Fall 2013 English Lit Applicants

[lisajay]

First rejection from UCR is up. I just had to check the website too, and now I see that there is no longer a checkmark for "this app is currently under review," yet I'm sure there was one before. Still, they haven't made a decision yet. I wonder what that means.

FWIW, that check mark disappeared & reappeared for me a few times & would come back a day or so later. I think it's just a bug. Hopefully you'll hear good news soon!

[dazedandbemused]

They actually did an update on a lot of the NRC data fairly recently, but you're right in that there are a ton of holes. The bottom line is that treating rankings like gospel or in any way objectively superior to the research you can do about these programs yourself is not only foolish but absurd.

 

That's why I'm always amazed at the way some people act like top ten = tenure track job. As a professor recently told me, "a lot of highly ranked programs no longer deserve many of the amazing applications that they no longer receive." Many highly ranked programs aren't doing the necessary teacher training, and there are only so many R1 jobs available; the schools with the jobs need people who can teach AND research. Not only that, but I keep hearing people say that you should look at where the majority of professors went to school and apply there. What they seem to be forgetting is that a lot of those professors graduated in the 70s and 80s; the younger professors definitely do not all come straight from the Ivy league.

[Phil Sparrow]

Hot jams? Old cats? What year is it and how did I get here

 

It's 2013, and I presume you logged in to the site on a computer or possibly a smartphone. Hope this helps!

Edited February 19, 2013 by Phil Sparrow

[asleepawake]

I am so confuse by rankings. What are these? They say they are NRC rankings but why are they different from the real NRC rankings here? 

[bfat]

The whole rankings thing makes me cross-eyed. So many numbers all over the place! Someone should just take all of them and average them together and maybe we'd have a vague idea of where actual strengths and general reputations converge.

[wreckofthehope]

I am so confuse by rankings. What are these? They say they are NRC rankings but why are they different from the real NRC rankings here? 

I think the first ones are the old NRC rankings -so, 20 ish year old data. The second ones are the latest NRC rankings, and with these the data took so long to compile that some of it is still maybe 10 years old, but they're more up to date than the last, and definitely more reflective of actual program strengths than USNews, However they definitely still need to be scrutinized rather than taken as gospel. 

[Porridge]

Rankings should be a tool to indicate research strengths etc. But the numbers seem a little out of kilter across different reporting sites. I'm making my decision based on current job placements, research opportunities, department culture etc.  

[bfat]

Okay, I'm the biggest dork evar, and I'd do pretty much anything to avoid working on my thesis because I am procrastination incarnate. So I went through the newest NRC rankings (yeah, that big ass spreadsheet of numbers) and averaged across the board for the schools I applied to, a bunch of ivies (for comparison), and some other programs I know a lot of people applied to. Lowest numbers are good:

 

Princeton - 11.7

Stanford - 12

Harvard - 23

Cornell - 23.8

U Michigan - 26.4

Penn State - 27.5

U Penn - 27.6

Yale - 30.6

Duke - 33.1

Maryland CP - 41.6

UVA - 44.8

NYU - 45.1

UC Berkeley - 46.7

C. Mellon - 56.3

U Pittsburgh - 65.2

SUNY Buffalo - 74.9

 

I dunno... I don't really feel like this accomplished anything except my procrastination goals.

[InHacSpeVivo]

Thanks for sharing, bfat! If it makes you feel any better, after my defense I found out there were bets going as to wether or not I'd actually finish mine. Good luck!

[dazedandbemused]

Thanks for sharing, bfat! If it makes you feel any better, after my defense I found out there were bets going as to wether or not I'd actually finish mine. Good luck!

 

Oh God! Friendly bets, I hope?

Edited February 19, 2013 by dazedandbemused

[Two Espressos]

If it makes you feel any better, after my defense I found out there were bets going as to whether or not I'd actually finish mine.

 

Damn.

[InHacSpeVivo]

Oh God! Friendly bets, I hope?

Damn.

