booksareneat

If I can add one caveat to the idea that you need to adjust your stated field. Sometimes, as burgeoning scholars who like our new ideas, we feel like we have a great niche, by moving outside of rigid periodization. For example, you might feel like you have great things to say about Early American writers in conjunction with contemporary Americans. The idea of saying you're one or the other seems small and so you decide to brand yourself as making new connnections, etc... (hopefully my example made sense). The thing is, for as much as our field wants new ideas, they still want to be able to pin you down. They like categories, Victorianists, Modernists, etc... Even if you want to adjust these, schools want to know where they can place you. Perhaps this is not what your schools had in mind, but hopefully that helps.

Wow. This is the most bizarre thread I've seen. I opened it just to see what was going on for UPENN folk and found this. Whoever said this debate should end is right. However, as a brief point to Vecr: A) pointing out that you were in law school is silly, pointless and weirdly full of insecurity masked as elitism. Most importantly this is a public forum--irony doesn't work here. Ironic racist jokes (meaning jokes that reveal you are aware of the stereotype and making fun of it) doesn't work when you don't know other people. Those jokes (while always tacky) can work amongst friends when there is an expectation--they know you and know that saying such a thing MUST be ironic, because it defies what they know of you. It does not work amongst strangers, because it is NOT obvious that such a joke is ironic. Who gives a sh*t if you're wrong? It's a bizarre thing to say. There was a post elsewhere where you threw out an ironic "yeah, I'm anti-gay" joke and I thought to myself, "wow, that's a dumb thing to say amongst strangers." Why not just use this forum as a place to share information about the process and sometimes to vent heathfully. Irony is humor for the lazy. Sorry for the sermon.

This is a frivolous thread. Would we all love to strut around and talk about how we get to make several programs beg for us to come? Sure. But the fact is we're in an amazingly difficult competition for a few positions around the country. We go where we can and if only one school thinks we're hot sh*t, then we're hot sh*t.

There is a certain amount of justified frustration on this board and a whole lot of whining on this board. In your case, I think it's somewhat justified, but you have to remember that this isn't cut and dry for adcoms. Often there is a first round of acceptances that is more than the intended cohort: they have money for 15 people, so they offer it to 20 (then there is a waitlist). They have to balance their funds and their applicants. Oregon is not well funded in normal years and this year, I imagine, like everyone else, there are cutbacks--they may not even know their set budget yet. Patience. If you have other great offers, then go with them. Or, be honest and email the DGS with your concern, saying "I have these offers and I would like to know if possible something a little bit more about funding."

I'm waitlisted, but in researching the school I've found this: It's about $14k a year and when you do start teaching it's a 1/1 load (I think--one student referred to it as a very humane teaching load). Health care is 100% paid for except for spouses (and that seems to be a couple hundred a semester). Hope that helps.

We all have to survive grad school somehow.

Here's the skinny: cohort will max out at 15 (don't know how many offers they've made so far) and the waitlist is 7 people long (seems small to me). The waitlist may be small if they made a large number of original offers that exceeded the cohort size.

I write this as I grade freshman comp papers and my soul is quickly draining: all teaching sucks your soul, I think. That said, there is a different kind of apathy encountered in teaching higher ed, so I get what you're saying. I would talk to the Bonaventure people (didn't Thomas Merton teach there?) and ask them how their placement is into PhD programs. Where do their students go? Are they all just teachers dabbling in higher degrees or serious people who go onto great programs? Then, try to talk to someone in the program and ask them the same thing.

I am wondering how other chronic wait-listers are approaching April 15th. Are you gathering information on the schools and how so? I'm thinking that come April 16th I may have to quickly decide between more than one school and so I'm trying to get ready for that possibility. I've emailed each school's DGS to try to get in contact with a current PhD student in my field. But what questions need to be asked? How do you really get an idea of a program and how you'd fit in? Right now, I'm asking two sets of questions: how is the funding (how much do you teach, what do you teach, is there healthcare)"? and what is the atmosphere of the program like? This second question is tough to get at and I'm not sure what questions to ask to get the kind of answers I'd like. Obviously, you can't know until you're there, but I figure I'll do the best investigation that I can. Any thoughts? Or, if anyone has any experience with Maryland, Oregon, Minnesota, WUSTL, I'd love to hear it (even if it's via PM).

English MA, I can tell you that the form email we got to waitlist was directed toward applicants for the PhD program. So, it's quite possible that they haven't figured out their MA waitlist. There's still time on all of this (although, I know that's not much consolation).

I'm quite happy with how my non-highly ranked, funded MA worked out. Maybe it's just me.

