Plans for All PhD Rejections - What Now?

[ClassicsCandidate]

Hey, all! I know a lot of us are really concerned about how admissions season is going. I've been rejected by half of the programs I applied to so I wanted to make this thread for people who wanted to talk about their possible plans or just commiserate about the situation. I followed up with one of my POIs and she told me that despite having a strong application, it was a really difficult decision this year, especially getting so many applications, but to work on my writing sample. She said I was working with a fascinating subject, but that the front end of my paper read more like a literature review than a research paper. I know a lot of places might have looked at my languages as lacking as well, so my follow-up plans in case every place rejects me is going to be the following: 

1. Refresher language courses (I'm currently taking a Beginners Greek Class online to refresh my brain and plan on continuing with the same place until I can only do one-on-one study after I've exhausted all of their group classes)
2. Working on polishing up a writing sample that's at least 20 pages long on its own, so it's polished enough for any PhD program 
3. Volunteer work relevant to my field (e.g., with Save Ancient Studies Alliance, or at a museum with ancient collections when they allow us to do so again)

Other than that, I'll probably go for a M.Ed. to get my teaching license for English or History, then try to add Latin later (in my state, once you have one license, it's easier to test with the Praxis to be licensed for multiple areas). There are M.Ed. programs here that only take 11-14 months so once I get my final rejection (if that happens), I'm going to go right into that and then trying again next cycle with more international PhD programs on my list. Anyone else want to share their ideas of what they might want/need to do in the event of a full rejection list?   

[suntaliquidmanes]

I went 0/8 my first time applying 5 years ago, fresh out of my MA. I got a job teaching secondary-school Latin, worked on German a bit (figured it couldn’t hurt), and when I applied again was more honest in my statement of purpose (where I had earlier tried to gloss over the fact that I took several years off between my BA and MA) and basically spun my non-traditional path as a positive, coupled with my newfound teaching/experience recruiting Latin students.

Depending where you live, it might not be difficult to find a Latin teaching job, since secondary Latin teachers are in such short supply. Definitely the number one thing that bolstered my app the second time, when I received multiple funded offers.

[ClassicsCandidate]

That's excellent. Thank you for sharing! I have to take the Latin Praxis and wish there was a comprehensive study guide for it beyond what the ETS provides. If you have any tips on that, it'd be appreciated! There are a good amount of Latin opportunities where I live and definitely less competition for the positions. 

[suntaliquidmanes]

1 minute ago, ClassicsCandidate said:

That's excellent. Thank you for sharing! I have to take the Latin Praxis and wish there was a comprehensive study guide for it beyond what the ETS provides. If you have any tips on that, it'd be appreciated! There are a good amount of Latin opportunities where I live and definitely less competition for the positions. 

I took a Latin pedagogy class years ago and one of the presenters gave tips for the Praxis — I’ll see if I can track down his handout (assuming there was one, I can’t remember). I do remember that (1) it’s supposedly quite easy, as one of his pieces of advice was “just get a good night’s sleep beforehand”, and (2) they write questions with the intention of catching you off-guard, like asking the genitive of irregular nouns like ille and hoping you’ll pick the MC option “illi.”

[ClassicsCandidate]

7 hours ago, suntaliquidmanes said:

I took a Latin pedagogy class years ago and one of the presenters gave tips for the Praxis — I’ll see if I can track down his handout (assuming there was one, I can’t remember). I do remember that (1) it’s supposedly quite easy, as one of his pieces of advice was “just get a good night’s sleep beforehand”, and (2) they write questions with the intention of catching you off-guard, like asking the genitive of irregular nouns like ille and hoping you’ll pick the MC option “illi.”

Thank you for looking for the handout! And this advice sounds vaguely familiar, so if I read it elsewhere/asked you before, I apologize for making you repeat it ?
Most of my anxiety about this is that I myself am not the best test-taker in the world, and my anxiety spikes during exams like this (I bombed my GRE pretty hard except for the writing portion), and even on the practice test provided by the ETS comes out less than stellar. So now I'm anxious about my anxiety, which is a fun new thing I'm experiencing, lol.

[lycorislit]

First time poster. This forum has helped me a lot throughout this hard waiting period. Thank you! @ClassicsCandidate

My thought is to register for some academic writing in humanities workshop or classes, especially if there's any class that may help revision. In this case, I will have some guidance from others on how to revise my writing sample or even personal statement.  I think those experts in writing will be able to quickly find the missing holes, instead of us looking it over and over again. 

