antecedent

Thanks Marlowe I appreciate any and all words of wisdom, and/or reality checks.

Yup. Fingers crossed - for you, for me, for all of us.

I second this. I did an internship with Americorps/the California Conservation Corps and it was invaluable. Also, for every year of service you get $5,000 in tuition towards any American program, which can really help if you don't get full funding, funding right away, or any funding at all for grad school. I'm also of the personal belief that helping marginalized/impoverished communities in our own countries is just as important as helping those abroad, and it's often neglected because it's not as "exotic" as working internationally.

I applied for the MA in Applied Linguistics in the UW-Madison English department. I don't think it's a given straight through to the PhD the way the Lit MA is, though I did express my interest in pursuing a doctorate. I have been accepted to a program in the UK, it's just so freaking expensive. How did you cover the cost of studying abroad? Where did you do your MA, if you don't mind me asking? I definitely want to complete an MA before I get to my PhD - UT Austin is the only PhD program I applied to that didn't have a semi-autonomous Masters. BTW, Congrats Marlowe!

Congrats OverTheMoon! How exciting I hope we all hear back soon! Thanks for posting here.

I think what I've learned is that, despite what I've heard from some profs/other students, an MA is really, really helpful in defining and focusing your academic interests as well as just getting the postgraduate experience. I'm feeling much more confident about my decision to apply for three (soon to be four) MAs and only one PhD.

What I can't believe is that people work up the energy and enthusiasm year after to year to reapply if they don't get in the first (or second, or third...) time around. I can't possibly imagine putting myself through this again unless I get a Master's under my belt first. I guess it's kind of like endurance running of the mind...

UW Madison said all notifications should be out by February 21st, and if you haven't heard back by then, to contact Robyn Shanahan. Anyone heard anything from UT Austin?

Not to bring the thread down, but I'm so in this thread that I'm actually considering applying to one last school whose deadline hasn't passed yet just to increase my chances. I did get in to one program but it's far too expensive to be realistic. Oh well, at least the Application was free...

Wow congrats! I grew up in California, so Berkeley was always held up as the pinnacle of academic achievement. You should be very proud of yourself!

I've said this in other posts, but I might as well centralize my body modification goals in one thread I want a large Athena tattoo on my thigh if I get in (complete with spear/shield, owl, and wreathed with poppies), and I'm debating swapping out my septum retainer for a ring. Some of the other threads about piercings made me a bit nervous about that though so I'm kind of reconsidering. At least a considerably large thigh piece would be easy to hide. I already have 9 piercings (two in my nose, the rest in my ears) and a two part tattoo on the backs of my calves, but no colorwork as of yet... I chuckled out loud when I read this. You are awesome.

Me too! It stresses me out logging in to check my Illinois app simply because it's not even clear where we should be looking or if there's any progress being made. I found they were super informative during the application process, emailing me with updates every step of the way. It makes the subsequent radio silence even more disconcerting.

Yaaaay TripWillis! I'm so happy for you! I wish the same happiness for everyone else here too

Another acceptance is up on the board! I applied for the MA (with the intent to pursue the PhD) so I'm not too worried yet - it looks like the PhD offers are going out first with the masters coming later? Maybe? Does anyone have any information to contradict my (shaky and unabashedly optimistic) hypothesis?

My first American school to make it on the board. Definitely sent my heart rate up! I wonder who it is, and what their focus/specialization is. I guess we can officially start expecting to hear back any day now?

I've just been drinking tons of green tea. I had a green tea misto with almond milk, agave, and cinnamon the other day and that was pretty darn good. Not quite the same as a latte, but still pretty tasty. What I really miss, over all things, is a good cuppa. But dairy is out for me right now and I never did manage to choke down a whole cup of orange pekoe with any kind of milk replacer (and I've tried almost all of them). Sigh.

Do it! My decision is if I swap out my septum retainer for a ring or not...if I get in to grad school I think I'll do it! Which will probably force me to swap my nostril ring for a plain stud but it'd be worth it I wonder if that would be too edgy for grad school, even though I'd only be 24? I dunno, thoughts?

Another of my favorites. She's truly a poet as well as a musician. Thanks for the tip, Galoup11, I will totally check them out!

ME TOO! It's pretty much the worst. I miss lattes and beer so much...not to mention I have painfully coherent memories of the past five weeks as a result of NOT drinking myself into oblivion.

Neko Case is one of my favorite contemporary lyricists. She's also a total badass, which I can appreciate.

I only received one of those emails, but I've been receiving random emails about not-yet-relevant university-wide financial aid business since I submitted my FAFSA in early January. They just always have tantalizing titles like "University of Wisconsin - Madison Financial Aid" and then the body says something like "Don't forget to fill out your FAFSA!" or "FYI - need-based student loans have changed thanks to congress not giving a shit about grad students" or whatever. I don't know if there's any rhyme or reason to their seemingly random courtesy emails. Lets just pretend that if we're still getting them it must mean good news, right?

Did anyone else just get an email titled: UW-Madison Graduate English Program Application I almost had a heart attack! They've done this to me like three times in the past two weeks too. It's even worse though cause the first two lines of the email read like this: "Again, thank you for your application to the graduate programs in English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We received a great number of applications to our various areas of study..." It turns out that, in typical UW-Madison style, they were just trying to be nice and helpful to prevent us grad hopefuls from fretting too much. All decisions should be out by February 21st, they said, or we should contact Robyn Shanahan directly. Instead they just nearly gave me a heart attack. Anyone else?

I thought a full-time desk job and race training would be enough to make waiting endurable. It turns out even with what feels like a considerable spare time deficit I still manage to fret obsessively. Is there a thread for "I fucking hate my job"? I feel like we should start one. I know I'm lucky to be employed in this economy but I actually never imagined a job could make me this miserable.

Here's some more love for sociolinguistics! I'm quite new to the linguistics scene but I'm really excited about the programs I applied to. I'm also very interested in the syntax and grammar of English.