EALC 2018

[Jules4663]

Hi everyone

Received an email to this morning around 4 am (I'm from Australia) to check my Harvard application page.  The "application decision" on the page says the following:

• Congratulations! I am delighted to inform you that the  Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations has recommended to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) that you be invited to enroll in August   2018 for a course of study and research leading to the Doctor of Philosophy degree, and I am pleased to act on that recommendation. 

 

• Your official letter of admission has been mailed to you, along with additional information about the Graduate School and student resources. Please review these materials carefully and respond to our offer as instructed. When you are ready, you may access the electronic reply form here.  I very much hope that you will decide to come to Harvard.

• I very much hope that you will accept our offer to come to Harvard.  We look forward to welcoming you to GSAS next August.

I assume this is a definite acceptance?  I recall someone saying that Harvard in the past has occasionally sent out acceptances to the wrong people.  As I have no experience with the US university system, appreciate if anyone could comment.

Thanks 

Good luck for the other candidates

[kotatsumuri]

Wow, @Jules4663!! Congratulations and welcome! I'd say that sounds pretty official especially if that's what was in the application portal. I hope your acceptance packet can get to Australia quickly! What are your research interests (if you'd like to share) and have you heard from any other programs so far?

[Jules4663]

Research interests are early medieval (兩晉南北朝) political history (though I also like the poets and prose writers from the period too).

No other offers so far (also applied to Penn and Princeton).

 

[Naito]

@Jules4663 Wow!!! Welcome and congrats on Harvard! Very impressive! You must be very intelligent. Don't worry about Penn. The other real contender is Princeton for classical/medieval stuff. But with the Harvard acceptance you're all set! 

Edited February 14, 2018 by Naito

[AnUglyBoringNerd]

9 hours ago, Naito said:

《待校信》

尚無回音，嗚呼痛哉

未知成否，長期久待

千慮萬愁，人豈不傷

何以忘憂，名揚金榜

時河悠悠，斷吾心腸！

Long time lurker, just wanna pop up and let you know I love this!

[tsuyuri]

4 hours ago, Jules4663 said:

Hi everyone

Received an email to this morning around 4 am (I'm from Australia) to check my Harvard application page.  The "application decision" on the page says the following:

• Congratulations! I am delighted to inform you that the  Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations has recommended to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) that you be invited to enroll in August   2018 for a course of study and research leading to the Doctor of Philosophy degree, and I am pleased to act on that recommendation. 

 

• Your official letter of admission has been mailed to you, along with additional information about the Graduate School and student resources. Please review these materials carefully and respond to our offer as instructed. When you are ready, you may access the electronic reply form here.  I very much hope that you will decide to come to Harvard.

• I very much hope that you will accept our offer to come to Harvard.  We look forward to welcoming you to GSAS next August.

I assume this is a definite acceptance?  I recall someone saying that Harvard in the past has occasionally sent out acceptances to the wrong people.  As I have no experience with the US university system, appreciate if anyone could comment.

Thanks 

Good luck for the other candidates

Congratulations! I think this is pretty much a definite answer. 

[Naito]

@AnUglyBoringNerd Haha thank you! And I love your Pusheen avatar.  Hopefully I won't have to write the sequel, 《落志吟》(if I get rejected) LOL. 

Edited February 14, 2018 by Naito

[lordtiandao]

Congrats on the Harvard admit! Any day now for Princeton, but honestly, for a school that has a December 1 deadline and did their interviews so early, Princeton is so slow with decisions...

[AnUglyBoringNerd]

40 minutes ago, Naito said:

@AnUglyBoringNerd Haha thank you! And I love your Pusheen avatar.  Hopefully I won't have to write the sequel, 《落志吟》(if I get rejected) LOL. 

To be honest, last year when I got rejected everywhere, I felt more like a 弃妇/怨女... Now I wonder if the application process is a gendered experience.... or if I had constructed my relationship with PhD programs in a problematic way....   

[Kaiwei]

@Jules4663 Congrats! That's a great accomplishment! And their program seems wonderful as well! 

@mxiongturquoise Very cool stuff. I have read Yeats' Byzantium poems once or twice. Sounds like an amazing comparison with 桃花源記. I would be quite interested to read that paper! 

[winterlover]

Hello everyone! Congrats to those got admitted!

