2020 Applicants

[caffeinated applicant]

On 1/24/2020 at 3:07 PM, merry night wanderer said:

Into Rice!

Congratulations!!!!! 

[VincentH]

1 hour ago, Cryss said:

I wonder if we'll hear back from Rice or WashU today. I have that they both gave decisions around this time last year, I wonder if that trend will continue. 

Re: WashU - Just received a friendly but neutral email encouraging me to apply for the Chancellor's Fellowship (didn't think I was eligible)... Said they had "read my application with interest" but as of yet have not made any decisions. The email was signed off with "best wishes, and you'll hear more from us in the coming weeks." Hopefully that helps piece the puzzle together a little clearer? Seems like we've got a bit more waiting... but soon!

[aussiekoala]

Omg I just got accepted to Saint Louis with funding!!! This is the first response I've gotten amid a wave of silence and I still can't register that I'm actually in. I needed this so bad, I really hope it's not another decision acceptance dream because I would be utterly heartbroken.

[Cryss]

2 hours ago, VincentH said:

Re: WashU - Just received a friendly but neutral email encouraging me to apply for the Chancellor's Fellowship (didn't think I was eligible)... Said they had "read my application with interest" but as of yet have not made any decisions. The email was signed off with "best wishes, and you'll hear more from us in the coming weeks." Hopefully that helps piece the puzzle together a little clearer? Seems like we've got a bit more waiting... but soon!

This is helpful. Thank you for sharing!

[caffeinated applicant]

2 hours ago, NinaM said:

Omg I just got accepted to Saint Louis with funding!!! This is the first response I've gotten amid a wave of silence and I still can't register that I'm actually in. I needed this so bad, I really hope it's not another decision acceptance dream because I would be utterly heartbroken.

Congratulations!! 

[VincentH]

2 hours ago, NinaM said:

Omg I just got accepted to Saint Louis with funding!!! This is the first response I've gotten amid a wave of silence and I still can't register that I'm actually in. I needed this so bad, I really hope it's not another decision acceptance dream because I would be utterly heartbroken.

Yessss, congratulations! ?

[Warelin]

4 hours ago, VincentH said:

Re: WashU - Just received a friendly but neutral email encouraging me to apply for the Chancellor's Fellowship (didn't think I was eligible)... Said they had "read my application with interest" but as of yet have not made any decisions. The email was signed off with "best wishes, and you'll hear more from us in the coming weeks." Hopefully that helps piece the puzzle together a little clearer? Seems like we've got a bit more waiting... but soon!

English Admissions Committee is meeting tomorrow to finalize their selection. I'm not sure if that means they'll be notifying tomorrow or if they'll wait until next week.

[cruel optimism]

Does anyone have any idea of what's going on with Stanford? It seems like they're bringing back interviews, but the invitations seem to be rather scattered. Are they interviewing all shortlisted candidates, or simply doing what Columbia usually does (interviewing according to sub-fields, and usually only the candidates about whom they're still on the fence)? 

[Indecisive Poet]

12 hours ago, meghan_sparkle said:

I'm not at all convinced by this (actually am starting to wonder whether me thinking it went 'well' is an ominous sign) but so sweet of you to say. Also: really?? At the end of my interview they told me "a few weeks"! (Though I guess the interviewers are not the people making the final decision so maybe they said that to everyone.) Either way... Wednesday is so soon!

Oh, that's interesting! I think it could go either way then – no idea if my partner's POI is on the admissions committee or not (although lucky for him if he is!)

[Indecisive Poet]

11 hours ago, meghan_sparkle said:

I agree with a lot of this, though I would just add the caveat that these interviews are usually 25-30 minutes, and it would be impossible to do all or even most of these things in that timespan. It just doesn't allow for it. I think if I had gone into my interview with these four tenets in mind, I might've panicked if I didn't get certain questions, been less open to the conversation's natural flow, interrupted or interjected in order to emphasize how excited I was or how I was a good fit (which no doubt would've come off badly). Bottom line, I don't think a 'bad' interview will rule a candidate out completely, especially one with strong materials—you're being admitted to write and research for 5-6 years; not be a talking head—nor will a good one guarantee acceptance. I think they're looking broadly for two things:

1. Can you participate in the intellectual culture of the department? Can you have a friendly, open-ended, casual discussion of ideas? Are you malleable and pliable or unyielding, when a new idea or question is introduced to you? Notice in that phrasing it's less about exactly what you say, whether you trip up, or whether your answer is right or wrong, and more about the orientation and attitude evident in your answers. If it puts you at ease and helps you stay present in the conversation, by all means, go over your SOP and WS for days and rehearse potential answers. But I don't think it's necessary, and worst case scenario, it can be really easy to tell when someone's answers are rehearsed because often they're less responsive to what's actually being asked. 

