wiry_air

Thanks as well! I think I've gotten a good sense on the whole "to contact or not" thing from this thread and others on the board... working at a school myself, I definitely can see it from a (very busy) admin's point of view that contacting for the sake of contacting is a lot of trouble for little benefit. With regard to my interests, they're mostly focused around Restoration plays and 18th century satire, especially at intersections with gender studies. If that area sets off any bells and whistles in terms of programs or people... I'd appreciate the advice!

Thanks both hadunc and intextrovert! I've been lurking around these boards for a few weeks, so I shouldn't REALLY be surprised by the thoroughness and graciousness of responses... but still! Truly amazing and very helpful. I think you're right-on with regard to focus... I was all about GRE and top-tier schools this year, but really I need to be spending more time with my subfield both in terms of what's going on and the places where it's happening. To poke a little further... you mentioned you had been in touch with folks at your top three. How'd you get those conversations started without coming off too "I'm going to bother you in hopes you remember my name on the application"? I'd also be curious to hear if there are any posts or places you found helpful SOPs... I had a handful of samples from my advisers, but more is always nice and some I had were pretty old. Last, but not least, I'd be curious about some of the things you sought in terms of fit. Was it mostly just courses taught and faculty interests? I got a bit discouraged when hunting through faculty and courses, only to find some great places pretty lacking in Restoration and 18th century opportunities. Fingers still crossed I won't have to march down the application trail again... but at least if I do I'll be better equipped!

Not that it's all said and done, but I've started to think through my plans for reapplication to help soothe the (very likely) rejections heading my way soon. I've poked around the forum archives and found some good info about good ways to spend the time (honing SOP and writing sample), but I'm curious to hear more from any folks (or folks who know folks) who had better luck after reapplying. What do you feel made the big difference? How did you tackle the time? I know there's no magic solution, since everyone's different, but I imagine there might be some ideas on what you changed that made the difference. I have a few ideas, but it can be daunting to figure out how to improve without feedback from the programs on what worked and what didn't.