2019 Applicants

[Fedallah]

2 hours ago, trytostay said:

I am! It's not convenient for my schedule by any means, but I made it work. (Note to self: don't schedule a vacation in Miami for the middle of visiting season...) You're further than I am though. Are you going to be able to make it? 

I'll be there for sure. Still looking for a flight and lodgings for my partner and I, but I've secured the time off work. Never been to Charlottesville. It looks pretty gorgeous though. I'm excited to check it out. 

[eddyrynes]

I'm curious: is Rutgers the one school everyone applied to? ???‍♂️

Also, any fellow Northwestern admits here going to the visiting weekend? I look forward to meeting you all ?

[purrfectpals]

On 2/16/2019 at 12:08 PM, kendalldinniene said:

Historically Berkeley notifiers rejections in March so personally I’m planning for that

but UPenn- who knows??!! I’m rooting for you!

I actually did my MA at Penn, and my adviser there told me that the admissions committee wouldn't be making any final decisions until two weeks into February, so you might be hearing from them soon!

Best of luck to both of you! 

[WildeThing]

1 hour ago, eddyrynes said:

I'm curious: is Rutgers the one school everyone applied to? ???‍♂️

Also, any fellow Northwestern admits here going to the visiting weekend? I look forward to meeting you all ?

Looks like Chicago got the most, but Rutgers is up there.

As I reviewed my applicants I definitely split my apps into best-very good-good fit and likelihood of being admitted categories and ultimately I had Brown, Penn, Rutgers and UConn as my top schools in terms of fit, and UConn and GW at the top in terms of likelihood to be admitted. It’s poetic that those are the last ones I’m hearing from. The UConn acceptance also gave me some optimism that, who knows, maybe it’s about fit after all (though my belief is the biggest factor is the schools you come from), so I am very nervous about the final schools though relieved that someone somewhere has decided to bet on me. 

Can’t believe we’re nearing the end of decision season already. Good luck to everyone!

 

 

 

 

[jadeisokay]

1 hour ago, eddyrynes said:

I'm curious: is Rutgers the one school everyone applied to? ???‍♂️

 

i almost did but recall a way that something was worded in the application bothering me (i sound like george costanza right now, i know) that discouraged me from going through with it

Edited February 17, 2019 by jadeisokay

[gloriagilbert]

Anyone else feel like this process vaguely resembles that of the sorting hat in HP? The program that is now my top offer (Michigan) was never exactly where I envisioned myself this fall...but might just be the best in terms of fit, etc. Trying to come to terms with this alternate version of the future where I live in Ann Arbor, but it might be just what I need.

[cassidyaxx]

17 hours ago, trytostay said:

Okay Rutgers...any time now... 2018 phone call acceptances happened between February 15-17th (Thursday-Saturday), and 2017 phone call acceptances happened February 18th-19th (Saturday-Sunday) so I'm curious to see if anything happens this weekend. Looks like Yale's phone calls are around then too, but aside from it being Yale, I don't think I was the best fit there. I was really excited about Rutgers as a department, so I'm sort of hoping it's a yes from them, but I won't be shocked if they pass on me. 

Anyone else have that one school they're getting anxious about?

Pretty much have accepted Uconn and UOregon as rejections, but I'm still holding out on Boston College. Some rejections went out on the results boards and one acceptance, and I've been obsessively checking my email ever since.

[3131]

2 hours ago, jadeisokay said:

i almost did but recall a way that something was worded in the application bothering me (i sound like george costanza right now, i know) that discouraged me from going through with it

Was it that one of their subfields was “Ethnic” literature? I couldn’t believe they said that, especially since they have pretty strong Postcolonial/global modernist faculty. Like, all you can do is chuckle, but come on, guys. 

[barshmie]

43 minutes ago, 3131 said:

Was it that one of their subfields was “Ethnic” literature? I couldn’t believe they said that, especially since they have pretty strong Postcolonial/global modernist faculty. Like, all you can do is chuckle, but come on, guys. 

Yeah, that was Rutgers. I was similarly shocked and, even though I'm interested in "Ethnic" literatures, I could not bring myself to select that option. I think instead I selected "other" and wrote in Global South or something. 

[Anonymouse124]

Any bets on when we're going to hear back from UPenn and Yale? 

[barshmie]

1 hour ago, Anonymouse124 said:

Any bets on when we're going to hear back from UPenn and Yale? 

I'm fairly certain it will be this week, though I have no bets on which day. I think Penn had their final meeting on Friday, so they may be earlier in the week?

Re: Yale. Apparently, they are reducing their number of acceptances this year because of the job market (down to 15 from 20 or so) and are shooting for a yield of 9. Brown cut its acceptances by 50% last year, and are shooting for the same, reduced number, this year. ? This is just to say it's harder this year than ever, folks!

[caliguy]

22 hours ago, trytostay said:

Anyone else have that one school they're getting anxious about?

Maryland...I'm at the top of the waitlist and it's one of my first choices. march is gonna be a looooong month..

[Anonymouse124]

45 minutes ago, barshmie said:

I'm fairly certain it will be this week, though I have no bets on which day. I think Penn had their final meeting on Friday, so they may be earlier in the week?

