NotBill Posted January 5, 2022 Posted January 5, 2022 4 hours ago, A Small Raven said: Anyone else already starting to get antsy waiting to hear back? ? I feel incredibly grateful because I was invited to interview at U Maryland, which seems to be the first notification of any kind for an English PhD this cycle. At the same time, I'm incredibly antsy anyway and want to hear more, but it's going to be a long, long Spring. Hard times! 1
sadevilminion Posted January 5, 2022 Posted January 5, 2022 On 1/4/2022 at 2:44 PM, taylorjunebug said: Got an email from "Ohio State Graduate and Professional Admissions" this morning and my heart just about stopped. Opened it up to find a general message about applying for the benefit of living in Columbus. Blegh. I live in Cbus/undergrad at OSU and idk, maybe I'm just jaded and hate that they tore down my favorite bars to build a target, so I'm curious what the benefits of living in Cbus are ?. Lot's of young people and places to get drunk, that's for sure. Rent has skyrocketed during COVID and there were a lot of robberies and gun violence around campus all fall semester. I got a student life spam email (not affiliated with OSU but somehow has my school email) and I'm just gonna drop it here because they really hit the nail on the head and I cackled. But yea, I hate those emails that tell you how awesome the community is... like cmon, I haven't even gotten in yet! I got a similar one from Montana. taylorjunebug and Hard times! 2
MissAmanda Posted January 6, 2022 Posted January 6, 2022 Hello, fellow applicants! Did anyone else apply to Notre Dame? Has anyone heard anything beyond the generic emails?
Aslii Posted January 7, 2022 Posted January 7, 2022 Hello everyone! A quick introduction to myself: I am Aslı, a student of English Literature. I was just wondering if I am spot on concerning my title. I am not really sure if it would be feasible to apply M.Bakhtin's theory to drama plays as well as novels. I appreciate if you could provide me with your valuable ideas. Thanks in advance folks and take care!
theonewiththepies Posted January 10, 2022 Posted January 10, 2022 On 1/5/2022 at 8:57 AM, A Small Raven said: Anyone else already starting to get antsy waiting to hear back? ? Just finished my last 2 applications this afternoon and I'm already feeling anxious. I've been tempted to ask UIUC's graduate coordinator when they expect to release decisions as my app has been "awaiting decision" for almost a month Is this advisable?
NotBill Posted January 10, 2022 Posted January 10, 2022 14 minutes ago, theonewiththepies said: Just finished my last 2 applications this afternoon and I'm already feeling anxious. I've been tempted to ask UIUC's graduate coordinator when they expect to release decisions as my app has been "awaiting decision" for almost a month Is this advisable? According to this (somewhat old) thread, Illinois informs accepted applicants around February 9-12. I have no idea how accurate these date ranges are but I like to think they're generally more accurate than no information at all. theonewiththepies 1
thecat00 Posted January 11, 2022 Posted January 11, 2022 Are acceptances and rejections and waitlists discrete events? As in, does a rejection from one program imply a rejection from other programs, and vice versa? Does anybody have anecdotes or evidence to share on this topic? I can't help but think that early rejections predict future rejections? Hmmmm! Maybe not? Hard times! 1
Hard times! Posted January 11, 2022 Posted January 11, 2022 I hope this is not true--even a modicum of logic should blast such an assumption. But waiting out has its own logic I guess! Phantom logic hanging by the window rod once thrown out. Right now these phantoms are crowding my days and nights as well. Wishing you peace!
