wetheplants

Don't know if you're still kicking around gradcafe, but I'd love to hear your thoughts if you are!! =] Just posted above.

Hey there! I'm working on my application to Cambridge right now for an MPhil in Medieval/Renn studies. I'm American and really REALLY want to be able to make sure I make friends (didn't work out so well when I studied abroad in London, I was a lonely puppy), so I purposely weeded down pretty much all the colleges in the city center to just the ones where you have a good chance of living either in or really close to your college. I'm hoping to eat with people and socialize daily, that sort of thing. Top choices right now are 1. Magdalene and 2. Pembroke I'm also considering Trinity and Corpus Christi (with Leckhampton). I was also seriously considering Emmanuel but it's more competitive (I hear) and no in college housing. Me: New Englander, friendly, sociable, more into arts than sports, like to drink with friends. Formal hall sounds super exciting. I write plays. Down to earth, not really into stuck-up rich people. (Too much of that in undergrad) Do you have any feedback? I feel like there are probably things about each college that everyone knows but they won't have on their webpages... any reputations about these places? I've relentlessly trawled all the alternative prospecti that I can find. Any thoughts for me? Other places I should be considering?

Oh whoops, you're right! Got here by mistaken then. Thanks!!

Whenever font and size are not specified, go with standard margins, 12 pt. Times New Roman, double spaced. That is THE standard. You can't go wrong with that.

Hey, don't sweat it. So many admissions pages on the schools I'm interested in literally say that a good score might help you but a bad score won't mean anything to them. And you're right, it is a crapshoot! Try not to worry! =]

Honestly, I am routinely astonished as to how helpful my four years of high school Latin have been in recognizing vocabulary. I wasn't even particularly good at it or anything, but it has been SO helpful in both the SAT and GRE for knowing words.

Holy shit, really? Wow. I'm so impressed! I only studied for 2 weeks!!! (But I got a 600, so I guess that's okay.)

I bought the Barrons on the recommendation that had a better math section than the Princeton, but I don't like the way it's written very much. Time for Book 2 I guess! This is all very helpful, thank you!

How long have you guys been studying for this? I'm trying to decide how to strategize for this. Plan 1: take in 2 weeks, take again in late November. Will hopefully have good scores to choose from for some of my Dec 15 deadlines? Plan 2: take at the end of November, about a solid month to study, and buckle down. Hope for a good score. If not, retake in December and just sacrifice the first score for one of my schools with an earlier deadline? Right now, I think only UChicago and BC have early enough deadlines that I couldn't retake it again in December. So I could send the first score, take it again, and hopefully send a second better score to Columbia, Yale, NYU, etc. Edit: nevemind, apparently option 1 wasn't available anymore! Looks like it's option 2 for me.

Better than expected is always good! Cheers to you!

Waah. =[ Anyone else feeling grumpy this morning? About 40 points lower than I was hoping, and only in the 65% percentile.... sigh. More mediocre than I was hoping.

Ok, good to know. =] Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it! So happy to find Pierce fans... just reorganized those books!! Have to re-read them!!

Yeah, I'm in the odd position that I don't have to worry about my pocketbook right now. I could pretty much go anywhere that accepts me. I was definitely looking into UC and NYU, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the MAPH! It looked kind of funky on the website but I'll take a closer look at it. Maybe it being interdisciplinary will be helpful if I can take classes in multiple departments. Part of the reason I want to do the MA is because I'm trying to decide between medieval and early modern drama. We didm't have a medievalist on staff at my college for 3/4 years there ='''[ so I didn't really get to take as many classes in those periods as I want. I'm hoping the MA will help me figure out where my interest lies timewise and what kind of methodology I want to employ for a PhD. I will check out Mary Baldwin's college, I've never heard of that one. I will check out the funded ones too. I guess I was kind of hoping to start building up pedigree now, since I can afford to do so. My college was really good, but it's very small and relatively unknown outside of New England, so I was hoping to get a fancier name on my resume. (Also BTW please tell me your name is a Tamora Pierce reference!!)

Are those things more for a PhD program, then? I think most MA degrees don't have a teaching component.

So this might be a bit of a long shot, but how about applying to schools in the UK? You have to apply for an MA there first, they won't let you apply for PhD programs without one. Funding IS scarce, but if you apply early enough you can have a shot at some of the big scholarships for US students. (I know I missed the deadline for Cambridge's funding. Their apps are due in by like the end of January, and their big American scholarship is due mid-October. I think they count on not too many people being ready for that.) Or you could also apply for a Fullbright and see how that goes! I believe they usually offer fully funded opportunities. Maybe you can make an interesting case for yourself since you've been out of school for so long. So it's certainly not a given, but if you get in, you can do a one year MA, get some of the basic skills under your belt, make your connections, and then apply to go into the PhD program, which is only three years. So if you're willing to spend a little effort gambling on the funding, you could come out of it with a 4 year PhD track, and a MA first.