I haven't got an e-mail from a university but the department decision on the portal page changed from "pending" to "admitted".  The graduate school decision is still "pending", should I just wait or e-mail to ask for more information?

 

[Naito]

1 hour ago, AnUglyBoringNerd said:

To be honest, last year when I got rejected everywhere, I felt more like a 弃妇/怨女... Now I wonder if the application process is a gendered experience.... or if I had constructed my relationship with PhD programs in a problematic way....   

Often it's just one professor who says "I want this candidate!" and thus he or she is admitted. But like 韓非子曰："欲成其事，先敗其事", this time you'll get accepted! 

Edited February 14, 2018 by Naito

[lordtiandao]

@winterlover What school is this? Seems to be that the department has decided to admit you, but the decision still has to be approved by the school.

[bakedmanapua]

@Jules4663 congratulations! That’s pretty exciting! I’m sure it isn’t a mistake ☺️

I guess a number of emails just went out, too, because I was just rejected....I’m a bit bummed, as it was a top choice, but I’ve got some other great admits so in the grand scheme of things it’s all good  

@winterlover that sounds potentially like an admission! Maybe the emails just aren’t out yet? Might be worth an email to the department.

[Naito]

@spicyramen Harvard PhD admission is like a Pandora box! True story: A friend of a friend applied to Harvard, Penn, Columbia, and two more programs I can't remember, and got rejected from all of them, except Harvard. Harvard was the last one that didn't reply yet. Then she emailed the school asking please, tell me I got rejected already, so that I can move on with my life! Interestingly, Harvard replied, saying "Oh no, you actually got accepted! It was an unanimous vote!" And now she is happily at Harvard.

[kotatsumuri]

12 hours ago, winterlover said:

I haven't got an e-mail from a university but the department decision on the portal page changed from "pending" to "admitted".  The graduate school decision is still "pending", should I just wait or e-mail to ask for more information?

I'm guessing it will be an acceptance too! One of the programs I applied to emailed me when the department committee accepeted me, but said it still had to officially go through the department of graduate studies. It's pretty unlikely that they'll go against the department's recommendation, though, so congratulations!!

 

@AnUglyBoringNerd Given your signature, it looks like you're having much better luck this year! Congrats!!

@spicyramen Sorry to hear about your rejectionHaving other offers on the table already sure helps the sting!

[AnUglyBoringNerd]

6 minutes ago, kotatsumuri said:

@AnUglyBoringNerd Given your signature, it looks like you're having much better luck this year! Congrats!!

 

Thank you for the kind words!  Indeed, this year's Chinese New Year will no longer feel like a funeral for my nascent academic career, and my gratitude is without doubt ineffable.

Also, good luck to everyone! I was rejected by Harvard (and then UPenn, both were History programs though) around this time last year, and I still remember how it felt. I actually contacted my very nice POI at Harvard after receiving my rejection, who gently explained to me why i was rejected - that was very helpful. I made all the changes I could for this round of application according to exactly what he said.  

[Kaiwei]

Accepted to Stanford's MA program! Received letter from POI! 

[Naito]

@costevens Wow, CONGRATS!!! Woohoo!!! Yay!!  You're a smart cookie!

[kotatsumuri]

That's great news @costevens!! Congratulations!

[winterlover]

20 hours ago, lordtiandao said:

@winterlover What school is this? Seems to be that the department has decided to admit you, but the decision still has to be approved by the school.

It's UO, the status of the graduate school hasn't' changed...

[winterlover]

9 hours ago, spicyramen said:

 

@winterlover that sounds potentially like an admission! Maybe the emails just aren’t out yet? Might be worth an email to the department.

 

Thank you for responding, I am going to send an e-mail.

8 hours ago, kotatsumuri said:

I'm guessing it will be an acceptance too! One of the programs I applied to emailed me when the department committee accepeted me, but said it still had to officially go through the department of graduate studies. It's pretty unlikely that they'll go against the department's recommendation, though, so congratulations!!

2

Thank you for providing your experience, it is very helpful!

[chihiro]

Congrats! @costevens

[bakedmanapua]

Congratulations! @costevens

[Naito]

I just realized that all of the Harvard PhD rejections for people on here on the results page came out on Valentine's Day!  如此狠手，碎我心思！