2021 Applicants

[Cloudbury]

Waiting for Duke to release results is like sitting in front a microwave watching the seconds tick down

[queenofcarrotflowers]

If whoever posted on the results page about decisions for Stanford coming out in approx. 10 days is on here, thank you for letting us all know and congrats on getting an interview!! Was just wondering if that’s ten days from the date of your interview or from today? (Not that it probably makes that much of a difference !)

Edited January 28, 2021 by queenofcarrotflowers

[semiotic_mess]

12 minutes ago, Cloudbury said:

Waiting for Duke to release results is like sitting in front a microwave watching the seconds tick down

I feel your pain so much. I also applied to philosophy programs, so I check up on those results too and someone got an acceptance from Duke's philosophy program today so my mind started racing thinking that maybe that means the graduate school has approved the acceptances that departments have submitted and we will hear today.... Terrible speculation that does me no good.

 

Edit: I realize now that you might mean English and I mean Literature because a current student had mentioned that Lit dept decisions were made and were waiting approval by the grad school.

Edited January 28, 2021 by semiotic_mess

[clara salmon]

Congrats to the poster who was accepted to Boston College! I'm also seeing the reported rejections via the website or email. Does else's application status still just say "submitted"? No email or anything, website looks the same. The decisions rollout is pretty painstaking...

Edited January 28, 2021 by Clara Salmon

[cassidyaxx]

1 hour ago, Clara Salmon said:

Congrats to the poster who was accepted to Boston College! I'm also seeing the reported rejections via the website or email. Does else's application status still just say "submitted"? No email or anything, website looks the same. The decisions rollout is pretty painstaking...

Mine also still says submitted. Agree that it is painstaking right now...

[caramel macchiato]

4 hours ago, ghost-enthusiast said:

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

Hi I'm one of the people who has posted an acceptance to Boston College--and I just wanted to let you know that I received emails both from the director of the PhD program informing me of admission and the college informing me of an update in the status page. I hope this helps, and I wish you the best with all of your applications this cycle

[ShivD]

7 hours ago, Alyycat said:

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

Oh no! Was this a top choice? Well, in any case, it is their loss. Other programs that you are still expecting to hear from will be lucky to have you.

[Oklash]

2 hours ago, semiotic_mess said:

I feel your pain so much. I also applied to philosophy programs, so I check up on those results too and someone got an acceptance from Duke's philosophy program today so my mind started racing thinking that maybe that means the graduate school has approved the acceptances that departments have submitted and we will hear today.... Terrible speculation that does me no good.

 

Edit: I realize now that you might mean English and I mean Literature because a current student had mentioned that Lit dept decisions were made and were waiting approval by the grad school.

Wait? 

Has the English Department decision been made or only the Literature?

[ghostmango]

Application season is always stressful and I encourage you all to stay as healthy as you possibly can especially during these uncertain times.

Regarding OSU and other schools:  It is vitally important for schools to present data in a way that is much more representative of the job market rather than intending to misleading. Clumping a large amount of data together by including times when the job market was relatively healthy and not healthy is misleading. Ranking itself does not determine placement which is what makes fit even more important. However, I do think that certain programs do a much fairer job of accurately representing data even if it isn't always 100 percent up to date. I think the way they choose to represent data is also a representation of the experiences people might have at that institution. I'd also like to caution against small numbers  (A program accepting a cohort of 5 students and placing 3 of them per year is much different than a program accepting a cohort of 20 students and placing 3; certain universities might also pay to keep their students in non-tenure track jobs which is something else that should be considered) but rather encourage you to figure out what percentage of students get placed and what steps the university is taking to ensure future job success.

