Dr. Old Bill

Incidentally, one thing you should NOT do is look up answers you thought you got right just to be sure. Ouch.

Yep! I did the same thing while waiting in the car this morning. Cracked open the Cracking the GRE book and re-read the A- and B-list materials...and a couple of things helped me get what I'm assuming were correct answers. It just goes to show that all the studying in the world can help you a bit, but usually it's just lucking out by having certain things fresh in your mind that happen to be pertinent for the exam. It really seems like cramming is a reasonable strategy for the GRE subject test in literature...which sounds crazy, but there it is.

Heh...just got home, and the first thing I wanted to do was check in to see how everyone felt about it too! We obviously can't get into detail because of the confidentiality agreement, but I'll just say that it seemed to play more to my strengths than the various practice exams did. It's impossible to say how well one did, but I feel fairly good about it. I know I didn't bomb it, at least. And about a dozen questions or so dealt with material I've been reading this semester specifically, which made me happy. All of this is necessarily very vague, but I can say that I managed to answer every question, and timing wasn't an issue at all (thanks, practice tests!). In fact, I spent the last ten minutes making sure every single box was filled in as much as it could be. There were only around 30 test takers in a room that seated 90, so that was a HUGE boon. The proctors were stern, but not overbearingly so. They made me pocket my analog watch (that I bought specifically for the test), but there was a clock in the room anyhow, so that wasn't a big deal. I'd venture to guess that virtually ALL of the test-takers in the room were Cornell undergrads. Only three literature test-takers overall. I may chime in later with more thoughts on it, but for now, I have a wedding to prepare for!

Quoted for truth (as they used-to-and-probably-no-longer-say-on-the-Internet).

By the way, for anyone considering applying to / attending Cornell... I did a drive by of the campus to suss out where the GRE is being held tomorrow. The campus is indeed beautiful, but holy moly is it ever hilly and downright perilous to get around. "Circuitous" would be an understatement, and I can only imagine what it'll be like in the harsh Upstate New York winters... This isn't really a criticism, mind you, nor is it something that would prevent me from attending. Just forewarning you! Glad to report that the room where the exam is being held has free-standing tables and chairs. I was worried they might cram us into those uncomfortable desk-chair combos. Still hopeful that there are headphones available but we'll see... 12.75 hours. Eep.

Yes, for me, the two POI I contacted who didn't reply are basically the only POIs at given programs in my proposed specialization, meaning that I was on the fence about them in the first place (especially considering I've already got 12 of 15 definite applications done). As with most things in this process, it's subjective (now that I think about it almost everything in this process is subjective).

I just wanted to say -- good luck to all of you who are taking the exam on Saturday! I feel bizarrely unstressed about it, even though I haven't had much time to study over the past five weeks...so I'm hoping it doesn't hit me all at once at 8:31 AM on the 27th... Regardless, best of fortunes to all of you. I'm looking forward to commiserating afterward...

Considering that even my letter writers don't get back to my emails right away (if at all), and they are major advocates of mine...then yes, I think it's to be expected that potential POIs don't respond quickly (or at all) either. It's unfortunate, but it's just not something you can really take to heart unless the program is on the fence for you (as I outlined earlier). It's hard to say at this juncture, but I suspect I'll be a lot more on-the-ball when it comes to getting back to people...but then again, I was a teenager at the dawn of the Internet age, so email has always been my favorite method of communication. For a lot of older professors, emails are tedious, annoying, and occasionally even threatening...

Yes, I was just about to post the same thing as Iphi. I've completed twelve applications so far, and most of them had a warning that you can only have ONE active application at a time. I know the field you're looking at is quite limited, but I think your best bet is to just make the most out of the places that are a great fit. Either that or be willing to broaden your horizons just a little bit to adapt to programs that are at least reasonably close to your interests.

Hmm...well, it depends on where you're applying, I suppose, but if it were me, I'd try to get it down to 25 if possible. I didn't mention it explicitly above, but one DGS I contacted about page count basically said that they truly don't want to read anything longer than their requirements. Again -- remember how many writing samples these folks will be getting. If they see one that is 32 pages among a bunch of 20-page samples, their expectations are probably going to be higher, thinking "well if I have to go through all of this, it better be good..." I don't claim to know this definitively, of course, but it's worth putting yourself in their shoes. Most folks can give a great snapshot of their scholarship in 15-20 pages. It's probably more to your benefit to take out seven pages and just insert a brief blurb in their place, recapping what was extracted. This is just advice, and you can take it how you will...but I feel quite strongly that 25 pages should be the maximum for a WS unless otherwise stated.

