Quit Playing Games (With My Heart) / Projected Rejections

[CulturalCriminal]

Yes, I am here to defend the unranked MA (though, mine is unranked due to the lack of a PhD program; I can’t imagine we’d be lower ranked than certain other Texas programs I have some friends at).

People from my little known MA program have made the jump to a # of prestigious places (Penn, UCIrvine, UCLA film, UCSC hiscon, UT, etc). Despite not having a PhD program here, there are professors that are kicking ass and taking names in their area of interests. The Assistantship program has shaped me into a far stronger educator. Most important though, my MA has allowed me to grow as a researcher. The quality of my writing has skyrocketed since coming here. Likewise, the  mentorship relationships I’ve forged with professors are everything I could hope for (a little worried I want have similar dynamics in doctorate). 

There is benefit to getting an MA from an unranked university.

That said, check the fit and snag an assistantship/fellowship. It also helps to have leftover GI bill or be in a state that exempts tuition for veterans and/or their children.

[FishNerd]

9 hours ago, CulturalCriminal said:

There is benefit to getting an MA from an unranked university.

I really have to agree! My partner and I got our master's from a small state university (not sure if our programs are unranked but I am almost certain their rank is not high - there are no PhD programs in either of our fields at our master's institution either). Also our bachelor's degrees are from a similar sized school that is also likely relatively unknown.

While we are not applying to the highest ranked PhD programs we do have one school we have both been accepted at (University of Denver) and I have been unofficially accepted at our other top choice (University of Arkansas). I do recognize that school name recognition can help a lot but I firmly believe that if you do go to a relatively unknown school you just have to ensure that you are making the most of your opportunities and make yourself a stellar student where you are. Since both of the institution's we've attended are small and the programs have also been small we have been able to form extremely close relationships with the professors we've worked closely with and I'm sure that allows those professors to write much more personalized recommendations. I think as long as you make the most of the opportunities you are given unknown schools will not work against you. We both recognize though that we may not ultimately want to work as professors in a big name school so having smaller lesser known schools on our CV is not as big of a deal since we are likely not trying to break into those highly ranked schools. We have loved the smaller settings our schools have provided and would be very happy to work as professors in a similar environment in the future.

However, we did recently get the notice that my partner was rejected from the English PhD program at UMass and I have yet to hear anything from my program there. I do wonder if it is because it is the highest ranked school we are applying too and they judged the schools we had attended. But what I really think is that both of the programs there for us were the ones that we worried about fit the most and that easily could have come through in our SOP's, but who knows maybe they judged that we came from unknown schools...

Ultimately, I think we have benefited overall from attending these lesser known schools. We both received a full-ride at our undergrad and have no debt from undergrad. Also both of our master's programs were funded with assistantships and had tuition waivers and we only had to take out one small loan to help with living expenses since our stipends were a bit piddly. But because of this we are carrying almost no debt forward and have loved the school environments we have been in. So far not worrying about name recognition has worked for us and I firmly believe that as long as we continue to work hard and stand out from the pack it will continue to work for us into the future.

I do think prestige/name recognition does really matter if that's the type of school you're hoping to secure a position in the future but if that's not your concern I think hard work at little known schools can end up working out. Also this is not to poo-poo on those shooting for these awesome schools - that is so awesome and I am super impressed by all these acceptances at big schools I'm seeing! I just wanted to throw this out there as an example that lesser known schools may not always be a detriment.

[Pezpoet]

11 hours ago, la_mod said:

This is really nice to hear, thank you. I’m definitely rooting for you. I’m also very glad I reapplied this year, but am unsure I can do a third round if I need to, for a lot of reasons. Are you only applying to PhD programs?

wait, never mind. I just saw you were admitted to Pittsburgh! Congratulations!

I'm rooting for you too. There's a lot of February yet! 

And for what it's worth, I did apply to one MA. I thought if I didn't get into any PhD programs then it would give me the opportunity to strengthen my application over two years. It is also an unranked MA and that didn't really matter to me. If I was going to gain solid teaching experience, write a well-advised thesis, and earn good grades, then all the better. 

