[Which schools in the US have funded PhD programs for postcolonial lit, especially Indian writing in English?]

2 hours ago, Warelin said:

I'm sorry but I do have to disagree here. Not all PHD programs are fully-funded. Some programs only fund 30-50 percent of their students. Some programs may not fund the first year. Others might require you to pay more mandatory fees while others may not require you to pay any fees at all.

All the programs that I looked up whilst applying (around 40) were fully-funded. Most of the well-known/good programs seem to be. Then again, it may have slipped under the radar. Thanks for sharing something that I didn't know!

[Which schools in the US have funded PhD programs for postcolonial lit, especially Indian writing in English?]

Everyone else has said most of the important stuff. All PhD programs are fully-funded, it is just the components of the funding that change (TAships, RA/GSR posts, Fellowships etc.). Do not worry about funding since you need to get into a program and you will be taken care of.

As @Philosobroad so rightly stated, look at Comp.Lit programs. Postcolonial Studies in the aftermath of Spivak and Basnett, is being done in CompLit departments with more gusto than ever. The ability to think, read and articulate in multiple languages is a valuable tool to have, especially given our shared Indian multilingual context. Apply to schools which have people you want to work with. Don't look at the name as much, although it is still a factor. If you get into an Ivy but don't have faculty that share or can support your your interests, it serves no purpose. A University of Wisconsin-Madison or a University of California-San Diego might be better options for you. 

Some schools you could look at include:

• UC system- Berkeley, Santa Cruz, San Diego, Davis, Santa Barbara, Irvine, Los Angeles and Riverside
• Ohio State
• University of Wisconsin-Madison
• NYU
• Columbia University
• University of Chicago
• University of Washington
• University of Texas- Austin
• University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill
• Indiana University
• Washington University in St. Louis
• Brown
• Penn State
• UPenn
• University of Maryland
• University of Massachusetts

I hope this helps! Good luck and happy hunting! You can contact me if you have any questions. I went through this process for the Fall 2017 cycle so I know what it is like.

[Graduate Teaching Course Load]

2 hours ago, silenus_thescribe said:

I was in the same boat as you coming into my PhD two years ago. At UT Austin, if you come in with a BA (as I did) you're required to teach two discussion sections of about 25 students per week for a large literature survey course (whose overall enrollment runs anywhere from 250-400, and even 900 for a synchronous multi-person online course version of the class). Even during my second year, I'd get jitters before class sometimes; it is a big responsibility, and you don't want to let down a bunch of students who have potentially taken out tons of loans for a university education. However, it wasn't long after I began my TA assignment that I fell into "the normal swing of things." A couple things to say to assuage your concerns:

(1) As Caroline wisely puts it early in this thread: you know more than the students. I know that younger TAs often get tripped up when they see that they are teaching students separated maybe by 3-4 years. I've even had students 10+ years my senior. Nevertheless, you have already earned a BA in the field that you're teaching, and you spend substantially more time with literature than your students do (or will in your class, sadly). Impostor syndrome is real, but after a few class sessions you'll see that while you don't have a PhD in English yet, you're on the road to it, whereas many of your students will likely be doing serious close reading for the first time.

(2) Being a TA, while not undaunting in some ways (I find grading the most stressful, as I never feel I'm "getting it right" even when my professor says I am), is not like being an instructor of record. You're there to help your prof with the clerical/grading work of the class, and to supplement their lectures and the readings. If you can talk about books intelligently -- which I know you can -- then you'll be absolutely fine. Just do the reading, come prepared, and be energetic; give your students a reason to be excited about the subject, even if they don't love reading literature. If you show confidence to your students, they'll respect your knowledge. They know you aren't as experienced as the professor, and they won't hold that against you. 

Thank you for this! I'm actually a Comp.Lit PhD student with a BA in Psychology so this is kind of a sea change! I really hope that you're right about catching up. I tend to get anxious prematurely though, so this might also just be nerves talking. I really do love literature and hope that I can share that with any students that I might interact with. 

[Graduate Teaching Course Load]

On 4/19/2017 at 1:32 AM, rld07 said:

Hi friends,

Just curious, but what is the teaching load required for funding at your school? Obv. this varies from package to package, and if you don't want to share which school you go do, that's super cool.

Where I'm coming from: I was offered a package where I would teach my own class right of the bat this upcoming fall, and if I had testicles, they'd have climbed up between my lungs for comfort. Is this normal? Not my imaginary testicles thing, but conducting your own class first thing?

I'm going to be a TA right off the bat at UC Davis and it terrifies me so I understand exactly what you mean. I'm required to teach/lead 2 discussion sections a week. proctor all exams and grade all papers for ONE class. As a newly-minted undergrad with ZERO teaching experience, I'm quaking in my imaginary boots! In addition to this, I have to do a TA review class with a supervising professor every week. All in all, I feel woefully underprepared and terribly nervous. The fact that I'm an international student doesn't help assuage my anxieties. I feel like I'm way behind on the learning curve already and despite reading through dozens of articles and forums about TA duties and how to manage them, I think the butterflies won't go away till I'm actually in front of my class and actually learning from my many probably errors. 

