WildeThing

So, how did y'all identify or justify fit on your SoP?

Thank you! I'm glad it helped, though hopefully you don't ever need any of it. Honestly though, any wisdom in that process has come from ages on Gradcafe and the wise posts of previous applicants like Old Bill and Warelin (to name just two).

I agree with this, that if you can get input from others that is great. But if you don't, you're not lost, and sometimes other people don't know any more than you do. Last cycle I asked for advice from EVERYONE. I ultimately got a lot of great advice, but also a lot of conflicting advice.

No worries, this is a community and we should make it a healthy and supportive one, even if that sometimes mean enabling obsessive behavior. We're not here to cure anyone, after all. So, I'll be honest, rejections are rough, especially when you get as many I did. Because it's so easy to obsess and overthink everything, any news makes you go into hyperdrive, so when your schools start notifying and you don't get hit, you analyze everything. Unless you're really lucky AND your applications were amazing AND you somehow figured out perfect fit and ONLY applied to perfect fit schools, you will get rejected by someone. I'd suggest expecting it. I was hopeful that at least one would fall ("come on, more than 15 schools? surely I'm among the the top 100-150 applicants out there") and none did, and that sucks. In my case, the process of hearing from everyone was so long, and the implied rejections were so many, that by the time it all ended I had already resigned myself to striking out. In that sense, having many can be helpful since you still have hope when the first body hits land but by the time the last ones come you already know you're losing. You will ALWAYS have that glimmer of hope that even if the school only takes 2 people and they have already sent out 10 confirmed acceptances last month, when you open that notification you will see "congratulations!". So don't fight it, but don't lean into it. Don't start looking for apartments or daydreaming about courses if you can avoid it. Try to keep yourself busy. The days will go by faster and you will obsess less. If it all goes to hell, give yourself some time to not think about it (I'm big on repression, my advice might not be long-term healthy). Once some time has passed, if you want to go through this again (up to you, but don't flagellate yourself), then you need to take a good hard look at yourself and ask: a. if I apply again next year, how or why will I be a better candidate? What will I have added to my profile between one deadline and the next? And b. what did I do wrong and what can I change? Answering A is easier than B, since even inertia will usually make you a better candidate, since you add some sort of experience along the way. B will make you go crazy because there's no way to know. Was it the sample? SoP? Grades? GRE? Were you perfect but there was just enough other perfect people in your field? I think any smart candidate can figure out what things were dubious though, even if they're not necessarily what got you rejected. So set up a plan. Figure out what stays the same and what doesn't. Are you retaking GREs? Are you gonna use the same WS, or the same idea for your proposal? Are you gonna try the same schools, other schools? Same schools but different project or approach? When I was talking to an advisor about this cycle, they asked me what I think went wrong and I told them what I thought and they agreed. Point is, you know yourself, you know what proposals were a stretch, what parts of your WS are weak, etc. Don't try to address these things immediately, but in time, as you inevitable wonder what went wrong, you'll figure out. I'll let you know if I was right in 2 months. Finally, something that helped me reapply as a better candidate, and maybe helped deal with rejection, was applying for and receiving an IRT grant. The IRT deadline is in March, I hadn't even heard back from everywhere when I applied but I figured I'd try and think about it later. I wound up getting accepted so that pushed me to try again, since it made the cost less prohibitive and increased my odds. Without IRT I might not have applied again, or certainly not to as many schools. That said, if I strike out again, I'm out unless some program makes some changes and makes my fit amazing. I really can't recommend the IRT enough, btw. They look for students who intend on becoming educators and emphasize minorities and underprivileged groups. If you're accepted as an associate, like I was (they have an intensive summer program, too), they will cover your fees to 10-12 schools within their 41-school consortium (every school in my list is a consortium school except CUNY). They will assign you an advisor who will assist you through the process of selecting schools and another who will assist with writing your SoP. That's a lot of help. I will say that I think a lot of it is common sense in that they make you evaluate your own work, but sometimes you need fresh eyes and someone with perspective to guide you. So if you're interested, check here, the deadline is March 1st: https://www.andover.edu/about/outreach/irt/irt-application EDIT: I forgot to add some important stats about IRT. Of everyone who received IRT support in the past two years (before my cohort), 96% got at least 1 offer with some funding. 66% got at least 3, and 33% got 6 or more. Admittedly, partial funding offers probably aren't what you're looking for so there might be some info missing in the data to get a real picture for fully-funded PhDs, but hey, it's something. Especially if you come from no-name schools like me. RE-EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to say that I heard about the IRT through Gradcafe, when I was ready to give up. So hopefully the cycle continues (but the real hope is that everyone gets in).

