Venetia

Well despite what some have said about Gawain being overdone, I think it's a great choice (I did my MA dissertation on Gawain, so I might be a little biased!). I did my writing sample on Malory, which is probably the most cliched Medieval text ever, lol ! I'm sorry if this is an obvious suggestion, but have you looked at Thomas Hahn's article on popular chivalric romance in Britain? It's in the Cambridge Companion to Medieval Romance. I thought it provided good context for Gawain's character in English romance, though of course most of the other English Gawain material is later. Other than that, I can't think of anything off the top of my head- unless you plan to look at older, French material on Gawain (as I did). I have a whole bunch of stuff to suggest for that...just PM me if you're interested! Good luck. I'd be happy to read your finished product- as I said, I love SGGK!

So my grad school just sent me all the details for their health insurance policy. It's pretty cheap, so the supplement that they're gving me will cover it. However, my Dad (who works in insurance, so knows what he's about) took a look at it and said that the 100,000 maximum benefit per illness would go nowhere near the health costs for a major illness. So I did some more research and found the NAGPS policy, which is twice the price but has a maximum benefit per illness of 275,000 (with the additional medical add-on), and my Dad still seems a little sceptical about that one. My question is, what is everyone else doing for health insurace? Is my Dad being a little too protective, or is there another option out there with increased coverage but not a horrific increase in price?

The number of universities you apply to should really depend on how many you would be happy going to. I have heard of cases (mostly on this forum) where people applied to schools they weren't particularly excited about, and ended up really conflicted when those schools became their only acceptance. I think most ended up reapplying anyway, so why spend the money on a school that you would never consider attending? However, cruel as it may sound, you have to go into your applications prepared for at least some failure. So you should have a good range of schools, from the 'dream school' down to some sort of safety school- one that you like, but isn't as competitive. I applied to seven schools (all of which I would have been happy attending), and while I thought I was prepared for failure, I really did think I'd be accepted to a couple. I received one acceptance, and that's where I'll be going in the Fall so it didn't matter that I was rejected from everywhere else. Still, it was a bit sobering to think that I only *just* managed to get into grad school. If I was applying again, I'd apply to more of a range of universities (I had three Ivies on my list, which is a little high for my GPA in hindsight), and I think I'd apply to a few more, maybe ten in total. Good luck!

I just registered yesterday, and I was already behind the 8-ball! Back home we don't register online, so I was a bit flummoxed by it all. Why is Thursday shortened to R???

Hallo again, Branwen! I had to respond to the 'hailing all Medievalists' call, lol. It's hard to read the tiny tiny letters in your signature, but I didn't notice Indiana Bloomington. They've got a professor there, Patricia Clare Ingham, who wrote a book called 'Sovereign Fantasies: Arthurian Romance and the Making of Britain' which I used during my Masters and found to be very good. Her publications also list some other Arthurian stuff, and she lists it as one of her interests. Indiana also produces a Medieval journal (I think it's Exemplaria) and seems to really emphasize the Medieval in their course. So I'd definitely give that a glance, if you haven't already. Also, I saw you were interested in Welsh so did a quick search on their site- turns out they have taught it in the past, and it's still listed as a possibility for 'independent study' on their West European Studies page. As to the ongoing Fordham debate, I'll be going there next year so I'm all for it! They're getting a new prof who specializes in 'the French of England', and I'm pretty sure, from her reputation, that she'll be a full prof. They also offer a Certificate in Medieval Studies that you can take alongside your PhD, which would mean getting the benefits of a Med Studies degree while still staying under the aegis of the English department. And I don't know about stipends, but people I've talked to say that they haven't had to take out loans so it must be okayish at least. And the campus is meant to be beautiful (I haven't visited yet...). Plus there is the possibility that you could be colleagues with ME, which of course must be a major draw !

I did both my undergrad and my masters abroad (I'm technically American, but have always lived outside, so everything is abroad to me- but in the specific instance of my degrees they were in places I had never been before). For my undergrad I actually went to the place, sight unseen, based only on the fact that my university adviser at school said her Dad had gone there and it was nice. It was amazing, and completely perfect for me. For my masters, I visited for one weekend before I went, but made up my mind before that, and again it was a great experience. So going with my gut instinct really worked for me. If you need more substantial proof of suitability before you go, I suppose the best way to gauge if a place is right for you is to really do your research. Look at the website religiously, email a prof you'd be interested in working with, post on places like this forum asking people for info. Also make sure to look at the area the school is in and the culture of the country- if you've not really been abroad for long before I've heard that the culture shock can get intense. Also be aware of the costs- Europe can get very expensive in some instances. Basically, use that wonderful tool called the internet. It's amazing what a person can find out with a ten minute google search these days...anything fishy about your university and any quirks about its area have probably been mentioned somewhere, either in a forum or a blog post or even a news article.

