fromeurope

You should've signed it in blood. That'd make you stand out for real! And it is, after all, a compact, is it not?

Came through for me! I'm in! I'm in! I got an admit to a program I can actually go to!

No word on funding yet, but hopefully there will be some. If not - I'm not proud any more, I will just beg my mother. She's looking for places to throw her investments anyhow.

OH MY GOD(DESS)(E)(S), FINALLY!

I hope everyone in Gradcafe gets to feel this way at least once this go-around. Because DAMN, it feels good!!!!!!!

Top 20 vs top 25? That's almost negligible! If you had said only a top... say 50 or something, it'd have made more sense. If a top 20 program (i.e. the 15-20 range) provides you with a shot at these kinds of job, I don't see how a top 25 (20-25) somehow categorically wouldn't. Perhaps you're at a slight institutional disadvantage, but surely, "serious setback" is a bit strong?

Thanks Woolfie! I'm interested in intersections between medieval (Arthurian) lit and British Modernism, especially as it relates to modern nationalism and national identities. My proposed project involves T.H. White, Virginia Woolf, and Goeffrey of Monmouth (it's a little crazy).

As a fellow European, this is so true! I had one recommender from the American system (although originally from Britain) and two from Europe, and I heard later from my recommender (at a university to which I applied) that her colleague who had read my file had commented on my other two references "I'm sure they think 'X' is smart, but they don't seem really enthusiastic" or sth like that. It's just a cultural thing. One just has to hope that they make allowances for it.

On the flip-side, one of my other recommenders told me about looking through post-doc apps for my home-home uni, and having to "filter" through the gushing and unrealistic praise overflowing the recs from American professors.

Your two cents is extremely US-centric.

Ah to be young again Actually, my partner (who was applying for law school at the same time) didn't get in there. The only place things matched up was Chicago, but I was referred to the MA program with some funding instead of admitted to the Ph.D. In the interest of our relationship, we both turned down the place we wanted to go to be together. While I kick myself sometimes since I'd be graduating with my Ph.D. right about the time I now will be starting it, I did marry him. . .so that makes it feel all better Anyway, hope you get in. I seemed like a great program, especially for medievalists and early modernists.

I don't believe a comment encouraging respectful discourse is being "mean" while an ad hominem attack is rather different. Besides, if this person was accepted by Kansas, I would suspect they had a reason for doing so.

Quick note - the admission notice on the results page for this year is not a fluke or a fake. A friend of mine (who I don't think uses this site) was admitted yesterday as well! Congratulations both to her, to the results page poster, and to any other Berkeley Comparative Literature admits!

You should've signed it in blood. That'd make you stand out for real! And it is, after all, a compact, is it not?

I was just notified by the above-mentioned program that my application was rejected because my standardized test scores on "the standardized test that is required for entrance into the particular school or for the particular discipline that the student has selected for his or her education" were not in the top 10% nationwide. I was very surprised at this, because my particular discipline is English literature, and my GRE scores are as follows:

Gre General
Verbal: 790, 99 percentile
Math: 660, 62 percentile
WRiting: 6.0 98 percentile

Gre Subject, in Literature

720, 97 percentile

The only explanation I can come to is that I was rejceted because of my GRE math scores, but that's not fair, right? The GRE test in math is NOT the test required for my particular discipline. Moreover, NO one applying to English graduate programs scores in the top 10% on the MATH score - it's not their field. Don't I have a legitimate cause for protest here, and if so, any ideas on how I can rectify this error? Thanks.

Dear forum,

I recently stumbled upon this notion, the "critic as artist," as I was exploring, uh, the possibilities. Don't laugh, it's new to me. Wetting myself thusly in the stacks, however, I proceeded to Google the phrase and traced it back as an Oscar Wilde dialogue (the first reference I found to it was in an edited volume w/ mouthwatering - and probably highly offensive - "preliminary ruminations" by HL Mencken).

Mencken and Wilde, Wilde and Mencken. Such a pair. I think I'd enjoy having a beer with their ghosts. What I'm curious about is how deep does this oxygen-rich vein of sublime soul-igniting, intestinal-flora-tickling mischeif actually run? Is it widely accepted, condemned, or controversial? Does it offend the "pedagogues and poets"?

