Branwen daughter of Llyr

Congrats!! I just saw that Yale started sending out acceptances - that's 3 of mine with no word. *sigh*.

I'll google that article as soon as possible. (I SHOULD be translating now, the damn thing is due at noon tomorrow... well, today, actually).

All anyone would see on my facebook profile is that I'm addicted to Farmville, and am a member in the following discussion groups: Shakespeare, The King's Ravens (Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell), Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising group, Friends of Prydain, the Neal Stephenson Fan group, the Niel Gaiman fan group, Tom Robbins Fans, Discworld Fanatics (Terry Pratchett), and that I love Monty Python - in short, they would realize I'm a bookworm and the perfect candidate for an English PhD, concerned about the environment and ecology (Ban clubbing baby seals group, greenpeace group, etc. Also, they'd see loads of stuff in Hebrew, which they won't understand anyhow hahahahah

I should say the same for YOU!! (maybe we were separated at birth?) I'm such a nerd that I'm even psyched about cramming for the GRE lit in April. *sigh*. oh, btw... just got my AWA score - 5.0. Stupid stupid GRE scorers. I wrote KICK ASS essays. one was about clothing, and I compared how the Royalists and Puritans dressed post-restoration as an example of how clothes can signify attitudes and interests, as well as political and social standing. I mean... REALLY!! (but 5.0 is GOOD ENOUGH. I'm NOT taking that DAMN test again )

Sorry, I just got a giggle attack from reading that. I guess I just LOVE writing about my research ideas. It helps me focus them. I'm also a nerd who would rather talk about this than anything else (I should remember NOT to bore my new colleagues to tears when I start working there in March...) I get all excited and flushed and happy when talking about grad school. god knows why I waited for so long before deciding to take the plunge...

Good luck with the book, btw I discovered Lloyd Alexander when I was about 9 or 10 - The Prydain Chronicles is spectacular (I wrote about it in my honors thesis). If you guys are interested in anything Welsh in children's lit, read Susan Cooper (The Dark is Rising sequence) - very very Arthurian Celtic. I think that the Arthurian appeal is due to the multitude of elements in the story itself - the quest, the hero, the magic, the hope / politics, the messianic idea (the once and future king, for example), and the basic "light vs. dark" theme that runs through it every single generation. Religious quest was tacked on with the holy grail and the "conquest" of Rome stories, the romantic love aspect added on in the 12th-13th centuries - you can find just about anything in the Arthurian cycle. Perhaps that's why it has such a hold on us, and why there's a new version nearly every year, allowing us scholars to delve deep and in diverse directions.

Adding my hugs to everyone else's - so sorry you've been having a tough month. But I will second Pamphilia and Minnares: having a BA in English/French is NOT useless. First - you can land translating gigs (English-French or vice versa). You can teach ESL just about anywhere in the world (China and Japan are always looking for English teachers). You can get an awesome executive assistant position (I did even before I graduated). A firm I worked for in NYC had a policy of hiring humanities graduates for their Analyst positions because "You can teach the business part on the job, but you can't teach how to THINK on the job" (in their words). Every single analyst assistant was a humanities major - some English, some History, some French. NONE came out of business school. All of them were on the track to becoming analysts (this was a hedge fund). Another option is looking for teaching positions in private / charter schools. Many of them are so hungry for good people that they waive the teaching credentials / MAT requirement. Since you also know French, you can teach both. I've been looking into doing just that (but now landed a job here, so am just waiting for next year's application round). If you have really good writing, and a good grasp of technology, you can try to break into the Technical Writing field (that's what I do). It's really good money, and if you like that sort of thing, it's also very rewarding. In short, there is a great deal you can do. Be optimistic, do the best you can do, and try again next year. Apply for ANYTHING that you think you may be qualified for. You may be surprised how far good writing skills can get you (especially in two languages...) Massive hugs!

I wonder if anyone's done research on Python's Holy Grail as a benchmark of popular culture in Arthuriana... I lectured in the Fantasycom conference here a few years ago about the evolution of the Arthurian story from it's Celtic origins to the present, and included Holy Grail (with some excellent Python pictures) right at the end. God, I love John Cleese ("You don't frighten us, English pig-dogs! Go and boil your bottoms, sons of a silly person. I blow my nose at you, so-called Arthur-king, you and all your silly English kaniggets. Thppppt!" *snort*).

