muffinlit
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Posts posted by muffinlit
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No news from Georgia State-- anyone in the same boat.
I emailed a week ago. No answer. I keep checking the website. No change.
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I was in the same boat, and sent an email on Friday. The DGS said that letters went out three weeks ago... and that although I made it to the final cut, I wasn't chosen. It was a really nice email though-- one of the better ones I've gotten from department's.
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Hey Muffinlit, I'm on the same boat with you; no news from NEU yet. Any luck with calling them?
I emailed last Friday-- still no response. I keep checking the website-- no change.
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Just want to add this little gem to the mix... I emailed asking about my status and this was the response:
Good Day Danielle,
Your application has completed the review process. You should be receiving your letter shortly.
Thank You
Wow. At least I got a good day?
I guess they value brevity and tight writing at Temple.
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I'm still waiting to hear from 4 schools and it's April 5th. Got accepted to Kent, and the letter says I'm on a "very short waiting list" for an assistantship. Does anyone know what the odds of getting it? Already sent an email saying I would accept if offered. Also, am on a "short waiting list" for Albany English PhD, which only accepts students with full funding. Any experience with these schools? Thanks
I was accepted to Kent's phd program without funding. I talked to the chair, and he told me that my chances of getting an assistantship were not that great (not sure if MAs compete for the same ones). I have teaching experience and he said that if I do choose to accept, then I might be able to pick up a few classes and then apply for one next year. Not sure yet what I'm going to do, since I'm still waiting to hear from 4 schools.
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Lehigh! can't wait any longer for Penn State or Northeastern to make their decision on the MA app.
Congrats! Must feel good to be done.
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temple sent an email saying all funding offers have been made. so you're either out or in unfunded (like me) at this point. muffinlit-- as for northeastern i got invited to apply to the MA but haven't heard back. even though i accepted another offer, i told them to throw my name in the pool for curiosity (i think i told you this all haha). don't look for an updated status pg on their site though-- mine was an email address "NU Admissions Inquiry" and I'm wondering if she just looked me up bc i was asking. good luck guys! penn state also hasn't made a peep in my direction so it is indeed annoying.
Where did you decide to go HopefulJ?
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Haven't heard from them either. I finally emailed them two days ago, but from the sounds of it I shouldn't hold my breath.
BUT know you aren't alone.. I actually haven't heard a peep from a handful of schools, and I finally emailed them all out of sheer aggravation.
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Yeah. I need to do that. You're right. I just need to also muster up the courage to. There is something about emailing people and getting rejected that hurts even worse.
It's like I'm curious whoo-hoo. And I furiously check my email for the response. And then it's like boo.
Maybe Monday I will. I mean tomorrow's Friday, no point in getting bad news on a Friday right?
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Ugh-- that probably means I'm rejected, since I'm already blessed with an MA and did not get the waitlist email.
Well, c'est la vie.
And what does that even mean-- please apply for the MA, does that mean you're a shoe-in? These people are so frustrating!
And I still haven't heard from Temple yet, which is absolutely annoying-- did they give you any info. in their acceptance letter?
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Anyone NOT get the waitlist email that is still waiting to hear from northeaster? or perhaps may have heard?
I keep checking the website but nothing.
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Ok first-- is he funded? Because that would really piss me off.
Second... can I audit is first year comp class? That would be interesting...
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How long does it take to respond to a wait list status update email? It's been three days. I'm starting to freak out a little bit. I think there are a couple possibilities as to what's going on, but I don't think most of them are good:
1. email was lost
2. program administrator forwarded the email to someone without giving notification of receipt
3. ignoring me
Blah!
Check and see when they're on spring break-- not that that excuses leaving people on pins and needles. They like you a lot obviously, they don't want to piss you off. You never want to piss off your backup plan.
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Perhaps that means if we didn't get that email then we're rejected?
I'm on the verge of sending an email... oh but I don't want to... maybe tomorrow.
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i see some northeastern waitlist activity today. i spoke to the DGS and she said we'd be hearing by e-mail very soon. anyone have any info about more accepts/waitlists? i was in boston this weekend and got bit by the boston bug very badly and want to attend school there, if possible.
Hopeful J did you get an email about being waitlisted? Arg. I didn't and now I'm sort of nervous.
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True. For funding, the general is more important.
However,I'm trying to aim for a completely brilliant app package
. (I don't want another round of rejections, and I'm aiming high) I've recently discovered that it's actually a full-time endeavor just to prepare for creating one of those hahahahha (done with general GRE - thank god I don't have to take those again, subject test, summer graduate seminar, fall graduate seminar if same prof offers, and Latin classes in the fall and spring, while working on SOP and writing sample and working 4 jobs. yay).You will love Latin-- just don't get discouraged if the 18 year olds are better than you while they smell like a bar and look like they haven't changed their clothes in a day... perhaps I'm projecting.
