Warelin

I would carefully double-check the information provided by the Grad School when applying to multiple programs at the same school. Princeton's page says the following: The applicant may submit one application per year only. This one application can be to one department, program, or combined program.

I think there are some questions that are important to ask here: 1. How much prior experience in Literature do you have? Some programs require you to have a certain amounts of credits in order to apply for a Doctorate's in Literature. 2. Who are you going to get to write your letters? Programs generally have a preference for these to be written by someone who have a PHD in the same or similiar field because they understand what it takes to obtain an advanced degree in the subject. (This isn't simply "Louis was a good student and attended class and earned an A on this paper." It goes way beyond that. Transferring after this semester might cause you to get weaker letters than you would have otherwise. Keep in mind that there are other people at your university that will also be asking those professors for a letter. And it'll probably be easier for that professor to write letters for students they've known longer. 3. Master programs accept very few (if nay) credits from another Master's program. Staying for the full year is a good idea to ensure stronger letters. Since this would be semester 3, it doesn't make much sense to me to apply to another Master's since you'd be finishing up the program the following semester. Is it cheaper to stick it out for the additional year or start from scratch and take an additional 2 years to complete a Master's? 4. Grad programs have been facing cuts at a lot of programs. Applications have stayed steady overall but the number of available spots have decreased. I don't think having credits at the Master's level will hurt you but I don't think it'll help you either. If a program sorts its students, you'll most likely wind up in the Master's pool due to your experience. Admission requirements are often higher here because those additional 2 years are there to help you know the field better and participate in some preprofessionalization. You'll be in a pool with students who might have conference experience, have gotten a chance to TA or RA for a professor, and have found other ways to be involved with departmental life. All these things help the professor write a stronger and more compelling letter for the student. How do you hope to combat this?

I think there are a few notes that need to be added here to better understand how "rankings" are determined. From USNews regarding Grad School rankings in the humanities: For the surveys conducted in fall 2016, Ipsos sent each school offering a doctoral program two surveys per discipline. Questionnaires were sent to department heads and directors of graduate studies in economics, English, history, political science, psychology, and sociology – or, alternatively, a senior faculty member who teaches graduate students – at schools that had granted a total of five or more doctorates in each discipline during the five-year period from 2011 through 2015, as indicated by the National Center for Education Statistics' Completions survey. These are the number of schools with doctoral programs surveyed in fall 2016: economics (138); English (155); history (151); political science (120); psychology (255); and sociology (118). And these were the response rates: economics (23 percent), English (14 percent), history (15 percent), political science (24 percent), psychology (14 percent) and sociology (33 percent)." What this essentially means is that 14 percent of DGS/Department heads decided the rank of 155 programs. This is problematic because a lot of DGS know very little of programs besides their closest peers. The DGS is often a rotating position at many schools which could also explain the low response rate. Department heads generally aren't paid to pay attention to graduate school so their knowledge may be even less. More detailed information about Grad rankings in the humanities could be found here. By contrast, School rankings at the undergrad level are done using a completely different methodology. For 2019, the following were considered for overall school rankings at the undergrad level: Outcomes (35 percent) Faculty Resources (20 percent) Expert Opinion (20 percent) 15 of the 20 points of this is based on assessments from Presidents, provosts, and deans of admissions. Their job generally involves keeping up to date of what other programs are doing. The remaining 5 points of this category are based on high-school counselor surveys. Their job generally involves helping students find great fits for them. Financial Resources (10 percent) Student Excellence (10 percent) Alumni Giving (5 percent) More detailed information about undergrad rankings could be found here. With that out of the way, the number of applicants varies greatly by school. Applicants have different things they consider important when applying. Some people will only consider applying to the top 10 universities (despite on whether or not there are professors that fit what they do), some are restricted to applying to certain areas, some need a big city, some consider weather to be important, some need to be somewhere more rural, some have partners to consider, some are limited by time or funding, some refuse to live with roommates so they want to ensure that stipends will be able to cover this. There are many more factors that will influence how many programs they're willing to research to determine fit. A lower applicant count does not mean a place is less competitive. It's possible that the majority of New York University's are filtered out due to it being a terrible fit and people being more interested in living in New York City than it does with what NYU could specifically provide to that student that others can't. I imagine that schools with fewer applicants get more serious applicants that have really specific reasons on why they're applying to that school. Application season is something that I'm not sure we'll ever understand. I was rejected by schools that accepted a greater number of applicants. I was accepted by schools that accept less than 5 percent of their applicants. Fit is the most important thing in admissions and that fit changes each year based on what the department is interested in, what gaps they're hoping to fill from previous years and where they're heading.

Contacting POIs is something that is more important in the sciences than in the humanities due to the way funding is handled. Some programs in the humanities also have policies on whether or not they're allowed to reply to your inquiry in order to keep things neutral. Part of this could be the reason that you're not getting a response. Also, professors are incredibly busy people and it's midterm season so a lot of them have their focus on that. Regarding reapplying, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't re-apply. Each committee is going to have different things they consider important and will weigh things differently. Their interests in the department could also change. They could be looking for something that a previous class lacks and each cohort's pool with be different from the previous year. I see that you applied to a wide range of programs last year. What specifically are you interested in studying? History, Art History and Anthropology have very different approaches.

