fancypants09

Done with the Michigan interview! Anyone else hear any news? I understand that we're sitting on the cusp of decisions now that it is February!

Sorry to hear. Thanks for reporting back! And congrats to hypervodka on the Vandy acceptance

I would also add that I was asked why I chose to apply to a national lit department rather than the comp lit department, so comp lit folks may want to think about the reverse question in prepping for your interview. I think it's also a good question to ask professors to gauge their approaches to scholarship.

Until earlier this week the solution was wine and sweets. Now that I have insomnia with the onset of February I've decided to exercise---a good jog or yoga, to exhaust the body, and also to cook---not only healthy but it takes time! Not in school now, so one of my advisors gently suggested that I keep on reading in my field of interest---all the more difficult after a tough interview yesterday (fears of being shut out abound) but am going to try to take the advice.

Have to agree with hypervodka on this one. I think we need to be careful in ascribing intent. Once you hear good news your brain is all over the place---how do you really know the poster meant to intimidate other applicants? The comment about the imaginative research could have been a compliment from an interviewer, POI or DGS at the school to which the poster applied. I mean, I went nuts after an interview notification; I don't know what I'd be like post acceptance. Obviously we only have control over our own thoughts and actions; if you feel threatened or intimidated then you should reach out to cope but in a way that doesn't take down the poster. The alternative to such postings on the results page would be fewer postings due to fear of offending or intimidating other applicants, and I'm sure that that's the least of what we want as attested by the discussions behind the creation of the Google Doc. Full disclosure: I am not the poster of the said result, nor do I know or know of the poster.

Hang in there! I can so relate to your sentiments, I also ended the day in despair in the wee hours of the morning post-interview. My brain has been all sorts of fried and slower than usual...but telling myself that I will reset it on Monday...

So happy to see our forum filled with so much good news!! Congratulations everyone on your acceptances

I just finished my Michigan interview. A few notes to share: - From the questions it was clear that the interview was per the reasons I suspected (competitive but on the fence). The interview was also "formal"---a series of questions from the professors for the most part. - The professors used almost all of the allotted hour asking me about my writing sample and how it fit within extant scholarship. - There was a language question, and it was substantive, too! The professor asked if I had read any scholarship in that particular language. So be ready, non-English national lit/comp lit people! Assessment: Not feeling the greatest about my chances right now. In my nervousness, especially at the beginning, I stammered through the discussion on the theoretical aspects of my WS as well as the general description of my research project (too long winded). Just thinking about it makes me sick.

Congrats to all the good news!!!!

Thanks for your input, yytk and kyjin! Definitely puts the anxiety in check.

Congrats WilsonWilson! And yes, the GC cohorts in our Lit forum are wonderful

Thanks! Looking forward to the interview. Speaking of which, anyone know if EALC doctorate programs require interviews as part of the application process? Do different programs/schools have different practices?

Thanks so much for the reassurance! Much needed at this point to power me through until the interview.

Statement of the obvious, but I thought it would be helpful to repeat the following for those of us prepping for interviews: Do your homework and find out as many details on your interviewers beforehand. I just learned that one of my interviewers wrote her dissertation on a topic very similar to that of my own WS---we challenge the same Big Name theorist, using different texts. It's going to be a tough interview, but I'm really looking forward to what she has to say on my WS!

AMAZING!! Congrats!!!! First actual acceptance reported on GC for comp lit, right?

Just re-read my WS for interview prep. Super painful...I want to hide under some blankets because of the shame. Wish I had given myself more time to edit before submission...

Yes it is! I was pleasantly surprised as I was under the impression that humanities doctoral programs generally did not conduct interviews.

Another long-time lurker here---I've been mostly active on the Lit forum as my interests are in modern comparative literatures. I've applied to mostly Asian Studies programs and a few comp lit programs as well. Congrats to yytk and saezutte on your acceptances! I've got an interview with Michigan later on this week, but otherwise no news. So looking forward for this waiting period to be over!!!

No news here either...makes me think that comp lit has got to be one of the few departments that has yet to send out ANYTHING, except for the Emory interviews.

It's great to be able to see all this great news the moment I connected to the internet at home. Congratulations everyone!!

Different advisors/professors may have different takes on this but I was told to treat my 'research project' = dissertation. Of course I may change my mind with coursework and advising, but I was told to come up with one topic and write about this in as much detail as possible. But take this with a grain of salt---non-English national lit and comp lit here.

I wouldn't worry about any of the social media stuff too much! I've been told that the general rule of thumb is that "less is more" since you're not constantly fretting over whether you're saying the right or wrong things, whether your privacy settings are too lenient or restrictive, or whether you've "offended" someone by not accepting their friend/connection request or what they meant by de-friending you. Also, the less you have, the less you have to worry about whether someone on the ad comm has access over information that, while not offensive or embarrassing to you or others objectively, may be off-putting to him/her. As for having a page that ad comm members can find when they Google your name: I actually prefer (semi-)anonymity myself. I have a pretty common name, and share it with a has-been Asian pop star.

FWIW, it's interesting to note that the majority of my friends/acquaintances in lit do not have an online presence, not even a Facebook account which seems so ubiquitous these days. Their reasons vary: Some believe that they'll waste all of their time procrastinating on the web, while some prefer one-on-one or small group interactions, whether via email or an actual meeting, to a cold and impersonal internet connection.

Hope everyone in the NE is keeping safe and warm! I'm spending the better part of today and tomorrow offline as I'm making my way back to my place...I love the States but I also missed the freedom of being on my own. Just realized that being on the other side of the world means I won't be able to check my email and the GC real time...I'll either go to sleep or wake up to admissions news (not sure if this is a good thing at this point). It also means that I'll be having my video conference call at 1AM local time on Saturday morning.

Thanks everyone for your input on sharing informal interview news with LOR writers. FWIW, a bit on the language competency "test" during interviews: If you know who your interviewers are going to be, look up their profiles and/or CVs to see what their competency in the languages are, and make sure to prepare something, ANYTHING, to say in those languages. Back in the day, when I applied to an LLM program in Europe to study the EU human rights regime with a Big Name in the field, he literally asked over the phone, "now please say something in French" because I mentioned in my CV that I had advanced proficiency in the language. I do, but I was caught so unawares that I ended up stammering just a little bit of my personal history in the language. Needless to say, the interview went south from there on...This time, I plan on having something prepared in every language I mentioned because my research and statement drill down into grammar rules of a few languages. Another question for the group: I've been reading here and hearing from others that you want to ask professors about their research, but I was wondering how you would go about doing this...any suggestions?