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I guess what bothers me is that the numbers game apparently means more than actual passion and preparation - it doesn't matter if you ACTUALLY know anything, as long as the paper trail looks good. It's such a false indicator. Seriously. I was talking to a friend of mine who is going for twentieth century American literature the other day. She's fully funded at a top 20 school. SHE DOESN'T KNOW WHO DOM DELILLO AND TOM WOLFE ARE. But, she had a 3.8 UGPA and good GRE scores. Really? I mean, really??? Shouldn't she at least have HEARD of those two, as a twentieth century American lit studies major?
This makes me want to cry... as someone who wouldn't even imagine wasting my money on a top 20 school. You must educate her for fear she makes a fool of herself in the fall.
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This is quite weird because I too was in this situation 4 years ago. (oh goodness it has been that long!) I loved being an English major and really wanted to take the next step in analyzing and interpreting literature, and I thought well, a Masters would give me some more time to really just FOCUS on my passion.
I also worked at the library on campus in the archiving and manuscripts department, and loved every minute of it-- UNC has the biggest collection of southern authors and it was an amazing experience. I was encouraged by my boss to stay and get my MA in Library Science.
In addition, I had a crazy last two years of undergraduate, I interned at UNC Press, and learned that academic publishing is pretty awesome and was enthralled by the entire process.
I had these three things going through my mind and everyone was sort of telling me different things. Bottom line. I went and got my Masters with an open mind. My boss at UNC Press had a masters in English... the head of the manuscripts department had a masters in English, and everyone said it couldn't hurt only help. I too had no interest in teaching--- NONE. I got a graduate assistantship, which consisted of 2 semesters of tutoring and 2 semesters of teaching those "soul sucking" comp classes. Needless to say I fell in love with teaching on the college level. Somewhere in the last half of my first semester working on a seminar paper, I fell in love with researching and putting complete focus on my own interests, and trying to make sense of my ideas on paper. And here I am in my second round of applications, hoping for some sort of good news, and already contemplating round three.
So, moral of the story is you never know where your experiences will take you, but all your interests would only benefit from a MA, if that's what you want to do. I wasn't a super competitive candidate either, I want to make friends, not fear people. And that's all in program choice-- if you are applying to super crazy cut-throat programs-- you might run into that. I went to a small terminal program and made some really good friends, who were all very supportive. Hope this helps!
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Ok, so as I begin to think what could possibly be my problem, besides the obvious that perhaps I'm not awesome, and the writing sample is such a major part, that I'm second guessing my choice in sample.
The past two rounds I've used a chapter from my thesis, which obviously is my best piece of writing, but I'm thinking that maybe it's disjointed or random (I'm not using the introduction, which lays out the theory, I'm just doing a lot of textual analysis). Is just a straight up 20 page paper that has an obvious beginning, middle, and end better? I'm curious what other people have chosen for writing samples and what they might think of thesis excerpts.
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All, I wanted to just chime in and say that this year, for me, was the third round of PhD applications. It finally panned out for me. I think my letters of reference and my writing samples helped a lot in terms of improving my app over the years. If it is what you want, be sure to make a tiered app strategy - I pretty much struck out on the top tier, but I got a few good admissions that I am excited about. But again. Third year - before - all rejections.
I'm wondering how exactly you got *better* letters? I've been thinking that maybe changing it up a bit would be a good idea, but I already have my masters, I'm not taking any classes... what could possibly change?
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I'm wondering too if more schools this year are accepting students without being able to fund them. Just from reading around on this website it seems like an awfully lot more people are accepted without funding than last year.
I also wonder if your chances are good to get funding for the second year of the program, if you decide to go.
I mean, I'm curious what do people do if they don't get an assistantship? I mean can you still adjunct in the English department? What are other options (or are there none)?
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Another thing that helped me out, sort of, because I mean where am I really at now, is to ask schools that rejected you what you could strengthen. I know I did that and got some good feedback as to what I need to work on. Granted, some schools have a don't bother asking, but if in the letter it says feel free to contact us with questions, by all means do it.
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Um...I do that. And trust me, spots are still pretty hard to come by.
I didn't mean anything by my comment, I just was thinking of something really specialized and not so popular.
I'm overly sensitive these days and I don't want to offend anyone.
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Muffinlit, what is your specialty area? Maybe you can tweak that some to appeal to programs? If you want to send me your SOP, I would have a look at it for you...I've learned some good points about what experienced teachers tend to do that can land us on the reject pile even though we think it makes us sound experienced and confident. Glad to share what I know with you. Good luck!!
Mocha I will take you up on that offer once I know for sure what the deal is with these last 6 schools. I would appreciate it. I think that it really is my area of interest... theory and 20th cent. african american lit. Why couldn't I have been interested in colonial literature?! I mean no one does that!
Advisor / Mentor Thank-Yous
in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
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Last year, I wrote a thank you card and gave them a little magnetic puppet online from the unemployed philosophers guild-- they have a ton of cute theorists and literary figures. They are $5 each, but it's a nice thoughtful gesture. Plus they get really excited about them and proudly display them somewhere in their office.