Have you visited anywhere yet? If so/once you do and you can narrow down your MA offers to your top pick, I would personally notify the others that you're declining, rather than waiting on all of them, but that's just my suggestion. Best of luck!

Wow. That IS a really tough call. Indiana is overall a great school, and I'm surprised they made an offer without guaranteed first-year funding. If I were you, I'd hold tight until April 14 last minute to see if they find funding for you for the first year. If they do, I'd take that offer without looking back. I'm not super familiar with your subfield, so I can't speak to that (I'm sure others on this board can, though)! However, Indiana would be a hard school to turn down, I think. Best of luck with that funding! As April gets nearer, I'd start the negotiation process with Indiana. . .things like "so, I've got multiple other offers but I'm really excited about your program. Is there any progress on finding funding?" Of course, really diplomatically phrased but I'd bet they'll start looking a little harder for you if they know you're being fought over (you don't have to tell them if all your other offers are MA only. . .if they're better funding, then that's a great offer). Edited to add: Do any of the MA programs tell you about the liklihood of you moving to their Ph.D.? BC is a great school too, in my opinion.

Would you mind identifying the programs from your signature you're talking about? That would help in terms of establishing if the MA program has a good track record for placement of Ph.D. candidates and if the Ph.D. program has a less than stellar record of placement, networking, and support. I would be HIGHLY inclined to take an MA offer that provided better funding and support than the Ph.D. offer. This is ironic coming from me since I truned down a funded Ph.D. offer to do an only partially funded MA, BUT I would encourage people who don't have other constraints limiting their decisions to select a funded MA. Anyway, if you can share more info, maybe we can give more specific feedback. Best of luck!

Hey Lolopixie! Sorry this season has been rough so far. I'm rooting for you to get an acceptance, or two, or three, or however many you're waiting on! as time progresses, but I think everyone is dealing with different kinds of frustrations and stresses right now. Let's all try to keep things upbeat since here on grad cafe is, for many of us, the only place where we can commiserate with people who understand what we're going through and try to get enough encouragement to stay sane through this whole anxiety-ridden process. Unicorns, rainbows, and sunbursts all around!!!! Edited cuz it's embarrassing for an English person to spell commiserate as commisserate. . .oops.

Seems a lot of programs are slower than usual. . . Lame.

Tortola, will you post in the UTA thread if you hear anything relevant? I will do similarly if Dr. Lesser ever responds to the email I sent him a week ago. . .

Yeah, I notified them already. The other three I've been accepted to are in play still. Have you heard back from UTA at all yet?

UW admit posted. Congrats! Any info to share? I'm getting pretty attached to Minnesota at this point and am not a great fit for UW (they have, like, NO faculty working primarily on early modern poetry) but I just want to know already so I can start finalizing things. Congrats again!

Yeah, the bureocracy seems pretty ridiculous. I'm sure they're great once you're in, but I've definitely been annoyed at the hoops. . and that they still haven't notified. . . Edited to add I meant the general "you" not that I assume I'll get in or anything like that. Didn't mean to sound arrogant or anything.

I also found the website highly unsatisfying. It lacked information, was ambiguous, and generally struck me as unfriendly. . .I hope that all you BA only folks get referred to the MA. I'm pretty sure that they will do that, though. Good luck and I REALLY HOPE WE HEAR BACK SOON!!!!!!

Yeah, I've seen it too. UTA isn't on there, nor is U of Minnesota. I'm a bit skeptical, but this just all reinforces that the rankings are really subjective for English. . .sort of like that whole crapshoot about how schools (especially with small cohorts) pick applicants, no Anyway, cyriac and ceseda, I think you make relevant points about the stuff I posted. Like I said, I don't really remember a lot about where I got this. . .it was shared on grad cafe a couple years ago and is just based on placement numbers, but it doesn't take into account timeframe (that I know of) or department size (that I know of). I think, then, that Pamphilia's post is reall sensible and addresses the complex interaction of reputation, rank, fit, and mentor opportunities (for personal development and networking). Research opportunities and consortiums, as well as travel funds for conferences and stuff, are also important. In the end, I think programs have facets that make them better for each person (and worse for others). So let this awkward courtship dance begin!

I think Woolfie teaching can be really useful, and in retrospect, I would have applied to more funded MA programs my first time out (when I applied only to Ph.D. programs and got the Notre Dame Ph.d. admit and the partially funded MAPH admit at UC). However, while I haven't been successful at breaching the top 10ish, I've done okay with state schools in particular who seem to value the teaching component more than the private schools (where you often don't even teach until year 3). I would think (though certainly have nothing besides my own experience here) that it doesn't affect entrance decisions regarding teaching that much, but I also majored in English for secondary education and minored in chemistry for secondard education, am certified in those subject areas, coached speech and debate at the high school level for 4 years, and have coached forensics at the college level for 3 years, including teaching the forensics class, so I already know how I feel about teaching. For someone uncertain about the teaching component, then, I could see how the MA program that included teaching could be helpful. However, a lot of the "best" people in our field either don't teach a lot (the folks at the R1 universities) or don't like teaching and do it to support their scholarship and research, so while I think it's good to like teaching (I do. That's a main reason why I'm going this route and am directing myself for a position at a small liberal arts school), you don't necessarily have to. . .