I think the first question you need to ask yourself is this: What do you want to do in life and will a Master's degree help you achieve this? If it will, what type of Master's degree will help you reach your goal? Once you have that answer, look into programs that will help you reach that goal. Not everyone needs a Master's degree though. And it should never be something that should be done because you're trying to avoid something else or are unsure of what to do. Rather, it should be something that you want to do.

I think we're in an era of a lot of changes coming to grad schools. Policies are changing due to changes in USA law. Some schools are dropping GRE requirements or are in the middle of revamping how they choose who to admit or how their curriculum to work. Many of us remain active in our own forums. On the Literature forum, there wasn't much of ad admin presence in the past; now there is.There are other forums that lacked much of an admin presence but now have one. I'm wondering if the reason you feel that we're less active is because we're active on different forums? While the previous admins had a lot of knowledge in the Sciences, a lot of us are more comfortable with the Humanities. As a result, I think the knowledge that we feel comfortable sharing is very different from previous admins. I think we're all making an effort to be active on different forums but we don't want to give any misleading advice.

I can assure you that your GPA will be the least important thing in your admissions decisions. I think you stand a really good chance if you can showcase how your major in Economics and International Affairs has influenced you to become interested in obtaining an advanced degree in History. Best of luck!

I heavily encourage you to look into 2 year MA programs in History or in a subfield of history that you're most interested in. There are a number of reasons I'd recommend a 2 year program over a 1 year program: 2 years will allow you to gain a better understanding of your interest and discover new interests that you may never knew existed. This will allow you to gain more time to present at conferences in your field Two years also allows your professors to know you more and encourage you to submit to conferences in your field that you may not have been aware from. Grad schools might also have funding set aside that you can apply for so you can present at such conferences This will allow you to take a full year of courses to figure out who you could ask to write your letters of recommendation If your ultimate goal is to obtain a PHD in the USA, professors in the USA are more accustomed to the PHD process here. While the job market remains rough, it's easier to land a tenure-track job if it's from the same country you graduated from

Have you looked into MA programs inside the USA that are funded? Being in a funded program will allow you to focus on your application for the PHD without having to worry about finances for moving countries, living expenses and such.

I think your post means well but I'm not sure how useful it is when applying to a Ph.D. in the Humanities. Humanities tend to rely significantly less on stats than than Math does and relies more on "fit". The same applicant could submit the same application to 12 programs one year and get rejected from all 12. They could reapply next year and get into a number of schools that previously rejected them. Departments change. And the applicants they're looking for also change from year to year. You might get rejected from a school ranked T150, T100, T80, T60 but get accepted into a T40 , T20, and T30 school. You might also end up rejecting the T20 and T30 school for the T40 simply because it's a better fit. We've also seen people with perfect GRE scores and GPAs from ivy league institutions get rejected from every single school they've applied to. Writing matters. Interests matter.

Hi @Conviction, It isn't ideal to have a forum for every single subfield because then discussion would be very divided. It gets even more confusing when people are in between fields and unsure of which forum to post on. You are more than welcome to create a topic on HCI or IXD in any of the 3 forums you talked about or choose another one entirely. It wouldn't be the first time a topic regarding a specific field was created in another's board. Comparative Lit often finds a home on the Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition Forum. Biostats often finds a home in Biology. Biochemistry has found homes in the past in both Biology and Chemistry.

This one's actually my fault. This topic was originally on the "Comments, Questions, Etc." forum but I moved it here after realizing the topic would get more replies here. @humbug just happened to reply to it before I managed to move it. @sacralicious: Have you looked at who influences you in Aesthetics and where they're working or where they're got their degree from? I find working backwards is often an easy way to also discover departments and new people who may have interacted with them in the past.

Saint Louis University has a leveling option that will add on a year if you have a Bachelor's degree in another field.

This google doc: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XNJR4IhOJ56zd7zLuVSUK7h054dBRNvyiC7iStCOsxo/ is now back to being in public mode! I hope this creation helps you as much as it helped me when I was doing my initial research

Thank you to all of those who have contributed to these threads in the past few days. I've run some calculations to update the COL index for all numbers and have them sorted automatically with as many current figures as I could find. In terms of how far your stipend can go in a city, the top 15 schools ranking are as follows: 1. Duke University 1. Princeton University 3. University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) 4. Emory 5. Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) 6. Johns Hopkins University 6. University of Chicago (UChicago) 6. Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) 9. Rice University 9. Yale University 11. University of Chicago 12. University of Michigan 13. Brown University 13. Southern Methodist University (SMU) 15. University of Notre Dame While there are other programs that might pay more in stipends, the cities they're located in are very expensive. However, that shouldn't stop you from applying if it's great fit.

