jhefflol

So sorry that my reply is so late! I officially got my adjunct assignment (yay!) and a full time job, so I won't be applying this year, which means I haven't been checking the boards. If you're still interested, send me a PM with your email address and I'll send it your way!

Yeah I think you're right. I have a large spreadsheet with faculty that I spent forever researching, so I'm sure there's a reason why I put him on my list. I do also have Erin Murphy, Christopher Martin, and Amy Appleford in that same list as well. I'd be happy to email the spreadsheet to you if you'd like. There's a bit of extra stuff in there because I'm truly interested in transatlantic gender studies and some of that pops up, but if you'd like to look at it, let me know! I have close to 20 spreadsheets from last year's application season, so I'd be more than happy to share the spoils of my obsessive planning habits.

I agree! Just relax. Everything that you need to read during your MA program will take care of itself in course assignments. Maybe just re-familiarize yourself with the latest version of MLA? And no offense to the person who suggested it, but I personally would not like to "pleasure read" the Norton Anthology of Criticism. Just looking at that devilish white book makes me want to vomit.

Renaissance women's writing was the slant I took last application season. I applied to UC Irvine (Julia Lupton), Boston University (William Carrol), Tufts (Judith Haber), and Syrcause (Dympna Callaghan), just to add a few options on top of the places you've already mentioned

I second that. I had 20+ drafts and 4 versions of my SOP. Its definitely a part of your application that you should focus on.

Admissions statistics everywhere are terrifying. Don't let that deter you from applying to a program that is a perfect fit for you. They have to let some students in, and one of those could be you.

Thanks for sharing! I love hearing about others' experiences. I have a research project that I reallyreallyreally want to do, but I won't have the time or resources to do it without being in a PhD program. That's my main motivation for wanting to reapply. On the other hand, I'm not sure how much more debt I want to incur if I will have to end up adjuncting at a community college, which is exactly where I'm at now just without the debt. I don't really care what I teach as long as I'm at some kind of collegiate institution, so there isn't any motivation in that aspect for me as there is for you. Adult decisions are hard. On the other hand, I applied to 15 schools last season and didn't even get waitlisted at one. I think if I do apply again, it will be to a maximum of 5 schools just because the process was so expensive and consuming. But, like you, applying to a large number of schools was the advice I was given. I hope it works out better for you than it did for me! Thank you! You were such a big support during last season, so I just want to thank you again for that. Good luck with the start of your program!

Helloooooo 2016ers! After an unsuccessful (and expensive) 2015 season, I'm still trying to decide if I want to apply again this season or if I should wait it out for a few years. I'm waiting to hear back about a few jobs, and the more I learn about community college positions, the less I actually want to do a PhD for anything other than personal fulfillment. With an MA under my belt, I'm really feeling the reality of the job struggle. Sorry to be such a downer so soon, but this decision is going to be hard for me!

I hope you get at least one of your options, be it the job or an acceptance!

Hi, friends! I'm just checking in to see how everyone's doing! I'm still waiting to hear back from 4 (?!?!) schools, but I was unofficially offered a job teaching comp at a CC in the fall, so I'm excited about that! However, I'll be back next year for my second season of applications. I'm so happy for all the amazing acceptances this cohort has had! Woooo!

I just want to chime in to say that this is super helpful to me specifically. I'm also interested in transatlantic representations of gender in the early American/18th century. In retrospect, I feel I was unintentionally given bad advice by multiple sources who didn't think my specialization was 1) a specialization at all and 2) wouldn't fit in to any program. I was advised to choose one author and establish one argument about that author for my SOP. I chose to focus on how gender is formulated rhetorically in Shakespeare because that's what most of my graduate-level papers have been about. Unfortunately, gender studies of Shakespeare is not as interesting or current as transatlantic studies, and I think that probably worked against me. ETA: I'm not trying to push any weakness of my application on to those who helped me, as I'm grateful for the help I did receive, but I'm just trying to think of ways to improve my application for next season. I think that being true to what I actually want to study is a good, obvious start.

Agree. Thanks for the info!

You're waiting for Lehigh too! Its one of the schools that is not an implied rejection for me, at least not yet. I logged in to my application today, but it still says submitted. Have you heard of anyone being accepted, rejected, or anything?

Ugh, I still have 4 programs to hear back from. 2 are implied rejections, 2 I have no idea about. I'm going nuts. I just want it to be over!

If only they would send a chocolate gram. I'd be down to hear about it again if that was the case.