Timshel

Thanks. To be honest, I would have chosen UCR over it anyway, but this whole process seems so random and soul-sucking...

I finally got my rejection, at 2am. Nice. I'm glad they took their sweet time. This whole process is getting to me....

Dropbox will save your life. I don't know what I'd do without it. You'll never have to worry about losing work again!

At least if you don't get in somewhere, you don't have to worry about dedicating 5-7 years of your life for a job that you have even less of a chance of getting. Is it bad that I am already starting to worry about not being able to find a job and I haven't even finished getting all of my decisions yet? lol.

Conferences matter more for PhD applications if you have your Masters. They don't expect many with only BAs to have gone to conferences. Also, as said previously, they won't make or break a PhD application, but they look good overall for applications, jobs, networking, etc.

My husband and I have spent some time in Paris, and when we're there, we always miss good pizza. They put ham on basically everything (which I don't like), and all of their pizza has a raw egg on it. Seriously. They crack a raw egg in the middle of the hot pizza, and by the time you get to it, it's partially cooked. WTF

Almost the exact same thing happened to me the night before my first acceptance.

This.

This. I never spent money for an undergrad or grad conference, only professional ones.

Hmmm... Then I wonder how come people are getting emails to check status and it's a rejection, but I have yet to get a call and nothing has changed on the page.....

I am also in limbo. Many have said that they received an email to check their status and they were rejected, so I checked my application and there is still no decision. They have already notified acceptances and waitlisters, so I'm not sure what is going on...

Oh, man. Everyone in here needs to calm down! Let's get back to books not to read.....Okay, I'll start. On the Road. There, I've said it. I've read it at LEAST four times and I just don't get the allure. Now, your turn!

I say if you can afford it, it's worth it for several reasons. My husband and I double conferences as vacations, so wherever I present that year, we save up money and make a vacation out of it so we aren't spending all that money just to go to the conference. I highly recommend going to conferences not just for your CV, but for networking and rejuvenating your interest in the discipline I always feel so energized and excited after presenting my paper and hearing the papers of others. Also, one of my professors told me that a big reason that he got the tenure track job he did after graduating was because of all the conferences he went to. He said he networked and met a ton of people which helped him get interviews for jobs, and it showed his commitment to the field. Look at it as an investment in your future. They never hurt, so if you can afford it, turn it into a vacation and go!

As a Chicago native, I have to say that NYC Pizza = barf. Chicago style pizza FTW!

It's eerily quiet so far today.......

I haven't read any Chaucer.

Yes, but he won the Pulitzer for Oscar Wao. For me, though I like them both, Oscar Wao was way better.

Since you mention Hijuelos, A Simple Habana Melody is also awful. So.Boring.

I did a partially unfunded MA at a state school. My husband was still finishing his degree, so I stayed at the school where I got my BA and got my MA. I was given a TAship, so I I took out loans to pay tuition and the leftover went to supplement my TAship stipend. Overall, I took out less than 25K, so I don't think it was a bad deal. To me it was better than not going to school at all, and I was able to get more experience in the field, gain experience teaching (which often doesn't happen for MA students where the schools offers a PhD), present at conferences, etc. I don't regret it at all.

Okay, after looking things over, I fear that my application was never actually forwarded to the department. Awesome. I emailed them. Ugh.

I talked to Tina, too, and I thought she said we would be emailed by professors.....Hmmmm...I find the phone conversations so nerve-wracking! Also, was there any mention funding for conferences? I can't remember..... But yeah, even that phone conversation was scary for me. I didn't ask any questions, but then again, she pretty much covered everything I had questions about at that time.

Yeah, under application for admissions it says submission status: submitted.....hmmmm.....

Ruby, have you talked to anyone at UCR yet?

Where did you see that? When I log into apply yourself, the only thing I see is it saying application submitted. I don't know if I am looking in the wrong place or what....

So, I just saw that there are a couple of rejections on the results board. It says that they were notified to check a link via email. I never received an email, and I tried to check my status online and it just says it's submitted. Can anyone speak more specifically to this?