UIC PhD Anyone?

[LiteratureMajor]

There's still mystery about who posted the UIC English acceptance, so I'm curious to know if any other hopefuls are willing to post. What was your application experience? And does anyone have an idea as to when decisions will start rolling in? I've seen only one posted in the results section, so I'm wondering.

[chitown]

In past years, UIC has notified of acceptances via letter (although I'm sure the phone call is legit as this is right around the time that UIC makes decisions.) Rejections are first posted via the application website, and then a follow-up letter is sent a week or two later. Accepted students web status's never change from "Pending."

Hope this helps a bit.

[LiteratureMajor]

In past years, UIC has notified of acceptances via letter (although I'm sure the phone call is legit as this is right around the time that UIC makes decisions.) Rejections are first posted via the application website, and then a follow-up letter is sent a week or two later. Accepted students web status's never change from "Pending."

Hope this helps a bit.

Thank you for responding and for sharing this information. Do you know if this department first notifies accepted students before listing all rejections on the Web site? There is now a total of 2 UIC PhD acceptances according to the results page. I am attempting to gauge how my own decision will play out, so I'd like to determine how many UIC is admitting/waitlisting and if those students were in fact notified this week. I haven't heard a peep and my status is still Pending.

[TryingAgain]

Hi! I am the UIC poster. I received a phone message from Nicholas Brown, my POI, this afternoon. I haven't actually spoken with him yet - he was on his way to catch a plane, so I didn't call back. He didn't give any details about funding or anything, but asked that I call him back this weekend or next week. I will let you all know if I get any info about whether they are done with their acceptances or not (I doubt that they are done). Good luck - I will keep my fingers crossed for you.

[LiteratureMajor]

Hi! I am the UIC poster. I received a phone message from Nicholas Brown, my POI, this afternoon. I haven't actually spoken with him yet - he was on his way to catch a plane, so I didn't call back. He didn't give any details about funding or anything, but asked that I call him back this weekend or next week. I will let you all know if I get any info about whether they are done with their acceptances or not (I doubt that they are done). Good luck - I will keep my fingers crossed for you.

Thank you, TryingAgain! Congratulations to you. I would certainly appreciate more info and I am grateful for any good luck wishes I can get. (Btw, did your online status change or are you still 'Pending'?)

[TryingAgain]

Thanks for the congrats! I just checked and it still says "Pending - manual review required," which is what it has said for quite some time. I will post here if I garner any more info. Try to have a good weekend (I know -seems impossible right now, but try anyway)!

[TC3]

Yes, anyone admitted please post when they're notified, and for what focus area. I'm particularly interested in the creative writing PhD.

I'm also wondering if POI voicemail messages would precede the more official, yet still unofficial DGS email/call, for those who indicated a POI on their SOP.

[chiteach]

My application also says "Pending-Manual Review Req'd," but I haven't heard anything from the department. I have a friend in the PhD now and he's already said they are offering fewer slots than last year, due to funding.

[chitown]

My application also says "Pending-Manual Review Req'd," but I haven't heard anything from the department. I have a friend in the PhD now and he's already said they are offering fewer slots than last year, due to funding.

Wow, that's surprising, since they already drastically cut the number of students admitted last year as well. Yikes.

Oh, and also, they make decisions for the creative PhD separately from the lit PhD so decisions may not come out at the same time. FYI.

[TC3]

Wow, that's surprising, since they already drastically cut the number of students admitted last year as well. Yikes.

Oh, and also, they make decisions for the creative PhD separately from the lit PhD so decisions may not come out at the same time. FYI.

Right, I recall that UIC accepted 7 and waitlisted approximately 7 last year, out of approximately 200 PhD applicants (3% acceptance rate, more stringest than even some of the most exclusive medical schools in the US). I've only heard of tiny, tiny programs (e.g. Washington University in St. Louis) accepting less than this, and it would be strange for a program as large as UIC to go below 7. I suppose, though, with their funding package (6 years even for those who already hold a Masters), money *would* be tight even at those small numbers.

Perhaps the "cutting down on slots" announcement is still lingering from last year?

[ohh-holy-hell]

Right, I recall that UIC accepted 7 and waitlisted approximately 7 last year, out of approximately 200 PhD applicants (3% acceptance rate, more stringest than even some of the most exclusive medical schools in the US). I've only heard of tiny, tiny programs (e.g. Washington University in St. Louis) accepting less than this, and it would be strange for a program as large as UIC to go below 7. I suppose, though, with their funding package (6 years even for those who already hold a Masters), money *would* be tight even at those small numbers.

Perhaps the "cutting down on slots" announcement is still lingering from last year?

UIC has only received something like 7% of its state funding this year so there are broad cuts, forced furloughs--even for tenured faculty. I wouldn't be surprised if they cut the slots again this year. They're in a bit of a crisis mode.

[LiteratureMajor]

I have to say I find this quite disheartening. UIC's PhD program is my top choice, but I would have appreciated knowing about such a severely limited number of slots. I even corresponded with a POI last week but wasn't given any hint about my status. That is reason for worry but to know that there are likely less than seven slots available is agony. I would like confirmation about all accepted students being contacted last week. Can anyone offer any concrete details about this?

[TC3]

I have to say I find this quite disheartening. UIC's PhD program is my top choice, but I would have appreciated knowing about such a severely limited number of slots. I even corresponded with a POI last week but wasn't given any hint about my status. That is reason for worry but to know that there are likely less than seven slots available is agony. I would like confirmation about all accepted students being contacted last week. Can anyone offer any concrete details about this?

