2019 Applicants

[kvlt.nihilist]

oh fuck i guess i'm the last one to know that uchicago is out so um time to go #notpanic and #notcry lel

[placeinspace]

14 minutes ago, rxing963 said:

oh fuck i guess i'm the last one to know that uchicago is out so um time to go #notpanic and #notcry lel

Literally same.

[placeinspace]

I’m still ruminating on this whole thing and I’m pretty bummed. Last week I reached the conclusion that if I don’t get into Chicago, I’m not going to go to school, regardless of other acceptances, so this is kind of a very sudden and definitive thing for me (I’m an older applicant and Chicago had just the right balance of everything I would need, both academically and in terms of lifestyle). I’m sort of relieved to not be stressing about it anymore but also am sad about what might’ve been. Anyway, that’s all I got. And congrats to all of you who received an email!! That sounds like I just tacked it on at the end but it’s very genuine. You have a shot at an amazing program and it is very well deserved!

[mandelbulb]

6 minutes ago, placeinspace said:

I’m still ruminating on this whole thing and I’m pretty bummed. Last week I reached the conclusion that if I don’t get into Chicago, I’m not going to go to school, regardless of other acceptances, so this is kind of a very sudden and definitive thing for me (I’m an older applicant and Chicago had just the right balance of everything I would need, both academically and in terms of lifestyle). I’m sort of relieved to not be stressing about it anymore but also am sad about what might’ve been. Anyway, that’s all I got. And congrats to all of you who received an email!! That sounds like I just tacked it on at the end but it’s very genuine. You have a shot at an amazing program and it is very well deserved!

this isn't the end! no one can be absolutely sure of what is a perfect fit from the outside. you could've gotten an acceptance and realized it's actually very far from what you would need. hang in there ❤️ 

[havemybloodchild]

10 minutes ago, placeinspace said:

I’m still ruminating on this whole thing and I’m pretty bummed. Last week I reached the conclusion that if I don’t get into Chicago, I’m not going to go to school, regardless of other acceptances, so this is kind of a very sudden and definitive thing for me (I’m an older applicant and Chicago had just the right balance of everything I would need, both academically and in terms of lifestyle). I’m sort of relieved to not be stressing about it anymore but also am sad about what might’ve been. Anyway, that’s all I got. And congrats to all of you who received an email!! That sounds like I just tacked it on at the end but it’s very genuine. You have a shot at an amazing program and it is very well deserved!

This makes me sad to hear. 

[SomeoneAcceptMe]

11 minutes ago, placeinspace said:

I’m still ruminating on this whole thing and I’m pretty bummed. Last week I reached the conclusion that if I don’t get into Chicago, I’m not going to go to school, regardless of other acceptances, so this is kind of a very sudden and definitive thing for me (I’m an older applicant and Chicago had just the right balance of everything I would need, both academically and in terms of lifestyle). I’m sort of relieved to not be stressing about it anymore but also am sad about what might’ve been. Anyway, that’s all I got. And congrats to all of you who received an email!! That sounds like I just tacked it on at the end but it’s very genuine. You have a shot at an amazing program and it is very well deserved!

Hey don't beat yourself up ❤️ That's hypocritical of me to say since I'm panicking about the whole thing, but hey:

Before graduating I talked to a graduate student at my undergrad institution (which has a one of the top programs for the field he was in). He got in after his third cycle of graduate applications. He got rejected to his back up schools but got acceptances at this school and Harvard. He was reluctant, but decided to go to my undergrad institution, which he said was one of the best decisions he made. He loves his cohort, he loves the professors, he's gotten to speak at lots of conferences and publish a lot of articles even in his first couple years of a Ph.D. program (which, given that American Ph.D.'s take about 6 years and people don't start their dissertation until about the 3rd year, is rather impressive).

Honestly, even though all of us are probably perfectionists, there's only so much we can criticize about ourselves in this process. It's so selective, especially for the humanities, that there is a huge degree of arbitrariness to the application process that we didn't experience when going to elite undergrad institutions. Some professors that run the admissions process at the Russell Group in the UK have even talked about how they have heavily discredited an applicant for having a typo on their personal statement. As someone who has dyslexia, that's terrifying for me lol. As you've probably already seen in the results search, even people with multiple publications get rejected. When the majority (almost all) of the applicant pool are geniuses in the field, sometimes admissions decisions come down to relatively trivial factors, which sucks, but can also be encouraging if you need to apply next cycle (which will probably be the case for me since I had a lot of personal stress during this whole process and didn't get to focus as much on my personal statements).

Don't be so quick to dismiss other institutions you may get acceptances from. Go visit their program if you get invited--you may just find that it was a much better fit than you thought after all. 

[mwils15]

I just noticed something weird. When I type "school name english" into the results search bar, it's yielding 0 results. These search terms were working as recently as last night. Is anyone else having this issue?

[placeinspace]

Thank you so much everyone. I wasn’t expecting such lovely and supportive replies and I really appreciate it. 

