Dr. Old Bill

So clearly the answer to "How you spent your summer" for many of you is "in unbearable agony." Damn. Really sorry for all of you. I get headaches quite frequently, but never full-on migraines. If it's any consolation (it's not), just think of it as your brilliance trying to escape.

While my perspective on learning languages has changed a bit in the last few years (i.e., I have far less of an issue with it if it's an applied language that you will be actively using), and while I completely appreciate and understand the graduate school desire for their students to have two foreign languages, for some people learning a language is just as difficult as learning calculus or advanced algebra. I made it through four semesters of Spanish with all As, and can probably claim to have a reading knowledge of the language, but part of me can't help but think that I was lucky to get those As, and I probably relied on Spanish dictionaries a bit too much when I was writing my papers. My point is that languages come more easily to some people than they do to others. I'm certainly not dreading learning another language or two, but I can't claim to be looking forward to it either, even though those languages will be applied this time around.

Personally, I'd be inclined to take it. Try to study as much as you can before the late September date. The reason I say this is because ETS can be notoriously slow about sending the scores out (and remember that they're sent via snail mail), and there's not a lot of wiggle room if something goes awry. But that's the ideal, of course. In most cases taking the test in late October shouldn't be an issue, and for some folks it's the only feasible date. The other consideration is that there are threads peppered throughout GC that talk about students bombing the GRE lit test (I seem to recall one girl saying she was in the 18th percentile) and getting into top tier institutions regardless. In other words, it IS an important and necessary part of your application (for some places), but it is, after all, just part. If you blow the adcomms away with a fantastic WS and SOP, even if you have lackluster GRE scores, you've still got a solid shot at getting accepted, from what I understand.

Well, for what it's worth, I'll be sending Yale my main WS, which will end up at around 16-18 pages (i.e., more than 10-15!). It may sound a tad arrogant (I hope not), but I think my writing style is quite readable. I use "big words," of course, but I think it's important to remember that no matter how dry the material may be, there's no need to make how one writes about the material dry as well. My point being that the person at Yale I referenced above simply indicated that they get a ton of papers, all of which must be at least partially read through, and that is the reason for the page count. I suspect that they'd be happy to read engaging essays that are a bit longer. Of course, we're all English folks here, so pretty much everyone can probably make the same justification, so...take these thoughts with a grain of salt!

Actually, I think part of the reason might be that the validation system was broken! A few days ago, I tried to change my email, which required a validation email sent to my OTHER email address. Well, that email never came through, and I've been locked out of Grad Cafe for the last three days. Finally this morning I tried it and voila! A validation email was sent, and I'm no longer in GC limbo... (So if anyone tried PMing me over that time, it probably didn't go through...) Incidentally, while I was but a shade traversing purgatory, able to watch the world but not participate, I noticed that there was a backlog of hundreds of new registrants, all in the "validating" stage as well. May those poor souls find their way to the tangible world once again. P.S.: Queennight: my wife and I LOVE Hannibal! We haven't seen Season 2 yet, because we usually binge-watch things instead of watching them live, so...no spoilers, anyone!

Sounds great, Unraed! Although yowza on the page count for NYU. That's ridiculously short, and doesn't really make a lot of sense -- the page count is longer than for most undergraduate papers, yet shorter than for most seminar / conference / graduate papers. Perhaps their tacit desire is that many students will write a fresh paper for their own edification... Yale's requirements are surprisingly short as well, being between 10 and 15 pages. I contacted them about wiggle room on the page count, since mine might wind up a little longer with the appendix and works cited pages, and was told rather plainly that "the point is not so much to count as to remember that your readers have a great many other pages to read!" I can't really argue with that. So I simply replied with a "thank you" and said that every page would be a joy to read. Unraed: PM me when you've got yours done. I was hoping to have a strong draft of mine done today, but it'll probably be Monday or Tuesday, as I'm out of town for the next three days.

