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Hi guys! Is it fair to say that if I haven't been notified by Iowa at this point, it's a rejection? I haven't received anything by post but I live abroad. Should I email the program directly? It's pretty much the last school I am waiting to back from before I can make a decision. Thanks!

If you're 99% sure you won't go to a school, do you inform them right away so they can take someone off the waitlist? In other words, is it customary to wait until ALL your results have come in to reject offers, or do you respond as soon as you think you can? I don't want to sound like a dick, but I am dreading writing this email. The school has been so nice, which makes it all the harder. Last question: Is it better to just say you cannot attend or to state that you have decided to go to X school instead?

Michigan accepts 10 students in poetry and 12 in fiction each year. On GradCafe, there was 1 poetry acceptance and 2 fiction acceptances. I'm not on Draft but if there were just a few... less than 19 acceptances... there may be hope for us yet?

Hello everyone! I was wondering if it is really necessary to submit a CSS Profile and FAFSA application? Columbia asks for the CSS and Brown asks for the FAFSA. The CSS has a $25 fee and both forms require a lot of information that would be a hassle for me to get (my parents' financial info, etc). Especially since I am in my 30s and my parents have not supported me for many years. But since I would only attend those schools if I was offered a teaching assistantship, which usually includes full tuition remission and a stipend, is it necessary for me to fill out these financial aid forms? Thanks in advance!

I think I was also a sophomore when I began to seriously plan for an English PhD program. I talked to my then academic adviser, and in addition to all the great pieces of advice everyone else has shared, he really emphasized the importance of letter of recs! I'd say it's a good idea to already target 3-4 professors in the field that you want to specialize in and start to build solid, close relationships with them... you want them to be able to write a letter of rec that's really detailed and upwards of 3 pages long. Not only frequent their office hours, but also take as many independent studies with them as you can. That way in their letter of recs, they won't only be able to comment on your capabilities as a student, but as a researcher and writer. They'll have essentially been somewhat of a dissertation adviser to you and in the letter, they can make reference to the qualities required in graduate school that you're already familiar with through writing long research papers, intense revision, a heavy reading load and the like. If your independent studies are only a quarter/semester long, take as many of those as you like and then your senior year try to do either a thesis or a year-long independent study. I'd also like to really stress, as others have mentioned, the importance of publishing in academic journals and presenting at conferences. Now, this is a bit of an odd piece of advice, but I might even suggest taking a year or two off after graduation (maybe teach English in Germany? The teaching assistantship through the Fulbright for Germany offers the most assistantships out of any other European country. In retrospect, sometimes I wish I took German instead of French!) as a way to strengthen your application. When I spoke to the director of my undergrad's Humanities Honors program, who's also on the board of admissions for History PhD applicants, she actually told me that the committee prefers applicants who have had a few years of "real world" experience under their belt. When I asked her why, she said that she's noticed applicants straight out of undergrad with only a summer in-between tend to burn out more quickly than the 30-something year olds who have come running full-speed back to academia with a kind of perspective and enthusiasm that she implied, is difficult to conceive of without having worked in the "real world." Lastly, since TAing could likely play a big role in your grad career, you might want to try tutoring university level writing now (maybe something like a peer editing program at your school?). Since competition is so high these days, already having experience with teaching undergrads and grading/revising their writing could only help give your application an extra edge. I just thought of something else, something I really wish that I did as an undergrad but simply didn't have time to. During my senior year, I was given the opportunity to audit a graduate seminar on Faulkner taught by my thesis adviser, and just sit in and get a sense of the level of learning that goes on there (and be able to join in on the discussion of course, given that I had completed the required reading as well... kind of a big commitment, I know, but I think it would have really added something special to my application). This is just one of the many opportunities that will become much more available to you after you work closely with certain professors. Good luck!

True, perhaps not all the English undergrads at UCI are geniuses, but neither are all the English undergrads at any other given university. That's a really harsh generalization you're making, and as the bearer of an English undergrad degree from UCI, I find it particularly unjust and uncalled for. The PhD English program at UCI is nationally recognized as one of the top programs in the country, especially for Literary Theory & Criticism. In fact it's ranked number one for Lit Crit, far above Yale and Harvard, by US News and World Reports, should that mean anything to you (and I don't blame you if it doesn't): http://grad-schools....ticism-rankings. The graduate program's quality inevitably trickles down to the undergrad program. I can testify to that by the quality of my TA's and my close interaction with the top English professors at UCI, who always taught undergrad classes in addition to graduate seminars. My classes were small, personable and engaging, conducted in more of a seminar fashion than in the style of a typical lecture, which is rare for large universities. I was fortunate to have close relationships with my professors through not only classes, but independent studies, advising, my Honors thesis and so on. I felt absolutely privileged and truthfully, surprised, to meet such incredible researchers and writers at UCI as an undergrad. Just to mention a few names, Richard Kroll, Victoria Silver, Andrzej Warminski, Richard Godden, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Michael Clark... absolutely brilliant (check out of their publications if you don't believe me). In the Humanities Honors program I met students who I am 100% sure could compete with English students at Harvard, or as you say, community college students. I would never doubt the intellectual capabilities of a student who chose community college for whatever personal reason, the way you're dismissing the whole of the English undergrad population at UCI because what, you encountered a few not so “bright” ones? Many Humanities Honors students at UCI had exceptional high school records and turned down other prestigious universities to attend UCI because of scholarships, funding, location and other personal reasons. That being said, I do remember having classes with the occasional sorority girl who chose English as a major because it seemed "easier than like, Biology," and who would occasionally quip, "Yeah... that's like, ironic, right?" in class when she wasn't immersed in Facebook chat on her laptop. Did I resent such students for wasting my time and the professor's time? Yes. But did I from that point on assume ALL sorority girls were carbon copies of each other? No. (I like to think my education has taught me, oh you know... perspective... the conception of relativity, exceptions and outliers...)But on the exact opposite end of the spectrum, in my English classes I also encountered students who had seemingly memorized the whole of the English canon, students who read Alexander Pope for a laugh and could recite obscure references from who-knows-where without a moment’s hesitation... you know, the kind of students who enjoy making esoteric Latin jokes among themselves and chuckling in self-satisfaction when nobody else gets it... Anyways, the point is: I don't think it's appropriate nor very “bright” to make such broad and unjustified generalizations about any university. The inherent diversity of an undergrad population (i.e. there are brilliant and not so brilliant students anywhere you go... acceptance into a top-notch university doesn't automatically = having a top-notch brain; see: UCLA student Alexandra Wallace) has no bearing whatsoever on the quality of the professors there and the kind of education you will receive. Don't discourage hopeful undergrads and grads from applying to what was and IS an excellent literature program (to these hopefuls: please disregard un-researched opinions about the English program at UCI like the one made by RockDenali). Acceptance to a school is largely relative, and so are our choices about which university to attend. Before writing off UCI as an option for economic reasons, if you find that the school is a fit for you and you’re attracted to certain professors and their research, then certainly apply. Fellowships and TAships, while they may have gone down in number just as they have at every UC, are still distributed each year.