WildeThing

Thy do, the difference is that some schools, state schools mostly, woud have to cover higher costs because internationals cannot apply for in-state tuition. I know that UC-Irvine for example will not cover international students because of this.

So, there are still some apps left to submit but I assume that for most of us at least some, if not most, of the apps are submitted. So... what now? I know that now we just wait to hear back from programs and that this will probably mean waiting for 2-3 months, but can anyone who has applied in the past able to illuminate exactly what the proceedings are like now? Do we get automated offers/rejections, contact by Grad admissions, email, physical letters, etc. Just curious as to what to expect exactly.

I will have done 2 MAs before going into PhD (hopefully) next year. I do think it makes you more ready, but I can't comment on how that reflects with selection committees. That said, many PhD programs will make you do the MA on the way to the PhD either way, so even if you get an MA somewhere else first you might have to commit to a place for 5-6 years anyway.

Relief, she uploaded it a little while ago. I guess I should just trust that she knows what she's doing. Not easy for control freaks like me. Meanwhile, I've now finalized my submissions to my first and second choice, so that's that.

So, I wrote 10 days ago but how my professor hadn't sent in her letters, she wound up doing it, but has not uploaded any of the other letters yet. One is coming up in a few hours at Michigan, another this Tuesday, and many of them will come due this Friday. At this stage I just don't know how to proceed. She had actually asked ME for the full list with dates because she didn't want to miss anything, and I know there is still time, but I can't help but worry and it's distracting me from my other work. I just don't what to do, and am especially perplexed because she has been incredibly helpful and I don't want to annoy her. I don't want to be constantly be emailing her before deadlines, but I can't help but worry that she might miss one and the whole thing is wasted. Though I assume that most universities are aware of this sort of thing and probably don't disqualify you based on someone missing a letter by a day or so, I don't find that particularly comforting because there's no guarantee and, for instance, the Michigan page says that all materials must be received by the deadline. Anyone got any advice on how to follow up with her without pestering too much? Since the deadline is at 12 I'm inclined to wait for now and see what happens, and if she doesn't send it, send her something and remind her about the other deadlines that are due this week.

I have sent emails to maybe 6-7 people at different universities over the past year. I have only ever heard back from two, and both were from English universities. Only one was helpful because the person said they couldn't provide feedback but that they would be willing to read my proposal and that I could state in my application that they had shown an interest in working together. I haven't heard back from this person yet. Keep in mind that in English universities candidates enter directly into the dissertation phase so they probably seek a more well-formed project rather than what is generally advised for American unis. For American unis I'm not sure how useful previous contact is in regards to the application, seeing as how you would be in the program for 2-3 years before you even have a chance to start working on a project with this person and both you and their interests might change, not to mention that they might leave. It is generally recommended to contact junior faculty rather than senior since they are more likely to respond and more likely to be available. However, their positions are also more precarious and they are more mobile, so it evens out. Ultimately, my takeaways in terms of contacting faculty is to be be brief, give a VERY short overview of why you'd like to work with this person (i.e. how your work intersects with theirs) and leave it open for them to respond and ask for more information. Also, be wary of contacting them now because this is the end of the semester and they might be busier than usual. All in all, maybe contacting can help you, maybe they read your email and your name rings a bell when they review apps, but you just can't know, though I guess it can't hurt (unless you demonstrate a lack of understanding for their work).

I understand that as I'm also waiting on responses from conferences and that arrive any day now, but I think that if you've submitted it you just move on, unless something huge happens like getting a major award.

THanks everyone, she wound up sending both letters that were due yeaterday and they were both received. Still missing the rest of her letters but there’s time left yet. My 3rd letter writer is also missing some of hers yet but I think it will be fine. I actually called both Berkeley and NYu and they said it would be fine but it’s still hard not to stress and imagine it all going to shit over stupid details. On that note, officially submitted 3 apps, need to add my materials to Rutgers which for some reason wanta you to do that AFTER submission, just everything else to go! Way to go whoever decided that December was a good time to have application deadlines.

Dude, you are the original author. Just let this thing die. You are making a big deal out of conspiracy theories. This is fake news.

So, the NYU deadline will pass in 2 minutes. I have been in talks with my letter writers since last year, I started reminding them in October, they received the official link to send submissions two weeks ago, I reminded them of the deadlines on Sunday. I reminded them again yesterday. One of them has not sent hers in yet. I'm very stressed at this point because I don't understand why this happens. She is a very good professor and has been very, very helpful throughout the whole process. Last year I requested a letter and had no problems. I reminded her again an hour ago and the deadline, as I write this, has already passed. So, I just hope NYU keep the portal open long enough for her to submit it.

So, you're assuming that this was willful dishonesty which is not something anyone can reasonably assert based on the information we have. It would seem that the figures of authority reached a similar conclusion.

Yeah I keep uncovering tidbits about schools and it makes me want to study at all of them. This spring is going to be rough.