I'm so glad one of my (probably many) typos was quoted twice. Yes, all friendly bets. In all fairness, it did take a few years. My MA wasn't funded, so I had to work full-time (two jobs for a period) while I finished it and, of course, they were a Murphy's law sort of few years. My boyfriend betted for me, though, and I have a nice, bound thesis now so all is well. Well, all except this whole not getting into a PhD program thing...

[MedLit]

I'm feeling somewhat obtuse... I'm out of school since last spring, so maybe I'm just a bit out of the loop. But where is everyone finding the lists of admitted and rejected applicants for each school? Or am I misreading things and no such thing exists?

[dazedandbemused]

I'm feeling somewhat obtuse... I'm out of school since last spring, so maybe I'm just a bit out of the loop. But where is everyone finding the lists of admitted and rejected applicants for each school? Or am I misreading things and no such thing exists?

 

I think you're referring to the results search. It's one of the tabs at the top of the page, next to chat. You can search for English, or a particular school, and see the results that people have posted as far back as 2006.

[MedLit]

I think you're referring to the results search. It's one of the tabs at the top of the page, next to chat. You can search for English, or a particular school, and see the results that people have posted as far back as 2006.

Thanks! I was worrying I was missing some important official list. 

[ocean]

I'm feeling somewhat obtuse... I'm out of school since last spring, so maybe I'm just a bit out of the loop. But where is everyone finding the lists of admitted and rejected applicants for each school? Or am I misreading things and no such thing exists?

 

http://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/

[Deadinthewater]

I remember the day I discovered the results search.

[Katia_chan]

I remember the day I discovered the results search.

 

It was a day full of amazement and awe.  Little did I know the madness that waited there...

[InHacSpeVivo]

Okay, I'm officially an idiot, but I figured one of you could help me. For the life of me, I cannot find the link to the application status check page for Chicago. I could have sworn I've checked it before, but can't find it anywhere in my records or get to it through the website. I'm sure I'm missing something obvious. With the recent rejections posted that found out by randomly checking the website, I figured I should just look and officially cross Chicago off the list. Does anyone have the link?

[Laokoon]

Btw, I called Columbia just a bit ago. While they (Virginia Kay) couldn't tell me which list my name was on, they did confirm that all admittances went out last night. :/

[figsmcfigs]

Damn, I guess they didn't say when waitlists were going out?

[It's (Not) About Me]

I remember the day I discovered the results search.

Hah. My first interaction with the results search occurred when my boyfriend was applying to MA programs two years ago... He avoided TGC like the plague, but it was mid-March and he was still waiting to hear back from his top choice. He told me that this place existed but he didn't want to mess with it. The suspense was driving me nuts so I sneakily checked, found out that he had most likely been rejected, and kept my mouth shut.   Um, it was all very dramatic, I assure you.

 

Little did I know how much time I'd be spending here just two short years later!

[waparys]

Okay, I'm officially an idiot, but I figured one of you could help me. For the life of me, I cannot find the link to the application status check page for Chicago. I could have sworn I've checked it before, but can't find it anywhere in my records or get to it through the website. I'm sure I'm missing something obvious. With the recent rejections posted that found out by randomly checking the website, I figured I should just look and officially cross Chicago off the list. Does anyone have the link?

I don't think they have one? I've never seen one. I'm waiting for my rejection, too. 

[Fayre]

I don't think they have one? I've never seen one. I'm waiting for my rejection, too. 

 

I think you're looking for this page?: https://apply-humanities.uchicago.edu/apply/

 

Edit: Though I think those rejects are talking about UIC, not UC. (I didn't apply to UIC, so I don't know about that one.)

Edited February 19, 2013 by Fayre

[InHacSpeVivo]

I think you're looking for this page?: https://apply-humanities.uchicago.edu/apply/

 

Edit: Though I think those rejects are talking about UIC, not UC. (I didn't apply to UIC, so I don't know about that one.)

 

Thanks, Fayre! You and waparys are right, they must be talking about UIC because the only link I have for Chicago is the one you posted. I must have confused it with one of the other programs that rejected me.