jazzyd

The only real conclusion about fit that we've really been able to come to on these boards, from either side of the admissions process, is that it's an amorphous concept that -- however relevant it may be in terms of offers extended -- cannot be precisely ascertained from the outside. You never know how well your "fit" is with a department until you are in the thick of it. Of course, to reach this point you have to have applied to said program and be judged by adcomms as possessing a good enough fit to be accepted into the fold in the first place! Fit is an area where I would guess current MA students, particularly those who have been active in the field (attending conferences, writing grad-level papers), have a leg up. Current professors can be a huge resource here; and whatever weight we might attribute to the mentorship of a 'famous' senior faculty member, this is where junior level faculty are perhaps better equipped to advise. Tbh, I did not get too hung up on fit as far as selecting schools. I took to heart the recommendations of two then-junior faculty members who knew my research interests and knew what kinds of departments had people doing good work in that area. At the end of the day, you have to build the project and write the diss, not your committee. Hence I find it an odd complaint to say "nobody does what I do." The idea isn't to work with people whose interests are so in sync that your thoughts and ideas are one (as a student that would make one rather superfluous, yes? the faculty member already has the job, after all).... the idea is to find scholars who can make meaningful contributions to your research and guide the realization of your project. "Fit" is more about making your project/interests legible to a committee who needs to imagine you succeeding in their department.

I am not so sure... the cold has made me a brittler person if anything, especially after last winter!

I had to chuckle at this! Though perhaps living in the city for a fair length of time has distorted my notion of 'midwestern' social attitudes.

yes, this happens all the time! easier said than done, but keep your heads up, folks

E-mail the DGS and if there's a professor who had reached out to you following your acceptance, I don't think it would be out of line to email them as well. While you may not be going to their program, it's likely not the last time your paths will be crossing and letting them know you appreciated their shared insight about the program (or whatever you spoke about) is a nice gesture. Also, many schools also have an official form online that needs to be submitted as well, so don't forget to do that.

Actually, that's not at all what I said "first." What I said "first," was that for me as an applicant - and likely for most other applicants - polishing one's own writing is a more productive use of time than worrying over departmental ambiguities and unchangeable factors of one's application. You are inferring that my mention of spending several months time polishing my WS and SOP and me indicating that there may or may have not been a correlation wit my acceptances means that I think my writing was "better than other applicants'". When what I am really indicating is that by polishing my WS and SOP my writing was better than it was before and improved with each subsequent draft. There is no way of knowing which, if any, schools I would have been accepted into with my early drafts of each but I have a strong feeling that my selection pool would have been smaller or non-existent. This says nothing about how about my strength as an applicant compared to other applicants - not surprisingly, because as I mentioned before I was more concerned about the package I was bringing than what anybody else hypothetically was taking to table. Considering the rest of your post seems to rest heavily on the assumption that I think or thought of myself as a "superior" applicant, I'll just let it go since the patronizing borders on offensive. If you had read any of my posts in the "Perspectives on Success" thread, you would have found that I was surprised by the vagueness of references to my SOP and WS, and consequently since then and since being in a grad program, my perspective on what constitutes "fit" has changed significantly. We're actually largely in agreement in that "fit" seems more geared towards the whim of individual departments than something decipherable from an applicant's point of view. As I said in my second post: Basically an extended version of what was said in my first post: Nowhere have I implied that applications aren't a crap shoot or that many factors outside one's control won't make all the difference. I have not implied that the 4, 10, 20 etc. applications chosen at any school represent the objective "best" applications the schools had to choose from. I'm not sure what you're looking for here, what kind of answer will satisfy you. All my posts have indicated is that for most people, writing and editing is a better use of time than fretting over unknowables. And fwiw, both Coach and Dooney & Burke are vastly overrated

I guess I'll have to ask for a little more specificity in what you're referring to as far as responses about people surprised about what was a key factor of their admission. My only "surprise" - if you could call it that - was how immaterial parts of my application other than my SOP and WS were when it came to online and face-to-face discussion with faculty. Many faculty mentioned my WS topic or a particular area of interested mentioned in my SOP; nobody said anything about my alma mater, GRE scores, GPA, classes on my transcript, or even my letter writers. While I totally think a degree of cynicism is necessary in discussion of grad school applications and academia as a whole, likening it all to Greek rush is more than a little unfair and inaccurate. But considering the time of year, it's understandable.

The point is that you'll get no returns on investing worry into whether your letter writers are "famous" enough or who your application reviewers will be. Whereas, channelling worry into one's SOP and WS can be and is - albeit to a limited to degree, sure - productive. But hey, I could be biased speaking as someone who had 0 famous faculty who wrote for me (only one of my letter writers was even tenured at the time), but worked like a dog on my SOP and WS and didn't do too badly during app season if I can say so myself (5 acceptances from Top 20 programs). By "Worry about what's in your control," I mean exactly that. No, you don't have control over what happens to your writing after submission or what committees will think of it. But you do have control over what goes on the page while it's in your possession. There's no guarantee that extra investment in one's WS or SOP in and of itself will yield acceptances, but I can surely say that worrying over departmental rumors, prestige of letter writers*, and other applicants' metaphorical batting averages won't. *Assuming one has already done all they can do to obtain a balance of solid faculty who can write you a good letter.

