2015 Rejections

[SilasWegg]

I have the sad honor of starting this thread. My rejection from UVA sorta broke my heart. I've been living in Virginia for the past six years and I'm terribly sad to leave but I have an offer at Texas A&M. On the other hand, I didn't really feel like I was a good "fit" for their program and the only reason I applied there is because of location. Maybe they sensed my lack of enthusiasm... more likely they scoffed at my writing sample, threw my file in the trash can then put on a Dave Matthew's Band cd then went out for dried out gross ass bubby's bagels. charlotesville sucks. nevermind. I never wanted to go there anyway.

 

[InHacSpeVivo]

Hey! Saved me the trouble. It's good to have a place for commiseration. As an ex-VA resident (almost six years in southern VA), I must agree there are much better places than Charlottesville.

By the by, morris... it looks like we have four schools in common! (Ohio State, Florida, Maryland, and Brown). I'm fully expecting rejections from two of those, but very much hoping the other two work out.

[lunalit]

Another UVA rejection! Disappointed, but OH WELL!

[margeryhemp]

I have the sad honor of starting this thread. My rejection from UVA sorta broke my heart. I've been living in Virginia for the past six years and I'm terribly sad to leave but I have an offer at Texas A&M. On the other hand, I didn't really feel like I was a good "fit" for their program and the only reason I applied there is because of location. Maybe they sensed my lack of enthusiasm... more likely they scoffed at my writing sample, threw my file in the trash can then put on a Dave Matthew's Band cd then went out for dried out gross ass bubby's bagels. charlotesville sucks. nevermind. I never wanted to go there anyway.

 

 

Hey! Saved me the trouble. It's good to have a place for commiseration. As an ex-VA resident (almost six years in southern VA), I must agree there are much better places than Charlottesville.

By the by, morris... it looks like we have four schools in common! (Ohio State, Florida, Maryland, and Brown). I'm fully expecting rejections from two of those, but very much hoping the other two work out.

 

As a Southern VA native I have to concur-- Cville is okay, but UVA is so.....Jeffersonian? Also the DMB burn is spot on

 

Rejected from Columbia, pending rejections from NYU and Chicago! Woooooohooooooo!

[Dr. Old Bill]

Sorry for the UVA rejections, folks. I very nearly applied, since it's a great school and technically the closest to where I currently live...but I didn't get a good sense of "fit" for me personally.

 

So...my two retroactive rejections are Northwestern and UW-Madison, but I'm pretty sure Brown, U. of Chicago, UC-Irvine, and Vanderbilt will convert to official rejections soon enough. It's tough going 0-for-6 at this stage, though I'm still holding out hope. As an avid hockey fan, I always like a good comeback...

Edited February 12, 2015 by Wyatt's Torch

[InHacSpeVivo]

WT, you aren't a caps fan are you?!

[1Q84]

I'm 55% rejected this season. What do I get?!

[doc1]

I was rejected by UVA as well and I too didn't necessarily see it as the best fit (though I did see where my work could fit). I'm not surprised by this or even that sad about getting rejected from this school particularly, but I do see my hope for getting into a program and getting funding slowly slipping away. We'll see though, I guess 

 

I'm oddly starting to prefer the anxiety of not knowing to the reality and despair of rejection

[sillyrabbit]

I have two rejections so far...at UCLA and Duke (mostly applied to Duke because my S.O. also applied there...so I'm fine with that rejection...but UCLA hurt a bit). I applied to a mix of English/American Studies programs, and I have two amazing Am. Studies acceptances so far. But, coming from a English lit. background, I would still like to get at least one English admit...

 

Of course, I only applied to top programs, so odds are against me...

[Hannalore]

Glad this thread finally popped up, thank you morristr. I'm feeling like a total buzzkill in the other threads.

 

I see that there are some acceptances to Georgia State up, and my application just says submitted. I know it's not outright or certain, but the lack of news from there is not a lot of fun.

 

I just wish so much that schools that didn't want me would go ahead and tell me so. I'm sure there's a reason for it, but watching acceptances roll in, knowing that these schools often send out rejections super late (or not at all in the case of UGA) just makes it quite a bit harder. People keep telling me not to count out schools, or think about "implied rejections," but it seems pretty clear what's happening. 

[CarolineNC]

Where are you guys seeing UVa rejections? On applyweb? 

[doc1]

Where are you guys seeing UVa rejections? On applyweb? 

 

Yeah, if you scroll down a bit you should see a link about decisions (although it could just be up for those rejected? not sure)

Edited February 12, 2015 by doc1

[Hannalore]

Where are you guys seeing UVa rejections? On applyweb? 

 

Yeah, if you scroll down a bit you should see a link about decisions (although it could just be up for those rejected? not sure)

 

I just texted a friend who applied there, he hasn't gotten anything either and doesn't see anything on the website. It can't be a bad sign!

[CarolineNC]

I don't see anything yet. I will remain hopeful yet realistic. If I got into UVa it would shake my whole reality. hehe. 

[bgt28]

I honestly don't know how to feel about NYU implied rejections. I'd crack apart. How are people estimating this? I mean, they admit 9-11 English PhD students per year. There are only a handful of acceptances online. Should I also consider this a lost cause, because living and learning in NYC is so important to me. And since Columbia isn't going to work out, this is kinda my last shot. 

[lazaria]

Hi, all. I was rejected at UMN. Implied rejection from UCI, UC Davis, and UCSB, but I am still holding out hope on that one. UCSB seems to be notifying in sparse waves. 

[CarolineNC]

Hi, all. I was rejected at UMN. Implied rejection from UCI, UC Davis, and UCSB, but I am still holding out hope on that one. UCSB seems to be notifying in sparse waves. 

