2017 Acceptances

[everyblueline]

@Warelin  & @TheNostalgicFunction -- Wow--you all are wonderful. Thank you so so much--those are both super helpful responses. Esp //I had definitely thought that the School for Criticism and Theory was more tightly associated with Cornell than that, and it was having a definite impact on my decision-making process. The point about the city v. small town is also very helpful, and not something I had thought about enough. 

[ratanegra19]

UCSB for the win!

I got an impersonal email yesterday that just said "A decision has been made". I was all geared up for a rejection and then, BOOM! I haven't heard from the DGS or my POI yet, however--I wonder if their wires got crossed and the Grad School sent out the notification before the English Department was ready to contact me?

Either way, I'm pretty stoked--IU is looking better and better, and they've taken a real personal interest in me, but UCSB was also one of my top choices...Imma have to get on the "Decisions" forum and ask for some hefty advice...

[SlobDylan]

Just found this site- basking in the shared anxiety! Thought I'd throw in my responses so far:

Cornell: Waitlist

UVA: Waitlist

Chicago: Nope

Vanderbilt: Nope

 

I see some people got Rutgers and NYU acceptances, so bit of a bummer. I also applied to UPenn, Brown, Berkeley. I don't suppose anyone has heard from them yet?

[ratanegra19]

@SlobDylan, welcome to the fold! This site is a great place to hang out, and certainly one of the most positive online communities I've ever encountered (which is nice...you know how forums can get)

I don't know if you have already seen the "Results" board tab at the top of the page, but it took me a few months to figure out it was even there (*sheepish grin), so I'll go over it on the off chance that you haven't looked at it yet. Basically, you can log any results you've gotten (rejections, acceptances, waitlists) as they come in and see other folks doing the same. You can also do school or program specific searches to see what people have already logged and when. That way, you don't have to check your portal every two seconds/annoy the DGS.

IDK about Rutgers, NYU, or UPenn, but I also applied to Berkeley and Brown but haven't heard a peep--I know a bunch of folks got acceptances one or two weeks ago, but they don't seem to have sent out all the rejections or waitlists yet. Keep your fingers crossed, though--I definitely thought I was facing a rejection from UCLA last week because of radio silence, and I ended up getting put on their waitlist!

Best of luck!

[Captain Cabinets]

@everyblueline, will I by any chance be seeing you at Chicago's Prospective Students' Day?  

 

[imogenshakes]

1 hour ago, ratanegra19 said:

UCSB for the win!

I got an impersonal email yesterday that just said "A decision has been made". I was all geared up for a rejection and then, BOOM! I haven't heard from the DGS or my POI yet, however--I wonder if their wires got crossed and the Grad School sent out the notification before the English Department was ready to contact me?

Either way, I'm pretty stoked--IU is looking better and better, and they've taken a real personal interest in me, but UCSB was also one of my top choices...Imma have to get on the "Decisions" forum and ask for some hefty advice...

Hooray UCSB! There seems to be quite a few of us ? Are you going to the visiting day on the 10th? 

I do feel the same way about the decisions forum though. My pros and cons lists for my top two (Davis and SB) are getting quite long, each for different but equally important reasons. It's going to be tough!

[ratanegra19]

5 minutes ago, imogenshakes said:

Hooray UCSB! There seems to be quite a few of us ? Are you going to the visiting day on the 10th? 

It's weird--since I haven't talked to the DGS yet, I actually haven't heard about visitor's day or anything else. I expect that they will probably contact me more formally on Monday, though. That being said, I really want to go and visit, but whether I go on the 10th or another day remains to be seen--I have a final to give and two seminar papers to turn in by that following Monday 

Right now I'm mostly worried about the affordability of SB--I mean, they offer the full funding packages, but it looks like it's about 18K/year--a lot more than I'm making right now, but it won't go very far in a place like Santa Barbara, where housing is so expensive that even the faculty live in University-subsidized apartments. Not that I mind, but I have a partner and so we would have to get family housing, which has a waitlist of around 10 months--yikes!

We'll see, though--it's honestly a really good fit. I'll have to see the campus and talk to some of the students already attending to get a better idea of the ins and outs of living there  

[everyblueline]

39 minutes ago, Captain Cabinets said:

@everyblueline, will I by any chance be seeing you at Chicago's Prospective Students' Day?  

 

Yup! : )

[la_mod]

Do y'all know anything more about Michigan? It's one of my top choices and I'm kind of freaking out. When is it safe to imply rejection? 5 acceptances on GC, no rejections or waitlists..... ugh.....

