2019 Applicants

[Maylee]

19 hours ago, victoriansimpkins said:

So I've been officially accepted by SIUC with funding (the letter has some weird wording that I am trying to decipher), and have emailed Nebraska to see where they're at after the first round offer deadline. I mentioned to Nebraska that I'd been accepted with funding elsewhere, but holding off notifying them in hopes UNL funding would come through. Did I just overstep or say something stupid? ??

Hey there! So I applied PhD CNF and am admitted/waitlisted for funding at UNL. I didn't tell them I have a funded offer elsewhere but when I checked in with some questions they asked to be kept in the loop about my other offers so they could "try" to rush a funding decision since the faculty "remain very excited" about my application. They didn't give me an exact position on the waitlist but I felt it was promising and shared my other offers and should hear back in a few days. I'd say you didn't overstep! 

[Bopie5]

Helpful information:

1) UCSB, Michigan, and Northwestern all have a policy not to offer feedback (citing volume of apps received)

2) UCSB's adcomm chair told me that this year they had around 200 applicants for 6-8 positions.

3) Michigan's director of graduate studies said that admission is very competitive, and "historically only 8-10% of applicants are offered admission"

4) Aaron Barstow from UC Davis said they had 156 applicants this year; didn't say how many offers were made. 

Hope this is helpful in getting a sense of the lay of the land!

[Bopie5]

Okay, I have a potentially stupid question, but my family doesn't come from academia, and my school doesn't do much to help undergrads get to conferences, so, with the potential of looking like a fool, here I go!

Is it gucci or taboo to submit an abstract to multiple conferences? Is simultaneous submission a concept in conferences/presentations, or should I not submit an abstract to a second conference if it's in review for a first? Obviously I would tailor the abstract to fit the emphases of the particular conference regardless.

Similarly, if you've given a paper as a presentation at a conference, can you still submit it for publication in an academic journal? Or vice versa?

Edited March 21, 2019 by Bopie5

[StamfordCat]

19 minutes ago, Bopie5 said:

Okay, I have a potentially stupid question, but my family doesn't come from academia, and my school doesn't do much to help undergrads get to conferences, so, with the potential of looking like a fool, here I go!

Is it gucci or taboo to submit an abstract to multiple conferences? Is simultaneous submission a concept in conferences/presentations, or should I not submit an abstract to a second conference if it's in review for a first? Obviously I would tailor the abstract to fit the emphases of the particular conference regardless.

Similarly, if you've given a paper as a presentation at a conference, can you still submit it for publication in an academic journal? Or vice versa?

Totally fine to submit the same abstract to multiple conferences. It *is* taboo to give the same paper at multiple conferences, although there is literally no oversight on that.

I'm not sure about the second question. HOWEVER a conference paper is usually 7 pages, and a journal article is typically much longer and much more evidence-heavy, so I think it would be hard to use the same paper for those 2 things. I've seen articles where the author has said "this paper was originally presented at such and such conference" but those are usually late-career academics who can get away with such things.

[Bopie5]

Just now, StamfordCat said:

Totally fine to submit the same abstract to multiple conferences. It *is* taboo to give the same paper at multiple conferences, although there is literally no oversight on that.

I'm not sure about the second question. HOWEVER a conference paper is usually 7 pages, and a journal article is typically much longer and much more evidence-heavy, so I think it would be hard to use the same paper for those 2 things. I've seen articles where the author has said "this paper was originally presented at such and such conference" but those are usually late-career academics who can get away with such things.

Thank you thank you! This is so helpful. Definitely wanna avoid any taboos, and good to know that I can submit same/similar abstracts.

For context, I'm presenting a paper at a conference (an abridged/revised/narrowed version of a 15 page literary analysis I wrote), and was wondering if that paper is now functionally "dead." Similarly, I'm having a paper published, and was wondering if I could ever present a version of it, or if it was also donezo! 

[urbanfarmer]

29 minutes ago, Bopie5 said:

Thank you thank you! This is so helpful. Definitely wanna avoid any taboos, and good to know that I can submit same/similar abstracts.

For context, I'm presenting a paper at a conference (an abridged/revised/narrowed version of a 15 page literary analysis I wrote), and was wondering if that paper is now functionally "dead." Similarly, I'm having a paper published, and was wondering if I could ever present a version of it, or if it was also donezo! 

