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Krystal

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About Krystal

  • Birthday July 18

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  • Gender
    Female
  • Location
    Philadelphia, PA
  • Application Season
    2017 Fall
  • Program
    PhD English

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  1. I'm an early modernist, but the DGS said that they did a "cluster recruitment" for MedRen students this year, which isn't something I've ever heard of before. From what I understand, they currently have one medievalist on board and one early modernist (me) -- and one student who is still deciding, whose interests toe that ever-so-delicate medieval and renaissance line. Also, the Cathedral of Learning is something else entirely! I visited a few months ago and thought, "If I have to be sleepless and overworked somewhere, I wouldn't mind being sleepless and overworked here!"
  2. I was originally on the waitlist, and am 99% sure after speaking to the DGS that I'm taking the spot you declined. So as far as I'm concerned, should our paths ever cross, your gigantic beverage of choice is on me!
  3. I've been a lurker this application season, but just wanted to share that I've officially accepted University of Pittsburgh's offer (I'm an early modernist, for anyone who is interested)! I've seen a few fellow future-Pittsburghers on the forum and I sincerely cannot wait to work with you all! Congrats to everyone -- you all totally and completely rock.
  4. Hello all! I was super active here when I was applying to programs but have fallen off the wayside a bit! Congratulations on all of the wonderful acceptances to all of you wonderful applicants! I've got one rejection under my belt (Duke) with 8 programs left to go! Ways to distract myself from checking my email every ten minutes include: counting backwards from 1000 by 7, making really long crochet chains because it's the only crochet I know, fangirling over Harper Lee news, sledding using lunch trays I stole from my high school in 11th grade, and tenderly loving whiskey. GradCafe has been a little haven of joy and support, and I just wanted to get in on this! xx
  5. Early modernist here too! I'm going with a paper on Middleton and the morality play for my sample -- which is slowly but surely being revised. Yikes! But a paper on Milton and gender/sexuality sounds excellent! Any details?
  6. Hello, hello! I'm not sure how much I can help regarding PhD timelines, but I did get my MA (1 year) at KCL, so perhaps seeing how my own timeline worked would be beneficial! We spent out first semester taking the core modules for the MA, and had to submit a proposal for our dissertations in December. A faculty member chose which students they'd like to work with based on their own research and areas of expertise, and we met with them for the first time that February. We took two courses of our choice in the spring, and literature reviews were due that April. Final dissertations were submitted the first week of September - essentially giving you all summer to discuss your topic with your advisor, research, and write. It moves at a rapid speed - which is something I've also heard about UK PhD programs. Because students complete their MA/PhD's in such a short amount of time compared to the US (obviously much of this has to do with their research-heavy approach as opposed to a US teaching-heavy approach), nearly every moment of your time is dedicated to your writing. This isn't very different from US PhD programs, of course, but I think the US time frame allows for a little bit of wiggle room that virtually doesn't exist in UK PhD programs. It's thrilling stuff, honestly. A whirlwind - but totally thrilling. I hope this helps! I'd be happy to answer any other UK higher-ed questions you may have!
  7. Hello everyone! I've been spending nearly every evening for the past two weeks making flashcards for this exam, but I happened to stumble upon a really useful set of flashcards online. They look like they were made directly from the Cracking GRE Lit book. While the book is obviously a bit more comprehensive, I find these flashcards to be useful in saving me A LOT of time. Granted, I'm still making flashcards from other resources and I've been reading straight out of the book, but not having to go through this entire book for flashcard-making has been very nice. So I thought I'd share it here just in case you all would like to print them out for yourselves! Happy studying! www.flashcardmachine.com/gre-literature-inenglish.html
