minnares

I'd go with shortening. It's easier to cut than add. You'd probably want to reverse outline it though and make sure you were still retaining your argument. I cut one of mine from 44 pages to 23 with help from several folks. Ultimately, you'd want to pick the one you were most confident of or perhaps most proud of. Which one do you feel best exemplifies the level of work you are capable of doing? Best foot forward type of thing... ~ m

Did anyone else write a sample on their own like this? Or did you guys just expand and re-vamp something from school (UG or grad)? I'd really like some advice on this...

The fact that some have used the term Podunk U speaks to and demonstrates that privilege and snobbery. I went to a Pac-10 school, but it was still a state university in the Pacific Northwest. I also find the notion that a "pedigreed" university will more rigorously train a student and on the quality of the instructors, which does not necessarily have anything to do with a professor's publications and writing ability. I think that rigor falls on the student. Even in such institutions, there are those who have the Cs get degrees mentality. It's up to the student to seek out TAships, RAships, fellowships, and extracurriculars. It's up to the student to get the grades and the GRE scores. However, you are absolutely correct in your assessment that there is an unspoken gap between those who can and those who are allowed. Further, there is an element to this that I haven't seen brought up yet, that being the gap between teaching ability and ability in the subject area. I wonder how many on these boards took and actively sought out pedagogical training for their subject area prior to applying. One of my minors was in pedagogy for this precise reason. Just because someone is an excellent writer and researcher, it doesn't mean they will have any skill to transmit that knowledge in a classroom setting. So you might get well known scholars teaching at these "pedigreed" schools, but that tells me nothing about their ability as instructors. The two are separate skill sets, which is why we've all run into professors we know are brilliant but we also know are horrendous instructors (or have no business teaching whatsoever). Just my two cents, for what it's worth. I appreciate that you're brave enough to bring up and debate this subject TC3. I am largely in agreement with you and wondered if someone would broach the subject on the boards. It'd be interesting to see a demographic study on these boards, wouldn't it? ~ m

7:19 a.m. this morning from Johns Hopkins, which would be 10:19 their time. It looks like I was about in the middle of the batch and my last name is about midway through the alphabet. So maybe they started at 10. In any case, a rejection is a rejection is a rejection. Think I'll be doing some major self soothing this weekend. Chocolate ice cream anyone?

First round of rejects went out yesterday, apparently. So anyone who didn't get the ax must have made it to the second round. I'm just relieved to finally have heard from somewhere, anywhere at all. My kids are overjoyed they don't have to move to Baltimore . ~ m

First, melusine, I'm so sorry that you've had a rough go of the application process. I haven't heard anything yet and am fearing the same. But... I totally agree with Pamphilia. A colleague (who is also trying to get into an English PhD program) and I work at the same law firm. I've worked in law firms for 15 years. Lawyers LOVE having assistants, paralegals, litigation assistants, and clerks who know all the tricks for word processing programs, can spell well, have excellent punctuation and grammar, and are bright enough to understand the legal side of things too. Also, law firms can be a very lucrative and comfortable place to work. I love all three of the attorneys I work with. They're great guys and I feel valued every day. I'm not just a glorified typist. In most cities, there are placement companies that the larger firms work through. You could find one, get your resume spruced up and throw your hat in the ring for a number of jobs. Plus, the legal field is pretty job secure. Even with the bad economy, people will always sue each other. Yes, that's very Macchiavellian, but true. Might as well take advantage while you give grad school apps another try next year. You might be surprised at how much you could make. For almost a decade, my husband was able to be the stay-at-home dad, and I was the sole provider for the family. So... All is not lost. You can try again. And you have many, many options. Best wishes to you, ~ m

@SOM: Thank you for bringing up critical theory as a subfield. So far I've seen many Victorians on the boards, but it seems like very few folks going into theory or having that as their subfield. I identified theory as my subfield with all the schools, specifically gender and religion. While the gender might be a bit more common, religious theory is just emerging in many departments. The professors I've spoken with at various schools find this combination really interesting. I'm hoping the fact that my bent goes this route will be in my favor, but who knows . It's just where my interests lie. I found that no matter what time period or culture I was reading from, my readings were New Historicist and went to the gender and the belief systems. So I figured I should just stick with what I am good at and enjoy. We'll see if it's interesting to any of the programs I've applied to. ~ m

