cicada

So sorry to read that, Nicko Have you contacted Boston, just to be sure? I know it's still early to think about that, but do you think you'll re apply next year?

First of all, congrats Michelle! Then, I can relate with your dilemma and know how hard it is to make a choice when you have several options. I think what matters most is fit. But if you have to starve yourself for 5 years, then of course you need to consider other parameters. If I were you, I would ask UC Davis what kind of support I would get after the first year, because all that money is great indeed but what if they don't offer you as much for the next 4 years? Have you asked IU about funding lately? You never know what can happen... Do you know if they have a ranked wait list for Linguistics? As for UF, I do think it would be a good fit considering what you said about the department, it seems like you would have more opportunities in linguistics there than at UC Davis. Sometimes a good way of knowing what option we unconsciously favor is to flip a coin. Of course you don't need to go to the university associated with the side it falls on, but your reaction to the potential decision could tell you where you really want to go. If you realize you're relieved and happy or disappointed that it landed on that side and not the other one, then you might get the beginning of an answer... Good luck and do keep us posted about your decision process!

yes, congrats Patick! it does feel good to finally know where we're going after such stressful times, right? Best of luck everyone with the decision process!

Many thanks for your input, m! I really appreciate it. I think you're right, I also feel that Duke is the right fit for me, their program does sound awesome and are indeed very supportive of grad students. Being the only student in my class at Vanderbilt would definitely not be for me, and like you said, I would also be worried about (current and new) budget cuts and would probably get less funding opportunities along the way, which would make the atmosphere between students more competitive, I think. I hope you'll get a funding offer from Indiana soon, but if not, UF does sound like a good place to go Plus, you'd be close to your family, which is always great to have around especially when you need to take a break from the stressful life we'll all probably live in grad school. If you still haven't heard from them, you should be on their waitlists so keep faith! hope you'll get good news soon. Congrats, Fransces! maybe you and m will be classmates^^

Thank you very much for your input, guys. I don't know about the other students who were admitted - I got admitted from the waitlist so I don't have their email addresses... But I really doubt I will be the only student to accept an offer from them. Like TakeruK, I really like to be social at work, so the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that being the only student in my class is not for me. I wish I could have visited the two departments, but the university that already accepted me also offers more research opportunities and the program seems to be more interdisciplinary, so all in all, I think it really is a better fit in the end.

I was also accepted off the waitlist with a great funding package to one of my top choices, so hang in there...!

Hi there! I may have a shot at one of my top choice programs as they are considering me along with 2 other candidates. The thing is that initially, they couldn't make any offers due to budget cuts, but they finally had an opening. They said the downside to this situation was that the applicant they'll accept will be the only one in their class. As it is a small department (12 grad students or so), I'm concerned that I would feel really lonely if I were to be this student. I have also been accepted to my other top choice program, unexpectedly, and am still seriously leaning towards this school as I feel the department, faculty, financial package are wonderful. I know they accepted 3 students this year, so I wouldn't be alone there. Also, the department is a bit bigger, and they seem to be more into interdisciplinarity which, along with being important for my research, also helps you meet new people, I guess. My only hesitation was about the city, but it seems to be ok after all. Considering that I will be moving from abroad, and that I need to be socially surrounded to feel good, I am afraid this situation as the only student in my class wouldn't be a good fit for me. But maybe you have already experienced such a thing, or know someone who has, or would just like to share your opinion on the matter, which would be highly appreciated! Many thanks for your input

Many things can still happen till April 15th, so hopefully you'll get funded offers from both programs, m! But for now, it must be such a tough decision to make I just got news from Vanderbilt. They do have a slot to offer after all and are considering me along with two other applicants. They said what really matters now (considering no one has already accepted an offer from another program, of course) is which one fits best with the program and faculty. As my main interests are in postcolonial literature, 20th and 21st francophone lit from the Caribbean and more particularly Haiti, migrant lit in Quebec, etc.. Duke and Vandy were my top choices. I may not even be accepted at Vandy eventually, but they'd like to know if I'd like to visit. I'm traveling right now, till April 8th, so it might be difficult to go. I am also wondering whether being the only student in my class would be a problem - doesn't sound like the best situation to me, but maybe it wouldn't be that bad, I don't know. I guess i should first ask some questions about what kind of funding they would offer, visiting, etc... and then go from there. Also, I would really appreciate any input you had on the two programs, their strengths, weaknesses, or even the cities, etc...

