DEClarke85

I would go with Cambridge. That name is better known and more respected alone. As far as learning about US culture, teach/work here after getting you degree from Cambridge.

West Lafayette can get very cold too because it is subject to Lake Effect winds off of the Great Lakes. Indiana is pretty flat between the Great Lakes and West Lafayette. I don't know which gets colder or stays cold longer, but you can expect snow in West Lafayette by Thanksgiving and it sticks around to February or so (or so I hear from a faculty member at my school that just graduated from Purdue). A benefit of West Lafayette is that Indiana is still rebounding from a housing-market crash or something like that, so the cost of living is still kind of low there. Apartments and Rental Houses are not badly priced (or so I hear from the same faculty member). Good luck in making your decisions.

This may not help you, but one of my friends last year sat on his acceptance letters with funding for a little while. By mid-March the schools contacted him, asking where all he had been accepted and what his offers for funding were. Before long, he had two schools calling him once a week and raising their offers a little. Then starting April 10th, they were calling several times a day. Eventually, Purdue won because Texas Tech was unable to go any higher. It was exciting/awesome seeing figure get thrown at him. Good luck!

When I saw that others had posted their acceptance (and heard that many of those notification e-mails ended up in "SPAM" and "JUNK MAIL" folders), I e-mailed them and asked if they had sent a response out to me yet. I explained that I had heard of people already getting notified and that I delete my SPAM without looking at it. Their response said that they had not sent out any notifications (official or unofficial), and that I should wait until approximately March 6 before I could expect to hear anything from them. I don't have an MA yet, but I will be graduating from Sam Houston State University (in Huntsville, TX) with my MA in English on August 8, 2009.

Where I submitted my application, all they have ever shown is "Application complete 12/17/08. CT" Sorry to hear you got rejected. I would be so thrilled, honored, and excited if i got into U Chicago, but they were a long reach (much like Duke). Thanks for this. My top two choices were Maryland & WUSTL, so I got really down yesterday. It sucked even more that Maryland's rejection basically said out of their applicants, I was probably in the top 10-15. The letter basically implied that the only reason i did not get accepted was because of the economy. I'm feeling better and hoping for Miami and Chicago. TT was kind of a safety school (weird to say that probably). It's not my top choice. However, with Miami, there is good new. Apparently, they got a bigger budget this year than they had last year, so they will be able to fund more grad students than they could before. Whoo Hoo!!! So that sounds like that could be promising. (I got this inside scoop from a friend in the Ph.D. program.)

The above quotes describes me upon getting my rejection from Duke. Then I was rejected by WUSTL, which left me feeling that I may be able to get into a program... maybe two. Today, I was rejected by University of Maryland. Now, I am pretty sure that no Ph.D. program will accept me this year. So, I'm ready to just give up and try to find a job. Maybe I can complete emergency certification and teach, maybe I can try my luck at Teach-For-America, the Peace Corps. Whatever. The only problem is that I feel like I owe it to myself to wait for those last three rejection letters, pretending that one just may be an acceptance.

Good luck... I do hope they show similar interest in me... and soon... :|

I still waiting to hear from: University of Maryland's American Studies Ph.D.Program University of Chicago's English Ph.D. Program Miami University (Ohio)'s English Ph.D. Program and Texas Tech University's English Ph.D. Program THIS IS KILLING ME!!!!!!!!

No joke. Luckily, DUKE was a long-shot (so not a top choice). Good luck to you!

Congrats kfed2020! You and I sound fairly similar. The only exception is that I'm finishing my MA and that Duke didn't accept me. Good luck everyone!

Pretty much. I hear Mid-Feb through April. I got my first response today--a lovely rejection from Duke.

I haven't heard anything back. I saw people were getting responses and was afraid I had deleted mine. This was the response I got back (almost immediately): The admissions process is still ongoing and official offers have not yet been made by email or any other way, by the English Department or the Division of the Humanities. Decisions will be sent by mail in very early March. Best, Sarah Tuohey Assistant Dean of Students, Admissions and Fellowships Division of the Humanities stuohey@uchicago.edu 773-702-8499 So.... I'm still waiting....