lauras

medianerd, Look on the bright side, at least you got in somewhere! There may be someone you know who's jealous of you right now!

That's your body's way of telling you you need to study a little less and start dating more.

If YOU are accepted by a school, then YOUR acceptance rate is 100% for that school. If you are rejected, the rate is 0% I think that's all any of us really care about, since none of us will be 20% accepted.

Why not assume you got in and just show up the first day. Tell the department secretary you're a new grad student and need an office assignment. Seems to me that once worked for George Costanza.

Bernie Madoff's list of victims was published today and included schools such as Brandeis, Columbia and Brooklyn College. Other schools have taken hits to their endowments, for instance, BC cut many services, but pledged to keep funding of new students at consistent levels. I have heard rumors that other schools have financial problems, but nothing substantiated. Has anyone else read specific reports about recent losses to endowments? Is anyone else concerned about getting into a 7 year financial relationship this year, when the dust is still settling?

I would definately reapply at least once. Schools often give you a slight bump up if you reapply. I also have applied to several schools in the same "level," and I think most people do the same. If I apply to 3 top programs and then reapply and still don't get in, I'm figuring I'm just not going to get in to any of them. I would only reapply a second time if something about my application significantly changed, for example, if I got a master's degree.

Awesome! That's a great school! You must be thrilled to start off with such a strong +1! UVA notified at the begining of February last year, so I guess UVA hopefulls are up next

If you are applying all over the country, just mark the region of your first choice.

There were two schools that I applied to which used embark, all of them showed I was missing either a LOR, a transcript or my GRE scores. I emailed someone in the department, and they assured me my application was complete. Embark is usually wrong, so don't panick, but do double check.

It's like playing pool, you need to shoot through the shot. I'm already working on my statement for when I reapply next year. It just helps me deal with the uncertainty.

Maybe you should call the department and ask. I know everyone is afraid to "bother" the admissions offices, but the 2 or 3 interactions I've had with schools over questions like this have been very friendly and helpful. Or if you're really paranoid about getting a bad rep, use a fake name and disguise your voice. :idea:

I greatly admire your resourcefulness and your obsessive tendencies. You will someday win a nobel prize in stalking if they ever start awarding prizes in categories that really mean something.

I'm realizing I should have thrown an application in to the U of Hawaii. What was I thinking?

That reminds me of a story this old Professor I used to know tells about how he got into his field. He was in the army after WWII and they asked for volunteers if anyone wanted to be a "Statistician." He volunteered, but only because he was a little deaf from mortar fire and thought they said "Dietician." You never know what you'll be good at, I guess, though times were simpler then.

mraig, You are not wrong about that. A lot of people that are not making it in graduate school (whether it's academic, personal or financial) feel very frustrated and bitter when they finally give it up. Usually at this point they are also really, really broke. I've known a few people in this position too, and I was surprised to hear them talk fondly of grad school a year later, once they found a job and were on their feet, away from the stress and frustration of arguing with an advisor they just couldn't communicate with and having to pay for an extra semester of fees because their thesis was not acceptable, etc. etc. I think no one can know how they're going to do. Just cross your fingers and hope things work out for the best.

t-ruth, Of course, every program is different, but I think most schools ask you to apply to the Grad School of Arts and Sciences, not the English Department or Philosophy Department etc. Small departments just don't have the staff to process everything, make phone calls, track down letters of rec so temporary staff do this work at the GSAS for all specific faculties. They use some kind of weighted scale and they score all the aspects of your application, then, if it makes the cut, they pass it on to the department for evaluations. I really think they pass these on all together. Wouldn't the department want the best possible applicant pool? And wouldn't they want to sit down and discuss this only once or at least, as few times as possible? I had heard the same rumor as you and I asked the department at Columbia, specifically, because my application was going to be held up because there was no school code for my school. Columbia, at least, assured me that this is just a rumor. Unless the department specifies "rolling admissions" I would assume the deadline is the deadline.

Personally, I agree with Ivy. Grad school is for anyone who gets in and education is never a waste. And if you don't finish, you don't. If you don't get a tenure track position, you don't. For people who are flexible, there are many jobs you can get with an English PhD that are not in academia. There are several lawyers at my law firm who got a PhD in English or some other world literature before they changed paths. Worse things can happen to you in life than not getting a tenure track position.

One thing you can do, if you are in the unfortunate postion of getting in nowhere, is to apply to the same schools as well as add a few additional safety schools. Some schools have an elaborate point system to evaluate a cut off for the many applications they recieve before they even go to the department (rather than picking some arbitrary measure like GPA or your GRE score). Often, one of the evaluation criteria is "did this person apply last year." Though it may seem counter-intuitive, applying to the same schools that already rejected you the first time might give you a few extra points on your entire application evaluation the second time and this might get your application past the general admission office cut-off threshold and into your department's short stack.

Minnesotan, Thanks for pointing out the typo. I'll repost the info when I have time to proof-read thoroughly.

Minnesota, Thanks for pointing out the typo. I'll repost the info when I have time to proofread thoroughly.

Ha ha ha! Luv ya too! Isn't it weird to discover that sometimes the universe is fair and rational?

Minnesotan, Thanks for pointing out the typo. I'll repost the info when I have time to proof-read thoroughly.

Minnesotan, Thanks for pointing out the typo. I'll repost the info when I have time to proofread thoroughly.

Minnesotan, Thanks for pointing out the typo. I'll repost the info when I have time to proofread thoroughly.

rinneron, Huge props to your mom, first off. Secondly, I have all the same fears as you. My grades as an undergraduate were harmed by the fact that I had an economics double major, which I absolutely hated it, yet thought it would be good for me to know, and I worked full time in college, and I had an extra bad two quarters when my grandparents passed away at the end of winter quarter 1994, and, and, and.... I really went back and forth about writing an explaination, but why call attention to how bad my grades were? It's some of that closing argument strategy beat into my brain during law school; mention facts harmful to your case as little as possible. Why make your (perceived) bad grades the center piece of your application? Better to brag about the things you did do well. I'm certain we both did the right thing. The only time I'd use that section is if there was something really, really drastic that needed an explaination, like a felony conviction or an expulsion.