poco_puffs

I got into a PhD program with only my BA behind me, although I did take a year off in between graduating and starting at my current program. There are 18 students in my cohort, maybe 5 or 6 are in the MA-only track, and the rest of us are there for the PhD. Probably about two-thirds of the PhD students have MAs already, but I got the impression during my own applications that programs do accept a fair, even surprising, number of students with no prior graduate experience at all. In my time thus far at my program, I think I'm even less nervous and stressed out than some of the students who have already had 1-3 years of graduate school in an MA program. Maybe I just don't know enough to be scared or stressed out. I've been doing alright in terms of work-- just keeping my head down and trying to improve on my research and writing from where I left off at my undergrad. The seminar paper I need to start writing in the next few days has had me a little spooked, since it feels like nothing I've ever written before, but I'll just keep on trucking. The point of all of this being: once everyone gets admitted into the program, there isn't always a lot of difference between incoming students with a BA or MA, and schools know that. I agree with the other posters here that schools MIGHT have higher expectations of MA students, hoping that they've covered a lot more primary and secondary material and criticism, to the point of making it easier for students without an MA to get away with some gaps in their knowledge. Several of the girls with MAs in my program feel like there is additional pressure on them because "they've already been doing this, they should know better than to make mistakes X, Y, and Z" (those are their words). Since I didn't get an MA, I can't tell you about whether it would benefit you in the long run to get one first before applying to the PhD programs. Just try to be realistic about the money of applications, loans, and if you'll be on the hook for even more money from an MA. If you aren't keen on going into a non-funded MA program, you might consider selectively taking some post-baccalaureate courses at your undergrad institution or whatever university is nearest to you. At least if it's cost effective, compared to admission to a program. I've known plenty of people, including within my current program, that just spent time in between BA and PhD just doing independent research and maybe taking one or two classes a year to keep their head in the game. This advice is just my moderately-informed opinion, however. I hope you'll consider it alongside all the rest of the good advice you're getting.

As a feminist myself, I think we should have control over our names-- we can make whatever choice for whatever damn reason we like. That, at least as I see it, has been the ultimate lesson of this thread. If anyone has a problem with how you handle your name, well, that's their problem.

I think the inclusion of a proposed dissertation topic is totally optional, and it might depend on whether you're coming to the PhD program with some graduate school or an MA under your belt already (if that was the case, it might be that you've already done some graduate research and understand the scope and implications of a proposed project). Most of the things I've heard on here and at my school imply that most professors and advisors do NOT expect you to come into graduate school with a dissertation topic in mind, and even fewer would expect you to commit to whatever you write about in your SOP. I have been told repeatedly at my school that I should just focus on coursework for now, and keep big research ideas in mind but on the back burner. Some schools might differ, of course, but learning is a primary objective, you know? They don't expect you to come in fully formed. An SOP should, on the other hand, indicate at least one or two general areas in which you are interested and maybe have some experience or research done already. My understanding is that your SOP is the place to a.) line you up with their school and faculty and b.) show that you might have formed, on at least a basic level, some directed questions or interests about certain topics, and might be able to-- down the line-- find a unique project that will become a dissertation. That could be as vague as a general period or genre of literature, with perhaps a theory or methodology you might like to pursue.

Also, like me, you might end up at a school with a fairly low ranking, but be completely and utterly happy with the program. Also, I've been pleased to find out that a.) my school has been climbing the ranks in terms of general caliber of students (the students that are applying and being accepted are far and above students from 10 years ago) and b.) it has an excellent placement program because of the strength of its pedagogical training. We teach one class a quarter every quarter until we graduate. It's grueling, but it's loads of experience, and students are going onto the job market against students from other schools who have only taught two courses EVER in the course of their PhD at a big-name, high-ranking institution. If the university is hiring someone to flesh out their department and teaching rather than just a rockstar personality, that experience matters. Not to mention the fact that the campus is beautiful, the living around here is fairly inexpensive, and I'm just loving life in general. I'm happy to be spending 5-7 years here.