I do find it a bit dehumanizing that the few who are accepted receive personalized, glowing acceptance messages, while those who didn't make the absurdly small cut don't even get the dignity of a straight response. I've experienced this in years past. Apparently we're only good for the form rejection letter that takes an extra month to process through the graduate school.

[LiteratureMajor]

I do find it a bit dehumanizing that the few who are accepted receive personalized, glowing acceptance messages, while those who didn't make the absurdly small cut don't even get the dignity of a straight response. I've experienced this in years past. Apparently we're only good for the form rejection letter that takes an extra month to process through the graduate school.

Have you experienced this at UIC? I appreciate knowing if this is how their program handles applicants. At $50 an app we all deserve more respect and straightforwardness.

[TC3]

Have you experienced this at UIC? I appreciate knowing if this is how their program handles applicants. At $50 an app we all deserve more respect and straightforwardness.

Well, I think every program is at least partially guilty of drawing out the rejection process, and even further, I'd guess (though I have no proof and ad.coms. would vigorously deny this) that these fees only get a lot of people a fleeting consideration before being tossed in the slushpile.

I do wish that the application process were cheaper ($40-$80 per application, postage for materials, $20 per GRE score report, transcript processing fees, paper and printer ink since some applications (e.g. my Cornell MFA/PhD app) can push 70 pages of supplemental materials), since I'm pretty sure that all it gets me at many programs is a passing glance before being written off. But then again, I'm a bit cynical about it. It may involve much more integrity than I give it credit for.

[hadunc]

Have you experienced this at UIC? I appreciate knowing if this is how their program handles applicants. At $50 an app we all deserve more respect and straightforwardness.

I applied last year and all I got was a status change on my app (not even an email telling me to check it, I just happened to log in) followed a couple weeks later by an official rejection letter.

I'm not really sure why I decided to reapply this year since I've never really felt good vibes from their department, other than the fact that going there would mean not having to relocate to a new city. But from what other posters have said about their funding issues, even if I were to be accepted this time around I think I'll be turning it down.

[TC3]

I will say that UIC was the only department of the ten to which I'm applying that flat-out refused to update my application file after the due date when I received news of an article acceptance at a scholarly periodical. Every other program, including an Ivy League school, seemed happy to insert a little note into my file. This *is* how it works for job search committees, so it isn't that outlandish to treat doctoral applications differently, professionalism and all .

[LiteratureMajor]

Thank you for sharing your experience. You are right about the strange vibe. The grad coordinator is not the friendliest person in the world and when I called (anonymously) last week to ask when decisions would be released he said they would only be released on the Web fist, then the letter would follow. Yet people were contacted by phone . Contradictory, yes?

[TC3]

Thank you for sharing your experience. You are right about the strange vibe. The grad coordinator is not the friendliest person in the world and when I called (anonymously) last week to ask when decisions would be released he said they would only be released on the Web fist, then the letter would follow. Yet people were contacted by phone . Contradictory, yes?

I wouldn't expect any program to reply personally to the hundreds that are passed over, but I also don't think it would be that difficult to send a form email to the slushpile once the slushpile is established, instead of refusing to tell people that they're rejected and allowing them to agonize over weeks and weeks of ambivalence only to receive the same form rejection through snail mail. It further dehumanizes those who don't make it and sends the message that departments only respect applicants if they make it in. Of course, that's an exaggeration, and a department is an aggregation of bureaucratic procedures that don't "treat" people one way or another, but it does seem that there's a lot of apathy towards those who aren't deemed worthy enough by whatever myserious and arbitrary (certainly *not* blind merit) process that ad.coms. use.

That said, I really don't feel any animosity towards UIC, and while I don't expect to make it in, if I do, I wouldn't nurse any negative feelings about the application process. They're probably only accepting one or two creative writing PhDs, though, so whoever of that concerntration does make it in, you should feel very, *very* lucky!

[TryingAgain]

Hi all. This is just a follow up to my earlier post. I finally spoke with my POI today. Sorry to say I wasn't able to gather much information for those of you still waiting to hear. He said I should get an official letter of acceptance in the mail - in fact he sounded surprised that I hadn't received it yet. That makes me think letters should be going out to others soon, too. I'm sorry I don't know any more. Keep up the hope!

[LiteratureMajor]

Hi all. This is just a follow up to my earlier post. I finally spoke with my POI today. Sorry to say I wasn't able to gather much information for those of you still waiting to hear. He said I should get an official letter of acceptance in the mail - in fact he sounded surprised that I hadn't received it yet. That makes me think letters should be going out to others soon, too. I'm sorry I don't know any more. Keep up the hope!

Thanks for the update and congrats again.

[LiteratureMajor]

I heard from a source that today is the day for all UIC PhD decisions. Has anyone found any status changes on the website?

[TC3]

I heard from a source that today is the day for all UIC PhD decisions. Has anyone found any status changes on the website?

No, mine is still "Pending," but it's likely that those flip over to "Deny" a little bit *after* positions are offered.

[Sibilance7]

Just stopping by to say that I'm currently a first-year PhD student at UIC if anyone has any questions (other than those about admission - they haven't told me anything!). Congrats to those who have heard good news already, and don't fret if you haven't received definitive news either way. It took them a long time to contact me last year to tell me I was waitlisted, mostly because it was the first year they had used a waitlist. They may still be working out the kinks of that process.

[TC3]

It looks like the statuses have started to flip over to "Deny" (or whatever it is). I imagine that this has to be done manually on each person's account, so there should be a steady trickle of these tomorrow.