Congrats @Bopie5 for all those good news. I know that's frustrating but those things will always happen because you will always discover something new to add to your SoP or new accomplishments. The brightside: you're always evolving as a scholar! Honestly, with so many things being online now I would welcome a system that allowed you to make as many changes as you want, whenever you want, and the adcomms will see things when they see things. If they printed everything the day after you submitted and you made new changes, too bad. But if they haven't yet, you can still reflect your new ideas. I know why we need hard deadlines (which committees have tended to disregard many a time), but once documents are in but have not been evaluated yet (because who reviews applications over the break or during finals?), I see no harm in allowing for changes. I think some portals allow for it, too. Y'all, if we're all here panicking we need to posting, so at least it feels like things are happening. Start thinking of things to contribute/say. For instance, I dunno how many of your are on your second go like me, but for those who aren't, I figure it would help to know exactly what to expect (not that it matters, you'll know when there are changes), so let me tell you what happened to me last year: I applied to roughly the same number of schools I did this year (so a lot). I got rejected outright everywhere except NYU who offered a partially funded MA I could not afford but was grateful to receive. In pretty much every case barring perhaps one or two that notified everyone at once or within a day, you will hear about interviews and admits first and days or weeks (maybe even a month) later you will hear about rejections. Since all of mine were rejections or partial rejections, that is what I can speak to. In all cases I received an email. Half said to check the portal for a decision notification (which appears out of nowhere, there isn't a box that suddenly changes to CHECK THIS CHECK THIS), the other half stated the decision in the email itself. Some are from DGS, some from Graduate School reps. Most came in February with a few in March, the first was Chicago on February 9th (I applied to Chicago, Brown, Columbia, CUNY, NYU, Michigan, Penn, Virginia, Rutgers, as well as some in Comp Lit and Rhetoric (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Berkeley, Stanford, UCLA)). Some people talked about seeing changes in the portal before they got an email, and I think that happened to me once, but I ultimately got emails from everyone. The week of February 20th or so was the most active. As for my half-acceptance. I got an email from a graduate administrator at NYU with two pdfs, one with a letter from the program head notifying me of my rejection/acceptance, and another with registration information. Two days later I got the official offer through an email telling me to check the portal. From this experience my assumption is that if you get a decision notification email it is most likely a rejection, but there have been cases where that was not the case. In all likelihood if several acceptances (beware of dummies and trolls) are posted to the results board and you do not hear from them within a day, it is likely a rejection. I know no one asked but I also know that last year all I wanted was some sort of info. Like where do I look in the portal to see if I've been accepted (in most cases it will appear above the checklist). Since I'm sure everyone will be refreshing the results page and the portal, let me assure you that, at least in the cases of the universities I mentioned, you WILL receive an email with a decision, no one is forgetting about you, but obviously if you're not accepted it will take longer. Also, the results page, as useful as it is, is also the most demoralizing thing ever. Use with care. Hope this helps. If anyone wants to know how specific programs notify (rejections) and what they said (mostly generic), let me know and I'll check.

I mean, my research interests have progressed ever since high school really. But really, I had never considered African-American literature (it wasn't really taught much at my university) until I did my MA in the US. By then I had already delved into trauma and psychoanalysis but I really got into it there, and wound up shaping my entire MA around it. Had I applied out of my BA I would have argued for some mishmash of post-WII drama, Samuel Beckett, and early 20th c. white male authors. I haven't touched any of those since I left. Sometimes I'll see faculty whose work I read or sounds interesting in relation to those interests but since it doesn't fit in the SoP it gets cut. Also, I have been obsessing over these apps now that we're in 2019, which, in case you didn't realize, is the same year we would be starting our PhDs, should we get accepted. Like, holy shit. In similar Panicville news, it's fucking January 2019. First responses could be out in about two weeks (I've got Emory down as a mid-late January interview notifier). Most if not all the places I've applied were done notifying acceptances by the end of February, which is NEXT MONTH. Why is no one else here? Panicking? I've been living on a diet of school reviews, undergrad acceptance reaction compilations, program websites, and gradcafe deepdives for the past few days. Lastly, did anyone else hear that Columbia is opening a new African American Studies department and will be hiring new faculty to fill it out? I don't know if this is good news or bad news for us African-Americanists (or, in all likelihood, irrelevant to us, since who knows what the timeline is anyway). On the one hand, one would assume more Af-Am work done at the university will mean more opportunities, more faculty to work with, etc., and English and Af-Am departments definitely collaborate. But is this something they will have in mind now (keeping in mind that the new department chair is Farah Griffin, from English)? Will they want to add more Af-Am scholars now so that when new faculty arrives they have some students to work with, or students who can help out with building the new department? Or is it the opposite? That since the university will soon have a significantly higher number of Af-Am specialists, they will want to restrict Af-Am intake in other departments (not sure this makes sense, since Columbia is late to the party and other English departments that coexist with Af-Am departments also have Af-Am scholars, just like they have Americanists despite American Studies programs, etc.)? Or maybe they won't want to add too many Af-Am students now before knowing who they are hiring and what their areas of expertise is? I mean, most likely this will have no impact since it will take time for the department to be formed and it's a separate department that doesn't necessarily concern itself with literature anyway. Still, hard not to obsess as we wait for news. Any other African-Americanist Columbia applicant got thoughts on this? January y'all, we're close.

