Datatape

I got a very warm and encouraging email from Dr. Weltman after emailing her to inquire about my status. She stated that I am on the waitlist with "quite a few other names", and that the news may not come for a while about whether they can admit me or not. I'm not holding out too much hope, but if there's anyone out there who got accepted to LSU (particularly a Southern Studies person) who's decided not to go, I would love you forever if you let Dr. Weltman know and a spot opened up.

I think it's becoming more and more common not to get a paper rejection. Maryland was the only school I applied to that sent out paper rejections; all the rest were electronic only. I'm still angry at Chapel Hill for not even having the decency to drop an email and let me know the rejection letter was up on the site - if I'd misplaced my PIN information and hadn't been able to log in, I would still be twisting in the wind wondering.

No idea. I emailed the DGS at Bama a couple of weeks ago and she told me they were going to assess who they'd offer admissions to once they heard back from their first round, which could be a while yet. Probably the only chances of me getting in is if they have some Late Americanists turn them down, as that's the track I applied to. It's rapidly looking like that's my only chance of getting in anywhere; I doubt very much that LSU is going to have anyone from their first round declining.

I just got (essentially) rejected from my fifth school. That's five explicit rejections, one implicit and one very amorphous waitlist. Like the rest of you who haven't been admitted anywhere, I just don't have any idea what I could have done differently: 3.85 graduate GPA, three years work in the Writing Center, glowing letters of recommendation, solid GRE scores, and holding down another, full-time job. I just don't understand what else I could have done differently.

I heard back from Dr. Trefzer. It was a very nice email, but she basically told me I was so far down the waitlist, there was almost no chance of me getting in with funding. Sigh.

Lovely. Guess I can cross this one off, then.

Bad week. Bad, bad, bad, bad week.

Hoo-boy. I don't suppose you'd know how many they usually put on the waitlist, do you?

Okay, who's claiming that acceptance?

I'm becoming increasingly bitter as the days drag on with no word. I'd honestly rather get rejected from every remaining school tomorrow than get an acceptance a week from today with full funding. I've not had a good night's sleep in almost a month, I barely have any appetite, and I can actively feel my blood pressure rising. No school is worth this.

They certainly seem to be taking their sweet time. No sign of anyone being rejected outright or waitlisted yet. I emailed Dr. Trefzer yesterday and haven't heard from her so far (and I doubt very much she'd be emailing me over the weekend), so we may have to wait this one out until Monday at the earliest. :/

Just my impression, but that sounds to me like you're not out of the running yet, but that they don't expect to have a huge waitlist. If you were straight-up rejected, I'd think they'd be a lot clearer about it than that.

I'm surprised to hear that about Lowe. Is it just for the semester or a permanent move? If it is permanent, I'll be dissapointed - his research interests really lined up with mine.

In your case, coffeecurls, I think it would be for the best for you to continue with Hindi and try to strengthen your advanced knowledge of it. Your specialization relates directly to Hindi and the French terms probably won't be anything that you wouldn't be able to understand with a basic dictionary/phrasebook. I'm currently struggling with filling my M.A. foreign language requirement with Spanish, which really won't have anything to do with my specialization (Southern lit), but which is definitely the language I've had the most experience with. When and if I get into a program, I plan on just re-building my understanding of French from the ground up, since that's the language that will give me the greatest benefit for my specialization.

That's good to hear. If I don't hear anything for sure one way or the other within the next few days, I'll email Dr. Trefzer and ask her about it. It seems like all the acceptances went out first, so until I get that rejection, I'm not ruling this one out.

Seconded. Just a polite note saying that you have a deadline from an international university that's coming due in a couple weeks would probably be the best way to go about it.

Lolo, how did you find out you didn't get in to Ole Miss? I haven't heard anything yet, one way or the other.

I don't think it's rude at all. In fact, it seems more rude of them to continue to keep you waiting when you have another offer on the table. Maybe not word it in quite that way, but something to the effect of "I won't be able to commit until I know what the funding offer from University X is" would work?

Congrats, Jbarks! I met with Dr. Trefzer, the DGS, when I visited Ole Miss back in November. She was very cordial and encouraging of my application, but a bit distant - not rude by any means, but I got the feeling she didn't want to get too involved with prospective students before the applications were actually in. I checked both my cell and home phone and haven't missed any calls from Mississippi, so this is looking like another rejection in the making.

From the results board, it looks like at least five people got called and accepted today; anyone claiming any of those?

Hey, inafuturelife, I do have a couple questions. 1. What's life in Baton Rouge like? I've heard conflicting accounts, though most seem to lean toward "if you avoid I-10 at all costs and avoid going outside between April and October, it's really not too bad." 2. My major focus is Southern Studies, so if I get in, I'll be primarily working with Costello, Henninger, Lowe, and Moreland. I don't know what your focus is, but have you had the chance to work with/take classes with any of them so far? I don't want to count my chickens yet, but I've felt all along that LSU is my Hail Mary pass and the school where I have the best chance of getting in. It's been one of my top picks from the start and my interests really match up with the program's strengths. This is the one I've been really, really hoping for.

Never, not once, have I seen the feeling of the waiting game summed up so perfectly.

I just broke down and called the Graduate Office. I spoke with a very nice secretary who told me the faculty only has three more files to review and will be meeting at the end of the week to do the ranking. Once they're done with that, she said they'll be specifically calling the top three candidates right away to be offering admission and will work their way down the list from there. There were 440 total applicants to the MFA and Ph.D., but only 106 to the Ph.D. As I understand it, that's up from last year, but still way less to contend with than other schools, especially since they usually take about 12 Ph.D.s.

I feel a bit like I'm piling on here, but to echo everyone else: you should not under any circumstances take an unfunded offer. Even if it's your dream program, even if it's exactly what you want to study, do not take the unfunded offer. I have a professor in my Master's program who ended up taking an unfunded offer and she's still paying off her student loans nearly 20 years after getting her Ph.D. The sheer amount of debt that will rack up is truly astonishing - you are much better off just waiting a year and applying again.

Congrats, ekant!