[CulturalCriminal]

20 minutes ago, Pezpoet said:

 It is also an unranked MA and that didn't really matter to me. If I was going to gain solid teaching experience, write a well-advised thesis, and earn good grades, then all the better. 

Exactly

[chellyfish_]

Is anyone else stupidly holding out hope for a non-rejection from University of Oregon, based on the fact that the couple results that came in yesterday are a few weeks ahead of their usual, and past admissions seem to span 3 or so days?  Tell me I'm not the only stupidly-optimistic-against-all-odds person here  (Even so, this felt most appropriate to post in projected rejections :/ )

[Pezpoet]

13 minutes ago, chellyfish_ said:

Is anyone else stupidly holding out hope for a non-rejection from University of Oregon, based on the fact that the couple results that came in yesterday are a few weeks ahead of their usual, and past admissions seem to span 3 or so days?  Tell me I'm not the only stupidly-optimistic-against-all-odds person here  (Even so, this felt most appropriate to post in projected rejections :/ )

I think you can hold out hope. I have a friend currently in the program and word is that they just started making decisions. I think more's to come. I'm hanging with him tomorrow and will get the scuttlebug. 

[E. Coronaria]

14 minutes ago, chellyfish_ said:

Is anyone else stupidly holding out hope for a non-rejection from University of Oregon, based on the fact that the couple results that came in yesterday are a few weeks ahead of their usual, and past admissions seem to span 3 or so days?  Tell me I'm not the only stupidly-optimistic-against-all-odds person here  (Even so, this felt most appropriate to post in projected rejections :/ )

As the creator of this delightfully honest and occasionally doom&gloom thread, and as someone who 9 days ago was in absolute despair, you are hardly against all odds in hoping for University of Oregon. I wish I kept a more optimistic attitude.  I was shocked to see an offer yesterday from them— they don’t usually post until March 1st. I wish I knew who the other acceptance was. I was nominated for a graduate school fellowship and the letters had details about that. Some school send out special nominations early. Or maybe they are doing it by area. I’m 19th century American. There are so many possibilities. They don’t even require an answer about the recruitment activities until March 23, which feels to me like they haven’t sent everything out yet! 

[chellyfish_]

32 minutes ago, Pezpoet said:

I think you can hold out hope. I have a friend currently in the program and word is that they just started making decisions. I think more's to come. I'm hanging with him tomorrow and will get the scuttlebug. 

Not all heroes wear capes!  

22 minutes ago, Elle Coronaria said:

As the creator of this delightfully honest and occasionally doom&gloom thread, and as someone who 9 days ago was in absolute despair, you are hardly against all odds in hoping for University of Oregon. I wish I kept a more optimistic attitude.  I was shocked to see an offer yesterday from them— they don’t usually post until March 1st. I wish I knew who the other acceptance was. I was nominated for a graduate school fellowship and the letters had details about that. Some school send out special nominations early. Or maybe they are doing it by area. I’m 19th century American. There are so many possibilities. They don’t even require an answer about the recruitment activities until March 23, which feels to me like they haven’t sent everything out yet! 

Hahah, sometimes pessimism seems to be a safer way to guard our tender hearts! But 1) BIG CONGRATS, and 2) thanks for this info! That does seem definitely possible -- I'm medieval, so makes sense! (Sidebar: there's got to be a better way to lay claim to studying middle ages lit than saying "I'm medieval" /dead)

You've both bolstered my spirits a bit! 

[FreakyFoucault]

Ah, rejection the second: Duke, 'twas not meant to be! 

[ltr317]

11 minutes ago, FreakyFoucault said:

Ah, rejection the second: Duke, 'twas not meant to be! 

Like I said before, Cal. weather is nicer anyway.  

[FreakyFoucault]

5 minutes ago, ltr317 said:

Like I said before, Cal. weather is nicer anyway.

Yes, and with each rejection from the Midwest and East, MamaFoucault is becoming more distraught at the increasing chances of my moving to CA! 

