Ategenos

It's tough. I promised myself not to come back to Grad Cafe this cycle, yet here I am... whenever I see people posting up news about the unis I applied to, I tend to just go to sleep. This is playing merry hell with my current research. ;P

Having failed myself, and talking to the other 'failures', I think it's important to remember in all of this that not getting in should not necessarily be considered an academic failure. One of my POIs reminded me that for every person they actually let in, there are many more people who they would LIKE to let in if only they had the money... people who are good enough. They do not, and it often comes down to where there are gaps in the department, and the tiniest little things in the final cut. It's always wise to remember that the process is, in other words, a bit of a crapshoot in some regards. Saying that, if I fail this time around (would be my second), I'll probably begin searching frantically for some other way to come to America (internship, and going through my savings, etc), while applying one more time... my fiancee is already over there studying graduate philosophy, and I don't fancy another year spent stuck here in the UK, living like a pauper, and spending all my money on coming over to visit as regularly as my wallet allows... In the case of an internship/migrant labour/etc, I'll probably also try to visit as many of the departments as I can. I've been told I've got a competitive application, and I managed to visit my top choice this time around (and the reaction was pretty good), and I just reckon it's a good addition to any application if the department permits it. This is early days yet, but I would also encourage any people who don't make it to get in touch with the graduate directors of the programs they applied for or POIs (after giving them a month or so post-application to catch a breath), and see if it's possible to get any advice on what went wrong/ways to improve your application to that school. The worst that happens is you get no reply at all, but on the other hand they'll sometimes be willing to give you comprehensive and helpful advice. Anyway, here's keeping fingers crossed that there won't be a third time for me, and that this time next year I'll be freezing my butt off in a northeast snowstorm (but with the comfortable knowledge of having made it), as opposed to freezing my butt off in a badly heated Scottish apartment. ;P

Last year, the Writing Program seemed to send out all their interview requests on the same day, so I'd imagine that was yesterday (and the smaller number of posts is just representative of a smaller number of people actually using gradcafe this year) this time around. If it's anything like last year, we'll probably then see other funding paths (fellowships, etc) going up early next week, then the wait-list, and finally rejections... ... of course, who knows until it happens? And as Jeremiah said, what with the snow, we probably won't be hearing anything more today.

Oh, and for the Lit Subject Test, the Princeton book is pretty awesome in the way it lays out not only what to study, but also how to study and answer questions. I found it a very worthwhile purchase... I didn't have enough time to prepare (as I was still finishing off my masters dissertation and preparing for the general test), but I managed to get 630 - and I think that is almost certainly, in part, thanks to that little tome.

Ah well, a clean sweep of rejections this time round - so I'm joining all of you for the next round. :> At least I have good enough GRE and Subject Test scores. I can concentrate on just pounding out an even better writing sample, and more targeted SoP (I think my SoP was the weakest part of my application this time round, although very few departments have been willing to give me anything but cursory feedback). So, good luck to all!

Wait-listing is nearly the end... one of my schools just sent me a form rejection letter to let me know. One left to go.

They are both being super mysterious. The grad director at one of them only said she couldn't say anything until they'd heard back from more people (even very general info), and the other... well... the grad director never responded to me, and the grad assistant said that all she could tell me was that I was wait-listed, and that even she didn't know anything else. At this rate, I am just going to assume I have actually been wait-listed at two competing international spy schools, and that they are literally so clandestine that no-one really knows anything. ;P All in all, I am not full of hope (but I got plenty of stress, if anyone's lookin' for some).

Hey, at least you have numbers.I just know I'm wait-listed at two schools I'd really like to attend, but neither of them is willing to say anything at all. :>

Anyone heard anything back yet? Or managed to tease out any more details?

Imogene - I did ask, but the essential response was: very few responses have been received either way from their acceptances (this was about a week and a half ago), and that people on the wait-list will know as soon as they know. I presume from this answer that there isn't a numbered waitlist, because otherwise they do seem to give some indication - and the only other option is that I'm pretty low numbered and thus wasn't worthy of further encouragement. ;P

jma310 - it does not. The only activity from Penn State has been two acceptances earlier in the season; everybody who hasn't heard back might be wait-listed, but it is far more likely that they are rejected. Nobody knows, though... It is a very frustrating state of affairs... Colorado are doing the same thing.

