literary_tourist

Hey, I'll be coming in as an international student and I don't know a lot about flats in Canada. When is the best time to look for rooms? The rooms advertised on the classified that I read are rooms available for the summer. When do people usually post available rooms for the fall semester?

Word of advice though, if you want to study in the UK, there are other top ranked departments as listed in the RAE. York and Manchester are particularly good departments. See this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/table/2008/dec/18/rae-2008-english-degree

Ditto. Could you PM me about successful SOPs too?

I think of my conference papers as part of my applications, because I wil be using those papers as my writing samples. In many ways, the conferences will help get me feedback from the people I know from my department and outside my current circle. It will also push me to finish them faster.

LOL! Yeah! I'll be in the Crime Narratives area at PAMLA.

I'm in the Video Games area

I am

Guys, as of today, I have two PAMLA invites, and I have already written to confirm a presentation for one area. However, I got another invitation from another area that I would really like to present to. The abstract that I submitted there is a revamped version of a thesis chapter, so I am kind of divided right now. Can I still back out from the other one? Argh. This is so hard.

I am interested in video games, but I am not sure if it is considered DH. It may actually depend on which branch of game studies one is looking at.

I know Cardiff has a really good program for that: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/jomec/research/researchgroups/studyareas/audienceandfanstudies/index.html

That sounds awesome, especially since I think the sequel will be released later this year. Good luck. I actually submitted an abstract there too, only it is the same abstract for the one that was accepted at PAMLA (because I wasn't sure about PAMLA's acceptance rates and I thought I would get rejections). Not sure about how presenting the same paper in another conference would look like.

I know! Maybe you can submit your other paper somewhere else like the PCA/ACA?

Thank you! They were more interested in my video game paper than my 19th century lit paper, but this is just great! I'm staying with an aunt though.

Anyone else heard from PAMLA yet? I got an invitation too!

OMG! thanks for that info. i thought all depts are super strict about requirements, and I'm happy to know that I am wrong. I'll email those schools as well as Rutgers.

Thanks for the advice. I want to apply to those departments, but those programs require the subject test. The subject test is not available here in the Philippines, where I am currently teaching. Although, I really really wanted to include those in my list. Great idea about seeking people with postcolonial work. I was thinking more about ideas concerning various modes of travel in the 19th century lit (since that particular century involves a lot of movement--migrations and the invention of the train, the steamship, etc) and look at how those might have affected ideas about modernity. I've written mostly on Dickens, Gaskell and Eliot, and I am a little rusty on postcolonial theory. It might really help.

I heard UMass is also good.

I am reviewing my French, but I know I will need to study another language. Since I am a Victorianist, I'm thinking of studying either Italian or German, but Spanish seems a lot easier because it is closer to my mother tongue (Filipino). What do you guys think?

Hmm...if you're studying French, why don't you enroll somewhere like Alliance Francaise. The classes there are pretty good, and I learned more from there compared to the classes I took in my home university.

I currently live in the Philippines although I studied in Britain. I relocated myself here because of the recession. I could teach with my MA, but there aren't a lot of Victorianists here. I'm the only Victorianist in the university I'm currently affiliated with. Most of the conferences here are more on Asian studies, so I don't have a lot of presentations listed on my resume. Hopefully, if I get into one university, at least I'll be closer to more Victorianists. The Dickens Project looks awesome, and I don't really want to think about rankings too much. There aren't a lot of Phds here in the Philippines anyway. With the current reforms in education, I know some universities are restructuring their lit programs (at least I know the one I'm affiliated with is restructuring its lit program). Finishing a Phd outside my country will matter a lot. I think what matters to me more is getting good supervision for my research interests and a good number of colleagues with the same research interests.

Wow. Now I think I want to include LSU to my list. I just read the faculty and graduate profiles, and there does seem to be a good number of people studying 19th century lit. I wish I can attend Victorian lit conferences too, but Britain and the US seem so far away from where I am. I know I need to focus on my applications this year. I am really nervous because this is my first application cycle.

Thanks. Read their profiles. It is useful. Maybe they focus more on the long 19th century. Thanks for this info. At least that will help me in prioritising applications

Yeah, better not force it if you are not into DH. Although since you are working on print culture, I'm not sure if you want to look at texts like "House of Leaves" in connection to remediation. But then again, I'm not sure if you are interested in that. It really depends on one's interests.

I'm a Victorianist who writes mostly about gender, travel, and modernity in the Victorian novel (still broad I know). I change my list almost every week, but so far, I am thinking of applying to these schools: 1. New York University 2. University of Minnesota 3. University of Iowa 4. Ohio State University 5. Colorado-Boulder 6. University of Florida 7. Miami University 8. Boston College 9. University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee (might submit something on video game fan cultures, slippery notions of the "author" and textual production) 10. University of Nebraska--Lincoln 11. Case Western Reserve University 12. University of Washington (maybe. my mum wants me to apply here) 13.University of Alberta (suposed to be one of my top choices, but I'm not so sure about funding now) 14. York 15. Washington University in St. Louis Not in order of preference. My grades aren't exactly stellar, and the GRE subject test isn't offered in my country, so my options are a bit limited. The number of applications that I will send will probably depend on how many I finish, since I have a heavy teaching load from June to November (five subjects with forty students I'm told. I'm grateful, but I'm also a little worried.). Let me know what you guys think (especially if you know some departments that do not require the subject test with great Victorian lit programs). I will still trim or expand this list in the coming months.

UDub's English lit site has made it a bit difficult to browse faculty profiles lately. Do you know anyone there who can advice on 19th century British literature?