Exactly. Furthermore, I really don't know how one could retain in-text citations without having a works cited page to anchor them. It's just such an integral part of a paper that I can't imagine lopping it off for any reason. So Ellison -- definitely make a point of including your works cited page. If you're truly concerned about length and you don't think you can cut (and can't adjust fonts etc. to aid you in getting it to a more manageable length), be sure to contact the programs you are interested in about it. Some are more strict than others with regard to page counts.

Oh. Yes. You definitely want to include your works cited. That's usually not considered part of the page count, however. Seriously though, if you're only a couple of pages over, you might want to consider something as simple as changing the font you use (as per another recent GC thread). Or change the size slightly. Or change the spacing slightly. This isn't to "trick" an adcomm so much as to just adhere to their requests. More often than not, page counts are suggested -- they don't want everyone sending in 30-page documents to read. It's always worth remembering that they'll see hundreds of these things...and even if they're partitioned out to various factions, even twenty 25-page documents makes for a lot of reading...

The title says it all! Many of you have been so helpful, both directly and indirectly via GC posts new and old. I'm keenly interested in how the first month of your respective programs has gone so far -- has grad school been everything you expected? Anything you've learned that you wish you'd known sooner (logistically speaking, that is)?

It depends, really. In my letter to the POI I mentioned above (the super helpful one), I basically said (much more formally than this): you've got research interests that closely match my own, and I'd love working with you personally, but how is the rest of the department in relation to our mutual interests, and would they be amenable to my research objectives etc. I won't get into detail about how he has been helpful, but suffice it to say that his response (which included suggestions for other programs) was positive enough for me to apply to the program without hesitation. Generally speaking, I prefer to contact graduate students instead of POIs for questions about the department etc. If you have specific questions that only a POI can answer, then go ahead and email that person. In the instances that I've contacted POIs instead of grad students, it's either been because there are no current grad students doing any work in the ballpark of my interests, or because the POI seems to be the only person in the department doing the kind of research I'm interested in. This is just my perspective, however. There are lots of old threads here where posters have expressed different levels of "success" when contacting POIs. If I wind up getting into the program with the super helpful POI I mention above, I suspect it will have had a lot to do with his involvement...but one never really knows.

Just an afterthought but...despite what I posted a few days ago, it occurred to me that when POIs don't respond, I don't take it to heart, like I said...but I can't deny that it does affect my plans for applying to a particular program. I usually contact a POI if there's a program I'm on the fence about. If they don't respond at all, then I'm more likely to NOT apply than apply. The opposite is true as well. I've had one extremely helpful POI keep in regular contact with me after I emailed him about his school's program (which I was on the fence about). His response is what compelled me to apply. Two other POIs never got back to me, and since my interest in the program is largely because of those POIs, I figure that if my email (which outlined my research interests) didn't compel them enough to reply, then it's probably not worth the time and money to apply. All of this being said, I recognize that professors get busy and don't always respond at the best of times. Nonetheless, when five or six years of my life is largely dependent on their attention, an early non-response is a decent litmus test, in my opinion.

Thanks to this thread, I have decided to reformat my materials to Arial font. I'm not going to worry about trying to change it for the applications I have already submitted, but after having done a compare/contrast for my most recent application, I definitely noticed that Arial is more readable on the "application preview" than Times New Roman, which has always (literally...since the mid-'90s) been my go-to font. I never particularly liked Arial, but I have to admit, albeit grudgingly, that it's a lot easier on the eyes. I still don't think that font choice is enough of a factor to block any legitimate applicant's chances at acceptance, but if there's a .001% chance, you might as well err on the side of easy readability. A nice little bonus (or possibly a detriment) of Arial over Times New Roman is that in 12 point, it can add at least a page to your WS. My WS was sitting at 15 pages, plus an appendix and two pages of works cited. It's now at a comfortable 20 pages for all materials, which is especially nice for applying to Princeton with their "25 page" recommendation...

I think that's perfectly fine. Many admissions sites specifically say "excerpts from longer works" are allowed, just as some allow two separate papers to make up the page count. As mentioned elsewhere, I've put together two previous papers and added some additional content to tie it all together as a 15+ page paper. The main thing you're going for is clarity, readability, and (obviously) academic writing ability. If your content is interesting and it flows well, you should be good. What you might want to do is either make use of footnotes to explain things that might have been explicated in the unexcerpted parts of your paper, or otherwise have a square brackets on each end of your paper giving a brief synopsis of what came before or after.

I'll be very disappointed if I get denied because I used Times New Roman for my SOP and WS. Just writing that sentence feels absurd to me.

Yeah, ProfLorax's template is quite similar to what I have done too. Sometimes they respond quickly, sometimes they take awhile and give you a terse response, and sometimes they don't respond at all. Don't take it to heart either way.

