snyegurachka

yes—I was advised to look up faculty members' most recent work and make sure they were still working on things related to my interests. I had a meeting with a professor at Brown that was super awkward because he didn't seem to understand my interest in his work based on the program to which I was applying. Part of this was that his focus has changed and moved away from mine, but my biggest draw to his work were the methodologies/aesthetics of it. I guess scholars are generally not so enthused about such criteria.

I think I may have been the third...so still 3? I applied to comp lit at Brown and Emory, and English at U of C. With Brown, the program sounded really good and the east coast location is appealing. Emory and Chicago have scholars I was psyched about working with and figured that could mean good fit. I was pretty set on applying to the programs in English and Cultural Studies at University of Pittsburgh and Literature at Duke, but neither offer fee waivers Unfortunately, I think that my current work/the work I want to continue just doesn't fit very well into a traditional literary studies setting. I could potentially do my work in an American Studies department, but then what would happen when I moved my focus away from the US later in my career? My interest with the literature discipline has a lot to do with what I know the teaching work is like—I would rather teach a million FYS lit classes than one feminist theory seminar or art history survey course. My methodologies reflect this, but the research/writing I do is pretty far out for traditional lit programs. One of my advisors warned me that what professors do (in terms of being interdisciplinary and/or experimental) and what they sanction their graduate students to do are often different things :/ So here goes holding out for two ridiculously unattainable "dream programs."

I have been going through a similar process, though mostly retr/ospectively. At the time, it seemed like the literature programs I was applying to would be really great for me because there were faculty whose work I really like and that had appealing courses, etc. Now I am realizing that my project probably isn't as appealing for lit programs as it could be for more interdisciplinary/cultural studies types of programs. Only two of the five I applied to this year fit into that category—MTL at Stanford and Rhetoric at Berkeley—so I am starting to get pretty antsy because they are such competitive programs. But then at the same time, I am starting to feel more confident in myself as an applicant at those schools than the one or two less competitive (but still top) programs in literature.

I agree that any somewhat respected phd program is rigorous—especially in literary studies and English. I think that finding a rigorous MA program is more of an issue. My definition of rigor is that intellectual life and discourse are high, people are passionate about what they do, they work to write dissertations to be published and read, not as a means to an end to graduate, etc.

it's per program, so maybe that doesn't matter?

So would you say then that those who were not asked to interview are most certainly not on the short list?

This is also the advice that I got. Be direct and specific with your proposed dissertation but leave enough wiggle room for a professor to mentor/shape your work.

I suppose this is what the whole thread is about, but I created one so that it would be the first thing that comes up when I am googled. It makes people in your field aware that you exist, and it does expose/connect you to other scholars with shared interests and your friends' work. Maybe it's because I have a fairly uncommon name, but I would definitely prefer my academia.edu and even linkedin profiles to come up before images of my art and music (mostly made between ages 19–22) on tumblr. Also, as a conference organizer, these pages have been very helpful. Once the first rounds of blind review are over, it was very useful to see our applicants' locations/institutions, recent work, if they had presented the exact same paper at a similar conference. We still chose presenters without academia.edu profiles, but seeing the range of work that each applicant did was very helpful in solidifying our final panelists. So, like linkedin, it is a bit useless for getting jobs and other professional activity, but at least the networking aspect is based in reading others' papers and getting to know a little bit more about what is happening in your specific field of interest. I don't think it matters much if you have one during the admissions process, but once you are in and applying to conferences and grants and publishing on a regular basis, that type of networking/exposure to related work could be very useful to you.

I saw a hit from someone in the Bay Area and have been super anxious ever since. My friend saw one from RI though and he got an interview at Brown! It could be magic...but it could be nothing.

Boo the anxiety, it hurts me

I'm not that worried about it. He said decisions will come out mid-late February. Haven't heard anything on here about actual invites, wondering if it was a mistake. Either way, I can wait.

I have heard that they come later because some schools wait for a decline so that they can hand out a regular offer of admission. As if the process wasn't horrifying enough... On that note, not sure if this was intended or not, HesseBunuel, but I think it is pretty early in the game to get snarky. Congrats hypervodka!

update: answer is that the department does not conduct interviews. Not sure about what those emails some of you received were and/or if I have been lied to, though I sort of doubt the department would lie to applicants because there is no reason for it to do so.

Any news on the U of C interviews? I emailed the Humanities division to ask if the English department conducted interviews a little while ago, no response. Though the last U of C email I received about my fee waiver ran straight to my spam folder. So who knows (not I).

I heard that this can be helpful, but the advice I got mainly was 1. If professors in the department you are applying are relevant to topics discussed in your writing sample, you need to at least reference them in a footnote. And 2. try not to mention too many professors from the institution in one writing sample or your statement because you may come off as pandering AND you don't know what the social/professional relationship between those two professors might be.

"...was it Judith Butler?"

