2021 Applicants

[Alyycat]

Omg congrats!!! Just a regular email? Also, what's the department you applied for? (Thanks for answering questions, I know it can be a bit stressful lol)

[OpenBook]

@Alyycat No worries, I'm happy to answer whatever.  It's been a stressful process, so I'm just happy to have someone to share it with!  

The email was essentially a form letter.  It said I got funding and would hear from faculty who work on similar topics to me in the "upcoming weeks," along with an "official letter" of acceptance in February.  No portal to log into, nothing personalized.  Their website is confusing, as the "New Graduate Student Welcome" just ended, it seems, so I have no idea what that's about.

I study Early Modern/Renaissance (Shakespeare), so I was accepted into Literary Studies.

Edited January 26, 2021 by 1 Pint of Ricotta

[winterbearr]

hi guys, does anyone know if stanford is interviewing every potentially accepted candidate or just some? I saw that a few people posted about receiving interview invites. 

[queenofcarrotflowers]

5 hours ago, winterbearr said:

hi guys, does anyone know if stanford is interviewing every potentially accepted candidate or just some? I saw that a few people posted about receiving interview invites. 

From what I can gather historically they didn't interview everyone but I have no idea whether this is/is not the case this year. Seeing the invites has sure got me on the edge of my seat ?

[The Maritime Scholar]

I received an email last night from the director of grad admissions at OSU regarding my acceptance and how I was nominated for a Graduate School Fellowship. They also mentioned that they would call me around mid February to discuss the details of the program and to answer any questions I may have. There was also mention about a stipend through a GTAship. It says how the stipend’s final number of appointments is contingent on the availability of funds. Toward the end of the email where it mentions the phone call, it does say that they would discuss with me the fellowship decision and my funding package, so I’m assuming they’re offering me funding. 

Just thought this may be helpful if anyone is wondering about OSU. 

Edited January 26, 2021 by The Maritime Scholar

[winterbearr]

1 hour ago, queenofcarrotflowers said:

From what I can gather historically they didn't interview everyone but I have no idea whether this is/is not the case this year. Seeing the invites has sure got me on the edge of my seat ?

Thank you! and yeah same... let's hope for the best haha

[Oklash]

Has anyone heard from Emory? They usually interview but so far I’ve heard nothing. Not even an invitation? I’m starting to fear that they are considering closing their admissions.

Edited January 26, 2021 by Oklash

[kirbs005]

FYI for all of you still in OSU "pending" purgatory... I just received an email explaining that I was placed on their waitlist. It's definitely fairly high up on my short list, so if you're a rhet/comp person who's not planning on accepting, I'd probably love to take your spot! Congrats again to all those who did get admitted. 

They indicated they plan on accepting 9 MA/PhD applicants and 9 PhD applicants total for the program this fall. Not sure what that means for those still waiting to hear, but just thought I'd give more details for those still waiting.

Edited January 26, 2021 by kirbs005

[cassidyaxx]

Feeling a little bit disheartened today as with the closing of UOregon admissions, and notifications sent out for Northeastern and UW Madison, I'm deducing I'm rejected from 3 schools already... not off to a good start. However, all you need is one! 

Congratulations to everyone who has received positive news!

[Alyycat]

1 hour ago, kirbs005 said:

FYI for all of you still in OSU "pending" purgatory... I just received an email explaining that I was placed on their waitlist. It's definitely fairly high up on my short list, so if you're a rhet/comp person who's not planning on accepting, I'd probably love to take your spot! Congrats again to all those who did get admitted. 

They indicated they plan on accepting 9 MA/PhD applicants and 9 PhD applicants total for the program this fall. Not sure what that means for those still waiting to hear, but just thought I'd give more details for those still waiting.

Hey, that's one step closer to admittance!!

I haven't seen anyone mention media/film studies acceptances, so I'm still hoping for good news. This whole "pending" thing has gotten old fast!

[AJL_PhDfall21]

I'm just very confused, I applied for the English PhD program and I am still on pending... they should have notified people if they were rejected already if they are posting the waitlist ?? but I dont know 

[OpenBook]

I'm wondering how many people they're putting on the waitlist, too

[AJL_PhDfall21]

2 minutes ago, 1 Pint of Ricotta said:

I'm wondering how many people they're putting on the waitlist, too

I guess they have noticed all of them already and what's left are the rejections

[Alyycat]

I'm choosing to think positively and hope for the best. Not going to help any of us to believe we're auto-rejected, esp considering Ohio doesn't usually do stuff like this. 

[OpenBook]

That anti-OSU post on the results page sorta got to me, and I wonder if the department is thinking about that, too.  I know a professor from my college who was adjuncting for us, and she went to OSU.  She's currently unemployed, even though she's a great rhetorician.  I wonder if OSU is delaying rejections because they feel their yield will be lower given their flagging placement track record, so they'll have to move more people to the waitlist.  I certainly would reconsider an offer from them given that news.  At the end of the day, it's really about the professors you can work with, but that low placement rate is still spooky. 

