Datatape

It was unsolicited. The email was authored by Dr. Wegner, but sent out by Kathy Williams, the graduate program assistant. This is what it said in totality: Dear [Applicant]: The Admissions and Awards Committee met early in late February to consider your application to the PhD program in English at the University of Florida. I am sorry to inform you that we are unable to offer you admission to our program. We again this year received a very high number of applicants, many of whom had exceptional qualifications for graduate study. We were only able to admit a small percentage of applicants from this strong group. The five members of the Committee reviewed your file independently and then reconsidered your file in a group meeting. The Committee paid special attention to your writing sample, your letters of recommendation, and your statement of purpose. Please keep these facts in mind should you desire to reapply in the future. Further advice on successful applications and requirements can be found on our department website; please read carefully our requirements for application and our Advice for Prospective Applicants http://web.english.ufl.edu/programs/grad/advice.html Unfortunately, the sheer number of applications prevents specific comments on your application. I wish you well in the pursuit of your education and your career. Sincerely, Phillip Wegner University Research Foundation Professor Graduate Coordinator Department of English

I wasn't the M.A. rejection, but I just got rejected via email. Very generic form letter telling me that it was impossible to offer specific feedback. Gee, thanks.

This is the one area of my academic life that I actually feel on top of. Knowing that I was going to have an absolutely insane Spring semester, I worked like mad over Winter Break and had my first draft of my thesis ready to go on day one of the semester. My director is in the process of transitioning to be the new chair, so he really appreciated having the extra time to review drafts. I'm currently working on draft #3 and hopefully will be able to get a couple more done before it's due in the middle of April. What I'm doing is analyzing the tarot reading in The Waste Land through a cultural studies perspective. I'm arguing that Madame Sosostris's reading is the "Western" reading, the one that Eliot didn't intend to be the true one, and that there is a secondary, "Eastern" reading spread out through images in the remainder of the poem (the "one-eyed merchant," a/k/a the Six of Pentacles, is shown through the figure of Mr. Eugenides, for example). I've been very pleased with how it's coming along, which is certainly more than I can say for my application results.

I don't mean to add to anybody's anxiety, but my thesis adviser told me that last year, one of the M.A. students at our school applied to the Ph.D. program at Florida and they never informed him until well after the deadline, when he inquired about the status of his app, that some of his materials never arrived, so they didn't even consider his application. They are definitely not the best school when it comes to staying on top of keeping in touch with their applicants.

I haven't heard anything yet, but some brave soul posted on the Results Survey: "I was mostly looking for an excuse to call, it's true, but I talked to the admin assistant to see if they received my application fee. I found out official letters are being posted probably today or tomorrow. We should be hearing next week at the earliest."

I got my first waitlist yesterday at Alabama (my very last pick), which unfortunately is the best news I've gotten so far - I've gotten three explicit rejections, including from my top pick at Chapel Hill. I know there's still three schools to hear from, but it's really hard to get three rejections right in a row and then the first bit of not-bad news be from a school that's not a great fit. I'm about to get my M.A., have a 3.85 graduate GPA, 660 Verbal GRE score, great letters of recommendation... I just don't know what else I could have done to get into these schools.