[From One Field To Another]

Not quite an English grad but Comp.Lit with my primary lit being English seems to fit. I earned my bachelor's in Psychology with minors in Anthropology and Peace and Conflict Studies from a tiny little place in India (Around than 300 students across 4 years).  I start school (PhD in Comp.Lit) in September but from what a few fifth-year grads and faculty members told me, the transition isn't too tough. The MA coursework is meant to cover your basics so that you aren't lost with regard to certain technical terms and theories in your discipline and usually contains at least one introductory course that is mandatory. 

It's hard work though so reading some foundational texts in your discipline helps to prime you for what lies ahead. I've just been reading some books on citation and research methodology alongside basic textbooks on literary theory and when I told one of the faculty members in my graduate department about it, she said that it was enough and that I didn't need to worry since most students have to unlearn and relearn a lot of things anyway. 

Hope this helped somehow!

[Youngest in my program. HELP!]

I got accepted into a PhD program and found out pretty recently that I am the youngest of 5 admitted students. With a minimum of 4 years between me and the next person, I'm worried about fitting in and how to not make a fool of myself given my inexperience and obvious youth. ANY ADVICE would be fantastic at this point, if only to stop me from having panic attacks. 

[What was your writing sample?]

8 hours ago, Straparlare said:

That sounds super fascinating. As someone who loves Gothic literature, I would love to read it. What specific theory sources did you use?

I primarily used Julia Kristeva's work on Abjection in "Power of Horror" and Gilbert & Gubar's seminal work on the Madwoman in the Attic.  I majored in psychology so there was a lot of psychoanalysis involved- Lacan and Freud in particular.

[UC Irvine or University of Oregon for comp lit?]

Just email the program and ask if you can speak to a current grad student. They should be ok with it

[UC Irvine or University of Oregon for comp lit?]

14 minutes ago, Philosobroad said:

i REALLY LIKE them both and will definitely be missing out on something no matter what I choose why is this so hard

I'd say pause for a second and look at the program structure. See what you need in terms of development. If you need to strengthen your foundations, then write that down. If you need space to play around with ideas, then write that down. Look at the faculty and see who can help you best. Don't look at a department as a whole, sometimes looking at its constituent elements helps a lot more. Look at the workload in both places and find out if you can speak to current students so that you get some insider perspective on the department. I'd say go with the one that benefits you holistically and where you feel that you will shine. That's my 2 cents

[UC Irvine or University of Oregon for comp lit?]

Lol I love the way you've phrased your problem. I think it comes down to what you really feel is best for you in terms of career/research goals. Sorry I can't help much!

[Waiting as a Comp Lit person]

17 hours ago, steve3020 said:

Congrats!

Thank you! 

[What was your writing sample?]

A little late to the party but my writing sample was also an excerpt from my undergraduate thesis. It was on abjection as catharsis for writers of Gothic literature. I argued that writers such as Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker wrote their identity conflicts into their projects so that the works would become cathartic quasi-autobiographies. I don't think it was the best piece of writing but I think it showcased my love for theory.

[Waiting as a Comp Lit person]

Anyone with acceptances yet? Especially to UC Davis? I just got accepted a few days ago!

[Waitlist Limbo]

1 minute ago, StPaulCCC said:

That was very uplifting, actually. I love how you took it as an opportunity to take time to wholly enrich your life in addition to improving your application. Thank you for responding! So were you accepted off of the waitlist at UC Davis? 

Yes! I didn't think it would happen because I was rejected from everywhere else and didn't think a waitlist position would change into an acceptance. My decision came in last week, after I'd just about confirmed my place at a Masters Program in India. Big shock but a good one! Hopefully the same will happen to you!

[Waitlist Limbo]

So I was in the same boat till a week ago because I got rejections from EVERYWHERE and got waitlisted at UC Davis.Crushed, battered and bruised, I thought nothing was going to work out.

Then it did and I'm in a better emotional space right now but I know how it felt and I'm sorry. Back in the "dark days" I did the following just so that I didn't sort of feel like the world was ending:

I made list after list of things that I wanted to do if I wasn't in school- from learning new languages to joining music classes. I looked up Masters programs in my home country and looked up jobs/internships in publishing and journalism. I decided to do independent research and began to jot down ideas. I read the forums here and saw that there were people who were applying for the 3rd or even 4th time and realised that if they can persevere, so can I.

 

All of it helped me to keep my sanity and I hope that some of it helps you. DO NOT THINK OF YOURSELF AS MEDIOCRE OR LACKING IN ANY WAY. That's a difficult pitfall to get out of. Just keep looking for possibilities. I hope things work out for you.

[UC Davis phd fall 2017]

Hi, I start Grad School at UC Davis  this Fall,for the PhD in Comparative Literature. Please do feel free to PM me if you want to get a headstart on knowing one another!