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Columbia's MA is unfunded as well, from what I recall, and definitely not worth attending for the same reasons lyonessrampant mentioned above.

Yes, that's why I was questioning if it was real or not. Seems pretty egregiously early.

Whoa... is the Urbana acceptance real? Anyone want to claim that?

Count me in. I'm really, really hoping for word back by end of January (from my top choice) to put me out of my misery! I honestly don't think I can make it until end of February with no news.

Interesting! http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/01/12/applications-to-ucla-up-by-6-5-percent/ I wonder if there's traditionally any correlation between undergraduate and graduate application numbers.

Dear everyone,

Hehe

Same! Although ours was "Contemporary Critical Theory." I described it as being similar to being at Oz and having the curtain thrown back. Definitely changed my life, too. Man, this sounds like an amazing course. Really wish I had an option to take something like that.

I haven't. Definitely putting it on the list. I've been reading more works with a political bent (Michael Warner's The Trouble with Normal in particular). Not sure if Weston's one is political at all. Literature suggestions as in novels? I haven't actually read any lately... Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai is a great queer POC book, though!

I tried unsubbing but U of Portland is not taking no for an answer and are spamming me hard. "We've waived your application fee!" "Here's your welcome package!" They even sent me a full paper application in the mail.

Thank you for starting this thread! I didn't explicitly state my gender or sexual identity in my SOP. I figured talking about my interest in queer studies was enough (particularly the idea of a "family unit" and the trouble with same-sex marriage). Same with "irl" during my program; I just discussed my interest in queer studies a lot with my professors but never really spoke about it in a personal manner. Just before the holiday break, one of my profs said, "Oh, if you want you and your partner can stay at my apartment while my wife and I are gone." So I guess he just assumed. I have been very curious about what kind of impact being explicit or implicit about one's sexuality has on an application, though, so I'm glad you brought that up and that we both took different approaches.

Perhaps the beatboxing goat will suffice for now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As-Sqehg8IA&spfreload=10

When it comes to sensitivity issues like this, I think one consideration should be "time and place." I have a friend who went to go teach in northern Canada on a First Nations reservation. He is both gay and Asian. Unfortunately for him, many of the people up there haven't ever come in contact with an Asian person and very likely not a gay person either. He had it in his head that he had to proclaim his identity wherever and whenever because it was an assertion of his agency, etc. and rashly proceeded to do so upon his arrival. I would say he "lost" his students and the administration right then and there and they've given him loads of trouble ever since. Obviously this scenario is different from being trans* in academia but there are some similarities. While, I don't think it is right that minority folks should curtail expressions of their own identity for the sake of their institutional surroundings, I also think that being mindful of the context one is entering can also make any transition or acclimation period much less traumatic and more successful in the long run. Just my 2c.

It may be the notoriously low matriculation rate there. One prof told me two years ago that they only accepted *four* incoming students! Out of how many applicants, I don't know. Maybe for the best that you applied to English, though, as I heard they only took two creative writing applicants that same year. Here's hoping for the both of us!

Ooooh... it's so rare to see USC applicants around this year. Did you apply for the English program or something else?

Now I'm there.... ugh. Thanks jhefflol Many orders of magnitude smaller. This time last year, the previous cohort's thread was at 61 pages! We're at 23. Still so strange. Maybe they were just much chattier in general... or I guess, if some anecdotal evidence is to be believed, many are choosing to steer clear of TGC nowadays.

I guess my partner and I went the immature route. I told him I was applying to some East coast schools and he was unsure about it but we both figured we would figure it out when the acceptance came in (because we both know that it might just not come in at all).

Can we just fast forward three weeks, please?

The bureaucratic incompetence of most schools is shocking to me. It's not like you all just opened your doors yesterday... you've had years to practice this kind of stuff! I went through something similar at my current school when they just couldn't figure out how to classify me (student, faculty or other since I'm a teaching fellow) so they just went ahead and gave me three identities. Boy, that was fun to sort out. Similarly, every semester my stipend gets disbursed in weird and wonky amounts that make absolutely no sense. Every semester there's several thousand missing that I then have to spend weeks communicating with the Fin Aid office about. Then they press a button and it all magically appears in my account. What the hell!

The constant checking and re-checking... ugh. I need one of these on my keyboard:

I originally had a paragraph in mine about my background in education (including a bachelor's degree) but ended up cutting it out and leaving it for the CV, like fancypants09. I figured most programs can infer by seeing the B.Ed and the teaching experience I have had during my MA, which is also noted in the same space. I mostly made this decision for page length reasons but also because it doesn't seem like most of the programs to which I applied give out TAships based on skill or merit, so I felt no need to highlight that part of my background. Not sure how accurate this is. Never heard that you can focus on teaching at an R1... in fact, the very essence of being an R1 usually entails a focus on research, no?

Yep. I'm getting a lot of "CONGRATULATIONS YOU'VE BEEN.... invited to an online open house session!" emails. How cruel....

I'm having a lot of weird mood swings. Sometimes I'll be lying in bed and it'll occur to me that I *could actually maybe* get into at least ONE program and then I'll feel okay for a bit. Then sometimes I'll be sitting at the kitchen table and I'll groan because whatthehellwasIthinking applying to so many top tier programs I'm going to get shut out of all of them and have nothing. Sigh. Just goes to show we have no idea really what's going to happen.

It's because the power of holiday tradition forces families that aren't happy to pretend to be just that.