jazzyd

For those of you who've found a place or are still looking, how close to campus will you be or are you ideally hoping for? I feel like I'm still in the undergraduate mindset a little bit, where I'm used to being very close to campus and anything further than a 10-15min walk feels too far.

Mainly my decision came down to faculty and program atmosphere. Chicago has the best combination of well-established big names and sharp up-and-coming younger faculty that I (importantly) would be able to realistically work with given my area of interest*. I have no clue what my ultimate project out of all this will be, but after researching the school, contacting faculty, and actually speaking with several members of the department on the visiting day I'm pretty confident Chicago will help me get where I need to go - figuratively and literally. Also, had I been less married to my interest in African American literature and/or the idea of doing a longer historical project with Black culture, the other schools on my list of options would have ranked a lot higher and my decision could have been completely different. (*This is of course out of the schools that extended offers to me.)

^Yay! Congrats! Gosh I am so behind, I'm still hunting around Craigslist for a room to see if I can avoid living in a studio or one-bedroom. Thankfully classes don't start until the end of September, but I'd like to not start my grad program with a moving crunch (!)

I visited Brown this past year and will be attending UChicago this fall. As someone interested in African-American literature, I had some major concerns about Brown, which ultimately put them out of the running. But depending on your approach to "multiethnic," they may or may not apply to you. I definitely rec'd searching and seeing what people have to say. I'm sure you'll find at least one rather large thread on each of the schools on your list.

I'm not a strict gender studies person either, but you may want to look into the University of Michigan's http://www.lsa.umich.edu/english/grad/phd/womstud.asp'>PhD in English and Women's Studies. It's a pretty small program IIRC, in that only a few students get accepted on that joint track but it sounds like it could fit your needs. If anything, it speaks to their department's commitment to interdisciplinary study, which bodes well even if you decide to just apply to their English Language and Literature program.

I scored in the 49th percentile, which got me into 5 schools, only one of which required the Subject Test. However, my (brilliant) friend scored somewhere below the 20th percentile and got in to all but one of the programs he applied to, including top 5 and top 8 programs (according the USNWR anyway). I would only encourage you to take it again if and only if you think you will spend the time really reading the material and immersing yourself in the eras that the majority of the test covers. If you just would take it again just to take it, I wouldn't bother. It's such a waste of money and time in the first place.

Graduated yesterday and earned a high distinction on my honors thesis! Those were the last two hurdles I had to make before I could even begin to think about this whole going-to-grad-school-in-the-fall thing haha. Oddly enough communication from UChicago has been a little sparse. My assumption is that it's because they're still about a month away from the end of classes and don't start autumn term until September 30th. Looking at course descriptions is freaking me out just a bit... I'm afraid I'm going to be signing up for classes with only vaguest sense of what they're even about!

Well, consider that language requirements do vary between programs. Yale I believe requires tested proficiency in three languages, where I believe the average is two. And the actual protocol for proving such might range from a simple passage translation to a longer translation project. Also, I've heard that a lot of students tend to put off the language requirements, which can pose a problem if they are not keeping up with the languages they will be tested on. So while it seems extreme that the language requirements alone would draw the whole process to a halt, I can sort of imagine how that happens. And I'm sure once we're all in the thick of our programs we'll have an even better idea

Agreed. If were about numbers I would not have gotten into any programs: my GPA is average (probably lower than average compared to other English majors), my subject score was below average, and my GRE V score was alright (above average overall, but likely lower than average compared to other English applicants). I've had zero teaching experience and haven't presented at any conferences. Since I still received acceptances from several well-ranked programs, I'm especially inclined to believe that numbers matter much less than the strength of your SOP/sample. It's really hard to build a picture of the "average" applicant who is accepted since two samples or SOPs can vary wildly even amongst those receiving offers from the same schools. Since you have a lot of time between now and when application open up, I would focus on laying the groundwork for these materials and getting as many professional eyes to see your working drafts as possible.

Oh wow, I feel like I could have written the exact same thing. Unfortunately this means that I, like Keely, don't have a definite cure or I'd be using it already! To your benefit, you'll be applying Fall 2014, so you have over a year to be away from classes and the academic environment before you'd start a PhD program in Fall 2015. As of now I'm planning on enjoying 3 months of relaxation and casual reading at my own pace. I'm pretty much banking on that being enough time to refresh my brain and emotions Finally, I don't think it would be wrong to mention your concerns to professors, but I'm warning you that they will probably suggest you take a year off and/or consider other career options. The road to the professoriate is longer than long and I know if I were a professor I would rather see a student realize it isn't for them as an undergraduate than realize this 4 years into graduate study.

