practical cat

Thanks, jazzy! I'm pulling so hard for those of you still waiting. I hope you hear good news soon!

Thank you and congratulations to you as well!

I currently work at a middle school. I suppose there must be worse jobs.......

This is perfect, thank you. (I am so glad I got to see it!)

THAT IS ME RIGHT NOW. Thanks everyone, I feel like I'm in the best of company.

I got into Brandeis. Having so many good feelings.

I legit reread last year's wait list thread a few days ago and you and fiona thunderpaws give me hope. (Cautious, cautious hope.)

What! I am so happy for you!!

Congratulations! That's so exciting! What a great program! I'm planning on sending an email tomorrow or so when I feel less raw/desperate to ask a few more questions (and, implicitly, to express continued interest). I'm thinking it's HIGHLY unlikely that mine will convert but if it doesn't, I'm definitely reapplying there and feeling out the program more isn't going to make me less prepared for that. (Though it's kind of scary now because I had a nightmare last week that Caren Irr hated me and oh my god this process needs to be over because that is unacceptable subconscious behavior.)

Ugh that book is so good. She assigned a chapter for class and I immediately went out and read the rest. Not only is it fascinating and meaningful, it is also totally accessible. She's great.

I too was advised similarly but it varied. I felt Wisconsin and Vanderbilt were very forthcoming about information in the initial email but I only just found out that Brandeis' was tiered the other day via gradcafe. I thought, however, that Brandeis indicated more openness to questions both in general and about the wait list specifically (I just didn't ask about it).

It's cool. I also understand why people might be disgruntled by it too. I don't understand the decision to tier rather than rank either (even though all of the wait lists I got did it that way).

Yeah, I haven't even been factoring it into my hypotheticals. It's just been a month of agonizing over the hypothetical tough choice that Wisconsin v Brandeis would've been for me (SO HARD). I don't know if the wait list wait list is insulting so much as, well, it's been nice to know that they think there's something kind of ok about me. I'm grateful to Vanderbilt for being the first notification I received because it wasn't a flat-out rejection.

Thanks. No word recently -- and they didn't offer much earlier either -- and I'm pretty afraid to ask. Right now it feels like the cat could totally still be alive until I open up the box and find out it's been dead the whole time, you know? ETA to gwarner13 I KNOW I was really hopeful when I opened the email but I guess they got things sorted early this year? Anyway, I'm on the wait list for the wait list at Vanderbilt so I'm not holding my breath (though that would be a marvelous surprise). Thank you! I want it to convert enough that if it could be done by sheer force of will, I think it would've by now. Fingers remain crossed.

Just got rejected from the Wisconsin wait list. Hurts terribly. Trying to remain hopeful knowing that Brandeis was always my favorite of all the schools I applied to (and at least now I feel comfortable saying it without fear that I'm going to jinx myself at Wisconsin!) but it seems even less likely to convert now knowing the size of the program in comparison. Yikes.

I'm wondering if this might be less of a concern in the case of the top ten?

Congrats! Also, since I'm assuming you're the recent post on the board, I want to thank you for the recent information. I hope that you make it!

Thank you! (Am I that transparent?) Sending you good vibes too!

I don't think this matters to any regular poster but just in case a lurker cares: declining my Buffalo MA offer today.

I was being a little hyperbolic but it was a huge culture shock for me coming from one of the not-wealthy, not-white rural towns in Michigan (and I did have a downright terrible time in Ann Arbor which is why, again, I gave some attention to location in my initial school search and also why I often recommend Ypsi as an alternative to living in Ann Arbor). I, like intextrovert, don't think it's a problem unique to Michigan or even the University of Michigan within Michigan.

You sound really, really prepared après-coup. I just wanted to express that in some way. (Ann Arbor is a nightmare.)

Wait listing is the worst. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I'm really hoping yours converts!

Honored. It's nice to be the best at something. You're not even in the top 1,000 nastiest people I've met on the Internet, sorry.

Thanks for all your updates!

Ok. So I'm on three wait lists with no legitimate offers -- it's an admit off the wait list or nothing for me this year -- and one thing I have been very sure to do is make sure I have a sense of my preference/action in any given outcome. This includes various funding outcomes (the school where the wait list is most likely to convert is also the one with the most tenuous funding) and pays no attention to likelihood. I have made sure that all of my questions have been answered -- including teaching load, travel funds, courses for the next year or so -- and that those answers are appropriately weighted in my decision. I am learning about housing and cost of living in each location so I can make quick decisions about funding. Though I would be ecstatic to go to any of the three programs, I have them ranked (though one school's in there a few times for a number of different funding outcomes) and feel confident that I could make a quick decision on, say, April 15 or beyond. This is some kind of obsessive planning but it has given me an outlet for all of the neurotic energy I have from the waiting and it makes me feel better to know that I won't have to make any last minute decisions. (Though, admittedly, I'm still waffling between a couple of different outcomes but it's unlikely I'd have to make that choice in practice.) I'd like to add, too, that my letter writers (as mentors) have been really helpful in this process, offering insights that I wouldn't think of or have access to.