a_sort_of_fractious_angel

Hi! So - @Warelin, please correct my errors as this is your creation - the funding package sheet tells you the stipend amount. It doesn't include tuition waivers or healthcare details (or conference funding/other financial support) as that information isn't considered part of the stipend that you earn for TAing or what have you. So, in your example, you will get 15,000 for 9 or 10 months (I'm assuming 9 months) and then a summer stipend of 5,000, all for rent/living expenses/etc for the work you do as as TA (even if that requirement is waived for your first year) or as a fellowship recipient. 
Additionally, health care & other fee coverage changes from school to school - for example, one of the programs I was accepted to covered all mandatory fees and healthcare for the duration of the degree and one of the programs I was accepted to covered 80% of healthcare, didn't cover all mandatory fees, & didn't cover minor tuition fees after a period of time (post-coursework). The third school that I considered offered a different combination of healthcare and fee coverage. 
I think the chart is more meant to give a more general sense of what schools are offering their students. Additionally, I'd assume that all of the schools on the funding list offer full-tuition remission, partial (if not full) health care coverage, and some amount of conference funding (whether it is through the dept itself or the grad school) -- all of that detailed info will be included in the offer from the school, too, of course. 

Hi! So - @Warelin, please correct my errors as this is your creation - the funding package sheet tells you the stipend amount. It doesn't include tuition waivers or healthcare details (or conference funding/other financial support) as that information isn't considered part of the stipend that you earn for TAing or what have you. So, in your example, you will get 15,000 for 9 or 10 months (I'm assuming 9 months) and then a summer stipend of 5,000, all for rent/living expenses/etc for the work you do as as TA (even if that requirement is waived for your first year) or as a fellowship recipient. 
Additionally, health care & other fee coverage changes from school to school - for example, one of the programs I was accepted to covered all mandatory fees and healthcare for the duration of the degree and one of the programs I was accepted to covered 80% of healthcare, didn't cover all mandatory fees, & didn't cover minor tuition fees after a period of time (post-coursework). The third school that I considered offered a different combination of healthcare and fee coverage. 
I think the chart is more meant to give a more general sense of what schools are offering their students. Additionally, I'd assume that all of the schools on the funding list offer full-tuition remission, partial (if not full) health care coverage, and some amount of conference funding (whether it is through the dept itself or the grad school) -- all of that detailed info will be included in the offer from the school, too, of course. 

I'll definitely shoot you an email about the program! I toured there this past Fall and had a great experience walking around the campus, talking to a current graduate student, and sitting in on a seminar.

Thank you! The Burgh seems AWESOME, so I'm jazzed. And if you end up applying to CMU for doctoral work (I hope you do!) feel free to email me - I'll be the proud Bucknellian in the current students section, lol. 

Hey, all - I wanted to pass this link along in case anyone might be interested. Bucknell University is currently accepting applications to their fully funded MA program in English. 
https://www.bucknell.edu/english
I did my BA at Bucknell, had two friends do the MA at Bucknell, and am happy to answer any Qs about the department or the area! 

Thank you so much! Congratulations again on Carnegie Mellon! I was going to apply there this cycle, but I missed the application deadline like an idiot. CMU is definitely a great school and Pittsburgh is an awesome city (probably biased because I grew up around there lol). I may apply there for doctoral work still because of how strong my interests align with their faculty interests. Good luck and feel free to shoot me a message if yinz have any questions about the Burgh.

I don't know how large the total applicant pool was but I'd guess that (now that people have picked where they want to go), spots and and funding have opened for people doing the kind of scholarship that Bucknell's faculty is strong in. And if they've got the money, might as well use it, right?! They sent students to Vanderbilt and Harvard this year, so it's definitely a place to be if you want to go on to doctoral work - I hope people apply as well! 
And congrats again on Vermont It's another super solid MA program - I hope you love it! 

Did they not have a large applicant poll? I got in off the waitlist earlier this week, but I had already committed to another program which was a better fit (plus out of PA which will be nice). I will say that I was really impressed by the program from what I know about it plus their doctoral program placement is top notch from my understanding. I hope people apply! 

Hi everyone! I wanted to share this resource I built with the help of @Warelin and @a_sort_of_fractious_angel! It's a spreadsheet for prospective English PhD students to fill out to determine which schools they may want to apply to. 
I'm calling it The Fit Finder.
Please feel free to check it out, and if you like it, you should be able to hit File -> Make a copy in order to save it to your own Google Drive and use it! Let me know if you have any issues or questions. I used a similar spreadsheet to help my husband decide where to apply, and we would have been in absolute chaos without it.

