shortstack51

Ladystardust, your app sounds much more thought out and put together than mine! This is an interesting thread. I got a BA from a small Catholic school with no graduate program to speak of. Graduated with a 3.95 cum Summa cum laude and a 4.0 in my major (English) with an Honors minor and a Philosophy minor. I won the Gold Metal in the English department on graduating, won a writing prize, and had presented at a conference. I applied to 6 programs out of undergrad, 5 of them top ranking combined programs (a huge mistake), and I was rejected from all 5. I was accepted for an unfunded MA at a top 50 school with no combined program but a separate PhD program. I took the opportunity and am graduating in May. I am graduating with a 3.899 (oh the pain of that missing .001). Experience-wise, I have had a lot of experience as both a TA and a tutor. I am also interested in Romanticism and I have a secondary interest in Queer Theory. My application strategy was to apply to as many top 50 programs as possible. I followed instructions from my school's adcomm (who are very good at advising students), which instructed I mention POI and how the "fit" at the school would be as a segue into my writing sample. I did not get anything professionally designed, but perhaps I should have. I used a 20 page seminar paper from a critical theory course that discussed Romanticism and subjectivity as my writing sample. I edited portions out for the two or three schools that had a 15 page maximum length. In my SOP, I mimicked successful SOPs schools had put online as examples. I picked 2-3 faculty members so as not to box myself in, researched their work, and found overlapping research and theoretical interests. I then discussed how my own work would benefit from interacting with them. My general verbal score was only 89th percentile, but I scored a 650 on the subject test, which I am decently pleased about. We did not apply to any of the same schools, so good luck to you! It's good to know we aren't direct competitors! I hope we can all learn from each other's experiences.

I don't have any experience with that program, but one of my back up plans is applying to only European institutions next year. My fiancée has family in the Netherlands, so we were looking there and I came across Utrecht's program last night. (I was a bit confused trying to find programs in general...) I'm excited for your interview! Good luck!

I'm thinking about teaching for a year if things go south for me. I might also throw in the towel. I just don't have the money to do this again (or to work an internship)--I'm thinking about seeking work at a community college. Anyone have any experience with that? 50% of my reason for pursuing a PhD is for me to teach. Anyway, as others have states, it doesn't mean there was anything wrong with your app. The application process is very arbitrary. You can try again next year if you don't get in somewhere you like this year and you might get in. Of course, I can't imagine it would hurt to get some academic experience under your belt in the mean time.

Haha, that cheered me up. Thanks!

Implied rejection from BC and a rejection from UCLA. I hope I get admitted somewhere soon before my hopes completely go down the toilet. I'm also regretting not applying to more schools, but 11 was my financial limit. I had $40 in my account last week before I got my first paycheck of the semester.

Apparently some schools view the SOP as mostly an exercise because they don't really believe that you'll actually hold the same interests by the time you start writing your dissertation. They want you to be able to imagine having a "fit" and the inkling of a dissertation topic, but still expect you to change your mind. I'm sorry you're experiencing so much anxiety It can take them 2-4 weeks to update your application after receiving your materials so I wouldn't fret too much about it not being listed. Does Irvine have issues if you call? There should be a number listed somewhere, maybe for general Graduate Admissions, where you can call to confirm they received your LOR.

Me too, but it's a good kind of nervous because at least no one else has started hearing back either. A lot of my schools started reporting back at the end of the first week of February last year, so I'm a ball of anxiety in general. So close, but yet so far from knowing. Either that or maybe they're having a hard time deciding this year? I had no idea they extended the deadline. I was working like crazy to make sure it was in considering the app was unavailable two days before the due date. Glad to know I had nothing to worry about, I guess.

I don't think the fit needs to be exact. I think it's most important to display that you would get something out of being at that specific program (as far as I have been informed by my school's adcomm and having gone through this process more than once). My interest is the subject/object relationship in Romantic poetry with a secondary interest in Queer Theory. There were very few people who do all of those things...so I looked for Romanticists who discussed the subject/object relationship and Queer Theorists (if there were any--looking at you, Harvard...) who also discussed subject/object. Not difficult, since Romantic subjectivity is a decently large research area and "unhistorical" Queer Theory tends to discuss subjectivity as well. Basically, I think it's just important that there's one area of overlap somewhere. I've mentioned this elsewhere, but sometimes being the "odd one out" works well. There are two PhD students at my school doing their dissertations on graphic novels. We don't have any faculty who have done any kind of work on graphic novels or comics, but obviously these students got accepted with funding despite that...or perhaps because of it (they also had some kind of secondary interest--ie, Victorian lit).

Adam Smith and self-interest, anyone?

I was told to mention people. I also found some sample SOPs online from the UC schools, and one successful applicant listed 2-3 people and talked about their work, so that's what I did. I mentioned 2-3, read some of their work, and wrote about how these individuals might help my own work. However, I was instructed not to phrase it as, "I would like to work with so and so" for reasons stated before (ie, 5 people wanting to work with the same person). I kept it general at, "I would enjoy speaking with/conversing with/etc such and such professor about..." so that I wouldn't be boxed out due to my POI not being available. Not sure if this was the right decision, but I guess we'll see. I haven't heard back from anywhere really out of 11 schools. One implied rejection so far from BC but that's it.

I looked and last year they notified everyone same day for acceptances. If they weren't notified then, they were either wait listed, accepted to the MA program instead, or rejected later. Only one person has posted, though, so I'm not quite sure what that means. Perhaps the weather affected reporting back to people? Or more people got accepted and didn't report it. In my head, I'm counting it as implied rejection unless I hear otherwise. On the topic of GREs, my general was ok (89 and 93) and my subject was pretty good at 650, though I guess a little low considering I'm completing my MA this semester. We'll see what happens. I don't think the scores are too much of a defining factor outside of some top programs setting "minimums". I'd like to get into 2 schools so I at least have a choice this time around.

