2020 Acceptances

[politics 'n prose]

Just received a voicemail from the DGS at Penn State extending an offer of admission—totally unexpected, man oh man.

(Life has been busier than usual for me over the past few weeks, and I’ve been remiss in keeping up with everyone’s good news, but congratulations to all who’ve been accepted and waitlisted—and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for all those who are still waiting to hear back!)

[Cryss]

54 minutes ago, politics 'n prose said:

Just received a voicemail from the DGS at Penn State extending an offer of admission—totally unexpected, man oh man.

(Life has been busier than usual for me over the past few weeks, and I’ve been remiss in keeping up with everyone’s good news, but congratulations to all who’ve been accepted and waitlisted—and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for all those who are still waiting to hear back!)

Out of reactions for today but congratulations!!!

[undercaffeinated]

Penn State DGS just extended me an offer--left a lovely voicemail with some details, letter/offer to follow! Very psyched. It's an awesome school, and one of my top choices. Still a little shaky!

[noneckmonsters]

I am curious about the waitlist process. I've been fortunate to receive different kinds of feedback, from acceptances with basic packages, to aggressive recruiting, and yesterday I received my first waitlist offer. I am shocked by the offer. First year covered by department fellowships, years 2,3,4, and 5 with TAships at 20K, AND $350 A MONTH FOR HEALTH INSURANCE!!!!! This last part felt like lead in my stomach. My questions:

1- Is it normal to pay this much for health insurance a month for grad students?

2- do you think it is negotiable? My partner got an offer from another department at this institution with insurance covered. 

Thanks! 

[caffeinated applicant]

10 minutes ago, noneckmonsters said:

I am curious about the waitlist process. I've been fortunate to receive different kinds of feedback, from acceptances with basic packages, to aggressive recruiting, and yesterday I received my first waitlist offer. I am shocked by the offer. First year covered by department fellowships, years 2,3,4, and 5 with TAships at 20K, AND $350 A MONTH FOR HEALTH INSURANCE!!!!! This last part felt like lead in my stomach. My questions:

1- Is it normal to pay this much for health insurance a month for grad students?

2- do you think it is negotiable? My partner got an offer from another department at this institution with insurance covered. 

Thanks! 

I'm not in a position to comment on common/uncommon, but I know that this is A Thing, and it's like, the absolute worst Thing in all of the offer/admission process nonsense. 

My two cents is, once you have an acceptance, speak w/ a union rep if they've got a grad student union, then calculate your TAship minus health insurance and see what it does out to. Can you live on $15,800 in that area? If it's a no and you'd have to turn it down anyway, it won't hurt you to try to negotiate. 

Alternatively, if your partner's $0 premium doesn't go up to $350 when adding a spouse... elope??? (This is like 70% a joke and 30% something that I am legitimately considering for when I age out of my parents' insurance.) 

[SomethingWicked]

Just accepted to Duquesne! First admit of the cycle. Crying with joy!

[meghan_sparkle]

In at Yale with the kindest email I've ever read from the DGS oh my god 

[caffeinated applicant]

4 minutes ago, meghan_sparkle said:

In at Yale with the kindest email I've ever read from the DGS oh my god 

MEGHAN_SPARKLE'S GLORIOUS REIGN CONTINUES!

Congratulations!!

[olivetree]

6 minutes ago, meghan_sparkle said:

In at Yale with the kindest email I've ever read from the DGS oh my god 

Holy shit, you are having the most successful season ever! Can I ask about your profile? Like, BA, MA, publications, research interests? You must be some kind of ideal candidate. 

[digital_lime]

12 minutes ago, olivetree said:

Holy shit, you are having the most successful season ever! Can I ask about your profile? Like, BA, MA, publications, research interests? You must be some kind of ideal candidate. 

I second this--whatever you're doing, it's working, and I am super curious to know what your secret sauce is! Congratulations!

[Cryss]

29 minutes ago, meghan_sparkle said:

In at Yale with the kindest email I've ever read from the DGS oh my god 

Okayyyyyy!!!! Congrats!! You are fire

[The Hoosier Oxonian]

Holy sh*t, I'm in at Yale!

[Emailchecker]

I am really happy to see some people who were doubting themselves really be proven wrong. Many many hands for claps for yale offers!!! 

Edited February 7, 2020 by Emailchecker

[Cryss]

9 minutes ago, The Hoosier Oxonian said:

Holy sh*t, I'm in at Yale!

Yessssss!!! Congratulations x1000000!!!! 

[poetryislit]

Got into UT Austin!! 

[Brown_Bear]

1 hour ago, olivetree said:

Holy shit, you are having the most successful season ever! Can I ask about your profile? Like, BA, MA, publications, research interests? You must be some kind of ideal candidate. 

Yes. Let us in on what your SOP looked like post facto. And writing sample. My goodness congrats!

[meghan_sparkle]

4 hours ago, olivetree said:

Holy shit, you are having the most successful season ever! Can I ask about your profile? Like, BA, MA, publications, research interests? You must be some kind of ideal candidate. 

 

3 hours ago, digital_lime said:

I second this--whatever you're doing, it's working, and I am super curious to know what your secret sauce is! Congratulations!