[chamakay]

1 hour ago, ratanegra19 said:

It's weird--since I haven't talked to the DGS yet, I actually haven't heard about visitor's day or anything else. I expect that they will probably contact me more formally on Monday, though. That being said, I really want to go and visit, but whether I go on the 10th or another day remains to be seen--I have a final to give and two seminar papers to turn in by that following Monday 

Right now I'm mostly worried about the affordability of SB--I mean, they offer the full funding packages, but it looks like it's about 18K/year--a lot more than I'm making right now, but it won't go very far in a place like Santa Barbara, where housing is so expensive that even the faculty live in University-subsidized apartments. Not that I mind, but I have a partner and so we would have to get family housing, which has a waitlist of around 10 months--yikes!

We'll see, though--it's honestly a really good fit. I'll have to see the campus and talk to some of the students already attending to get a better idea of the ins and outs of living there  

I was accepted and I'm concerned about the same thing. My boyfriend wants to come out there with me if I go, but I'm not sure how we would make it work, especially when it seems like it's difficult to get family housing at all if you're not married or otherwise official. And I don't know how to drive or how much of a problem that would pose, but, of course, that's something I can learn if need be. According to the information I received the stipend is somewhat higher than that, though, and divided by 9 months rather than 12 it's not so bad (pretty much what I live on now, in NYC--actually a little bit more, I think). Also--I did ask about getting to the Open House. They provide two nights in a hotel and transport to/from the airport but do not offer funds toward the cost of airfare/travel. Also, I did get an email about my acceptance, but my portal still just says "submitted." Weird!

Edited February 18, 2017 by chamakay

[ratanegra19]

11 minutes ago, chamakay said:

I was accepted and I'm concerned about the same thing. My boyfriend wants to come out there with me if I go, but I'm not sure how we would make it work, especially when it seems like it's difficult to get family housing at all if you're not married or otherwise official. And I don't know how to drive or how much of a problem that would pose, but, of course, that's something I can learn if need be. According to the information I received the stipend is somewhat higher than that, though, and divided by 9 months rather than 12 it's not so bad (pretty much what I live on now, in NYC--actually a little bit more, I think). Also--I did ask about getting to the Open House. They provide two nights in a hotel and transport to/from the airport but do not offer funds toward the cost of airfare/travel. Also, I did get an email about my acceptance, but my portal still just says "submitted." Weird!

Lol, maybe the four of us could share a Motel 6 room for three months while they figure out the family housing situation...

Thanks for all the good info, that's actually super helpful--I will probably try to talk to the Housing division directly if and when I go over there to visit. As they say, knowing is half the battle  

[imogenshakes]

1 hour ago, ratanegra19 said:

Lol, maybe the four of us could share a Motel 6 room for three months while they figure out the family housing situation...

Thanks for all the good info, that's actually super helpful--I will probably try to talk to the Housing division directly if and when I go over there to visit. As they say, knowing is half the battle  

Hahah! I'm in the same boat. I'm also married, and I put us on the family housing waitlist about a month ago but because we don't have kids they said it could take upwards of a year. You'd think they'd have all this figured out already, or give us stipends that we could actually live on. It seems like nowhere around SB if affordable in any sense of the term. The Motel 6 split is sounding like a great idea at this point ?

At any rate, it would be great if we could all meet up at the open house, so as we get closer, let's all be in touch! 

Edited February 19, 2017 by imogenshakes

[ratanegra19]

2 hours ago, imogenshakes said:

At any rate, it would be great if we could all meet up at the open house, so as we get closer, let's all be in touch! 

For sure!

[yanicus]

Got a lovely call from a wonderful professor at Rutgers this afternoon! Honestly I hand't really expected half the acceptances I've gotten, but it's been a pretty crazy couple of weeks... and still three notifications left.

[chocochip]

On 2/12/2017 at 0:28 PM, aob981 said:

This weekend, I received nice, brief emails from professor/DGS at UGA and U of South Carolina saying that I had been accepted, welcoming me into the program and offering to answer any questions that I have, but without any kind of letter or more information about funding, visiting, etc. Is this something that might come later in a more formal communication or is it up to me to read what's on the website and ask them to go over this with me/answer specific questions I have? Any insight is appreciated, thanks!

Congrats! I received the same brief email from UGA last weekend. I've been watching my mailbox and inbox for the official notification, but nothing yet. And answering phone calls from the Athens area code thus far has yielded nothing but one telemarketer call. ?

[aob981]

3 hours ago, chocochip said:

Congrats! I received the same brief email from UGA last weekend. I've been watching my mailbox and inbox for the official notification, but nothing yet. And answering phone calls from the Athens area code thus far has yielded nothing but one telemarketer call. ?

I actually ended up emailing Michelle Baliff and she gave me the details, so you might do the same. The information she gave me was just standard information about TA-ship listed on their website. Apparently they don't officially offer you funding in form of TA-ship until after you accept. I also asked about visiting, which was helpful. 