I would also contribute to a doc for future applicants, but there are so many criteria to take into order that may or may not change over the years. I am also horrified that I won't get in anywhere, and this makes me think that we should include the same kind of documentation of rejections as well. Right now I am feeling like I have a much better shot at "sexy" interdisciplinary programs like Rhetoric at Berkeley and MTL and Stanford than I do at some of the less competitive programs I applied to—of course I need to wait and see how things go, but the type of writing sample and project I chose are probably less intriguing to more traditional forms of scholarship produced in places like the University of Chicago. On that note, I am going to try to list some criteria that have been discussed in this thread/results board already as well as advice I received from my advisors along the way. Previous degrees: B.A.: where did you attend? Was it a college or university? What was your GPA? Did you graduate with honors/awards? Did you transfer schools during that time? M.A.: did you pursue/receive an M.A., M.F.A., or professional degree? Where? Was it at an institution that also offers a phd track? What was your GPA? How many years was the program? Did you receive any special scholarships, fellowships, teaching positions, etc? Are your thesis advisors well known/regarded? How many years did you spend out of either program before applying? Are you applying outside of your previous discipline(s)? GRE: What were your scores? Percentiles for your year? Did you take the subject test? Connections: Did you reach out to faculty, a POI before/during the application process? Do you have any connections to faculty, students, administrators, etc, at the university? Do any of your letter writers have professional and/or social relationships with faculty in the programs to which you are applying? Did they attend/teach/postdoc at the school? Personal background: What is your gender? Age? Race/ethnicity? Socioeconomic background? What are the highest levels of education that your mother and/or father received? Are you an international applicant? If so, are you applying with funding from a program in your country of origin? Your work/ SoP: What are your topics of focus? How specific was the project you laid out in your statement? How "disciplined" was this project? Did you name any professors in your statement, and if so, how many? Were they "star" professors (i.e. Judith Butler, Frederick Jameson, Sianne Ngai)? How long was the statement? How did you begin it (quote, anecdote, "i am applying to...", etc)? Did you incorporate quotations/citations/references to scholars in the field in which you hope to be studying? Writing sample: What kind of writing sample did you choose? Was it related to the topics you discussed in your statement? How long was it? How would you describe the style of the writing (traditional, experimental, very specialized/specific to your sub-discipline)? How did you begin the writing sample? Did you include a lengthy footnote within the first four pages situating this paper within discourses surrounding the same topic in your discipline? Would you/could you include an abstract for others to view (I understand if some want to avoid this for reasons of anonymity)? Has this paper been/will it be published? Is it part of your B.A. or M.A. thesis? CV: Presentations (where and what)? Publications (where and what)? Teaching experience? Fellowships? Research experience? Work/jobs related to your academic pursuits? Letters of recommendation? How well-known are your letter writers (in and outside the field)? How well do they know you/how are you connected to them? Were they from undergrad, MA, or a mix? oof. enough for now.

Does anyone else obsessively check his/her academia.edu analytics and freak out every time someone from somewhere near some place you are applying has viewed your profile?

Definitely not....

I've gone the opposite direction and am running on ~1000-1400 calories per day, no carbs, somewhat obsessive exercise...yet little-to-no weight loss from all the stress (or something). :/

One of the reasons I decided to get an MA is because I had a 3.37 undergrad GPA. I have yet to see if this will help me. Even if it does not "make up" for a low undergrad GPA, it does improve your profile as a candidate because your work/ideas are more developed, your letter writers probably know you better, etc. Most programs only require that you do not have below a 3.0 GPA from your degree-granting undergraduate institution.

This thing exactly! I ruled out a couple of schools (Penn state, Princeton, Cornell, University of Rochester, Rutgers) because they were places that would be super difficult for my partner to find a job and/or apply to MSW programs. There were other reasons that I ruled out these schools as well, but location played a large factor. I am at a point now with my relationship and my career that each has at least equal hold, and I didn't want to put myself or my partner in a position of having to choose between our relationship and all the other things we each have going on in our lives. If your feeling is MA > relationship, maybe listen to it. The first time I moved to be with a partner was a few months after I graduated from college, and it went quite poorly. I had a shitty 40 hour a week, minimum wage (~$8/hr) job in a very expensive city, wasn't really able to make friends because of it, and realized through my struggling and boyfriend's lack of support/understanding that our relationship just wasn't going to work. It doesn't have to be shitty like that, but the post college months are super rough on most people, I think.

I did a bit of the opposite and decided to attend an MA program (I had started another before I found out I was accepted to the second) to be with someone I had started dating long distance. It was a different situation though; he and I were friends for 3+ years before we started dating. Though I was not much older than you are (22 when he and I started dating), he was ~30. It was also different because I moved with a plan to do something. Moving with another person without a plan and hoping to find a job, especially after only dating for a year, is a recipe for disaster. My partner and I have been dating for two years, have been living together ~1.5 years, and have been friends for at least 5, and my boyfriend is just now feeling 99% certain about moving with me if/when I start a phd. Of course I don't know the specifics of your relationship, but definitely the power dynamic of one person doing something and the other just being there can make a relationship very difficult. I don't think an MA is more stressful than working full time, but moving and starting over definitely are.

I get you. I studied Russian for four years and speak like an 8 year old. The best way to get better at a language is to use it in the context that you want to be able to use it in. Middlebury is good for short term intensive language skill building. Applying to Fulbrights countries that use 1 or more of your languages would be a good cost-effective way to do this and will also improve your resume. I am pretty sure that Chinese (and possibly Korean) qualify for the same "critical language" scholarships that Russian learners are offered. They are more IR oriented, so not great for me but would probably be a very good idea to explore for you.

I'm guessing the process takes especially long for interdisciplinary programs because the applications much be passed around and advocated for by POIs who are tied to their own national literatures/humanities/anything ending in "studies" departments. The Slavic studies professor I talked to at Brown a while back made it seem like a POI may have some pull in saying "no" but admittance is ultimately decided by the department. So depending on how many faculty members you mentioned in your statement of purpose, your statement will need to be passed between 2-3 professors who have responsibilities outside of the Comp Lit department, then deliberated by a committee of people who may or may not end up working closely with you, with expertise that may or may not line up with your focuses. Maybe it is different at other institutions, but MTL at Stanford and Comp Lit at Brown have very few faculty members devoted to departmental administration and rely mainly on faculty from English, national literatures, philosophy, etc, to advise. Keeping that in mind, it still totally sucks. I feel like every day I get a little more insane.