The Whistler

Well, my writing sample was actually an excerpt from my MA thesis, which was on similarities of Milton's Satan and Satanic Heroes in the Victorian Gothic, and somehow I presume that it was the weakest part of my application, even though my professors were super content with it when I wrote and presented it. Could it be because it was a 20 pg. excerpt from a 40 pg. essay? I mean, that's why it didn't follow the standard introduction-body-conclusion formula. And you think it'd be OK to send a WS that has nothing to do with what I intend to study? I'm asking because I'm extremely interested in mythology as well, especially Arthurian Legends and the heroic epic in general, that's actually why I didn't have any problems with Milton during my studies. Thanks. As far as comp lit goes, I'll be sincere and say that I have no idea about the exact difference between comp lit and literature in general, since we don't have the distinction over here, and everything is just "literature". I always thought you have to compare literatures of two different languages, e.g. French and English, if you want to study comp. lit. Can you compare periods as well? If this is the case, I'd be much, much more comfortable doing this. I mean, I'd much rather do research on, I don't know, Poetic Edda, than on Jane Austen.

Well, those are my professors from undergrad. And I did my M.A. there, in translation studies. And there are no community colleges, private unis and state unis here, all six we have (yup, only six) are state. Croatian education system is... Well, I'll be nice and say underdeveloped. There's no such thing as summer school, taking only some of the classes, or even auditing here. I couldn't even get an M.A. in literature, there was only teacher school and translation studies to choose from, and my uni ranks as second in the state (which means absolutely nothing, since the one that ranks as first isn't much better, and both were nonexistent in all of the online apps I filled out, I had to choose "other"). This is precisely the reason why they even let me write my MA thesis in literature, even though I'm essentially a translator, the fact that I had no choice. Man, I don't really know how to even begin to explain how medieval our education is. Most of our classes were obligatory, I think we could choose only two per semester which weren't. As far as my professors go, it's not exactly that they aren't supportive, I'd pretty much say they're overwhelmed by all the stuff they have to do. Plus, if one of them did read my WS and if they thought it was a gret piece of literary criticism, I can never be sure if it's great according to US standards, or according to the standard of my university. Which isn't that good, since a great deal of people here study English because they want to be teachers of English as a second language, and they don't give a crap about literature. So they pass classes any way they can. This is the reason I'd prefer a US native (or someone attending grad school in the US) as a proofreader. Sometimes I think I'm crazy that I'm even applying, since getting in is impossible. All of you guys, thanks so much for the support. Naturally, I still have to write the sample, but it's great to know that this is such a supportive community.

*EEK* Man, it didn't even cross my mind that it could be considered unethical. Thank you, thank you, thank you a thousand times, Phil. I was just naively thinking that grads at my prospective schools would be a good choice since, well, they got into my prospective schools. Let's all facepalm to that now. Proflorax - I'll probably tiptoe around my professors too, and ask if one of them could look it over, but I don't have high hopes. I asked for a similar favor before (it was a research plan when I intended to apply to a foreign uni, but didn't, due to some personal problems at the time), and one of them politely refused since she was way too busy with her students (and techically, I'm not her student anymore, since I got my MA two years ago). The other one (my former advisor) read it, but the comment was: "It looks ok, you can send it." Which leads me to believe that he probably didn't pay much attention to it because he was either busy or not interested in the topic. Then again, a research plan is not literary criticism, so maybe it would be different this time around. If they say no, I'll probably try and see if I can find someone here. I'll try not to beg too much, I promise.

Actually, $50 seems like an OK price to me if I decide to bug someone (who is probably super busy as it is) from one of my prospective schools. I also thought of asking here, but it somehow seemed as too much to ask? I mean, SoP is a different thing, it's two pages long. A WS is a considerable amount of text. But if there's a chance, maybe I should start collecting gifs right away. How 'bout this one? Thanks, you people rock. EDIT: And ghijklmn, regarding your question about my professors, the problem is that I only have two lit professors over here (a very small university), and neither of them teach or research Victorian literature. The only way they even allowed me to write my MA thesis on the topic of the Victorian Gothic was that I had to incorporate it with one of their areas (Milton, specifically).

Thanks for your answer. Well, if I had no other choice (meaning If I couldn't find anyone who'd do it free of charge), I probably would. The only problem is that small compensation probably differs in amount in the US and in Croatia, being that my "solid" paycheck over here amounts to about 800 US dollars. So how much would you charge and how? Per page? I apologize for so many questions, but I am really clueless about all this, and I'm to see if a new circle is something I'm willing to go through, both emotionally and financially.

First of all, hey guys, long time no see, and congratulations to everyone who successfuly got into grad school this year. I, naturally, didn't get in, and now that the anger and disappointment has settled a bit, I'm considering trying again this year. However, there is the always-present problem of the writing sample. I have to write a new one, being that my last one was, sincerely speaking, probably a piece of crap, BUT, I have absolutely no one who would be willing to proofread it and tell me what I'm doing wrong. So the question is, what the hell am I going to do now? So, if you were, say, a fourth year grad student, and got a very polite e-mail from a foreign prospective grad student politely asking you for help with her writing sample in your field of study (and 15 pages is a lot to proofread), would you do it? And this, mind you, would be in time, like three-months-before-the-deadline in time.

Out from Minnesota as well. Four more rejections to get, and I can continue working on my next cycle. This will NEVER end. What's even worse, I'm not even sad. I'm just pissed off at myself for being a moron, and not understanding how this works. UGGH! Next year, at least 10 universities. At least.

Well, I guess that's my answer. Thanks. And congratulations, hope you make it in.

Hey, congrats to the winners! A quick question before I run off, people waitlisted at Minnesota, do you remember if you found out the exact date your status changed in the online app? Mine switched today to final review, then to decision made. I presume they would have contacted me right away of it was anything other than a rejection. Not that I'm hoping, I just want to get this out of the way.

Yeah, I figure most summer schools are. Well, I guess that's not an option, then. I'll e-mail them, but I doubt it.

Wow, you guys are an inspiration. I'm 26, and I feel like not getting into grad school now is the end of the world. Somehow it always seemed to me that, even with 26 years of age, I'd be among the older grad students. Thanks for proving me wrong. As far as poor conditions are concerned, I haven't mentioned mine in my SoP either. I spent most of my early childhood in a basement during the war, and my country still feels the consequences, mostly concerning economy. Plus, there's no way I could get a quality education in English literature over here. Our colleges (at least as far as English is concerned) do not really come even close to those in English speaking countries, logically. I didn't want to mention this either, since it would sound like I'm dissing my country, and I didn't want it to sound like that.

The worst thing is that basically, no matter what I say, I want people to tell me stuff like "It's not over until it's over." Masochistic much?

Hmm, I think you have to wait a bit. It says: "Please allow one business day to view your decision once your status below has been updated to Decision Made."

No, I didn't mean to allude that you shouldn't be hoping or anything, I'm just asking because I shouldn't be hoping, but still am, because my POI told me that they're hiring one, maybe two people from my field this year. Basically, I need someone to slap me, tell me that there's no hope, and that I should get back to work.

Who knows what's the way they decide. I doubt it's alphabetical, they'd probably reject me already if it was. This is all incredibly random.