So, is this what defeat feels like?

[Soul Invictus]

Hi everyone,

First of all, much love to all of you. We're all suffering or have suffered together these past few months, even though we were all isolated from one another. Well, kids, I haven't heard from anyone yet, except berkeley and University of Washington. I was rejected from Berkeley, and the prospect of funding at the University of Washington seems doubtful... its possible though (nominated for a fellowship through GSAS, but no departmental stuff). But other than that, I haven't received anything. This makes me feel like rejection is just around the corner. Has anyone heard from Fordham? If I haven't received invites for interviews at Harvard, Brown or Penn yet, is my rejection laying in the hands of the USPS?

Let me know what you think/ know. I'm especially interested in what people have to say about Brown, as I am dying to hear from them.

To close, I'm sure everyone here is very qualified, and sincere congratulations to those of you who are going to your "dream schools".

SVBEEV

[monsoonmaiden]

At least you had an acceptance in hand from Washington! I've so far only heard from Berkeley, too, and since I've started hearing others getting acceptances to my other 2 schools, my hope has really funneled down the drain. I'm kind of praying for a waitlisting at this point, even though I have the feeling this year few will even be taken from a waitlist, seeing as most people will just take what they can get. The only thing I've heard about Brown so far is that they have their invitational weekend for the Joukowsky Institute March 5 or something similar. 2 students from my department were invited in very early February. However! I know nothing at all about their other tracks, so maybe someone else knows more about the non-archaeology side of things over there...

Looking at just the results search patterns on this website, Harvard doesn't seem to notify acceptances until late February, so you still have time, don't stress about that one yet. :-)

Good luck! You're not alone!

Edited February 22, 2010 by monsoonmaiden

[ResPublica]

Let me weave you a tale of rejection, my friend. I received my BA in 2004, double major and double minor, Dean's List every quarter during my last two years, National Dean's List during those years, studied abroad at Cambridge and Cork, ect ect. That year I was rejected from the only two MA programs I applied to, so I applied and got into a Post Bac program after taking some time off. After two years of straight As in the Post Bac program, I applied again, this time to five PhD programs and one MA. I got rejected across the board from the PhD programs, and got into the MA program but never received information on funding. So I stuck it out another year in the Post Bac program, and applied again this year. I only applied to three programs, but so far I have gotten into two of them, one of which is a top ten program. The jury is still out on the third.

I understand your despair, and I was right there last year. This past year I have felt like I had no direction, and for the first time in a decade I started slacking on school work because I honestly did not think I would be going any further with it. Even if you don't get in this year, or you can't take an offer due to funding circumstances or what have you, it is by no means the end of the road. Get focused again, study for the GRE again, read some more Greek and Latin, pick up French and German if you haven't yet, consider revising your SOP and writing sample, get together with your current advisors and get a new game plan or alter your current one. You can also consider asking the programs which rejected you what you might do to improve your application next year. There are so many things you can do to strengthen your application, and they won't necessarily cost you more money.

The only thing that changed on my application was one more Greek course and a revised and more focused SOP. I couldn't really stomach the GRE again despite my mediocre scores, and I couldn't afford to take more courses. The biggest change I made was being realistic with where I was sending my applications to. Being consistently rejected from top programs sent me a clear message that I needed to really diversify my applications if was going to get in somewhere.

I know it may seem bleak, but one year of rejections shouldn't be enough to keep you down and out if you are determined.

Edited February 22, 2010 by ResPublica