shortstack51

Top 10 and top 20 schools often have 5-700 students applying for only about 10 or so spots, so it can be very competitive regardless of your qualifications. Most programs have about 150-200 people apply for 10 spots (sometimes less). When applying, it's good to apply to a broad range of schools to try to give yourself a good chance statistically of getting in. I'm also waiting to hear back from NYU. They seem to contact admitted people by phone, then those they're only admitting to the MA, and then rejections. My plan is to watch the results board. If no more acceptances come in by the end of today, that means they've notified everyone they wanted over the weekend (most likely). Most schools would prefer you didn't contact professors before applying, as far as I know, and even if you do contact them, it probably will not affect whether you get in or not. Your chances weren't hurt by not contacting anyone. Acceptance mostly has to do with how many other people you're competing with and how your research interests "fit" with the program. Both of these things are usually out of your control once you've constructed a good application. According to admissions committees, once they have narrowed it down to the top 50 students they want from the applicant pool, it's practically up to chance who gets picked. Those 50 are usually equally qualified. To put it in fewer words, it's very competitive to get into English programs in the US and the best chance you have to combat that is to apply to as many schools as financially possible with varying rankings (as long as you would be happy at those schools).

My secondary concentration is Queer Theory, so I feel a kinship to my critical theory colleagues. My main concentration is Romanticism, and several faculty at NYU have done some work on what I am interested in researching. Sigh! Well, I suppose that's how it goes. I think my best fit is University of Washington (they have at least one Romanticist who does almost exactly what I would like to do), but that's also a decently long long shot. Of course, I only applied to schools that would be a good "fit" anyway, so I'll be happy anywhere! Meanwhile, I'm slogging through tons of grading I procrastinated on and I'm behind on this week's readings. Womp.

I'm still holding out hope that they're not done yet! Not expecting to get in, though. I would have loved NYU. What is your concentration?

More NYU acceptances

Hello and welcome! I'm glad you find support here. I think many of us probably would define ourselves as introverts. In my experience, there are usually plenty of wonderful people who are just as awkward, introverted, and excited about literature and discussion as myself in programs. One of the best things about graduate school, for me, was the close and intimate discussions that small classes and seminar-style instruction fostered. I know not all programs do this, but I think many do and it's a great experience.

Congrats to everyone getting good news today! Not to be obsessive, but it looks like NYU's "tally" today was 4 acceptances. I wonder if there will be more tomorrow or if that was it?

SMTS is for checking the status of your documents. Once they send decision e-mails, it'll update there to say they've been sent, but otherwise it won't really help with knowing whether you've been rejected or accepted. I don't get a 404- not sure why that's happening to you. Either way, SMTS doesn't really say much except if they got your GRE scores. I would hazard that they haven't finished contacting their accepted applicants yet, so I wouldn't fret about rejections. Only 3 people that we know of have heard back.

I have friends there now. They accept a decent amount of students; they don't fund a lot of people, but my friends got into their funded MA program or PhD program. As a warning, my friends have not enjoyed their time there completely (if it makes a difference). They say it's great for medievalists though.

Seconded! I am nervous now. I'm not really expecting anything from NYU, though, so congrats to the person who got accepted!

Bah, hit post early. Needn't apply, is the rest of that sentence. And then we can focus on having her applying to programs in the areas where I haven't heard back (or that I'll hopefully be getting accepted to). Just another thought on the whole usefulness of grad cafe vs stress factor question.

To address the previous conversation, for what it's worth, "implied rejections" and the like are necessary and helpful to me. My fiancée is also applying to programs for psych, but her application dates are much later than mine. It saves us money if we can assume we won't be going to X city so she needn

That might be right. Last year they extended offers in late Feb I think to people for an MA instead. Ok, so I will still assume implied rejection. Thanks for the info and congrats on the wait list!

Apparently all is not lost with BC. I'm still guessing rejection, but at least I have some hope. Thanks to whoever called!

Yes, you never know. Someone might have been in contact with them for another reason and found out early. I hope we both hear good news!

Yeah, same. Yikes..I applied for the PhD program though. Last year they sent PhD acceptances in late February by postal. You could go back and check what they did last year for MAs (I would but I'm on my phone and expecting company!).

I see a WSU result for MA. Curious...

Not sure if this is relevant, but the school I'm doing my MA has you read Ashbery in theory courses and we have at least one professor who I think has done work on him. I also know of one other program that has you read him. PM me if you'd like details

Is there an unusual delay? For the past 2 years, NYU has been notifying English PhD applicants the first and second week of February. If this is true, I'm in for a lot of angst the next few weeks. I'm supposed to hear back from another program in the next couple of days according to last year and then three programs next week. I can't take this waiting!

On the GRE scores page on the ETS website, they list verbal first and quantitative second, but on the results submission form the Q is first and V second. I think we're all just so used to listing V first that we stop and get confused when asked to submit Q first.

Haha no problem. I will do anything for cookies! I'll storm Washington Square and refuse to leave until they admit both of us I hope we hear back today or tomorrow. They're a reach and I'd like to know ASAP whether to squash my foolish hopes.

Not to change topic, but slow day on the results board... I have to deliver something into Manhattan for work and they sent me on the campus shuttle. I'm sitting in some of the worst traffic I've seen in my 2 years here. I need stimulus!

Literally nothing comes up if you google me. Not even my LinkedIn. Hope that isn't a bad thing.

Agreed- except the point about Harvard. People from my program with MAs have gotten in in the past and I was encouraged to apply. But yes, there is a reason you'll see past rejections with people saying they've been published 4 times and they don't understand why the've been rejected. Schools are more interested in cultivating potential and developing their "brand." Admissions has much more to do with concentration/what the department wants to develop their program into for the year than stats.

Sometimes adcomms bring in grad students for certain tasks. My advisor from undergrad worked on the adcomm when he was a PhD student.

Also waiting on NYU! We've had a lot of weather issues out here, so the adcomm probably hasn't really been meeting as much as usual. I'm guessing we'll hear soonish though