Oh, thank you for pointing that out. I hadn't seen that. That makes me calmer, somewhat. Somehow I just know the next six weeks are going to be rollercoaster. Good times. ~ m

Eeeek! Who got accepted? Who? Whooooo are you? Who, who, who, who? I really wanna know Now, I am feeling abject terror. The Chapel Hill acceptances are rolling in and now this. Gah. Terror. ~ m

Agreed. It seems to be about one a week. Maybe they're just really taking their time to read everything and then select a person and notify them. Who knows how the adcomms work behind closed doors? I imagined they would select their group and notify them all at once, but maybe not. Maybe they do it this way so they can move up wait list folks? ~ m

Aaaah, that is a horse of a different color. Very interesting. I don't think it was a bad idea to include your other schools. Most of the schools I applied to asked that somewhere on the application. I figured if they asked I would answer. Maybe it plays into the funding they offer. I read on another board this very interesting post about public v. private schools in terms of funding. Chapel Hill is public, and so they might to try to woo a stronger candidate with a larger package. While a private school, especially in the Top 20, might not feel the need to woo with cash and make a smaller offer, yet still an offer. So maybe they asked based on the list you provided? Seems early in the game to be asking that though. Odd. Now I'm inclined to email the department and ask if those emails went out to everyone. I've double checked and triple checked my spam filter, but nothing. I have their confirmation email from back in November about my app and others from when the LORs were submitted. So I think it's OK. That is a very odd question to ask though. You applied there. Why on earth wouldn't you be "still seriously considering UNC"? ~ m

I know! I was actually excited that Cornell asked for a critical and creative writing sample for that program. It felt like an opportunity to give a fuller picture of my abilities. I'm just now working on getting some articles published (which is terrifying I might add), but I've been fortunate with poetry publications for a decade even prior to my UG. So that I knew I could do pretty well Still, it's upstate New York, and ultimately for my family, this will all come down to financial package/job for my DH/selling the house. Not asking for much, I know . Veering back onto the JHU topic... (Branwen feel free to PM, if you'd like to talk more about this or books). ~ m

Yes, I did. I don't have an MA or MFA yet. So all of the programs I applied to were either MA/PhD or MFA/Phd. Actually, Cornell is the only MFA/Phd I applied to. The rest are MA first. My research essay writing is really my strong suit and what I'm excited about for grad school. I've been writing poetry all my life, so I can always do that on my own time ~ m

The diaspora! Love it . ~ m

I LOVED The Thirteenth Tale! Blew through it in a day, could not put it down. Just a pure pleasure read, right? I'm going to add Edgar Sawtelle to my Goodreads now. This is about the tenth time someone's recommended it. ~ m

That's part of my reason (and wow, you have a good memory). Bloomington does publish the Indiana Review, which is really well regarded in poetry circles. Dr. Gubar actually brought it up to me when I met with her, which I appreciated since it meant she actually looked at my CV. That aside, it's more about the faculty I've met there, the fact that they'd let me work in an interdisciplinary nature with the religious studies folks, and that we have in the family area. My CW is really for pleasure and art, rather than a focus academically. That said, I would love to be able to work it into my teaching at some point and to continue participating with CW activities since it's a pure joy activity for me. Thanks for all this terrific input on Hopkins. That's good to know about the workshops issue and the underlying tension between the departments. I applied to Hopkins because of some of the excellent staff, the classes looked really interesting, and they publish ELH. There are at least two professors there that I could totally envision working with. Lastly, the poetry magazine I intern with is in Baltimore. And zo... I applied. Trying to position myself in areas where I might have friends or families who could help us make the transition/move, as well as considering all the other balls we all seem to be juggling in terms of these choices. Of course, that all might be moot in a few weeks if they reject me as a candidate. ~ m