DontHate

"interdiciplinarity" is definitely not right and looking at it bugs me. Excuse me for thinking that an English major and "literature nerd" would want to correct the spelling in her signature.

But why would you want to go if they don't give you a fellowship?

girl who wears glasses: interdisciplinarity is spelled wrong in your signature.

In my experience, international students have a natural advantage with comp lit programs if their native language is a language that they want to study and/or they've received their undergrad education in a country that speaks one of the languages they study. But if you're just an international student whose home country/country where you studied has no relation to what you study then it probably doesn't make much of a difference (barring the recruitment of "diversity," whatever that means). Also I think adcoms probably prefer known quantities, so if your undergrad was from a very obscure program in a country whose educational system they aren't familiar with, it might be a disadvantage. If you're from Canada or England or somewhere else known for great schools, then they have probably accepted people from your school before, so it's almost the same as being American.

Oh, I don't know about that. You can always try, maybe your undergraduate institute will sponsor your apps.

I agree with most of what you say above. But I only applied to programs that offer funding to all the students they accept. I wouldn't go to an unfunded program.

Will the contest and the admissions committee have the same readers on it? My guess is probably not, but you would know better than me.

I also wanted to apply, as Swagato said, only to schools where my degree would position me well for tenure track jobs. There aren't a ton of these schools, especially in Comp Lit. Perhaps 20 total in the country. There are slightly more great English departments, but still not a ton. An acceptance at a less-than-great program wouldn't be any use to me.

I think it depends, not just on what kinds of programs you're applying to, but also on what kind of package you're sending out. If you have the kind of stats that give you a general good chance everywhere, then maybe applying to a huge number of programs isn't as crucial. If you have some spots on your application that committees consider red flags, then maybe applying widely is a better idea.

Rose, you can apply for fee waivers. Look into that option for next round, if you need to apply again.

There aren't 15 programs I would want to attend.

I applied to 8 programs. One of them is the school I'm doing my Master's at right now. I hear about people (especially in English) applying to 20+ programs and I just don't even know what to think. Is it really necessary? Should I have done more apps? This whole process has me riddled with doubts.

Foucault had such an adorable laugh

Vincenzo, which programs have you heard from?

Me three

I bet next week is gonna yield a LOT of news... so excited/terrified.

NO

Professors will champion certain files, but they never know what a humanities student will ultimately end up writing their dissertation on.

Thanks for the info. I didn't apply there, but I'm glad departments are sending out news. Screw Madison, it's too cold there anyways.

People who are called "trolls" on gradcafe are called "interesting" in real life

I'm a Comp Lit-er but I didn't apply to WashU. Have you got any news from other schools about when they're gonna report?

Not everyone acts like an asshole when they're angry. Some people just turn the other cheek. Or so I've been told. Maybe we should all aspire to be like them?

deep fascination? does taylor swift even have any depth to be fascinated by?

Actually they have specific rules in my department against hot sharp debates with advisors, even when it's consensual.