Alex0266

Hi nk, Thanks for your advice! It's not that I tend to make a fetish of standardized testing; I am a Chinese student so I am not very familiar with liberal arts programs, and the MALS program is the only program I've ever seen that does not require the GRE general test. (Probably I should do more research! ) Alex

Hi all, The MALS program at Dartmouth College and the MAPH at U Chicago look very much alike, except that the MALS does not even require the GRE general test for admission, which makes me a little bit suspicious of its standard. But unlike many programs which only allow application for the fall term, it has the advantage of allowing students to enroll in any of the four terms. I've seen the thread where people generally have positive opinions on the MAPH. Does anyone have any experience in the MALS or know something about it? Thanks~

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions! It's really helpful to have first-hand information : I can get so little from the usually vapid websites

Thanks and sorry for not being clear enough. I am talking about the undergraduate thesis I am writing. I know the topic is old but I've invested a lot of time and energy in that, and it's almost finished, so I may not able to re-do it. But I'll try to come up with something more up-to-date for my WS. Unfortunately, my university is not a subscriber to JSTOR and I think only a few top-tier Chinese universities are. But I manage to get an account from Taobao.com (the Chinese EBay) for a relatively low price and am now happily reading downloaded articles. Really thanks for telling me about JSTOR because I've never heard of it before: my fellow students and I look for articles on CNKI, a Chinese database of scholarly journals providing only articles written in Chinese, which has not been of much help. About indicating to the adcomm my field of interest. How should I do it? If I just tell them that I'm interested in Victorian novels, would it sound too vague?

I am planning to apply to MA programs this fall to hone my academic skills before embarking on the pursuit of PhD. Personally, I see MA more as a process of reading more extensively, practicing graduate-level writing, and gradually figuring out my particular field of interest than two years working on a topic vaguely proposed in my SOP. However, I am not sure whether it will be acceptable for adcomms. Should I pick out my particular interest for my MA application. My thesis is about the origins of the thematic and modish inconsistencies in Oliver Twist. I am doing the research from a Marxist perspective, utilizing Terry Eagleton's theories such as "literature as product" and"author as producer". I am somewhat not confident about my thesis and unsure whether it can be used as my WS because:1）I do not know whether this topic is relevant any more. (I am a Chinese student and have no access to foreign literary journals. I did get a Norton Critical Edition of Oliver Twist but most of the articles included were written some twenty years ago. 2)My supervisor did not offer much constructive advice either; he just said it was ok. Can anyone kindly offer her or his suggestions and/or opinions? Thanks~~

I love Bennett's advice! My problems are quite analogous to those of the OP. I haven't been able to focus doing academic work for about a month, and the oral defence of my BA thesis is taking place in a week. Anxieties about graduation and application for graduate studies are overwhelming. What is the most frustrating about theory is that critics continuously refer to previous philosophers, which makes their already difficult writing even more obscure. Terry Eagleton, for example, keeps on talking about Hegel and other names with which I am not a bit familiar. And my terrible understanding of his theory made the theoretical framework of my thesis rather frail. However, those frustrations have helped me made my decision about application. I've decided to apply to MA programs to hone my academic skills and see if I am or will be a fit for academia. Do I need to have a clear plan about what I will be doing for an MA application? Personally, I'd like to figure out my particular field of interest when doing the MA but I not sure if it is acceptable for Adcoms.

Thanks!

smy917 Yeah I wanna know more. PM you soon. Thanks!

Hi elizabethj, thanks! Comp lit is great, but personally I still tend to apply for English lit programs. Surely I'll PM you. I've got a bunch of questions lol.

Portia Wow. You are already a PhD candidate! I guess it's because you really like literature that you plan to apply for a lit MA. What worries me is my academic background. The English program offered by my university (Soochow University) is a very "comprehensive" one. I was required to take courses in linguistics, translation, and literature. And most literature classes were brief introductory courses; what makes it worse is that no courses of literary theory was offered. So I have to enter a MA program before pursuing a PhD.

Thanks! This forum is amazing. So much information!

I've got one more question. Are MA programs easier to enter than PhD programs? (I guess the answer is yes since most Phd programs provide funding.) I don't think I am academically prepared for a PhD program.

blakeblake, thanks! I am considering retaking the GRE because I, too, think my writing score is not competitive enough for an English program. I'll be applying for the 2014 fall term so I guess I've still got enough time to do this.

Thanks for your encouragement! Yeah I definitely need more gumption and less indecision~

Thanks for your advice! It appears that I need to work really hard on my writing sample. I wrote only 3 or 4 pieces of "critical writing" during the past four years, including my BA thesis. Anyway I gotta work harder!