Also very interested in Arthuriana - but mostly from the Celtic angle. I'm fascinated by the human need for fantasy, and the "fabulist" tendencies in Middle English lit - up to the present. So the Arthurian cycle is mostly a backdrop for me, the basis, for extensive scholarship connecting medieval lit (of the "fantasy" kind - romances, epic poems, dragons, fairies, etc.) to it's modern counterpart in children's literature and the fantasy genre. I'm fascinated by The Mabinogi, Welsh / Celtic magic and it's role in literature (and what it says psychologically about the Celtic mind / persona), folklore in general, the bardic tradition, and quite a lot more. I think there is so much room in the Arthur story and scholarship (since it has touched SO many genres, periods, and lives) to find a unique niche that most of us will definitely come up with new angles. At least, that's my hope. Re the languages question: I'm planning on Latin and French as basics (and slowly puzzle out Middle-French for the 12th century romances), but I can also already read Middle English fairly well (though I should take a refresher), and I'm looking forward to learning Welsh so I can read the stories in the original language (yes, even the Arthurian ones). Knowing myself, I'll most likely take a course in Old English as well, since I'm a nerd. I'd also love to learn Italian, for Dante and the comedia de l'arte, specifically, but I doubt I'll manage to do that during my PhD. Oh well... many years of study and research post-doc, right? I'm also fluent in Hebrew, but I doubt that will help me much, unless I do any sort of work with medieval Spanish-Jewish poetry (which I doubt).

I'm obviously taking the kick-ass dissertation and huge volume of academic publications that I'll have to write during my studies as a given (and SO looking forward to writing them...). It's just that I've heard that if you can teach at two departments, or in various subfields (i.e. teach creative writing AS WELL as literature), you're a more "attractive" candidate. I suppose it depends on the school. And academic teaching experience - well, i'm hoping to have a plethora of that during grad school. I'm aiming for programs that don't just shove you in the comp teaching sections, but actually allow you to develop and teach courses in your own field. I'd LOVE to teach a popular fantasy class, or track the Arthurian legend from the middle ages to now (including spoofs such as The Holy Grail) - examining the fantasy elements in this particular story that keep catching our fancy generation after generation (think Prince Valiant comics, not just Mallory) (oh god I'm such a nerd). But then, I'd probably enjoy teaching a regular intro to English lit section, as well. Get them while they're young and impressionable!!

I'm not that flexible . I don't want to be placed outside of academia!! I want tenure track!! *sob* *sniffle* Most of the schools on my long list for next year have decent placement, as I've stated before, and I'm not too horribly worried about it. It would just be nice, as far as my "internal" ranking goes. Obviously the four I've applied to this year have excellent placement prospects, but then, I doubt I'll get in this year. Next year I'm broadening the net by quite a bit, so the placement issue will come into play somewhat. On the other hand, I'm fairly confident that the top-50 have fairly decent placement, and that I'll be a competitive job-seeker overall in academia (especially if I ever get my novel published ). I'm sure that experience teaching ESL, being a technical & marketing writer, and having a load of other skills helps. Especially today, the more you can teach, the better off you are, right?

Some answers (and not expert ones, just from what I've gathered): I doubt English has the largest application pool. One of the most competitive, perhaps (budget cuts have seriously compromised cohort size in universities over the past few years). Criteria - depends on school, but from what I understand (and in no way am I an expert, just quoting what other ppl say here): SoP and LORs, fit for the program, Writing sample, numbers & stats (different emphasis for each school obviously, some only have a cut off point for the scores, some take the scores into account). Can't speak for anyone else - I have pretty specific research objectives, and most of the ppl I know here are also fairly focused on their concentration. On the other hand, there are many PhD applicants who aren't really sure exactly what they want to research - they may have a vague idea, but are planning to narrow it down during their first year of grad school. English PhD candidates do all sorts of research in... English Language and Literature!! (including American, postcolonial, Anglophone, popular culture, theory, and so on). There are many many many subfields to choose from, and many programs to work with in an interdisciplinary way - many English medievalists work quite a lot with the medieval studies department at their school. So this is a VERY wide, encompassing question

I'm not saying that they'll outright lie or anything like that, obviously. But "we successfully place 80% of our graduates" is a very general thing to say, and can incorporate placements at community colleges, high schools, outside academia, and not necessarily tenure track. Some schools list a sampling of universities their graduates were placed in, and some actually give tables with exact data, but some don't. Although I'm not too terribly stressed about placement after the PhD - most of the schools i'm interested in do have decent placement overall, and I'm confident I'll be a successful job-seeker (since I have an expansive skill-set aside from English lit - I can teach other stuff, like tech writing etc.,) - I AM 38, and I don't want to wait around for too long after my dissertation without a job, especially with the current trend in Humanities hires.