I wouldn't give up on UC Davis yet. The last couple of years it looks like they accepted people later than this. 

[lazaria]

I wouldn't give up on UC Davis yet. The last couple of years it looks like they accepted people later than this. 

 

I will take all of the hopeful news I can. Thank you!

[Pol4ris]

Just FYI for any UVA hopefuls, I just obsessively scrolled through last year's notifications and it looks like rejects came on the 4th/5th of February (via email though) with acceptances coming by phone a whopping 15 days later on the 20th. Obviously no guarantee that the pattern will continue, but I thought I'd share.

[snyegurachka]

I was a little crushed by my UC Berkeley (Rhetoric) rejection. I am sensing implied rejection from Emory and University of Chicago, but those hurt less, as in retrospect were not as good a fit. I asked for feedback from Berkeley (as I am anticipating I may need to apply to schools another year), and was told that there was nothing wrong with my application, I made the short list (which was still long), my POI liked my proposal, but ultimately the candidates who were accepted were chosen for reasons outside of my control, like balancing the research interests of the department, which faculty were taking new advisees, available funding, etc. This gives me simultaneous hope and dread. I only applied to two more schools (Brown and Stanford), and whether or not I am chosen—even if I am on the short list—is at its core going to be a little random. Though I haven't seen anyone post about Comp Lit at Brown, I know that the new student recruitment season will be in March (a colleague was accepted to the Performance Studies program a few days ago), so I am wondering if I may have been rejected there as well since I have not heard yet.  I am hoping that I may have a right place, right time situation with Stanford, as MTL is a similar program to Rhetoric. I also submitted that application a bit later and think it may have been an improvement.

 

Alas.

[1Q84]

I honestly don't know how to feel about NYU implied rejections. I'd crack apart. How are people estimating this? I mean, they admit 9-11 English PhD students per year. There are only a handful of acceptances online. Should I also consider this a lost cause, because living and learning in NYC is so important to me. And since Columbia isn't going to work out, this is kinda my last shot. 

 

Do remember that not every admit posts on or even knows about TGC.

 

Edit: Althoughhhhhh on this day last year, they sent out a bunch of wait list notifications. So maybe we have that to look forward to this week?

Edited February 12, 2015 by 1Q84

[Dr. Old Bill]

WT, you aren't a caps fan are you?!

 

No, definitely not.

 

But...um...I hate to break it to you, but you'll probably think I'm WORSE than a Caps fan.

 

I'm a...

 

*gulp*

 

Canucks fan.

 

Hey, I can't help it...I'm a Vancouverite! I will say, however, that in the last few years I'm much more of a fan of hockey in general than I am of specific teams. When I have some downtime I'll often tune into any random game for a period or three. I have Center Ice and also subscribe to HockeyStreams to catch any possible game. I also tend to make a big event out of trade deadline day, and when I worked, I used to actually take the day off...

 

----------

 

Back to rejections! I wonder if I should make an Implied Rejection thread...

[SilasWegg]

By the by, morris... it looks like we have four schools in common! (Ohio State, Florida, Maryland, and Brown). I'm fully expecting rejections from two of those, but very much hoping the other two work out.

 

I've always predicted I only get acceptances from schools with huge football programs.

[kurayamino]

I was a little crushed by my UC Berkeley (Rhetoric) rejection. I am sensing implied rejection from Emory and University of Chicago, but those hurt less, as in retrospect were not as good a fit. I asked for feedback from Berkeley (as I am anticipating I may need to apply to schools another year), and was told that there was nothing wrong with my application, I made the short list (which was still long), my POI liked my proposal, but ultimately the candidates who were accepted were chosen for reasons outside of my control, like balancing the research interests of the department, which faculty were taking new advisees, available funding, etc. This gives me simultaneous hope and dread. I only applied to two more schools (Brown and Stanford), and whether or not I am chosen—even if I am on the short list—is at its core going to be a little random. Though I haven't seen anyone post about Comp Lit at Brown, I know that the new student recruitment season will be in March (a colleague was accepted to the Performance Studies program a few days ago), so I am wondering if I may have been rejected there as well since I have not heard yet.  I am hoping that I may have a right place, right time situation with Stanford, as MTL is a similar program to Rhetoric. I also submitted that application a bit later and think it may have been an improvement.

 

Alas.

 

With Stanford at least I know their welcome week is in April, so we've got another two weeks before that becomes really anxiety inducing I think. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you for Brown though. They may just be really behind this year.

 

 

My own rejection from Columbia stung some because I was also wait listed at the Grad Center the same day. It would have been really really nice to not have to move out of NYC. I have some implied rejections from Chicago and Berkeley. Berkeley was the hardest though, even over Columbia. 

[InHacSpeVivo]

WT: without derailing things too much... Probably four years ago that would have been bad, but now the team is so different it's pretty much all the same. I'm not originally from Boston, so I actually grew up a Canucks fan (back in the Messier days). since you're a Canadian I can't really judge. As it happens in mildly obsessed with Canadian culture and am traveling to Toronto, Ottawa, and Gatineau next month on fellowship to study Morley Callaghan. It's very exciting for me, in no small part because the Bruins will be playing the Senators while we're there, so I'm going to my first Canadian hockey game! (The Blues will also be playing the Maple Leafs that week, but, despite my love of their mascot, I don't think we can pool the funds for the highest ticket prices in hockey.)

I figure this is an appropriate thread for a minor hockey spiel. Anything is more pleasant than rejections, right?

I've always predicted I only get acceptances from schools with huge football programs.

I love that you could tell the two (for me) obvious rejections! I'm biased toward big sports schools because my fiancé loves sports and, given that he went to a tiny liberal arts school, would love to have a team he could really get behind.