mightyheidi

Ah, I've similarly decided to get a cat and am now having anxiety! I fostered three kittens for an adoption agency for about a month, and fell in love with them. I would love to keep one, who is the sweetest, cuddliest cat I've ever met and the company is just so nice for grad student solitary reading and writing life. However, I'm really worried about leaving the kitty alone during breaks! Obviously I wouldn't actually leave him alone, but what if I can't find someone to take care of him? There's also a chance that my research will be overseas in the next five years, and I would like to do some language study abroad this summer. I have some friends who might be able to take care of him, but it seems like a lot to ask for a friend to watch him for up to a couple of months. Maybe I shouldn't adopt, and should continue fostering? Help!

UPenn has a number of faculty working on law and literature, specifically, US imperialism and the implications of discourses of freedom. UCLA also has a strong concentration in postcolonial studies, with a number of faculty who are doing work in postcolonial literature!

Just turned down UCLA, and my focus was on contemporary American lit/comparative ethnic studies. It's a wonderful program and I hope someone else will be able to attend!

Apologies if this has been answered, but what are folks' opinions on submitting a CV versus a resume? I tried searching in the forums, but "CV" is apparently too short for a search term. PageAndStage, I took the subject test today! It was...hah, to be expected. Definitely walked out feeling like I'd guessed on many, of not most of the questions. At least it's over with and now I can concentrate on refining my written work!

Meg, that sounds really interesting and critical - as a queer person who performs femininity, I think about (in)visibility and feminism a lot. I'm also applying to UCLA English but want to collaborate with folks in the gender studies program.

Just wanted to revive this thread, as I'm interested in applying to Emory's ILA PhD this year. Does anyone have more information about its reputation, job placement, etc? And does the fee waiver for early applications still exist?

I'm also applying to Berkeley and UCLA for critical theory/queer theory/comparative ethnic literature. My undergrad mentor went to Berkeley for English and had really good things to say about it. He especially encouraged me to apply because my concentration right now is in Asian American lit, and Berkeley/UCLA has some of the top ASAM lit scholars in the country. I'm also considering UCSD Cultural Studies. Funding might be iffy with budget cuts (I heard that Berkeley only guarantees funding for the first year??), but UCLA seems to fund all their PhD students through fellowships.

Thanks! I decided to send them separately, and realized that you can change your score recipients up until three days before the test! Besides taking practice tests and going over the few good GRE prep websites for lit, what are you all doing to prepare? I'm making an outline that's basically the reading list here organized by period/American/British/World. It's getting really long, but I think it'll be helpful as I'm including dates and hyperlinks to bios/shorter works online so they would be easier to revisit.

Quick question - I'm about to sign up for the lit GRE in the next couple of days, and didn't realize that they asked for your four schools to send the scores to when you register. I am debating whether to have them send the most recent score or all scores, as I understand that "all scores" encompasses the general GRE test? I took the GRE twice, and my most recent one is better than the earlier one. Would it hurt my application if the schools saw both of my scores, or would they just take the composite? Or does it depend on the school?

Yes! I'm so glad someone finally started this thread. I'm applying to NYU, USC ASE, UCLA (English), Michigan, Maryland, Yale, Brown, Purdue, Washington State, Stanford Modern Thought and Literature, Harvard, and possibly a couple other lit programs. My focus is in comparative ethnic literature, trauma/migration/diaspora studies, and queer theory.

Thanks everyone! I would consider MA programs, but I'm not really in a position to consider unfunded programs right now.

Hi everyone, I plan on applying to English and American Studies PhD programs in the fall, but I have very little research experience from undergrad and post-graduation. I have a pretty strong academic background otherwise. Do you think my lack of research experience will hurt my application? Is there anything I can do in my application to balance my lack of experience? Also, I'm getting ready to email professors and have received a couple of responses from professors who are willing to answer my questions. Which questions are appropriate for asking professors in an email conversation? I heard from some that emailing professors for English PhD programs isn't that helpful, but I figured it couldn't hurt. Would it be appropriate to ask them if they're taking new students? Thanks!