Oh boy - have we touched a nerve?? For the next round I'm probably applying to appx 10 schools (give or take a few) - but all will have strong medieval departments and at least ONE prof that can work with me on contemporary fantasy / children's lit. I doubt I'll end up with only one advisor, I'll probably need a couple, or even three, since I want to incorporate Narrative theory, "fabulist" psych theory, and incorporate two time periods. Since the app round this year was so hurried for me, I didn't really have time to research schools and funding, I wasn't totally focused on my field (as I'm becoming now, a lot due to gradcafe, btw), and of course I would go to ANY program that accepted me this year (you don't turn down Yale, Cornell, or UVA), but it looks like there are better fits for me out there (barring Cornell, which is perfect). UNC as a safety school?? I don't know who's applying to UNC as a safety school - it's so hard to get in, especially if you're out of state. I will agree with others writing before me that it's a bit of a generalization to say that anyone that applied to 8+ schools is just fishing. I know there are some, but everyone I've talked to here, even when applying to quite a few schools, chose the schools for fit - of course some were a better fit than others, but in this economy, you have to be just a tad flexible. Let's put it this way - if by some miracle Yale / Brown decides they want me this year, you think I'm going to bitch about the small medieval concentration? Nope. I'll move my focus to "fairies in the Renaissance" concentrate a bit more on early modern vs. contemporary fantasy / children's lit, and work with what I have (and hope that I get to work with Harold Bloom). I suppose all we can do is trust the adcoms to see through the "i don't know what i want to do yet" applications, and reject ppl that aren't a good fit. From what I've seen on the boards, it actually happens quite often - a lot of the ppl write in their comments "oh well, it wasn't a very good fit". And yes, UNC is most definitely on my long list of next year, as are several other programs.

I've come across the site several times while searching for schools, but I have NO idea how they get their information. Would actually be good to know - once i get all the programs I'm interested in narrowed down (for next year, that is), it would be a great place to compare bare stats (% of students completing dissertation, placement, etc.) and weed out any programs that don't have good ones. I'll repeat the question - anyone know where they get their info?? Because of course, University pages brag about their placement, so they just might not be utterly accurate/honest about that...

I am indeed a medievalist (and not the only one wandering around gradcafe) - but a bit of an odd bird in the field (I'm super interested in the human need for fantasy in literature - starting in the Middle Ages, when most of these legends were first written down in some form or another - dragons, magic swords, fairies, heroic, god-like protagonists, etc. - specifically the Celtic stuff, and then crossing it with popular modern fantasy / children's lit). And I LOVE the dragonrider's of Pern series!! McCaffrey's been a favorite of mine since I was 10. My main problem currently is languages - being fluent in Hebrew and having some basic French does nothing for medieval lit - but I'm sure I can overcome it (Latin class here I come...). Also very interested in learning Welsh, but I may have to go to the UK for that... So welcome, medievalist!! As for myself, I'm keeping massively busy by checking one of my student's application essays to college, translating a 9,600 word user manual, and applying for various additional jobs so I can save money (This is all when not chain smoking and watching Monty Python or reading novels like other ppl eat popcorn).

I'll second that!! I'm sure my next round of applications will fare much much better. just talking to ppl here has focused my research interests (which will reflect on new SOP), focused the "fit" issue - i.e. finding profs that share my interests, which in turn broadened the amount of schools i'm looking at, and helped me get much better prepared in general for the whole application process (of course, even applying this year did that). I'm also not a particularly competitive person (a drawback?) except with myself. One semester in undergrad i didn't make dean's list (stupid intro to psych class) and I was extremely upset with myself . Also, my slight obsession with high GRE scores is really about my own standards of what I can do - has nothing to do with anyone else .

All of mine still say "submitted".