[kvlt.nihilist]

6 minutes ago, mwils15 said:

I just noticed something weird. When I type "school name english" into the results search bar, it's yielding 0 results. These search terms were working as recently as last night. Is anyone else having this issue?

ye that happened to me too it's for the better tbh i was doing fine ignoring this site for a bit lol (but if anyone finds out i still wanna know bc im a hypocrite)

[placeinspace]

9 minutes ago, mwils15 said:

I just noticed something weird. When I type "school name english" into the results search bar, it's yielding 0 results. These search terms were working as recently as last night. Is anyone else having this issue?

Yes someone was having trouble with it earlier today, apparently they’re trying to fix a bug. I haven’t had any issues with it.

[pdh12]

@placeinspace ahhh, agree with above! if you get an acceptance somewhere, give them a chance!!! program compatibility is basically invisible alchemy—visit! talk to profs! 

[jadeisokay]

3 hours ago, rxing963 said:

def patriots and the saints!  i absolutely hate the chiefs for beating the colts

oh true, forgot you're in Indiana. I hate/respect the colts by nature of being a longlife pats fan. i love manning and andrew lucks's neckbeard. 

 

 

[lyonel_]

I peruse the History forum every now and then, and I thought this post was rather touching for those of us in the throes of early worry during this time. I think it speaks to us as literary scholars as much as it does to historians. 

Edited January 18, 2019 by lyonel_

[dangermouse]

2 hours ago, lyonel_ said:

I peruse the History forum every now and then, and I thought this post was rather touching for those of us in the throes of early worry during this time. I think it speaks to us as literary scholars as much as it does to historians. 

i agree - i think this is absolutely an important and comforting thing to keep in mind during what can be an intensely self-flagellating experience - it is sometimes difficult to remember that there are ways of pursuing a passion for literary criticism outside of The Academy(tm), and that these ways are just as legitimate even if externally they don't feel as real or as concrete as being enrolled in a university and going to classes. this thread alone shows how much conversation and inspiration we can find and create outside of the classroom!! 

so i am determined over the next month or two to really dig deep into reminding myself how much enjoyment i can have with reading and writing criticism, and enjoying the lack of constraints that i currently have on what i want to research/explore/develop. maybe i'll finally read infinite jest?! the world is truly all before us.

[jadeisokay]

do read infinite jest! it's so worth it. i finally finished it during a very dark period of my life where i had to read it by flashlight. getting to the last line (which is baffling and beautiful and somehow ties it all together) felt like climbing a mountain. have you read any other dfw? i'm a bit of a fangirl, if you couldn't tell

[pdh12]

just had my interview. horrifying. learned it’s possible to leave almost everything unsaid while somehow saying too much.

[Bopie5]

30 minutes ago, pdh12 said:

just had my interview. horrifying. learned it’s possible to leave almost everything unsaid while somehow saying too much.

I'm sure you did better than you think you did! It's really easy to get down on yourself but I think that we almost always do better than we think, not worse. Don't get too discouraged!

[mandelbulb]

33 minutes ago, pdh12 said:

just had my interview. horrifying. learned it’s possible to leave almost everything unsaid while somehow saying too much.

they probably know there's only so much you can say! the interviews are only so long and there's so much you can't capture that way. don't sweat it!

[kvlt.nihilist]

whoa is infinite jest worth the read after all?  i dropped it after 2 chapters this winter but i guess i should go back to it.  also when i first saw an image of DFW i was shook he looks like a hippie biker lmfao

[Bopie5]

Just now, rxing963 said:

whoa is infinite jest worth the read after all?

In my opinion, very much worth the read! A big time commitment, but there are some really powerful phrases that are still lodged in me.

[chelsc2012]

Hey guys! Long time lurker here. Anyone receive an email about interviewing at Notre Dame today? Do you think they'll send out more invites? I saw the interview updates on the results page however I haven't received an email. Just trying to hold on hope that maybe they'll send the rest today?? The interview emails were spread out over three days last year, too (based on my perusing on the results page.)

[jadeisokay]

1 hour ago, rxing963 said:

whoa is infinite jest worth the read after all?  i dropped it after 2 chapters this winter but i guess i should go back to it.  also when i first saw an image of DFW i was shook he looks like a hippie biker lmfao

this is a hysterical image in my head. he had a singular aesthetic. it's totally worth it. really, i'd say brief interviews with hideous men is my favorite of his overall. but ij is a total trip. 

@pdh12 i'm sure you were just fine!

[mandelbulb]

1 hour ago, chelsc2012 said:

Hey guys! Long time lurker here. Anyone receive an email about interviewing at Notre Dame today? Do you think they'll send out more invites? I saw the interview updates on the results page however I haven't received an email. Just trying to hold on hope that maybe they'll send the rest today?? The interview emails were spread out over three days last year, too (based on my perusing on the results page.)

i think they may be done notifying for now, unless someone declines an interview.

[Bopie5]

Do any of the rest of you here watch The Good Place? It is great at cheering the endless anxiety parade that is waiting for decisions!

[dilby]

nothing to comment but wow this was a long week. here's a Shx meme from a secret fb group I run with my friends