You can definitely take a conference paper and eventually expand it into an article. The article can later be modified/changed/etc into a book chapter. None of this is necessary, of course (a conference paper might be only ever that), but once you get to know someone's work well, you'll see that most scholars are often working through ideas in this way. It makes sense-- you often might not get an idea quite right on the first try, but will get it to the form you want as you keep working at it. Alternately, if you're working on a theoretical problem, you might see someone using different texts/frameworks for that problem over a period of time, going through the same working-out process until they eventually publish a book (or, occasionally, a single very important article) that has a crystalized version of that problem/etc.

As for the other way-- article to presentation-- that's a bit less common, if only because there's some assumption that if you're publishing something on, say, Emily Dickinson, most Emily Dickinson scholars (who, presumably, would be most interested in your presentation) will be keeping up on the current issues of whatever that journal is, and it'd be a bit strange for you to chop it down and repeat something they've already read. However, what I said above still applies: if you're working through a particular thought or issue, (say, looking at the materiality of Dickinson's manuscripts or something), you can work through whatever you published into a new form that is refined or changed or takes up different material or the same material differently than before. 

 

Hope that helps!

[Bopie5]

@urbanfarmer Thank you thank you! This makes a ton of sense, and helps me conceptualize everything in much clearer ways. There's definitely a learning curve here--my undergrad is a small, liberal arts, teaching-focused institution, so the conference/publishing elements of our discipline aren't really taught or emphasized very much. Thank you for your help ☺️

[vollie]

Actually, I hate to be using this account just to ask questions, but as someone who’s contemplating staying home and reapplying next year if I don’t get any funded offers...

None of my mentors had English MAs (all Creative Writing professors and non-academics), and I didn’t do a lot of the things I see mentioned in this thread as things typical of an applicant because I didn’t know they were typical of applicants. I didn’t do an Honors Thesis because I graduated early for financial/personal reasons (I would have needed to stay a full senior year), and I’ve never been able to attend or present at a conference- the time I would have used for research ended up being used on internships and jobs, and my university didn’t have many opportunities for humanities research for undergrads.

Did I miss out on my shot for a funded MA by not doing these things? Should I have never thought I could get into one without it in the first place? It seems like it was way more important of a factor than I thought. I only applied to standalone MAs, not MA/PhDs. 

[victoriansimpkins]

4 minutes ago, vollie said:

Actually, I hate to be using this account just to ask questions, but as someone who’s contemplating staying home and reapplying next year if I don’t get any funded offers...

None of my mentors had English MAs (all Creative Writing professors and non-academics), and I didn’t do a lot of the things I see mentioned in this thread as things typical of an applicant because I didn’t know they were typical of applicants. I didn’t do an Honors Thesis because I graduated early for financial/personal reasons (I would have needed to stay a full senior year), and I’ve never been able to attend or present at a conference- the time I would have used for research ended up being used on internships and jobs, and my university didn’t have many opportunities for humanities research for undergrads.

Did I miss out on my shot for a funded MA by not doing these things? Should I have never thought I could get into one without it in the first place? It seems like it was way more important of a factor than I thought. I only applied to standalone MAs, not MA/PhDs. 

I don't think so, at all. I got into several funded MAs a few years ago without first having conferences, or an honors thesis, etc. I worked hard during my MA to go to conferences, write a thesis, and eventually published one of my thesis chapters in a good journal in my field. Don't compare your timeline to anyone else's!! That's my biggest piece of advice. 

[kd1990]

10 hours ago, Bopie5 said:

Okay, I have a potentially stupid question, but my family doesn't come from academia, and my school doesn't do much to help undergrads get to conferences, so, with the potential of looking like a fool, here I go!

Is it gucci or taboo to submit an abstract to multiple conferences? Is simultaneous submission a concept in conferences/presentations, or should I not submit an abstract to a second conference if it's in review for a first? Obviously I would tailor the abstract to fit the emphases of the particular conference regardless.

Similarly, if you've given a paper as a presentation at a conference, can you still submit it for publication in an academic journal? Or vice versa?