Last year there was a great thread about what various applicants were doing for their Writing Samples. Given how quiet Grad Cafe has been over the last while, I figure it might be interesting to talk about our plans in that regard (current acceptees can feel free to chime in, of course!) I'm currently finishing up a paper that examines the structural anomalies of three of Shakespeare's sonnets, and proposes that those anomalies were more likely intentional than erroneous. I took a great seminar course last year wherein students were allowed to write their papers on any of Shakespeare's sonnets from any perspective. I wrote papers on two of the "misfits" (99 has fifteen lines, 126 consists of six heroic couplets, and 145 is in iambic tetrameter, rather than pentameter), and am in the process of writing on the third and assembling a single cohesive paper on the topic. It's going to check in at around fifteen to seventeen pages, though includes an appendix and a works cited section that will probably spill over on to two pages. My Statements of Purpose discuss my interest in "historical prosody" or the "history of the lyric," with a particular focus on the evolution of sonnet form. I think (hope!) that the SOP and WS work well together, in light of my graduate interests. It's a bit harder to work out a WS that is truly transhistorical, which is part of why I am grounding it (and my SOP) in the early modern era, even though my interests are a bit broader than that (despite my love of all things Shakespeare). I'll be working on a 20-page paper this fall on the subject of contextualizing Edwin Arlington Robinson (an American poet from the late 19th to early 20th century), but I have recently decided to focus all of my applications on historical prosody, rather than hedging my bets on later eras. Having said that, I'm hoping that if and when I'm accepted, I'll have the opportunity to do more formalized study on both angles. So what are the rest of you working on in that regard? I should also mention that I would be happy to do a WS exchange by the end of this month if anyone is interested (after that I'll be uber busy until the new year, alas, and may not have the time to do a good job of it).

I noticed today that Professor Maxwell at Washington University in St. Louis is the DGS of the English program, has joint appointment with African and Afro-American Studies, and also happens to be white. So if nothing else, it shows that your proposed career path is not unheard of, at least. -------- By the way folks, the equivalent Grad Cafe thread for last year was already up to 32 pages by this date! Does this mean that there are fewer applicants this year, or is everyone just really really quiet?

I literally LOL'ed at that. In fact, I'm going to add it to my signature!

Wow. This sentence so accurately reflects my current state of mind right now, it's not even funny...especially the mix of "nervous anticpation and little-kid excitement" part. It's so weird, isn't it? Applications are a huge slog, but knowing that in seven months there's a good chance that you'll be preparing to move to a new city to spend five or more years getting paid to work on the material dearest to your heart... It's hard not to get kinda giddy, isn't it?

Thanks to the both of you. I just sent an email to someone at Irvine directly to see if she can give me the inside scoop.

So I came across here discussing a major funding cut to UC Irvine a few years back, and some generally alarming posts about the school in general. Its poetry and poetics department is sort of on my radar, due mostly to Virginia Jackson. Does anyone -- current student or otherwise -- have any information on what's been going on in that regard for the past three years?

ETS: making life difficult for grad applicants since 1947.™

Now now! Not "several!" That makes me sound like a remedial dunce! Just twice, and I'm not going to talk about the second attempt... (I try to avoid emojis, by the way, but they seem appropriate here...) Anyhow, on to your question. I wouldn't worry about it. They state that they are sticklers, and the staff does indeed seem a little aloof (at least they did at the location I went to), but the first time I took the test, I had to remind them that I'm a non-citizen (I'm Canadian and a permanent resident here), and needed to be proactive about taking out my Green Card and showing it to them. The guidelines on the ETS site make a big deal about this, but the staff didn't even think to ask. In your case, I don't think the middle name will be a concern. It would be more of a concern if it were the other way around: if your IDs didn't show your middle name, but your admission ticket did. But since some people don't use their middle name, even on official documents, I don't think it will be a problem. Having said that, it can't hurt to give them a call. As annoying as it is, I suspect they won't surreptitiously charge you for updating your file (though it's ETS, so you never know...)*, and it would take you from being 95% unconcerned to 100%. *I half expected to see a coin-operated water fountain, a pay-by-the-hour locker fee, and a pencil rental surcharge at the testing center...

Welcome, Felibus! That sounds like a busy summer, to be sure. And I don't think you're really all that far behind the curve when it comes to your application preparations. If previous years of Grad Cafe threads are any indication, most folks start ramping up in October. And you'll probably find that the finalization of your schools list is never really finalized...at least that's my experience so far. Duke had been on my "for sure!" list for awhile, but now I'm not even planning on applying there (yet who knows -- that could change again!). Two months ago I wouldn't have even considered Harvard, Yale, or Princeton, but now they're my top choices (not just because they're no-brainer top-tier schools, but because they really are great fits for my proposed course of study...) Inducting yourself into learning a vital language for your area of interest is probably one of the best things you could have done this summer, and that's going to make for a great line or two on your SOP. Congrats!

Thanks Felibus. I just gave it a try, but to no avail. I called them on Thursday, and they basically said "give it another week then call us back again." I'm obviously a tad concerned, given the importance of this test...but I'll just have to be vigilant about contacting them. Good luck to you in this as well!

