ToldAgain
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Posts posted by ToldAgain
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I'm just here for the cheese dip.
- fancypants09, toasterazzi, mb712 and 4 others
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I had an eye-opening experience during my application process regarding specialization:
I marketed myself as an Americanist, and all of my interesting research ideas are in American literature. One application asked me to organize all of my UG classes by period, and I realized (to my legitimate surprise) that I had taken something like 6 American lit classes (including 2 seminars). In every other period, I had taken one or (rarely) two classes. Correlation does not imply causation, but my takeaway from this is that I am so interested in American literature because I have knowledge in that area (duh.) It is also overwhelmingly the type of literature I read for fun.
I am going into my MA with this in mind. I still plan to take American lit classes, but I am going to see what happens when I take courses in other periods and geographical locations and keep an eye out for research opportunities.
After all, I had a professor who taught and studied Victorian literature, but took exactly no pleasure in reading from that period. She had a real passion for modern British drama, but almost never taught it. "I don't mix business and pleasure," was what she told me about this (to me) weird choice. It should be added that she just published a book on Victorian lit and is a respected scholar of that time period.
tl;dr: Keep your options open!
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If you haven't emailed them in a while, I think it is fine to send a reminder that you are interested in their program. In my opinion, it isn't embarrassing or futile. You have to keep in mind that a waitlist isn't less than an acceptance, as far as the program's belief in your abilities goes.
In my case, I was accepted at one program and waitlisted at two. I sent an email to the two WL schools reinforcing my interest but letting them know I had a funded offer somewhere else. One of them got back to me right away, and I was accepted into the program the next day. The other sent me a very kind reply detailing their situation and urging me to wait it out a little while longer.
It can't hurt to politely remind the program you're there. When you start banging on the door and ringing the bell and shouting through the windows, it's a different story.
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Thanks for the advice, allplaid, I am definitely sweating this decision more than I need to. But, you know, that's what we do...
Empress, I think we are sort of in the same boat. I am looking for the place that is going to be the most supportive in helping me on to a great PhD program (though both of these schools let their MA students funnel non-competitively into the PhD program, I have advice from plenty of professors NOT to attend the same school for MA and PhD) and the best community of grad students. This might be Kentucky, despite whatever shortcomings my neurotic mind is attributing to them.
I think a transition from this feeling of insecurity to one of polished professionalism is probably the goal of most MA programs.
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Hi all, I'm working through a decision for my MA right now, and it would be nice to hear if there are any opinions or experiences out there that might help me out. I am an Americanist.
I have an offer from the University of Kentucky with a pretty generous stipend. Lexington is a nice city with great nature opportunities close by and a beautiful library on campus.
Also, I have an offer from the University of Missouri, Columbia. The stipend isn't quite as good, but similar, and the teaching requirements are slightly reduced. The academics seem slightly better at Missouri (more graduate course offerings, more scholars in my field).
So I wonder what the forum has to say about these two programs, if anything. I also plan on going somewhere different for my PhD, so I am curious if anybody has any opinions about which program might give a better leg up when that application season comes around (of course, it is up to me to create a good application, but every little bit helps when you're trying to get into a top PhD school).
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My people! I am into anything from 19th c. onward, and do research on war culture and the evolution of utopian literature.
Currently making a decision between attending the University of Kentucky or Missouri for my MA and having a heck of a time.
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I'm currently in the process of trying to pull something like this off, as well. I'll keep the board updated on if it works or not.
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I'm sorry to say I won't be attending (okay, 95% sure), but I did some of my UG at CU. Their social scene for Lit-related events was incredible, and the faculty all seemed wonderful. Boulder is okay, I guess
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Got my emailed acceptance letter this morning.
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Hi DramaDuck!
I balanced my SOP between research and teaching, but definitely with a heavy bias toward research. When talking to an administrator about the criteria his school uses to determine TAships, I was surprised when he said that his school mostly looks at academic ability, and not teaching/tutoring experience. This does make some sense to me, though.
My own SOP is completely about research and fit, but I include a paragraph about my teaching experience. This is primarily because I have a strong tutoring background and a conference presentation about teaching. I think it makes me look somewhat academically well-rounded and able/willing to teach (won't try to shirk TA or instructor responsibilities), but it was the first paragraph I cut in instances where the school wanted a shorter SOP.
I hope this helps.
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LKS, this is my impression also. I find it funny that somebody with a decent amount of experience at that level has opinions which are so out of line with the general consensus.
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On the subject of job prospects with grad degrees from an Ivy, I have a story:
One of my professors at the small commuter college where I spent my first two years of undergrad got her AB from Yale and was an admissions officer at a different Ivy for a number of years. She claims that it is a little-known fact that English PhDs tend to get teaching jobs at schools ranked slightly higher than where they attended grad school. Because of this, Ivy-Leaguers don't get jobs since they are already bumping against the ceiling. She claims she was accepted into a grad program at an Ivy and turned it down in favor of a state school because the job prospects were much better.
