steve3020

This is my second time applying to American Comp.lit programmes. Last year I was doing my undergrad so I considered it as a practice and gave it a shot. Luck seems to be indeed a huge factor in all this madness but still if I don't get in anywhere this year, I think I'll look into different routes. I thought about applying to French or East Asian language depts cos they seem to receive fewer apps, and I might go ahead with this. Or I'll probably look for something in Europe. Anyways it's too early to lose hope I guess - one program emailed me saying that my application has been forwarded to the adcom last week, one month after I submitted my app! Hope you guys hear back from somewhere this week with good news!

I heard la bourse etudiante is only for EU students. I didn't know about CAF - thanks for the info

I meant the additional work that goes into applying for scholarships + programmes...but yeh I wouldn't like to have to get a job and worry about making the ends meet whilst studying. I've tried that when I was an UG student because I didn't wanna rely on my parents. I managed it to work for a year cos I earned about £600 pm but it was a real pain. I had to move between university and town, sometimes several times a day. Plus I had to live in some of the worst rooms available in Manchester. It wasn't very good. But thanks for that info about German universities! I'll definitely look into them!

Thanks, The Ister. I have looked into French schools myself but the problem is lack of funding. I heard there's some scholarships but I just didn't like the additional work so I opted for American programmes. I speak French but not German. Do they have courses in English there in Germany? (I'm not trying to specialise in Hegel or German philosophy btw but that pic is quite funny haha)

You really are making your existence harder! Being an EU national gives you so much advantage in finding a postgrad course over non-EU students like me! BTW as I see you are in France, which French universities are good for the kind of studies you would do in an American comp.lit dept (on film, theory, etc.)? I haven't look into French unis much because it seems like it's an entirely different academic culture you got there.

Hi Caien, thanks for this information. Do you know if there's any other EU countries with funded postgrad programmes in comp.lit or similar fields (for non-EU students)? I think I should start looking into them as a backup plan...

I was reading Kojève's Introduction to the reading of Hegel. My area of interest is in modernism and postmodernism in film and political theory, so Hegel is interesting to think about from the postmodern perspective. What are your interests?

I actually prefer Sundays. Yesterday I was checking my email every minute (literally), but today, knowing that nothing will come out anyway, I can focus on other things better. I cleaned my flat and I am reading now...

It could be a good idea to check with the department because sometimes they have their own rules that are different from the official provisions by the graduate school. I had two universities that were like this, one regarding SOP and another GRE report. Basically, the department didn't mind that my SOP was twice as long as the official guideline.

hey fellow complit applicants. I just found a post on the result board by someone who got an interview from CUNY complit on 2 Jan, which seems to be very early (or maybe the poster meant 2 Feb). I hadn't noticed it because it is posted as 'complit' not 'comparative literature'. Has anyone else heard back from CUNY yet?

To be honest I'm not too sure where I got this impression because as you said when you look at the courses offered by English and Complit departments there are a lot of overlaps. But it seems like a usual English dept is divided into different eras which necessarily limits a lot of courses to written literature, whereas Complit or 'literature' programmes like Duke are more liberal in terms of the scope of material and more open to different theories. Take NYU: the Eng dept phd course guide says you have to take an exam in three eras of English literature or something, whereas Complit has no such requirements and you are free to choose your field. Personally, as I'm applying to complit courses I also study two national literatures, but to me the main focus is theory. I simply got the impression that if you are more theory-oriented you would fit in better at complit depts than national literature depts. There's a thread comparing Duke English with Literature, and one of the profs there also made clear that such is the case there too. I think it's not even in the level of knowledge in theory that the difference lies but maybe it's a slight difference in methodology.

Good luck to everyone!

I guess it's the reputation of the writer + their relationship with them + recommender's relationship with people at the target institution. Personally I've read one of my letters and to me it seems perfect but who knows what other people might think.

check out this website: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/comparison.jsp Cost of living index is inclusive of all the different costs, so perhaps it's more accurate to compare the prices of things you will need most.

Thinking that Duke literature will send their interview requests in few weeks (maybe this week?) makes me so nervous! Anyone else applied to Duke literature?

I guess you've read it already but a current Duke literature phd student said that what you said is about correct. It's on 'Duke English vs Literature' thread.

I've emailed a DGS who is also my POI and received helpful advice. Interestingly this is the case with two of the schools I applied to. (Does anyone knows if it means that they are more closely engaged with the admission process?) Also I think most websites direct you to DGS if you have any admission specific enquiry.

Do people usually give gifts to recommenders? I thought it'd feel a little awkward so I didn't do this. But I guess it's fine if you are have any personal relationship with them.

A lot of complit programmes are thinly disguised cultural theory, Marxist or otherwise, courses, so many people seem to come with interests in theory as well as literature as you can tell from dissertations completed. I'm not sure if this qualifies them as more 'serious', though, since people might simply want to 'read theory' for 5 years.

Do you think it is like that with the top universities that receive much fewer applications, around 100-200?

I think you have a point, Warelin. In my case, I've never lived or been to the US so all the universities were, at least at first, recognisable more or less only through their brands. I'm not sure if I didn't apply to these three places because I was intimidated or because I already found more than many places in the US that I can apply to, but surely they weren't the first places I started looking into. The situation seems not very different over the Atlantic - my girlfriend went to a post-1992 university (a term in the UK referring to the third-tier universities, after Oxbridge and Red Brick unis..) and she didn't dare to apply to Cambridge for masters although that was where her heart was. So I wonder how competitive it actually is to get into HYP in my field (comparative literature). I remember there was someone who got into Harvard and Yale but rejected by NYU (or CUNY, I'm not too sure).

I don't know why you should be panicking - there are plenty of people who've done their undergraduate degrees outside the US and went on to do Phd there. I don't know about the whole application process as well as many other people but surely no one will judge you just for being international. If anything I think being an international student will positively reflect on your application if you can meet the same standard of English as American applicants.

I found out that on the application page for Brown MCM, I can change my personal statement after I submit my application?! Since the deadline was quite early, I have improved my statement since and perhaps I'd like to replace it with the new one if I could. Does anyone know about what happens when you do that?

Does this mean that in Comp lit interviews they may ask you to speak in your target languages? Anyone had similar experiences?

It is like this with some Canadian universities. On the application page, you put in your biographical information, BA, etc. and then there was submit page after this. So I was very confused because I hadn't uploaded my statement, writing sample or even put my referees' email addresses! I had to pay first and then they sent me some ID few days later so I can upload these things. In this new page you just upload the documents but there is no submit button there. Also strangely Toronto asks you to print the online application page and post it to them.