I’ve done some serious thinking about USC, and while it’s a fantastic program, I’ve realized that there are not enough (if any ☹️) faculty there for me to work with in my field. I had worries about fit there when I was applying, and looking back to the visit, it was the one school where I almost didn’t meet any faculty one on one and I find that alarming. I met one professor because I reached out after the visit but I’m not sure if his and my work gel. My friend in the program at USC had a talk with me as well that was very much an “I don’t know who you’d work with” talk. There are over ten professors that are in my field at UW. I think that at the end of the day finding professors to work with and to be in your corner is what will make a program great or not so great. I’d rather have more options than not. The chance to take classes in Geography on theorizing the city is also something that UW has that USC does not and I would say that the city is the cornerstone of my work. So I think that’s that! Thanks guys ?

Some programs might refer to this as "popular and public culture".
 
Some programs which are noted for this kind of work include:
Virginia Tech (I know a recent student there did a thesis on Superhero Comics)
MTSU
Carnegie Mellon
NYU (http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/mcc/doctoral/)* (This is not an English PHD)
UCSD
CUNY


 

Ok, just about to formally accept my offer from UW-Madison! This process has been something else, and I'm so glad it's over. 
Best wishes to everyone here with grad studies/whatever else you end up doing!

Officially going to UConn! Thanks all, for going through the process with me-it definitely helped!!

Officially accepted my offer from UT Austin, y'all. Where should I buy my cowboy boots?

Officially decided on Vermont, thank you all for the unconditional support throughout this process!

The advice above is top-notch, but I would add that this board is potentially an excellent resource for you if you're not familiar with the process. Take the time to read through similar threads, posts like your own, and talk to professors from your undergrad.
I'll also add two more decision criteria to the ones listed above: field and adcom members.
A university may decide that they want to strengthen the Modernist contingent of their grad students that year despite that school being well-known for their theory focus. So candidate X may submit an excellent application that names numerous theory people, but since the university is not interested in theory students that year candidate X gets a rejection.
The same line of thought applies for committee members. For example, you're applying to Maryland and being the cagey, scrupulous applicant you are, you tailor an application designed to appeal to, say, Mary Helen Washington (I only use this name because I've met her and she's freaking awesome, so I figure anyone in her field would want to work with her). Guess what? MHW isn't on the adcom that year. Too bad. 
It's a strange process, so the more information you have at your disposal, the better equipped you'll be to make informed decisions. I don't think our interests overlap, but feel free to PM me if you have any questions

Welcome! All good points above - 
I absolutely agree with @EspritHabile that there are no safety schools. It seems (from my anecdata) that schools are still regularly receiving hundreds of applications. Additionally, some programs are shrinking the cohorts to make for better funding during the degree and for better success on the job market. My gut feeling (which is pretty wobbly, seeing as I don't really much yet) is that programs are beginning to undergo change in terms of cohort size. Perhaps not all of them, but I think the trend will be to shrink the cohorts every year. 
Also, I totally agree with @Warelin that how you define fit may not exactly be how the program defines it. I didn't think I'd have a shot at the program I'm going to attend because my research interests didn't totally align on paper. While I could name 3+ people in the dept to work with, I figured it'd be a "no" given my projects - I was totally wrong. And when I went to visit and speak with the department, I got a really strong and clear understanding of how the dept can help me in a way I would have never known just by looking at the website and reading some articles. 
@swarthmawr - feel free to shoot me a PM as it looks like our interests overlap to some degree and I did my undergrad at a small liberal arts school. SLACs are not carbon copies of one another, of course, but I realized there was a big difference between the SLAC undergrad academic experience and the large, research university academic experience (which I did for the MA).

You picked the right day to ask, haha! I can happily (and now officially) say that I'll be heading to Carnegie Mellon this fall.

I'm at Miami Ohio now (rhet/comp), and I'm certain they've already made their decisions and *I think* sent out the rejections? So, if you haven't heard anything, you should email the grad secretary because you might be on the waitlist. And I know that both lit and rhet/comp typically admit from their waitlists every year. 
I've also been admitted to Purdue (their welcome weekend was back in February) and I think lit might operate the same way as R/C, where they keep all applications open until they fill their cohort. So it isn't over until it's over with Purdue! 
Hope that helps

Have you heard anything from Temple?
Has anyone heard anything from Temple about funding?  They're my top choice!!!

I'll send you a PM

I'll send you a PM

Hi! I lived on the Range during my two year MA program . I was on Selections Committee that first year and was the Vice Chair of Selections during my second year. It's a competitive application but truly holistic. The rooms are small, absolutely, and you'll have to get creative with cooking or (as I did) get a university meal plan. The bathroom situation is not a problem at all, haha. I lived on both East and West Range, so I can speak to both sides of the Range. In short, I loved my time there. 
And yes, it is Grounds.
Shoot me a PM if you'd like more information on the Range - while I've obviously been out for a couple of years, I'm pretty sure I can answer almost any question you will have. 

Very happy to report that I signed my soul over to Stanford last week! 
Now to learn how to surf... 

Formally accepted UNC-Chapel Hill's offer