She certainly did alright -- Associate Professor in regionally-respected CW program -- but I don't know about her argument. It has always sort of gnawed at me, because it seems like she was and is in a place to make informed comments about that sort of thing, but her advice seems to go against a lot of other information out there. People who know more about the Ivies than me, feel free to comment.
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echo449, I think that is precisely the sort of criteria the subject test should be replaced with. The rigidity of the subject test does not account for the vast differences in scope and focus of English graduate programs. Basically, fit counts. If you are going into a theory-intensive program to study Lacan, how does the subject test help you prove you are prepared for that kind of study? It doesn't, but the two theory classes you took as an undergraduate, along with that seminar in psychoanalysis, does.
The same goes for any other subfield of English, even those traditionally focused on in the subject test. What indicates your preparedness for graduate school better: Taking a course in Renaissance literature from a respected scholar in the field culminating in a 20-page research paper, or recognizing that a certain passage was, indeed, pulled from the Faerie Queene? I think most schools realize this, which is why the subject test is falling out of favor. It just doesn't really predict success.
It is fun to study for, though
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From what I see on the Results page, Emory traditionally contacts about interviews in the latter half of January, around the 17th - 20th or so.
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This might not be the best place to get advice for a Philosophy applicant. You will get great advice over on the Philosophy subforum, and from people applying in your field who know it well. With that said, advice:
Nobody on this forum can tell you what field to apply to, and generally that is an indicator that you should take some time to really ask yourself what you want to do. Read relevant and recent research in philosophy and critical theory and maybe have some serious talks with professors about what studying in either field is like. If you are taking votes, I think critical theory is among the most interesting fields in the universe, but I am an English major theory nerd
I would be inclined to say that your GPA is not the death of your application, and is only one part of many. Even if your GRE scores are stellar, they are also only one part of many, and arguably the least important part. The general advice you will get in this forum is to present a killer writing samle, relevant and professional SOP, and get some professors who are interested in your success to write great LORs. I also get the feeling that Philosophy is more competitive than English for PhD slots (I may be wrong, and English is super competitive, so that's saying something), so perhaps GPA or GRE is more of a factor, I just don't know.
Applying widely is a good idea. You never know who is going to value your application, and you just may be the perfect fit for X awesome program. It is always good advice to do your research and apply smartly to both PhD and fund MA programs.
Short Version: Nobody knows but you if you are ready to apply for a PhD. When you know you're ready, all you can do is present the best possible application and be smart about where you apply.
Good luck!
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I agree that at some point you have to let it go if you have other worries or you are starting to question your sanity.
Ideally, though, I consider myself done after I have read the paper aloud and found zero mistakes or awkward phrasing and had a trusted peer read it through and sign off on it. This ensures that the paper not only makes sense to me, but to somebody else who wasn't there for the whole process of composing.
At that point, I am confident in saying it is the best possible job I could have done at that point in my life and given the circumstances, and I can be proud of the piece. I will save or print or whatever and walk away, preferably into the sunset.
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Hi eachevery,
There are very few English PhD programs that conduct formal interviews for admissions purposes. Only two come to mind: Emory University and Yale University. There may be more, but it is definitely rare.
Happy New Year!
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I just read a pretty uplifting article from The American Scholar while waiting for a plane yesterday. For anybody suffering from waiting-it-out blues, read "What I Have Taught and Learned" by William Chace. I almost cheered and threw an imaginary mortar board into the air multiple times.
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I meant to leave this topic to more knowledgeable folks, but this thread seems so lonely!
The linguistics professor at my undergrad was a big fan of Steven Pinker and constantly assigned his books in her classes. He is more of a popular author, along the lines of someone like Brian Greene or Malcolm Gladwell (maybe you already knew him?). I enjoyed The Stuff of Thought and The Language Instinct. I seem to remember pretty large bibliographies in both those books; perhaps this would be a good place to start?
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The Analytical section was on the GRE test before (I think) 2011, or somewhere around there. If you took the test this year, you didn't take the Analytical test.
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I got a 6 on the analytical writing section. My strategy was a mix of things I had read online and some newer strategies I developed myself. Here's what worked for me. Obviously there is no guarantee this will work for anybody else, etc.
1.) Practice writing simple argumentative and analytical 5-paragraph papers. If you have never done this before, then do a lot of them. You should be able to whip one of these out off the top of your head at any given moment. Get it down to a science. As in, all of your papers for a test like this should essentially look the same. There really is no reason to deviate from this structure. They GRE graders do not give extra points for cool stylistic tricks, as far as I can tell. They want the robotic, 5-paragraph essay with a bunch of at least semi-logical evidence. Whether it is your argumentative or analytical essay, the basic structure is:
Paragraph 1: "Catchy" hook, thesis statement which lays out your argument clearly and in detail.