[ltr317]

5 minutes ago, FreakyFoucault said:

Yes, and with each rejection from the Midwest and East, MamaFoucault is becoming more distraught at the increasing chances of my moving to CA! 

She can always visit and soak up the sunshine and indulge in all the wonderful things Cal. has to offer.  Man, I sound like an online dating site. 

[FreakyFoucault]

4 minutes ago, ltr317 said:

Man, I sound like an online dating site.

Or  California's PR Department lol

[Circles&Circles]

Looks like most/if not all of Indiana Bloomington's MFA poetry acceptances were sent out already, so I'm expecting my rejection letter soon 

[M(allthevowels)H]

38 minutes ago, jpbends said:

In addition to my email from the Department, got an email from the Northwestern Graduate School and was told my official decision was available. So, rejected twice from Northwestern. Nice.

Jokes on them! The two rejections cancel out, because they're negatives and math. Pretty sure Northwestern has to accept you now. 

[FreakyFoucault]

9 minutes ago, M(allthevowels)H said:

44 minutes ago, jpbends said:

In addition to my email from the Department, got an email from the Northwestern Graduate School and was told my official decision was available. So, rejected twice from Northwestern. Nice.

Jokes on them! The two rejections cancel out, because they're negatives and math. Pretty sure Northwestern has to accept you now. 

Now let's just hope that they're not using some paraconsistent application logic nonsense! 

[M(allthevowels)H]

21 minutes ago, Jacqui said:

Looks like most/if not all of Indiana Bloomington's MFA poetry acceptances were sent out already, so I'm expecting my rejection letter soon 

Were you hoping to work with Ross Gay? If so, the upside is he's one of those poets who does visiting workshops all over the place, all the time. So there's a lot of opportunities to work with him outside of the traditional MFA if you end up somewhere else. (I was a fiction emphasis in my MFA, but I love Ross Gay and Patrick Rosal).

[Pezpoet]

Quickie update on UO (lookin at you @chellyfish_). My friend can't give any concrete info but he said it seems early for all acceptances to be out. He said there's a meeting in two weeks that he's pretty sure is another deciding meeting. Hope that helps!

[Yanaka]

2 hours ago, ltr317 said:

She can always visit and soak up the sunshine and indulge in all the wonderful things Cal. has to offer.  Man, I sound like an online dating site. 

I think he was talking about his mom? Oops!

[FreakyFoucault]

10 minutes ago, Yanaka said:

I think he was talking about his mom? Oops!

Yikes -- name's FreakyFoucault not FreakyFreud

[Yanaka]

20 minutes ago, FreakyFoucault said:

Yikes -- name's FreakyFoucault not FreakyFreud

I don’t know—you say Mama, I don’t necessarily think Mamacita!

*laughs at freakyfreud*

[FreakyFoucault]

3 minutes ago, Yanaka said:

I don’t know—you say Mama, I don’t necessarily think Mamacita!

You were right, I was referring to my mom! I didn't even pick up on ltr's dating point lol. 

[Yanaka]

2 minutes ago, FreakyFoucault said:

You were right, I was referring to my mom! I didn't even pick up on ltr's dating point lol. 

Hahaha phew, I’m so relieved.

[ltr317]

1 hour ago, Yanaka said:

I think he was talking about his mom? Oops!

Yeah, I know.  No Freudian slip here.  I was referring to my advice for his mom because Cal. is a great place to visit.  But then I realized the words I wrote is a lot like someone would say on a dating site hoping to entice/draw potential dates.   

[renea]

I'm tired of being trolled by departments.

Monday FSU's graduate program assistant sent out a mass email titled "Application Review" just to notify me that reviews have begun and decisions will be out later this month. yeah thanks for the heart attack. Also apps were due on December 15th, so it feels weird to just now be reviewing applications.

Today I open my email to this from GSU:

 

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?!?!?!?!

I need some way to block all unimportant emails and telemarketers, because this past week every notification has sent me into panic mode.