sebastiansteddy

Not that I'll be accepted, but Chicago is my dream program. This is all stuff to worry about if/when you are accepted.

I am currently in an MA program, and 5-6 first-year students in the PhD program shared their statements with me. They were all very, VERY different. I wish there were some formula where you could just fill in the blanks, but it's not that easy. I have shown my statement to 4 different professors and have received widely varying feedback. So this post probably doesn't help you much, but figured I would just share what I have learned: there's no one right way to write the SOP. That comforted me a bit, so hopefully it'll comfort you as well.

When I took the test two years ago, I walked away from it ready to give up all hopes of graduate study. On all of the practice tests I took in preparation, I was getting dismal scores in the high 400s to low 500s. When I got my results for the actual test though, I was very pleasantly surprised and did MUCH better than I ever suspected. So... don't give up hope! You never know until you get your scores back.

Thanks for everyone who replied to my inquiry. New issue: I am working on my writing sample (editing the paper I will be using) at the rate of about one sentence an hour. I just can't focus on it, and will never finish it. Grrrr.

Is anyone here applying to a school that specifically asks for a short writing sample, like NYU asks for 10-12 pages? If so, are you editing down the writing sample you are using for other programs, or using a different sample? I have not written a 10-12 pager since undergrad, except for conferences. I do not want to use a conference paper though, because they are a different sort of writing than I want to send. Just wondering what other people are doing in this situation. As always, thanks for everyone's help and support!

What I am doing, at the suggestion of 4 professors I have worked with, is spending about a paragraph discussing the work I am doing on my MA thesis, and then detailing how I may expand that work into a larger study, and how that larger scholarship will contribute to the field.

I spent the entire day working on my writing sample and got pretty much nothing done. I am really worried that my sample is just too amateurish to send to schools. I certainly FEEL like giving up, but I won't. I really want to be accepted somewhere... anywhere. Hang in there, we'll all get through this (or so I'm told).

Yes, this is pretty accurate... I've been hard at work on my sop and studying for the GRE (general) that I haven't put much work into my writing sample yet. I am planning on getting a lot of work done on the sample this weekend. I DO have my finalized list and have given my recommenders all the materials they need. I still need to update and edit my current CV, but that will probably be very last minute.

Thanks for this note. Yes, I know it'll be expensive, but I purposely saved up for this process. I think I'll still probably do the 15. Ugh when will this process be over?!

Bahahaha. Yes, that is me. Exactly.

I have been doing that for the last couple of days. Ugh. Well, at least we're all in company here.

Hey everyone. I have been furiously working on my apps, studying for the GRE etc, as I am sure is the case for all reading this. I am wondering if anyone is feeling the way I do: one minute I feel confident and sure that I'll get in at least somewhere, and the next minute I feel completely in over my head and that there is no way I will be accepted anywhere. Is this natural? This process is already killing me and it's not even October, yet alone February or March!!

Yes, definitely talk to professors in your field too. My current MA program sends CFPs via a listserv to the whole department once a week. That is how I have found all of the conferences I have attended.

http://cfp.english.upenn.edu/ Penn hosts a site where many conferences post their CFPs.

Also, SUNY Buffalo's MA CAN be done in 1 year. It is a lot of work, but it is possible.

Is the MA your final goal, or are you potentially interested in a PhD? I only ask because with a PhD, you may have time to learn a language before you need to take the exam, but for an MA program that requires language knowledge, you may not have as much time before you need to complete the requirement. Also, most language requirements are such that the program will issue a test where you translate about a page of material with the aid of a dictionary. Do you think you could do that in Spanish given your experience in Mexico? Finally, to answer your question, I know that SUNY Buffalo has no language requirement for both the MA and the PhD.

My first time around applying to MA programs I just assumed that every program would require it, so I studied for the subject test for a VERY long time, and did not study for the general test very much at all. Needless to say, I did great on the subject test, but not so great on the general test. So, this time around I will just use my old subject test score for the one school that requires it, and retake the general test. Honestly, I think that schools would be better off all requiring the subject test and not the general test, but that'll never happen.

Haha, NEVER MIND! Just realized one school I am seriously considering (USC) requires it.

Oh ok. I guess it just happens that none of the top programs I am considering applying to (Chicago, Penn, Michigan) require it.

I took the LIT GRE before applying to MA programs (2 years ago) and am happy enough with that score to send to programs. But... what programs even require this test? None that I am applying to require it. That website posted above says that most programs require it, but barely any do.

I am close to finished with narrowing down my list of schools. Do you think that 15 is too many to apply to? Right now, I have just about 15 across a wide range of tiers that all seem a pretty decent fit with professors I'd want to work with. Do you think I need to narrow it down even more?

Thanks for this recommendation! Just downloaded it, seems very helpful!

Thank you! I will probably message you a few questions in the very near future. I appreciate your insight in advance - UCR is certainly a program I'd really like to attend.

Definitely: SUNY Buffalo, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Santa Cruz, Penn State, U Washington Maybe: SUNY Albany, Chicago, UPenn, Brown, Stanford (MTL), NYU, UMich, OSU, Minnesota, Stony Brook. Interests: 20-21st C novel, visual culture, theory, and notions of "experimentation" or "innovation." Current MA student.