chaucerettescs

Haven't heard from anyone but Duke (rejected), even though I know acceptances have gone out for most of my schools. Looking pretty hopeless for me this cycle.

I'm not disagreeing with you, just throwing it out there for anyone waiting on Michigan.

The University of Michigan isn't. Now, whether the English offices themselves will be open, I don't know, but faculty won't be off.

I'm wondering this myself. It surprised me that only Duke and Michigan got back to me about the updated CV. Not a peep from anyone else for a month. I was thinking its that they're just too inundated with e-mails/too busy to get back in touch, but it still surprised me that Duke DID bother to on the day acceptances starting going out (and that they said yes. Why would they do that when decisions had already been made? Clerical error? Cruel joke?)

Haha, well, I did say a lot of the stuff on my CV only appeared over the last couple months. The CV that got sent to adcomms was pretty bare. After apps were due, suddenly BOOM I start winning things and get offered the chance to do a guest lecture related to my area of interest and I'm just like craaaaaap, this couldn't have happened a week earlier? I actually tried, in the middle of January, to email the programs about the possibility of sending in an updated CV (whether that was allowed or appropriate) and the only ones who got back to me were Duke (who responded right around the time they were making decisions, which was surprising to me) and they said Yes and Michigan who said No.

Huh. Do you think it's the switch to Google? Last semester, nearly all of my profs were having a hellish time with their umich email. Regardless, I'm sure Michigan will be sometime next week (right? RIGHT???)

Haha, true. I have some idea where the break might be because Weiss and Benioff have dropped hints about certain events (~one event in particular~) occurring this season.

Haha, thanks. I wouldn't trade my childhood in Florida for anything. South Florida is, of course, extremely multicultural and so moving to the Midwest (to a teeny tiny town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan which was 100% white and Gentile) was a major culture shock to me. It was assuaged somewhat when I started going to the University of Michigan which has a wonderfully diverse campus. You're welcome! The experiences being shared in this thread are fascinating. I'm sorry you've gotten the weird line of questions, too. It's bizarre to me that people try to make others fit into their own preconceived ideas, instead of just taking each other at their word and actually learning something. Mine is pretty bare as well (a couple essay awards, a creative writing fellowship, three presentations/guest lectures all at my home institution or the local community college, and one publication in my home institution's online repository; unfortunately, no summer research to speak of or related part-time jobs [i took whatever part-time jobs I could get to pay for school] AND when applications were due, one of those presentations, one of the awards, and the fellowship weren't on it so the version adcomms got was REALLY bare). Thankfully, I think my CV demonstrates an evolution toward my core period of interest (my presentations go guest lecture on Elizabethan Anti-Semitism in 2009 --> Video presentation on the influence of Moby Dick on Sci-Fi Horror Film for a library donor event in 2012 --> upcoming guest lecture on Orientalism in Jane Eyre), but I agree with you in thinking that a CV is too supplemental to give a truly accurate snapshot of my interests/potential for grad work.

Haha, well, hello there! I'm hoping to reread A Storm of Swords before Season 3 of Game of Thrones starts up.

I never emerge from Harry Potter world. I live here full time. One of my favorite tumblr posts ever was a simple text post explaining how the poster doesn't reblog Harry Potter stuff much because "blogging about Harry Potter is like blogging about having feet" </truth>