[Catalystica]

Hey all, also looking at all rejections this year. I'm probably going the route of applying to "real jobs" for a few years, hopefully I'll find something with relevant skillsets, but I'm not looking to be history-adjacent. I'd rather make some more money and have time and energy to keep reading on the side. Will probably be looking at tech fields/project management/business. 

It's been a hard year all around and I want to decouple my passions from my stress and remember what the real world is like.

[TariqM]

It is really good that there is a place to talk about the situation now. The rejection from Oxford has arrived around 2 weeks ago; and I think the one from Princeton is also on the road, since there is neither interview invitation nor any positive notification up to now.

Truth be told, I haven't really considered about the situation of not place to do a PhD previously. Not really surprised, but still disappointed. I think I will remain here in UK with the PSW visa (as they resume it this year) and try to find a place to work at library or university (as admin staff). No really clear plan though.

There are still some doctoral programmes in Europe which will close in March or April. Probably I will make another bet on them, maybe not. Really don't know what to do in the future, anyways.

[ClassicsCandidate]

3 hours ago, lycorislit said:

First time poster. This forum has helped me a lot throughout this hard waiting period. Thank you! @ClassicsCandidate

My thought is to register for some academic writing in humanities workshop or classes, especially if there's any class that may help revision. In this case, I will have some guidance from others on how to revise my writing sample or even personal statement.  I think those experts in writing will be able to quickly find the missing holes, instead of us looking it over and over again. 

A lot of people are REALLY helpful on Academic / Classics Twitter; I made a pretty good amount of connections and friends that way. Had one of my mutuals actually offer to be my "application coach" if I don't get in anywhere this year. I really think there needs to be a "writing sample workshop" for PhD applicants (and MA too!) to make sure our papers are as polished as possible. If I wasn't so busy I'd make one myself but I'm already overwhelmed on things already ? But yeah, I reached out on Twitter and a few professors read things for me and gave me feedback, which was really nice of them to do.

[ClassicsCandidate]

2 hours ago, Catalystica said:

Hey all, also looking at all rejections this year. I'm probably going the route of applying to "real jobs" for a few years, hopefully I'll find something with relevant skillsets, but I'm not looking to be history-adjacent. I'd rather make some more money and have time and energy to keep reading on the side. Will probably be looking at tech fields/project management/business. 

It's been a hard year all around and I want to decouple my passions from my stress and remember what the real world is like.

I think that makes total sense. Once I officially-officially get all my rejections, I'm going to look into office/teaching jobs along with things in my field but I definitely need something to pay the bills in the meantime...

[ClassicsCandidate]

Which programs in Europe were you looking at @TariqM? Just out of curiosity. 

[TariqM]

On 2/25/2021 at 11:59 PM, ClassicsCandidate said:

Which programs in Europe were you looking at @TariqM? Just out of curiosity. 

Hi!

Sorry for getting back to you late. I am looking at the Anchoring Innovation programme on Catullus at Leiden and the MAPPOLA project (probably) at Vienna.

Both are advertised on the mail list.

[ClassicsCandidate]

1 minute ago, TariqM said:

Hi!

Sorry for getting back to you late. I am looking at the Anchoring Innovation programme on Catullus at Leiden and the MAPPOLA project (probably) at Vienna.

Both are advertised on the mail list.

Oh that's really interesting! And Lieden's a really good school and Catullus is great, so it sounds like a good program! I keep forgetting a lot of international programs have projects already advertised to apply to; I'm used to proposing my own being the norm.

[ClassicsCandidate]

I have two potential museum jobs I need to hear back from, I'm working on proposals for UK universities, and I got into the UPenn Post-Bacc, but didn't get the funding, so I need to figure that one out now. Hope everyone else have things going well for them!

[JMAurelius]

On 6/2/2021 at 7:00 PM, ClassicsCandidate said:

I have two potential museum jobs I need to hear back from, I'm working on proposals for UK universities, and I got into the UPenn Post-Bacc, but didn't get the funding, so I need to figure that one out now. Hope everyone else have things going well for them!

Sorry to hear about the funding.  Best of luck with the museum jobs and the UK applications!  If anyone deserves it, it's you!