jazzyd

If you can afford it, I would apply to more.

True, but for some people comparatively it might be. [smart] people adjust their standards of living to the means they can afford and going from an established salary to a graduate stipend would take quite a bit of adjustment. Coming out of undergrad, my stipend feels like lottery money! But if I were established in my career making over triple that... ehh, probably not so much. edit: ^that's a great link proflorax! thanks to you or whomever put it together. now I can be quite nosy . an important thing to keep in mind though would be the comparative costs of living for each location. like some of the NYC schools have the highest packages but they actually look a bit skimpy to me taking into account the outrageous cost of living there...

Something surely worth considering, but if it's a money issue that can't be helped, contacting the DGS would be a good idea. Because really, I doubt the committee is looking at these applications before January. These deadlines all pretty much hover around finals and other end of semester deadlines, so faculty members have quite a lot on their plate already.

^ I don't know if I've ever heard of that for graduate admissions, just undergrad.

I recall in my early drafts of my SOP approaching it as a journey. I started off with how discussing XYZ text sophomore year introduced me to how literary texts can be studied, which encouraged me to pursue graduate study and take various independent studies and do extracurricular research etc. etc. According to my mentor this focused far too much on what I've done in the past as opposed to what I want to do aka why the program I'm applying to makes a good fit. He instead had me orient each paragraph around certain topics and/or guiding questions for my research. In hindsight, this ended up being a much better approach for me because it allowed me to still talk about highlights of my undergraduate career (in terms of how they've shaped my current interests) without making my SOP sound like "First I did this. Then I did this. And then I did this." Other professors I've spoken with agreed as well that a SOP is really about the research interests. A lot of programs do have optional or required personal statements apart from the SOP, which allow applicants to go further in-depth about their personal motivations for applying to graduate school.

I can't believe I didn't discover AbeBooks until this summer. It was actually a librarian who tipped me to it, since I needed to replace a book and I ended up paying only $4.00 for the book and saving $121! It also gave me a chance to get some lit crit I've been eyeing for less than $10 each. I've never gone with Amazon used books though; those prices might be more akin to what you'd find on Abe. Oh no, that bad? Wow. You'd think University Housing would do better than that. Then again, freshman year my hallway didn't have heat for the entire winter. And unlike the past couple years, winter '09-'10 was no weak winter!

Um, congrats! Wow. I would certainly not take the test again, that'd be a waste of money for sure. Like Datatape said, as long as your score isn't eyebrow-raising-ly (yes, I just did that) low - which might leave schools to believe you blew it off - definitely no reason to worry. proflorax is correct, it is sort of a crapshoot (not sure if this alleviates or exacerbates your worries!). There's people who applied to a variety of schools who "only" got accepted to one - but that one school was say, Columbia or Stanford. And then there's some people who seem to hit the jackpot, others who get a few to choose from, and many who have to give it another go. It's very much unlike undergrad where if you sort of fit the attractive student profile (good grades, high test scores, dedicated extracurriculars), you have a decent shot at virtually any university excluding the crazy selective ones.

During the revision process for my WS, one of my recommenders was constantly pushing for this^ with my thesis and everything else. While meandering around a certain topic can actually often lead to a more flexible and nuanced discussion (and plenty of people write this way), a WS is almost for sure not the place to do that unless you can do it very very well. @Bunny, if your recommenders say it's fine, then maybe don't take that necessarily as gospel, but you don't have to discount what they say either. And none of us have read it of course, so we can only reflect on what you've told us. Maybe it takes you awhile to get to a hard thesis, but the topic of discussion and the main questions your chapter is focused on is clear from the get go.

Nope. I had an appointment with MAC later in the day, but ended up liking this one so much I applied on the spot. I'm kind of glad as I've heard mixed things about MAC, which is concerning. Granted, after dealing with some of the realty companies in Champaign, I feel like I can take on just about anything. You'd never think it, but there are some real deal slumlords down there...

^ Blasphemy! (Die hard Chicago pizza lover over here. ) Yup! And to my knowledge I won't be responsible for repainting before I move out (the company repaints no matter what), so that's an extra bonus. Next weeks sounds so exciting for you! And that's awesome that you already have a conference to look forward to.