I considered including an LoR from my undergraduate institution as well as two from my Masters when I applied last year, but ultimately I chose not to, for these reasons: 1) Many universities want to hear about your graduate work (if you have it). I remember that on a couple of my universities' websites, they specifically said they preferred references from grad school rather than undergrad. Of the top of my head, I remember UVA was one, their website says: 'Applicants who have done graduate work elsewhere should request three letters from instructors familiar with their graduate work.' 2) When I wrote to my undergrad prof asking about a reference, she said that she would be very happy to write one BUT it might not be the best plan. She pointed out that grad schools might read into it, thinking that I obviously wasn't memorable/amazing enough to get three references from my grad school, and that universities (as above) would want referees familiar with graduate work. This was for English, so perhaps it's different in other subjects. I can also understand your desire to pump up your undergrad GPA by getting a super duper reference from a prof that really believes in you. It's just good to be aware of how some adcomms (allegedly) think.

I'll just add my two cents, for what it's worth. I'm starting a PhD in English at a university that requires an MA of its PhD applicants (if you don't have one, they bump your application over to the MA applicant pool, I've heard), so I have an MA. However, it's not in English, but in Medieval Studies. For students that want to study the Medieval period, I think that an MA is *very* beneficial. There are always those spectacular few who manage to learn Latin and some vernaculars during their undergrad, but really for most of us it's graduate study that develops the skills for Medieval study!

I have a little bit of info on funding at UK universities, as I was researching UK PhD funding several months ago. The bad news is, ultimately I decided to try in the States instead. Anyhow, here's what I have. I didn't consider any of the universities in your list, instead concentrating on Durham, Manchester and St. Andrews (where I did my undergrad work). In those cases, I found that if you looked in the fellowship/financial aid section of the graduate website, there was generally some sort of fellowship offered to foreign students university-wide. Sometimes the departments offer them as well, but I never found one for English. So if I were you, I'd get to know that part of their website inside out, and if there isn't a lot of information there, ring them and ask. Now that the scarily busy part of the application process is over, I'm sure most of the admin folk will have time to be quite helpful. Another possibility is funding from the US for you to do a degree in the UK. The obvious choice is of course Fulbright, but I must admit that I have no idea about their funding at a graduate level. I know that there have already been a lot of warnings on this thread, but I will post this one anyway as it's slightly different to the others. Funding in the UK is already very competitive for local students (as it is in the US!), and international students are competing for a lot fewer awards, making it even more competitive in a way. About the validity of a UK degree in the US, I've heard many people say that UK degrees aren't valued in the States, but I have never heard it from anyone official, only from fellow applicants on this board. I did both my undergrad and my Masters in that part of the world, and I found the quality of teaching to be amazing, especially for Medieval topics (my specialty too!). For Anglo-Saxon, there's really no better place for access to manuscript material and some truly well-known scholars. Edit: All of my research was for PhDs- in the universities I looked at, funded Masters for international students in the Arts were pretty much unheard of, at least through the universities. You might have more luck finding funding in the US specifically geared at doing Masters work in the UK.

Johndiligent does have a point. You should definitely ask yourself those questions before applying to Grad School- applying is an expensive process (more so than I initially realized- GRE fees, application fees, courier fees...it all adds up really quickly), so unless you're certain it could be a waste of money. Also, admissions committees don't want uncertain people in their cohorts- if there's a chance you'll drop out, there's a chance they'll lose their investment. Anyhow, with that caveat aside I can give you some suggestions for 'programs to apply to', to a point. What are you interested in? If you've got interdisciplinary interests, they could play a part in your applications. For instance, if you're interested in the Medieval period, maybe a course in Medieval Studies would be your cup of tea. Or if you study literature in a variety of languages, periods or cultures, maybe Comparative Literature is for you. Finally, there's Law School. An analytical mind and good language skills (both hallmarks of good English graduates) wouldn't go astray there. Of course, the main graduate program that's looking for English majors is...English. A seemingly infinite array of historical periods and topics of interest mean that there's bound to be something that interests you. But once again, think very hard before trying for grad school in order to make sure it's really what you want. This was my first application season and I was shocked at how competitive it is to get in (my track record is one acceptance out of seven, which is good enough for me). Even if you get an acceptance, you'll be writing off several years of your life to work hard for little pay, only to end up with a qualification that often leads to a career of working hard with little pay. If you love it, it's worth it. If you don't...well, you get the picture. Good luck with deciding what courses to apply to, and with the application process in general. It's really not for the faint-hearted!

@Soul Invictus - First the off-topic question: No, I am not from Europe per se, but I did all my undergrad work in the UK and my Masters in Ireland, so I guess I picked up a few phrases over the years. Also, my Mum is a New Zealander, so she's probably passed on a few as well! Concerning housing- why is June so late? Don't we start in August (when in August I could not say, I should check that, right...). I don't know about the area, but when I was living in Ireland I managed to find housing pretty quickly, over a couple of weeks even, but maybe I was lucky. On the other hand, my undergrad took place in a small town, and if you wanted a decent house near the university you pretty much had to find something in January or February, as all the decent housing would be taken by March! So who knows... As to why it kicks off in June, I'd imagine it's because that's when housing becomes available again since most of the students head home for the summer and either renew their leases for the coming year or don't. And @BrandiGrad- thanks for the info about Fordham. I doubt I'll get a chance to visit before I go, so it's nice to hear someone's opinion of it. I don't think I'd mind living in the Bronx, as my last place was in Chinatown and I enjoyed the hustle and bustle!