Sort of. I was raised in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in south Florida and so grew up surrounded by Jewish culture. It wasn't until I moved to Michigan that things got a little weird. I use so much Yiddish slang in my casual lexicon that when I got to Michigan everyone here was convinced that I was Jewish, which was strange to me because it had never really occurred to me until then that so many of those words aren't just every day parlance for most people. And then when I became so defensive of Shylock in my Shakespeare courses people were absolutely positive I had to be Jewish. When I told them I wasn't, people got kind of funny about it. They just couldn't understand why I cared so much if I wasn't actually Jewish myself (the answer "I don't like seeing people be dehumanized" apparently wasn't obvious). And when we did Daniel Deronda in Victorian lit... forget about it. Granted, pretty much everyone in that class loved Daniel, but, yeah, people weren't all that interested in the "Jewish part" which really bummed me out because that was all I wanted to talk about. I dunno, it's probably because of how and where I grew up, but representations of Judaism touches a sensitive spot in me... which is really hard to explain without sounding like a complete ass. People tend to think I mean "I GREW UP IN A JEWISH NEIGHBORHOOD THEREFORE IT'S LIKE I ~AM~ JEWISH" which is really, really not what I mean (I was not raised Jewish, the Jewish religion and Jewish history are not my own, I have never experienced anti-Semitism, and so I would not dare presume to even suggest something so ridiculous). It's just that when most of your neighbors, friends, and parents' friends are part of a culture different than your own, it leaves an impression on your life and your interests. tl;dr It's funny, I actually didn't mention this interest in my SOP (I already had way too many interests shoved in there and it was beginning to look a bit scattered), but I just realized that an adcomm would know it from reading my CV because I did a guest lecture on Elizabethan anti-Semitism a few years back at a community college. Which, good, I'd like them to know, but now I'm wondering if it looks a bit funny having a guest lecture on the Elizabethan period when I'm a Victorian concentrator. Is anyone else's CV a bit jumbled when it comes to your declared interests (you're a Victorian concentrator, but you have a guest lecture on an Elizabethan topic or an essay published about American modernism, etc)? How much of the talking should you let your CV do as far as your interests go? Example: Would it be wise not to strongly emphasize my interests in children's lit and speculative fiction in my next round of SOPs and then just let the work I've done which is listed on my CV imply those interests?

Yeah, one of my profs/advisors told me that on the MLA job bulletin this year, there were a surprising number of universities seeking professors who could teach courses in children's lit, which both pleased me and worried me because NO DON'T FILL THEM YET! I HAVEN'T GOT A PHD YET!

Lol, ok, that's madness. Even really traditional scholars who don't give much thought to children's literature consider Lewis Carroll "serious" literature. Eric Rabkin, the fantasy/sci-fi prof here at Michigan, does entire units on Alice and would probably teach whole courses on Carroll if he could. See, this is where I get frustrated. I haven't any problem with traditional scholarship (I like most of it and a lot of my work could be considered traditional), but I get pretty peeved when people don't consider children's literature worth the same amount of analysis as adult literature. As though because it's for children, it must be fluff. How is William Blake or Christina Rossetti or Lewis Carroll or Charles Dickens or J.M. Barrie fluff? Shenanigans, I say!

Your interests sound amazing. Heh, people gave me weird looks all the time over my respective fascination with Shylock and Daniel Deronda. "You're not Jewish!" sounds about right.

I know this has been an insane cycle in terms of number of applicants, but ANY word back would be amazing. Hee, thanks. Daria has been my spirit animal throughout this whole applications process.

Haha, thank you! If I reapply next cycle, this is definitely what I'm going to do. Your husband is definitely right; children's lit/fantasy/pop culture scholarship is definitely burgeoning right now. That's a frustration of mine: knowing that there is a market for this kind of scholarship and yet not having that fact matter because so many senior faculty members aren't interested in it (or are sometimes even outright hostile to it). I don't have any trouble relating my genre studies interests back to my Victorian core (the Golden Age of Children's Lit, Victorian fascination with fairy tales, the emergence of fanatical fan cultures with fandoms like Sherlock Holmes, Neo-Victorianism in contemporary Children's Literature, etc.). I just need to find the best way to write an SOP that straddles the two— highlights my interests/strengths in a way that hopefully might set me apart from the mountain of Victorianist applicants, but doesn't turn off more traditional Victorianist senior faculty members. Heh, the problem is a lot of the honors on my CV and all the manuscripts I have under review at journals are all genre studies related. Even if I don't say a word about genre studies in my SOP, the adcomms will know. Thankfully, I have a guest lecture coming up that is very, very much to do with Victorianism.