I'd like to highlight a few schools below that I think are doing wonderful things within their English department:

• Emory's PHD placement data is clean and allows you to see where students got placed during which year. The graduation date is unknown because placements don't indicate that but it goes further than most universities do in providing that data. Emory recently increased their stipends but the cost of living in Atlanta is pricey. It's hard to ignore their recent placements at Oxford University Press, Pepperdine University, University of Buffalo, Macalaster College, Thomas Jefferson College, Skidmore College, and Union College. : http://english.emory.edu/home/graduate/job-placement.html
• WashU's PHD placement follows a similar pattern but provides names and graduation years to better provide insight into their track record. Recent placements include University of Washington,  Southern Methodist University, Northwestern University, Tennessee, College of William and Mary, and Columbia University. They increase their stipends yearly to keep up with living inflation. (https://english.wustl.edu/phd-careers)
• UMD acknowledges placements for both their PHD and MA students. MA placements at specific schools is rarely done so it's a nice change to see. https://english.umd.edu/academic-programs/graduate/graduate-job-placements
• Rice University has data available if you scroll all the way down. HRC is the Humanities Research Center at Rice University. PWC s the Program in Writing and Communication. 2019 seems to have been a rough year for Rice but I really admire their transparency in listing all placements. Rice University also increases their stipends yearly to keep up with living inflation https://english.rice.edu/job-placement
• Northwestern University also has very clean data: https://english.northwestern.edu/graduate/phd-program/placement-record.html
• As does Michigan!: https://lsa.umich.edu/english/graduate/prospective-students/placement.html

 

[The Maritime Scholar]

8 hours ago, kirbs005 said:

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. 

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. 

I agree with you about OSU. I saw that post on the results page and it made me wonder because when I told my mentor about my acceptance, he said that OSU has a very good English program. He's in his early 30s and just finished his PhD a couple of years ago, so he's in the know with a lot of things in academia. Also, he started the tenure track position he has now where I got my MA right after he graduated with his PhD. So I really do think it depends on the person and the work they put into job searching and presenting yourself professionally. We picked 10 schools together and he knew more than I ever could about each program and the program's faculty. If he says it's a good program, then I trust him. 

You're also right about the job market. It's shit now, and I'm not sure it'll be any different in five years when I graduate. So yes, I took that post with a grain of salt. To be honest, if that person wouldn't have said anything I probably wouldn't have given much thought to it. However, I do think it is important to understand the percentage of tenure track positions being offered to students graduating from specific programs. I still have other schools to hear from, but I think the feeling of me getting accepted to OSU and it being my first acceptance just makes me happy. It also stops some of the worrying that I had about getting into a PhD program. 

Edited January 28, 2021 by The Maritime Scholar

[clara salmon]

1 hour ago, cassidyaxx said:

Mine also still says submitted. Agree that it is painstaking right now...

At least there's more of us out here stuck in limbo together! I'll update once I hear anything from them... good luck!

[semiotic_mess]

4 hours ago, Oklash said:

Wait? 

Has the English Department decision been made or only the Literature?

I have only heard about things moving along in Lit (through grad cafe). Lit has interviews and English doesn't, so there are more mile markers to speculate from is all lol

[wildsurmise]

12 hours ago, clara salmon said:

At least there's more of us out here stuck in limbo together! I'll update once I hear anything from them... good luck!

I've also heard nothing from BC, and just says "submitted" on portal...wondering if we're waitlisted?

(That said, my MA application from 2019 is also still listed as just "submitted," and I was accepted then.)

[Cloudbury]

The results page needs to start loading on chrome 

[A Small Raven]

So, a number of students received decisions from University of Tennessee several days ago. But my application has just been sitting unchanged in the portal. 

I emailed my application coordinator today to ask about the status, and they said that my application's first review ( I assume by the graduate admissions office) was completed today and forwarded on to my program for their review and decision determination. 

I'm kind of concerned - if the program is already sending out waitlist and rejection notifications, doesn't that mean they've already made their acceptance decisions as well? I haven't seen or heard about any acceptances yet, but I assume that offers have been sent out, seeing as they're sending out waitlist notifications. 

Is this normal? Am I crazy, or did I just miss a chance at admission because my application was forwarded to the program later than other ones, when I submitted it all the way back in November...

Soooooo stressed out. 

[DanArndtWrites]

Absolutely no movement on my app at Wisconsin so odds are that's an L. It was my longest shot but you always have just a little hope for these things.

[mashatheicebear]

Hi all. I am new on here and appreciate seeing the updates on acceptances! The waiting is completely agonizing. 

 

I have my first (and, currently, only) interview with a Comp Lit department on Monday and would love any and all advice. I have no idea what to expect and am trying to prep in order to calm my nerves a bit. 

[semiotic_mess]

9 minutes ago, mashatheicebear said:

Hi all. I am new on here and appreciate seeing the updates on acceptances! The waiting is completely agonizing. 

