solomonski

Sorry to double-post, but maybe one helpful thing I just now imposed on myself was to check out the faculty pages for professors with whom I have a good relationship at my current undergraduate institution. I realized that apart from a mention of "British and American modernism" from one of them, we seem to have little in common, and despite that we get along famously. One with whom I seem to have no overlap at all is supervising my senior research thesis. So maybe this is a sign that there is hope? It's just worrisome because I'm confused about the extent to which I need to be explicitly aligned with a given professor when the time comes to submit applications to programs.

Hi guys, Thanks so much for your helpful comments on the last post I made, about looking into programs generally. As I've gotten a bit more in depth into the process, however, I'm noticing something that is stressing me out. Namely, I'm having a hard time finding faculty members who seem to be interested in the same things I'm interested in. (For reference, mostly I'm into 20th-century British and American literature, modernism, huge into theory, especially Marxist/power-oriented political theory; also into film and pop culture, occult literature (don't know anyone doing anything with this). I dig doing comparative work in English/Japanese but I'm not ready fluency-wise for a Comp Lit program.) For instance, I'll read about a program, the program seems great. Then I go to the faculty page and look for people interested in "theory," only to find that their CV only seems to list, say, articles on feminist theory rather than Marxist or new historicist or whatever. (Disclaimer: Please note I'm by no means disparaging feminist theory; I think it's fantastic and necessary, I just don't think I can personally contribute much to it.) Another example: When I say something like, "I'm interested in '20th-century British and American literature'," what I mean by that is that I'm interested in Joyce, Eliot, Faulkner, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Mina Loy, those folks. When I see a professor list "20th-century British and American literature" as an interest and then check out their CV, they seem to be primarily interested in Henry James, with no mention anywhere of the above guys. This is um, freaking me out pretty badly. The only people I can find who seem to have REAL overlap with what I'm into are like, various emereti who aren't even teaching anymore. Am I overthinking this? To what extent do I need to have "overlap" with a professor in order to identify them as a potential candidate to work with? Is it enough that someone just says "modernism"? Am I asking for too much to think I'm going to run across a professor doing *exactly* what I'm interested in and nothing else besides? I'm seriously starting to think maybe I should try to become a priest or something, that I was born either 30 or 400 years too late. Help?

Thanks for the replies so far. I really appreciate it. Has anyone had trouble with funding in the UC system? It seems as if their program websites say something to the effect of "funding is generally available" rather than an outright guarantee. How does it work out in practice? BTW, Berkeley seems rather demanding about the Subject test on their grad admissions page, so if it's really somewhere I need to be looking at, I guess I should be looking at standby testing... next Saturday.... Thanks for the comments on specializing for the sake of admissions. It makes it much easier for me to think of it in terms of "I need to show the adcomm that I'm aware of what is going on in existing scholarship and how I want to enter into that in this fairly specific way" than "I'm committing to this area of research for the rest of my life."

Hi all, I'm going to be submitting grad school applications this December/January for programs in English, Literature, Critical/Cultural Theory, &c. I'd love it if the experienced people here could help me with the process of narrowing down the list of programs that are suited to my interests. I'm currently a student at UT Austin, double-majoring in English and Philosophy. My "stats," such as they are, are pretty decent: 4.0 GPA so far, two publications in undergrad journals (one prize-winning), bunch of scholarships, a research fellowship for my undergrad thesis, co-presidency of a Continental Phil association, all that stuff. Taking the GRE general early Nov, but (embarrassingly) missed the window on the subject test. I've got several profs who love me, so LORs are pretty well sewn up. I only mention all this in case it influences anyone's recommendations. In any case, it's hard for me to define my interests in a super-narrow way, but I know that I love theory and criticism, so a theory-heavy or at least theory-friendly department would be nice. I'd also really like the opportunity to do interdisciplinary stuff, especially in literature and film. In terms of specific periods/media, I'm into Modernist fiction, 19th century Russian literature (although I know no Russian), 20th century and contemporary Japanese literature and film (I'm by no means fluent in Japanese but I do have 18 hours in it), science fiction, television and pop culture, etc. I'm jealous of people who can express their research interests in a single sentence, and I sometimes worry that not being able to do that is going to hamstring me on these applications. Any advice here? As for programs, I'm looking at the Literature program at Duke and Modern Culture and Media at Brown as my top two. Any insights into those? I'd also been looking at some of the UC options, specifically Santa Cruz and Irvine because they seem theory-friendly, but I'm worried about their funding options (no mention of "guaranteed five+ years" or anything like that on their websites). Cornell's programs seemed very nice, but unfortunately since I flubbed the registration for the subject GRE, I don't think I can apply there now. I've heard good things about Minnesota, but I'm not sure which of their programs would be the best fit. Also looking at Theory and Cultural Studies at Purdue and English at U Chicago (although I'm unsure how I'd cope with a major city environment). What say you all? A couple of other notes: - I'm a bit wary of Comp Lit programs because of the often stringently-worded language requirements; am I expected to have fluency in multiple languages going in (I only have decent reading comprehension of Japanese), or is this proficiency something I could gain via coursework while in a program? What's the typical expectation here? - Funding is a necessity. I have no means of support whatsoever other than whatever stipend/fellowship/TA-ship package a school might offer me. - I can probably afford to apply to 5-6 schools total. Sorry if this information is kind of scattershot; I'm just kind of desperate to make sure I've got as much information as possible before I start finalizing the list of where I'll be applying. I'll sincerely appreciate anyone who takes the time to offer whatever insights they might have. This process is pretty intimidating, to be honest.