I guess I won't disagree outright, since I am sure such a LOR could open doors and be incredibly influential, but to call it the "single most helpful thing" is a bit of an exaggeration imo. It's also not incredibly helpful except to those who are already in a position to obtain such a letter. My biggest piece of advice: Worry about what's in your control, don't waste mental energy on what you cannot. Your SOP and WS are the two pieces of your application that you as an individual applicant have the biggest control over; they are also the two pieces of your application that will without a doubt make or break you as an applicant. Work on them like mad. Get as many people - professors you know and trust preferably - to look over them as possible. Be open to feedback without bending over to fit one person's standard. I'm a big procrastinator, but I had "finished" (but far from polished) versions of my writing sample and statement of purpose by the end of summer. I spent Sept - early Dec. revising those bad boys and it still didn't feel like enough time. I continued revising between applications, but unlike Swagato, there wasn't any noticeable correlation there, so yes YMMV does apply. (Btw, during application season I made a separate folder for each and every school I applied to that included that school's SOP as well as my writing sample if that school required a certain formatting. The SOP would also be saved as [Firstname][Lastname].BrownSOP.pdf or something like that. Keep everything separate and double check the document after you've uploaded it to make sure it's the correct one. Bit of a PITA, but better than calling your dream school by the wrong name!)

I would not be doing this if my primary interest was in teaching, being quite honest (otherwise, well, that's what I'd be doing now). Though going into a PhD program hanging all one's hopes on a tenure track position is considered ludicrous, I will be very sad and disappointed coming out of this not in a research-oriented position at a university. Unfortunately, the reality is that this is more likely to occur than not. But this doesn't at all mean that I don't look forward to teaching. I had really great professors over the course of undergrad without whom I would not have even made it to this point. I would love to have the same lasting impression on my students, whether they decide to pursue English graduate study or other professional avenues. On another note, I seem to be having an affinity for double negatives today...

Some programs allow it; some don't. I think as ArthurianChaucerian points out, your reasoning for wanting to defer would be crucial. You mentioned earlier in another thread that you were thinking of reapplying next year despite getting a few funded offers; is it your hope to defer one of those offers and have it as a backup when you reapply next cycle? I would first comb any of the materials you've received from the schools that extended offers as well as the department website and the grad college website if there is one. If deferral is allowed, there might be a protocol to follow and your chances might be better at getting approval if your initiative shows that you've exhausted available resources prior to just asking the department.

Whew where to start! It'd be helpful if you could offer a certain school or area or even a scholar who uses a certain framework you'd like to get more grounding in. Otherwise, I know you mentioned having the basics, but How to Interpret Literature by Robert Dale Parker (Professor at UIUC) does an excellent job of going through the prominent need-to-know theories and people. It provides a fair bit more than the basics also. At the very least you might have a better idea of what direction you want to go from there.

A full tuition scholarship is awesome, congratulations! Feel free to message me if you have any questions about the program since I suspect our interests have a lot of overlap.

Fwiw (since I never explicitly asked the question) the only thing faculty remarked on when I spoke with them was my writing sample. And then it was just something to the tune of, "I really enjoyed your sample on [Name of Author]"... "I was actually just speaking with Professor X about [Author] the other day," or "[Grad student] also does work on [author]/[time period]/[genre] if you want to speak with them" etc. I can't remember anyone being all that specific about a certain part of my sample that struck them... maybe my sample wasn't that remarkable, ha. But the fact that it's the WS that got brought up is significant I think. No faculty member has ever mentioned my GRE, GPA, or CV (granted, my CV wasn't worth commenting on).

A lot of schools will offer up to a certain amount, which can go towards airfare/taxi/lodging. The lodging they might be able to get at a discounted rate or offer the option of staying with a student, so if you're a domestic traveller most if not all of your travel expenses might be covered. Of course be sure to ask before you make any plans and make sure you're clear on any qualifications for receiving your reimbursement (which receipts you need, if your name needs to be on them, etc.).

Anyway... I'll try to explain with a hypothetical example, but if that doesn't clarify enough then I'll just use specifics. But say you're interested in how women writers conceived of Victorian era medicalization of X. Okay, well one approach to finding the perfect fit would be looking for faculty who also do research on this exact same topic. Or, you could just look for places with really strong Victorian and feminist faculty whose research intrigues you. Versus looking for faculty who are exactly inline with your (current, subject to change) research interests, the second option (what I went with) is about finding faculty who would be able to successfully guide and advise you in a dissertation project even if it doesn't look exactly like their own projects. Does that help at all?