I, personally, did not go over my word limits, but I did have SOPs ranging in length from 500 to 1,250 words. The part that I truncated was mainly the details paragraph of my dissertation/grand scheme, so that I combined two paragraphs of stuff about that into one slightly lengthened paragraph that summarized the parameters of my project with a *few* specific examples or questions. I also went over my entire SOP and cut every extraneous word, phrase, passive voice, and fatty bit that I could. It was a brutal process, but in a funny way it strengthened my other SOPs as well, because I forced myself to define and relate my interests more succinctly and elegantly in the rest of them that still had broad allowances for word count. I have heard a few stories about people submitting longer SOPs and still getting in. I'm not familiar with Fordham's program, so I can't tell you if they tend towards the forgiving on that sort of thing. I *can* tell you that it's risky, though, at any school. Your writing would have to be rock solid, and you would need to still make every word count if you turned in something that was 800 or only shortened to 700. If you didn't apply last year as well, it might be news to you that it was an extremely tough application year. Schools were getting double, if not more, their usual applicant pool. Some people got personal emails from adcomms after their rejection saying "In any other year, we would have been happy to have you. You are an amazing candidate with a bright future, but we just didn't have room for you." Excellent candidates got rejected for sometimes totally arbitrary reasons, and I would not be surprised if some of those arbitrary reasons included things like "This person did not follow our directions" or, from a grumpier and more overworked perspective, "Who does this person think they are, writing something almost twice as long? The others students cut theirs down, why should this person get an extra 300 words?" or "Perhaps the other students had ideas that are just as amazing as this student's, but they were considerate to our time constraints and abridged their SOP like we specified." It's a calculated risk you'd be taking, if you ignored the direction and submitted something longer. In such an uncertain application climate as we had last year and very well might have again this year, I would do my utmost to follow directions as closely as possible to avoid offending those fickle gods of the adcomms.

You might want to check it out in person first to flip through it. It might be a little too dry for what you need right now.

Something to check out would be the "Literary Research Guide" by James L. Harner. According to its cover, which will summarize it better than I can, it: Identifies reference tools essential for the study of American and British lit, other lit in English, and related topics Evaluates bibliographies, abstracts, surveys of research, indexes, databases, dictionaries, and other important reference materials Contains 1,059 entries with complete citations and descriptive annotations explaining the benefits and drawbacks of each work So lets say you want to research Restoration and Eighteenth Century literature, or find out more about it because of a project you're doing. This book will provide you with a list and reviews of the Histories and Surveys about that period; a list of literary handbooks, dictionaries, and encyclopedias about that period; a bibliography of bibliographies (for putting together lists of reading for yourself); guides to primary works, text archives, manuscripts; periodicals; guides to genres of the time; a list of the guides to scholarship and criticism for that period etc. Harner's book doesn't contain ALL of that stuff in whole of course, but it CAN give you a comprehensive look at the resources out there available for that field of study, and it will give you some excellent places to start. I do agree with August's suggestion, though. Go out and read. That's one of the biggest things you'll be doing in grad school anyway.

This is my survival method as well. I'm still incredibly friendly with my cohort, but when it comes to making myself feel better on a rainy day of self-doubt, I hold with the fact that I'm particularly good at one or two things that I know for a fact other people struggle with. You just can't let it affect how you treat them in person-- this is stuff to keep private in your head.

For future applicants looking in Eugene, this is a helpful interactive map provided by a local news outlet that shows police calls pinpointed on Google maps for every 24 hour period in the last month. You can check out your potential neighborhoods ahead of time to see if it is an active crime area, or what sorts of crimes (noise complaints, theft, disorderly conduct etc) tend to happen in which neighborhoods. Eugene Police Call Map

Well, I'd argue that it's "gradcafe" and not "PhDcafe," and your concerns are probably common among MA students as well. Something to remember in your situation is that some of those PhD students might have MAs already. We all come from different educational backgrounds, different classes, different professors. There are gaps in everyone's knowledge. That's why your classmates are there, too. Our common goal is to learn and become better academics.

