pdh12

i am Living for everyone’s literary/media/testicular references. Thank youuu

@FiguresIII wow, what a lineup! how are you feeling with the wait?

@jadeisokay ooo solidarity!! I’m sure you mentioned earlier in the thread, but which comp lit programs? i’m sure we have some overlap... i’m crossing my fingers especially for umass amherst, and thus far have only heard from penn state. GOOD LUCK!!!

Yea, everything with a grain of salt..but i’m feeling kinda lonesome of the comp lit front..nobody else has any news yet, and all i can think about is all the ways i’m sure to self-sabotage come interview time.

Thought I'd share this tidbit, mined in my current interview manic-terror-anticipation mode. It seems kind of reliable(?)-- From a thread in "interview tips and tricks": As I bet you all know, very few English programs interview (and Columbia is historically not one of them, Caien). Sometimes a professor will informally contact a student, but only a couple of programs interview their whole short list. Off the top of my head, Chicago and Duke Literature (but not English) have interviewed in the past few years, and I think but might be mistaken that Emory and Notre Dame do as well? It does change, though--Stanford used to and doesn't anymore, Chicago didn't and does now. I am not sure about Comp Lit, though, since I didn't apply--it is my general impression that interviews are more common in that field, in particular to test language skills. However, I did have one interview last season. Quite honestly: it was nerve-wracking; I don't think that it went very well; I was admitted anyway. The interview questions were entirely based on my writing sample and the substantive proposal in my SoP. If I were to give any advice, it would be to be extremely familiar with the material in these documents, as well as research beyond what was expressly mentioned but would inform your field of proposed interest. Although that probably sounds ridiculous now when it feels like you could never not know these intimately, in over a month, when you are maybe taking other classes and definitely focusing on other things, putting in the work to really refamiliarize yourself with those documents and the research that you did to generate them will pay off. The tip that I received (and did not do, but realized too late was a great idea) is to make a couple reminder notes to yourself on post-its and put them around your computer screen (since it will likely be a Skype interview with 2-3 profs). If you are stressed and start to panic, even one word that sets you off in the right direction can be helpful. If you are really worried and don't think it would be too much of an imposition, you might ask a recommender who is familiar with your application to compose a few relevant questions, or even try to do this yourself. Be as relaxed and as confident as you can, know that you can answer questions somewhat cagily to direct the conversation toward surer ground, and don't worry too much-- they are just trying to get to know you and what you want to study as well as they can in 20-30 minutes!

It’s Real! My friend here “broke the bank” on a house for $30k (yes, thirty) and it’s like a turn-of-century 3-story demi-mansion, with all kinds of fancy staircases and woodworks (maybe i’m easily dazzled as a native new englander). so good for house shows. if we really want to have a political uprising, all the young art folk would be infiltrating these places in lieu of nyc

@aporeticpoetic Yes I got that, but as a Comp Lit dude—it’s def. a universal email

Noooo it feels like the impossible barrier...i wonder if it will be more of a deep knowledge exam or “oh we just wanted to see if you were at least somewhat human” , both of which i’ll surely sabotage. either way i’ll report the findings!

Comrades!!!! The dreaded and most desired hour has arrived on this end—-Penn State requested an interview (Comp Lit!) !!! What Do I Say?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!! please send help!

So Many Glories. Added the necropolitics to our fecund cropping. I have bits of Butler I could corral, too

how does one access//add to this mentioned 'folder'?! would love to contribute//peruse! all this sedgwick talk is getting me excited, and I wonder if it's a coincidence that we're all interested///leaning into similar veins

OMG PDF SWAP?!?!? would love to chew on that sedgwick intro! Mbembe’s necropolitics is up there for me.

^shear madness! although...it puts the time I've been thirstily scanning this site into sobering perspective......

i’m sorta grateful to the eerily early reportage, though...something, albeit imaginary, to chew on? and it doesn’t seem too far-fetched that people would start getting interview requests from some of the earliest deadline schools. I think the earliest I applied to was Berkeley, December 3rd (comp lit). I was hoping that would mean an earlier decision... we were doing so well conjuring a safe purgatory here! @dilby et al i fully encourage all gif-medium forms of expression and emptional channeling.

not to mention...interview notifications?!?

wait, poets in the hizzy?!?! Me Toooooo!

@Bopie5 Yes! it was for Comp Lit --sorry @ all for any undue alarm!! Surely I want to make much more of it than it calls for--masochist that I strive to be--but Julie the admin person sent an apology email immediately after sending a 'you're-missing-rec-letters' email to quote "the wrong list"--I'm overanalyzing the existence of multiple lists as a sign that I am, in fact, on A list, and that this list holds the key to some truth relevant to my place in their deliberations..............this is too grand a peek behind my chaos-curtain for comfort....... anywho....current research! I'm writing a creative dissertation that explores the limits of media-sites--the more I discover/explore, the more inadequate I feel my self-presentation has been in these applications, as if I've already eclipsed myself and that this eclipse is for naught, given the finite timeline.

I straight up just asked which list, if it reaps a harvest i’ll share!

@Bopie5 love this Q (don’t lemme interrupt)—just wanted to ask if anyone just got that horrifying mistake-email from UMich just now?!?!? The admin sent it to “the wrong list”...so I’m on a list tho?!?! WHICH LIST?!?!?

For those that emphasized their teaching prowess, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing—your weiting samples will speak for themselves! But yea, the jist behind it is that they want illustrious alum publishing dazzling books—publication tallies are humanities dept’s bread and butter. meanwhile, helllls yes, I’m so invested in everyone’s fates now! And i’m sure it’s inevitable that we’ll run into each other at future conferences, or already have—it’s a surprisingly small niche we’re carving

i’ve gotten the vibe that adcoms are looking for the candidate who will bring something scholarly fresh to the discipline, a quality they prioritize over teaching ability...

also re: our collectivized notification hunt: UMich (comp lit) site says they start notifying “immediately after” the deadline (jan 7) and go on til march!!!!

^Yesss! One of my beloved rec writers asked me to meet with her, and very strongly encouraged me *not* to apply to Comp Lit programs (replete with stats and graphs). She suggested, instead, that I pick an English or National Lit program, but the odds seemed so much more against me re: actually getting into one of those--maybe it's my delusion, but it seems there could be less applicants to Comp Lit than to English PhDs... I'm coming to this cycle with 2 MFAs, and shared some of @WildeThing's concerns re: it actually playing against (if it seems like I'm just trying to ''hide out'' in programs or something). I'm especially curious, though, how adcoms will take my 'cross over' attempt with my creative and scholarly writing...it's relevant but also not (?)

How’s everyone feeling about the dread/hope of interviews?! So many of the schools do it, but then others don’t. I interviewed with CUNY Grad Center when i first applied and their first question was (paraphrase): “aside from everything you said in your SOP, what would you research?” totally threw me off. edit: @WildeThing EPIC compilation!! I’m also wondering how many of us are hybrid eng/comp lit applicants—tempted to do this for comp lit —i also appreciate your musings on approximating one’s position Globally, rather than just for one school (since no one person can accept more than one spot)—which devolves into a game of musical waitlist

^ i nearly started drafted a post for this last night then stopped myself , thinking i’d gone off the deep end. ...but if we were to channel our energy for this beautifully arbitrary task, it seems Emory and Penn State have historically notified around Jan 11 for interviews...