Does it put off adcom committees? The reason I ask this last bit is because I'm trying to get a sense of how deeply entrenched is the Lit/Creative Writing divide. I mean, if [good] criticism is in essence creative nonfiction, then the two are inseparable. Or not. I have overheard many a comment to suggest otherwise, and not just in a formal sense, but in a nearly hostile sense. Now, let me please say that I understand the necessity of formal distinction, as well as the extremely different work that goes on between the two types of departments. So, that's not what I'm asking. I don't mean to ask a pedantic question or to have a pedantic conversation, rather I am hoping that this is a valid theoretical query stemming (admittedly, perhaps deviantly... or not, that's my question!) from the Critical/Analytical side of the aisle: How many critics out there view themselves as artists? How many object? Who doesn't care? And why not?

I sure would like to tread lightly - if this is a conversation that already happened, I do apologize in advance!

Sorry, I just had to weigh in on this comment. UNC-CH is moving to a nearly exclusively direct-admit program in the English department beginning next year - meaning that they will be accepting almost no one who already holds an MA. I was told this by the department chair and also by the Director of Graduate English Studies. Because of this, they already began this year to severely limit the number of students they admitted to the program who already hold the MA. I don't know if this is also going to be the case with Comp Lit, since it falls under the aegis of the English department but is a separate PhD program. But it's something you should definitely check into before you make a decision.

In the process of brainstorming for my SOP for graduate school I realized that I can't seriously think of anything that I enjoy enough to write a 100+ page dissertation on.

My question to this forum is: Am I the only one?

I can't imagine that I am but.....

Graduate school is nothing like undergrad in that its not like I have two years to "find myself" and pick something I am competent enough in to graduate. If I am going to invest all of this time and energy, not to mention competing with scores of likewise bright youth for 4 or 5 spaces in a PhD or M.A. program I had better have picked something I really enjoy doing.


All of this to say does anyone else feel this same sense of overwhelming uncertainty?

God, that's kind of terrifying, isn't it?

This does seem to be a recurring theme. Does anybody want to volunteer any info regarding the extent to which graduate departments communicate with one another, both before and after April 15th?

You should've signed it in blood. That'd make you stand out for real! And it is, after all, a compact, is it not?

The rankings don't strike me as "meaningless." They do have meaning. The question at hand is the degree to which they have meaning.

And I do not require validation. I have a fellowship to a fantastic program in a beautiful part of the world. This was never about my personal circumstances. I'm simply trying to unravel the application process, just as the rest of us are doing. I can't say I appreciate your personal attacks nor your presumptions about my character.

But maybe people behave differently in your discipline?

Wow that does suck! That school sounds unorganized to me, it's probably a good thing you didn't get in there! I myself have had a few bad experiences through this process as well.

The first blow came when I was sent an false acceptance letter by a school. They later sent me a short e-mail saying that it was a mistake and my name has been removed from their list...thanks ! I wrote the president of the school complaining and was then offered a spot...but I declined, their faculty doesn't seem to be very friendly, I'm just completely turned off.

My second blow came when I had an interview for another school. It went great (At least I thought!). They told me my SOP was on of the best they received. They went on to tell me how my interest fit theirs "to a T!" So naturally I thought I was as good as gold, especially at the end when they shook my hand and told me I was a "very strong candidate," and I can expect a phone call April 1. Imagine my surprise when April 1st came and went...and I didn't receive one! A couple of days later, however, I received an e-mail stating I was WAITLISTED!!! I'm getting really annoyed with the whole application process .

Sorry.

Top 20 vs top 25? That's almost negligible! If you had said only a top... say 50 or something, it'd have made more sense. If a top 20 program (i.e. the 15-20 range) provides you with a shot at these kinds of job, I don't see how a top 25 (20-25) somehow categorically wouldn't. Perhaps you're at a slight institutional disadvantage, but surely, "serious setback" is a bit strong?