I hope you'll get off the wait list at Minnesota!! Crossing my fingers for you

That's great news, Patrick! You're right, you still need to hear from PSU and Minnesota before really planning anything at NYU. But it's good to know that if you were to study there, you would get 75% off tuition

Thank you very much, guys, I really appreciate your input and words of support! I spent two years at Pomona College in SoCal and absolutely loved the place and California as a whole, so I guess it'll take some time to get used to the idea of living anywhere else in the US... But you guys are right, I applied to Duke for a reason - with Vanderbilt, it was the best faculty and department's fit for my research interests. It is indeed exciting to be admitted to Duke, and now that I have talked with a grad student (also talking with a professor tomorrow), and started investigating about housing, etc... I can definitely picture myself there Patrick, did you find out more about funding for your MA at NYU? I hope it's good news!

Thanks! Yes, I know how hard it is to be on a wait list so I'll make sure to let the other programs know soon. Hopefully, that'll make someone's day in the same way it made mine

...aaand I just got a rejection email from UPenn. That was expected but it feels weird to realize I finally got my last notification email

thanks for the support, guys! wmb - the way I found out that I had got off the waitlist was a real coincidence. I was thinking about emailing the DGS about it for a few days, just to touch base regarding the wait list. So I emailed her this morning, I told her about my ongoing interest and asked if she could tell me how many offers they had made this year, if it was a ranked wait list and if so, what my rank was, and finally, if they had started admitting applicants from the wait list. When I saw that she had replied right away, I was expecting to read the usual "I regret to inform you that..." but no, she said that she would have very good news for me soon and asked about potential external funding... I think my jaw dropped, and then, 2 hours later, I had the offer letter in my mailbox. Really weird coincidence, right! I couldn't believe it at first, and then I started thinking, freaking, and almost not sleeping haha What is more important for you, guys? location or faculty and department fit? I am so happy that I have to choose between two programs, but to be honest I find it hard to know that I will have to let go of one of the two. At UT Austin, after talking with my potential advisor and a grad student, I realized that it was not the greatest fit as far as research interests were concerned... this professor didn't seem totally on board with my interests and suggested I changed my potential dissertation topic or even that I try to maybe transfer to CompLit after the first years... At Duke, the faculty and department is a great fit, even though the city isn't as great as Austin. So my real question here is: would I be happier ending up doing research for years on topics that do not truly interest me in an exciting city (that I may not enjoy that much in the end since I'll prob be busy), or doing research that really interests me in not such a great city? what is more important? Also, Duke was one of my initial top choices and I know it has an amazing reputation - if it isn't the most important factor to consider, I also know it can't hurt in a future career... I guess I'm also a little scared that I won't know anyone at Duke. Even though I'm sure (or at least I hope!!) I would also make friends there, I already know a grad student at UT Austin, so it's nice to know I wouldn't be alone there. But this doesn't seem like a good enough reason to go to UT Austin haha In the end, I don't see how I could pass up on such a great opportunity at Duke. It's just that I need some time to say goodbye to exciting Austin, I guess

Maybe you guys could send the DGS an email, I don't think they would see it as annoying since it would be the first time you'd email them. I did express ongoing interest right away when I received the waitlist notification, but I don't know if that played any role in my getting off the waitlist... The funny thing yesterday was that I hadn't emailed the DGS since that one message back in early February, and as time was passing by, I thought I should ask some more details on the wait list, so I renewed my interest in the program and asked if she could tell me how many offers of admission had been made this year and whether they had started admitting students from the wait list. I also asked if the wait list was ranked, and if so, what was mine. She replied right away saying that she would have very good news for me soon, but to be honest I wasn't expecting the offer letter to be in my mailbox 2 hours later... What a coincidence that I emailed her on the very same day she was working on my offer of admission, I don't think that my emailing her about the wait list had anything to do with it, but it's still a funny coincidence. Anyway, I think that showing your interest in the process can't be bad for you as long as you're not harassing the DGS or the department coordinator

I just got off the wait list yesterday at Duke... I wasn't expecting it to happen, let alone that "early", but I hope that'll give you hope, guys I don't really know why but it really upset me, I felt shell shocked for the whole day yesterday and today again, even though I feel better now... obviously it's great to have to make a choice, and it doesn't seem like a hard one to make, but I guess I'm one of those creatures of habit. I pretty much had my mind set on another school for several weeks and wasn't really imagining any other scenario, so now I need some time to process the change