sadevilminion Posted January 11, 2022 Posted January 11, 2022 18 hours ago, theonewiththepies said: Just finished my last 2 applications this afternoon and I'm already feeling anxious. I've been tempted to ask UIUC's graduate coordinator when they expect to release decisions as my app has been "awaiting decision" for almost a month Is this advisable? It's pretty common for lit programs to take 2+ months before announcing decisions. What I like to do is check out last year's gradcafe results to see when people started posting acceptances/rejections. theonewiththepies 1
theonewiththepies Posted January 11, 2022 Posted January 11, 2022 39 minutes ago, sadevilminion said: It's pretty common for lit programs to take 2+ months before announcing decisions. What I like to do is check out last year's gradcafe results to see when people started posting acceptances/rejections. This is helpful and eases some of my worries- I guess the waiting out is getting to me a bit. ? sadevilminion 1
A Small Raven Posted January 11, 2022 Posted January 11, 2022 50 minutes ago, theonewiththepies said: This is helpful and eases some of my worries- I guess the waiting out is getting to me a bit. ? Unfortunately yeah, you'll probably be waiting another 4-8 weeks to hear back from everyone. BC just sent me my first rejection yesterday, but they were also the first to get back to me last year, and it was about a month before I started to hear back from anyone else. It is, unfortunately, an insufferably torturous period of agonized waiting that we must endure. Last year it absolutely demolished my mental health, and I'm sure it won't be any different this year. But we're all in this together, so just remember that you're not alone. Hard times!, theonewiththepies and sadevilminion 3
Dovey Posted January 11, 2022 Posted January 11, 2022 I saw that someone has received an interview invitation from Emory on the results board. Does anyone know if these invitations are sent all at once or if they are done in batches. ie. if I haven’t received one, is it an implied rejection? hima_yellow 1
sadevilminion Posted January 11, 2022 Posted January 11, 2022 my playlist for waiting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2rAtuYGT_k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkBvsBpgGbo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMyCa35_mOg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2JvdcbkgtY
cassidyaxx Posted January 11, 2022 Posted January 11, 2022 On 12/31/2021 at 9:31 AM, A Small Raven said: So I'm applying to a few of these programs this cycle (Brandeis, BU, and BC). Of the dozen schools I'm applying to this year, I found BU's faculty to be some of the most accessible. The interim department chair even offered to do a zoom call with me for a little personal Q&A. Of course I mostly asked questions specific to my own research interests, but perhaps they'll be relevant to you – I asked about weaknesses in the program, and she did mention that the department is currently in a stage of transition – various poetry faculty are retiring, and they don't have strong Native American literary scholarship within the department, though they are hoping to bring some on board. They do, however, have pretty strong scholarship in transnational literature. I also found BC and Brandeis faculty to be very responsive and friendly! When I reached out, they replied with long, thorough answers instead of just something short and generic (I received short generic answers from faculty at other schools, which makes the longer more personal responses stand out so much more). While that sort of thing might just come down to the specific faculty member you reach out to, for me, it reflected well on the department and made me more eager to apply. BC was one of the schools I applied to last year and was unfortunately rejected from, but...hopefully things work out better this time around! I Know BC does heavily lean towards Irish literary scholarship, so I'm not sure how much they distribute their admissions between Irish lit students and others on a year to year basis. I know they accepted a couple Irish lit students last year, so maybe they'll accept other research interests over that this year, to even things out. That's just my ungrounded theory though. The Brandeis professor I spoke to emphasized that since they are such a small school, they have to be selective about the research areas they choose to develop scholarship in – he mentioned that American and British Romanticism are strong fields within their department. He also mentioned that they are acutely aware of how competitive and challenging the academic job market is, so they help prepare their students to become strong candidates for alt-academic jobs as well. A note on Tufts – I looked at their program, and while it seems like a great school, I ultimately decided not to apply because it wasn't a good fit for my research interests – the department seemed particularly sparse on any kind of poetic scholarship. Hope this helps! They all seem like decent programs to me, though they have their own strengths and weaknesses and specialties. Best of luck! Just saw these and wanted to chime in- I am a first year PhD at BC in English doing Irish studies. I've found the faculty here to be very friendly and accessible, and I truly love this program so far. However, did want to jump in and say while Boston College does have a strong Irish Studies program, they don't lean heavily towards only admitting Irish studies candidates. In fact, I am the first candidate accepted who primarily does Irish studies in about three years, and the only one in my cohort of four. So don't count yourself out if you don't do Irish lit! I'd also be more than willing to share my experience here with anyone who applied to BC-- feel free to PM me! Hard times! 1
