Bayo

So I'm currently negotiating a funding package, but I'm really out of my element here. I was hoping that someone more experienced in these matters might offer some advice. Is there anything in particular that I should be petitioning for in terms of stipend, TAships, or summer funds? I have (what I think is) a good offer, but it seems there's room to make it better. At the same time, I don't want to overplay my hand. Any help would be so greatly appreciated!

Out of curiosity, with whom did you apply to work with at UNC, Enzian? I showed no aptitude for the language, but I took my fair share of lit classes in the Slavic department.

I think we might be in the exact same boat, Timshel (NC to CA?). I panic daily.

Thanks for the reply, Heather. I might as well just wait it out, I guess. Even when the rejection is implicit, I don't know why I want the official word so badly. But that seems to be the case with a lot of us around here.

We have acceptances and at least one wait list on the board from UCLA. I'm debating whether or not to solicit my rejection email the department. Has anyone had contact with them?

Yeah, Florida. Keep in mind this could be going by field. He's renaissance.

Word. I have the same thought every time I visit this forum.

Earlier this afternoon a friend of mine posted on Facebook that he was wait listed at Miami. Fingers crossed for you, lolopixie!

Not to interrupt the discussion on relationships surviving grad school (because even though the case doesn't apply to me, I can imagine how difficult it must be), but I have a question regarding recruitment visits. Has anyone been invited for the department visit and not been able to make the trip? I received word on funding from my one acceptance last night, and I was also invited by the DGS to come out for a visit. But this is a cross country trip, and they're giving me less than two weeks' notice. Even if they provide travel funds, I don't see myself being able to take off work. Our schedules are made so far ahead that changes are typically requested at least a month in advance. Not to mention I pretty much AM my department.

Congratulations, Hazel! What a fantastic accomplishment!

No, thank you anyway, Zinc. I read in another thread that it was also someone else's birthday, and s/he received a rejection email today, so it could have been worse. And also, I've been meaning to relay how much I appreciate your contributions to the forum as someone on the inside.

I feel like I'm starting to shut down from stress. I still have no word on funding from my one acceptance, and I had so many thoughts running through my head last night that I couldn't sleep. I finally just got up at 4 AM and ate ice cream. Luckily I worked late today so I was able to doze off around noon and get a couple hours of sleep. I had people singing Happy Birthday to me at work all day, and I just smiled through it. On the inside was I thinking, "Just let me make it to the weekend."

I received an email with the subject line: "This seat is yours." It was from Barack Obama. :: bdon - As a CompLit major I didn't interact with many in the English department, but my favorite of the ones I did meet would be John McGowan. He's a prolific researcher/writer, but his passion for teaching was amazing. He'd return papers just a couple of days later, not only with copious notes throughout, but often he'd have so much to say that he would actually type up a full page response, print it out, sign it, and paper clip it to the back. Paying that much attention to undergrads was kind of flattering, you know? He also helped me out a ton in the early research stages of my senior thesis. Another of my faves was Rebecka Fisher. She's a comparatist working in French, but she mostly teaches Af-Am lit. Oh, and McGowan is also a dead ringer for Skinner from The X Files. Nerd much?

Add My 600 lb. Life into the mix, and we could be roommates.

You're still coherent enough to read? I've been in the middle of Julian Barnes's Man Booker winner for a few weeks now. And it's a tiny little thing.

Reinaldo Arenas. Which authors/periods/etc. interest you, LoLu? And thanks for reporting back on Chicago, Origin. Actually, I was preparing to write them earlier but wanted to check here first to ask whether people had been contacting the DGS or some department liaison instead.

What was your program, spasticlitotes? I graduated CompLit just this past May. And good luck on the rest of your apps!

Congrats!! But what are these programs trying to do to us?! Phone calls on Sundays, emails after 11:00 PM (I'm assuming that's the case here) - are no hours of the day safe?

Oh my Jebus. 52 posts to the board so far - and still just the one acceptance. Mr Grimwig for GradCafe President.

I had a photo of myself taken for the first time in quite a few months yesterday. When I saw it I was like, "Ooooh, so that's why all my pants are so tight lately." This process isn't just wrecking my nerves, but also my waistline. Now back to my ice cream.

Say whaaa? That's amazing! Congratulations to you all!!

Oops, and another congrats to Mr Grimwig! Fantastic to see people around here making the cut at their dream programs!

Sorry. It was the same process for CompLit. I wish they'd just email a direct rejection, because that minute span it takes to log in to the online application offers so much unnecessary false hope.

I don't know what it is, but this Rutgers thread puts my stomach in a knot every time I read it. And not only am I not English lit., I don't even have an app on file with Rutgers at all! Still wishing the best for you all.

I decided to use my year between undergrad and grad school to spruce up on American literature. In October I started Moby-Dick. I am currently on page 208. Of 615. Yes, practically five months and I'm like 1/3 of the way in. And it's not that I don't love it, because I'm actually kind of in awe of this book, it's just that I'm too busy worrying about getting into grad school to focus on making sure that I'm even better read when I get there. Also, I was a complit major who focused on Spanish and German national lits, but along the way took a TON of Russian lit classes. I mean, I have read some of the most obscure 18th century Russian stuff imaginable. I've always wished that I had better affinity for the language. As it is, I think those courses probably acted like dead weight on my transcripts.