MyshkinLit

Hi everyone! Can anyone provide any interesting or informative details on the Rutgers program in Comparative Literature? It's one of my final choices but am not quite sure it's "perfect" for me. Has anyone else also been admitted who is in a similar situation? Has anyone already chosen it as their graduate school, either in Comp Lit or any of the affiliate language departments (including English)? Any info you could provide on academics or student life would be so so appreciated. Thanks Grad Forum!

Hi all. Has anyone heard about funding from UT Austin? I'm in Comp Lit and they have been completely silent in terms of the financial package their offering. This, of course, makes the decision impossible. They're really taking their time to let us know about the full offer. I really really hope it's a full ride. I really want to go to Austin!!!

Has no one heard from Harvard Comp Lit yet? Does anyone have any idea when they'll notify?

Hey, some schools are really taking their sweet time getting back to us about our acceptances. No? Has anyone heard anything from Harvard's Comp Lit program or know when to expect news? I know Columbia will be sending out admissions decisions next week. And most other schools already informed their admitted students, although left most applicants in the dark, to receive their rejection letters in Apri. They're kind like that. I hope everyone is receiving at least some good news. Just one positive letter/email/phone call and everything else kind of goes away, right?

By the way, even though, as someone already pointed out, my user name references Russian Lit, it is not my field. I just love it, but it isn't what I'm planning to study. + I don't speak Russian; I have only read it in translation. BUT In another lifetime, I speak Russian, I'm sure of it.

Thanks! I did that yesterday but haven't heard back yet. Last I heard, he (graduate director) said that the grad coordinator would be in touch to set up a phone meeting. I hate how vague they are with details. I think they're going to ask me "how much" I really want to attend Austin BEFORE they offer funding. I think it's my number one choice. Other options are WashU and Rutgers. Which do you think is the best? They're all SO TEMPTING!!! This is a very exciting year... good luck to everyone.

i wasn't aware there was a visit weekend. i'm still very nervous about this acceptance because they haven't given me any information on funding! has anyone else received such information? i would love to attend this program (comp lit) but i need the fellowship. hope everyone is well.

Hi! I just found out I was accepted into Austin's Comp Lit program. But they haven't sent me any details on funding. Does anyone have any idea when they send that? What do you know about the program? I'm choosing between there and WashU. Thanks!

Hey, has anyone heard from Johns Hopkins' Humanities Center? I know someone who was told she was accepted one month ago. One month ago! And they have yet to organize themselves to send out rejections of any kind. I paid good money to apply and not a peep from them. It's very frustrating to be treated so disrespectfully by the same people who are "rejecting" you. Don't they know how to be courteous? Anyway, I haven't seen anything posted about this program, so was just wondering....

I haven't received any kind of notification: on website, via email, or postal. No contact made at all. Strange, no? Anyone else in my situation, on my island with me?

I know I was not accepted--not being invited to the recruitment weekend--but I have yet to receive my official rejection. I feel completely forgotten. I have an "ethnic" (non-White) name; maybe they misspelled. I know they sent out rejections end of last week, but I haven't heard anything. What assholes, to keep me waiting this long while already having decided on incoming class (or who they are considering for the incoming class). Anyone else in my situation?

Is anyone else out there NOT going to reapply next year? Is anyone else thinking of dropping the graduate school subject for a little while? What I have learned most from this process is not in regard to what I should be doing to build up my "applicant profile" but rather what I should be doing to make myself happy and continue my own education--and that is not making happy the admissions committees who won't even bother to tell me I've been rejected while they've already decided their incoming class and are coaxing them in. I applied naively, believing in the worth of intelligence, enthusiasm, and sharpness of thought. But that alone is nothing, and no complaints on my part, just realized disillusionment. I was deluded and I have been put in my place. This does not apply to everyone who was not offered admission. Just to me and my kind. I learned that today I am not meant to devote the next seven years of my life to academia. Has anyone had this "revelation"? I have felt nothing but a pressing weight on my "spirit," pinning me down to my repetitive, unstimulating life. No admission committee is going to sweep me away with any heroic gesture of acceptance... that is clear... so what to do? Mexico. Mexico is my answer to a failed economy, to billions of dollars not one of which is going to my education, and academics who don't look twice at my current status as a thinker or human being. Anyone with me?

Someone recently posted being waitlisted for Duke's Literature program-- did you, or anyone who has been admitted/waitlisted this year, attend this "recruitment" weekend or have a phone interview? If they only accept/consider people from that pool, then why not send the rest of us (me) a rejection letter already? What does it take to let the losers know when they are losing? ! But I, and maybe others here in the forum, would appreciate a word from the accepted/waitlisted. Thanks everyone!

Has anyone heard anything? The secretary said decisions were now being made and we would hear by March 16, but that seems so late! Application deadline was December 15. I have given up, already making travel plans for end of the year. But I want to be absolutely SURE I will not be going to any graduate school. On the one hand, it would be nice to get in somewhere; but, on the other, a surprise acceptance in April would infuriate me. Not that I expect to be accepted anywhere, but why can't they tell us we've been rejected, off the bat, or at least that we're on a waitlist, if that is the case. It's awful...

Hi all, I read from the submission posts that the Duke Lit program had their "recruitment" weekend Feb.28-Mar.1. Is that so? Did anyone participate? Because I have not heard my decision yet and I was not called... I am assuming a rejection, but why wait until AFTER the weekend to tell me?

Because I had not been in contact with anyone at my schools, I today sent emails out to the schools from which I have yet to hear decisions. With one exception, I heard back from all of them that decisions have not been finalized and I will be notified when they are. So, not good or bad, although I think bad for me since I have been only rejected thus far. I do not think it hurts to email -- if anything, you will receive a decision date (which they gave me as being next week and the week after), which might calm you down a bit. The "exception" was no response at all; University of Chicago has been weak with its communications.

I do not want to work in an office. I realized this two months into my post-graduation full-time job. I decided graduate school would be a great alternative. I always loved to read, write essays, and engage in discussion on literary theory. My lit professors loved my writing. So I applied, and since then I have only been rejected. I am "waiting" to hear from more than half the schools to which I applied, but I am as certain as I can be that I have not been accepted. Because I will not hear anything constructive from these grad schools (that take our money and return a three-line rejection email), I wanted to know from YOU, the accepted, the rejected, and the waitlisted: who is the perfect candidate? Who do you have to be? I do not mean for you to explain this "who" to me, but really, do the same five people get into the top programs and the rest of us wait and see, hoping, crossing our fingers someone saw something "special" about us, something that not ALL the program would see? Or is it in the application approach--should we email professors and make ourselves visible to the admissions committees in more ways than just our electronic applications? I did not email ONE professor and I imagine now that this only hurt my chances. I am deeply disappointed that I will not be going to graduate school next year, but I hope to one day apply with confidence and knowing the right steps to take, at least to increase those already-slim chances. I am a good (literary) writer with pretty good scores and a decent GPA. My dossier is my strong suit. Otherwise, I have nothing: no sucking up, no "contact", connections, published articles, years spent abroad, Masters, etc. And I feel like the worst candidate, like a joke to these universities who accept hundreds of amazing applications. What do you suggest I do for the coming years? I appreciate your feedback. I also appreciate this entire forum, which has reminded me I am not alone. None of us deserve desk jobs, or to be pushed aside, back into mediocrity. Isn't there a way to be great outside of academia, and aren't we the ones to make that happen? Thanks again, -Prince M.