Drumroll.....

So, the first round of notifications appears to have begun. I think. Yep, it's that certain. I think.

Thanks to the neurosis that this process causes, there is an amazing site where most people post their admissions offers, as soon as they get them. This allows everyone else, still waiting, to track which schools have started notifying, and by what department. It even breaks it out by rejections/acceptances and some people are kind enough to provide comments and their GPA and GRE/TOEFL scores. So, you have something to compare yourself to.

Anyway, when you start to see your schools, and your department appear here, you know that you should hear any day now. Supposedly. As I said before, it isn't necessarily a bad thing to not hear on the first day/round. It may mean that you are a second string choice. I don't care if I'm second string; I just want to get in. An instant reject is much worse!

The news of the day is that two of my three schools' English Departments made single notifications today. Yep, ONE notification per school. One was an international student, and one was an American. Not sure if that figures into anything, but eh. And both were "rejected." Why "air quotes?" (imagine I air quoted). Well, because they weren't flat rejected; they were offered unfunded admission into the MA program, instead of a spot in the PhD programs.

Oy. What to do if that happens to me? I. have. no. idea. Don't get me started on that.

So, that's the update. I'm currently on a 20-30 second email checking rotation, at this point now. And Bryon says I'm talking really fast, and my hands are all "flappy and weird." This should be a fun week or so (as I've determined that it can't be much longer than that--yes, it's an arbitrary determination).

This process is not for the faint of heart!