I don't know if you've seen this Open Letter to Graduate Students from The Chronicle of Higher Education, but there is a LOT of advice from all disciplines and levels of graduate student and professors that is very applicable to your situation. To sum up the letter, the following comments, and some great advice I've gotten from a professor lately: You are going to feel like you don't know everything, because you DON'T know everything. That's why you're in graduate school. I won't say there isn't any competition at all in grad school, especially at a "name" school, but at least you beat the application competition to get into an Ivy (congrats!) and they obviously thought enough of you to bring you into the fold. You are part of their chosen group, whether it feels like that or not, and you had some very well-educated professionals with a lot of practice at admissions looking at your stuff and saying "You know what, this student is going to add something to our program." Right now, especially with your mental and emotional health on the line, it's the time to stop comparing yourself to the other students in your classes and just focus on YOU-- the things that you need and the things that you can control. That includes you forgiving yourself for your shortcomings, when you don't know a particular term or you feel like you aren't engaging in the readings or discussions as thoroughly as your classmates (that's my biggest struggle, personally). It includes you being positive about whatever small things you can do or have going for you, including stuff outside of school. And, speaking of stuff outside of school, it includes you taking some time for yourself away from homework and school. Get some sleep, eat some incredibly healthy and/or delicious food, take a long walk, see a movie-- take two hours to give your brain a rest. Essentially, even if it seems counter-intuitive, take it down a notch. This is your first term, and at this point it looks like you're closer to burning out than flunking out. Breathe. As to the anxiety and depression, I have a serious history of that myself. I know how crippling it can be. It hasn't hit me yet in grad school (I've been in a remission, you could say), but I know that I'll have to deal with it again sooner or later given an environment that can be so high-pressure. Continue with your counseling and medication, remember to take care of your body and soul before your education. Your health is ten million times more important than a few letters behind your name. You could know all the reading backwards and forward, but it won't help you if you've forgotten to sleep and eat for weeks and you're a bundle of nerves just ready to shatter. Try to make contact with your professors and advisor(s) to apprise them of the situation and some of your specific worries about material, if there's something in particular that you can verbalize and focus on during the appointment. Don't let yourself get isolated out of fear or dread. Please never forget to reach out if you need help.

I have a hard time talking to new people, making new acquaintances, getting together with people outside of school etc. I was fortunate to have some very socially-minded peers who started arranging things outside of school (it was a miracle I even went to the first one, that's how bad my social anxiety gets sometimes). Truth is, though, a lot of us in this program consider ourselves a little quirky on a social basis, so we got over the awkwardness and sit down together to have lunch or de-stress before heading to the next class. It sounds like the number of people you have available for those sorts of social connections within your lab or department might be limited, so maybe try to venture out into the next bigger circle-- if not your lab, then a class; if not a class, maybe the department; if not the department, go out and find some sort of new student mixer or seminar/brownbag type of thing (even though it sounds like YOU technically aren't the new student, maybe it'll be the sort of environment you need to do this). I agree with UnlikelyGrad: start small, say hi to one or two people, sympathize about how lonely and bewildering it can seem, and then *go do something.* Don't just let it be a 30 second conversation. Go get lunch, or coffee, or offer to wait with them for their bus or their class, or wander with them to the bookstore or a building you or they have never bee to before. Anything to get the conversation past awkward laughter and silences into something approximating more human contact. You're likely to find someone who is also lonely, or at least happy to have another friendly coworker/student with whom to chat on a regular basis.

That doesn't sound unreasonable or stupid at all. It's an expensive test, and it's not as if you haven't taken it in 8 or 9 years-- it's only been one more than their "limit," and you've been in a MA program since then. There are many parts in the application process that aren't set in stone, but there is a need for clear and concise application instructions for the bulk of applicants so that the exceptions, such as yourself, might need to contact the program to ask. I'd contact them via phone or email as soon as possible to clear it up.

