Spritely

Many of us--and probabaly many of your future classmates--have been out of school much longer than 9 months, so you'll be fine. I agree that reading and language study are good ways to spend the summer, although for those of us with a full time job through August, there is not as much time for such activities as one would hope. Also, plan for the move if there is one, or for other logistic/administrative things that need to be taken care of before school starts.

I'm in English so I can't speak specifically to Computer Science. However, I live in Seattle and love it here (I will unfortunately I have to move for school in the fall). I would say that if you were interested in OS and programming (which you're not), then UW would make more sense, especially if you were interested in potential work with Microsoft or Amazon in the area or working with them for your graduate projects. If you're more concerned about getting a job in academia, I would go with Berkeley, personally. If location or climate mattered a lot to you (which you say it doesn't), I would probably lean towards Seattle, but I don't think Berkeley would be a bad place to live at all. Good luck! I wish my last-minute decision was between equally wonderful prospects!

Congrats on at least getting in off the wait list! I'm relieved to know someone else is in a similar situation, although yours is currently better than mine. I'm actually still waiting to hear from two wait lists. I think one of them is over as they hinted the chances weren't good, but the other program still had five of seven admission offers without responses as of Monday, and so I am hoping to hear from them early on the 15th. If they don't get back to me in time, I will have to accept the best offer I have so far received. I'm anxious to hear from them (one way or the other) and eager to get this over with and start planning for my move and beginning work PhD work in the fall.

They told me early on that it would be wise to accept other funded offers, so I assumed there was a slim chance of funding. I declined their offer several days ago (with funding still up in the air, but doubtful) so I have not heard anything since. Good luck.

What makes the European program more attractive? If it's a funding issue, that makes total sense and may be reason enough to go. I don't think Ph.D.s in our field are correlated strongly enough with job placement to afford us the luxury of huge student loans if we aren't funded, so I'm a strong proponent of going where the funding is. On the other hand, if you would just rather live in Europe--well, join the club. But it's hard enough to get a job with a degree from a school in the U.S., and it's even harder to do so from a non U.S. program. If you have a funded offer in the U.S., I would probably take that over a European school, unless you're planning to live/teach in Europe or elsewhere in the world, in which case a well-respected European program would make equally good sense.

Good Monday morning, all. http://www.slate.com/id/2215830/ And good luck to those of you who, like me, are hoping against hope for your wait list to pay off at the eleventh hour. The time is drawing near.

This is interesting. I'm in a similar position, having made a choice among my current offers, but still waiting on two wait-lists. I was only told that they were seeing some movement on the wait list, but was not told specifically where I fall on the list. I think with the smaller cohorts and the competition for admission, my chances are less than helpful if I haven't heard by now. (Then again, my prior wait list experience came down to the morning of April 15.) I do not plan to ask my other school for an extension. Rather, I will 1) hope people think long and hard this weekend and accept or decline at their schools, 2) prepare myself for the possibility of a Tuesday morning e-mail or phone call admitting me into my top choice. If I am not admitted of the wait list by 4/15, I will be content with my best offer and make the most of the next few years.

I have also had to decline several great program admissions over the years (Master's and Ph.D. programs) because there was no or insufficient funding. I feel your pain, but it seems like unnecessary stress to put yourself in a financial hole when there is another, better-funded offer. Good luck with your other school!

That sounds a bit unusual. I think typically you should expect to hear from the graduate school and the department separately--both notifying you of admission, but the Department usually shares more specific information on the terms of the offer. My only guess that if you haven't heard about funding yet, maybe you are "wait listed" for funding, and thus they are waiting to see what will happen with the applicants who have already been offered funding. In short, I think it's smart of you to follow up with the Department Head. I haven't always heard from specific professors, but you should at least get some specifics from the Department Head. Good luck!

