sebastiansteddy

While this is awesome news, the clairvoyant in me suspects that you will not end up at West Virginia. Instead, you will receive another "offer you can't refuse."

CONGRATS!!!!!!!!

Dear all schools I applied to: I have never read the Divine Comedy, Heart of Darkness, or any Christopher Marlowe (as admitted in another thread). I will begin reading all three right now. Love, Sebastiansteddy

All of my professors in my current program have said NOT to e-mail faculty members unless you have a genuine, substantial question about their work. They say it is annoying when applicants contact them just to make contact. They all also said that who contacted them and who didn't never comes up in discussion, unless it is a negative component of an application. To that end, I took their advice, and we will find out if it was good advice soon enough!

You need to read some Wilde!!! The Importance and Picture of Dorian are both amazing!!! The Canterbury Tales can actually be really funny if you can get into it. I've also never read LOTR, and fall asleep instantly any time I've tried to watch the movies. More importantly, you need to carve a week out of your schedule and devote it to doing nothing else but reading Ulysses. AMAZING novel. Many many people agree it is the best novel ever written. Dazed - I read the Scarlet Letter in high school, and actually enjoyed it. I also liked House of the Seven... To add another - I know almost nothing about the Divine Comedy. Also, I don't think I've ever read any Christopher Marlowe.

I don't mean to spark any guilt. I've never been assigned Heart of Darkness. I just read Secret Agent though. I feel like I know Heart of Darkness though, because it is so iconic, and it came up a lot in postcolonialism courses I took as an undergrad. Bluecheese - Wuthering Heights.... eh. I'm not a big fan of any of the Brontes. It's certainly better than Jane Eyre though. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is my favorite Bronte novel, if I had to pick one. And VAS is amazing. I will look into "A Whaler's Dictionary." Thanks for the suggestion! Rems - Though I avoid poetry as much as I can, and although I usually prefer works from the 20th C on, Paradise Lost could be worth a read - maybe at least the first chapter? It is very beautiful.

I read Moby-Dick twice. The first time I didn't really care for it. The second time, however, it felt life-changing to me. I am not an Americanist, I am not into that time period, etc... but I love it. It really did change my life. I just had to be in the right place in my life to appreciate it. Other life-changing books for me have been: Light in August, The Sound and the Fury, Ulysses, To the Lighthouse, Pale Fire, Blood and Guts in High School and VAS: an Opera in Flatland. I have a new question: What books are you most ashamed to admit you've never read? I'm ashamed to admit I've never read Heart of Darkness.

I think NYU notified admits pretty early last year.

Hahaha. My writing isn't even illegible though, it is big and uneven like a 5 year old's writing. Oh well, they're done. But yes, all of my professors have chicken scratch handwriting.

I didn't apply there, but the thought of even a tiny peep is exhilarating!

I am writing thank you notes to my recommenders - I have the worst, child-like handwriting ever, and I am so nervous they are going to see it and think "I recommended this guy?!" I wish you could just e-mail personalized thank you notes...

I believe that The Sound and the Fury is the best novel I have ever read in my life. I've read it 4 or 5 times now, and it gets amazingly better every single time. Pure genius.

Bahahaha that is great! I am a HUGE Faulkner fan.

My Penn app says completed on 1/8/13. I submitted it on 12/12/12 (cool!) if that helps.

Stephenie Meyer is better than Austen. (Exaggeration, but...)

Whaaaaat? I love Woolf AND Barnes! But especially Woolf!

I had trouble with Penn State's LOR system. My recommender had to e-mail it to them. They confirmed via phone they had everything else from me. You could just call, the grad secretary there is super nice. Bluecheese, get your Penn State stuff in on time! They start right away, and I think they tend to notify fellowship recipients super early... like late January.

Haha. If we end up at the same school we'll have to brawl! I wrote my undergrad thesis on Sir Thomas More. Now I study much more contemporary literature. Spenser and Austen have to be my two least favorite authors. I am also interested in critical theory, and am trying to think of people in that department who annoy me... hmm... Catherine Malabou annoys me sometimes. So does Agamben sometime. But I wouldn't say I hate either of them.

I thought Michigan was due Dec 15th?

Haha! She is just soooooo incredibly boring. Cannot get through any of her novels. To add another... I can't stand reading Spenser.

You're not applying to Buffalo, are you?

To change it up a bit... I HATE Jane Austen.

Can you apply for their PhD, and ask to be considered for the MA if not accepted to the PhD? It'd sort of be like killing to apps with one fee!

A 1-year MA could be a good option for you. It is doable (but tough) at Rochester.

Thanks so much! Now that you mention it, it does entirely make sense that they'd be during the week. Obviously I'd want to go to any that I'd consider attending, but I guess we'll just have to see what comes.