2019 Applicants

[tacocat211]

Just out of curiosity to those who plan to apply again next cycle (or are thinking about it as a possibility) - what do you do in the meantime? i’ve never taken a gap year, so i’m genuinely curious!

[Bopie5]

1 minute ago, tacocat211 said:

Just out of curiosity to those who plan to apply again next cycle (or are thinking about it as a possibility) - what do you do in the meantime? i’ve never taken a gap year, so i’m genuinely curious!

Given the way this cycle is shaking out so far (although I'm trying not to be defeatist!), I'm starting to plan my gap year. 

I plan to move home for a year (free food + free rent), finally get certified as a yoga instructor in the summer, do some non-academic non-9to5 job like working as a server as a brunch place, start teaching yoga part time, and pour everything into revising my WS and SoPs and focusing my research nonstop from July to December, so I can be a stronger candidate when I try again. Hoping to travel internationally January-March of 2020.

[jadeisokay]

11 minutes ago, tacocat211 said:

Just out of curiosity to those who plan to apply again next cycle (or are thinking about it as a possibility) - what do you do in the meantime? i’ve never taken a gap year, so i’m genuinely curious!

i work at a hotel and hate it with all my heart, so plan is to move and do anything else for a year.

[tacocat211]

5 minutes ago, Bopie5 said:

Given the way this cycle is shaking out so far (although I'm trying not to be defeatist!), I'm starting to plan my gap year. 

I plan to move home for a year (free food + free rent), finally get certified as a yoga instructor in the summer, do some non-academic non-9to5 job like working as a server as a brunch place, start teaching yoga part time, and pour everything into revising my WS and SoPs and focusing my research nonstop from July to December, so I can be a stronger candidate when I try again. Hoping to travel internationally January-March of 2020.

That sounds refreshing, and the travel sounds so exciting. This past summer I worked as a lifeguard for my local pools, and I can't tell you how nice the break was from an academic job setting/working a 9-5. With whatever you end up choosing, I wish you all the best

[3131]

1 hour ago, trytostay said:

I'd say given that no other interview requests were posted on GradCafe, they aren't only interviewing people they're considering, and that it's just for certain specialties. I think they interviewed me to rank me within the c18 applicants. I have no idea why some specialties would do this, but not others. I think it's odd that I'm the only person on GradCafe who posted about an interview request, and I don't think it's necessarily a good thing. It seems like they had some questions about me as an applicant. (In my deepest anxieties I wonder if they only offered me an interview to appease my mentor, who is active amongst the c18 community there.)

He did say that they (they = c18 faculty) are going to be making a "pitch" to the admissions committee to try and get as many slots as possible. So, I think that's how it works at Columbia: the admissions committee lets faculty from certain specialties read the top applicants' work and then those specialties explain why they want to accept the people they've interviewed (if they've interviewed); then, the admissions committee determines how many spots each specialty gets. 

Hey! Brand new user here. Created this account just to reply to this post. I received an interview request from Columbia earlier today (I do 20th c, which is grouped with 21st in their department). Do you have any more details on the form of the interview? Are they basically asking us to provide pitches that they’ll then parrot to the admissions committee? I am not always great over the phone so naturally I’m horrified. 

[vondafkossum]

38 minutes ago, tacocat211 said:

Just out of curiosity to those who plan to apply again next cycle (or are thinking about it as a possibility) - what do you do in the meantime? i’ve never taken a gap year, so i’m genuinely curious!

I’ve been teaching for quite a few years since I’ve graduated, so I’ll just keep on keeping on. I really do love my job, and I’ve been feeling/dealing with an intense amount guilt this entire cycle about “wanting” to leave. It took me a whole year to come to terms with the idea that putting myself and my goals first isn’t betraying my students. If I get accepted, the next few months will be a struggle to “stay in the game” and focus, but if I don’t? I still have an awesome job that I’m content with for the time being. 

[victoriansimpkins]

1 hour ago, tacocat211 said:

Just out of curiosity to those who plan to apply again next cycle (or are thinking about it as a possibility) - what do you do in the meantime? i’ve never taken a gap year, so i’m genuinely curious!

I've been teaching, working at my university's writing center, and going to conferences, publishing as much as possible, giving guest lectures on my campus, and doing huge lectures (this year I'm doing a huge bicentennial celebration Queen Victoria's birth for women's history month). I stayed on teaching at my MA institution, because I wanted to keep fostering those relationships and bugging tf out of them for advice weekly. Basically anything that I can think of within reason to help me stay happy, working within my time period/interests, and closer to the goal. I'm a pathetic mess sometimes but my anxiety likes for me to stay as busy as possible. 

[trytostay]

1 hour ago, 3131 said:

Hey! Brand new user here. Created this account just to reply to this post. I received an interview request from Columbia earlier today (I do 20th c, which is grouped with 21st in their department). Do you have any more details on the form of the interview? Are they basically asking us to provide pitches that they’ll then parrot to the admissions committee? I am not always great over the phone so naturally I’m horrified. 

Oh, I'm so happy to find another interviewee! Congratulations!

My interview was pretty straightforward. No, they aren't asking us to make pitches. At least from what I gathered, if they interview you, they want to accept you. They're just trying to rank you within the final applicants for your specialty. Then once they hear from the admissions committee how many people they can accept, they'll accept the top ones based off of how many they're allowed. (Note: they can sometimes be allowed 0!) My interviewer said this was the last part of the process that was in their hands and the rest of it is up to a committee. 