2. Are you personable? Given many programs have only introduced interviews in recent years, it's hard not to see them becoming the norm in light of not only increasing competitiveness, but also the exponentially increasing difficulty of the job market. At least in Chicago's case, given their focus on placement and research excellence, I have to believe that the interview is something of a 'ground zero' for job market interviews; a very early indicator of how you might fare (and/or how easily you might be trained) in speaking and conversing with other professors about your work and your hopes for it in a high-pressure, high-stakes situation. 

I think you raise good points here, and I want to say that above all, an interview should be a natural conversation, you should not memorize specific answers, and you should not try to shoe in anything that doesn't come up naturally.

This said, I think my interview would have gone much better if I had had more time to review my materials and to practice, and if I had had a better sense beforehand of what an admissions interview would be like. I had an 8-hour turnaround time between my notification and my interview and I hadn't even thought about my statement of purpose since the middle of December. During the interview, I ended up using a lot of vague and uninformed language about ideas that I know I know a lot about because of this (I even forgot who I quoted in one of my quotations!). I plan to do much more preparation for my next interview, not so that I can memorize answers, but so that I can remind myself what my more specific ideas and experiences are. Overall, I think my interview gave the impression that – yes, I am personable, open-minded, and we had a very natural conversation – but that I didn't know very much about my own ideas or about the program, neither of which is true. Both of those impressions, I think, could really have been rectified if I had spent more time reviewing my materials and practicing talking about them freely, and if I had remembered to speak about the program and not just myself.

I only wish the dates of my two interviews were reversed, because I would much rather have messed up this next one than the first one ?

Edited January 25, 2020 by Indecisive Poet

[noneckmonsters]

I received an email from a UCSD saying my application status has been changed, but the only thing that changed is that they are requesting my "final' transcripts. What does this mean? I am confused. It says it is still under department review. Is it possible that they would need my final transcripts to make a decision? Is this un/usual? 

Note: They are asking for all my transcripts, not just the final ones from my MA. 

Thanks! 

[Emailchecker]

Is anyone aware whether these schools usually interview? Or their interview practices? 

Princeton, Cornell, Purdue, Michigan, Boston

Many thanks -

Edited January 25, 2020 by Emailchecker

[aussiekoala]

7 minutes ago, Emailchecker said:

Is anyone aware whether these schools usually interview? Or their interview practices? 

Princeton, Cornell, Purdue, Michigan, Boston

Many thanks -

I don't believe any of those universities interview, or haven't in the past couple of years at least. 

[poetryislit]

2 hours ago, cruel optimism said:

Does anyone have any idea of what's going on with Stanford? It seems like they're bringing back interviews, but the invitations seem to be rather scattered. Are they interviewing all shortlisted candidates, or simply doing what Columbia usually does (interviewing according to sub-fields, and usually only the candidates about whom they're still on the fence)? 

I was one of the people that got an interview and it seemed quite specific to my subfield. The interview was conducted by who I'd be working with, and based on their language, it seemed like the interview was something they went out of their way to do out of interest (whereas in an interview I had with another program, they explicitly told me they had a few more interviews to get through before deciding, meaning interviews were standard). I might be wrong, though!

Edited January 25, 2020 by poetryislit

[cruel optimism]

16 minutes ago, poetryislit said:

I was one of the people that got an interview and it seemed quite specific to my subfield. The interview was conducted by who I'd be working with, and based on their language, it seemed like the interview was something they went out of their way to do out of interest (whereas in an interview I had with another program, they explicitly told me they had a few more interviews to get through before deciding, meaning interviews were standard). I might be wrong, though!

Oh, what do you mean by "based on their language" (since it's not a comp lit or non-english program)? (Unless you're referring to Old/Middle English? It does seem like medievalists tend more often to receive interviews from departments that do so selectively, and now that I'm thinking about it, I suppose the language component's part of the reason for that.) 
And thanks for your reply anyway! It does seem like they're interviewing those whom they'd love to recruit, but whose projects they want to know about in greater detail (in a good way), so best of luck with your application! 

[Indecisive Poet]

1 hour ago, Emailchecker said:

Is anyone aware whether these schools usually interview? Or their interview practices? 

Princeton, Cornell, Purdue, Michigan, Boston

Many thanks -

Princeton and Boston do not. I'm not sure about the others, but a good way to check is to look through the GradCafe's results page from the last few years. If those programs normally interview, people will have posted in previous years about receiving interview requests.