Re: Yale. Apparently, they are reducing their number of acceptances this year because of the job market (down to 15 from 20 or so) and are shooting for a yield of 9. Brown cut its acceptances by 50% last year, and are shooting for the same, reduced number, this year. ? This is just to say it's harder this year than ever, folks!

You're joking. 15?! What the actual heck. I wish I could just sleep till March. Do you mind my asking how you found out about these cohort sizes? Thanks for the heads up by the way! My expectations were already at the level of dirt, I'm preparing to lower it into the Earth's crust now, ugh.

[Warelin]

14 minutes ago, Anonymouse124 said:

You're joking. 15?! What the actual heck. I wish I could just sleep till March. Do you mind my asking how you found out about these cohort sizes? Thanks for the heads up by the way! My expectations were already at the level of dirt, I'm preparing to lower it into the Earth's crust now, ugh.

15 acceptances can be considered large by a number of colleges.  A few years ago, Brandeis only had 2 spots available for their cohort. There are other colleges which also regularly only send out acceptances for as many spots as they have. If a cohort is only 6 people, they won't send out a 7th acceptance into someone else rejects their offer. A lot of these colleges usually end up sending no more than 10 acceptances.

[trytostay]

3 minutes ago, Warelin said:

15 acceptances can be considered large by a number of colleges.  A few years ago, Brandeis only had 2 spots available for their cohort. There are other colleges which also regularly only send out acceptances for as many spots as they have. If a cohort is only 6 people, they won't send out a 7th acceptance into someone else rejects their offer. A lot of these colleges usually end up sending no more than 10 acceptances.

That's what I thought, too. I thought the numbers have always been super low, especially for humanities PhD's. I was surprised to see that Yale is accepting 15 people this year! I know NYU accepted 15 as well. 

[j.alicea]

@barshmie and @3131 I’m not sure I understand the issue with “ethnic studies.” It is widely used (Rutgers, Berkeley, Riverside, Irvine, Boulder, to name a few institutions). Also, it would perhaps be more problematic to subsume Ethnic studies into American Studies, Global studies, Latina studies, Chicana studies, Asian American studies, Afro-American studies, etc., as some have pushed for in the past. I mean ethnic isn’t a deragatory term, or at least I as an “minority ethnic person” don’t interpret it that way. But please correct me if I am wrong about this. While ethnic studies is a broad category, I kind of like it that way; it encourages interdisciplinary approaches to problems of the “assembly” of race, ethnicity, identity formation, indigeneity, etc., no?

[madandmoonly]

8 minutes ago, Warelin said:

15 acceptances can be considered large by a number of colleges.  A few years ago, Brandeis only had 2 spots available for their cohort. There are other colleges which also regularly only send out acceptances for as many spots as they have. If a cohort is only 6 people, they won't send out a 7th acceptance into someone else rejects their offer. A lot of these colleges usually end up sending no more than 10 acceptances.

This year Brandeis has four spots available, just FYI to anyone wondering! 

[madandmoonly]

2 minutes ago, j.alicea said:

@barshmie and @3131 I’m not sure I understand the issue with “ethnic studies.” It is widely used (Rutgers, Berkeley, Riverside, Irvine, Boulder, to name a few institutions). Also, it would perhaps be more problematic to subsume Ethnic studies into American Studies, Global studies, Latina studies, Chicana studies, Asian American studies, Afro-American studies, etc., as some have pushed for in the past. I mean ethnic isn’t a deragatory term, or at least I as an “minority ethnic person” don’t interpret it that way. But please correct me if I am wrong about this. While ethnic studies is a broad category, I kind of like it that way; it encourages interdisciplinary approaches to problems of the “assembly” of race, ethnicity, identity formation, indigeneity, etc., no?

In my SOP I sometimes used the term "global lit" and sometimes "ethnic lit," but didn't realize there could be a problem with this terminology... (I'm also a POC here.) Hope I didn't offend anyone in these programs! 

[Warelin]

13 minutes ago, trytostay said:

That's what I thought, too. I thought the numbers have always been super low, especially for humanities PhD's. I was surprised to see that Yale is accepting 15 people this year! I know NYU accepted 15 as well. 

As another point of reference, Wisconsin has a nice record of information that list applicant stats. (There are more available by other universities as well. I think there are laws that Public Schools must make the information publically available somewhere.)

Taking a look at Madison's stats:
211 people applied in Fall 2015 for English. 35 were offered admission. 17 enrolled.
156 people applied in Fall 2016 for English.  9 were offered admission. 7 enrolled.
149 people applied in Fall 2017 for English. 10 were offered admission. 2 enrolled.

Comparing it to Biochemistry:
242 people applied in Fall 2015 for Biochemistry. 46 were offered admission. 18 enrolled.
243 people applied in Fall 2016 for Biochemistry.  60 were offered admission. 22 enrolled.
239 people applied in Fall 2017 for Biochemistry. 61 were offered admission. 23 enrolled,

[ArcaMajora]

For anyone wanting more info on Yale, their GSAS does have a dedicated webpage where you can track admission statistics. Access it here

Yale accepting 14-15 for their cohort started for Fall 2018. Out of 270 applicants, 14 were offered admission and 9 ultimately accepted the offer. In years' past, offers ranged 20-24 (going slightly down until there was a downsize in admissions). The data on the page goes back as far as 2014, but you can also track completion rates, time to degree, etc.