[helloperil]

Perhaps I'm just a jaded PhD candidate but the OSU placement rate doesn't seem that abnormal — I would wager a guess that most similarly ranked literary studies programs are placing people in tenure-track jobs at similar rates. Using misleading placement info on the website is a red flag but I wouldn't say their low placement rates are that surprising. The majority of lit studies graduates will not get a tenure-track job, even ones at tippy-top programs (see what happened at Columbia in 2018-19) 

There are just not many literary studies jobs at all and covid has wrecked the academic job market even further. 

editing to add: not posting this to be a bummer or to discourage folks from pursuing a phd; just wanted to contextualize the OSU post on the results page from the perspective of someone who's now seen a decent number of program-mates enter the job market in recent years

Edited January 26, 2021 by helloperil

[A Small Raven]

Is anyone else waiting on UT Knoxville? Looks like they sent out some rejections and waitlist notifications today, but I haven't seen anyone mention an acceptance on the results page or forums. 

I haven't gotten an email yet and my portal is still unchanged, so I assume I'm rejected or waitlisted. 

[Cloudbury]

Good luck everyone, you got this. 

Edited January 27, 2021 by Cloudbury

[OpenBook]

16 minutes ago, Cloudbury said:

Didn't get a Stanford interview... their loss 

That's truly the best attitude to have.  You're going to be some professor's top candidate given your specialty and that's the only thing that matters!

[MaoistTowelette]

Any other early modernists? And could you, like, take a dive on this one? 

In some seriousness, all the best to all of you, this is an awful process and knowing that others are suffering brings a little light into it. 

[northwestnative]

On 1/22/2021 at 9:31 AM, CCort said:

Based on the results page, it looks like UC Berkeley has started making decisions about the Comparative Literature PhD program, I wonder if they'll be releasing decisions on the regular English PhD program as well soon...

Berkeley PhD here: last year we released in mid-Feb, if I remember correctly. I think it was late-Feb, my year. DGS says there's a backlog this year, so could be later. Best of luck!!

[ShivD]

17 hours ago, Oklash said:

Has anyone heard from Emory? They usually interview but so far I’ve heard nothing. Not even an invitation? I’m starting to fear that they are considering closing their admissions.

Hi, not sure about English or Comp Lit programs, but I haven't heard anyone getting interview invites for the Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies program either-- which usually have gone out around mid-Jan in previous years. Perhaps the whole process is a bit delayed this year?

I wrote to the WGSS program and they said that the shortlisted candidates will receive an invitation to interview by the first week of Feb. I can't say how it helps you think around the decision for your program. But perhaps they are running late across board for humanities/ social sciences programs...

[kirbs005]

20 hours ago, AJL_OSU said:

I'm just very confused, I applied for the English PhD program and I am still on pending... they should have notified people if they were rejected already if they are posting the waitlist ?? but I dont know 

I'm still on pending too! Even though I've gotten a waitlist email. I wish I could be more helpful or that they'll send more notifications soon. 

19 hours ago, helloperil said:

Perhaps I'm just a jaded PhD candidate but the OSU placement rate doesn't seem that abnormal — I would wager a guess that most similarly ranked literary studies programs are placing people in tenure-track jobs at similar rates. Using misleading placement info on the website is a red flag but I wouldn't say their low placement rates are that surprising. The majority of lit studies graduates will not get a tenure-track job, even ones at tippy-top programs (see what happened at Columbia in 2018-19) 

There are just not many literary studies jobs at all and covid has wrecked the academic job market even further. 

editing to add: not posting this to be a bummer or to discourage folks from pursuing a phd; just wanted to contextualize the OSU post on the results page from the perspective of someone who's now seen a decent number of program-mates enter the job market in recent years

I think it's fairly obvious that the data on OSU's website (as well as other schools) is skewed or presented in a way that makes their statistics look good (widening the dates, not putting any dates, just schools they've placed to, etc). I would hope that most of the folks going into PhD's (although it's hard to admit and deal with) would know that the job market is rough, and even the tippy-top programs, like Columbia, etc. are having difficulty placing TT jobs.

I would say base your decision on a place you feel YOU can thrive and that is a good fit, because no matter the institution, you will have to do well to be eligible for those jobs in the first place. Because yes, it's good to have data and input, but you have to take it with a grain of salt. If you asked me about my MA experience I would rave about how great the department is, but I know at least two other cohort mates who hated it and would tell you to avoid it like the plague. 

[Alyycat]

Well, I'm no longer on pending for OSU ? aaaa, very sad about this one.

[ghost-enthusiast]

Congrats to the Boston College acceptance!!! Can I ask if it was an email from a POI or the college?