TripWillis

For me too. Wonderful scholarship in queer and gender studies, and a little bit of ecocriticism. I'm in love... if they'll have me.

I don't regret it now, but if I hadn't gotten into any programs... oof. My life would've become The Bell Jar, except with student loan debt piled on top of feeling of worthlessness and grief. But yeah, unfunded MAs are great! Do it, but REALLY DO IT. Don't hold back anything! PhD is the goal!

I hate to be an optimist and get people's hopes up, and I know we're still a week away from the historic acceptance time, but isn't the amount of rejections on the results board really high? I feel like those of us still on it gotta have a good chance at at least a waitlist... just sayin.

I went to a relatively unexpensive school that was an unfunded MA, but it was in NYC so the cost of living was pretty outrageous. I supplemented the student loans I had to take out with tutoring and (this year) with adjuncting. Essentially, my jobs cover about $13,000 of the $25,000 or so I spent last year living in the city. So I did have to take out some loans to make it, but I don't regret it. My undergrad was spent working ALL THE F-ING TIME and I got great grades but had absolutely no extra curricular experience or any semblance of a relationship with the faculty and my fellow students. I learned more about waiting tables than I did English. By being able to focus intently on lit for the last two years and immerse myself in writing, research, and work in higher education, I gained relevant job skills and made myself a more marketable PhD student. I also earned a scholarship, which not only helped with the debt, but was another feather in my cap on the way to PhD apps. In the process of getting this (primarily worthless on its own, let's face it) M.A., I doubled my undergraduate debt, but since I've always gone to relatively cheap state schools with in-state tuition and worked throughout, I managed to keep it at a tolerable level (though it still makes me gulp, it is not above $75,000). I have many a friend who spent over $125,000 on 4 years of undergrad at an ivy or something analogous to an ivy. So I could be in worse shape.

I also like Octavia Butler!

The Help. But if we're picking non-obvious stuff, Gilbert Sorrentino reeeeaaaalllyyy gets on my nerves. Imaginative Qualities of Actual Things was the snidest thing I have ever read. I just couldn't take it. It must be my earnest midwest nature. I am also not a big pomo fan, so I'm sure that had something to do with it.

I've noticed a lot of people saying that they think the e-mail is nice or polite. I don't know... I guess I just don't appreciate the faux personalized style of rejection e-mails. I'd honestly rather just have the stale, cliché form letter. That is, of course, unless you really do have a specific compliment of sorts.

I just got another really nice e-mail from them. Very cordial and lots of encouragement to come visit and meet with faculty and such. It feels so nice to be wanted... *ahem* I'm signifying on you, CUNY.

Go bdon!!! Such a great school. You now have two wonderful choices.

Oh man. So much potential for great material in that one.

I'm not really sure if this is just for ranting and stress relief, if it's for posting great student lines, or if it's for posting positive and inspiring stories. Maybe all three? But let me kick this off. Funny student paper line: "That part of the book really irradiated me." Intolerable student question (from today): "How late is tardy?"

Well, I now have 0% confidence of acceptance from Davis, because they rejected me. Oh well. Not going to cry about this one. My SoP, in retrospect, was really bad.

As predicted, rejection number 1 is in. As I said before, I reread my SoP for this program and I am totally unhappy with it. Can't believe I wasted my money like that. Also, this is in their rejection letter and it kind of infuriates me: "your qualifications are impressive." Um, I'm sorry, but we all know this is a generic letter. Don't try to sugarcoat it with sweet phrases. "Oh, they think I'm super great; they just have such a small class size!" Please.

Any word at all at this point would be nice. The suspense is killing me.

I had a very active week last week, but no e-mails whatsoever this week. I think Davis and Maryland are implicit rejections/waitlists at this point. Holding out hope for Rutgers and Tufts (feeling confident about the latter).

Hoping for a waitlist... Sorry to hear you're out, jma.

It's really making it hard for me to concentrate on this Henry Adams book.

Saw another rejection go up on the results board (my condolences) and frantically checked the website. No decision as of yet. I feel like I'm in some gladiator movie and that when they finally narrow it down to the remaining applicants that I will have to fight someone to the death for my spot.

Whew, NYU it is. Look at all those schools! I really hope I get into Rutgers now...

Other small and unconfirmed consideration: I think NYU, CUNY, and Columbia have an agreement re: student exchange, but that was just something someone told me. I could be wrong. Maybe ask about the possibility of taking courses at other schools? I know they definitely tend to share faculty.

Yes, perfect. Thank you.

I know what you mean... you almost wonder if you could leverage them into it if they knew you had choices...

CUNY has an excellent faculty, but isn't NYU 5 years fully funded with no teaching responsibilities?

I think 6 acceptances is hardly a fluke. Who knows? Maybe we'll end up in the same program.

Yes to everything you just said! I too was hoping to at least go 1/10 or get a waitlist somewhere. When I went 3/3 last week, I was basically flabbergasted. I never envisioned having choices, so this is pretty weird for me. Now I'm totally disappointed if I don't get immediate emails or calls from notifying programs. The greed of acceptances indeed! At this point, I am really pulling hard for Rutgers and Tufts. They both have decent funding and are both an excellent fit. Tufts has a small and personal program with great gender and LGBT studies scholars. I'll take it since you didn't apply at Rutgers that I have a fighting shot.