thestage

I feel like I need to make a thread for 4.0 undergrads with no acceptances to balance things. (charter member)

I set up my schedule in the previous spring and summer in such a way that I only had to take three courses last fall, for the sole purpose of having more time to devote to the whole process. It was probably the only good decision I made.

canada isn't a country, don't be silly.

maybe the worst part about this whole thing: I have multiple professors asking me on a weekly basis if I've heard anything yet. They all went through this--don't they know that's just about the worst thing they could possibly do? "Have you heard anything yet?" "YES I'VE BEEN REJECTED BY FIVE SCHOOLS I HAD NO BUSINESS APPLYING TO, THANKS." One even thinks it is a good idea to ask this question in front of the entire class, as if I would feel obliged to answer in any way shape or form under those circumstances.

it's where you get to go teach english to bored japanese salarymen and sleep in a matchbox. but you have to be 26 or under because I guess if you're older you might be cognizant of the shitty conditions.

life

I think both The Sound and the Fury and Absalom, Absalom! are better than As I Lay Dying, but not by a whole lot, and the latter is certainly a much better Faulkner introduction than those two are.

The Sun Also Rises is essentially a companion piece to Gatsby, as far as I'm concerend. Doesn't hurt that Fitzgerald is a character in the book. As I Lay Dying is a great suggestion

well, Poe died before Moby Dick was published

I absolutely need to research schools better and focus my SOP a whole lot more. I did not appreciate how pragmatic these programs are in regards to who they admit until well into this whole process--if you don't have a clear idea of what you want to work toward, and if that idea isn't laid out clearly in your SOP, it isn't happening. I'll try to contact professors, maybe look into publishing or conferences--all that logistical stuff. I will also almost certainly write another paper for my sample, as my current one is not organized well enough and does not have a forceful enough conclusion. I wrote it specifically for these apps and I simply didn't devote enough time to it (which, yes, makes me a complete idiot). My measurables are top notch (4.0 GPA, 170 verbal, 6 writing, 670 subject), so at least I don't have to jump through those hoops again.

definitely can't be as shitty of a market, especially if you're in a good program, and even Yale law is easier to get into than more or less any English program

I am seriously considering law school. Someone talk me off the bridge, please.

the same day I figured out I had more or less been eliminated from stanford consideration, my friend got offered $50000 to do a project he said would take him maybe a couple of weeks worth of work. he's a year out of undergrad, and has a steady job on top of his contract work. meanwhile, I was hoping against hope to beat out 500 people for one of ten slots at a place where I could work for six years for the privledge of having a shot at a job that would start at a yearly salary of not-quite my friend's contract. some days are harder than others. on the other hand, maybe he can buy me something LOLCAPITALISM

been a pretty bad week

I do doubt that adcoms ever meet in December regardless of application dates, however. It would seem to me that interview dates would have to be fairly soon if the committee is going to use them for any kind of decision making purpose, as I just don't see them waiting until March to send out admissions offers. It is possible that the interviews are only a formality, of course, at which point I don't think there would have to be any kind of buffer period. Who knows.

like everyone else, I was going to say Joanna Newsom. now I guess I'll say Michael Gira

I suppose delayed wait list annoucements are a dim possibility, but false hope doesn't do anyone any good.

it means we didn't get in is what it means. not too hard to read the tea leaves on this one.

well, I suppose this is my first rejection

joyce wasn't particularly an academic but come on are there even grad students that don't drink?

but no one has ever said that the demand for English at the undergraduate level has diminshed (the demand for <i>other</i>, smaller humanities departments is declining, but English numbers seem to be healthy). lots of people get english degrees. the problem is about what comes next. why do you think schools only admit 10 people for an incoming PhD class? look at some of the numbers in this thread, and you'll note that while applications are universally up, admits are universally down. is it because people are becoming less and less qualified (they are, but that's another story)? no, it's because there's no funding. and why is there no funding? because there is less interest in producing those degrees. and why do English PhD students need guaranteed funding in the first place, while non-humanities students often are required to pay their own way through graduate school? because there are no $100,000 jobs waiting for them on the other side, and consequently no one that isn't rich would ever get a humanities PhD if they had to foot the bill. in fact, the rising number of English graduate applicants is itself a sign of a diminished demand for the humanities, because it suggests that those with BA's in English are not finding jobs.

well you won't catch me doing that, sucker

"no, I'm not coming down, and you can't make me."

I'm fairly certain undergrads are more or less the same everywhere, outside of circumstances in which socioeconomic differences might rear their heads.

if you are making this thread, it is too much. if you are responding to this thread, it is too much. fi you are reading this thread, it is too much.