forgottenworks Posted January 11, 2022 Posted January 11, 2022 Hope everyone is holding up okay during this crazy time! First-time PhD applicant here, I have one more app to submit and ten done...and then the agony of waiting. Does anyone have insight into how commonly programs conduct interviews? I've seen only one program actually say on their website whether they interview applicants (UT Austin, and they don't), and evidence on these here forums that past applicants have interviewed at UCR and UCI. Hard times! 1
barshmie Posted January 12, 2022 Posted January 12, 2022 (edited) The only other program to my knowledge (3rd year PhD student chiming in here for old times sake) that does interviews is Chicago (as of the 2019 cycle). [sorry I'm out of practice-- replying to @forgottenworks] Edited January 12, 2022 by barshmie
A Small Raven Posted January 12, 2022 Posted January 12, 2022 14 hours ago, forgottenworks said: Hope everyone is holding up okay during this crazy time! First-time PhD applicant here, I have one more app to submit and ten done...and then the agony of waiting. Does anyone have insight into how commonly programs conduct interviews? I've seen only one program actually say on their website whether they interview applicants (UT Austin, and they don't), and evidence on these here forums that past applicants have interviewed at UCR and UCI. Welcome to the club! ? As far as I know, most programs don't conduct interviews, although there are a handful that do. NYU announced that they would be conducting interviews this year, though I don't know if they mention that on their website. It's new as of this year, and they announced it in an online info session in the fall. You could look in the results section for school response records from recent years, and see if anyone posted interview invitations from where you're applying to. Hard times!, theonewiththepies and forgottenworks 3
forgottenworks Posted January 12, 2022 Posted January 12, 2022 8 hours ago, A Small Raven said: Welcome to the club! ? As far as I know, most programs don't conduct interviews, although there are a handful that do. Thank you, fellow poetry scholar! The results page did help clarify a couple of programs' practices. Guess we'll see ? A Small Raven 1
theonewiththepies Posted January 13, 2022 Posted January 13, 2022 I saw that someone posted an acceptance to UIUC (congrats!!) so I checked my portal and it was the same 'awaiting decision' I've seen since December. I hope other decisions come quickly and timely. sadevilminion and Hard times! 2
Hard times! Posted January 13, 2022 Posted January 13, 2022 12 minutes ago, theonewiththepies said: I saw that someone posted an acceptance to UIUC (congrats!!) so I checked my portal and it was the same 'awaiting decision' I've seen since December. I hope other decisions come quickly and timely. That was my first application and a botched one. I am sure it's a rejection for me but I wish they would just speed up decisions, whichever way! Hope you were happy with your application--all the best! It's only the 14th (don't be unnerved just yet) sadevilminion and theonewiththepies 2
thecat00 Posted January 13, 2022 Posted January 13, 2022 2 hours ago, Hard times! said: That was my first application and a botched one. I am sure it's a rejection for me but I wish they would just speed up decisions, whichever way! Hope you were happy with your application--all the best! It's only the 14th (don't be unnerved just yet) I have lots going on, but nonetheless manage to constantly refresh the results page and check my email. I am also growing a bit eager to hear back, any which way. I have a sense of when places will get back to me, but who knows exactly when and the how. Until then..! sadevilminion and Hard times! 2
taylorjunebug Posted January 13, 2022 Posted January 13, 2022 2 hours ago, Hard times! said: That was my first application and a botched one. I am sure it's a rejection for me but I wish they would just speed up decisions, whichever way! Hope you were happy with your application--all the best! It's only the 14th (don't be unnerved just yet) That was my first one and I botched it as well! Agh! I'm in the same boat as you, though, and would just like to have the band-aid ripped off at this point via the rejection I know I'm going to get (and that's okay). Hard times! and sadevilminion 2
sadevilminion Posted January 13, 2022 Posted January 13, 2022 3 hours ago, theonewiththepies said: I saw that someone posted an acceptance to UIUC (congrats!!) so I checked my portal and it was the same 'awaiting decision' I've seen since December. I hope other decisions come quickly and timely. So I actually thought I had a pretty good chance of getting accepted here, but seeing someone else post their win is knocking me down a notch ? Hard times! 1
theonewiththepies Posted January 13, 2022 Posted January 13, 2022 3 minutes ago, sadevilminion said: So I actually thought I had a pretty good chance of getting accepted here, but seeing someone else post their win is knocking me down a notch ? Same here- I felt deflated when I didn't see any change. Apparently they are still reviewing applications and decisions should be available in February. It just got too real really fast zetasp, Hard times! and sadevilminion 2 1
rodra391 Posted January 14, 2022 Posted January 14, 2022 (edited) Hello everyone! Looking to apply this fall to programs. I have an MA in Phil and Media Studies and have been an adjunct the past few years. Looking for programs that have a large theory/continental phil base. At present, I am looking at Duke, Cornell, and NYU. Have not done much research yet... What else do you all have? Lmk if any of you want to zoom/collaborate on applying to programs. Also, I am a first gen college grad. Don't know many people in academia... Anyone have a statement of purpose/letter they can share w me? Thanks in advance! Edited January 14, 2022 by rodra391
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