I've definitely heard this over the forums too... do people discourage Americans from the UK track JUST because of the funding? Or are there other reasons? (I'm in the unusual situation of not having to worry about funding, so I want to know if there are other reasons!!)

Ah, thank you! That's what I've been trying to do, although it seems that some of the places with the best US Medieval faculty are only offering PhDs! Like Notre Dame, UT Austin, UVA, Harvard, etc... Yeah, well that's sort of why I'm applying to an MA. I have a sort of proposed topic for PhD level study, but I honestly don't know if it would fit better in a theater history department or an english department, so I'm hoping I can figure out what the graduate level methodology for drama in English department is anyway. (Also I was terribly unlucky in that my college just didn't have a Medievalist for 3/4 years I was there... >< So there were a lot of basic classes I wanted to take and missed out on.) Thank you, this is definitely helpful! I'm working as a high school sub right now so thankfully I have infinite time to do paid faculty-hunting =]

I just meant proper Masters as in they actually have a terminal MA program, instead of like every single US University that only offers it to their current undergrad batch or as a part of the PhD program. SO you say it's better to have a funded MA from a low-ranked school than pay for a top tier one - do you mean like better for my resume or better for my pocket? I'm in the highly unusual position of not having the worry about funding, so that's why a bunch of the UK schools are on the list. Also, I think for pretty much all the US MA programs I've seen, none of the one year ones offer any kind of funding anyway. I think BC offers a two year one that's funded, but that's it. I was sort of hoping for the one year, but I suppose I should be considering two. And I will search for the list, thank you!

Actually, of the three of them, the Theater chair definitely knows me best. The other two are kind of a toss-up, but I've spent a lot of time with both. Thank you! I'll ask.

Well hopefully that will be a good thing for me because my list right now is pretty small, only like 6 programs! (I applied to 15 for undergrad haha). So few places in the US are even offering a proper Masters program. Guess I'll just hope they pay more attention to my credentials!

Hey guys, I'm applying to Masters programs in English right now, looking into Medieval/Renn studies. Hoping to focus on drama. Short List (in flux) is Cambridge, Oxford, St. Andrews, Yale, Columbia, UPenn? So I have three references: 1. Medievalist I worked with. Really liked me, did one real class and did an independent study in Old English with me. He'll write something awesome. 2. Department chair of Theater department, my minor. He basically recruited me into the department and I was his research assistant for three semesters, got promoted and worked as a collaborator with faculty... got paid too! He loves me andwill write something wonderful. 3. Jenny Boylan, my fiction prof. She's the Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of GLAAD, NYT Bestselling author, keeps getting articles published in NYT. She's pretty famous. I took like four classes with her which is basically unheard of and did my senior thesis/creative project with her as my editor. She really likes me and I'm sure would write something brilliant. So who do I go with? The UK departments only want two recs. Do I go with the medievalist since that's actually more relevant to the program I'm applying for? Does anyone know what kind of thing UK or other top tier programs favor? Would I be better off with a famous rec orsomething related to my department? Or someone who's done a ton of independent work with me and can say I'm a brilliant research assistant? Thank you!!!

How do you think one should go about finding out about "fit" for their department? I'm applying for an MA right now (which is really limiting my top-tier options!) but I'm just really stuck getting information on what these programs are like and what they focus on... I'm looking into Yale for a Masters but I can hardly find anything about what their style is, etc. Their website sucks!! I'm more interested in Cambridge and St. Andrews right now just because they actually have information on their websites about what they do.

I'm interested in something similar, looking for a masters... I know NYU offers both PhD and masters programs, also Berkeley. But I'm thinking now I want to start out in an English department, looking for people who specialize or are interested in medieval drama? Particularly like reconstructing performance styles? Let me know if you hear anything good!! =]

I don't know if I have too much information on them yet (I'm in the same program-hunting boat you are) but both Cambridge and Oxford have Medieval programs and a lot of faculty. Maybe worth perusing their faculty list and see if anyone's doing the same kind of thing you are? And I know both are well known for their Medieval programs. I have a friend who went to Kings in London for a Medieval masters. It's a well known school and although they didn't particularly have the women and gender kind of focus she was looking for, they're supposed to have a strong department, if a bit traditional.

Guys, how much do these schools care about your quant score? I got a 160 verbal, 151 quant just doing the diagnostic, but I've sort of cornered myself and only have a couple weeks to study now =[ What should I be focusing on? How much do English programs even care about the quant score?