emily.rose

Thanks for all of the advice! I actually just graduated in May, so I'm out in the real world right now working a full time job, so it's a little hard trying to find opportunities to bulk up my qualifications for MA/PhD applications. I do love the sound of a conference, though, whether it helps me in admissions or not! It's definitely something I will look into and I wish I had heard more about as an undergrad.

Question for you guys - I just graduated undergrad in May, going to be applying for schools in 2015. How do you find conferences to submit to? Or is that mainly something that happens when obtaining an MA? May be a stupid question, but thought I'd ask! And congrats!

I've been narrowing my choices for both PhD and MA programs for application season Fall 2015, and I would really like to get in contact with a couple of professors at a couple schools to find out more about their program. Is this acceptable practice? If it is, what would I even say to not sound like a stalker? Thanks!

Wahoowa!! I was trying really hard to avoid the lit GREs, but Boston University is one of my choices and they require it. I'm pretty nervous about it! Georgetown is a great school, but I'm up in the DC area right now and it's not really my cup of tea. I'm looking for something on the east coast, but more like northeast or southeast. Too many good schools! I'm hoping to find a couple to apply to that are a bit less competitive.

Ah I see how that sounds now that I read it again. I mean that I had such passionate and helpful professors that made me love what I was learning in their classes. I also worked for six months in a law office and it made me fairly homicidal...just not what I expected. I was writing my honors thesis at the same time I was working there and even though both were particularly grueling, I got so much more out of writing the thesis.

That's a really helpful place to start, echo449. It's a little overwhelming just starting to look at schools because I know that fit is more prevalent than ranking, so your list is really helpful. And UVA is my alma mater! So I've actually thought about heading back over to Charlottesville, but it would also be nice to go off to somewhere new.

Thank you thank you! This site has both motivated and terrified me...everyone seems so accomplished and focused! I'm working a full time job right now, but just graduated in May, so still pretty green to the whole process.

My first post on gradcafe!! I just started gathering all of my materials for Fall 2015 season of applications - I have three professors to write me what I feel will be strong recommendations, scheduled to take the GRE in May, had a 3.72 cGPA and 3.85 major GPA (English Lit, politics minor...I was a confused freshman). I went to what I consider to be a top tier public university and had professors that made me change my mind from wanting to go to law school (thank god I decided not to do that) to wanting to pursue further education in literature. I wrote my honors thesis on Sylvia Plath (love it or hate it), motherhood, Eden myth, to put it very shortly. I am very interested in mid-late 20th century and contemporary poetry, with particular emphasis on women's studies. Does anyone out there know any graduate programs that might fit both my interests and qualifications? I am looking primarily into PhD programs, but will probably end up applying to 2 or 3 MA programs as well. Thank you!