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omensetter, based off this should I assume you're applying from a B.A.? I ask because I am too, and I honestly don't think you will honestly be expected to have a dissertation topic decided upon. My impression is that people with M.A.s are generally expected to be more specific about that sort of thing. For my part (and granted, as a someone who is working full time and have my interview right after work tomorrow, i.e., not a lot of prep time), I plan on elaborating on some of the potential future projects I put in my SOP - I have no idea what my diss will be at this point, but I definitely have projects in my head that I'd love to be able to start researching or continue working on (such as the paper I submitted as my WS). But you know, blind leading the blind. I definitely told my letter writers and another person with whom I consulted during the process, specifically for my WS research. My alma mater was a homy little SLAC though, where everyone's on a first name basis and where I have a pretty good relationship with my recommenders. Also, thanks, hypervodka for the additional question prompts!

Thanks for the info, REOSlowdeath!

Congrats LCB and 1q84!!! I'm sending y'all all the positive vibes that my bandwidth will allow.

oy gevalt. yeah. I was joking lol. Last winter I remember coming back to Wisconsin to get back to my job after being in cali for a couple weeks and had to walk to work the day there was a -40 windchill. No thank you.

LOL this situation has come to my mind SO many times....

Wonderful posts, scribnera and hypervodka! So, so helpful. And Scottstein, omensetter and I got skype interviews for UC, but as hypervodka said, jury's out on its significance since it doesn't seem like standard operating procedure. Doing a skype interview with two professors is, I gotta say, kind of a terrifying prospect. I'd much rather do it in person than find a decent part of my apartment to do it in and deal with potential technological difficulties... I too have wondered about Comp Lit language testing in the interview and would be curious to hear about that.

Sorry for the rant and it's not directed at anyone in particular here. I just really, really think people need to think more about the end result of their degree, not less. Yeah, I mean, we've discussed elsewhere about the socioeconomic academic "bubble." Honestly, I think these attitudes that are present in, presumably many, English departments could be a big turn-off for a lot of people. It was for me -- but I stuck with my major because I had started it, wanted to graduate in four years, and really do love literature despite the fact that I was often dissatisfied with the atmosphere of my department. With my current situation, I'm glad to be lucky enough that I don't have to be supporting a family right now (thus I've decided to take the time to try for a PhD), but I certainly came from circumstances where me going off to get a B.A. off a scholarship was perceived as 1.) a privilege and 2.) an avenue towards a career where I'd be making more money than my other option when I was graduating high school (being a maintenance person at a hotel). That English departments like mine don't make an effort to appeal to folks who want practical skills and experience is, in my opinion, a real shame -- because there are really useful things they could be teaching that could prepare students for very real, legitimate careers straight out of undergrad. Technical writing, for example, is one of the biggest growing job markets around! And pretty much every non-profit needs at least one grant writer! Just two examples. There are graduate certifications and Masters programs for these sorts of things, but these are also the types of jobs that, if an English department were to accommodate, people could get good jobs right out of undergrad without, I think, sacrificing a more traditional course load of literary study.

Thanks! First day of teaching high school followed immediately by an interview for one of my top choices! Bah! My head's going to explode... I grew up in los angeles and have lived out here in Wisconsin for four and a half years. The cold makes you a stronger person.

I applied to one comp lit program (U Penn) and can tell you that when I get some word on that I will be on here reporting it. If I get in, I may be in too much of a state of shock to report it right away though . I'm sure people applying to comp lit will be just as thrilled/devastated/etc. as results come in (and thus will report them!), though it appears that results, so far, are just coming a little later than the earliest English results. Perhaps, too, there are simply more English applicants on this forum, thus more super-early responses.

Interesting article -- I've seen a bunch of articles like this lately, this being among the better ones. I think English IS a useful degree, but my UG department wasn't very good at teaching kids HOW it can be useful, and I suspect that that is the case at a lot of universities. As someone who worked all through college and took steps to build my resume outside of just doing academic work, I also got awfully sick of the typical lackadaisical response from English majors when I would ask them about their plans -- it was like a lot of them had internalized the idea that their degree is going to be "useless" and they were resigned to it. Meanwhile the only thing the department would tell us is that being able to do critical thinking and to write well is something universally applicable, but never really made any active effort to counsel kids on HOW to apply those skills and, perhaps even more importantly, how to talk about those skills and how to recognize what their own abilities are and how those can concretely apply to the post-B.A. world. Maybe it's just a class thing though? I've always had to worry about staying employed and have known for a while what sort of work I don't want to go back to doing - maybe the kids I talked to just had moms and dads with jobs waiting for them, or who prepared them for things I had to learn on my own. Or just were going with the flow of some ironic English major self-deprecation that I never caught on to. I dunno. I definitely have the impression that more could be done and the things I thought were lacking would be available at bigger schools. For example, even though I'm trying to be an academic, I still wish I could have taken more "practical" courses in things like speech, technical writing, and grant writing alongside my literature courses. I'm not sure how my department has specifically been affected in terms of overall enrollment, though I do feel like there have been more and more creative writing (as opposed to lit studies) majors. I did notice that I didn't know anyone in my graduating class applying for graduate schools from my department, and my graduating class only had like 300 people, which I think strange considering how academically-focused my UG institution is.