Seems like Chicago is the top stop for many people here. Hope that means at least some of us will be very happy in a few weeks (Chicago was my first official rejection last year, so I'm expecting to hear from them (or Emory) first).

I think 8-12 is the standard.

I'm certain Southside's reputation is the way it is because of racial stigma. You're right that every city has better and worse areas and you need to be aware of them. If Southside is like the equivalent areas in other cities then that's fine, but since I haven't been I don't know. I lived outside of Baltimore for a while and it also has a reputation even though I had no issues in my time there. At the same time, I knew people who lived in the city who were adamant I needed to be careful. It's hard to know from outside how dangerous a place can be, especially when the discourse is manipulated to create racial narratives.

See? I just saw this again and thought “Wait, don’t I prefer Rutgers or Penn? Or Chicago or Stanford? Or NYU or Northwestern?” Truth be told Chicago and Stanford might be more secure on my dream list if the West Coast wasn’t so damn far away and if I hadn’t had so many people tell me to keep away from Southside. Not that it stopped me from applying but it is something I think about.

Yeah, it's probably just a Graduate School requirement, but still seems silly. Bhabha, Gates Jr and Carpio are all awesome and I would have loved to work with them but I have generally tried to avoid relying on the big names in my applications. In all likelihood they're getting a lot of mentions from other applicants but are also more likely to be unavailable due to research stays and projects. Outside of Carpio and Gates Jr there are a few new hires in Af-Am, but I haven't had much of a chance to research their work to see if we would mesh As others have said, I go back and forth depending on which program I looked at last but Emory, Columbia, and Brown are up there. All great schools in cities I'd like to live in and some good fit as they're all strong in Af-Am and Critical Theory. Worried about cost of living in NY but then again that's going to be an issue everywhere and my wife would prefer NY. This is my second cycle and by the time I finish I will have done 4 years of graduate-level work over 3 degrees so if it doesn't work out I think I'm done. I will probably try to get certified as a secondary teacher in my home country and use the certification process as the basis to do a PhD in Education and maybe get into academia here through the backdoor. Not the best but PhDs here don't pay and you can teach literature with a different PhD so might as well get two birds.

As an international student I need to submit TOEFL results, too. It's possible that I can get something done in time but I highly doubt something I pull out of my ass will be competitive, especially without much time to research proper fit. Not even sure if the fit is there, honestly.

I habe doubts about whether I should have applied here or there, whether I should habe done this or that, but not about the direction as a whole.

Yeah Harvard has asked for two for a while. A little peeved that Harvard changed it now because I checked in September/October and they had both the GRE and Subject test as required so I moved along because I didn’t want to take the Subject test (money/time). Would be nice if these requirements (and program ans faculty changes) were reflected on the website in advance of application season.

Harvard and Michigan took it off? I only knew about Stanford.

All told, between all of my applications in higher ed, I’ve probably had close to 150 letters of recommendation for me. I would love to know what they all said but I think we just have to make peace with our enforced ignorance. Some faculty offer to share their letters, have you write them yourselves, or agree to write letters you will read if accepted. If none of those are the case for you, I wouldn’t try to force it as it’s not going to play well, especially now that the letters are submitted.

I realize that the people doing it are unlikely to read this, but please use the spreadsheet Warelin shared wisely. The idea is to add information you have when you have it. Instead, data is being deleted and the sheet is made unreadable by aesthetic changes. Some of us are actually referring to this document regularly, so please be careful as anything you touch might result in a permanent change and there's no reason for anyone to have to oversee the document.

I actually PMed them the next time I logged in because good intentions always go hand in hand with a lack of dedication.

Oh cool, thank you! Right now I’m weaning myself off learning new information to avoid regretting anything in my app but I will definitely hit you up if I get an acceptance. So please God I hope I’ll hit you up.

Officially got every application completed with all letters. Also realized the other day that I had a book by a POI among my stuff that I had forgotten about. Had I realized and read it it would have been a great connection point as it is right up my alley. Oh well.

I used it to breifly summarize the main gist of the SoP and add some info that didn't fit. Whether that's how they want us to use it, I don't know.

Just need one more letter writer to finish submitting (she has already done most, but some are left). Slowly being left without things to worry about or threads to read. I need some sort of admissions/English PhD stimuli. Last round my first official response came the second week of February. No idea how I will make it.

I'm an African-Americanist (mostly 1865-1945), with shades of Postcolonialism and Critical Theory.

I've noticed that many of us seem to have applied to the same schools, so our fates are intertwined. I was wondering what fields we're all in, since usually decisions are based on traditional categories (even when they're not exactly accurate). I figure this would be nice to know that way if you see that another Victorianist has been accepted somewhere you know if that's one less person to compete with or if they have probably taken your spot (though of course some places will take multiple students with the same specialization). Similarly, if a Medievalist is accepted at your top school, you can stress a bit less that they weren't REALLY competing with you directly. So, what are y'all? How do you think schools will categorize you when making decisions?

I think that for a committee reading hundreds of papers one that is in the wrong font will stand out. If it specified 12 I wouldn’t mess with it.