Hi everyone, I plan on applying to English and American Studies PhD programs in the fall, but I have very little research experience from undergrad and post-graduation. I have a pretty strong academic background otherwise. Do you think my lack of research experience will hurt my application? Is there anything I can do in my application to balance my lack of experience? Also, I'm getting ready to email professors and have received a couple of responses from professors who are willing to answer my questions. Which questions are appropriate for asking professors in an email conversation? I heard from some that emailing professors for English PhD programs isn't that helpful, but I figured it couldn't hurt. Would it be appropriate to ask them if they're taking new students? Thanks!

Much appreciated ^___^ Virtual cookies await! Prompt: People who make decisions based on emotion and justify those decisions with logic afterwards are poor decision makers. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position. Though some argue that passion and emotion is the underlying force behind great works of art, history and society have shown us that rash decisions based on emotion are often faulty. Great works of literature, such as Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, seem to be imbued with emotion, but are actually the products of careful planning. Furthermore, during the Civil Rights movement, leaders such as Martin Luther King and Malcolm X utilized emotion as a tool to organize the American populace against injustice. Even though emotions played a significant role in their success, logic and calculated planning ultimately led to the zenith of the social movement. Finally, rash decisions based on emotion are rarely popular in the long run. After the 9/11 attack, George Bush declared the War on Terror in a moment of heightened emotion for the nation. However, the War has proven to be a drawn out, heavily wasteful endeavor in the long run. Therefore, though emotion may often play an important role in decision making, people should carefully consider their decisions logically before carrying out their impulses. Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse is a poignant work that chronicles two separate days over the course of 10 years. The novel has little plot and depends heavily on the emotions and interactions of the characters. One of the main characters, Lily Briscoe, notably devotes her life to painting and capturing the emotions of moments with her artwork. However, her brushstrokes are measured, much like Woolf's own prose and characterizations. Woolf crafted the novel over a period of many years, reworking elements of the plot and characters to paint her vision of daily life and human interaction. Her work was not finished in a stroke of emotional genius; rather, it was the product of careful planning, editing, and a logical process of creation. Although at first glance the Civil Rights Movement may have been powered by emotion, careful study reveals that many of the tactics that leaders employed were actually previously planned. Though moments such as Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech seem to capture the heightened emotion that drove the movement, the crowds that gathered for his speech were organized by a multitude of leaders in the movement. The Freedom Riders, contrary to popular belief, actually were well-organized young, black students who dressed up in suits and boarded public buses. They were not spontaneously arrested, and their arrests were deliberately planned out attacks to expose the violence inherent in the State's treatment of black folks. Even Rosa Parks, who some believe was conveniently on the bus at the time of her arrest, was a student activist who deliberately refused to get off the bus. Even though these civil rights leaders were passionately dedicated to their cause, they brainstormed tactics that would lead to their ultimate success. Finally, Malcolm X was a brilliant leader who used the tactics of the Black Panther Party to counter state violence. For example, he led the Black Panthers on a campaign to provide universal free lunch to low-income students in inner cities. Without his foresight, the Civil Rights Movement would not have thrived under the sole emotion of anger. Rather, he was able to channel that anger productively toward concrete change, such as increasing state provisions for low-income families. Finally, George Bush's decision to invade Iraq and Afghanistan is an example of a poor decision made based on emotion and justified with logic. Throughout the course of the war, Bush justified the invasion as a natural defensive response to the September 11 attacks. However, the War reflects a larger global context of U.S. imperialism in the Middle East and broader hostilities between the West and developing nations in a competition for natural resources. As a result, thousands of U.S. soldiers and Afghani civilians have perished in the War on Terror, a death toll that vastly exceeds the number of 9/11 victims. Furthermore, the War has costed the U.S. billions of dollars and has instigated unrest throughout the Middle East. Bush's decision, in the long run, has been unpopular with the U.S. public, even though many supported the same undercurrent of emotional anger in 9/11's aftermath. Emotion is an essential quality of humanity and deserves to be recognized in our lives. However, when making important decisions, one must consider both logic and emotion for the best choice possible. Experience has shown us that the best decisions arise from careful planning and intellectual thinking. Even when emotion plays an important role in our decision making, we must balance the situation with logic and deliberation.