I second the responses above. I would add that in submitting the same abstract to multiple conferences you run the risk of being accepted to all of them for the same paper. It sounds weird to call it a risk since it would be very good news that your paper interests multiple scholars. But you generally do not want to present the same paper at multiple conferences. I hope this helps some.

[StamfordCat]

10 hours ago, Bopie5 said:

Thank you thank you! This is so helpful. Definitely wanna avoid any taboos, and good to know that I can submit same/similar abstracts.

For context, I'm presenting a paper at a conference (an abridged/revised/narrowed version of a 15 page literary analysis I wrote), and was wondering if that paper is now functionally "dead." Similarly, I'm having a paper published, and was wondering if I could ever present a version of it, or if it was also 

I absolutely think both those things is accepted and normal! 

[StamfordCat]

1 hour ago, vollie said:

Actually, I hate to be using this account just to ask questions, but as someone who’s contemplating staying home and reapplying next year if I don’t get any funded offers...

None of my mentors had English MAs (all Creative Writing professors and non-academics), and I didn’t do a lot of the things I see mentioned in this thread as things typical of an applicant because I didn’t know they were typical of applicants. I didn’t do an Honors Thesis because I graduated early for financial/personal reasons (I would have needed to stay a full senior year), and I’ve never been able to attend or present at a conference- the time I would have used for research ended up being used on internships and jobs, and my university didn’t have many opportunities for humanities research for undergrads.

Did I miss out on my shot for a funded MA by not doing these things? Should I have never thought I could get into one without it in the first place? It seems like it was way more important of a factor than I thought. I only applied to standalone MAs, not MA/PhDs. 

No. I got into a funded MA (at George Mason) with no publications or presentations. I did do a post-bacc first that allowed me to take and do well in 2 or 3 grad level courses, since I'd been out of school for like 10 years.

[Clarara]

Hey! Does anyone know if there's an invisible waitlist for Fordham? 

[havemybloodchild]

2 hours ago, vollie said:

Actually, I hate to be using this account just to ask questions, but as someone who’s contemplating staying home and reapplying next year if I don’t get any funded offers...

None of my mentors had English MAs (all Creative Writing professors and non-academics), and I didn’t do a lot of the things I see mentioned in this thread as things typical of an applicant because I didn’t know they were typical of applicants. I didn’t do an Honors Thesis because I graduated early for financial/personal reasons (I would have needed to stay a full senior year), and I’ve never been able to attend or present at a conference- the time I would have used for research ended up being used on internships and jobs, and my university didn’t have many opportunities for humanities research for undergrads.

Did I miss out on my shot for a funded MA by not doing these things? Should I have never thought I could get into one without it in the first place? It seems like it was way more important of a factor than I thought. I only applied to standalone MAs, not MA/PhDs. 

I don’t think so at all! I don’t think folks applying with BAs are expected to have conferences or publications under their belts. Lots of people don’t do honors theses (is that the plural? I had a lot of beer last night and words all look wrong today) and I don’t think that’s a problem either. What you need is a clear, concise, and intriguing SoP (that is also magically  aligned with whatever the dynamic needs and desires of the department are that year, haha), and an excellently written and intriguing writing sample. Have hope! You can do this! And I would highly suggest taking that year to reapply over doing an unfunded MA. Just my two cents.

[flyingpig]

On 3/20/2019 at 11:43 AM, Bopie5 said:

Helpful information:

1) UCSB, Michigan, and Northwestern all have a policy not to offer feedback (citing volume of apps received)

2) UCSB's adcomm chair told me that this year they had around 200 applicants for 6-8 positions.

3) Michigan's director of graduate studies said that admission is very competitive, and "historically only 8-10% of applicants are offered admission"

4) Aaron Barstow from UC Davis said they had 156 applicants this year; didn't say how many offers were made. 

Hope this is helpful in getting a sense of the lay of the land!

First, thank you to @Bopie5 for writing about asking for feedback from Davis, that was SUPER helpful. Since then, they must have finalized the applicants, because my email said "163 applications and only offered 24 of them admission" !

[kd1990]

6 hours ago, vollie said:

Actually, I hate to be using this account just to ask questions, but as someone who’s contemplating staying home and reapplying next year if I don’t get any funded offers...

