Philosobroad

Sounds like the OP

I literally just applied to a bunch of schools in the same area (and got one acceptance so far, which is nice :D)
Definitely look at comp lit programs. You may have to work in two languages (though it's not necessary for some, as long as you're mixing regions in some way). Northwestern has a really good Asian Languages and Cultures department with some cool courses. If you can think of a compelling focus that uses Indian writing in English they would be a great program to apply to. Lehigh University has a small but really good (personal attention!) English dept with at least one person who works in Indian lit. University of Washington also has a good complit program with one India guy, but also a good supplementary South Asia Studies department you can work with on the side. Purdue school of interdisciplinary studies is good. UW Milwaukee has a couple of people doing india in their English dept. Louisiana State has one Indian lit person in their English department (but I've heard terrible things about the way they treat grad students, so tread carefully!). A lot depends on what kind of research you want to do on Indian writing on English as well, so make sure you have an interesting focus that is current but not done-to-death.
If you have any questions about the application process (esp about emailing professors - which you should definitely do!) feel free to message me. I did this EXACT PROCESS for this exact topic for the fall of 2017 haha).

yay I did too! I'm excited and terrified

I just accepted my offer  Very scary lol

Hi all,
Like @The Ister said, I'd also love to get some updated info about Eugene from anyone who has lived there recently.
In addition to their questions (which were very good questions - I've also been wondering about the artistic/literary community), I was wondering if anyone could tell me about LGBT life in Eugene? Anything is probably better than where I live, but just thought I'd ask. 
Other questions - are there easily-accessible beaches within an hour or so driving distance? What are some good neighborhoods to look for housing in (I plan to live alone)? What's the music scene like? And finally, is there an area of downtown Eugene that's walkable if you live close by? I walk everywhere now, and I'm reluctant to give that up! 
Thanks in advance.

I'd say pause for a second and look at the program structure. See what you need in terms of development. If you need to strengthen your foundations, then write that down. If you need space to play around with ideas, then write that down. Look at the faculty and see who can help you best. Don't look at a department as a whole, sometimes looking at its constituent elements helps a lot more. Look at the workload in both places and find out if you can speak to current students so that you get some insider perspective on the department. I'd say go with the one that benefits you holistically and where you feel that you will shine. That's my 2 cents

How do you choose between schools when you're a good fit at both but in different ways, one is a smidgen more name-brand-y, the other seems a smidgen more collegial, one has a lot of top-notch university resources for professionalization, the other where the department itself seems to have more focus on professionalization, one that has well-known recommenders while the other has (apparently) more involved mentors, one that has no core courses because you're free to build your degree, while the other has core courses that help you better get a handle on disciplinary conventions, one that's located in boring city that's close to a bunch of cool cities and the other which is located in a small college town?
Helppppppp

i REALLY LIKE them both and will definitely be missing out on something no matter what I choose why is this so hard

I very little to contribute about Comparative Lit, but I took one course (short fiction) at *PM sent to OP* as a first-semester freshman. An international PhD student taught it, and her English was indecipherable and she was incredibly disorganized. Independent of subject matter, it was one of the worst-taught classes I've taken at UNIVERSITY.

What does this mean in terms of picking a program? Probably very little. But perhaps you should investigate the number of international students at UNIVERSITY (if you would rather have less foreign peers). I personally felt that my instructor was ill-prepared (in terms of both how to teach and in having a clear curriculum) for teaching undergraduates, and you might want to investigate if my situation was an isolated case, etc.

Since I started this topic, my situation has changed quite a bit. I learned a lot from all the replies and the still ongoing discussion and have a much better insight into the diversity of the academic landscape in the US, especially regarding Religious and specifically Islamic Studies. I applied to 5 programs in the US and got accepted very early at UC Davis. Since their program is new, I couldn't find much information on their program and on their reputation online and was rather unsure about the quality of their program. A lot of research and interviewing people has changed that. The funding they provide is very fair and equal to what I have been offered at Georgetown (it's a bit less, but Davis is a lot cheaper than Washington D.C.). The program they run is solid and provides excellent training. Of course, nobody can say anything about their placement record, because the program is very new. But after a lot of researching, I think it is fair to say that they are a very good choice for whoever got in.
By now, I have received more offers most namely from Georgetown and I will most likely accept this offer. It is a very competitive program and I look forward to working with Jonathan Brown and Felicitas Opwis. However, as has been pointed out many times before, nobody can guarantee at all that this will eventually land me a job in academia. I don't remember who it was, but I quite liked his/her approach to his/her career and I share this attitude: I will do my best and invest what I can and see how far I come. When I stop receiving good offers, I will know that it is time to leave academia. And that will be hard to accept, but it is part of the game. 
As an international student, it is all the more difficult for me to gain insight into "the game" and how it all works in the US. That's why I am very grateful for all the insight that has been provided here. This whole forum has rather saved my life and my nerves in the last weeks. ;-)
I have one question though: Where do you rank UPenn? 