I think there might be some confusion here! UPenn and Penn State are two different schools. UPenn is part of the Ivy League and is in Philadelphia. They average around ~600 applicants per year according to the stats they put out. Penn State is a state school located in State College and is part of the B10 conference for most sports. If you're considering schools in major cities, I'd also recommend looking into the following on location alone: -Columbia University -University of California, Los Angeles (Great school; Part of the UC System) -CUNY Graduate Center -Northwestern University -University of Texas- Austin -Rice University -Ohio State University (Population of Columbus is ~860k in the city; more if you include the metro) -University of Southern California ( Great Private School in Los Angeles; not too be confused with part of the UC system) -University of Illinois at Chicago -University of Minnesota -Northeastern University -Georgia State University If you're looking to consider slightly smaller cities, I'd give some thought to the following schools: -Johns Hopkins University (Pop: 614,664) -Washington University in St. Louis (Pop: 311,404) -Saint Louis University

A few notes here: 1) Has your partner looked into positions that are telecommutable? Graphic Design work lends itself well to be performed from anywhere. 2) You mention big cities and Penn State. But Penn State is in State College/University College which is rural and hours away from Philadelphia and NYC 3) It's important to remember that your competition is from those in the same field/era as you are for most schools. Often times, it means that there's also only one or two spots available in your era. 4) I'm not sure if lower-tier schools really exist in the same context. Notre Dame is ranked in the Mid-30s but they're incredibly famous for their medieval studies. University of Connecticut is also well known for their Medieval Studies. US News rankings for English Literature is based on the 14 percent of respondents who ranked schools. As a result, your experience with a school could differ dramatically from someone in a different concentration. 5) Funding matters. Not all programs offer full funding.

A quick search revealed the following SOPs in Sociology: https://www.eduers.com/personalstatement/sociology/

Thanks for bringing this to my attention, @indecisivepoet. I've looked into the previous edits and it looks like the 22k figure was grabbed from https://www.bio.fsu.edu/grad/handbook/financial.html which is for Biological Sciences. I've always found that number strange since I've always thought Florida State's stipend was around 15k. Would love the number to be updated if @renea has more accurate information.

There are a few programs that come to mind that might be a good starting point for you to look into: 1. University of Pittsburgh's Film and Media Studies PhD with English as the associated department. Alternatively, you might consider their PhD in Critical and Cultural Studies. 2. Brown University's Modern Culture and Media PhD 3. WUSTL's English PhD with a certificate in American Studies 4. Michigan's Film, Television and Media PhD

I don't think admission alone is a golden ticket alone. Oftentimes, people accepted into Ivy League schools are extremely ambitious and have a set of credentials that distinguish themselves from other people. That ambition would likely have them succeed anywhere and isn't limited to just the Ivy League. Oftentimes, funding begets funding which makes it easier to win future fellowships if you currently have a fellowship.

Does your friend have any courses in Literature besides Writing 101? A lot of universities don't require you to be an English major but do expect 15-18 credits of English courses to be on your transcript. I'm sure your friend is aware of this but the MA degree often has a research component attached to it. As a result, being an avid reader and enjoying grammar and syntax is often not enough to pursue a graduate degree in English. What specifically about English excites her? What experiences from her undergrad can she bring in? What influences her writing? Is there a way she can connect Audio Engineering to English? What does she hope to obtain by pursuing an English MA?

It is usually listed on the Prospective Students, FAQ or Requirements page. When I was doing my research (prior to applying and narrowing down my interests), I found a couple dozen programs that required an MA/MFA. Often in times though, an MA will not shorten your time to degree because a lot of places accept very few MA credits. In recent times, programs have moved more towards accepting an equal amount of BA and MA degree holders. Whether you hold an MA or BA may impact some of your stipend and funding type at certain universities though. The University of Georgia states that an MA degree isn't required for admission into their PhD program but that the vast majority of their students selected for admission have an MA degree. University Accreditation Regulations prohibit graduate students from teaching unless they have an MA degree or 18 hours of graduate-level coursework. As a result, students without an MA would be nominated for a GRA at Georgia. Tufts offers 4.5 years of financial support to students entering with an MA and 5.5 years of financial support to students entering with an MA. The main difference between the two here is that students with an MA bypass the TA program and begin teaching in Tufts' FYW program during their second year.

I think the advice on looking at program pages is a good one. However, an MA is usually not needed to apply for a PhD in English Literature. From talking with various Graduate Directors, individuals with an MA are expected to show more for admission because they've had the extra time to develop. A lot of programs sort MA-holders and BA-holders into two separate piles and have different requirements for each. With that being said, there are programs that do require you to have an MA prior to applying.

The job market is horrible and is unlikely to get better. A PhD alone won't help without getting in more publications and conferences. There's been a trend in hiring that a lot of places want you to have 1-2 books published. I just don't want you to go into this thinking that obtaining a PHD would guarantee you a teaching position. Rhet-Comp used to have a nearly 100 percent placement rate in Tenure and Non-Tenured positions in Academia. That number is significantly lower today. Different universities use the word "TA" to mean different things. Were you the instructor of record? Did you have teaching evaluations? Places that are teaching-focused (which is to say 85-90 percent of universities) usually like to see a few years of stand alone teaching experience. In this essence, getting a Ph.D. might be immensely helpful but there are other ways of gaining that experience. Even with a degree, doing a post-doc or being an adjunct before landing a tenure-track position isn't uncommon.