shortstack51

Yeah, the on campus positions help waylay the cost a lot, though you usually need more than one b/c of NYC's cost. I work on campus from Thursdays and I'm sure my boss would be fine with me stepping out to meet you at least briefly. Let me know what your schedule will look like!

What day are you visiting? Let me know--if it's a day when I'm on campus/have time, I can meet you!

Unfortunately, due to the funding/financial crises at American universities as a whole, I've heard that some fully funded programs are accepting less international students than usual due to the high tuition waiver (international students would pay a much higher tuition rate if they weren't funded, so the cost of paying for that tuition is high for the programs). This may not be true generally, but I have heard that it's the case at a few schools. Some public schools (ie California? correct me if I'm wrong) are even prioritizing in-state residents vs out-of-state US students. However, many schools require students to become residents of the state after the first year, so again, this may not apply generally. I would echo that international students who have done at least an MA in the States generally have better success; there are funded MA programs you could also look into applying to (there's a thread somewhere around here about funded MA programs in English). Having an MA in general (again, depending on program) may help your application. I know I have had much better success after going for my MA. Anyway, this is all to say that it's very competitive for everyone and perhaps particularly so for international students. I highly recommend applying to 10+ schools and from a wide variety of rankings. There are a lot of programs that provide funding. Also, besides the GRE, it could greatly depend on your concentration. Were the above schools also a good fit for your interests (I know UConn would have been, so it looks like you did search at least in part by interest)? Did you writing sample display your potential in those interests? Same for your SoP. For English PhDs in the US, the written portions of the application are usually weighted much more heavily (though some schools still ask for a certain GRE score, like Harvard). A 160 V is definitely a recommended minimum GRE score, but having higher than that won't necessarily increase your chances of getting accepted. You did apply to some pretty competitive programs--some of the programs you listed get more than 3-400 applicants but only accept 5-8 students. I definitely suggest looking at some schools that receive fewer than 200 applicants.

I actually have no idea. On the results board I recall one or two getting in off the wait list each year, which probably means 2-3 in total.

Yay!! So happy for you!

It really depends on what you mean by "good" placement. In my opinion, "good" placement is just a high percentage of graduate students placed into any full time positions after getting their PhD, regardless of location. If you start talking about what percentage of that percentage go to "prestigious" universities, you're going to be even more disappointed than you were previously by the generally dismal job market. I've said it before, but you really can't be picky with where you want to get a job once you get your PhD, especially immediately after. UW is a top 30 school, so it has some prestige (there's a professor at a top 25 who got his PhD at UW about 15 years ago), but perhaps not enough to place a lot of its candidates into other prestigious universities. I assume that the most "prestigious" universities are hiring out of ivies--my MA program was a midlevel school and nearly all of the professors had their degrees from ivies/tops (Yale, Princeton, Brown...). I'm not sure what UW's overall placement rate is, but it's also good to remember that even prestige doesn't always equal placement. Placement has a lot to do with what the school does for its students as they enter the job market. This is all to say--rather than judging UW's placement simply from what they've listed, it might be best to instead look at what UW says about placement and what UW does to place its graduating students (and, as you have, ask someone at UW what placement looks like). And to also not have too inflated of an idea of what good placement looks like. If UW doesn't have that info listed, their placement not be the best (schools will usually brag a bit if they have good placement), but that doesn't mean they have bad placement, either.

I'm first on the wait list but it looks like I'll be declining my spot. I know someone who did their MA there for lit, so if anyone has any questions about the area/the school feel free to ask.

That sounds fun! Do you know who you'll be meeting with from the program? Let me know how it goes we might be in the same cohort (depending on what we all end up deciding to do!)

Some schools get pressured to fund students that way because of the admin. A dean is more likely to want to fund someone who looks good briefly in numbers.

Haha I did! That was autocorrect.

The info comes from the NRC rankings of English PhD programs. You can find the general program rankings by searching google for NRC english PhD rankings, but they don't publish all the details unless you have a subscription. I happen to work in the admin at my current program so I was able to pick the brains of a few people with subscriptions to it who are very invested in rankings. As a sidenote, if you go to the NRC general rankings and go through the various criteria, UConn is actually pretty high up there for a lot of the "high" end rankings compared to its position on USNR (which can't be statistically significant because it narrowly focuses on self-reporting as the single criteria). I think rankings are generally bull anyway (even NRC who approached it in a way that was more statistically significant) once you're not talking about the ivies and obvious R1 institutions, but eh. The committee I mentioned does sound too good to be true--when you visit, make sure to ask about job placement to make sure I understood properly. But that's what I remember Prof. Mahoney saying--it starts with your comps committee, who then become your dissertation committee (with some changes) who then become your job placement committee. As yet another sidenote, UConn has also begun building a "college town" right outside of campus that includes Insomnia Cookies (look them up if you haven't heard of them; best business ever), more cafes, restaurants, etc. They're trying to beat that middle of nowhere rap, haha. It's still the middle of nowhere and sometimes the campus smells like cows, but there you go.

I'm coming in with an MA, so it's 5 for me but probably 6 for everyone else.

I know a few people aren't getting to UConn until next week, and some people have started declining offers. I don't know how the wait list works, but I just visited and really liked everyone I met and I felt really comfortable there. They also have a women, gender, and sexuality studies certificate you can get concurrently with your PhD, which is great to me. I met a bunch of people in WGSS or queer theory and they were great. Also, they're in the process of in ionizing and funding is for 5 years, not 4, and it's 1-1. If anyone has any more questions, feel free to ask Charles Mahoney- he's very friendly. The whole program is really supportive. Also, feel free to ask me if you want- I visited for a while recently.

