snyegurachka

People email from smart phones a lot these days—the Chair of my department sends me emails full of typos all the time, and I am pretty sure it is just his being in a rush/predictive text. He got a phd in English from Oxford and postdoc at Stanford—i.e. he is no dummy. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Yep, Russian and American. I saw a few people post about Emory interview emails, and I didn't get one. So I guess that question is over.

I started my M.A. there in Media Studies but am now completing my M.A. elsewhere for reasons of both fit and finances. I was awarded a 50% tuition merit scholarship (which is the highest the department will offer), and tuition is not as high per credit as some other institutions. I also had work study and had two pretty good jobs at Parsons (one paid $13 or $14 per hour, the other had a $2500 stipend per semester). Tuition came out to be about $5000 a semester with scholarship, and my work probably covered most of it. The scam is that living in New York is fuckass expensive, so even with a good deal, you are losing out. I paid at least $800/month in rent and utilities, and my apartments were all pretty shitty (loft space, low ceiling, no windows, crazy roommates, far from everything). Transit card was $150/month or something like that (New School did not provide metro passes). For a lot of the summer I was commuting 16 miles total to and from work on bicycle just to avoid paying for a transit card. Then of course groceries, housewares, etc etc are just pricier. All that being said, going to school in New York was pretty awesome, and I miss a lot of things about it. The aid package I have right now is not as good—per credit tuition is higher and my scholarship is only about %25, maybe a little more. I also get paid a maximum of $12/hr for work study jobs, and my stipend for teaching an entire course was less than the one I received for being a research assistant at Parsons. Even so, my cost of living in Chicago is tremendously less, and I am eligible for SNAP benefits. I would say apply, see what happens, and try to get a real job (not work study).

I think this list is just describing symptoms of borderline personality disorder. You don't need to be "intense" to succeed in academia. Just driven, creative, and able to hone and develop your skills so that you can contribute to the discourse of your field and be an effective teacher at the university level.

I did a workshop series for applying to Phd programs with an "esteemed" (i.e. very published and connected, if somewhat arrogant) professor, and he recommended writing one core statement (or multiples if you are applying to vastly different disciplines) and then tailoring 1-2 paragraphs that talk about faculty members and specifics of each of the programs. I think this is just what everybody does. Your statement isn't generic, it's just...duplicated. Programs aren't going to call each other up to verify if you had verbatim phrases in both SOPs.

I am applying to a few Comparative Literature programs, and my language background is Russian (as are my POIs). I applied to Comparative Literature at Brown and Emory.

Don't know who else applied, but interview invites go out next week. I am freaking out a little bit...this will be the first response (or response by silence) that I get from any program.

Depending on the program, Masters programs tend to care less about that stuff and often don't require the GRE. They are generally unfunded though or only offer partial funding. I am finishing my MA at a mixed Humanities/Visual Studies/Critical Theory program at an arts school, and I got in with a 3.37 GPA and having transferred a bunch of times. I had a 2.7 or something ridiculous like that at my first undergraduate institution. The experience has been the best thing I could have done for my work. I raised my GPA to a 3.8 or 3.9, and because it is a fairly small program, got to work one on one with a bunch of amazing professors to develop my research and writing. Even if I still don't get into a phd program, my writing has improved enough that I feel confident taking it in a lot of different directions. I know that University of Chicago has its mixed Humanities program, and I think it also offers an MA in Philosophy. There are some other critical theory MAs at art schools and undergraduate institutions as well. When people say "continental philosophy," I generally think "theory." What is your focus?

Every school has different deadlines. I am not sure about STEM fields, but in the Humanities, it is customary to email professors before applications are due—after that, it may be a conflict of interests (especially if you have not already started a dialogue). No professor is going to know how good of a fit you are from one email—if s/he doesn't respond, it is not a reflection on your worth as an applicant. That being said, I don't think there are any separate acceptance dates for foreign applicants.

I emailed the administrative assistants from the three departments I was really worried about...problem solved. Only one interviews applicants, and the invites are going out next week. All new anxieties now

I asked my professors casually around the beginning of the school year and again (formally and slightly frantically) when I received a notice that the Emory application offered fee waivers for apps submitted before October 31. I made sure that I had versions of my list of potential schools, Statement of Purpose, CV, and Writing Sample prepared so that my letter writers could have an idea of what my applications were going to look like. My letter writers were my MA thesis advisor, second thesis reader, and a professor I had taken a number of classes with who was helping me with preparing my phd applications. I guess the long and short of this is: ask as soon as you are prepared and sure of your decisions, and be prepared soon (but not too soon). September, 2015.