Hi cloudyword -- I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. That sort of thing happens at LSU -- as a matter of fact, a marginalized student left this year for the reasons I listed, like your friend's situation.
To your question, do you mean funding at LSU specifically? 

Thanks for the heads-up alert! 

I hope I can also know more about these "unspeakable secrets" in other English programs in case I dive into a wrong place... I know graduate experience might vary, but I am trying to avoid possible down-drags that'll make me-- a woman and person of color-- an easy victim. I haven't experienced such a personal assault myself, but I've witnessed something similar happened to one of my TAs. Finally she had a mental breakdown and left (or she was forced to leave, I don't know). 

As for #4 and #5, should I still be worried about unexpected financial burden even if the program offers a 5-year financial package to every admitted applicant? 

Any suggestion and alert would be appreciated!


 

I saw that, a few months ago, someone asked if anyone could say anything positive or negative about LSU English to help them make their decision. I can't, in good conscience, continue to avoid sharing my experiences at LSU in the event that I might be able to dissuade students with other options from attending.
I'll jump right in.
Attending LSU for English is probably the worst decision I have ever made for a number of reasons.
1--cronyism and favoritism is the order of the day. All decisions for favors, decent classes, good schedules, awards etc. are determined by whether or not you are liked by the current administration and staff people. This includes basics like getting the admin. assistant to enroll you for required hours so that you'll carry the correct number of hours to remain a TA. There is a list of people (physical list) showing who is liked and who is blacklisted from decent class schedules.
2--admin and staff (and yes, sometimes other graduate students) are openly abusive via email and sometimes in person. If you are sensitive or can't handle abusive language from your superiors, avoid this department. You shouldn't have to put up with abuse or end up in therapy or on pills or whatever because of the cruel culture of your PhD program.
3--racist, sexist, etc. Part of #2 encompasses the blatant racist, classist, and sexist culture of the department. In fact, at the end of last semester, a group of graduate students finally felt they had had enough of LSU English's racism, sexism, ableism, and every other form of discrimination you can possibly imagine and sent out an email manifesto to the entire department demanding change. A series of meetings with the Diversity Provost were held and I'm sorry to tell you, nothing has changed, and it won't change. Racism and other forms of discrimination are too deeply embedded in the department culture. I'm also sorry to say that the other graduate students take part.
4--not a single school year goes by that the department doesn't threaten to take our paychecks or tuition remission away from us. They find ways to justify it each time. If you are independently wealthy, are supported by your parents, or are not supporting your own family/children, this may not matter to you, but it causes stress to everyone else.
5--LSU (the university) has been the recipient of deep, deep cuts from the state each school year. That alone would make me too scared to begin a program here now, just aside from the problems in the English department.
6--Generally disgusting state of the actual building. This might be minor, but Allen Hall (English building) is regularly infested with rodents and cockroaches and floods often. Allen Hall is not ADA compliant, either--FYI
In general, I do not have a single positive thing to say about LSU English. People are cruel, vindictive, a student has almost no recourse, and nothing ever changes. Also, if you are Rhet/Comp, avoid. The Rhet program has been killed. They claim to have one, but all the faculty are on the point of retiring and no attempt to hire new faculty is made. If it helps you to know this, multiple English graduate students have, in recent years, died here from substance abuse. These students were the victims of cruelty and bullying. The graduate student culture is built on bullying--people here are not friendly. Maybe these issues are all common to graduate programs, but my other friends in English across the country have no stories like these. You might think I'm simply a malcontent or had a unique bad experience, and I don't care if that is what you think--everything I've said is true.
I hope this helps your decision.