Paragraphs 2-4: These are your "body" paragraphs, your evidence. They should have a transition / topic sentence, a claim backed up by as much evidence as you can pull off the top of your head, no matter how inane it may seem to you at the time, then a transition to the next paragraph. It is important to talk as much as possible in these paragraphs.
Paragraph 5: Conclusion that restates your argument. Then, what I like to do is finish strong with another "catchy" line; a quote or whatever. Basically, it is like getting the last word, or dropping the mic, or getting the last punch in just before the bell, etc.
Some of the Princeton Review books come with two online practice tests. The really good thing about these online tests is that you can write the essays and receive feedback from a real person, including the score they would have given you and some strategies to improve. The GRE essays are graded very differently than, say, a college timed essay. This helps you get used to how they want you to do things. Practice, practice, practice.
2.) Develop a strategy ahead of time. You should break up your 30 minutes into sections. This was my strategy:
5-7 minutes of prep: This included laying out my entire paper ahead of time. I wrote my hook, thesis, all the evidence I would use, and my "catchy" ending on my scratch paper. Develop a strategy for getting this done fast and stick with it. Once I had this done, the paper was pretty much written. All I had to do was get it in the program.
18-20 minutes of speed writing: I went as fast as I could, not stopping to edit, and plugged in all of the variables that I had written on my paper.
5 minutes of editing: This is where you fix typos and whatnot.
3.) Remain calm. For me, this is the most important part of the entire test. I have been doing 30-minute timed essays since AP English in high school and I was an English major in college. Trust me, being an English major did not help me on this exam. What helped me is the probably 100 30-minute timed essays I have written over my career. I did not use particularly fancy language and the structure I used was taught to me before I could drive. If you have a system and you know how to use it, you will do well.
Remaining calm also gives you the chance to maybe take a chance or two. I spent an entire paragraph on my analytical paper attacking the author of the quote I was supposed to analyze as a person and I still got a six on that essay. I do not recommend this strategy, but it worked for me. This brings me to my next and hopefully last piece of advice:
4. Get passionate. If you care about the essay you are writing, I almost guarantee you that you will get a better score. How do you prepare for this? You get lucky, I guess. But you can increase the chances of writing a passionate essay by being passionate about things. Reading the newspaper for relevant pieces of evidence to use in your argumentative essay is a good strategy. I used something that I had read in the bagel shop just before taking my test.
Also, for the analytical essay, get to know some common logical fallacies, quote generously from the passage in question, and suggest ways to improve the piece. Do each one of these things in every body paragraph. This is a sample of a short analytical essay body paragraph:
"Another way the author makes a mistake is in his logic is when he uses a red herring argument to draw attention away from the real issues by saying, "Taking guns away from children is a violation of their second amendment rights; the people who do so don't want their children to be able to defend themselves, and therefore should have their kids taken away from them by Child Protective Services." People who take guns away from kids are not doing so to prevent them from defending themselves, but rather to prevent them from hurting themselves. The author makes a false claim and derails the conversation by suggesting such a preposterous idea. There are, theoretically, better ways to argue for giving small children weaponry, and the author's claim would be better supported with statistics and facts such as the instance of armed robberies stopped by shotgun-wielding infants, if such a statistic exists. "
They should all pretty much look like that, but maybe longer. Anyway, I hope this is helpful to somebody searching around on this forum either in this application season or the next. Sorry for the incredibly long post. Cheers.
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A good way to get a few fee waivers is to fill out this form:
https://www-s.cic.net/programs/FreeApp/archive/RequestForm/FreeAppRequest/application.asp
I have never attended, nor had I ever heard of, the CIC Summer Research program. No worries, though, because you can simply answer "No" to this question: Have you participated on a CIC campus in the Summer Research Opportunities Program?
It was a total hail mary on my part, but I figured they wouldn't hold it against me for trying. I ended up getting three fee waivers to good schools out of the deal, so it's worth a shot.
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I believe I got the same email. The good news is that the early application fee waiver does not just apply to the comp lit program, but to the graduate school in general. And yea, it seems generated based on your responses to the questionnaire before you took the GRE.
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Hey I guess this is my first post, so hello everyone!
I've been wading through all of the 2013 comments and now feel somewhat ready to participate in the 2014 discussion. I am applying to PhD programs in English Lit, specifically 19th and 20th c. American. The writing sample I will use for most programs is a look at how Lacan's three-tiered formulation of the psyche is used in Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood. So that's that. I also have one or two others set aside to potentially use for specific programs, but I think the O'Connor one will get the most mileage. It is definitely my most original and best-written piece.
The Graduate School Ponzi Scheme
in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
Posted
I am so happy for this.