sarahchristine

Marilisa Jimenez Garcia at Lehigh works with Latinx children's/young adult literature, though not queer studies (but there's also a professor - Mary Foltz - who does queer studies).

I'm also applying for Romanticism + graduated with my MA this year. My interests are prose fiction and women writers, two understudied aspects of Romanticism, so I'm in a similar situation of struggling with the question of fit for my PhD applications. For my MA, I applied to schools with faculty who worked in Romanticism broadly + faculty who worked on religion and literature, which worked out because my search was limited by needing funding + wanting to stay on the East Coast. Fit (imo) is much less important at the MA level, especially since an MA thesis is a much smaller commitment than a doctoral disseration. From my own experience, the MA is a time to be broadly exposed to various fields, develop your reading and writing skills, and refine your research interests - rather than have the opportunity to intensely focus on your personal interest. A number of my classmates came in with one interest in one field and left with a different one. I think finding professors who work in your general areas and not get too caught up in making sure interests align exactly. You might look for professors who work with literature and philosophy in 18/19c, for example, even if they might not consider themselves Romanticists. You might also look for general Romanticists, even if they don't focus on philosophy or P Shelley. Also! Ask your professors (especially the professor advising your thesis, if they're a Romanticist) if they have recommendations on programs that might align with your research interests - they probably have a good idea of who works on what, where. I don't know if this is helpful, and this advice is tailored for applying to the MA vs. PhD + in the US (I have no insight into the UK, sorry). I would, however, absolutely recommend doing an MA before the PhD - I grew so much as a scholar during my MA. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you want to commiserate about applying as a Romanticist / ask about my experiences in my MA / whatever.

I ended up a bit further from campus than you're hoping for, but it's not a bad place. A lot of people post on the Lehigh Connect message board with open rooms, so you may be able to find a roommate there,. I've heard good things about Waters Edge, but I haven't heard anything about the other complexes you mention.

I can't speak to whether these programs have faculty in modern and contemporary literature, but I know the following programs offer funding to MA students: North Carolina State, Wake Forest, Alabama, Lehigh, Purdue, U of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign, U of Cincinnati, Tennessee - Knoxville, Penn State, Villanova.

Officially committed to Lehigh's English MA program! I'm so glad this whole process is over. Congratulations to everyone else who has decided, and good luck to those still hoping for waitlist movement tomorrow!

If anyone going to Lehigh in the fall is looking for a (female) roommate, feel free to message me!

Was just admitted off the waiting list at Lehigh, with full funding! I'm ecstatic right now!

Got an email from the DGS at Purdue this morning asking if I was still interested because they "may be able to make an additional offer soon." I don't know if this means I'm first-in-line for this offer (I'm assuming/hoping this is the case) or if they're just scoping out the remaining pool of applicants, but it seems like progress either way! I also don't know if "soon" means the next few days or just sometime before the 15th. Either way, fingers crossed this works out, because I never thought I'd be admitted to Purdue & would be thrilled to attend there.

Also an MA application, also waiting on waitlists. Let's be miserable together, lol.

I owe an answer to Wake Forest by April 15th, and it's looking like I'm going to be waiting until the 15th to respond to them. I want to wait for a definitive answer from the program I am waitlisted at (as well as Purdue, where I am trapped in the purgatory of their unofficial waitlist), who told me that they may not have that answer for me until the 15th.

I jut reached out to the program where I am waitlisted to ask if there has been any movement. There unfortunately has not been, but the DGS asked in her reply if I am considering any other programs. How exactly do I respond to this? I think I would commit to this program if admitted, but I do have a program that I will attend if not.

I don't have an answer - just popping in to say that I'm curious about Wake Forest's placement statistics as well. As my situation currently stands, it looks like I'm likely going to be committing to their program.

Just got accepted to North Carolina State, which is exciting, but without funding, which is a bummer.

I'm one of the waitlists. I got an email this morning. Hopefully no news today = an acceptance later this week? Best wishes!

Waitlisted at Lehigh. Is is appropriate to respond to the email notification with something like, "hey, thanks, I'm still very interested in your program"? Or to somehow inquire about how likely it is that I move off the waitlist and when I'll know by?

Congrats! I was also accepted to Wake Forest today.

Thank you @bumbleblu @M(allthevowels)H @Warelin @Melville and @Zooks!

I bit the bullet & checked.. I got in! Word regarding funding is supposed to come in a few days, & hopefully that will also be good news. Wake Forest is admittedly at the bottom of my list, but it's so nice to have an acceptance under my belt.

I just got an email to check my portal to see my admission decision for Wake Forest... who usually notify the 1st week of March. I've been yelling all week about how I need to get a decision already because I'm dying from the suspense, but now that I have one... I can't look at it. But I won't be able to think about anything else until I do, but I also have stuff to do before I'm emotionally devastated at my first response being a rejection. The email is so clinical, too. I can't tell if that's a bad sign - i.e. a rejection - or just a way for us not to be able to tell from the email alone. Will update when I finally look at it... Yikes.

Congrats!!! Makes me nervous that I still haven't heard from them, lol. If you don't mind me asking, when did you submit your application? I submitted mine fairly late so i'm hoping that's why.

Did you learn to skim just from lots of practice, or do you have any tips for effective skimming? It's a skill I don't currently possess but definitely need to if this application season works out in my favor.

I’m in the same boat! My nerves are a wreck. I also applied to NC State & haven’t heard back, but looking at the results from previous years, it looks like they stagger their acceptances over a few weeks, so I wouldn’t worry too much about them yet.

Congrats!! I applied to State’s literature MA & haven’t heard back yet. I’m from near Raleigh, and it’s an awesome area. The COL here is fairly low, so you might be able to make the stipend work if you’re living with your partner.

I was about to ask this, as well! I applied to Purdue’s MA program & didn’t receive an invitation.

Same thing happened to me! At first I was only look at my in-state, public universities, but even then I didn't know how in the world I was supposed to afford attending. Then I found out there are funded programs. Again, I was in the same situation. I knew I wanted to go to graduate school, but I had no idea how to really even find programs. One of my professors is a godsend and helped me through the whole process.