Aubergine

Oh man. This reminds me of my all-time favourite false friend moment. Slightly off topic, as this wasn't a student, but rather, my francophone boyfriend on his best behaviour as he meets my mom for the first time. While all cooking dinner together, he turns to me and very sweetly asks, "would you like me to rape the carrots?" I almost died laughing. One of those instances where substituting the French verb really doesn't work. (râper = to grate)

You are going to be okay!! Deep breaths. Remember that they chose you because they see promise in your work, and that you totally deserve this. Here's a (slightly modified) list of preparations that my wonderful supervisor sent me when I was freaked out about my Brown interview. I found that going through the list one point at a time helped to focus my energy and calm me down, and when I finally got to the interview (also over Skype) I felt well prepared. Research their website; familiarize yourself with their faculty and their course offerings, and try to put together a sense of why you would be a good fit for what they do. Prepare a few little blurbs to have on hand about your work now, where you see it going, and how it relates to broader questions in the field (issues in your field, etc). Prepare questions to ask them--this is one of the most important things--get them talking about the program, the students, you are interviewing them as well. Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything in your file that would jump out as a problem that you need to explain or address, but if you can think of such a thing, prep a bit on how to answer any questions that you might get. Lastly, think about what you want out of grad school and how X can help you get it. Also, since your interview is over Skype, I would add that you should think about where to do the interview (make sure that the background is tidy and not too busy, that there is no strong light source behind you putting your face into shadow, etc). Another prof suggested that I move the window that shows my own image just below the camera, since we tend to look at ourselves when we chat anyway. This way it looks more like you're making eye contact. Best of luck! You're going to do great!

Looks like someone recently posted an acceptance to Stanford's MTL Program. Congratulations!

The rejections went out on the 15th and 16th, according the the results board. As in, now! The deadline was so early, too! Because of that early deadline and the fact that I am a major procrastinator (gotta work on that...), I am most definitely expecting rejection, but would be great to have this suspicion confirmed so that I can mentally move on.

Salvatura, that such amazing news! Three schools to choose from! Congrats! I am not American, so I can't really speak to the quality or reputation of any of these schools. Do they have placement records posted somewhere? That would certainly be a question I would ask during a campus visit! Which program is the best fit for your interests? Of course, funding will be a factor as well... Congrats again! It must feel wonderful to not be waiting on any schools!

Yep! http://gsas.nyu.edu/page/grad.scholarlyprograms.interuniversitydoctoralconsortium

I took mine at my desk in my bedroom, but not before I moved all the crap (namely, a rack of clothes) that usually rests against the wall opposite my desk! If it had been later in the day and I'd been on campus, I might have asked to use my supervisor's office.

A prof of mine suggested that I move the self view window to the top/middle of the screen, just under the camera. She's like, "you always end up looking at yourself anyway. This way it looks like you're looking into the camera." Probably goes without saying, but make sure that what the camera sees behind you is neat and tidy, and not too 'busy.' And be prepared to meet technological problems with humour and grace. We had a problem early on where my image froze and they had to call me back. Lucky for me, my proposed research is on issues of temporality, so I got to make a joke about time lag. Edit: And good luck, artofdescribing!

PTPS, You're applying to Canadian schools that require the GRE?

Has anyone here applied to Harvard's Film and Visual Studies program? Looks like last year's acceptances went out in mid(ish)-February.

Oh - whoops! I didn't read back far enough in the thread. Sorry about that! It seems that you already have some tough choices, anyway!

Congrats! I have some friends in that program, and they all really like it.

Thanks very much! I'm super, super excited. Have my fingers crossed that we'll all end up in great programs!

I'm generally more of a lurker than a poster, but I have to say that I've been rooting for you, LLajax. Hearty, hearty congrats!!!!

Just got the official rejection!

Thanks, Silent! I heard back last Wednesday by an email to check the website, and then a phone call from the DGS. I applied to Theatre and Performance Studies-- NOT English or Comp Lit. Totally a good idea. I made sure to check in with all of the schools that didn't explicitly tell me via email that my application was complete. Edit: Silent, did you try calling the Brown Graduate School? I found them to be super friendly and helpful and very willing to check on whether or not my letters had arrived, etc.

I had a ton of problems with embark and the Brown app as well. For one thing, I had to have my referees email my letters, which never came up as received on the website. All is now of course forgiven, since it looks like I'll be attending in the fall.

A massage.

For me right now, there's no such thing!

Just got my Brown acceptance as well! My heart is still pounding....

Thanks all!! I was offered a place in Brown's PhD in Theatre and Performance Studies. Totally my top choice. I haven't quite been able to stop shaking yet!

Okay. Literally 5 minutes after posting that last message I got in to my dream school. Holy shit!!

Congrats to all who are able to withdraw from this thread! ...I'm totally feelin' this thread these days. I applied to 5 PhD programs. I interviewed at my top choice last week but haven't heard back yet, have been implicitly rejected from another, and haven't yet heard a peep from the other 3, who traditionally haven't notified until mid-February. I'm fairly convinced that I won't get in to any of them! The silver lining is that my university forwarded my MA SSHRC application, so at least I'll be well funded next year if I remain in Canada to do a master's.... (but what if I get the scholarship and then get rejected from the MA? Ahhhh!)

Yep, he ended up in the perfect program!

I didn't vote because I'm not applying to lit programs, But I wanted to add that when my partner applied to English lit programs three years ago, he had email correspondences with POIs at all seven of the programs to which he applied. He was offered admission to five of those programs (all ranked in the top 10 I think). His emails introduced his researched interests, asked about fit and resources, and whether or not that particular prof would be accepting students in the coming year(s). The profs whose interests closely matched his own were more than happy to correspond. Would he have been accepted anyway? Probably? But the emails certainly didn't hurt his chances! Edit: Just read this and wanted to add, he was also coming out of the British system.