Yeah, I was so apprehensive about having a genre studies writing sample (it was on the influence of Moby Dick on sci-fi horror film), but I received an undergraduate research award from my school for that paper and thought surely it would be all right. Now I'm having doubts and thinking I should really stress my Victorian background (which is my core) and, if accepted, continue with my genre studies/pop culture work (which I'll mention on my apps, but just not emphasize). Granted, it could be something else entirely that they didn't like about my application. I am seriously dying to know so I can improve it.

Oh my God, maybe we're ALL rejected and don't know it. Maybe acceptances have already gone out and no one on Grad Cafe got one! ... or they're just taking their time, whatever. Actually, I think Michigan may have had hiring to do in the English department this cycle and, according to one of my profs, this of course takes precedence to grad school decisions. At any rate, I'm sure decisions will be going out soon. I hope.

I'm sorry your prof wasn't much help, but I'm curious now, too. What did you write about? Because the "serious" literature claim is really lame on your professor's part. Scholars have written theses on Harry Potter and as for Twilight (bluh), every time I check listings of call-for-papers and upcoming conferences lately there is tons of stuff for "supernatural romance" and "urban fantasy". Heck, even rom-zom-coms. Understanding popular literature (why it's popular, what its influences are, questions about fandom) is just as important as understanding older, more "serious" literature. A good scholar can write a good paper on just about anything. However, I do agree with Magical Realist that if your application is stressing a, shall we say, "genre studies" angle— if your writing sample was about popular fiction or even "bad" fiction— you need to be mindful of where you're applying because not every school has the resources for or interest in that kind of research. And then there's just the frustration of knowing that even if you do your research and find good fits, there is still a chance of being rejected. All the schools I shot for are Top 20, but, with the exception of Cornell, all had POIs and other resources for my sub-concentrations (children's lit, fantasy, science fiction etc.). That hasn't kept me from being rejected pretty much across the board. It's kind of horrible, but if I really am down and out, I'm wondering if I should downplay my interest in genre studies on my apps next cycle. I'm really curious about how much it hurts/helps/dooms(?) you, even at schools that do do that kind of work.

This sounds exactly like my best friend. She had her heart set on me getting in to either UNC or Duke (she now she lives in NC) and did not understand why I was so stressed no matter how many times I tried to explain the process to her. "~Oh, you'll get in~"

Haha, that's all right. Thanks for the kind words and congrats on earning acceptances your second go-round. Part of the reason I didn't want to wait was because I'd already taken two years time off between high school and university (for financial reasons) and was just so ready to really get going. But if I don't get in anywhere, it might end up working out for the best. My entire family and I are moving to Florida in the next couple months and thought of having to move twice within the space of a couple months (the hassle, the MONEY) was very nerve-wracking. Plus, I'll have time to write a more focused SOP, try to get published, and, come this Winter, I'll do another round of applications at a much larger pool of schools. The only thing that's really stinging right now is that I had three amazing recommenders who have been so good and so helpful to me (and one of them has so much time invested in me and such high hopes). If I'm rejected across the board, it's going to be hard letting them know. Of course, I'm sure they're very, very, very, very used to it, but it really won't be fun.

It's so silly; I've know that rejection e-mail was coming for days and yet my heart still fell out my butt when I saw it in my inbox. Ah, well. Duke was a long-shot (never mind the fact I had a glaring typo in the first line of my Duke SOP). Definitely hoping to get waitlisted at UNC (or for another round of acceptances... you know, whatever). Good luck! I'm trying to be optimistic about everything. I'm a freshly minted BA (December graduate) and since the beginning of this process have heard "Take time off! Take time off!" from just about everyone. I don't want to wait another year, but time off may be exactly what I need. My CV has already vastly improved since applications were due and hopefully I can hustle and get a publication and/or conference under my belt before next cycle.

Oh, man, my thoughts EXACTLY. UNC was my #1 choice. Unless any of the schools I applied to do another round of acceptances OR I get into Michigan (which is highly unlikely), I'm out this cycle. AND I finally got my Duke rejection. Haha, at last!

Upvoted it for you.

Same. With UNC and Cornell starting to send out decisions, today has been very difficult. Woe to anyone who asks if I've heard any news yet.