[SilasWegg]

Hey @yanicus congrats on the Rutgers acceptance! I'm a second year in the Rutgers English program. If you have any questions, send a message. 

[imogenshakes]

@yanicus - congratulations on the acceptance! ??

9 hours ago, aob981 said:

I actually ended up emailing Michelle Baliff and she gave me the details, so you might do the same. The information she gave me was just standard information about TA-ship listed on their website. Apparently they don't officially offer you funding in form of TA-ship until after you accept. I also asked about visiting, which was helpful. 

@aob981 and @chocochip, I just got to Athens for my campus visit and have a million mtgs with various people in the next two days, so if you guys want me to scope anything out or ask any particular questions, let me know! I don't mind sharing what I find out! 

Also, fwiw, the town has a pretty cool vibe. Kinda southern hipster (or, at least, my version of hipster. Haha). I quite like it!

[Tybalt]

On 2/18/2017 at 9:06 AM, piers_plowman said:

With the high percentage of early modernists they're sporting, here's hoping! I think they're the all-around Holy Grail of departments, stacked in basically every area. Their placement rates in early modern jobs especially are staggering. AHH I just need to know

 

On 2/18/2017 at 8:45 AM, Wyatt's Terps said:

Congratulations!! I'mma gonna go ahead and cross it off my list...

Penn has also been my top choice! Maybe if we're lucky they'll take a couple of early modernists this time around?

 

I worked with a semi-recent UPenn grad (medievalist) here at Rochester (she got a job here as the Robbins Library Director, but just had to leave because her partner got an amazing job in England).  From my conversations with her, I'm not surprised at all that Penn's placement rate is so high.  To hear her talk, Penn puts a HUGE emphasis on professionalization.  That, plus Penn letterhead will lead to job offers.  It's second-hand info, but I figured I'd toss it out there.

[engphiledu]

Here's hoping this thread is overflowing with good news this week! Best of luck to everyone!

[slightlymoreanonymous]

Echoing engphiledu, congrats on the latest acceptances and good luck to everyone! 

Also, a question: grad stipends aren't negotiable, right? I'm accepted at a handful of programs so far, but I'm assuming that stipends are standard across the department and not negotiable the way job offers are. Can anyone speak to any of this? 

[jungThug]

8 minutes ago, Ashley828 said:

Echoing engphiledu, congrats on the latest acceptances and good luck to everyone! 

Also, a question: grad stipends aren't negotiable, right? I'm accepted at a handful of programs so far, but I'm assuming that stipends are standard across the department and not negotiable the way job offers are. Can anyone speak to any of this? 

Some departments will negotiate with you to match offers. It depends on the school and the program and how much you expect them to raise the stipend amount. But for the most part, stipends are like salaries in that they are subject to negotiation provided you have better offers lined up as well. It helps if you ask one of your advisors/mentors to help you in the negotiation process because it can be a bit tricky. Best of luck! Its great to have options.

[KTF87]

finally received the JHU official rejection!!!!!

still waiting on NYU (English) and NW (Performance Studies).

best of luck for everyone!!!

[brontebitch]

I want to preface this with the acknowledgement that this may not be the correct place to post this, and I apologize in advance! Just wanted to post somewhere to let UMN Twin Cities applicants know that my advisor/letter writer attended UMN for her PhD and her advisor is still there and a part of the graduate admissions committee. I was rejected and she reached out to him and shared with me that because of the job market for the humanities they accepted fewer students than previous years, and almost all of them already had their MA degrees (he also said he was impressed by my application and many others that would have probably been accepted in years prior, but not in the current market). As an undergraduate dipping my feet into this process, it made me feel a lot better to know with some certainty that it's not always about you, sometimes schools just can't take you for logistical/economic reasons/etc. That being said, MAJOR congratulations to those who did get in at UMN because it sounds like it was ultra competitive this round. 

Also hoping for more good news this week for myself and others! Good luck everyone and congrats to those who have already been accepted!  

 

[anxiousphd]

47 minutes ago, jungThug said:

Some departments will negotiate with you to match offers. It depends on the school and the program and how much you expect them to raise the stipend amount. But for the most part, stipends are like salaries in that they are subject to negotiation provided you have better offers lined up as well. It helps if you ask one of your advisors/mentors to help you in the negotiation process because it can be a bit tricky. Best of luck! Its great to have options.

@Ashley828 ^ this sounds like pretty solid advice.

I've also heard that if you have other offers, it might be a good time to mention them. If you said to one program, "Your program, Program X, is my top choice, but school Y offered me $$$. What is the cost of living in X city? I am trying to weigh my offers to make the best decision," perhaps they would up your offer, or let you know whether or not stipends are fixed. Worst case scenario, you get some helpful information about the cost of living.