Not sure if that's a dig at me...? I fully intend to answer your response to my post but you know, got caught up in other things. I wanted to make sure I took the time to fully explain, but figured it wouldn't be right to spend however many minutes writing a long post on GradCafe when I had an abstract due that at the time wasn't even started.

I’m not sure if you want “outdated” info (how outdated could it be, really), since I didn’t apply this cycle, but when I did, I only applied to schools within the USNAWR Top 20 and received offers from 5 schools. I’ll try to address the info w/o being too overly specific (or too vague!)2 I graduated from a okay-good state university; nothing near a Berkeley or even a Michigan, but ranked ~mid-40s according to USNAWR overall and in the low teens for public universities. I applied as a senior in the process of getting my BA (English major). GPA was good as a standalone, but probably on the low side for people graduating in my field due to having an Engineering curriculum for the first year. GRE Subject was below 50th percentile, GRE Verbal was in the 80s, writing was low 90s. Out of my letter writers, only one of them had been tenured for over a year (they are completely outside my field though, so I honestly couldn’t tell you how they are considered by their peers), one of them I think just got tenure before that app season, and the other was not yet tenured (they are now though). However, all 3 had had me in at least 2 courses, including individual study and/or summer research projects. So regardless of their standing in the field I would assume these letters were pretty strong since they had seen me grow as a student over the years and had a great deal of familiarity with my work. Fit wasn’t something I stressed myself out about too much, in part because I had a great mentor (one of my letter writers) who had a better idea of departments than I did and could steer me in the right direction. The thing about my field of interest is that even in the best of circumstances, a department is really only going to have 2-3 people who fall broadly in that area, so it’s more important to find a department with great people who are doing great work than the absolute perfect fit. I had the same SOP for every school, one of my main regrets right after application season (though, it’s such a moot now, I love my program) since I do wonder if that turned some schools off. But I went over that bad boy like a banshee in the months before app deadlines. Same with my writing sample. I even edited it in between applications, though I found no correlation there. There were certainly some schools at the tippy top that I didn’t hear the good news from that I thought would have been a great fit and surely would have been. But you can’t wallow in that or you’ll make yourself nuts! I stand by the KISS approach to applications; don't worry about what you can't change, focus on what you have the most control over (SOP and WS). Seek guidance. Gradcafe is great, but it is Gradcafe... I understand it might be harder for people who are years removed from undergrad, but from those currently in a program seek advice from real life professors who know who you are and know your work. General advice can only go so far, especially with something like an application, specifics are needed and can make all the difference. Okay, that's all I got!

My mentor recommended something much different (though one of my letter writers recommended something similar to the above), which I guess might only point to differences in philosophies, goals, and where an applicant happens to just be lifewise at the time of applying. I applied to a lot of schools (+10), but none of them were below #20 if we're going to use USNARW as our basis of ranking evaluation. Our philosophy going in was "There's always next year," meaning if I struck out that round I would regroup and apply again, and again..., if need be. For my goals, there was a bit of an imperative that I give as many "top" schools a shot as possible, which from a financial standpoint meant delaying applying to "lower" programs until then next year if possible. I don't want to get into a rankings debate, just point out that this system might be a good strategy for some, but there's also nothing wrong with not playing it safe. Though be prepared for people you speak with the think you're rather full of yourself until you have some good news on the table ("Wow, you applied there... and there?" * cue eyebrow raising*)

Yes, if the department offers the option of staying with a student, that means the student volunteered to have you stay with them, so you can be sure you won't be inconveniencing someone who didn't ask to be inconvenienced, ha.

It varies. Depending on the cost of living in the area it can be worth it to have a roommate or two, rather than spend an exorbitant amount on a tiny studio apartment. Or, the extra cost might be worth it to not have to take a chance on someone new, esp. as a first year student. Here it varies; besides people who live with their partners, a lot of people live alone, but some also have roommates with fellow English people or grad students in other programs. In a more expensive city like New York (or even just a more expensive neighborhood in Chicago for schools like UIC or Loyola) the breakdown might be much different. Visiting days are a good time to ask current students what they do about the living situation, where/how students tend to live, etc.

Hmm, visiting seems like more of a hassle than it's worth in that case. Just curious, what about Cornell do you feel makes it a better fit than Berkeley? This is not intended as a leading question, but rather a question to determine what it would take for Berkeley to move ahead in position. If this is something you can ascertain without visiting, than I would contact the grad department to see if they can get you in contact with current students and faculty to get a better feel for the program. If it's a situation where you would absolutely have to visit in order to even consider moving it to the #1 spot, than it's a moot point.

Could you elaborate on that by any chance? Is this something out of the ordinary that other schools don't require?

I agree to maybe wait out, if Berkeley would be a game-changer that is. But otherwise I don't think there's any reason why you should feel compelled to visit if you truly know which school is the one.

Benedict Cumberbatch looks like what happens to a potato when it's left in the cupboard for too long.