When I took the test last year, I think I left somewhere between 25 and 35 questions unanswered. I went through answering easy questions and trying not to get bogged down in passage questions. If there was something that I couldn't summon up out of my brain in 20 seconds-- recognizing a poem or an author-- I left it blank. Something to consider for future test-takers: Crosswords are a great way to exercise the ability to retrieve information from your memory. There are times when I stare at a clue and think that I don't know the answer, but after 10-15 seconds I can almost physically feel the answer work it's way out of my gray matter and into my conscious thought. Improving your ability to recall information that you have stored away will help you work through the test more quickly, and perhaps recall things that seemed hopeless otherwise. Besides that, crosswords are a nice way to distract yourself from flashcard or book studying while still using the language part of your brain and occasionally using a bit of your newfound literary trivia.

Yeeeeeeah, I knew my numbers would drop when I finally started school. Good luck on applications fellow posters! Don't spend all your time on here

Lord knows it's easy to bond over crappy apartments and ramen, but don't worry about being cast out for your circumstances. Sure people might wonder, or might even be a little jealous here and there, but you are absolutely right: If you are thoughtful and discreet about your circumstances, you should be able to avoid most awkwardness or resentment. Don't feel ashamed of your age, your experience, your foresight, and the confidence/savvy it took to wrangle your apartment and lab position. You have EARNED that stuff, and there is no reason that you can't enjoy it. One of the women in my cohort is around 29-30 years old, I think, and she's in a similar situation to yours in that she has money saved up, a nicer apartment, a partner with a stable and well-paying job etc. She recently hosted a little potluck party for a football game and general socialization, and I think most of us guests were just pleased to have a furnished place to sit with nice people and eat good food. There are people in my cohort who are thousands of miles away from home and absolutely starved for that kind of environment and food and interaction. That isn't suggesting that you are always obligated to host hordes of young people for a rager at your pad, of course, but it's just an example of how your different situation could be seen as a positive thing by your classmates instead of some sort of mark against you. Also, as a final thought, have you thought about looking into online or on-campus resources for "non-traditional" students? It might not help you fit in with your cohort, but it could expose you to other graduate students who are in similar circumstances.

Even if he isn't intentionally and maliciously yanking your chain, and who knows, it sounds like this guy likes power. Unless he's some sort of official graduate liaison person for the first years, it sounds like he's taken it upon himself to be the "guy" for your group, and probably not entirely for your benefit either. He might just be that type of personality that thrives on knowing everything about everyone, keeping everyone around him so he's in the loop, and parsing out information as he sees fit in order to elicit reactions or manipulate people. Keep your ears open for other students in your cohort that feel the same way, or maybe someone from the year before you. I don't know how actively you should go around asking, since it might start rumors or generally get back around to this guy, so keep it on the down low. If it gets out of hand, like truly disturbing or disruptive to your work there, talk to someone higher up the chain of command. In my opinion, and I'm obviously just going off of what you've written, he sounds like a parasite. You should stay civil, so as not to raise any flags with him and possibly incite him to use his "information" or "weight" within the department, but do your best to keep him at a distance and do NOT let his mumbo jumbo get into your head. Maybe try to make contact with some other older graduate students in the meantime, to get some other perspectives.

If the application is a general one through the all-discipline "Graduate School" of that University, they might include that to cater to the non-humanities applicants who have, in fact, contacted professors. I remember seeing things on my applications where I thought "There is no way that applies to me as a humanities student."

