Fall 2017 Applicants

[Dr. Old Bill]

3 minutes ago, LouisePlease said:

I'm reviewing my U of Chicago app and am stuck on this question:

"Please give the names and professional affiliations of individuals most responsible for your decision to apply to the University of Chicago."

Is this question is referring to POIs? 

This is convoluted academese for "How did you hear about us?"

They're just looking for the names and positions of people who may have sold you on U of C's program (i.e., if your advisor suggested it might be a good fit, you would use your advisor's name, credentials, and your school etc.).

 

[Yanaka]

@LouisePlease I'd have said yes they mean POI's but apparently I'm wrong?

[JessicaLange]

7 hours ago, tvethiopia said:

I can see your point IF the issue is just a professor being kind of hands-off with their grad students and not getting very involved. They are not necessarily required to be the supportive mentors we'd all like, and many choose not to be and still have great success based on their research. However, to take on an obligation and not follow through--even when that obligation is to a mere grad student--is always going to reflect badly on them as a professional. If a professor simply said "I have substantial professional obligations and I don't believe I can provide you a letter of recommendation by the deadline you've requested", then certainly no one would fault them for it. But to agree to provide a letter and then knowingly neglect it simply because they prioritized other things more highly suggests that they are incapable of managing their time appropriately, and they are making others suffer the consequences of their own irresponsibility. I really can't imagine an institution that wouldn't take that seriously.

 

I completely agree with you. I had two applications due on the first and one of my recommenders filled out one of them and not the other. I have no idea why, but I re-sent the request and then I got an email from the school telling me that it needs to be in by the 15th or they won't accept it. I tried contacting her almost every day for 6 days. I sent several increasingly desperate emails. I left a voicemail on her office phone. I went to her office, but she wasn't there. I don't know why she stopped contacting me and doing what she promised, but I was so apprehensive. That's $100 and hours of work down the drain, not to mention I have two more happening tomorrow. Is she out of the country? Could she have told me two months ago that she would be hard to contact during this time? No clue, but I'm sure she must be checking her email because it's finals week. I feel very disrespected. I had to contact another professor and beg her to write me one with less than 24 hours to spare. Luckily she came through, but I'm still pissed off at my original recommender and I find it really unprofessional to make a commitment that could have been handled in two hours with two months to spare and then not follow through.

 

Alright sorry. I needed to vent.

[Dr. Old Bill]

47 minutes ago, JessicaLange said:

 

I completely agree with you. I had two applications due on the first and one of my recommenders filled out one of them and not the other. I have no idea why, but I re-sent the request and then I got an email from the school telling me that it needs to be in by the 15th or they won't accept it. I tried contacting her almost every day for 6 days. I sent several increasingly desperate emails. I left a voicemail on her office phone. I went to her office, but she wasn't there. I don't know why she stopped contacting me and doing what she promised, but I was so apprehensive. That's $100 and hours of work down the drain, not to mention I have two more happening tomorrow. Is she out of the country? Could she have told me two months ago that she would be hard to contact during this time? No clue, but I'm sure she must be checking her email because it's finals week. I feel very disrespected. I had to contact another professor and beg her to write me one with less than 24 hours to spare. Luckily she came through, but I'm still pissed off at my original recommender and I find it really unprofessional to make a commitment that could have been handled in two hours with two months to spare and then not follow through.

 

Alright sorry. I needed to vent.

Holy moly. Between you and @BlackRosePhD, these are some real horror stories. Sorry for your experience, JL.


So, I'm not an advanced academic or a tenure track professor, but I have always made a point of responding to emails very quickly...and this was especially true for my English 101 students this semester. I encouraged them to email me if they ever had questions, and would let them send me drafts (so long as they had something specific for me to address). The reason for this is A.) because it is courteous, but mainly B.) because I think it is an instructor's responsibility to have open lines of communication with his/her students. This is the humanities, after all.

