Matthew3957

I am also applying for 2019. Doing ecocriticism with a contemporary North American focus (though this will probably broaden). I will be applying to schools in the US and Canada. I am completing my MA at Freie Universitaet Berlin in North American Studies right now and trying to finish up some papers so I can start on my SOP that has been ping-ponging around in my head for weeks now. This is at the moment my biggest concern. Being outside of the US means a lot less access to people to proofread and give advice on my SOP because fewer people have experience with the process. My Master's GPA is a 1.0 so far, which in US terms is a 4.0 - I am really hoping to keep it there! My undergrad is a 3.59 from UCSC all the way back in 2011. My LOR will hopefully be strong ones from current professors. I have 163V/161Q/5.5W GRE which I am happy with, but probably not high enough for somewhere like UVA from what I hear. I will not be taking the subject test. Which leaves my writing sample. I am trying to decide between a paper a wrote last semester which was well received, but uses a very colloquial style since it discusses the work of Rita Felski and Bruno Latour who use this style as well. Or a paper from this semester which I have not finished yet. I also have a shorter 8-10 page paper I just finished writing which I can use if they do not want a full semester paper. @onerepublic96 I second @indecisivepoet on the thread. I will also offer my rationale. Having done an MA in Germany I am immensely grateful for the free education. However, a lot of the old school clickiness is even stronger here than in the US which was surprising. In terms of not choosing the UK, I spent a LONG time deciding. My decision came down to three factors: one funding is less secure, transparent, not guaranteed; two I want a little more time to refine my interests and take a wider range of classes and PhD programs in the US and Canada are longer; three - being a teacher now - I think teaching and teaching pedagogy is important training for a professor and UK PhD programs and employers do not seem to. This last one may sound harsh or a bit flippant, but it is both gleaned from my reading of their websites, talks with people who did their BAs in the UK, and current PhD students there as well.

@CatBowl that sounds like a great plan I hadn't even thought of. I should do that too. Anything of note ya wanna share? Help a fellow ecocritter out?

@CatBowl Totally with you after checking out Oregon's page more today I am almost sold. I should get in touch with the coordinator as well and ask about it. That's one thing I haven't done yet with any of the schools. Essentially, from this thread I have now added Boulder and Oregon and maybe removed UIUC. I think I am going to try and check out teaching loads from here to narrow down a bit more - I'm sitting at 12...

I am applying this year as well. So I have some time for my SOP, but I also have 2 research papers to write over the break - German semesters are like this. I am hoping to finish it by September and ask for recommends around that time too. Maybe even get my applications in by end of October. I went through the same thing with the subject test, I think if its more than one school it might be worth it. Oregon has been on my list and Boulder I just started looking into from your list. Oregon seems really cool, Eugene is a good college town, I love the Northern California/Southern Oregon vibes personally, but it is not for everyone. The thing that puts me off about Oregon is just - slightly elitistly - ranking, but mostly because of job prospects after. Their placement page on their website is blank which did not seem like the best sign to me. They are still in the running for me though because they have such a strong eco focus. Boulder like I said I just started looking at, but it seems like a good program and Boulder itself seems like a good city. I have to research it some more when I get the chance, but it might make my list. Depending on how confident I feel I might drop Stanford's MTL and/or UVA. I like the work that is done at both, but right now I have 5 "top tier" schools and that makes me nervous. I know people say rankings don't decide who accepts you and not, but I am still trying to spread it around and have different types of programs with similar focuses.

This is from a reading of the admissions info specifically for the English department, so you can check if it's similar for you. Here is my basis: "We offer admission to approximately 40 students per year applying to the M.A. in Literature program and to approximately 5-10 students in three other programs: the Ph.D. in Literature, and the M.A. and Ph.D. in Writing Studies. We admit 6 M.F.A. candidates a year (3 in fiction, 3 in poetry). Our non-literature tracks typically have smaller applicant pools. Half or more of all admitted students accept our offers, with 20-30 new students usually entering each year. Most of our Ph.D. students have received their M.A.s at Illinois." This is the first mention of it, but on another page for MA students it says: " In the semester in which students complete the 28th and 32nd hours of MA coursework, they are required to submit a Stage II application if they wish to continue work toward the PhD. For this application to the Graduate Director and Graduate Studies Committee, students must submit a statement of purpose, a writing sample (likely a revised seminar paper) and two letters of recommendation from faculty members. Students in good standing and making good progress are ordinarily accepted into Stage II, the first portion of the PhD program." The last bit is that unlike a lot of English PhD programs their PhD program requirements does not include the master's coursework it starts later so it really seems more of a EU model going on where you go straight into specializing. Most PhD programs don't seem to have a stand-alone MA, which they do. So, if they are admitting 40 MA students each year and 5-10 to the PhD student's (which you in this case need an MA to apply to) it's on the one hand not surprising that most of the students they take are the ones they already know and are happy with - much like in the EU - but on the other a discouragement for applying to it myself. Thoughts?

