Fall 2014 applicants??

[despejado]

Super surprised by the lack of activity today. I remember Pitt said they would post by the 10th, so I assumed it would be today or tomorrow.. Really hoping it's not actually a weekend or Monday notification. What a bummer.

[Imaginary]

I really want to up-vote this. 

 

I'm so sorry.  But try to keep hoping--you still have 5/6ths of your schools left to hear from.  All is nowhere near lost.

 

(...for some reason looking at it in fractions always helped. At least until it was a number where I didn't know how to figure out the fractions. And then *that* reminded me why I was getting an English degree).

 

But double-rejections days suck massively. Do something nice for yourself today. (I ate cake and fed my rejection letters to my roommate's rabbit).

[Katia_chan]

Well poo. I'm just trying to be logical and think of some back-up plans that don't require me to take a year off doing nothing. I should've applied to a few MA programs when I sent out PhD apps.

 

The place I did my MA takes applications all the way through April.  We are one of the satellite schools of the U of Minnesota.  And that is for the fall semester.

 

For funding, if you put it in soon you'd probably have a shot at a Grad teaching position (though obviously I can't promise anything).  They also do some decent paid TA-ships.

 

There are some cons--it's a small school, not exactly nationally recognized.  And the program is small--I think we sit anywhere between 9-11 English faculty at a time.  And, the major one....it's in northern Minnesota.

 

But the faculty are wonderful.  I got excellent support, and made a lot of very close relationships with them.  The class sizes are small, and even if our library isn't fantastic, we have access to everything from Minneapolis and beyond.  It's as good a program as you want to make it, and there's also access to other departments for secondary areas of study.  And our department head is a paperwork wizard.

 

And despite what you might hear, the city is actually really great.  I love being here.

 

If you want specifics, feel free to PM me.  It's an option.

[Strong Flat White]

 

...In short, we're not helping ourselves by insisting we can avoid thinking about what a department will think of our fit with them—however elusive or speculative a concept this might be...

 

Couldn't agree more, never meant to insist on avoid thinking about anything - in fact, just the opposite, and you bring up some really good points.

 

I still think we're falling short of assuming that people know what they're doing.  To invoke the theory programs like Duke and Chicago...yeah, dude, yeah. When I talk about applying to more programs, I don't mean to do it completely blindly or randomly.  Obviously we have information at our disposal to help indicate what may or may not be a good fit.  However, my point is that that determination is limited to such a degree, and that the potential of a good fit happening for any given applicant could be any number of numbers (and certainly numbers bigger than, I don't know, 8? 12? 19?), that those two facts also have to be dealt with. 

 

I relate to the scenario in which a super solid piece of writing is not what you would necessarily use as a writing sample.  I have a killer paper on Spenser and Milton that I won't use for exactly the reason you mention. So when I talk about "sending out your absolute best work" I guess I wasn't accounting for that exact scenario (because I assume that people know what they're doing and it would therefore go without saying). Maybe better wording would be, "based on your area of interest, work your ass off to make it your best work so that your best work and your application can align." If that's not possible, then get it as close to possible as possible. But again, isn't this the sort of thing we're already trying to do? I would assume that all of us are working really hard on each piece of the application, meaning that my call for a bigger application cycle presupposes all of these things already...and yet, you still don't really know much about fit, and yet, you still increase your odds.

 

Or, for the insistent, I ask again and refer to my original post, which has garnered two sorts of replies.  The first sort appears to think I'm nuts, because of course you gotta go w/ fit. And I'm inclined to agree, but am confused as to how one can do a good job of anticipating what a department will want to accept. The second seems to agree w/ me that fit is pretty elusive, even for really sharp cookies.  But in no response have a seen a clear way of avoiding the totally legit pitfalls that I sketched in trying to determine fit in the first place. Those are real, theology or no.

[Jocko]

For NYU people ( I'm not) one of my LORs is a prof there. He said many programs -- including English-- won't hear back until perhaps the 2nd week of March. Obviously, this is more rumor than super reliable inside info.

[despejado]

For NYU people ( I'm not) one of my LORs is a prof there. He said many programs -- including English-- won't hear back until perhaps the 2nd week of March. Obviously, this is more rumor than super reliable inside info.

Gross.

[Horb]

For NYU people ( I'm not) one of my LORs is a prof there. He said many programs -- including English-- won't hear back until perhaps the 2nd week of March. Obviously, this is more rumor than super reliable inside info.

 

Well...I guess that delays our acceptances by a few weeks, but I'm patient

[shortstack51]

For NYU people ( I'm not) one of my LORs is a prof there. He said many programs -- including English-- won't hear back until perhaps the 2nd week of March. Obviously, this is more rumor than super reliable inside info.