 

2 hours ago, Puurple said:

Yes. Let us in on what your SOP looked like post facto. And writing sample. My goodness congrats!

You all are too sweet. I hesitate to do this, not necessarily because it would reveal personally identifying information (though no doubt it would—I just mean I don't really care about that; I mean, I've showed my ass here no more than I usually do on Twitter or something similar) but because ... well, I'm not sure it would be helpful, and at worst it might be misleading? I first looked at gradcafe the last year of undergrad (a 3 year BA for me) and it freaked me out so much that I didn't apply that cycle, or the two after that! (Did a 1 year masters and have been working full-time as an editor the past year.) From the results board, it seemed like scores of people with insanely impressive stats got rejected each year; from the forums it seemed like everyone was doing so much and it was all a lottery and I felt paltry by comparison. I had weak parts of my profile, weak parts of my app—still did even this year!—and literally none of my mentors educated at places like Yale/Harvard/Brown said 'Oh you'll get in you'll be fine'. Nothing is guaranteed, and I think there is an element of lottery here. 

The fact is I did a ton of things with the hope that it might make my application stronger and I could roll out that laundry list, but I'm sure only a few of them were deciding 'standout' factors and it's impossible to know which (I mean, I have a couple hunches, but maybe they're different for each school, who knows). I would hate to say "Hmm, maybe I got in because of this", or "Maybe it was a combination of this, this and this" make anyone think they had to do all of that in order to get in. Also: the few schools that have indicated to me what they felt was strong about my application—well, news to me, that wasn't my opinion of those elements when submitting lol. What this process has taught me, if anything, is that a strong writing sample and an SOP that truly reflects your research interests and intellectual ambitions—whatever those may be—is really what counts. And the thing is, those're the two elements that we on GradCafe never see from each other! 

Anyway sorry this was a roundabout non-answer, if y'all still want to know I'll give some profile details but did wanna give that disclaimer!

 

Edited February 8, 2020 by meghan_sparkle

[undercaffeinated]

In at UT-Austin! If there's anyone still waiting to hear back from them (unsure if this is the case anymore), maybe call to check in? That's how I found out--I hadn't heard a peep otherwise.

[Rrandle101]

Got in at Buffalo with a pretty nice stipend considering the living cost in that area, congrats to all the other admits from today and especially to anyone who got their first acceptance! Good luck to everyone going into the next week of February.

[KaterGator]

48 minutes ago, Rrandle101 said:

Got in at Buffalo with a pretty nice stipend considering the living cost in that area, congrats to all the other admits from today and especially to anyone who got their first acceptance! Good luck to everyone going into the next week of February.

That’s amazing! Congratulations!!!

If you don’t mind my asking, how did they contact you? That’s one of the schools I’m waiting to hear from.

[Rrandle101]

Just now, KaterGator said:

That’s amazing! Congratulations!!!

If you don’t mind my asking, how did they contact you? That’s one of the schools I’m waiting to hear from.

They sent a very generic email to check the portal which had a multi-page attachment about funding and such. I have no clue how many people they usually admit overall but I hope you hear back soon! 

[KaterGator]

Just now, Rrandle101 said:

They sent a very generic email to check the portal which had a multi-page attachment about funding and such. I have no clue how many people they usually admit overall but I hope you hear back soon! 

Thanks for the info! Seeing the two acceptances posted, I’m thinking I may have an implied rejection on my hands so far, but I’ll hold out hope a bit longer!

[olivetree]

2 hours ago, meghan_sparkle said:

The fact is I did a ton of things with the hope that it might make my application stronger and I could roll out that laundry list, but I'm sure only a few of them were deciding 'standout' factors and it's impossible to know which (I mean, I have a couple hunches, but maybe they're different for each school, who knows). I would hate to say "Hmm, maybe I got in because of this", or "Maybe it was a combination of this, this and this" make anyone think they had to do all of that in order to get in. Also: the few schools that have indicated to me what they felt was strong about my application—well, news to me, that wasn't my opinion of those elements when submitting lol. 

I’d love to hear both what you did to try to look impressive and also what schools indicated were strong elements of your app! I’m also curious about your research interests—if they’re particularly of the zeitgeist and therefore interesting-sounding, or areas that are super well established already within academia. 

[digital_lime]

1 hour ago, KaterGator said:

Thanks for the info! Seeing the two acceptances posted, I’m thinking I may have an implied rejection on my hands so far, but I’ll hold out hope a bit longer!

I am in the same boat as you! Buffalo is one of only a few schools that I thought I had an actual shot at, so I'll be pretty disappointed if I don't get in... I guess that's the way it shakes out sometimes, though.

[itme]

1 hour ago, olivetree said:

I’d love to hear both what you did to try to look impressive and also what schools indicated were strong elements of your app! I’m also curious about your research interests—if they’re particularly of the zeitgeist and therefore interesting-sounding, or areas that are super well established already within academia. 

@meghan_sparkleI would like to echo this from @olivetree and others! It sounds like you are having an amazing cycle! It's almost too good to be true! Congrats!

Since you are in a place of privilege, (acceptances from all the top schools you have applied to thus far) and have nothing to lose, perhaps you would be willing to pay it forward so to speak and give us some specific insight regarding your interests, academic background, writing sample etc.! It would be so helpful for the rest of us.