I'm really excited about UConn- recently learned that they are Among the top 5 in the country for placement. They form a whole committee dedicated to helping you be a good candidate. Also, I made friends with someone who I think will be a good friend once I go there. We already text! Always fun. I'm going to wait before I accept just because we're going to make sure my fiancée will still have options if I go there. Decisions decisions!

It won't break your prospects if you don't, but it helps to have it in my experience. It also depends on where you apply. Some schools like an interest in teaching and some experience in it; research oriented schools don't tend to care.

Visited uconn today and loved it! Not prepared to accept (have to coordinate with my fiancée) but it was a really great environment. Everyone was so friendly and the department is very supportive. Leaning uconn, but I might wait for news from my wait list.

Yes, I definitely think it can vary depending on institution. My current program is ranked 63rd and accepts students with abysmal GRE scores all the time. I know for certain that Harvard is very strict about GRE scores, but some other top 20 schools are not (I know someone with a bad subject test score who got into UNC). I'm wait listed at a program ranked in the high 20s and my verbal score is just eh (89th percentile) and I submitted some of my materials late. I also got accepted to a program that didn't receive one of my LOR until mid-January (nearly a month after the deadline). I think the best way to find out is to really pick the brain of the adcomm at your own school, who should know something about what other schools expect (that's how I found out). I've also seen other forums on gradcafe culling as much information as they can. As you can see, a lot of people don't put their GPA/GRE scores because it doesn't seem to have made a difference. Perhaps we should also perhaps try to put together a master list of where everyone applied, their scores/GPA, etc., and try to figure out where it matters and where it doesn't? I don't know if that would be at all useful, but it's a thought.

I'm not entirely sure, but when they spoke to me it sounded like an umbrella wait list in general. I'm not positive, though; they gave so much detail about my standing on the wait list that I think they would have mentioned if there were more than one wait list or if it was by field. I do know they accept about 10-12 PhD students a year, but I'm not sure how that breaks down overall. The numbers you offered seem plausible. If you want, you can e-mail William Hamlin--he's extremely friendly and helpful and he can also have his assistant put you in touch with students currently in the program. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to provide you with any information you'd like.

I haven't heard any updates; I was in frequent conversation with them for a bit, but then I think things got busy for midterms. I'm assuming we'll start hearing back more towards the end of the month as the people who did get accepted start making their decisions. I've been counting them as an "unofficial acceptance" since they said I'd be admitted, being first on the wait list, but honestly I don't think they're really an option for me. You teach 2-1 or 1-2 (starting second semester) for about $14k and you take 4 classes your first semester. The area's really cheap to live in; I don't mind living in the middle of nowhere, but apparently there aren't a lot of trees and the campus has a really bad problem with fraternities, so I'm not sure I'd be happy there. I have an offer to teach 1-1 for $21 in an area that's only slightly more expensive and I'm on the wait list at CUNY, whose offer is $25 and 1-1 with a research fellowship for the first year (of course, $25 in NYC doesn't go as far as $21 elsewhere). If/when WSU does make me an offer and I decline, I hope that puts you in good standing (though I applied to lit)!

UDub is the only school I'm waiting on, but after hearing about what it's apparently like there, I'm not too interested anymore anyway. Now I'm playing the waiting game...

I e-mailed the DGS whose contact was listed in my wait list notification. She was kind, but she essentially said they don't release info on your status on the wait list because things change so rapidly. It doesn't hurt to ask, though, especially if you know the program's open house is passing soon/has passed. I would probably e-mail rather than call (e-mailing leaves it up to them to respond--I feel like calling might feel intrusive to some departments? but that might just be my socially awkward self). I know a few people from the program I'm wait listed at have declined, and I saw a person on the results board who was admitted off the wait list. Last year they admitted something like 15 people off the wait list, so let's cross our fingers that that happens again this year...(The program I'm wait listed at is in the same city as a school my fiancee just got accepted to, so it would make our lives a lot easier/less messy, aside from the fact that I also just plain like the program. But I kind of think another school I got accepted to is a better fit??? IDK) So stressful.

Just thought I'd let everyone know how my visit went as requested-- Everyone was really nice and I enjoyed myself a lot. It was a little strange in that the class functioned like any other grad class I've been in, but the dynamic among the students was a bit different. Not bad different, just different- guess I got used to my folks in my program! I spoke as often as I had something meaningful to say (as in any other class). I'm an awkward person so I felt kind of awkward at times, but again, everyone was nice. I brought a writing sample and gave it to the professor, who has a lot of midterm grading todo and probably won't get to it for a bit but said he would talk to the admissions committee and let them know I'd been by. Hopefully it didn't make me seem pushy- he's one of my POI there and I wanted to give him some background on my interests in case I do end up there (which I said). Other than that, I made sure to over read (spent way more time preparing than I probably needed to) everything to make sure I was familiar with the material, especially because I hadn't read the theoretical readings the class had to read earlier in the semester. Anyway, let's hope I made a good impression? It might not make a difference but it was a good experience.

I have 4 "high A-" (looked like this on the transcript: A-^) and it didn't impact me at all. One school even said they thought my credentials were excellent (referring to my transcript). Overall GPA 3.899. As long as you're above a 3.6 or so it really won't make a huge difference. As far as I know, most programs don't care a whole lot about grades as long as they meet a certain average, and a stellar GPA isn't necessarily going to guarantee you entry anyway (as we can learn from the results board). A- basically means the professor liked your work but wanted a bit more. No reason to appeal or seek action.

Also supposed to be working on my thesis...this is my spring break, so I was going to do a large chunk, but now I'm visiting schools all week and catching up on grading. Whoops.

I'm going to a class at a school I'm wait listed at tomorrow...I'm nervous! I hope I have something intelligent to say. I hope I make a good impression.