 

[bhr]

Two things I learned:

Always have an extra letter writer. One of mine, who is both on my committee and my boss that semester (and someone I have a great relationship with), completely whiffed on one of my letters last year. He thought he had submitted it, but it hadn't completed, but when he logged in it looked like it was done, so he just ignored the email reminders through their system (and kept telling me it was in and that the problem was on their end). I, thankfully, hit up one of my other committee members who submitted one at the last minute for me.

Put those requests in early. Submitting your application a week before the due date and then generating the email request is doomed to failure, especially because your advisor may have finals to grade, student emails coming in constantly, and PhD students going out on the market. My advisor suggested that I have the requests sent out no later than 10/15, with reminders sent in mid November.

The good news, honestly, is that few places really will ignore one that comes in a couple days late. They aren't even tracking their own systems that closely, and few programs (my current one excepted) start looking at applications before the Spring semester.

[Bumblebea]

7 hours ago, JessicaLange said:

 

I completely agree with you. I had two applications due on the first and one of my recommenders filled out one of them and not the other. I have no idea why, but I re-sent the request and then I got an email from the school telling me that it needs to be in by the 15th or they won't accept it. I tried contacting her almost every day for 6 days. I sent several increasingly desperate emails. I left a voicemail on her office phone. I went to her office, but she wasn't there. I don't know why she stopped contacting me and doing what she promised, but I was so apprehensive. That's $100 and hours of work down the drain, not to mention I have two more happening tomorrow. Is she out of the country? Could she have told me two months ago that she would be hard to contact during this time? No clue, but I'm sure she must be checking her email because it's finals week. I feel very disrespected. I had to contact another professor and beg her to write me one with less than 24 hours to spare. Luckily she came through, but I'm still pissed off at my original recommender and I find it really unprofessional to make a commitment that could have been handled in two hours with two months to spare and then not follow through.

 

Alright sorry. I needed to vent.

Ugh, that's horrible. I wish the grad school process would move to a dossier service (like interfolio) as the job market has. 

[AnimeChic101!]

Update: everything is working out. My 4th letter writer came through for me and he's been uploading recs for me. He's heaven sent, honestly . 

 

Anyways, all my of my applications have been submitted! 

Edited December 16, 2016 by BlackRosePhD

[Yanaka]

2 minutes ago, BlackRosePhD said:

Update: everything is working out. My 4th letter writer came through for me and he's been uploading recs for me. He's heaven sent, honestly . 

Anyways, all my of my applications have been submitted! 

That's great. Did you value the other recommender more, or are you happy with this one too?

See, you're even much more advanced than I am despite your impediment! 

[AnimeChic101!]

Just now, Yanaka said:

That's great. Did you value the other recommender more, or are you happy with this one too?

See, you're even much more advanced than I am despite your impediment! 

He actually reached out to me and offered. I should have asked him to begin with, but since he's not on my thesis committee, I didn't include him initially. 

[hmss9245]

On 2. desember 2016 at 8:28 PM, bhr said:

I had my first acceptance by December 15th last year, and a waitlist from another school a few days later.

First acceptance got! on Dec. 13 this year! Though I'm mainly applying for CompLitt programs, this one "unofficial" admission was from a Scandinavian Studies PhD Program. Still have 10 more to go... Best luck for all of us! 

[heliogabalus]

A piece of potential advice about letters of recommendation--if the recommender is having a difficult time producing a rec, offer to write up your own letter of rec and send it to the professor to accept, adapt, or decline as she sees fit. A good letter of recommendation takes a ton of time to write--these professors know that. They may be swamped and can't find the time to do you justice or they may not regard you as highly as you think. Whatever the case, if you need to get a rec in and it's getting tight, offer to do the heavy-lifting yourself.

[Yanaka]

That's what I did too! For one of my LOR's. 

I can't believe some of you are receiving offers...  I thought I had time to wait!

[Dr. Old Bill]

1 hour ago, Yanaka said:

 

I can't believe some of you are receiving offers...  I thought I had time to wait!

You do...unless you applied to Scandinavian studies programs.

[hmss9245]

2 hours ago, Wyatt's Terps said:

You do...unless you applied to Scandinavian studies programs.

