youngcharlie101

Thanks very much. Gotta date myself. I find myself even hitting on the bartenders. What's going on here?

I'm not exactly sure where to start. I received my MA last year from NYU's Department of Interdisciplinary Studies. I'm an African student who was born and raised in England, but I came to the U.S. before college. My field was anthropology; in fact, the Draper program at NYU allowed me to take multiple courses. My thesis was more anthropologically-based (about the apartheid in South Africa). But my goal is to get a PhD in African Lit. I got some stronger letters of recommendation and studied for the GRE like a fiend. I even got laid off from my temp job, which I took as a blessing, because I worked on my apps. I just received my 3rd rejection letter this morning. I have 4 schools left to hear from: Penn, CUNY, Rutgers, and NYU. While I was waiting for the responses, I applied for New York teaching certification via alternate route. I passed the praxis and am currently looking for some teaching jobs. In the meantime, I'm still working as a temp so I can pay my bills. I feel so incredibly hopeless when it comes to the PhD application process. I don't know what more I can do. I worked myself into the ground for this application season, but it still wasn't good enough. I suffered with depression and anxiety over the GRE and ended up in the hospital twice because of it. I'm also now going through the worst possible breakup, and I feel like such a failure. Am I a complete failure, or do I have a shot at next application's cycle? Should I go to grad school again for a Master's in comp lit? Do I need more research experience? I'm totally nonplussed. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

ETS stands for "Evil Test Sadists." I call the GRE the "Graduate Ruination Experiment." Has anybody heard from Penn's Comp Lit?

Does anyone know when NYU will be sending out their decisions?

I seriously second this.

I know. I got rejected from Brown and Columbia thus far. The only band I can think of is New Kids on the Block: "Oh whoa whoa whoa whoa. Hanging tough..."

Who applied to the Comp Lit PhD? Has anyone heard back from their Comp Lit programs?

I'm sorry. I got rejected from Brown today, if it's any consolation. Congrats to all the admits! This is so exciting!!

Thanks, everybody!

Good day, everyone! I received a BA in English Literature, and my MA was sought at NYU's Interdisciplinary Humanities. I took a lot of classes in the English and Comp Lit departments, but my thesis was anthropologically-based. I wrote about apartheid in South Africa. My ultimate goal is to get a PhD in Comp Lit, specializing in African Literature. I'm an African student who was born in Surrey. I worry that my MA won't suffice for a PhD application. I worked hard on my application this cycle, but I sometimes wonder if I need to get a second MA in Comparative Literature. NYU's Interdisciplinary program was wonderful, but it has gotten me rejected before. But I think last year, I got rejected because I had bad letters and an unfocused SOP. I was hospitalized twice and wasn't in the right mindset when I applied the first time. Perhaps I should try applying to another MA program in comparative literature so I can write another thesis and do some more research in my field. What do you think? Thanks for reading this rather long novel!

Rejected from Brown just now. This hurts.

Rejected from Columbia and Brown. Not looking so good this year.

Thank you, friend.

Thank you. I do have my MA though. I have never been through such a tumultuous time before. This is brutal. It feels like I'm having a baby, but I'm not even in labor!

I'm not sure how I feel about this. Should I start gearing up for the Fall 2016 cycle?

Hi, everyone. I'm a bit new here, so I wasn't sure what to make of the "impeding rejections." How can we tell if a school is an impending rejection? Forgive me, but I am starting to feel worried. You see, I was already rejected from Columbia's English & Comp Lit program, and I have 6 schools left to hear from. But I haven't heard anything yet. Is this a bad sign? Is anyone else in the same boat as me?

Hey, guys. I have 7 schools in total, but I only heard back from Columbia. I got rejected. Should I be worried that I haven't heard back from the others?

Has anybody heard from NYU or CUNY?