calartian

Nope, not waitlisted for funding -- that's the best (and only) offer they give. Talked to a student in the program tonight and basically confirmed that situation. She suggested if I have a funded offer elsewhere to take it -- program amazing, but money never gets better. Oh well.

Do most of you have profs recruiting you or that have contact with you, who at least let you know the program is interested and why you should attend? I'm just wondering if my current experience is normal or abnormal. I have a first PhD offer, which was made early and enthusiastically by the grad coordinator (of the school, not the dept), but have to date heard nothing at all from the dept. itself. Of course I have to respond by 4/15 like everyone else, but as the money isn't great (all incoming get % of tuition and no stipend), I'm thinking that saying yes without knowing which specific profs showed interest in my app would be financial suicide -- I'm told that getting on a research project is the only other possibility for funding, and only after I get there. Nothing but the partial tuition fellowship is guaranteed in the future. All I have been given is the contact info for the department head (and only after I pestered), so I'll be contacting her, but just seems...I dunno. Waiting for two other schools to respond as well, who will not by 4/15, so getting flustered about the lack of tangible love from the one who wants me outright, I suppose. But maybe I'm just being a big dork about the whole affair -- wouldn't be the first time. : )

Anyone have inside poop on Denver's English PhD process? They have accepted their first wave, and they say post-4/15 they will reconvene to sort out whether openings remain (and send out the no-thank-yous). But that's all they're saying, so it's hard to tell whether the limbo period means waitlist or outright rejection. They're very nice, they're just not giving it up. : ) I have been assuming I'm out, but then in a recent year my friend who was not officially waitlisted (to her knowledge) got a free-ride offer from them out of the blue in May. So keeping hope alive and all over here. On a related note: what's the appropriate response to a confirmed offer by 4/15 when one is still on the hook for late-breaking news from an equivalently important (to me) program? The etiquette piece is not my best thing, I am prone to foot in mouth at times, so I'm also hoping not to muck anything up with the folks who want an answer soon.

I am finding a dearth of info from people who have applied there or attended, so thought I would just ask -- can anyone say a positive word about their experience with CGU? I really need to hear one, or at least figure out whether my current somewhat confusing experience is unique. I have an opportunity to do PhD in one of the Arts & Humanities disciplines, and the program to which I was accepted really fits my research and teaching interests well (I was SO very excited to get in). But beyond the initial thrill of hearing the news, things have been a tad disconcerting. The grad adviser is one of those people who basically dispenses status reports and nothing more -- no real knowledge about me or which professor in the department may or may not have interest in my research (i.e. why they admitted me), and no real encouragement or ideas when the issue of funding comes up (all incoming PhD's get the same modest percent-of-tuition fellowship + loans, loans, loans, nothing more). At the same time, various campus offices are bombarding me with fancy-looking, hyperbole-laden materials that use my name in discussing how great the school is and how excited I should be, but are otherwise as impersonal as a sales brochure. The thing is this: I know admissons is one thing and studying there is another, but I am starting to question whether they see more potential in me as a tuition cash cow or someone whose scholarship is the main attraction. So it would be helpful to learn about other people's experience with CGU, good or bad, and whether the rah-rah PR machine + aloofness of program folk is par for the course there. I am trying to keep an open mind, so any nugget of info at all would be appreciated. At present I'm figuring out how else (and who else) to approach while I'm waiting on word from a couple more schools. I really dig these boards, by the way. I've been reading a long while and it's always nice to know there are other folks out there angsting about the same minutia and nuance of the whole dang process. : )

I would add Claremont to the list for Cultural Studies as well, a good program, though they have no freaking money.

A few years back, when I was applying for MFA, Iowa waited until MAY 5th to even send me their standard rejection form letter. I had already gotten accepted to the program I was most excited about so it didn't ultimately matter (and Iowa would have been a terrible fit for me, I know now) but that always just seemed like a real douchebag move for a top program and all. Sharing your anxiety right now as I wait for more word of my current PhD app fortunes....