Ategenos

Yup, this is established. For one thing, your success very much depends on who is on the adcom that year (obviously it helps if your POI(s) are on the adcom and you have had good communication with them, for example). I've also been told by someone who was privy to the whole experience that to be accepted you have to have at least one person pushing for you, and NOBODY with any doubts. Then it also depends what the department is looking for in that particular year; maybe they have enough <insert specialty here> and you're just unlucky to be one of them - I know that this happened with at least one university I applied to, because when I went to visit they said they really weren't wanting any Victorianists this year. Then of course there's the well-known fact that there are more supremely qualified applicants than there are spaces. This means that really minor things might make you the favoured choice over someone else: maybe in your SoP you stated that you thought Derrida was a hack who has had too much time and effort focused on him, and that really gelled with the adcom (although it's probably better to hold in such strident opinions until one is actually admitted). Heck, maybe they even just read your application first, and completely subconsciously were then defending it from the other applications for the rest of the process just because of the weird way the human brain works. Maybe you went to meet the department before/during applications and made a good (intelligent and chummy) impression, and this could have easily been a deciding factor... or maybe they know your letter writers very well; it might not be right, but human beings usually can't avoid being biased. Having a group of people is meant to avoid this, but it only ameliorates it to a degree. Then there's also pedigree which, for many of the top programs especially, does play a part; not a whole part, as some people think, but it can definitely open doors. Having now gone through this thing twice, I think the only thing you can do is put out the best application that you possibly can. This means an immense amount of individual tailoring, and includes things like getting in touch with (and potentially visiting) the department. Even then, so many factors completely outside your control can trash your chances.

See if you could visit the other one on another day. If they want you, they'll probably be willing to at least let you pop in, speak to some faculty and students, etc.

Ah, I took it in... October of 2011... got 670. Maybe they changed it inbetween the dates, or maybe it was just pure chance? The other option for study, if this is the case, is just to read ALL of the Norton Anthologies (well, at least British Lit & American Lit). They might not have all the authors' works, but it gives you the language and style to look out for... and I'd imagine they usually draw the questions from their most popular works anywho.

This is just my opinion, but I'd say end of march at the latest (and preferably a little before). That at least gives 'em a bit of time to notify others, and let them make their decision. This, of course, all goes wrong when people are accepted at some programs and wait-listed for their top choice... but as a general guide, I think it works.

Saying that, it's always best not to take two months. This is why their needs to be some kind of rule that all initial acceptances need to be out by a certain date, and decisions from these by another date (so that there's plenty of time to deal with wait-lists). Unless you are waiting on a school that you REALLY want to go to, there's no reason to keep the other schools waiting until the final deadline.

With the ones with really low GREs, sometimes you gotta take a look at the prestige of their previous institution, their letter writers, or maybe their SoP was just fantastic. High GREs can be a hook, but there are other (more important) ones.

You have to be hardnosed about this. As much as School 1 might be cozy, the place with more resources is probably going to make you more employable at the end of all of this... and as for not thinking you'll be happy there, how much of this is because you already feel comfortable with School 1 (friends going, know it well, etc)? Fact of the matter is, if you make an effort when you get there, you'll most likely make this other university just as much of a home as you've already constructed out of School 1 in your mind... and you'll have more money to relax in those few precious hours that you have off than you would otherwise. As for the friends... even if you don't become best buddies with the people in your department, as long as you can at least be amiable to each other, there are tons of other departments full of students to get to know. Other people will no doubt disagree with me...

Far as I can see, doing well on the GRE (and subject test) isn't the most important thing. Doing actively badly can be important, because it shows you didn't take time to prepare (and there are plenty of books out there) for a whole section of the application. Saying that, I'd imagine being great in all other areas of the application (prestige of the department you're coming from, high GPA, good LoRs preferably from respected academics, great SoP & Writing Sample) is more important. The GRE is just an initial hook, like having famous letter writers saying good stuff about you, or coming from a school with good pedigree (often these last two come together). If you have neither of the latter two, it's probably a good idea to do as well as humanly possible on the GRE and subject test, because then the adcom will pretty much HAVE to look carefully at the rest of the application (for university-wide fellowships, and just because it's high), which will then allow you to shine.