For me, it was clear they were asking about the weaker points of my application. I'm fresh out of undergrad and I only switched to the English major in my senior year. Obviously, an admissions committee would notice the risk of accepting me into their PhD program when I am so new to the English discipline. My interviewer asked me questions about that, and I'm assuming in their "pitch" they will defend those weaker points of my application based on my answers, because they do want to accept me. It just still unfortunately might not work out based on things outside my control -- like maybe someone did better than me in the interview, and maybe the committee won't give c18 enough spots for me to be included in the accepted applicants.

[jusrain]

@jadeisokay nice job on Jeopardy! Your factoid was the best

[jusrain]

8 hours ago, trytostay said:

Congrats to the CU Boulder acceptance!

Thank you!!  

[jadeisokay]

4 hours ago, swarthmawr said:

@jadeisokay nice job on Jeopardy! Your factoid was the best

HAHA thanks! i got my ass handed to me but i had a blast. and i get $1k in may. I'm happy.

[havemybloodchild]

1 minute ago, jadeisokay said:

HAHA thanks! i got my ass handed to me but i had a blast. and i get $1k in may. I'm happy.

Hellllll yeahhhhh

[WildeThing]

8 hours ago, 3131 said:

Hey! Brand new user here. Created this account just to reply to this post. I received an interview request from Columbia earlier today (I do 20th c, which is grouped with 21st in their department). Do you have any more details on the form of the interview? Are they basically asking us to provide pitches that they’ll then parrot to the admissions committee? I am not always great over the phone so naturally I’m horrified. 

Congrats, are you 20th American, British, transatlantic, etc?

[Matthew3957]

10 hours ago, tacocat211 said:

Just out of curiosity to those who plan to apply again next cycle (or are thinking about it as a possibility) - what do you do in the meantime? i’ve never taken a gap year, so i’m genuinely curious!

I've been trying to work this out. I am starting on my MA thesis and if I get shut out I would drag it out a bit more to keep my EU visa and try and develop a dataset of novel that I can somehow argue are the Cli-Fi genre (not clue yet how exactly I would include/exclude here). I would then use that data in my MA thesis to show changing topics, moods, etc. in climate fiction as public discourse around it has changed or as major climate benchmarks are met. I would try and present that part of my thesis, plus the dataset, at a conference and get it published. If I do get in I won't have time to learn what I need to do all that for my MA thesis and it would just be more me reading one or two novels. 

I teach online already so I would probably keep doing that, but to be honest I kinda loath it right now because its basic English and is uninteresting so if I could I might work on a few other data projects and try and get part time data analysis work.

I'd live with my partner in Leuven, maybe take a housesit in Italy/Spain/Portugal if I can find one, and play some video games. 

That was probably WAY too specific. The extent to which I know what I will do is helping me to cope with feelings of being shut out........

[placeinspace]

After the sudden CU Boulder results yesterday (which were projected for mid-Feb) I'm now frantically refreshing all of my portals multiple times a day. This is getting a little embarrassing tbh. They should really issue acceptances based on who refreshes their portal more- clearly that's a sign of who truly wants to be admitted, right?

Edited February 6, 2019 by placeinspace

[jusrain]

8 hours ago, jadeisokay said:

HAHA thanks! i got my ass handed to me but i had a blast. and i get $1k in may. I'm happy.

Out of reactions but I’m so happy for you! I wouldn’t have gotten on the board (classic movies and the bible, especially!)

[Matthew3957]

@jadeisokay Good job on Jeopardy! That one dude was hardcore. I doubt I woulda buzzed quick enough. But, I was disappointed with the lack of sci-fi knowledge!

[trytostay]

Looking like it's a no from Chicago. Bleh. 

[snorkles]

15 minutes ago, trytostay said:

Looking like it's a no from Chicago. Bleh. 

Did you receive a formal rejection? I haven't heard anything yet, but I saw that FiguresIII got in (congrats!!!).

Edit: "looking" ---nevermind!

Edited February 6, 2019 by snorkles

[trytostay]

Yes -- congrats to @FiguresIII !!

[The Wordsworthian]

3 hours ago, placeinspace said:

They should really issue acceptances based on who refreshes their portal more- clearly that's a sign of who truly wants to be admitted, right?

In that case, I'd be crushing it.  Good ole wishful thinking

[barshmie]

Hey guys! What are our thoughts on Johns Hopkins? Do we think all acceptances went out? I see two on the board. 

In other news... I’m having a panic attack about Chicago. Congrats to @FiguresIII!

[Fedallah]

7 minutes ago, bardie said:

Hey guys! What are our thoughts on Johns Hopkins? Do we think all acceptances went out? I see two on the board. 

 

Warelin mentioned yesterday that typical cohort size for JH is 5. Since two are on the board and someone said on another thread that their friend got one also I think it's safe to assume they've all gone out. Perhaps not waitlist though? 

[barshmie]

42 minutes ago, Fedallah said:

Warelin mentioned yesterday that typical cohort size for JH is 5. Since two are on the board and someone said on another thread that their friend got one also I think it's safe to assume they've all gone out. Perhaps not waitlist though? 

Boooo. Alright thanks!

[gloriagilbert]

I got a waitlist email last night from JH! Email came around 9 PM, which was strange.