Acceptance Freakout Thread

[bluecheese]

Yep, literary studies. That said, I assumed I was rejected when I saw those first acceptances on the board, and I got an email an hour later. So who knows?

 

Also... Madison tends to admit a lot of students, and doesn't always fund them equally. A lot of first year students end up fighting over 8k per year stipends (research/desk positions) from what I've heard... so I'm anxious to hear about funding.

Edited January 30, 2013 by bluecheese

[rems]

I hadn't thought about it that way, but they might subdivide into smaller committees from literary studies. I don't have anything in common with bluecheese, and based on Two Espressos picture, me and him do have something in common. But for all I know, Two Espressos is a medievalist.

 

Either way, I think I'm gonna have to stop refreshing my email soon and admit defeat.  

[Two Espressos]

Yep, literary studies. That said, I assumed I was rejected when I saw those first acceptances on the board, and I got an email an hour later.

 

But... Madison tends to admit a lot of students, and doesn't always fund them equally.

 

A lot of first year students end up fighting over 8k per year stipends (research/desk positions) from what I've heard... so I'm anxious to hear about funding.

 

Damn, I wasn't aware of the funding stuff.  I would gladly attend any of the programs to which I applied, but Madison is probably at or near the bottom of my (admittedly short) list anyways, so I'm trying to not let it get me down too much.

 

ETA: rems, I'm not a medievalist (my foreign language capabilities are too feeble).  I'm mostly into 20th-century lit and philosophy.

Edited January 30, 2013 by Two Espressos

[waparys]

Damn, I wasn't aware of the funding stuff.  I would gladly attend any of the programs to which I applied, but Madison is probably at or near the bottom of my (admittedly short) list anyways, so I'm trying to not let it get me down too much.

 

Two Espressos if you don't actually look like Beckett, I will be seriously disappointed. 

 

Quick, say something darkly hilarious. 

[practical cat]

For anyone applying to the Texas Tech Ph.D., I emailed the graduate director and he sent me my waitlist letter, which says acceptances and rejections have gone out.  Apparently, funding is extremely competitive this year and they have a policy in place about not offering admission to anyone who they cannot promise full funding for five years.  It's a very nice letter that says being placed on the waitlist should be considered a compliment and "we remain positive about your application materials and hope that we will be able to admit you to study here for Fall 2013."  So that's something at least.

I am so happy you got something! I'm really pulling for you extra-specially.

[practical cat]

I hadn't thought about it that way, but they might subdivide into smaller committees from literary studies. I don't have anything in common with bluecheese, and based on Two Espressos picture, me and him do have something in common. But for all I know, Two Espressos is a medievalist.

 

Either way, I think I'm gonna have to stop refreshing my email soon and admit defeat.  

This is something. I think I have more in common with you and 2spressos than I do some of the admits.

[asleepawake]

Good news, everyone! I checked my spam folder just in case, and it turns out that I can get a PhD from Rochville University, the same University that Chester Ludlow went to for his MBA.

 

Edited January 30, 2013 by asleepawake

[Datatape]

I am so happy you got something! I'm really pulling for you extra-specially.

 

I am out of upvotes (so many acceptances today!), so please have this:

 

[Gwendolyn]

Just found out a friend got accepted to both Wisconsin - Madison and Illinois - Urbana/Champagne (I think she's comp/rhet). Anywho it's exciting to see people excited. 

 

Edit: Add Ohio State to her list. She's a force. 

Edited January 30, 2013 by Gwendolyn

[Two Espressos]

Two Espressos if you don't actually look like Beckett, I will be seriously disappointed. 

 

Quick, say something darkly hilarious. 

 

We're both misanthropes and ascetics, but that's as far as similarities go.

 

If I do end up at a prospective students' weekend or something with some of you guys, should I wear a "Two Espressos" nametag?  Maybe a Beckett mask, if they exist?  Ha.

[HHEoS]

Damn yo! I stepped away from GC for a few hours and this thread blew the fuck up. 

 

Congrats to the UW-Madison admits and to Datatape on the waitlist! We're all doing so well already, guys.

[Porridge]

That's not what I'm saying. The point of being competitive isn't wishing other people will fail, it's wanting to be BETTER than other people. That means pushing yourself and feeling badly when you don't measure up. It means striving for excellence and not being satisfied with mediocrity. It means that if someone else gets into a place that you don't get into, you feel envious of them because YOU WANT TO BE BETTER, not because you want them to be worse. I'm pretty sure you have to have that kind of drive to make it in academia. At the very least, it really helps.

 

Success is always built on the success of others. Networking is critical and I guess, in my career in a competitive industry, my rapid promotions always came by nurturing others - recognizing other people's skills and acknowledging where I was weak in order to better myself. Someone else will always be faster, smarter but the key is always to network.  And if you want to be an educator at tertiary level, then you are going to have to a level of humility, without the envy, in order to be the kind of educator that inspires.