I'm also a Yale applicant. While I'm hopeful, it is definitely not happening considering my application was all over the place. I see a lot of Yale applicants here and all of you would make far more deserving and ready candidates. Hoping to see some GCers report phone calls from New Haven this week.

Edited February 17, 2019 by Ranmaag

[trytostay]

Interesting. This whole process is so weird! Fingers crossed for everyone and I hope you’re all doing okay. It took me awhile to get my head around the idea that rejections don’t mean my work is “bad,” and committees are judging on such esoteric criteria... This isn’t to diminish the accomplishments of those who’ve been accepted, of course. It’s hard work and skill — but it’s that coupled with random things we call “fit”! It’s shocking how much the application process seeks to tear us down. Maybe it’s just preparing us for the long road that is grad school lol

On another note: yeah, I’m not expecting anything from Yale. What an amazing campus and department, but I was forcing my SOP a bit with that one. Just really wanted to apply to such an incredible school I guess? Who knows. I look back on some of the schools I applied to and question what I was thinking haha. 

Edited February 17, 2019 by trytostay

[havemybloodchild]

55 minutes ago, Warelin said:

As another point of reference, Wisconsin has a nice record of information that list applicant stats. (There are more available by other universities as well. I think there are laws that Public Schools must make the information publically available somewhere.)

Taking a look at Madison's stats:
211 people applied in Fall 2015 for English. 35 were offered admission. 17 enrolled.
156 people applied in Fall 2016 for English.  9 were offered admission. 7 enrolled.
149 people applied in Fall 2017 for English. 10 were offered admission. 2 enrolled.

Comparing it to Biochemistry:
242 people applied in Fall 2015 for Biochemistry. 46 were offered admission. 18 enrolled.
243 people applied in Fall 2016 for Biochemistry.  60 were offered admission. 22 enrolled.
239 people applied in Fall 2017 for Biochemistry. 61 were offered admission. 23 enrolled,

This makes me feel a lot better honesty. Although it’s nothing to celebrate.

[Dares]

9 hours ago, WildeThing said:

(though my belief is the biggest factor is the schools you come from)

Nay, I can attest that this is decisively not true. I did my undergrad and master's degrees at two of the top 10 schools in the world, and was rejected from 10 out of 12 of the programs I applied to, with my acceptances being my two safety schools. A woman in my English MPhil cohort also applied to 10 schools and was rejected from all of them, and she was an excellent writer working on a pretty bracing topic. I am fairly sure the most important aspects are how good your writing sample is, how original your research is, how stellar your letters of rec are, and then maybe toward the middle of the list the prestige of your schools. But the humanities is an extremely qualitative and subjective field, and grad schools admissions are already extremely political to begin with. School prestige will only get you so far. 

I think if you really want proof of this you can take a cursory scan of some of the top programs' current graduate students. Many if not most of them come from schools you've probably never heard of or middle-of-the-road places. It comes down to how good of a candidate you've made yourself, in combination with how well you've come to understand what the humanities academy is looking for (discursively, topically, etc.).

[havemybloodchild]

5 minutes ago, Dares said:

Nay, I can attest that this is decisively not true. I did my undergrad and master's degrees at two of the top 10 schools in the world, and was rejected from 10 out of 12 of the programs I applied to, with my acceptances being my two safety schools. A woman in my English MPhil cohort also applied to 10 schools and was rejected from all of them, and she was an excellent writer working on a pretty bracing topic. I am fairly sure the most important aspects are how good your writing sample is, how original your research is, how stellar your letters of rec are, and then maybe toward the middle of the list the prestige of your schools. But the humanities is an extremely qualitative and subjective field, and grad schools admissions are already extremely political to begin with. School prestige will only get you so far. 

I think if you really want proof of this you can take a cursory scan of some of the top programs' current graduate students. Many if not most of them come from schools you've probably never heard of or middle-of-the-road places. It comes down to how good of a candidate you've made yourself, in combination with how well you've come to understand what the humanities academy is looking for (discursively, topically, etc.).

Thanks for this. My undergrad institution was one I found by googling “easiest colleges to get into” and picking the one that wasn’t in the south. I got into Mills, my dream school, but I couldn’t afford to attend and needed a back up ASAP.

When I think of how much I grew in undergrad, and the amazing support I continue to have from faculty there, I can’t regret going where I went. But I did worry that a regional state school degree might have messed with my chances at graduate study.

Edited February 17, 2019 by kendalldinniene

[trytostay]

I agree that previous school "rank" doesn't matter at all -- and if it is taken into consideration, it's like the last thing they consider. I went to a very average school that is not associated with strong academics at all. I think schools are really upfront and honest about what they look at (at least what they initially look at, before all the weird "fit" stuff comes into play): SOP, writing sample, and letters come first. Always.

Edited February 17, 2019 by trytostay