I already voted you up to 0 [before you posted this]. Alas, someone else must have voted you down since.

Well you've just revealed yourself to be a petulant child who throws temper tantrums when you get advice you don't want to hear in addition to being a petulant child who throws temper tantrums when other people reject your immature and snobby advice. Petulance and a snobby attitude get old fast, so does psychoanalyzing everyone else to justify your own pretensions. Sweetie, do yourself a favor and grow up fast or you'll have a rough road ahead.

Thanks everyone for all of these interesting replies! If only the political message boards I post on were so friendly and productive...

I would like to return for a moment to the question of financial investment. We're obviously not going into this profession for the money, but it is of course a consideration.

I'm just going to go on my own experience here: people I personally know who are planning on going to grad school several years after college sort of flop around. That is not meant to be critical, because that is exactly what I did. I did a Fulbright and drank abroad for a year. Then I worked teaching English and several other strange unrelated jobs abroad. Does any of this relate to my profile as a scholar? No. Was it the smartest financial move? No--I spent all of my money sitting on the beach in Thailand and Italy. Now I'm 26, getting older, and if I hadn't gotten into grad school, I would be kind of pissed at myself for wasting several years of my potentially very productive years sitting at cafes in Europe instead of starting a career in earnest.

For me at least, knowing that I would be applying to grad school kind of made the jobs I've had in between the end of college and now not as serious as I might have otherwise taken them. I might have worked overtime to impress my bosses, networked more vigorously, started saving money for adult things like a house, etc. I always "knew" I would be going to grad school though, so I treated things a little differently than I otherwise would have. I don't think that's a bad thing--one should always be competent, but shouldn't always be so serious and committed about every little thing that comes along in life. What I do mean to communicate, however, is that applying to grad school year after year might put said student in a holding pattern in which years of productivity are being gambled for a coveted spot in the academe that might never come to fruition. Hell, even if the grad school does come to fruition, there is no guarantee that you will get a job.

I know this was a bad year for applying: apps were up at record numbers and number of spots were down across the board. But getting in is ALWAYS hard. Looks at Duke and Princeton's stats for English PhD from the past fifteen years--what is it, 4-8% get offered spots? I'm not so sure I would blame an unsuccessful app season on this economy. And I am not sure that I agree with going to the school where the master of your subfield resides. That helps, but it's the name that follows you around for the rest of your life. Americans love branding, and like it or not, profs coming from Harvard just have it easier. I thought about doing my PhD in France, but ultimately came back to apply in the US because that top American university branding, initiation, life-long affiliation--what have you--is powerful and financially marketable, no matter where you go in the world. I'm just being realistic.

Nice reply, but I must respectfully disagree with your points. These fora are littered with posts obsessing over numbers (should I raise my GRE score by another 100 pts, is 3.7 GPA enough?). At the end of the day, ideally your numbers are perfect, but most importantly, you have to demonstrate creative thought, original scholarship (or the potential for) and a clear, persuasive writing style in your application documents. My comments about my own experience were not meant to brag but to offer practical advice. The people you're competing with at these schools HAVE perfect numbers, great LORs from distinguished scholars, publishable/published writing samples, and convincing, coherent, and compelling SOPs. I felt intimidated by the caliber of students I met at these interviews and visitation weekends. There are some remarkable students out there; an applicant has to know that in order to compete with them, they have to fulfill certain expectations, however arbitrary and flimsy they may be (namely GRE and GPA). In order to overcome not-so-perfect numbers, your originality and creativity really have to be there. That's all. And at this point, one has to start getting honest with oneself about the strength of an application based on these more subjective but very important criteria.

And a note about how people here don't want to work at R1 necessarily. I think it used to be true that students from universities of less-prestige used to easily get jobs in these kinds of places. Now, people from Harvard are taking those jobs at community colleges and university press editorial spots because tenure track is so scarce. Again, I really don't know how confident I am that a PhD from something out of the "Top 40" is going to do much for you professionally. I had more than one prof in college who said "don't bother" unless you get a spot at the top 10. I won't be that pessimistic, but we should be realistic here.