 

At least that's just my humble opinion. I've got one book publication (different field) and that success was down to other people helping me.

 

It's wonderful that people are getting in. Sometimes it's all about fit. Sometimes it's all about the moolah. Sometimes it's all about that one advisor not having a spot for another student.

[asleepawake]

When someone else gets in and I do not, I have two options: 1. Be happy for them, which will make me happier and give me a new friend. I am still not admitted to the program; and 2. Be bitter/jealous/wish things were different, which will make me angry or upset. I am still not admitted to the program.

 

I think 1 is a clear winner. Congrats all around!

Edited January 31, 2013 by asleepawake

[TripWillis]

My piece:

 

Last year I was in the exact hypothetical scenario people were talking about where I was waitlisted at a top program but edged out by two people. Since the people who edged me out are essentially unknown to me, it would be almost nonsensical to feel competitive with them, since I don't know who they are or what they do. I also don't know who that program wanted last year in terms of field, expertise, etc. Instead, I felt basically nothing for anyone who did get in there because I can't feel anything for what is essentially unobservable. It's possible my disappointment was greatly tempered by the fact I had already gotten into choice programs.

 

There were, however, plenty of people on here who got into programs that I didn't get into and since I felt some sort of gradcafe painful waiting camaraderie with them, I was actually very pleased when they got into the programs, even when I didn't. I sort of felt like I got to live vicariously through their successes, particularly since I didn't have any idea who they were or whether or not they were qualified for the spot for which I was also competing. 

 

That said, I do have competitive impulses in graduate study, but I have been trying to curb them for a while now. Whenever I think something judgmental, I know it's just a projection of my own intellectual/work ethic insecurity, so I try to put it in my mind vice and crush it. It's not healthy to rationalize your self worth in comparison to other people. Especially in academia. Jane Doe knows more about Foucault than I do, but I know more about Raymond Williams than she does. Tracking who is smarter is a dull and confusing game. Even so, what I was feeling last year when I got in was, more than anything, the supreme joy of external validation after a long period of no external validation and many setbacks. This sort of feeling of supreme joy comes in very small spurts in academia. Enjoy it when it happens, because it doesn't last. Every 45-hour week yields roughly thirty minutes of exultation. Most of that exultation comes from looking around a room full of my newfound friends and colleagues, stopping and chatting with them over coffee, and thinking, "Yes, these people are crazy, too, and it is fortunate that we can mutually enable one another to forget that we are being exploited for labor in this fucked up scheme called graduate humanities study."

 

So, if you feel like you're competing in academia for praise and attention, jump ship while you still can! Most of the time you'll find yourself settling for personal scholarly breakthroughs that no one will appreciate but you.

 

Edit: If I know someone who is a total asshole, I will relish beating him/her for funding, publications, etc., but I have yet to meet any serious assholes... it's early...

Edited January 31, 2013 by TripWillis

[bluecheese]

My piece:

 

Last year I was in the exact hypothetical scenario people were talking about where I was waitlisted at a top program but edged out by two people. Since the people who edged me out are essentially unknown to me, it would be almost nonsensical to feel competitive with them, since I don't know who they are or what they do. I also don't know who that program wanted last year in terms of field, expertise, etc. Instead, I felt basically nothing for anyone who did get in there because I can't feel anything for what is essentially unobservable. It's possible my disappointment was greatly tempered by the fact I had already gotten into choice programs.

 

There were, however, plenty of people on here who got into programs that I didn't get into and since I felt some sort of gradcafe painful waiting camaraderie with them, I was actually very pleased when they got into the programs, even when I didn't. I sort of felt like I got to live vicariously through their successes, particularly since I didn't have any idea who they were or whether or not they were qualified for the spot for which I was also competing. 

 

That said, I do have competitive impulses in graduate study, but I have been trying to curb them for a while now. Whenever I think something judgmental, I know it's just a projection of my own intellectual/work ethic insecurity, so I try to put it in my mind vice and crush it. It's not healthy to rationalize your self worth in comparison to other people. Especially in academia. Jane Doe knows more about Foucault than I do, but I know more about Raymond Williams than she does. Tracking who is smarter is a dull and confusing game. Even so, what I was feeling last year when I got in was, more than anything, the supreme joy of external validation after a long period of no external validation and many setbacks. This sort of feeling of supreme joy comes in very small spurts in academia. Enjoy it when it happens, because it doesn't last. Every 45-hour week yields roughly thirty minutes of exultation. Most of that exultation comes from looking around a room full of my newfound friends and colleagues, stopping and chatting with them over coffee, and thinking, "Yes, these people are crazy, too, and it is fortunate that we can mutually enable one another to forget that we are being exploited for labor in this fucked up scheme called graduate humanities study."