Thepriorwalter: Unsolicited advice is a-okay with me, especially when it comes to this whole process. Is there some kind of convenient online repository where I can see SoPs, or do I need to just Google around collecting them piecemeal, or ask people in person, etc?

Wow, thanks for the additional information! To answer a few questions: - I've only read Russian lit in translation. However, I know Japanese reasonably well (not great at listening to it still, but can read it), and have a slew of university credits in it. I know that French and German are the "big" languages for English grad departments more often than not, but is it generally acceptable if your language is something further afield, like Japanese, and you wanted to do, say, comparative work in that language? - I'll finish undergrad next Spring (2016), so I was hoping to apply to places for Fall 2016; I've roughly 6 months then to clarify one or two sub-fields (or sub-sub-*-fields) I'm interested in. I'm definitely not excluding any straight-up "English" programs, as I get the impression that many of them are flexible and receptive to theory, as you say. (That's the problem at this point, honestly; I'm not ruling much of anything OUT, and the array of potential just seems overwhelmingly vast.)

I understand, thanks for the clarification from both of you. I definitely didn't mean to portray "the novel" in any kind of negative light, but I can definitely see how it comes across that way, so thanks for pointing it out. As for the SoP, I do know it has to be tailored to the program to which one is applying.

I wouldn't have ever phrased it exactly in that way, but would you mind clarifying for me exactly what would be wrong with doing so? Is there some resistance to the idea of applying theory to "low art" or something?

Thanks. I had been looking at the Lit program at Duke, but now I'll add the TCS at Purdue into the mix as well.

Hi everyone, I've been reading the posts here for some time now, and it seems like you're all a helpful and welcoming lot, so it occurred to me I should post some of my own questions here in hopes of getting advice. I'm a non-traditional student (30 years old) who will graduate with a double major in English and Philosophy from UT Austin. I'm hoping to go onto graduate school from here, with my sights eventually set on working in academia in some capacity. I'm very aware of how miserable the job market is, but this is my teleological suspension of the financially sensible; it's something I feel like I *must* do, even if reduced to rags and bones by it. In any case, my "problem" is that I have a lot of research interests, and I'm having a hard time paring them down to the point where I can hone in on potential graduate programs. As the double in Philosophy might let on, I'm definitely into theory, especially Frankfurt school, psychoanalysis, those types of approaches. Where I'm less concrete is my area/time period interests. I'm into 19th century Russian literature, early 20th century American/Modernist literature, Renaissance, pop culture (especially American and Japanese), film (especially Japanese, French, Italian), and so on. All over the map here, unfortunately. While literature is my first love, I was drawn to theory because it's so inclusive in the sense that you can apply theoretical frames to many different kinds of cultural products besides "the novel," such as film, games, graphic novels, etc., and produce interesting (to me), relevant (to me) research. I think that's why it's been difficult for me to pare down my interests into something more focused. At any rate, my question(s) for you all are: - do you have any recommendations, either for particular programs or "types" of programs, I should look at which might be accommodating to my sort of broad approach? I know I'm going to have to restrict things a bit at some point, but if I were in an English department somewhere that a.) took theory seriously, and b.) also was amenable to me working with film, or other types of art, I'd be thrilled. - is there anything I can be doing right now to make my applications to such programs at the end of this year more attractive? A few other random details which might (or might not) be of use to anyone who feels like they have recommendations for me: - as I said, I'm a non-traditional student, aged 30. Not sure if this matters or not, but putting it out there. - I am certain I do want to go on to graduate school; it's the whole reason I returned to do undergrad in the first place. - SO FAR (although two semesters remain), by some miracle, I have a 4.0 in undergrad - I've just sort of naturally developed strong relationships with several professors in my department, all of whom have said they "adore" me, so I can probably get some favorable recommendation letters when the time comes - unsure if this is relevant at all, but I'm doing the Honors program in UT's English department, and will consequently be writing a thesis during the 2015-2016 year. I've already started this process with a supervisor, and the plan is maybe to use a chapter from this as the writing sample for grad school apps. - just as I don't want to end up in an English department that disparages theory (if such a thing exists?), I also don't want to end up in a "theory" department which has me reading theory texts all day at the expense of literature. That's why I'm a bit confused over whether to apply to English, Comp Lit, or programs specifically branded as having to do with "Theory" in some way. If there's any other information that would help any of you to help me, please feel free to ask me. I appreciate you all taking the time to read this and offering me any assistance you can in figuring out what to aim for in this whole process.