Like it was said above, you don't have to play directly into their interests as if you are a tiny academic clone that worships their research and brilliance. I'm not trying to provide a format here, but just to seed your mind with some ways to vary your language and ideas in the fit paragraph: Their topics, methods, positions, research, contributions etc might: interest you, clarify some points you discuss in your work, challenge your own ideas, push you to grow and consider new topics or methods yourself, balance your previous education, provide you with new and better tools to X Y and Z, ground your research in a particular framework of theory or method etc. You don't have to sell yourself as a slave to their research or the next must-have accessory for their work. You are applying to the school to learn how to be a scholar, because you're still formulating your interests and skills, and because you hope to rise to a professional level of some sort someday. You are selling what you have accomplished in the past, but you are also selling your potential to mature and contribute not only to their department, but to the discipline as well. They aren't expecting you to change the world of English immediately, so don't worry about bombastic language and painting yourself as a wunderkind. I'd say the adcomms can smell BS from a mile away anyway. Don't say anything to them in your SoP that you wouldn't be able to explain later at a department function.

At my school, we aren't even assigned an advisor until the second term of the first year. Until then, all of us huddle under the kind umbrella of our Grad Studies director. This likely differs from school to school, but I'm guessing the general decisions process on advisors is a combination of student requests, faculty workloads and interests, their position within the department (retiring soon, just off the boat) etc. In some departments, you will NOT get the advisor who seems most closely aligned with your interests, due to their commitments, or plans for sabbatical or retirement-- any number of reasons. In some cases, you're simply matched up with an advisor who is there to help you with the progress of your work and your responsibilities to your department. They aren't meant to be your personal professor to impart their knowledge of that specialty, but they ARE an expert in graduate and professional work. As much as I would like a mentor in my own field, I'd take an amiable off-topic advisor who provides helpful guidance rather than a cranky, distracted advisor in my field who is just adding to the stress or confusion. I suppose you could always approach a professor or some sort of director/liaison for graduate studies at a particular institution via an email saying "Hi, This is a brief recounting of my situation, my interests, and my goals (admission to the program, studying X). What is the general process and timeline for a student to get an advisor at your school? Is there a lot of competition among students to find advisors within my field/specialty?" and questions along those lines. It's a polite request for information, and an expression of interest, without sounding needy or demanding. Some might argue that you wouldn't want to get into department politics with a question about fields and competition among students or professors, but if you keep it vague they can tell you as much as they feel comfortable. To reiterate what others have said, though, it's not really expected of you to contact them ahead of time. It might lodge you somewhere in their memory, but it's really hard to say if it would really yield significant benefits.

I know you're specifically asking for practice tests here, but have you tried any online study guides like Vade Mecum? I can't emember the other subject test guide I was using, but the Vade Mecum at least gives you a sense of the frequency with which authors, poems, and theorists show up on the test. I tried to tailor my studying (which included snippets from that site, other sites, and my Norton Anthology) to the authors that he spoke of as showing up frequently, and I feel like it definitely strengthened my performance. Like everyone else is saying on here, the practice tests all have different biases-- too much mythology, not enough theory, more modern stuff etc etc. You'll find that with the actual tests too, somewhat, because not everyone in every round takes the same test. There are at least two versions that go out, maybe more. Mine seemed to have a preponderence of questions that required a knowledge of the Bible, which was probably my biggest trip-up on the physical test after theory. The areas that I *knew* were going to be weak, English poets and dramatists, were the areas that concerned me the most going into the studying process. Have you ever looked at the Norton Anthology from the first Medieval book through all the other eras to the present? Just sheer size and weight of the books tells you that there's a more to know once you get into those middle to later books. I felt like the Medieval lit was a piece of cake, and then I bogged down halfway through the Renaissance. Restoration and 18th century seemed like impenetrable walls of names I didn't know or care about. There is just TOO MUCH to sort through, and that's where Vade Mecum came in handy, by doing some intelligent sorting fo rme. Anyway, looking back, I'd say that it's the study aid that helped me the most to bring my other weak spots up to fighting weight. Practice tests might get you comfortable with wording and with format, but don't get lulled into a false sense of security in terms of subject matter. Edited for clarity.

Although I haven't researched to see if there are faculty with specific interests in that field combination, I do know that University of Oregon has at least two graduate students in the English program who are working at the junction between literature and disability studies, one with focus on physical disabilities and one with a focus on mental disabilities and psychopathology. At the very least, it's a direction that the department is actively supporting, so it might be worth looking into.