 

So, if you feel like you're competing in academia for praise and attention, jump ship while you still can! Most of the time you'll find yourself settling for personal scholarly breakthroughs that no one will appreciate but you.

 

Edit: If I know someone who is a total asshole, I will relish beating him/her for funding, publications, etc., but I have yet to meet any serious assholes... it's early...

 

YES! <3

[DontHate]

Now that I have one rejection and no other news, I'm fairly convinced that I won't get in anywhere and I'll spend next year living on my mom's couch, shoveling down ice cream between crying jags. Actually that doesn't sound so bad. 

[muchado]

I just got news from the University of Louisville! I was not even remotely expecting good news from such a great school, but I'm so excited!

[TripWillis]

Now that I have one rejection and no other news, I'm fairly convinced that I won't get in anywhere and I'll spend next year living on my mom's couch, shoveling down ice cream between crying jags. Actually that doesn't sound so bad. 

Your fear is irrational at this juncture (it's not even Feburary yet), but I definitely appreciate that you are going to feel that way whether it's rational or not. That's what this is all about.

 

On another note, I am really enjoying lingering and watching you guys get accepted.

 

Datatape: Congrats on your waitlist! You're already ahead of the game and it's not February yet.

[sadthatthisdefinesmylife]

My piece:

 

Last year I was in the exact hypothetical scenario people were talking about where I was waitlisted at a top program but edged out by two people. Since the people who edged me out are essentially unknown to me, it would be almost nonsensical to feel competitive with them, since I don't know who they are or what they do. I also don't know who that program wanted last year in terms of field, expertise, etc. Instead, I felt basically nothing for anyone who did get in there because I can't feel anything for what is essentially unobservable. It's possible my disappointment was greatly tempered by the fact I had already gotten into choice programs.

 

There were, however, plenty of people on here who got into programs that I didn't get into and since I felt some sort of gradcafe painful waiting camaraderie with them, I was actually very pleased when they got into the programs, even when I didn't. I sort of felt like I got to live vicariously through their successes, particularly since I didn't have any idea who they were or whether or not they were qualified for the spot for which I was also competing. 

 

That said, I do have competitive impulses in graduate study, but I have been trying to curb them for a while now. Whenever I think something judgmental, I know it's just a projection of my own intellectual/work ethic insecurity, so I try to put it in my mind vice and crush it. It's not healthy to rationalize your self worth in comparison to other people. Especially in academia. Jane Doe knows more about Foucault than I do, but I know more about Raymond Williams than she does. Tracking who is smarter is a dull and confusing game. Even so, what I was feeling last year when I got in was, more than anything, the supreme joy of external validation after a long period of no external validation and many setbacks. This sort of feeling of supreme joy comes in very small spurts in academia. Enjoy it when it happens, because it doesn't last. Every 45-hour week yields roughly thirty minutes of exultation. Most of that exultation comes from looking around a room full of my newfound friends and colleagues, stopping and chatting with them over coffee, and thinking, "Yes, these people are crazy, too, and it is fortunate that we can mutually enable one another to forget that we are being exploited for labor in this fucked up scheme called graduate humanities study."

 

So, if you feel like you're competing in academia for praise and attention, jump ship while you still can! Most of the time you'll find yourself settling for personal scholarly breakthroughs that no one will appreciate but you.

 

Edit: If I know someone who is a total asshole, I will relish beating him/her for funding, publications, etc., but I have yet to meet any serious assholes... it's early...

 

Agreed. And I think what we should all learn is that, as scholars, we are all dependent on each other. Our work is better when the work of others is better. Of course we strive to be the strongest possible. But it should be our ideas that are competing. It shouldn't be personal and petty. Maybe that's idealistic. Maybe I'm just trying to build up good karma.

 

Also, speaking of totally selfless good karma, congratulations everyone!

Edited January 31, 2013 by sadthatthisdefinesmylife

[asleepawake]

I just got news from the University of Louisville! I was not even remotely expecting good news from such a great school, but I'm so excited!

 

Congrats!!!

[NowMoreSerious]

Now that I have one rejection and no other news, I'm fairly convinced that I won't get in anywhere and I'll spend next year living on my mom's couch, shoveling down ice cream between crying jags. Actually that doesn't sound so bad. 

Sorry to hear about the rejection. I'm fairly convinced I am going to strike out completely this season.

[asleepawake]

Submitted 16/16

Rejections (expected): 17

 

LOL no! Stop it!

[NowMoreSerious]

LOL no! Stop it!

No I'm sort of serious. A few of my schools asked for permission to send my materials to other schools, and I'm imagining that that will happen, gifting me with a few extra "courtesy" rejections.

[Porridge]

Calm down. It's not even Feb yet.  One rejection does not equate a white out.

[waparys]

Can anyone claim the Delaware MA acceptance? Any additional info?