TripWillis

YEEEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I was big time rooting for you, datatape. Pleased as punch. Do you do ecocriticism at all? UN Reno is supposed to be one of the great places to study Literature and the Environment. I thought of applying there when I was still more of an ecocritic. Edit: I guess I could've looked at your signature. There it is. Yes, you do ecocrit.

Wow, this thread is still around. I've created a text of lasting importance. KNEEL BEFORE LITERARY ZOD.

As if all your waiting wasn't bad enough, now you also have to wait for the My Bloody Valentine website to un-crash.

Well done.

You're not fit to polish Jessie Spano's boots! Edit: I'm paraphrasing the guy in the show. You are more than fit to polish Ms. Spano's boots.

1) Vanderbilt is definitively not a safety. 2) There are no safeties.

When the first response is a rejection, it is a totally awful feeling. But don't let it get to you. Remember that the order of responses is random and the decision is 50/50. It could come up heads next time.

Your fear is irrational at this juncture (it's not even Feburary yet), but I definitely appreciate that you are going to feel that way whether it's rational or not. That's what this is all about. On another note, I am really enjoying lingering and watching you guys get accepted. Datatape: Congrats on your waitlist! You're already ahead of the game and it's not February yet.

My piece: Last year I was in the exact hypothetical scenario people were talking about where I was waitlisted at a top program but edged out by two people. Since the people who edged me out are essentially unknown to me, it would be almost nonsensical to feel competitive with them, since I don't know who they are or what they do. I also don't know who that program wanted last year in terms of field, expertise, etc. Instead, I felt basically nothing for anyone who did get in there because I can't feel anything for what is essentially unobservable. It's possible my disappointment was greatly tempered by the fact I had already gotten into choice programs. There were, however, plenty of people on here who got into programs that I didn't get into and since I felt some sort of gradcafe painful waiting camaraderie with them, I was actually very pleased when they got into the programs, even when I didn't. I sort of felt like I got to live vicariously through their successes, particularly since I didn't have any idea who they were or whether or not they were qualified for the spot for which I was also competing. That said, I do have competitive impulses in graduate study, but I have been trying to curb them for a while now. Whenever I think something judgmental, I know it's just a projection of my own intellectual/work ethic insecurity, so I try to put it in my mind vice and crush it. It's not healthy to rationalize your self worth in comparison to other people. Especially in academia. Jane Doe knows more about Foucault than I do, but I know more about Raymond Williams than she does. Tracking who is smarter is a dull and confusing game. Even so, what I was feeling last year when I got in was, more than anything, the supreme joy of external validation after a long period of no external validation and many setbacks. This sort of feeling of supreme joy comes in very small spurts in academia. Enjoy it when it happens, because it doesn't last. Every 45-hour week yields roughly thirty minutes of exultation. Most of that exultation comes from looking around a room full of my newfound friends and colleagues, stopping and chatting with them over coffee, and thinking, "Yes, these people are crazy, too, and it is fortunate that we can mutually enable one another to forget that we are being exploited for labor in this fucked up scheme called graduate humanities study." So, if you feel like you're competing in academia for praise and attention, jump ship while you still can! Most of the time you'll find yourself settling for personal scholarly breakthroughs that no one will appreciate but you. Edit: If I know someone who is a total asshole, I will relish beating him/her for funding, publications, etc., but I have yet to meet any serious assholes... it's early...

On the bright side, many people who have been in this thread are studying at Ph.D. programs somewhere right now, and many of those programs are among the top in the nation. So keep ya chinz up, y'all.

Haha, what a story, Mark.

I haff no ideeer what u are talking about, Leesa. You are my futchure wife. You know what they say... loff is blide.

OH HAI, CLAUDETTE. The chicken was delicious.

LET'S GO EAT, HONK? DONWURRBOUT IT, DENNY. Anyway, howzyur sex life? I will record evurrthing.

Something to distract everyone else while y'all are waiting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daMi-ird8Yg

As a Wolverines fan, I approve all the anti-Buckeyes undertones of your posts.

Seconded. It is FAR FAR FAR from expected. Most students won't even have published until year 3. Conferences are a nice thing to have on your CV, though.

You recovered nicely.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/compadre Hmm friend, companion, or close associate... I'm still rooting for you. I can't imagine you're so troll-y in real life.

No news is good news right now. Totally pulling for you, Datatape! Pulling for all my gradcafe compadres that didn't make it last year.

I'm VERY fond of The Country and the City. If you like that, try Marxism and Literature or Problems in Materialism and Culture.

I'm enjoying it immensely; so much rich prose...

Moby Dick! (Dick... Dick... Dick -- BA DAPPAA DAP DAP DAP DA BAP DAP) First time ever.

I love Derrida. One of my faves. Once you get into the flow of his work, things get easier.