I don't think visiting will help your application unless you have already been invited to interview.

I would just jump into the January calendar (start now!). I am taking a belly dancing class. It was reasonably priced (something like $10 a class for students) and I really like the instructor. I've pretty much enjoyed every dance class I have ever taken though except hip-hop, which was a disaster; I am too uncoordinated. I used to take ballet and loved it—first at a really great community type studio that was mostly a lot of older dancers and then at my undergraduate college—but I am not very graceful and always feel uncomfortable because I do not have a ballerina's physique. I love the strength/discipline aspect of it though, which I am getting from the pilates now. Cassie's videos similarly combine strength training with cardio. I took a pilates class a few years ago, but I find these videos a lot more challenging. I applied to Stanford (MTL) and UC-Berkeley (Rhetoric). Both have kind of impossible odds, so I am probably not moving to California any time soon.

Sort of. I am in an MA program and very broke—I can't find a job other than my work study position, which means that I have under $1000 a month (sometimes as little as $500-600) to live of off. I got a credit card some time last year and maxed it out and am now in default (don't do that!). I applied to five schools and got fee waivers on three, still waiting to hear back from one but will probably get it (get waivers! For most of them, all I had to do was explain my $$ situation and send my FAFSA). The Stanford application fee was $125 and was the only one I paid. There were a lot of programs that I did not apply to because they did not offer waivers or required the Literature subject test, which I could not afford to take. The programs that I applied to are all very competitive/top programs, so I might as well have only applied to one. A good thing to remember is that applying to more schools doesn't increase your odds of getting in somewhere—each school has its own system and will evaluate you based on how strong an applicant you are and how well you fit the program. Maybe it is different in STEM fields, but in the Humanities, the same people seem to get a lot of acceptances in top programs (I have a friend who got into University of Chicago, Yale, and University of Michigan for Art History). Your odds of being accepted are probably the same at all schools you apply to that are a good fit.

This pretty much sounds like my life right now—broke, working, finishing school, boyfriend works second shift at a hospital and is often gone weekends until at least midnight... I don't really have many friends in my MA program, but the two people I did things with outside of school fairly regularly are on vacation during the break. I work at the office of communications at my school editing copy, so I still go to work, but there isn't anything to do while classes aren't in session. Mostly I just look at my half-written thesis and want to cry. I feel sort of silly talking about it, but I have been doing the Blogilates calendars (well, the January beginners' calendar and 30 days to flat abs challenge, going to upgrade to the regular January calendar starting tomorrow). I'm starting a dance class on Monday that I tried to do last session but had to stop because I got too busy with finals. I have also been eating a low-carb diet and cooking a lot (also saves money and fills my time). I am in some kind of insane brain world where being 110 lbs with a flat stomach is about as likely as my getting into Stanford—but getting fit is the only one I can do anything about. If one of those two things happens, I will feel very accomplished. If both happen, I won't have to be a fatass in California where it is warm and people wear shorts all the time. So...the waiting interim is the perfect time to get some sexy abs (or arms, or legs).