Thanks, Patrick! I will follow your advice and try to Skype with students and faculty. To be honest, I hadn't started doing it as I was not really expecting them to accept me from the wait list... let alone that early... I was a little shocked for the whole day. While it's a great decision to have to make, I had already started looking at housing options and made plans in my head... My mind was kind of set on UT Austin. I've also heard about how great that city is for weeks, so I was really happy I'd get to spend my PhD in such a cool place. Compared to Austin, Durham doesn't seem that exciting... But do we have that much time to spend enjoying the city when we are in a PhD? Also, I have to admit that I was a bit concerned that my areas of interest didn't really match my potential advisor's at Austin, so it's nice to know that there are several people with whom I share interests at Duke. I think I'll need to make that old pros and cons list tomorrow, or at least sleep on this big news. I was so not expecting it that I feel I need some time to process it and think clearly.

haha, could be!! Got big news today - emailed the DGS at Duke about the wait list, she emailed me back right away saying I would have "very good news soon" (!!!), and I got an offer letter 2 hours later! I still can't believe I got admitted to Duke! But now, I need to make a decision, and I have always hated making decisions I'm thinking about visiting UT Austin and Duke to have a feel of the places and meet with the faculty, but I don't know if I can pull that off as I am in France and won't be able to go from March 22-April 7.... going next week might be tight, but going after the 7th seems a little late

Yeah, I guess that's what I'll do... But they're probably on spring break so I'm not sure I'll get a quick response. As for you, that's quite surprising to me to read that Brown "forgot" to tell you that you were on the waitlist... Did they say they were going to send out notifications soon, or rather something along the lines of "whoops, we forgot to tell you"? If it truly is the latter, it doesn't sound too considerate Same here. Not a big surprise, though... Good luck with NYU. Keep us posted!

Congrats, Nicko! It's definitely not a bad thing since you still have chances to get in... I feel you, I'm also waitlisted at Duke, they notified me more than a month ago, and I haven't heard from them since then. I'm thinking about emailing them to know where they're at and say that I'm still interested... I'm also guessing that I'm on the waitlist at IU regarding funding... I find it harder to deal with the waiting as April 15th is getting closer. And I'll be traveling for more than 2 weeks at the end of the month, so I guess I'll have to make that decision from abroad...

that's great news, Patrick I'm super happy for you. It seems like a really good program, and maybe you could follow up with a PhD! I know that it's usually harder to get full support for an MA and I remember you wrote about maybe taking loans for it, but is there a chance you could get full funding? Keep us in the loop

Would you be staying in France till Sept/Oct? And have you applied for teaching positions in the US yet? That was my back-up plan too if I hadn't gotten in any program. I still receive job alerts from NAIS Career Center, and there's been quite a few postings all over the States in the past weeks! You should check their website in case you haven't done so yet - http://careers.nais.org/search.cfm But you still need to hear from all your remaining programs and decide what you want to do with the MA at NYU... fingers crossed for you, Patrick. Sorry to hear about your rejection at Northwestern, Nicko As for the other programs you mention, I think Brown must still be considering you since they rejected me 2 weeks ago! I'm still waiting to hear from Columbia and UPenn, though, I also got rejected at Chicago, wmb, so we're on the same boat here...

So sorry to read that, Patrick have you heard from your master 2 option in France??

Where I'm from, getting a PhD pretty much equals being lazy and not wanting to get a "real job" in people's minds, especially because being a student is almost free, so it's much easier to get into PhD programs than in the US. Since it's free, a lot of freshmen just go to the university because they haven't figured out what they want to do with their lives yet, and end up dropping classes when they find a job or something they're more interested in, so when you say you're doing a PhD, you also get this image of the lazy student who doesn't do anything but sleep and party. However, it's really hard to get funding, so most of the time you need to work part-time to pay the bills... Saying how much a PhD costs in the US, and that I got offered full funding does the trick for me, they suddenly think I'm super smart and stop telling me to get a real job^^

Fingers crossed for you, Fransces I got 3 rejections in a row, this week Stanford, Brown and now Cornell... looks like I'm headed to Austin, unless I get off the waitlist at Duke...