Been in grad school now for almost 2 years (going to graduate either summer or fall) and I must say that this probably has been one of the low points of my life.
I came off a life threatening illness back in 2014. Enrolled in school the following year at a major research university for a masters program since I couldnt do what I do for undergrad ever again since my old job was too stressful and after the damage of my illness I had to change fields. I must say that I've never been so dissatisfied with the choice to go to the school that I went to. For starters the teachers are just straight up arrogant morons. Most of them with the exception of 1 or 2 of them don't really understand the working blue collar world and have this ridiculous attitude towards anyone with a different opinion than theirs. You cant disagree with any of these people, even when they are clearly wrong about something. I always felt they were off about things since before I got sick I worked for a while in the working world and knew that some things they said just don't make sense. Alot of the grad students seemed as clueless as the teachers, maybe not all of them but I would say 3/4s were not thinking much about what they were learning. They were mostly buying into what the teachers were telling them. There was also a pretty bad communication barrier since half the students werent from America, which made it extremely hard to really get to know anyone since the foreign students had a hard time trying to communicate / issues with English.
While trying to put together my portfoilo for jobs I've come to realize that 90% of what I learned is completely useless. None of the jobs I've been applying for really give a crap that I slaved away on pointless papers, projects or learned abstract theories that have zero world value. I'm having to do alot of work on my own learning certain skills and doing my own research before applying to jobs since school did not prepare me very well at all. For the money I spent, it just was not really worth it. The program itself didnt really come with any huge benefits either like as in I had to pay for it myself and that there was no way of finding tuition waiving jobs on campus. Not to mention the attitudes of the department, just a bunch of stuck up nerds that don't care about anyone sides themselves. I felt like it was just a second class business in that they take your money and give you such a crappy deal along with god awful customer support in the process.
But the thing that really pissed me off the most was the campus I went to's attitude about things. The university seems to mostly care about football, a corrupt greek system, and how much money they can sucker out of students. I seeked help in multiple departments for business ideas I had or ways to make the campus better or even just someone to have a conversation with about what was on my mind, but I was just basically shown the middle finger and given no help. The admins of this school seem like some of the most miserable and disconnected human beings I've ever came across. Most of them dont know how to have a personality or show any sort of humanity. It echos very similar to what you would see in corporate america in that it's a very cold stress driven culture with no real goals in mind. Even the psychiatric counselling was awful. I was put in anti depressants and told "you can quit them at any time". Turns out I had withdrawl so bad that I cursed out the pharmacy when they wouldnt give me a refill since that was how bad the drugs made me feel. Luckily when I called the pharmacy a few hours later the drugs were ready and to this day I'm stuck on them since until I leave school, there arent any good enough doctors in my area who can get me off the drug.
Finally the students...I try to not blame them as hard since they are young and still learning the world, but some of them I just don't even understand how they made it to this school. This school requires at B+ average to come right out of high school, so while they arent at the top of their class, it seems like on paper they should be remotely intelligent. But one thing I learned is that grades dont always mean anything. It just means they can follow instructions, but have no abilities to think outside of the box or have any real skills. The school seems to be a very follow the herd mentality. Everyone just follows around another groups of people doing mindless shit like binge drinking, clubs with extreme viewpoints/focused too much on one thing, spamming facebook with political nonsense that makes no sense, having random fundraisers for things that they cant even comprehend, like I could go on, but it seems like most people in college just have no awareness of what they are doing with their lives. They all seem to go with the motions to just make everyone else happy. Nobody seems to have a pair of balls to do whatever the hell they feel like doing.
The only upside of my experience is that I will get a great job once I graduate, one that can pay my bills and isnt too stressful. Thing is that I missed out from working for 2 years since I been stuck in this town to where the economy revolves around the school. I been keeping busy with my own business ventures and finding some mediocre jobs to try out, but none of it has really brought in any serious money. I might have some good job prospects coming in within the next few weeks, but nothing is certain.
I dunno if its just grad school, the school I went to or that college in general is not what it really seems, but I never been so unhappy in my life. Im happy to get the hell out of here within a few months and be done with college forever. Im pretty disappointed since both grad school and this school that I always wanted to go to since being a freshman in undergrad wasnt what I though. Not really looking to be judged or given advice, but was just seeing if anyone else out there dealt with anything similar.

I've been meaning to reply to this post for about a week. So, here goes in a nutshell. (TLDR version is to relax, don't panic, you're right where you should be.)
I would NOT worry too much about not knowing what your specialization is going to be just yet. You're a first semester MA student! You'll figure it out more as you take more classes, begin doing more research on your own, and work on your MA thesis. My own story is that I actually studied two pretty different things (think apples and orangutans) for my MA and PhD and it was fine. The background theory I learned during my MA served me well when I did my PhD even though the topics (and really, the subfield) were different. 
As for whether or not something matters, some of that might be up to you. There are people in my discipline who don't think that my topic "orangutans" really matters but, I see it as part of my job as a researcher to show them how and why it matters through the research I do. Some of that comes from the specific things I highlight in my research and some of it comes from placing my research in the appropriate broader context. Learning the big(ger) picture now as a MA student will help you do that in the future, regardless of the topic you choose. 
And, can I just be honest for a minute? If all of the "hot topic" convos in your discipline aren't ones you're super interested in, don't force yourself to do a project involving them. A PhD is enough of a slog that you shouldn't also do it on a topic you aren't passionate about. If you're passionate about multiple things, then you have options. You can try to do several and link them with some sort of connecting thread (theoretical, topical, temporal, etc.). Alternately, you can make one the focus of your thesis/dissertation and leave the other ideas for class/conference papers (or, as you advance in your thinking in these areas, for collaboration with other grad students or faculty with similar interests). That said, it does make sense to stay abreast of the current trends/discussions in the field (which you can do by skimming ToC and abstracts of journals) so that you can find ways to connect what you are doing to these bigger and broader discussions.
Finally, don't compare yourself to the PhD students. Assuming they've done a master's, they've got at least a couple of years of graduate training on you! You're not in the same place in terms of your intellectual development in the discipline so you shouldn't be expected or expect yourself to be doing whatever groundbreaking thing they're doing. And, newsflash: most of them have had the same concerns and struggles, likely when they were where you are right now. Comparing yourself to others is really a path to frustration in grad school so I strongly advise you against it. If you insist upon it, I'd say that you should have one-on-one conversations with some grad students to see how they developed their topics/interests, what led them to where they are, etc. You may be surprised by the answers. 
Good luck! Keep us posted on how things are going.

Wow, "Decision Made"?!?! Someone has a flair for the dramatic.