Some good advice in the above posts. I would also make sure you have taken enough language classes. Although I'm fairly proficient in Spanish from high school and independent study, I didn't take any Spanish classes in college OR for my Master's, and I think this really hurt my application to several programs (seeing as my literary interests involve Mexican-American Literature). Of course, the specific language study that would benefit you for your area of focus is different, but make sure you have the requisite language study on your transcripts. It's one less way for them to count you out.

More news coverage of the graduate application spikes we have seen (and experienced) elsewhere: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/video/share.html?s=news01s238bq851 Happy Monday! :wink:

For what it's worth, I received a rejection before the April 15 deadline a few years ago (2005 I think). I can't speak to how their process may have changed or not since then, but I can't imagine them not rejecting anyone before that date, so I would take your situation as potentially hopeful news. I also struggle with the etiquette. I may be in a similar situation with a wait list or two this year. I think I can be happy and productive with my current best offer, so I will accept on April 15 if I don't hear from the wait lists. If your two choices are equally appealing, hopefully you will feel comfortable accepting the best offer you have at the time. Can't put life on hold while we wait around for something better to come along. Good luck!

It may be less about the specific recommenders than 1) the strength/specificity of the recommendations, 2) the quality of your writing sample, 3) the case you make for yourself in your personal statement. It also seems to me that if you figure out which Ph.D. programs you are most interested in, you can contact them and get an honest answer about whether they prefer to accept students with vs. without an MA. I already had an MA going into the application process, and many web sites plainly stated or strongly implied their preference one way or another. At least this saved me from wasting my time with schools who prefer to accept students for MA/Ph.D. directly from undergrad. If I had to apply again, I would contact every one of the programs I was interested in to ask about the MA issue, and not apply to those which prefer you not have an MA. You may also be able to discern this information by looking at their current graduate students (did they all come from other Master's programs first?). One more note: A friend of mine with an MA was asked to complete another MA in Comp Lit at his Ph.D. institution. From my basic understanding of Comp Lit, it seems the programs may want you to do the MA/Ph.D. all at the same school--at least more often than is the case with English Ph.D.s. Good luck!

Glad to know I'm not alone here. No, I was not actually invited to the open house due to my wait list status, so I wasn't planning to crash the party. Hopefully some people make up their minds in the next week so I will know one way or another about my two wait lists. I'm anxious to make a decision and start planning for the fall semester.

At least you people made the wait list. I was rejected outright, and I thought the program was one of my better fits. I love how the e-mail is entitled "ASU Deny Letter." Why bother filling in the body of the e-mail after that point?

Has anyone gotten in off the UIC Wait List? Biding my time over here...

McGill as a University has a prestigious international reputation and is particularly strong in the sciences. I don't know much specifically about its English Department, but maybe that in and of itself makes a point. With as much research as I did into schools over four graduate application rounds (two cycles for MA and two cycles for Ph.D.), I have never become very acquainted with or heard much mention of McGill. Outside of basic factors such as "fit," which only you can determine for yourself, I would say that having a degree from Georgetown would probably give a bit more of a step up in the job search than an English degree from McGill. Then again, if you don't have a preference either way, things like funding and location might factor in very highly. Just my two pennies, as I'm by no means an expert or the last word on this one. Good luck!

I am very well acquainted with that type of situation based on my prior experience. I declined an MFA offer from Columbia in 2005 because there wasn't funding, and last year the only Ph.D. program that accepted me was Boston University, which I had to decline because of lack of funding. I wasn't going to go to either school and rack up over $100K in debt for those degrees knowing there was no guarantee I'd land a job that would help me quickly pay them back. However, I still see a broader distinction between the JD / Ph.D. programs, regardless of specific personal situations: If on revises their applications and/or applies to a different set of schools, one may get into a program with funding the following year. Even if you accept one of your unfunded offers, my sense is that many programs can find a way to fund you by the second year, or alternatively you could get an adjunct appointment at a community college, etc. Conversely, law school (to the best of my understanding) does not allow you enough time to get an outside job, and it is fully funded in only the rarest cases--even a full tuition waver leaves you with living costs to pay. Perhaps some people do get "stpidends" to go to law school, but I have never heard of such a thing. On the other hand, I'd say that tuition remission and/or a stipdend is probably the rule rather than the exception in English Ph.D.s. Sure, some people don't get funded, but most schools admit so few applicants because they fully fund all students in their program, and even those programs that do not fund all students probably fully fund a portion (25% or 50%?) of their top students. In any case, good luck with your situation. Funding has been a major issue for me in the past so I understand where you're coming from.