Well, I don't want to pour fuel on any perceived fire, but...I agree with LKS. Uncertainty at this stage is a little concerning. Maybe it will work for you, but you really don't want to find yourself in a situation where you've been shut-out of a program because you couldn't make a convincing and demonstrable case that you belong in that program. Likewise, you don't want to get accepted to a program, only to realize that it's really not your interest level. It's not my place to "look out for you," but I'm just telling you how your posts are coming across -- as a bit fickle and uncertain...and both of those things aren't good to have at this point in the process.

I think OldManGandhi's advice is spot on. With that in mind, none of the following is "advice" so much as just musing... You're in a major career / life quandary right now, and it's clear that your situation is weighing heavily on you -- understandably so! I guess the thing that confuses me just a little is that it sounds like you've already got a very solid resume for the sorts of things you want to do. It's nigh on impossible to tell definitively in an anonymous forum like this, of course, but if you've got a degree from an Ivy (is it a BA or MA?), and some significant real-world experience in a related field, you should be established enough, no? If your degree is just a BA, I understand the desire to get a Master's, though paying $60000 for it sounds pretty darn steep. I suppose the advantage is that when you come back to the U.S. after you complete the Master's, international schooling will look slightly "exotic" at least...though in practical terms, I'm not sure how much that matters. I have to wonder why, if you really want to move to L.A., you didn't opt to get a degree in the greater L.A. area instead. Suffice it to say, there are tons of great programs there for exactly what you want, although they're also full of students who have the same general career objectives as well. Will an international degree set you apart from that pack? Could any of your current L.A. connections conceivably get you in to something a little lower than what you want, where you can effectively work your way up? Another random thought: could you use the relative lightness of your workload to your advantage and do a bit of freelancing there? Nothing is stopping you from doing your own independent research, is it? If you remain committed to spending the 60k to get your degree, why not make use of all the resources you can and -- even if you don't have long term plans in the area -- make some connections in that location. Your background at a big New York magazine might allow you to get a part-time gig at a smaller UK magazine and help fill some of the time (and gain experience) while doing your MSt. Ultimately, it comes down again to what OldManGandhi says -- none of us can offer on-point advice, really. There are so many variables in your life right now that it sounds as though finding a realistic long-term focus may be the best thing for you to do. I will say that a week or two is perhaps not enough time to effectively judge your current situation. You're probably overwhelmed and feeling quite displaced, so giving yourself more time to acclimate might be prudent...though of course this foils the whole "stay out of debt" aspect. Either way, good luck to you. I hope you can sort it all out!

I love Northern California! The only real reason I'm not applying to anywhere in Cali other than Stanford is that my wife has zero desire to move there. Most other places she's amenable to, but she has a beef against California, for some strange reason. Personally, I lived in SoCal for half a year, but have been up in the Bay Area many times for conferences etc. If it was only ME I had to consider, Stanford might be my top choice.

Kind of a shameless plug for a reputable poetry journal that is near and dear to my heart, but... Rattle recently had an issue dedicated to single parent poems, with the majority of them single mother poems. Some excellent entries there from some contemporary poets that you might be interested in checking out.

Welcome, Portia. I guess the big question I have when I read your post is: what's your end goal? If you just want to get through it to have a MA in English, then fair enough -- the school doesn't matter too much if you just have a semi-active interest in a field, but no definitive plans to teach etc. If you're hoping to follow up MA study with Ph.D. study, it's a different story. I'm thinking your snowboarding comment was tongue-in-cheek, but if not...well, it just doesn't sound like you're all that serious about graduate study, if I may be frank. And if you really are interested in graduate study, limiting yourself to geographical locations isn't the best idea in the world. I must say, the idea that anyone here is applying to 14 East Coast schools for "fun" is quite insulting. There's very little "fun" involved in the process. Excitement at future prospects, sure...but it's balanced by a very real concern about getting completely shut-out. The various fees (more like $2000, by the way) are, for most of us, hard come by. There are several folks here who are having to limit themselves to a handful of programs for purely financial reasons. Those of us who are applying to a wide range of schools is often out of a desperate sense of carpe diem -- if I don't wind up getting in to any of the programs I'm applying to, I have a bleak and depressing Plan B that is so far beneath everything I've been building up to for the past few years that it would feel like a monumental failure. So no, fun's not a part of it! That aside, American Modernism is one of the most saturated literary fields right now. The good news is that (and here is where rankings come in to the picture) because most of those schools aren't considered to be "good" or "great," there's less competition, and probably (though I'm not sure) less competition to get in. If you can explain your GPA in your SOP, you might be set. Again, though...think about why you're going, because if you have long-range academic aspirations, some of those places might not help you to get where you want to go.

Love it, Hypervodka. Now cram that into 40 seconds 230 times and you've got yourself a sterling GRE subject score!