@greekdaph - thank you thank you thank you!! I will definitely keep that list in mind (and should probably print it out, as well), since i know i'm a doofus about asking the right questions. i always forget, being so overwhelmed by... well... everything Since i'm living abroad at the moment (and not even really expecting to get in anywhere this year), i'm thinking about taking a 2-3 week trip to the US in september / october and check out some schools BEFORE applying again. I'm thinking that I should take that list with me and start personally ranking programs even before I send out applications... (also to talk to as many profs as possible that i like while there... see where i would have the best fit, while still sending out apps to about 10-15 schools...) many, many thanks!!

happy for the person who got in (especially if it's a forum friend), sad for me, and just a bit (well, a bit more than a bit...) jealous. I'm already prepared to apply again next year, so i guess i went through the processing stage of "I didn't get into grad school" before I actually even got one rejection (I haven't, officially). But it's not that person's fault I didn't get in, and I'm glad for them, especially if it's someone i've been talking to here and know how much they WANTED to get in. I just kinda wish I could join them .

Considering how badly I feel if i turn someone down for a DATE (let alone breaking up with someone after a while of dating / relationship), I can totally emphasize with the people having to tell approximately 300-700 individuals that they didn't make it into the graduate program. If there is one thing I'm NOT looking forward to in my academic career, it's exactly that - being the person in charge of notifying ppl they didn't get in. *sigh*. I'm way too soft-hearted. But I do agree that an email to the slush pile would be a nice thing - I'd like to get my rejections earlier please!!

Friends in the field... yes !! That's what this site has become to me. Somewhere to share anxieties and experiences, not to mention dreams and interests. After all, I live in a country where my field is basically non-existent, none of my friends care about English lit, and none of them even read as much as I do (even in Hebrew). So the minute I discovered this place, I was like... wahoo!!! When I first joined, and saw all those magnificent states (3.8 and above GPA, 800V GRE), I nearly choked. My dad is on the adcom and is a tenured prof at brown (though not at English, not even in the humanities), and he's very number oriented, (which is why I did the general GRE again), and as I read things on this forum, I slowly realized that numbers had very little to do with acceptance to the ENGLISH PhD (stressing English, since I don't know what it's about it other fields). With us, my age might be an advantage rather than a deterrent, my GPA is from 9 years ago (pre GPA inflation), and the better scores I have in the GRE now show that I have the ability to sit down and study (the subject is important to me, specifically, since it's been so long since I've been in school and in the field). So yeah, with all the information we keep getting that the dry, hard, stats aren't as important for English, I keep wondering why ppl ask for them. I suppose insecurity. God knows I have my share of that as well. I also learned what to stress on my next SOP (for next year, that is), and am hoping that friends made here can help - reviewing the SOP and writing sample, emotional support (doing this again next year will be harrowing, I'm sure).

Professor, Novelist, and whatever else I can do. I love research, teaching, and writing. I doubt I'd be going for the PhD otherwise! (although I have heard of some English PhDs working in the publishing industry)

It's all a matter of taking things in proportion. For me, personally, this site is a place where I've found more like-minded people to talk to than I have in the past eight years. None of my friends are planning on doing a PhD, not here, and not in the States, and none of my friends are "cuckoo" for English lit as I am. So when I discovered this forum, it was like a breath of fresh air. Finally, some people to talk to Maybe I'm lucky in a way, because I'm currently dealing with a LOT of other stuff except the applications, so i'm not sitting around all day long and daydreaming or thinking about it. I'm also pretty sure I won't get in this year, and I'm already mentally prepared for applying again next year. So yeah, I can definitely see your point about being neurotic about things, but you don't necessarily have to take that part in. Maybe even go the other way. Whenever anyone gets too neurotic, I try to help, rather than be infected by it. Add to the fact that I've learned more about the application process and what to put emphasis on for next year from this site than I have anywhere else. I have a better idea on how to write my SOP, and also hopefully I've found some sources that can help me re-vamp my writing sample (or at least proofread what I've written). Just the fact that I've found other "older" applicants in my field has made my day - for me, I just don't feel as alone. Since I'm applying from a different country and have no one around me here that truly understands how difficult it is to get into a PhD program, this place has been a godsend. Of course once and I while I freak out a bit. It's difficult not hearing anything from the schools you've applied to, especially when two of them made 1 offer each on the Results page, and even when I'm sure I won't get in anyway. But, from what I understand, that's part of the process, for good or for bad!