Hey @CatBowl I am another ecocrit person focusing heavily on theory (mostly STS and OOO and Posthumanism generally) and 20th century American / Native American. I am applying to a lot of the same schools: UCSB, UCD, UVA, Duke (literature). I love Heather Houser's work at UTA, but I am probably not applying because she seems like shes the only one there. UCLA has great people there, but I refuse to take the GRE subject test to just apply to one school when we all know its bullshit anyways. I wonder why Princeton made your list, did I miss something there? I am also applying to: Rice (not thrilled about Houston, but such group of professors), Stanford's Modern Thought and Literature program, UCSC (my alma mater and a lot of environmental stuff there), UMich, and maybe UIUC (though they seem to mostly take their own Master's students as PhD students. I am also applying to the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria, UBC might actually be my top choice. What schools are you really excited about? I am not sure how much it helps but my background is a BA in Literature (3.6) and currently completing an MA in North American Studies, Literature and Culture and am really hoping for a 4.0 all the way through. My letters will be good. My WS should be strong. My SOP like you is the nebulous part, but I figure it's time to do a ton of research on how to write one better. Thanks for starting this post.

@KLamb8 I am doing most of it once I get there. I have a place set up for the first few weeks. Which will give me a chance to look for a place and get everything sorted out. I actually leave tomorrow! Hopefully, you get good news!

Hello, CakeTea as always has the best answer. I have been using https://www.daad.de/deutschland/stipendium/en/ to look for funding. I am also planning to apply for the Deutschlandstipendium but I saw that FU Berlin is giving 24 out this take so it looks slim. I plan to just apply around, the political parties offer some. The DAAD scholarships look awesome, but you can't apply til later in the year. I am in the same boat as you working a bunch to have enough money. I have an online job, so I plan to still work enough while in school to pay for my expenses. Let me know if you come up with anything.

Yes, I officially heard back from the North American Studies program last week. Now I am scrambling to get together all the stuff I need to apply for enrollment and send it off as soon as possible since it will take awhile to get there from Canada. Each step feels like a mountain to climb. What is your top pick at this point? The FU program?

Thanks for the reply! This is all really helpful information. I have visited both FU and Humboldt and thought it was interesting how different their vibes were. Guess based on last year's intake I am a sure fit

That is awesome Katie! Let me know how it goes it sounds like you are more along than I am. Right now I am getting ready to mail my documents to Uni-Assist, and applying to Uni Bonn for American Studies too. Thank you this is the type of info I was hoping for! I have a good sense for U.S. schools, what is competitive and such, but this helps give me a better idea of German ones now too, which was what I was hoping for. I visited Berlin in December and liked it a lot. It was hard to get the full feel, since I happened to be there during a cold snap, but was still very nice. It seems like a great place to live where you can find whatever you need. Thanks for the advice!

The application period opens today. I am planning to apply for North American Studies and potentially English Studies there. I just want to study literature, history, and critical theory. Does anyone have any experience with the process? It looks like GPA is all that matters, but I am nervous about actually getting accepted. Any clue what GPA you generally need to get in? I have a 3.6 from a University of California school. Anyone else planning on going to Berlin for school this October?

Has anyone applied to an MA program in Germany as a US/Canadian? I am looking into the MA in English at FU Berlin, Humboldt, Heidelberg, or LMU (Munich). I sent them all messages about the application process but have gotten very little back. It seems almost too easy so I am a little freaked out. I have a BA in Literature.

I am trying to figure out a similar thing. However, my masters is not even terminal. Mine would be in Modern European Studies and I would want to go on and pursue a Ph.D. afterward and I am wondering if it is worthwhile or if I should just wait it out and apply somewhere next year. For me the costs would be a little less but still probably close to 75k. I just dont know if its doable or worth it. Hope you get it figured out

Hi All, Wondering if anyone knows anything about this program or if they have attended it. I am looking to eventually get a Ph.D and assume it would help boost my application for that as I did not get into any Ph.D programs this year. What I am wondering is how much interaction and attention can you get from professors? What is the overall impression of the program within the school itself? The program offers very little funding - though some - and I would have to find a lot of external awards and work part-time still to get everything in order. I just do not want to take on more debt if it will not be for anything that will help me down the road. I am looking to hopefully get a Ph.D in either history or an interdisciplinary field that emphasizes literature, history, and anthropology. Obviously, I would like to not pay for graduate school but it seems like it could be a big help.