None of my mentors had English MAs (all Creative Writing professors and non-academics), and I didn’t do a lot of the things I see mentioned in this thread as things typical of an applicant because I didn’t know they were typical of applicants. I didn’t do an Honors Thesis because I graduated early for financial/personal reasons (I would have needed to stay a full senior year), and I’ve never been able to attend or present at a conference- the time I would have used for research ended up being used on internships and jobs, and my university didn’t have many opportunities for humanities research for undergrads.

Did I miss out on my shot for a funded MA by not doing these things? Should I have never thought I could get into one without it in the first place? It seems like it was way more important of a factor than I thought. I only applied to standalone MAs, not MA/PhDs. 

I agree with everyone else. I don't think you missed out. The MA program is usually where you start working on the professionalization aspect (conference papers, publications, etc). While those aspects would obviously look nice on a MA application, they are not expected. The SOP and writing sample are the most important aspects. My recommendation should you reapply next year is to research programs where MA students usually receive funding. One issue with some universities is if they have a Ph.D. program, most of the funds are usually allocated for those students, and whatever is left (if anything) goes to MA students. However, you will be able to find programs that fit your interest which offer funding for MA. I know of certain programs in the Northeast/New England area (I live there) that do, so if you ever wanted to message me, I could recommend some. 

[ArcaMajora]

Following Bopie's example (also @Bopie5 CONGRATS ON THAT VILLANOVA ACCEPTANCE! I am sending so many vibes to the funding deities that you get great funding) and also sending e-mails requesting feedback. Sent an e-mail to University of Washington, fingers crossed. It's tempting to send an e-mail to Yale and UCLA but my gut tells me to leave the schools be, and no e-mails to either Columbia or Cornell since the application volume must be high O_O (and as an addendum, Cornell's rejection letter makes it clear that it was the final receipt of any results. of all the ones I received... I believe UW does allow questions)

Edited March 21, 2019 by Ranmaag

[Bopie5]

1 hour ago, Ranmaag said:

(also @Bopie5 CONGRATS ON THAT VILLANOVA ACCEPTANCE! I am sending so many vibes to the funding deities that you get great funding)

Thank you thank you! Let's hope those funding deities smile upon me and my future (weirdly, the GradCafe emoji function doesn't let me insert the praying hands or the crossed fingers emoji, but mentally insert both of those here haha)

[jillcicle]

UVA movement - I got my rejection FINALLY and someone else at the visiting weekend i’m at at UNC got official waitlist notification.

[Salamah]

Hello guys, 

I've submitted my application for MA English at UBC since Jan 4. The referee deadline was Jan 18 and all were able to submit. I've been following this thread and noticed the admission decision for this year is too late. (Also I've noticed that the admission decision for September 2019 (this year) is unusually late.) I'm beginning to worry. I even mailed Miranda Burgess in Feb, the MA advisor and she said 'it was still very early and that i should give them some weeks to get back'. It's been over a month and I've mailed her again, but no response. I'm an international student, with a Bachelors outside Canada...Has anyone heard from UBC English at all? Kindly share your experiences

[Salamah]

Hi guys, has anyone heard back from UBC since the Jan 4 deadline? The status on the portal still says 'in progress'. The admission decision is unusually late. I'm quite worried.

[MetaphysicalDrama]

On 3/21/2019 at 10:06 AM, Clarara said:

Hey! Does anyone know if there's an invisible waitlist for Fordham? 

They haven't mentioned anything of the sort.  When I visited, I got the feeling that they are a kind of school that only sends out a select number of acceptances a year.  Fellowship support and summer support weighs heavily on their admissions decisions. 

[placeinspace]

WSU apparently really follows that April 15 deadline. They haven't released any decisions yet based on email response someone posted on the results page.

[beyad0b]

I'm also waiting for their PhD decisions. No word yet.

[victoriansimpkins]

2 hours ago, placeinspace said:

WSU apparently really follows that April 15 deadline. They haven't released any decisions yet based on email response someone posted on the results page.

that was me. I got that email last week and i'm like "uh ok"

 

I also have a visit coming up at SIUC. I proposed two dates since they encourage a visit, but don't require one, and I. AM. NERVOUS.

Edited March 22, 2019 by victoriansimpkins