That's awesome, Proflorax! Yes, I forgot to mention that I spent some time binge watching Netflix as well (rewatching the cult classic Battlestar Galactica). It's funny that you mention ASL -- I was thinking of mentioning that possibility on a recent GC thread! A lot of folks forget about it, but it's certainly valid. I used to take notes for a deaf girl in one of my classes...mainly because her "signer" just couldn't keep up with the prof! It's easy to underestimate the importance of sign language. By the way, I lived in SoCal for half a year back in 2001 and loved it. I would move back in a heartbeat. I also spent some time in the Bay Area. My wife hasn't been to California, and has no particular desire to relocate there (though she will if need be), but part of me is secretly hoping I get accepted into Stanford or Berkeley so that I can move back. I'm really more of a West Coast kinda guy anyhow.

It's August now, and I'm guessing that Grad Cafe will start to bustle as application season is upon us (Yale's window opens August 15th, with most others opening up in September). So I figure it might be fun to talk about what we've all been doing this summer -- working? Internship? Vacation abroad? Lounging around and playing Xbox? Feel free to share! Personally, I took a summer course to help fill out the credits I'll need to complete my BA in the spring. I also had a couple of mini vacations -- one with my wife and in-laws to Charleston, SC, and another to NYC to see Kenneth Branagh in Macbeth. I had planned on getting an internship, but didn't make it a priority this past spring, meaning I've had a fair amount of time on my hands this summer. However, other than having a periodic case of the summer doldrums, I've mostly put the extra time to good use in researching various institutions and programs, as well as writing drafts of my SOP (which, thanks to the peer reviewing of a few other wonderful GC members, is pretty much complete). I also took the GRE general a couple of times, and have been doing a great deal of reading to fill in some of the gaps I have in terms of literature (with a view to the GRE subject test next month). So all in all, it has been moderately productive, though not overly invigorating. How about you?

Quite simply, there aren't any. Nothing comprehensive, at least. I basically started with the U.S. News rankings (even though they're not a great representation), and went through school-by-school to see their faculty interests, the thrust of each program, what graduate students are working on, courses offered, and all the other pertinent aspects. In other words, it's a lot of personal research, which is where places like Grad Cafe come in (i.e. if you start a thread about a specific interest, you'll be sure to get a few responses about possible programs).

Alright, thanks Unraed. I'll give them a call. Something may have gotten loused up when they changed the location (though the $50 change fee went through of course ).

Ah! That's too bad! I live literally about a mile and a half away from the testing center too. Had it not been for the wedding in upstate New York, it would have been so incredibly convenient on a number of levels. Here's a question for those of you who have registered: have you received your admission ticket yet? For that matter, have you been able to log in to view your admission ticket online? I haven't received a ticket in the mail (it's been over four weeks now) and logging in with the registration number takes me to a "your request cannot be processed" page. Anyone with similar results?

Well, one thing to remember is that you usually don't have to have your languages until after at least the first year of a Ph.D. program. There are a few I've come across that prefer seeing that you have a language when you enroll, but most FL requirements seem to just want the languages by the qualifying exam...which is usually two or three years in. In other words, you've got up to four years to get a basic reading knowledge of a couple of languages. An intensive summer course should probably give that to you. I also suggest that you hold off until closer to your Ph.D. application period to learn a language. I finished intermediate Spanish almost exactly a year ago (I took it in four consecutive semesters), but I've already forgotten more than I care to admit. I'm crossing my fingers that whatever grad school I'm accepted into will consider undergraduate credits as proof of reading knowledge (some do), but it's possible that I'll just need to take a refresher course, or learn two fresh languages. Ultimately though, I've realized that despite the relative PITA that is the FL requirement, it's not overly prohibitive.

Whew! I'm glad you took them in that light. After re-reading my post, I see it looked like it might have had a touch of snark, which was definitely not my intention. Yes, the bottom line of what I was getting at is just to be crystal clear in your SOP about what you intend. That's actually a good rule of thumb for pretty much everyone, and also a ringing endorsement for having others look at your SOP before you upload it. That has already proved invaluable for me, thanks to a few kind-hearted GCers.

In that case, TonyB, I think Spanish is probably your best bet, and would probably be expected. The influence of Mexico and Central America on American folklore, and even contemporary American literature is considerable, often in ways one might not expect at first glance. If nothing else, Spanish-American literature is an important (and growing) subfield of American lit. Given some of the Dutch, German, and even Polish roots of the country, those might be advantageous to your studies as well. Honestly, languages are daunting, but as others have mentioned, reading language is what's required, as opposed to conversational language. The two can be taught in remarkably different ways, and according to my mother-in-law (who is a Spanish professor and speaks four languages fluently), most big Universities have courses like the "language for research purposes" one I mentioned above.