Just got an email to set up a Skype interview with Chicago too (naturally, like omensetter, I'm super excited/nervous). But I wouldn't worry, guys. Clearly, this interview is not the most formal -- if the department doesn't normally do this, I can't imagine that this is an indication of decisions being already set in stone. The whole process is very nerve wracking. These forums are here for us to show some support for each other though -- so keep on keepin' on, y'all! It's still early!

I wish you the very best of luck! I haven't gotten mine, but I have had email interactions with two professors there, both of whom were incredibly sweet to me. So I'm sure it will go fine, if not pleasantly! That would make sense. My invite hasn't come, but I'm going to assume that that isn't going to hurt me. I hope.

Congrats, hypervodka! Knock 'em dead!

Oops, didn't see your update, snyegurachka. This IS strange, but so was the email on Friday. These are brief Skype interviews - maybe, for some reason that is beyond me, they don't count as "real" interviews?? Ugh, I dunno. I assume that they just want to meet some of the people they may be on the fence about - but I don't know why they'd want to be secretive about it. Unless they just don't want us to be discussing it with others and making people paranoid about whether they might or might not still have a chance...

I'm with you, 1Q84. Personally, I didn't quote or cite any POIs. Just the nature of what I was writing though, I suppose. Obviously, it would flatter the POI to see his/her work being used and appreciated, but not if it's obviously just thrown in there to please. Nope, but presumably quite soon. The earlier email said "early afternoon.". I'm in the same time zone as U of C and have 12:12 on the clock, hehe.

Unfortunately I'm out of upvotes for today but... woot! Congrats!

I see. Good to know, thanks!

Any other early (?) OSU admits gotten any calls/personal emails from the department yet? I still just have the robot email... Edit: to add a big congrats to the people accepted/waitlisted to Madison! I don't live in Madison, but could maybe answer general Wisconsin questions as a midwesterner-by-transplant of almost five years.

Honestly, I treated the GRE as the least important part of my app and focused on writing a solid WS instead. I maybe studied for the gre for like a week and read on here somewhere that I had to break a certain verbal score and a certain aw score and did that, while being in the 28th quant percentile . In short, I don't think you should worry all that much. GRE is bullshit and most literature profs know that and care little about it. Which I guess only makes it feel like more of a waste. bgt, I don't think you should worry about it at this point - it is what it is and its probably the least important part of your application. :-)

I would contribute :-). I think this would be a good idea, especially for those of us whose "raw" numerical stats aren't particularly insanely impressive just sitting there alone. This has been quite useful to me, though it's a few years old. GC is a decent place for support and surprisingly passionate and supportive, if quasi-anonymous, friends for this process! :-) My GREs/gpa digits can't even touch those of many people I've encountered here, yet many I've met have been suuuper helpful, sweet, and supportive.

you've piqued my interest. Recently picked up the Oxford Shakespeare at an antique mall (yes, I live in the midwest) for two bucks and will be investigating once I reread Othello, which I'll be teaching this semester. I went in to the school yesterday to get introduced to the surroundings and, with a super apologetic look in his eyes, one of the other English teachers handed me a No Fear Shakespeare edition and said we don't require the seniors to read the whole thing. First thing I thought: damn right these kids are reading the whole thing. They're also gonna learn about scansion to make up for the fact that they have a translation. I don't get paid enough or work at a fancy enough school to NOT do everything "wrong.". mwahaha

But yeah, thanks for the advice guys. I'll just leave my teacher clothes on. Edit Converge! Yeah! WEST COAST POWERVIOOOLLLLENCE (so sorry)

I object. NOONE would wear a swastika tattoo and t-shirt for a black punk band. I speak from the instinctually-embedded laws of one who spent much of my poorly remembered teenage years amongst crusties, metal heads, and other such degenerates.

Thanks! Though I don't know whether congrats are in order. I applied to their English program though.

I got this email too, and I'm a bit of a nervous wreck about it. I have no idea whether it will be "good" or "bad" to get one, whether I will get one, and it was supremely weird to get an email saying that I may or may not get another email to set up a Skype interview. Freaking out. Chicago's one of the schools I'm most excited about. Edit to add that I hate skype interviews ever since I had one go horribly for a job interview last spring. Any advice people have specifically on the art form of it would be cool. Though I'll still be in suspense about whether I get one. And if there'll be a time that works with my schedule of having both daytime and nighttime jobs.