Waitlisted in February. Remained second on the waitlist at every notification for five months until receiving offer.

A very strange time to receive a response

I was waitlisted initially and had already made commitment to another university by the time I received the rejection. Rip.

Was on the waitlist and received official deny via email and portal status

Got accepted without funding in late March, and a few weeks later received a generous funding package.

1W/0A/2R. Undergrad GPA 3.9. MA GPA 4.0. Waitlisted then rejected, but I only know I was waitlisted because I emailed asking for an update in early April. No official notice of waitlist. When I reached out, they said that they were "accepting very few PhD students this year due to faculty retirements.” The rejection letter was the usual boiler plate. I went to this school, so it stings a little extra.

Ignore decision, I haven't heard anything from UNC after reaching out. Does anyone know if they ghost applicants or still send out rejections in late April? Curious if anyone else is in the same boat.

Interviewed in mid-February with the two potential supervisors that I detailed on my Statement of Purpose. Accepted April 13 with a PhD Flexi RSS Scholarship via a direct email from the School of Humanities and a notification to check the Admission Portal. Excited because this university is well-regarded with a high ranking.

Extremely unprofessional. I had to email the Graduate School and English Graduate Coordinator no less than five times to get a response about my application which of course was a denial. The portal never updated nor did I receive a notification on their own behest. This is not the proper way to treat a good faith applicant. I expected more from them and would never reapply again.

Accepted off waitlist

I knew it was coming..

Accepted off waitlist

Accepted off the waitlist 4/13/26. GPA is Master's.

:) Finally! Ive already known i'll get this

I initially emailed their department on March 5th, not seeing anywhere on the portal to check for updates. They gave a kind enough response: "I can tell you that while our list of admits is not finalized, we are very unlikely to offer you a spot." On March 27th, received an update to the portal: "On behalf of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I offer my sincere appreciation for your demonstrated interest in pursuing graduate studies at the University. Your application for admission has now been reviewed by the faculty of English and Comparative Literature. With regret, I must inform you that it will not be possible to offer you admission to the English and Comparative Literature program. The UNC-Chapel Hill Graduate School receives a large number of high-quality applications each year, making admittance to The Graduate School an especially competitive process. Many factors inform our admission process, including scholastic performance, test scores, letters of recommendation, anticipated certifications, special aptitudes and coursework, background in the proposed area of study, and relevant experience. Faculty members also consider how well our program may fit the applicant's particular research objectives and professional interests. Please know that we very much appreciate the time and effort you put into the materials you submitted, as well as the opportunity you gave us to consider your application. I wish you much success in your future academic endeavors."

MFA/MA Dual Program