I finally have an apartment yay! It's a little studio about a block from the lake and within sight of the Museum of Science and Industry. So now I'm using my spare time (aka all of my time) picking out paint swatches and looking at other decor options. I'm still about 6 weeks away from even picking out classes let alone starting them, ugh

"Research experience" is a little fuzzy for English imo, because a lot of the research we do isn't necessarily what people would think of research in the traditional sense. If you've done a paper of some length that incorporated secondary sources in addition to literary analysis, then you've done research. You've likely had to do this at least once in order to complete your degree. I've been lucky enough to have two great mentors throughout undergrad who exposed me to primary source resources online that have digital scans of historical newspapers and photos, as well as in-person primary resources (like early editions of novels, pamphlets, sheet music) available at our university's library. But resources like these are going to vary by institution and smaller colleges won't necessarily be able to offer their students as wide a selection. Faculty members realize this (many of them came from these smaller colleges!). They know they can teach you how to research more effectively; they can't necessarily teach you how creatively interpret a resource when you find one. To balance out your perceived lack of experience, I would show them what you can do in your writing sample. Explore the dozens of free primary source resources and see if anything there is relevant to your area of study. Maintain a solid balance of secondary (scholarly) sources in your paper and your own words, showing that you can really be part of a conversation within the field. Bear in mind I'm approaching this through an English lens, not an American Studies one. There are plenty of people in this section who have (successfully) applied to both, so they can maybe offer more well-rounded advice. As for contacting POI, it's sadly one of my regrets that I never contacted any POIs prior to or during the application process so I can't help you there.

From my personal experience, my priorities at this point were: 1) Personal Statement 2) Writing Sample 3) Letters of rec 4) GRE The only caveat with the GRE is that if you haven't signed up for the Subject Test in Literature (if you're taking it that is and didn't take it in the spring) then that should probably be done ASAP, or as soon as you get the funds to (ASAYGTFT?). The GRE General is all year round, but the Subject is only Oct-Nov and taking the test in November there's no guarantee that your scores will be ready in time for the earliest apps (granted, I don't think this is a HUGE problem, since I doubt schools even glance at applications until after their winter breaks). The reason I had my statement higher was because at this point I already had a finished rough draft of my writing sample and was given the advice to let it sit and stew for a bit before returning to start edits. Otherwise my writing sample would've been #1

The circumstance I could see an issue arising would be if the professor had retired many many moons ago and had been inactive long enough that a committee might suspect they've lost touch with the field. But even then, that would only be one letter of rec that could be easily balanced out with praise from younger faculty. So even that issue is pretty much a non-issue!

Yes... I do not think I am quite prepared for the rigor of a quarter system. But people do survive the transition, right? So I've got that going for me

Less than two weeks... ha, I wish. Classes don't start at Chicago until September 30th! So more thumb twiddling to do, it seems like. But at least I'll have more than enough to time to home-ify my apartment and explore the neighborhood beforehand.

Stephen M. Best at Berkeley and Eric Slauter at Chicago come immediately to mind.

I went to UIUC for undergrad as well and they have the same word limit for their undergraduate personal essays. 500 words makes sense for an undergrad application essay imo (cuts down the fluff), but for graduate applications that is just crazy! But I guess that's why they require two writing samples. And on a positive note, it does sort of let you know beforehand what part of the application the department values the most. Not that you'd spend any less time on the SoP, of course lol.

Are you looking for small as in the program itself is comparatively small (fewer grad students) or small as in the actual university is small?

Thanks for the info everyone! I also contacted the grad department coordinator and they confirmed that students are required to report their income to the IRS, nothing is taken out by the school itself. Though I originally cast my net to see what options were available roommate wise, I think I'd rather pay a bit more to live alone, especially for the first year. I really do enjoy having roommates, though, so hopefully by next year I'll have met someone with whom I can live with.

My major GPA was about the same and my total UG GPA was lower by the time I started applying. Granted, it's not like I got into every school I applied to, but I got into some (which is what counts!).

If you can afford it - maybe. I took the GRE twice without any significant study in between and added +14% to verbal and +19% to AW. You'll likely improve just by value of being more familiar with the test. However, if that $150 would be better spent (on other applications for instance) I would save it and as guinevere said, spend your effort on improving your SOP and sample. Good luck!

I honestly would not sweat it. What are your grades like for literature courses?

I feel like I'm showing my age with all of these questions, but how has everyone budgeted living expenses out of their fellowship/stipend income (for those who will be single income in this upcoming year)? I keep reading mixed assessments of whether or not first year fellowships are taxed, when they are taxed, and by whom (state and federal, just state, just federal) which is making it difficult to determine how much I'll actually have for utilities and extracurricular expenses per month.

Grad blues... a little soon to be thinking about those, eh? It sounds like living close to the campus is the best bet. I figure between living closer to the loop and living closer to campus, the latter is far more practical. I talked to some students on the visiting day who lived on the northside even as far as Wrigleyville, which maybe a possibility after I finish classes but would be nuts to do at this point. Thanks for the input everyone! I realize based on everyone's responses that the answer to the question varies quite a bit by campus size and type. My undergrad institution is very much situated in a campustown in the middle of nowhere versus Chicago which is, well, not.