In general, most programs don't interview. I applied to a whopping 14 programs this year, of which only 3 normally interview.

Edited January 25, 2020 by Indecisive Poet

[poetryislit]

1 hour ago, cruel optimism said:

Oh, what do you mean by "based on their language" (since it's not a comp lit or non-english program)? (Unless you're referring to Old/Middle English? It does seem like medievalists tend more often to receive interviews from departments that do so selectively, and now that I'm thinking about it, I suppose the language component's part of the reason for that.) 
And thanks for your reply anyway! It does seem like they're interviewing those whom they'd love to recruit, but whose projects they want to know about in greater detail (in a good way), so best of luck with your application! 

Of course, good luck to you as well!

 And by “their language,” I actually meant “based on the interviewer’s tone”/ the specific things they were saying to me. They were so optimistic and excited, it felt less like a formal interview and more like a conversation, which is why I guessed they might be interviewing on a case-by-case basis. On the other hand, maybe I shouldn’t assume that only a formal interview = standardized interview policy. 

Edited January 25, 2020 by poetryislit

[cruel optimism]

8 minutes ago, poetryislit said:

 And by “their language,” I actually meant “based on the interviewer’s tone”/ the specific things they were saying to me. They were so optimistic and excited, it felt less like a formal interview and more like a conversation, which is why I guessed they might be interviewing on a case-by-case basis. On the other hand, maybe I shouldn’t assume that only a formal interview = standardized interview policy. 

Oh hahaha I just realised how terribly I misread your original post!! (I really should get some sleep and stop squinting at my phone without my glasses on.) 
It sounds like you had such a lovely chat with your interviewers, and based on your description of it, I think they're rather thrilled for you to join their department! Fingers crossed! 

[onerepublic96]

An interesting side effect of the application experience: I now can’t stand the weekends because no results are likely to come on the weekends. Saturdays are particularly annoying and on Sunday night I can’t wait for the new week to begin ?

anyone in the same boat or am I going insane?

[Wimsey]

The impending decisions are starting to feel more real to me, and I think I had an application-related dream last night. That is, I don't recall the dream itself, but I remember briefly waking up and thinking groggily, "I should post about this dream on the Grad Cafe." ?

[Indecisive Poet]

23 minutes ago, onerepublic96 said:

An interesting side effect of the application experience: I now can’t stand the weekends because no results are likely to come on the weekends. Saturdays are particularly annoying and on Sunday night I can’t wait for the new week to begin ?

anyone in the same boat or am I going insane?

Yes, yes, yes! I check my email much more than I care to admit during the week, but I barely look at my phone on the weekends.

[mobydickpic]

4 hours ago, poetryislit said:

I was one of the people that got an interview and it seemed quite specific to my subfield. The interview was conducted by who I'd be working with, and based on their language, it seemed like the interview was something they went out of their way to do out of interest (whereas in an interview I had with another program, they explicitly told me they had a few more interviews to get through before deciding, meaning interviews were standard). I might be wrong, though!

What is your subfield @poetryislit?

[Cryss]

24 minutes ago, onerepublic96 said:

An interesting side effect of the application experience: I now can’t stand the weekends because no results are likely to come on the weekends. Saturdays are particularly annoying and on Sunday night I can’t wait for the new week to begin ?

anyone in the same boat or am I going insane?

You are definitely not alone!

And the logical part of my brain knows it's still early in the season, but I haven't gotten any contact from schools yet, so the emotional side is telling me all hope is lost. So much anxiety. 

[Indecisive Poet]

5 minutes ago, Cryss said:

You are definitely not alone!

And the logical part of my brain knows it's still early in the season, but I haven't gotten any contact from schools yet, so the emotional side is telling me all hope is lost. So much anxiety. 

I've seen a lot of people posting about how they're worried because they haven't heard anything yet – of the 14 programs I applied to, only one usually notifies in January. The rest notify in February (spread throughout the entire month) and even in March. It's far too early for anyone to start panicking!

Edited January 25, 2020 by Indecisive Poet

[merry night wanderer]

38 minutes ago, onerepublic96 said:

An interesting side effect of the application experience: I now can’t stand the weekends because no results are likely to come on the weekends. Saturdays are particularly annoying and on Sunday night I can’t wait for the new week to begin ?

anyone in the same boat or am I going insane?

Yes! Especially as we're rolling into the "big news every week" season - Monday can't come quickly enough. I think we are in the same boat, and we are all insane.