  8. Something I really love about The Globe is that they actually record most of their productions - which means you can own them! Or even rent them. If you go to Digital Theatre, you can see a lot of shows from The Globe (in addition to other excellent London theatre). I would highly recommend their Henry V from 2012. I saw that show about seven times when I was there! And early modernists who are married to each other at CSULB?! They are living the dream! That sounds so adorable. As for me, I focused on concepts of sensory exploitation and the passions in early modern drama. This kind of dabbled into the genderization of monarchy and ethical grey-areas regarding the manipulation of subjects, but I was able to work with the Globe Theatre and the actors there - so I very well couldn't pass up the opportunity to have them say a bunch of things for me on stage! My dissertation focused primarily on Henry VI parts 1 and 2. Because when you get to play with a bunch of actors... might as well work with them on your own favorite plays, eh? Anyway, how about you? What are you currently working on in your program? How will you incorporate your American Lit interests with your early modern interests? I'm very interested!! Roquentin, I would say you are probably in excellent company when it comes to your feelings about Shakespeare. Most recently, of course, Ira Glass! Though while I wholeheartedly disagree with him, I still can't bring myself to do anything more than shrug and move on. I just adore the guy. But I digress... I must admit, I'm not familiar with early modern natural philosophy. I'd love to delve into it, though. What are some pieces you recommend? Some authors? How does EM natural philosophy fit in with your other projects (if at all)? This is fascinating stuff!
  9. The WS is what has me the most nervous this application season. I've really enjoyed reading through this post so far - it's been very helpful! Thank you, everyone! I am a bit on the fence about my own WS. I'm trying to choose between two different papers. One is on morality play appropriation in Middleton's Women Beware Women and how the aesthetics of the form evolve (or, rather, fail to evolve) in the play because Middleton's characters explicitly replace moral authority with secular authority. The other is on the exchange of women in four early modern plays (amongst them The Tamer Tamed and Henry VIII) read through the lens of a few theoretical frameworks - such as Levi-Strauss, Rubin, Irigaray, and Zelizer. While both of these papers align perfectly with what I'll be discussing in my SOP, I'm finding it difficult to choose between them. I wrote the piece on Women Beware Women as part of my undergraduate thesis, and my writing has changed drastically since then. I am revising this paper at the moment. It is a paper I really did enjoy writing and I think it has really great potential. On the other hand, I wrote my exchange of women paper in graduate school. It definitely needs to be revised as well, but it does more closely reflect my more recent writing style and my ability to sustain graduate-level thinking - though I think my overall approach does fall a bit short (which is where revision will help, definitely). Like the former, I really did enjoy this paper as well. There are pros and cons to each of these, naturally. Does anyone have any feedback on what to do in this situation? Have you found yourself in a rut like this? Thanks in advance, wonderful people!
  10. Wyatt's Torch, I've heard through the grapevine rumors about there being more professors in the early modern period than graduate students - but I never had it totally confirmed! This is really interesting, though. It was hard for me to know for sure if this was true, especially because I spent most of my MA in a little bubble with other early modern geeks like us! As for your interests, I love 'em! I always thought that studying poetics in conjunction with Shakespeare would be a magical experience, so you'll have to confirm that for me once you're in a program! As for me, I'd LIKE to think my interests are transhistorical... but my pesky little brain always comes back 'round to this period. It's latched itself onto me and I just can't shake it. Not that I'd ever want to, of course! I plan on focusing on early modern drama and issues of gender, sexual ethics, and religious morality - and especially how these three topics intersect. Those are all really broad fields of thought, but I'm hoping to cook up something more focused in my SOP! I've got some tricks up my sleeve... somewhere. They're just stuck to the fibers right now. jhefflol, I love this! I actually have a friend who wrote her MA dissertation on Shakespeare in the Civil War (and civil war-era lit), and it was about the most badass thing I've ever read! I think you've chosen your focuses well! As for KCL, it is a wonderful place, I won't lie. And it doesn't hurt that The Globe is a fifteen minute walk across the river, either! But I've heard so many amazing things about CSU Long Beach, actually! It sounds like a great program!
  11. eyepod, I didn't know this at all! Thanks for sharing! I'm always interested in learning more about the wonderful professors at KCL. I didn't spend much time with the foreign language crew myself, but I'm starting to regret that now!
  12. Hello, hello everyone! While I am still in the process of deciding which PhD programs I want to apply to this fall, I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to mingle with my fellow early moderns. I received my MA in Shakespeare Studies from King's College London a year and a half ago, and I seriously cannot wait to dive back in again! Let's chat! Which schools are you applying to? What would you like to focus on in the period? Where are you in the prep process? Are you as terrified and excited as I am? (She says, hiding her chin in the Hamlet sweatshirt she's wearing to bed...)
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