 

I have my first (and, currently, only) interview with a Comp Lit department on Monday and would love any and all advice. I have no idea what to expect and am trying to prep in order to calm my nerves a bit. 

Congrats on the interview! That is a great sign. But yes, they can be nerve wracking. When I got my interview invite I scoured gradcafe and the rest of the internet and complied a document and some notes of everything I found and all of the advice people gave me (I went through old forum threads and messaged people who had  interviewed with the same dept and got good advice. You could try that too!). Give me some time, but I can consolidate everything into one document and share it here for you and anyone one else. When I did my research on Duke (Lit) I found out that their interviews are much more academically oriented than others, so my experience (which I'll include in the doc) will be a little different probably, but then again all departments have their own styles from extremely formal to more unformal or from very personal to very impersonal. I think the advice I got and found prepared me as well as I could have been; I feel like I said some cringey things that I don't know where they came from, but that has more to do with me and not the advice ?. I will probably get that document up tonight because I am definitely procrastinating writing my thesis at all costs ?.

 

What program if I can ask?

[mashatheicebear]

4 minutes ago, semiotic_mess said:

Congrats on the interview! That is a great sign. But yes, they can be nerve wracking. When I got my interview invite I scoured gradcafe and the rest of the internet and complied a document and some notes of everything I found and all of the advice people gave me (I went through old forum threads and messaged people who had  interviewed with the same dept and got good advice. You could try that too!). Give me some time, but I can consolidate everything into one document and share it here for you and anyone one else. When I did my research on Duke (Lit) I found out that their interviews are much more academically oriented than others, so my experience (which I'll include in the doc) will be a little different probably, but then again all departments have their own styles from extremely formal to more unformal or from very personal to very impersonal. I think the advice I got and found prepared me as well as I could have been; I feel like I said some cringey things that I don't know where they came from, but that has more to do with me and not the advice ?. I will probably get that document up tonight because I am definitely procrastinating writing my thesis at all costs ?.

 

What program if I can ask?

The program is UC Davis. I'm sort of an odd bird in the applicant pool because I actually have an MA in Russian Lit from Columbia, which was conferred in 2009. I then joined the professional sector in a total different field and did that for the last 10+ years.

I did interview with at least one program (Columbia) back then, but it was an in-person interview and I was so nervous, I literally don't remember what we talked about. I do, however, remember that it was fairly informal.

Thank you for the advice. I will do some searching to see what I can find on here and will also keep an eye out for your upload. It's so kind of you to share your experience!

[The Maritime Scholar]

I saw that someone posted an acceptance for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on the results page. I went to check my email and nothing. My portal also still says "awaiting." I'm assuming they don't send out all decisions at once. Let's see what happens!

[OpenBook]

I had an interview a few days ago, @mashatheicebear. I was surprised by some of the questions being obviously out of my range of knowledge (essentially asking me to infer, based on my actual research, regarding something tangential). But, for the most part, everything was fully focused on my research. I tried to prepare the typical "tell us about yourself!" Statement, and the "Strengths and Weaknesses" talk, but none of that came up. So, I'd say really reread what you wrote and gave them and be prepared to talk like you're already in a PhD program!

[mashatheicebear]

@The Maritime ScholarWhere is this mythical results page everyone keeps referencing? I did a quick search but clearly have not mastered the intricacies of the search function on here...

[OpenBook]

Here's the link to the results page: https://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php?q=English

You can search within a specific time frame, for a specific college, or for a field of study there. 

[The Maritime Scholar]

Just now, mashatheicebear said:

@The Maritime ScholarWhere is this mythical results page everyone keeps referencing? I did a quick search but clearly have not mastered the intricacies of the search function on here...

@mashatheicebearHere's the link: https://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/. I usually search like this: NAME OF SCHOOL ENGLISH. So for UIUC, I typed in: University of Illinois English. All the results should come out if you do it like that. You can also find the results page on the menu bar where it says: Results. 

[semiotic_mess]

@mashatheicebear I am sorry that I got ahead of myself, but I am actually so tired and there is more to compile than I thought so I will have to get to it tomorrow. Just wanted to update you because I know how much it sucks to be waiting for something ?