Holy cow that's huge! Congratulations!

I'll add that not every school is at the mercy of state financial politics either. My current institution is public, but hasn't been funded by the state in years... (mainly because the state's almost as broke as California). So really, I don't think anyone can make a blanket statement even about something like funding. That's why it's important to do so much research into each school since there are so much fewer absolutes than say if you're looking at the undergrad level.

19/20th-C American and African American, critical race theory, racial and cultural construction through text. Since my interests are (as of now) so broad, I figure there's a great amount of people I could eventually work with: Ken Warren, Bill Brown, Eric Slauter, Lauren Berlant... I had an awesome conversation with Adrienne Brown who was hired in 2011. I probably have the least defined list of who I'd be interested in working with at Chicago than any of the other schools I chose from, which was part of my decision to go there.

Officially notified Michigan earlier today, so hopefully that helps one or more folks out!

Omg congrats girl with glasses! I was really pulling for you, you've been such a great addition to convos around these parts.

I too am going to decline, however am also a little slow on travel reimbursement stuff. Will definitely do that today. Sorry for the hold up!

Also don't forget that larger institutions also tend to have a good number of international students. I consult at the writing center here and we get about 75% international students. Now, in my experience, they write at pretty high level, it's only that they miss small details like articles that native English speakers would usually not miss. International students also bring in more money than domestic students, so as universities are further hit financially the amount of international students will likely rise. Either way, graduate students who are not used to working with students for whom English is not a first language might also need to adjust their approach on that front.

Haven't given the official word yet, but I am almost certain I will be accepting an offer from the University of Chicago Now to finish my thesis and survive the rest of senior year (!)

^ Exactly. The concern of committees (for any student) is whether or not an application demonstrates sufficient preparation for English graduate study. Your transcript will show that and as long as your statement and sample show that as well, your major shouldn't be a problem.

sarcasm looks nice on you

Solve for y by dividing the left side by 3, which then gives you ( (x + 1) / 4 ) / 3 aka ((x + 1) / 12) = (1/y) which should mean y = 12 / (x+1). Unless I'm wrong Tbh I wish I could have taken from my Q score and piled it on top of my V. Though I doubt I'll be getting into any mathematics doctoral programs anytime soon, my quantitative was in the 60%, which I figure isn't too bad for not taking any math in 3 years and not taking any algebra/trig for 5 years. Proofs are awesome though

My problem with animal studies and that realm of criticism is that it someone smacks of "we've looked at humans long enough, let's move on". However, I have VERY limited experience with this area, not just as a matter of newness but just a lack of active engagement. Ecocriticism to some degree has a similar feel. I went to a lecture a little over a week ago and I wanted so much to follow the speaker's logic, and I did, up until she essentially used her observation of a homeless woman in an outdoor church as an example of how life (human/plant/animal) interconnects and isn't it beautiful, etc. Meanwhile, I don't see a humanist using a person's homeless as a means to a "greater" point. But again, that's really my most relevant interaction with ecocriticism, so I haven't dug much into that. That one part of the speech just rubbed me the wrong way.

So my question is, are the NRC rankings in fact better... or do we just like to see the most elite of elite programs knocked down a peg or two?

I didn't include any fit paragraphs in my SOP beyond [insert name of University here] and I only regret that in the sense that I think it would have gotten me a more serious look at some places that rejected me. Which places? Who knows. And I don't presume to think the outcome might have been any different, only that my SOP might have resonated a bit more with adcoms had I exhibited a closer and more thorough understanding of their program. On the other hand, I was certainly not shut out, which is enough to prove that a fit paragraph isn't a prerequisite for admission. Fit seems more mysterious to me the more I speak with other prospective students at various programs. I've heard on more than one occasion that people got into programs they thought had the least fit and rejected from programs that seemed to fit perfectly. Part of me supposes that adcoms and faculty in general have a much better understanding of fit than applicants... though a more cynical part perhaps wonders if fit is really not fully understood by anybody, and/or comes down to wildly varying factors between programs. Realistically, it's a bit of both.

I had "formal" meetings with Eric Slauter, Chris Taylor, and Raul Coronado, but otherwise got to talk with a lot of people. I specifically had long-ish discussions with Ken Warren, Adrienne Brown, Deborah Nelson, and Heather Keenleyside. Lauren Berlant was at the opening faculty panel, but I didn't get a chance to speak with her. I did speak with someone who has her on her dissertation committee and she encouraged me to get in touch. It was quite dazzling!