I've been informed that publishing itself doesn't necessarily mean a whole lot if it's not to a first or second tier journal--until you start job hunting. But unless you publish something in your field at a first or second tier journal, I've heard that it doesn't necessarily impact your chance of getting in (ie people get rejected who have been published 4 times, etc). Presenting at conferences makes more of a difference, but isn't a requirement--I know plenty of funded PhD students who have never presented before. It might depend on the school, but this is what I have heard is the norm generally. Grad schools are looking to cultivate students; you don't need to be a published academic yet.

My current program has an 80% full time placement rate, 60% tenure track. National is 25% full-time. The job market is bad, yes, but part of the problem is also people getting bad advice. Part of why we have a high placement rate is because we have a great professional development office and an intensive pedagogical practicuum. The job market is bad, but look at the placement numbers of places you get accepted to. I also think that people tend to dismiss working at a community college when it is actually either a successful career path in itself or provides good experience on your resume.

Me too! I'm starting to dread seeing other people posting results and not getting the call (it seems a lot of people get accepted over the phone). Only two of my schools have started reporting and it's the first day of reporting, but I'm already feeling doubt. Ugh!

I saw someone got into Boston College. Has anyone else heard back?

It really depends on the school. I've heard there are top 10 school that won't accept anything below 650 subject and 85th percentile verbal (like they won't spend much time with the rest of the app). There are also top 10 schools who will allow some wiggle room if the rest of the app is solid. I'm doing my MA at a top 50 school and there are people in the PhD program whose scores were low (like 30th percentile for the subject test). There are schools who go out of their way to state that they don't think the GRE is a very good indicator of scholarly abilities. Tl;dr It depends on the school. Your advisor/professional development person should be able to indicate which ones might have an issue.

Seconded. I spoke with a couple of programs (one of my LOR was over two weeks late to 4 programs) about secondary materials and they mostly care that they've gotten the letters/scores/etc with some time to spare before the committee begins meeting. As long as it says they've received your LOR you should be ok. I have a friend who was accepted with funding to a program that hadn't received one of his LOR.

Editor/publisher, anything involving writing/speaking well (I worked for a business because they needed someone who could write letters and reports), PR, business (see above), marketing, news, technical writing/user manuals, social media manager for a company, communications director for a politician or government office, writer (of course), and probably more. These are just the ones I either have experience with or know people who went into it. Basically any industry needs copywriters, so there should be plenty of openings for people with MAs and PhDs in English or the humanities.

Based on past years, NYU is supposed to start responding today. I wonder if the snow will delay them?

Excited and nervous for all of my fellow UCLA applicants! NYU is supposed to get back in the next couple of days according to 2013's results. Also, I got a letter in the mail today from the DGS of WSU. He thanked me for my interest, told me how to get more information on the program, and let me know how they inform applicants that they've gotten accepted (via e-mail and then postal). Anyone else get this sort of thing from any other program? I was a bit confused. Usually these messages appear via e-mail.

Great! One of my rec providers got his BA at UCLA. I'm hoping to work with Anne Mellor and/or Joseph Bristow. (My primary field is Romanticism, secondary is Queer Theory/LGBT studies with an overarching interest in the subject/object relationship.)

Looks like there are tons of schools letting people know today! It looks like a lot of Cali schools are getting back to people. Hope I hear from UCLA soon...! Congrats to all the acceptances and good will to anyone facing rejection letters. I may be soon as well. Yikes!

A lot of women I know actually find it uncomfortable when men buy them drinks because it puts pressure on them. Can't tell you how many times we have to go in and "rescue" a friend from some guy at a bar who's angry because he bought her a drink or who has the wrong idea because he bought her a drink. Or if she refused the drink altogether and he won't leave her alone. also funny to see men think women have privilege because men buy them drinks/food. Sorry for centuries of oppression and not paying you equal wages and having an entire society built that objectifies you! But none of that is really that bad compared to HAVING TO BUY DRINKS OR DINNER (a tradition that formed because women weren't allowed to have wealth back in the day, so of course the guy had to pay).

He was definitely being serious. After the wink he paused and said, "No, please let me know." I'm not quite sure what his range of influence actually is for admissions. I'm assuming not a whole lot, but I do know that he spends a lot of time communicating/coordinating with other people in charge of academics at other schools. Deans, CAOs, etc (academics actually only comprise about 1/8th of a university's total functions; the world of academic administration isn't a very large one). Nonetheless, I guess I'll stick to my intended course of action, which is just to not do anything about it. I definitely don't want to annoy other departments anyway. @BowTiesAreCool (love the name) I should have said that in retrospect! I kind of just nodded blankly

As I've mentioned in a few places on the boards, I work for the admin at my school (which is in the 40s ranking-wise). One of the top administrators knows I'm applying and said, "If you need anything let me know" with a nod and a wink and went out of his way to emphasize that if I needed with the PhD program at my current school (which I'm applying to) to let him know. I'm not entirely sure what he meant by this and we aren't particularly close (and he's very busy), so I feel awkward going out of my way to ask him about it. Has anyone else had anything like this happen? I feel a little skeevy doing anything more about it. First of all, schools are already meeting/have met for the most part (though I know mine hasn't), and second, I don't want to strong arm any programs with an administrator. I always resent it when people are kind of grandfathered into programs based on knowing or being related to someone. On the other hand, if he can help me at all, is it stupid not to take him up on it? Since we're a top 50 school, there's a good chance that he's networked with people at some of the schools I'm applying to, and the process is already fairly arbitrary, so making my name stand out might be good. Still, it feels very weird to me, and my rec providers have all gotten at least one degree from at least one of the schools I applied to anyway.