What do you mean? Seems like you know a lot about Scandi. Studies to say so..

[Yanaka]

I think he was suggesting your department starts sending out offers now? Judging from the fact that you received one? 

[Dr. Old Bill]

5 minutes ago, hmss9245 said:

What do you mean? Seems like you know a lot about Scandi. Studies to say so..

Wait...I'm confused. Did you just say yesterday that you were accepted to a Scandinavian Studies program? That's what I was responding to. Yanaka was fretting over not having "time to wait" after you said you got in somewhere...

 

On 12/16/2016 at 11:52 AM, hmss9245 said:

First acceptance got! on Dec. 13 this year! Though I'm mainly applying for CompLitt programs, this one "unofficial" admission was from a Scandinavian Studies PhD Program. Still have 10 more to go... Best luck for all of us! 

[bhr]

Acceptances/rejections are already on the board for this year.

[Yanaka]

Ugh! 

[angel_kaye13]

7 hours ago, bhr said:

Acceptances/rejections are already on the board for this year.

I wouldn't get too over-excited just yet, @Yanaka: while I don't doubt that some notifications COULD be going out, we're still in the midst of the science acceptances; we shouldn't be hearing back from US acceptances until February, at the earliest. Not that I doubt that this person could actually have gotten an acceptance already. It's just the odds are that most people in our field aren't getting notice until January, sciences come first.

[hmss9245]

14 hours ago, Yanaka said:

I think he was suggesting your department starts sending out offers now? Judging from the fact that you received one? 

Ah I omitted too much… was trying to ask if @Wyatt's Terps knew if those applying to Scan Studies are generally admitted earlier or whatever… and yes, a faculty member I intend to work sent me an email notifying me that I was expecting admission, though official offer and details of funding are still unavailable until later in the winter. 

[tvethiopia]

6 hours ago, angel_kaye13 said:

I wouldn't get too over-excited just yet, @Yanaka: while I don't doubt that some notifications COULD be going out, we're still in the midst of the science acceptances; we shouldn't be hearing back from US acceptances until February, at the earliest. Not that I doubt that this person could actually have gotten an acceptance already. It's just the odds are that most people in our field aren't getting notice until January, sciences come first.

there's a comp/rhet acceptance from michigan state on the board....

*freaking out intensifies*

[Yanaka]

But how do you know about boards??  

[angel_kaye13]

15 minutes ago, tvethiopia said:

there's a comp/rhet acceptance from michigan state on the board....

*freaking out intensifies*

I'm actually aware of that, @tvethiopia. My stating this was simply stating that...it's highly unlikely that that is true. (There are trolls out there, and, while I don't personally get it {shrug}, some people get off on that kind of thing.) 

If it IS true, then we should TOTALLY celebrate, but know that that person is the rare exception, not the rule. For the average English applicant, you really shouldn't expect to hear anything before January at the very EARLIEST. 

Unless you like undue-drama! In that case, commence away! My words are solely for those who like to not waste their energy on undue worrying.~

Best wishes!

[Dr. Old Bill]

8 minutes ago, Wyatt's Terps said:

 I would normally agree with you, @angel_kaye13, but it looks like there's also a MSU rhet/comp rejection from this year, and acceptances and rejections from mid-December last year as well. It's not my field, and I don't know their process, but it looks like MSU does indeed make its rhet/comp decisions around this time.

 I would normally agree with you, @angel_kaye13, but it looks like there's also a MSU rhet/comp rejection from this year, and acceptances and rejections from mid-December last year as well. It's not my field, and I don't know their process, but it looks like MSU does indeed make its rhet/comp decisions around this time.

1 hour ago, Yanaka said:

But how do you know about boards??  

I believe she's referring to the results boards.

(If you haven't searched these yet, the easiest way is to type in a school and a program, e.g. Berkeley Comp Lit, Berkeley Literature, Berkeley English etc.).

Edited December 18, 2016 by Wyatt's Terps

[Yanaka]

Oh my... Something else I'll be able to stalk!