I have looked through the results search of the programs to which I am applying, but the data seems inconsistent. For instance, I will not see any "Interview invitation @ whatever date" posts, but then rejections will write "was not invited to interview." There also seem to be programs that have interviewed in past years but no postings about them since 2011-12, etc. I am going to include the programs I applied to and would really appreciate if anyone has information—I know that what happened over past years isn't necessarily indicative of what will happen this year, but I am having such excessive anxiety about being contacted for interviews and whether or not that is something I might need to prepare for in the next month. I applied to Comp Lit programs and my main language is Russian, which I haven't used in over two years and do not feel prepared to be interviewed in that language, but my POIs at the Comp Lit programs are Russian/Slavic Studies people. Language sadness aside, I am not the best at interviews...I tend to be very anxious, honest when maybe I shouldn't be, and get extremely worried that I will be judged by my appearance. I lost a lot of weight a few years ago and then gained half of it back, and I know for a fact now that things like interviews, auditions, and meeting new people just go over better when you're "cute." I'm mildly worried that the anxiety induced by this waiting process combined with trying to find a job and finishing my MA thesis is all being channeled into something between healthy lifestyle changes and disordered eating. Anyway, enough of my personal pathology... I know I applied to very high-tier programs, but I didn't think it would be worth it to apply to places that might not be a good fit or have the faculty I want to work with. I also cut out a few choices for financial reasons, either because they did not offer fee waivers or required the GRE Literature Subject Test. Stanford was the only application I paid for, so that will be especially bummer-y when I am rejected. Sorry, this became a whole wall of text. These are the programs I applied to: Stanford University, Modern Thought and Literature UC Berkeley, Rhetoric Brown University, Comparative Literature Emory University, Comparative Literature University of Chicago, English received no response from UPenn about my fee waiver, so I'm guessing this application is in the ether Not that it really matters, but here are my general stats: Organized/ing one conference, presented at two conferences, one publication (12/2014) and one pending (11/2015?) MA in Visual and Critical Studies to be received 05/2015 One T.A. Instructor position (First Year Seminar), 3 regular T.A.-ships, one semester as a writing tutor One of my letter writers is (relatively) famous in the Art History field and my other two know some of the people in my programs, but from what I have heard this matters very minimally 90th percentile verbal on GRE 3.4 undergrad GPA, 3.9 grad GPA Cannot attest to the quality of my SOP or Writing Sample but worked extensively with my advisor and first letter writer

This is pretty much the exact same attitude my parents had (or possibly still have...I don't really talk to them about it anymore). My father is a professor and applied to phd programs at a much less competitive time and couldn't believe when I got rejected from all my schools when I applied kind of haphazardly during my last year of undergrad. He thinks that everywhere should accept me because I am his daughter and must be brilliant. My mother thinks it's insane and that I should just get a job and be practical about my prospects. Now I (will) have an MA and 3.9 GPA, have presented conference papers, have publications, LOR from people in the field who know people at the programs to which I am applying, etc—and I'm a lot more realistic about the fact that I still may not get in anywhere, as horrifying as that is. In a lot of ways, my mother's advice has been better...my dad thinking I'm great doesn't mean grad schools will. And his calling them all assholes is not helpful. My mother might not be very supportive, but I am hoping that I will get into Stanford or whatever, prove my mother wrong and make my phd from Vanderbilt father see that I can do this this time. And if I don't, I will try to pursue other paths while keeping up my academic practice and reapplying. Both of my parents think that my schools are too competitive and I should have applied to a "safety," but phds don't work that way. I want as close to a perfect fit as I can get.

I transferred twice in undergraduate, managed to graduate in four years but my transcripts reflect the craziness that was going on in my life. I graduated with honor in one of my majors, but my GPA was 3.4. I double-majored in Russian and Studio Art and then entered a visual studies/critical and cultural theory graduate program. I am going to be graduating from my MA program this spring, but I did a semester at another program before switching to this one. I have a better GPA now (3.8-3.9), but I have definitely switched around my schools and departments quite a bit. This may not be a big deal for the more interdisciplinary programs I applied to, but I have a feeling that comp lit and English admissions committees might think I am un-focused or not committed to the discipline. I'm hoping that my statement makes it clear that I have cohered my research interests and it just took me a long time to find the right place(s) to pursue them.

I am also applying to literature/interdisciplinary humanities departments and only applied to 5 schools—they are all top programs and places I really see myself fitting well. Of course this is a very anxiety provoking situation, but I just keep telling myself that I have done the best I could possibly do (pursued an MA degree to develop my work further and make up for my undergrad GPA, two conferences, one publication and a second forthcoming, one fellowship, taking on projects in my programs, taking advantage of all the advising I have available to me, etc). If I don't get in somewhere, I don't get in. I am still young and will apply for more fellowships and continue trying to build myself up in the field and try to see what I can do with my MA and connections in the meantime. I have a mood disorder and have always had terrible anxiety; right now it seems to be coming out by just being a little obsessive and controlling in other aspects of my life. I started a new diet and have been cooking creatively a lot. I have also been doing a lot of work with planning a departmental conference. So I guess...stay busy? Put that neurosis to work somewhere else for now? And accept that the purgatory we are all in now just needs to happen.