I emailed and was told I was on the wait-list. The fact that other people actually got an email, after my initial excitement, makes me think I am probably not high up on the wait list. Le sigh!

Well, that's something at least... I'll never be able to find the funding though. Man, I wish I knew then what I knew now. I would have done so many things differently, and potentially not been 0/10 with only four more to report. At the very least, I think I know what the problem with my app is now. My writing sample, though my highest graded piece of work in my Masters, was also the first piece of work - and therefore does not adequately show the direction that my studies were taking by the time I wrote my SoP. I sort of wish I'd submitted my piece about masculinity in Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy; that thing had modern psychiatric studies of gulf war veterans, historical and contemporary studies of trauma, and even some modern sociological research. Ah well! We live and learn. I'll just submit it next year (if I can save up the cash to apply again!).

Ah, there we go... did everyone else get invited to the whole MA thing? Not that I could afford 41,000 dollars (!!) anyway, but it would be nice to know whether I should feel a little bit good about myself or if I just received the same thing as every other rejected scholar. ;P

I have emailed every grad program that rejected me, requesting feedback, and have had something back from... nearly all of them. One was just a form email, saying their policy is not to say anything, but a couple gave me some - and one said that, once things had died down, he would be more than willing to give me blow-by-blow feedback... ... so I think it's worth it. So long as you're polite, only a complete ass would hold a simple question against you (plus they probably won't remember it next year, anyway).

I still haven't heard anything from BU. Couldn't they have just rejected me at the same time as all the other rejections, instead of leaving me hanging on this tattered string of folorn hope?

Hopefully we'll be at Rochester together, Ekant! Then we can laugh at these merry (in hindsight... ah, wonderful hindsight...) times. :>

I am starting to think that I may have set my sights a little high. If the last half suck as much as the first (aka big fat impersonal rejections), then the next time I apply I think there will be a few more mid-ranked schools, and a lot more focus on the professors... ... not to mention bribes. Lots of bribes. ;P

I'm with you... just reached the half way point, all rejections so far, and (of course) very little feedback to let you know where you went wrong. I think I've kind of guessed, though... I didn't do enough work on my SOPs in terms of nailing home fit. I mean, I thought I did, and so did my professor over here in the UK, but from what I hear on these forums... well, they just fall way short... didn't do enough research, didn't drive home exactly why I was suited to this or that particular program. This realisation sucks, because it means the other half of my applications will be just as lacklustre - and just as likely to fail. I guess the one ray of hope is that my remaining schools are (for the most part) not as highly ranked as the ones that have already rejected me, and I'm (almost - Tufts feedback not included) certain that the rest of my application is pretty damned good. So here's hoping for all of us 0-fors - sickly sweet Disney endings do sometimes happen in this vile process. :>

No news is no news. Good news is good news.

Better that than 0/5. Apparently, no schools think I'm awesome... and I at least thought there was a smidgeon of awesome hidden somewhere. ;P

Congrats to the two so far! I shall prepare my red pen to cross another one of the list... starting to see a depressing collection of red lines now!

I know that feeling. Commiserations, Silent G.

A neverending limbo punctuated with moments of hellish pain. ;P

Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster. I am hating this. I sent my best piece of writing (got a 19/20 in a Scottish masters program which only on vanishingly rare occasions gives 20s in the arts), got pretty good GREs (168/160/5.5 and 630 in the subject test), what I hope were good references, and personalised SoPs for each university - and yet I am currently 0/3 (and probably 0/6, if I count the unis that have already sent out acceptances and wait-lists)... I mean, I was expecting rejections, but practically bankrupted myself on these cursed applications. I made the mistake of asking Tufts for feedback, and was told that my application was adequate in all areas but distinctive in none. That hurt (talk about damning with faint praise). The whole process hurts. I feel like if I could just have one acceptance, or even a wait-list, then I could handle the rejections... but it's really starting to hurt, and the 'shut out' feeling is beginning to descend. </rant>