Oh, I don't see it as entirely useless. The ones who get the appropriate books and do the learnin' show that they know their way around ridiculous systems, something you have to get used to in academia. ;P

The GRE subject test doesn't really require breadth of knowledge, just to take the potential fear of it away. What it requires is one of the good prep books (I remember the Princeton Review one was awesome), which pretty much tells you which works/authors are most likely to come up... and lo and behold, they do. Acquiring breadth of knowledge is good, of course, and to be encouraged. Just thought I'd say it because taking some English classes won't necessarily prepare you for it (the test is too broad for targeted classes to do anything)... getting one of these prep books, however, will do the job nicely.

Right up until you made this post and spoiled the surprise... now, alas, they'll have all cleared out.

You think that's bad. I have to move my book collection to a different country. I am just going to have to be very harsh, and give most of 'em up.

I've also applied to BU, and as far as I (and the results board) know they haven't started informing yet.

I dunno. I sort of agree with bfat. It would be different if you were talking about how upset you were missing out on <x> or <y> school (although I'd say even this should be kept to other threads)... but chatting about all the schools you've had to turn down should definitely be kept to another thread. It's like talking about the sweet feeling of illegal narcotics running through your system to a bunch of people in rehab.

From my experience thus far at the graduate level (Masters work), hard work, a spark of creativity, and a willingness to accept and adapt to criticism are all you need to do well. If your application convinced the department, then you're almost certainly good enough. The people I've seen start to flag at the graduate level are the ones who don't quite do enough work, who coasted to a degree during their undergrad, and who can't shake this trend as they move onwards and upwards... and the ones who are so enamoured of their own views that they refuse input and refute the notion of their fallibility. Then there's the worst kind: the ones who combine both these flaws. Brrrr. Luckily, imposter syndrome is usually seen in the sort of students who are neither of these types, so you're probably okay.

You say this, but I come from Britain, the most boring and grey place in the world, where nothing happens without booze of the finest quality! I reckon the Old World should get in on this, too!

There we go! So now we're just waiting for a Boulderite.

Could be that you are somewhere in the running and, if other people drop out, you'll be contacted. Unlike what many people think, the grad cafe results board is often misleading. My fiancee, for example, saw all the wait-lists and acceptances going out to two of her unis last year... and then, at the last minute, they made her an offer. She's not the only one, either. Sometimes I do wonder how these things actually work... Not that this helps with stress, of course.

It's no problem, really. I'm just being overly sensitive, I'd imagine, but it's just such a common thing to hear - that the whole normal job+house+baby is the assumed ideal, and that deviations from that norm makes you some kind of weirdo.

Seconded.

Could be that someone rejected an initial offer, so they made a new one.

Ah, you see, I suspect some tribalism going on here... coz one of my reference writers, who comes from Massachusetts, says that they have the best microbreweries.

I hate the expression "putting off life". It devalues an entire set of choices, and is founded upon the common societal discourse concerning academics: that they don't work hard, and that it's some kind of easy ride... Getting a job outside academia is a choice. Continuing the academic process is also a choice. Life is what happens when we're making these choices, and is not dependent on the option we choose. Saying that, if you've decided an alternative path is the one for you, this is cool... and I am happy that the whole process made you realise what it is that you want to do.

Congrats to all the acceptances today! I just got my acceptance to another one of my favourite programs (UConn). Admittedly, they seem to have admitted me into the PhD, as opposed to the MA/PhD, but I am hoping to get that sorted!

I asked Joseph Black about the interview. He said this, which made me feel better: "Most -- a very large majority -- of those we admit do well: well enough for them to agree to the offer. And they need to be very sure of themselves to tell us no: we will push them in return." Of course, I'm still going to prepare the crap out of this thing, but what sort of potential grad students would we be if we didn't do the assigned reading and often some more on top of that? ;P