 

 

Well...I guess that delays our acceptances by a few weeks, but I'm patient

 

 

Is there an unusual delay? For the past 2 years, NYU has been notifying English PhD applicants the first and second week of February. If this is true, I'm in for a lot of angst the next few weeks. I'm supposed to hear back from another program in the next couple of days according to last year and then three programs next week. I can't take this waiting!

[Graditude]

Did anyone here apply to Syracuse? I haven't seen that they're historically popular here, at least on the results board. Anyone know why?

Yes, the PhD program in Composition and Cultural Rhetoric. The director sent everyone a kind email saying they hoped to make their decisions towards the end of February. Is that what you´ve applied for, or the English PhD?

[despejado]

Yes, the PhD program in Composition and Cultural Rhetoric. The director sent everyone a kind email saying they hoped to make their decisions towards the end of February. Is that what you´ve applied for, or the English PhD?

I applied for the English PhD.. Haven't heard much yet other than they've received my application.

[Graditude]

I applied for the English PhD.. Haven't heard much yet other than they've received my application.

 

End of February, beginning of March -- no earlier. The CCR program is smaller, and if it takes them that long... (Am just guessing, but trying to be helpful.) Watch, they´ll probably notify everyone tonight by phone.

[merintil]

Is there an unusual delay? For the past 2 years, NYU has been notifying English PhD applicants the first and second week of February. If this is true, I'm in for a lot of angst the next few weeks. I'm supposed to hear back from another program in the next couple of days according to last year and then three programs next week. I can't take this waiting!

 

The only delay that I can think of is the snowstorms in the NE part of the United States; though, as I live somewhere else, I wouldn't really know if that sort of thing would delay anything.  I'm wondering if it may also be related to the deadline extension.  Does anyone know if the other programs at NYU had to extend their deadlines?

 

Regardless, I guess I am going to have to wait a little longer before I hear back from NYU.  Does anyone know if Chicago has been sending anything out?

[Megeen]

The only delay that I can think of is the snowstorms in the NE part of the United States; though, as I live somewhere else, I wouldn't really know if that sort of thing would delay anything.  I'm wondering if it may also be related to the deadline extension.  Does anyone know if the other programs at NYU had to extend their deadlines?

 

Regardless, I guess I am going to have to wait a little longer before I hear back from NYU.  Does anyone know if Chicago has been sending anything out?

 

I haven't seen anything from Chicago yet. I'm waiting for them too and I hope they'll send something out by tomorrow.

[aGiRlCalLeDApPlE]

If schools with Dec. deadlines have not yet notified, what about those with the 15th of Jan. deadlines? Are we going to wait until June or what?

[despejado]

End of February, beginning of March -- no earlier. The CCR program is smaller, and if it takes them that long... (Am just guessing, but trying to be helpful.) Watch, they´ll probably notify everyone tonight by phone.

Ah damn. They're high on my list so hopefully it's sooner than later.

[StardewDropIn]

Yeah. I was hoping that something good would come of UC-Davis today because there were people from there checking out my profiles yesterday. However, I see that a wait list notification is up and I haven’t heard anything. This is discouraging. 

Hey, I'm the wait list at Davis. I emailed yesterday to inquire about my app, so that could be why I was notified about the wait list today? (Although the person I emailed was not the DGS who emailed me today). 

Keep hoping! I thought Davis had rejected me for sure and was really sad. 

[andromache]

Trying not to panic about the UC Irvine acceptance on the results search page...

[meeshy]

Trying not to panic about the UC Irvine acceptance on the results search page...

Ditto...

[davidipse]

Has anyone applied to UVa? There are a dozen rejections up on the gradcafe results board, but no acceptances. Do they typically send out rejections before acceptance notifications? (I know it might just be a case of none of the acceptees putting their info on here, but ...)

Edited February 6, 2014 by davidipse

[school_of_caliban]

Is anyone still waiting to hear back from UCLA? It doesn't seem like they typically scatter their acceptance/rejection notices over a few days (as far as I can tell from previous years), unless they are doing something different this cycle. Don't want to get my hopes up though.

[Horb]

I know I didn't get into Irvine. My GRE report still isn't there despite sending it SO long ago. I'm pissed if that is why I get rejected. I guess I'll call tomorrow, but probably won't matter.

[davidipse]

Is anyone still waiting to hear back from UCLA? It doesn't seem like they typically scatter their acceptance/rejection notices over a few days (as far as I can tell from previous years), unless they are doing something different this cycle. Don't want to get my hopes up though.

 

I received an acceptance email yesterday from the English Department, but my online application still says "decision pending." 

[school_of_caliban]

I haven't received an email either way and my online app also says "decision pending." I guess I'll live in ignorant bliss until I hear something or break down in full anxiety mode and call, which ever comes first.

[school_of_caliban]

Also, congrats on your acceptance!

[Kamisha]

Ditto...

 

Double ditto.