Absolutely! If I didn't get into any programs this year, I was going to branch out more next year. I have already applied to several variations on English: Creative Writing, American Studies, Ethnic Studies, Lit and Culture, Rhetoric. Next year I was thinking of applying to some medical related programs--not necessarily medical school, but maybe epidemiology or medical anthropology. I took a lot of anthropology in undergrad and I currently work in an academic medical center, so at least I am familiar with it and know there are jobs out there. But, I must say I'm relieved to have finally gotten into a Ph.D. after last year's disappointing application season, and I'm looking forward to beginning my (in all likelihood) Rhetoric study this fall. The job market is pretty terrible for most fields, but the difference is that if you can get a funded Ph.D. you won't rack up much debt over the next five years, whereas almost everyone who gets a legal degree leaves with tens of thousands of dollars of debt, if not $100k or more. My lawyer friends, who make significantly more money than I do, often complain of their huge student loan debt and the feeling that they will be paying it off for the rest of their lives. In short: Even if it's a struggle to get a dream job after my Ph.D., it will be nice to have been paid to get the degree instead of putting myself in a financial pit to do so.

I don't know if it says anything in the agreement that stipulates April 15 to begin with, but I always assume it to mean "end of business day." My one prior wait list experience ended when I received a call around 9 AM on the morning of April 15 offering me admission, which I accepted (and at that time declined two other offers I had received, meaning they went to their wait lists early on April 15 as well). While there are some extraordinary cases--I have one as well, where a friend of mine who wasn't even on a wait list but was one of the better qualified people who was rejected was ultimately admitted to the Master's program a month before it started when someone else dropped out--I would say the vast majority of wait listing probably sorts itself out immediately before or on April 15. Of course, I find myself in the same situation this time around as I am waiting on two schools I am very excited about. If either of them offers me admission before or on April 15, I will probably accept. Otherwise, I will go with the best offer I have so far. Good luck!

As the days pass, the latter spelling seems more and more appropriate.

I think this is a reasonable way to come to a final decision. I am not ready to make that decision as two wait lists are pending, but I just received an acceptance from the final school I had not yet heard from and need to decline at one or two of the schools I have been accepted to. I would like to keep two options on the table in case something falls through at one of them before I hear back from the wait lists, but I plan to decline two programs on Monday. Sadly this will probably include UNL, as they have not offered me funding. I'm definitely finding it difficult to decline any offers, but I think it's important to go ahead and decline the two programs I am least likely to attend.

Would funding be guaranteed funding at all of the three schools for which you are wait listed, or would that be an entirely new variable even if you were admitted? And do you know where on the wait lists you stand at those schools? Maybe you should contact the wait listed programs and explain your situation to see if they can give you some sense of your odds this year. If you're #1 on the wait list at all three, you will probably get in to one of them. If you're hovering around the middle of a wait list, this may not be a year to risk giving up a funded offer. At least you have a choice to make this year, so it sounds like things will work out one way or another. Good luck with your decision!

Sounds like I'm of the same mind as many of you. My recommenders have written letters twice or three times at this point, and last year I was not good about following up. This year, after my applications were off, I sent them all a hand-written thank-you card and a book I thought they might like. I plan to follow up again by e-mail or postal mail with another brief thank you note when I have made my decision.

I think you're reaching a bit far. Most schools have an April 15 deadline, so things usually work themselves out by that time. The DGS just appears to be saying that they should be able to let you know one way or another by that date, but no guarantees. Good luck!