Re: walking, I read an article a month or two ago that pointed out the benefits of light exercise, such as walking, on the ability for the brain to store and process new information. Not only are you going to wake yourself up if you are feeling a little sleepy (which happens to me), but you are also going to get the blood flowing throughout your body, including to our big ol' brains that just get so tired and full sometimes. Not to mention the fresh oxygen! It's like happy hour for your brain. In my case, sometimes I feel so overwhelmed with things on that to-do list that taking time away to "exercise" seems like just another impossible task, but "exercise" need not equal a full workout. As Unlikelygrad has pointed out, sometimes just a little walk around the block or campus can help immensely. Maybe a 50 minute study/10 minute walk formula will help relieve the stress and do some mental perking-up without cutting into the study time, tuilelaith?

From the many threads about General GRE scores that I've read in the last year, a low math score will NOT raise flags within an English Department adcomm looking over your details. Also, with the verbal scores being relatively higher, as they tend to be in these cases, I think that offsets the lower score when (and if) the application has to go through a sorting process that is not specific to the department. Study for the math, obviously, but don't let it spook you. The people looking over your application have many other elements that they are looking at before your math score ever becomes a consideration in the sorting process.

I took a year off in between my BA and starting my PhD program (this week!), and I had no problems getting recommendations. So, if I understand you correctly, you are in your senior year right now and will be going through the application process NEXT fall(2011) for admission in the 2012-2013 year? Bravo for starting this process early, and while those dates may seem far off, they will approach rapidly and you (and the other people involved) will be grateful for your forethought. Here's my recommendation (heh): Go into this year with plans to rock the house, and feel free to mention to some of your preferred people that you would like to discuss graduate school applications. You don't have to bring up the letters of recommendation (LOR) quite yet, but you might as well lay some groundwork and get some good advice out of the process. They won't be writing any letters for you yet, obviously, but the difference between the May that you'll be graduating and the Sept/Oct/Nov that they'll be writing those LORs is not all that far apart-- the chances of them forgetting you are generally small, especially if you have developed an out-of-class mentor/mentee relationship with them. You don't have to visit their office hours or email them weekly during the year, but a few chats here and there will probably help establish or strengthen the connection. Ask about what schools they think are strong for your field, what professors or subjects they find most interesting, who they studied with, where they applied, any advice they can offer you, any extracurricular reading they would suggest for the summer before you apply etc. Anything to get them talking (or writing, in the case of email). Around spring term, probably a week or two before finals or the week AFTER finals, shoot them an email or drop by their office and say "Hey, you know what, I really appreciate the advice you've given me this year, and I was wondering if you would have time this fall to write me a letter of recommendation? I feel like you have a good idea of what kind of student I am, and where I want to go in life, so I think a letter from you would be a really strong addition to my application packet." If this seems too early, you can always wait until the week before school starts in Fall of 2011, but make sure you do NOT wait too long. The higher you up on their list of letters-to-write and things-to-do, the better. If you ask them in the Spring, the Fall is the time to ask them again (to be polite) and provide information for the packet. The packet you give to your recommender is key. Even if the professor doesn't have an encyclopedic memory of all the brilliant things you ever said in class, you are providing the most pertinent information in the packet: Your name, a rough draft of your Statement of Purpose, perhaps a list of classes you took from them, a sample essay from their class (ask if they would like this in the packet), a transcript if they need to see it, a list of all the schools and programs you are applying to plus the application deadlines, any forms or prompts required to accompany the LOR, and anything else that would make their job of writing this letter as easy as possible. Maybe the recommending and advising process differs from school to school, but MANY people take time off between undergraduate and graduate degrees. In fact, at the program I'm starting right now, I'd say that maybe only one or two people are coming straight out of a BA, most people took time off before applying-- sometimes 10 or 12 years! If you do take some time off, preparing elements of this packet early will really make the process less hectic when you do settle down to start your applications. The same goes for developing that open line of communication with your potential letter-writers. Hope some of this helps!