Maybe this is a moot point, but, admission/hiring is usually done in a holistic matter, meaning that singular details become less relevant. Either way, there is no way to know WHY this person was admitted to any of these programs or why he was hired, so we cannot know the significance of these issues. The person's employers and professors were informed of these issues and apparently unanimously decided that no action was merited, perhaps because they didn't base their decisions on admission/hiring on these parts of the person's CV? They do seem to have reacted, as the professor has removed these issues from his CV. It seems that they (people in separate organizations) have decided that no further action is necessary (or they took private measures, we do not know), and I see no reason to believe that their reactions were inappropriate. Also, while there is a good argument to be made for a person to be removed from a position they gained through misrepresentation (which, again, we do not know if this was the case), this professor was admitted to the grad program and completed it, he then went on to a post-doc, which he also completed, and was then hired as a professor and has seemingly performed well enough to stay on ever since. So, maybe, MAYBE this person would have never gotten into this position without those CV issues, but he has clearly performed well enough since. I do wonder how the post author discovered all of this and what motivated the research that led him there.

Has anyone contacted any universities they're applying to know what their plans are about this?

This is as good a place as any to vent. One of my letter writers responded to my last email saying that she didn't agree with my proposed subject, she thought it was pointless and that my academic pursuits should be different. This is startling because she already wrote me a letter based on the same project last year and it is too late for me to change now. She has written me letters in the past but this is the first time that she has asked me to send her a letter that she will alter and add to. I dunno if I should take this as her way of saying that she can't write me a letter in support of the project, so she's just getting me to do it and she'll just sign it (which freaks me out because I don't like to praise myself and was having enough trouble doing it in the statement of purpose, and here I was just hoping to get it from her; I feel very self-conscious about writing this letter). Also, another letter writer and another professor who was looking at my materials have both suggested I look at some other schools, basically indicating that I was shooting too high. At this point it is unfeasible for me to expand/change my list of schools and I am beginning to doubt the point of the whole process. I obviously knew that getting into some schools was tougher than others, but this makes me think that I greatly overestimated my own potential here. Guess we'll see. No response needed, just wanted to vent.

Psychoanalysis, trauma studies, african american and postcolonial of the 20th century, to be very general.

In response to my own question, I just saw Virginia states that usually accepted applicants will have 90th percentile or above in at least two GRE categories. Only time I've seen such a reference.

Does anyone know whether English departments put added weight into the Analytical Writing GRE score? I've never seen it referred to, whereas I've seen sites that state that Quant is not that important and Verbal is the most important out of the 3 (but not that important in the grand scheme of things).

Thanks everyone, although I just wanted to note that this was not something I wa ps complaining about, but simply curious because I had assumed all TAs in every program are teaching full classes.

So in my program pretty much everyone is a TA, only we don’t assist, we teach an entire class (some people more than one per semester). It just recently came to my attention that this might not be normal. Can anyone confirm that? How many TA positions involve being the primary instructor or at what stage do TAs shift from assisting to teaching (not that assisting isn’t teaching)?

Looks like we're applying to many of the same places! I'm also heavily leaning towards east coast so all things equal I prefer to remove west coast programsUCL and Brown fit, as well, but I'm still looking through faculty lists to make final decision. Ultimately my SoP is about the same idea, just a matter of cutting the schools where it seems to have less resonance. I guess I'm 20th century Americanist with emphasis on psychoanalysis, trauma, and identity (with an Af-Am lean). So for the comp lit programs I am emphasizing the latter part rather than the Americanist part. That said, there are usually several 20th century Americanists, as well as Af-Am and psychonanalytic-favoring faculty at every department so it is easier to establish fit. Most people I've seen seem to oscillate between 6-12 programs. Personally I prefer applying to more programs if finances allow (which they do, but it's tight) because nearly all of these programs have low acceptance rates and you never know if your field is going to be favored on that given year. I'm also an older student so I prefer going to, say, my 10th choice, rather than strike out and re-apply. The main negatives I find at Oxbridge are lack of guaranteed funding and less opportunities for teaching. Depending on where you are in your career, no courses might be a negative as well, as they can be a good way of developing interests. But the positive is that you can just focus on the dissertation and finish 1-3 years before your American counterparts, and thus enter the job market sooner. That said, I would only go if I were able to get an internal/external fellowship, and even then I would prefer to go somewhere in the States.

Yeah, 15 is a lot but I wanted to play the odds as I'm going home for a 'go big or go home' mentality. Right now my list is: Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, Berkeley, UCLA, Stanford (all for Comp. Lit), Columbia, UPenn, UChicago, NYU, CUNY, Virginia, Brown, Duke, Rutgers, Michigan, Oxford, Cambridge, UCL (all for English). Right now I'm leaning towards removing UCLA, Duke, Stanford, Brown and UCL. How about you?

I'm not sure why they would mind receiving several, since it's one report. I just retook and sent both just in case. I have read that some places will consider your highest score for each category, but I'm not sure.

So how are people doing? I started the app process for a few schools, did the GRE and TOEFL, will revise my writing sample and personal statement for next week, have contacted all 3 recommenders and will whittle down my 20 schools to 15 and send that shit off hopefully without a hitch. After years of planning this is actually happening. I just want it to be April already so I can know where I’m going, even if it is Rejectville.

Thanks for the advice guys! What are your thoughts on getting a recommendation from someone who can comment on your teaching (in a language, not literature) rather than someone who can discuss your graduate work?