Hmmm. I have access via my school's library. But let's try cutting and pasting! (I can look up a particular school and post their info from the database that you can search). When it comes to the financial packages that graduate students receive to pursue their degrees, the devil is in the details. A Chronicle survey, conducted this summer and fall, of the pay and benefits of teaching and research assistants at more than 100 research institutions reveals a dizzying array of variables that students must compare. Some institutions cover 100 percent of graduate students' tuition, while others waive only a portion. It is possible to get health insurance paid in full

I'm currently putting together my data to weigh my options for schools and thought I would remind people of this article: "Graduate Students' Pay and Benefits Vary Widely, Survey Shows" from the Chronicle of Higher Education. It isn't exhaustive, but it lets you look at different program's funding INCLUDING the big issue of health care. A lot of us take it for granted that a program has health care, but make sure you ask questions about it. There is a database along with that article that has 111 English programs. Enjoy.

I think getting an MA also has immense value for your application because it gives you a chance to really become a solid scholar, rather than a bright kid who likes books. It lets you work on an even better SOP and WS, plus you can get better recommendations. Some people have those things already, but most coming out of undergrad can use a lot of fine tuning. I'm finishing my MA and where I went 0-20 on PhD applications before, I am on 4 waitlists now (mostly because my application is 100x better than it was when I was a year or two out of undergrad). Now all I need is another MA and I'll get admitted first round!

I've said this elsewhere, but I think UMD is in a similar position to many other state schools. They are waiting to figure out how much money they have. Right now, budgets are very tight (hence the tiny cohort). However, a lot of money is being pumped into education in these new bills passed by congress and I think the programs are keeping decent sized lists in hopes that they'll get money. We two dozen (I'm thinking it's slightly over two dozen... two baker's dozens?) will just have to sit around and hope. Let's hope Obama passes a Grad school stimulus bill.

I will take heart when I have a solid offer in hand. Until then, I'll bite my nails.

I'm racking up waitlists like they're going out of style--MC Hammer pants peut etre?. 4 waitlists out of 12 applications. It's great, don't get me wrong, but it means that April 15th/16th will be an amazingly stressful two days. At that point, I hope they all offer me a spot so I can say, "hmmm, you're on my waitlist."

I don't know, but I can attest to the "fact" that I didn't get into Iowa because I'm too sexy. It's just a fact. GRE scores are nothing, sometimes, you just got too much going on that they can't even begin to theorize about it.

I get the impression that it isn't their suckitude (except Washington, there I'm pretty sure it's institutionalized), but rather that no program has a sense of how much money it has. I think they tried to wait as long as they could to figure out their budget. I think program budgets have changed in the last few months because money (from the stimulus and omnibus spending bill) is coming, but they don't know how much. So, they make a baseline acceptance and then put together a waitlist. From now to April 15th, I think they're hoping to have a better idea of funding and thus how to solve a problem like Maria.

I spoke to the graduate secretary and found out I'm on some sort of amorphous waitlist. He didn't have many details, but it seems there is a purgatory of those not accepted and those not denied for whom there is no real ranking. He said he was hoping to know more before April 15th. So, if you haven't heard, perhaps you can join me in purgatory. I'm starting to rack up some waitlists here. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.

I would add that, while it is important to get advice from the younger (closer to grad school) professors, it is good to get an idea from those professors who the players in the program are. Some professors, while not the hot shots in their field, can be particularly connected and thus great candidates for writing your LORs. Ask as many professors as you can for their advice, because it will all be widely different. You can use that input to triangulate a good approach. One suggestion from one professor to me was that I should put together a short-list of programs and show those to recommenders early on. Ask them if they know anyone in those programs. If you have a program where no one knows anyone, then consider cutting it in favor of a school where you do have some connections (though, obviously this should only be one factor in finding a program).

They made offers a month ago and still nothing. Has anyone heard since mid-February? Has anyone spoken to them to see if they're still alive? What if they're being held hostage by a disgruntled grad applicant and they were thinking, "don't worry, someone will find us, because they'll contact us to see when we're going to reply" and we've let them down by not harassing their phones and email systems? I'm sorry PSU. I'll call you soon.

That second part was more of what I was wondering. I hope it doesn't come to withdrawing an acceptance, because that would be lame for all. I think if I run into that problem I'll have a good talk with the school who's waitlist I am on.

Here's another question from one who is on multiple waitlist (always a brides maid never a bride, I guess?). I'm on two lists: one school that I am more likely to get the nod from and one that I'd love to be at. What if I get into one school and then have to wait until the crazy April 15th day to hear about the second offer? How is that time line handled?

I'm waiting on 4, all state universities. In some cases, it means only that the adcoms have no organized system (Washington). For others, it means that the economy is crap and they've been waiting to figure out how much money they have. In other cases, they forgot you (lookin' at you Penn State). Or, you're on a waitlist. Who knows?