whirlibird

My mom and dad both did their undergrad at big state schools (different states) and went on to do cool but completely academically unrelated things. My aunt and uncle, with whom I'm quite close, are both humanities PhDs who have worked as professors and my aunt moved into administration as a dean, president, and then chancellor. They're the ones in my family who have the post-undergrad experience and have been my best source of information, despite coming from a different field. I didn't grow up around academia, though, so I have a little of both worlds, I guess. I guess all of OUR kids will be of the "parents have PhD" type, though, huh?

Haha, you make a VERY good point. I should have been much more optimistic. While rhyming is not necessary in haikus, I dig how you pulled it off.

Yup, me, too. I, however, didn't think they had reconsidered...I assumed they wanted to rub salt in the wound. To them I say: you can't take away the joy of post-valentine's chocolate sales, even with your cold-hearted correspondence! Except I don't know if we have those sales here...oh. Okay, haiku time: Ignorance is bliss Before, we begged to differ I take it all back! I'm glad we're passing the time in style.

Congratulations to everyone for all the good news! I'm especially pumped for those who are hearing their first! Imagine a bird moonwalking...no, not just a bird...an emu...yes....that's what I'm doing right now. In my head, of course. I'm not actually a bird. Wait, what?

I want to establish some research "street cred," I think, but I'm ultimately all about training little liberal arts undergrads. I'm with you guys. Awesome to know we're not alone.

February Fanaticism, ROUND TWO! I'll hop on the Yale/Princeton boat and add Berkeley (what remains, I guess, since they've contacted some people already). Maybe official rejections from some of the schools that have been elusive thus far--i.e. Stanford, Yale, etc. And, yes, congratulations to you Sunday admits! Weekends aren't safe, and neither is late, late at night! NO TIME IS SAFE! CONSTANT VIGILANCE!

Pulling for you with all of the mental powers at my disposal!

Well, as some have pointed out, the self-selection bias of gradcafe that yields the same "we're all applying to top 10s and we've all got perfect GREs etc." image that thus spawns response threads like "Those not applying exclusively to top 15 schools" is the same that also explains why there are many more results posted in the survey from higher-ranked programs than from lesser-known/lower-ranked programs. The population of gradcafe is not representative of the entire population of grad school applicants; it attracts more of those who are more obsessive, are perfectionists, etc. because it provides information that they're looking for. So, all that to say that it's reasonable to assume that more acceptances would be posted to top schools (that assumption's also consistent with past years' posted results) based upon the correlations therein. Gradcafe is fascinating. (It's also amazing/appalling what anonymity can inspire people to say...case in point the issues certain posters have been having with one another...)

I'm just confused about every school, to be honest! No one seems to be holding their previous patterns.

I think geographic preference can certainly be a factor in making your decision. I'm thinking of geographic proximity to my family after having been continents away from them for a time, but that doesn't mean as much to other people, necessarily. It's also true that you should be able to see yourself somewhere for at least five years, or it can affect your entire attitude and work productivity. If you're a big city person, can you manage adapting to smaller, more sprawling places? If you've been a small town person your whole life, will the center of an urban jungle make you feel trapped? I certainly wouldn't say geography is my first criterion for making decisions, but it does play a role for me.

Sweet! You've got first place this week, Rdubs (can I call you Rdubs?), and I get to play the jolly second place fiddle. This game is way more fun than this actual decision content stuff. Heh heh.

Hey, everybody! I'm a current Fulbright ETA in Turkey, so if you have any burning questions or just want to talk Fulbright/Turkey/English teaching, feel free to PM me. I'm applying to grad schools now, but I lurked on the 2011-2012 board last year, and I know how hard the waiting is. Good luck to everyone! You've applied to an incredible program.

Same here. Haha, I was so surprised by the time stamp! There was probably a timer to release them when no one could call and complain. All right, well, officially 3/4 now, but I'm assuming that no news from UChicago and UNC is unoffical rejection at this point. So that makes 3/6 unofficially. Super excited for everyone who got in, though! Gotta spread the love.

Is that insider info you're peddling? Didn't someone say they called the department yesterday and the adcomm was meeting tomorrow? Maybe that was another school and I'm remembering incorrectly...you know how my brain is going in my old age... Edit: Ah, looks like they were meeting today and/or Friday. Gotcha. Well, looks like stormy news for me there.

UVA acceptances trickling in. Looks like that's just the norm for most schools this year. Oh, the GRE...even if it were to be completely useless, there's no way we'd be able to convince departments of that. I think it's far too convenient a cut-off tool.

Talk 'em in circles and you'll have it in the bag.

In other words, "If you were admitted to grad school, how would you graduate?"

I bet the outcome of tonight's basketball game (v. Duke) will determine if lots of people get in tomorrow...or if everyone's rejected.

Thanks! I actually really wish that I could, but I don't think they can help me with ridiculous travel costs enough, and I don't think I could take the days off if I wanted to. :/ Therefore, I expect a full report back from you, if you're going! (Insider reports...like is the entire prospective cohort full of slackjawed fools/uptight hooligans?)