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BelleOfKilronen

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    English PhD

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  1. First of all, congrats to all of you! As someone who went through this process a couple of years ago, I just wanted to chime in with a few thoughts that I hope relieve a bit of collective tension. For those of you anxious about deciding which offer to take, try not to worry about it. Your campus visits will most likely make the "right" choice clear to you. Meeting with professors and students in person will really help you develop a strong sense of where you want to spend the next 5-6 years of your life. And those of you with one acceptance are not the beneficiaries of some strange fluke in the application process! A program isn't going to accept you--and support you, financially, professionally, etc--unless they really want you. The folks at your accepting institution think you're pretty darn awesome, and you should share their enthusiasm for your accomplishments. Lastly, if you can, try not to overthink it if a school that you thought was the perfect "fit" rejects you, while ones that you thought were a stretch accept you. The ever-elusive "fit" issue, while important, is out of your control in ways that, as an applicant, I know I myself never imagined. Grad committees rotate in many (most?) schools; in some cases, there's a good chance that not one person you want to work with is even reading your application. And some schools that read like they're great fits for us aren't in reality. (There may be great schools that, when it's all said and done, you're actually grateful you didn't get into, based on what you later learn about their program, important faculty changes that you weren't aware of when you were applying, etc. It's sort of like when you really like a guy but he doesn't want to go out with you, and you later realize it never would have worked out anyway, even though he was totally hot.)
  2. In my program, it's understood that, with the exception of those nearing retirement, the profs all take grad students on, so students are essentially the ones who choose who they work with, and not vice versa. My program is pretty student-centered, so maybe this isn't the norm? (Though I hope it is!) I'd be interested in hearing others' experiences with this. Just another opinion to add to the sea of them, but I think that your rationale for not doing a thesis (and for doing the capstone and theory-based independent study) makes a lot of sense. You've clearly thought a lot about the way you've structured your last year of undergrad work, and adcoms will appreciate that. One more thing ... RE: PhD/MA dilemma: If your mentors are behind you, and you know you want to do a doctorate, then I say focus on kick-ass doctoral programs this time around just like you've planned. Sure, it's a gamble, but reapplying isn't the end of the world, and you can certainly consider MAs then. You're clearly focused and thoughtful, so don't let this anxiety-inducing process make you second guess yourself
  3. Hi, Timshel, Just wanted to second what Truckbasket said RE: generic letters of the "Dear (unspecified) Admissions Committee" variety being the norm. It's thoughtful of you to go the extra step with your students' letters, but it's not going to hurt your application in any way if the letters aren't tailored, even in the most basic way, to each school.
  4. I'd call the Grad Admins for the departments, Timshel, just to make sure. Chances are that they will accept it, but it'll make you feel better to know for sure. As for choosing the date, you might want to take a practice test if you haven't already and decide based on how you do. (Find one here.) You may find that you do pretty well on it, in which case you might want to keep the studying to a relative minimum and just get the thing out of the way. I know that there are folks who would disagree, but I really, truly believe that 1) the Subject Test is the least important part of your application, and 2) dramatically improving a decent score is much more of a time (and mental energy!) commitment than it's worth. I hope that helps. And good luck!
  5. Another thing for the Early Modernists on the thread to consider is whether or not the school is a member of the Folger Consortium. Students at consortium schools can apply for free travel and lodging for Folger conferences and seminars, and tuition and most fees are also waived. A friend of mine applied to a weekly seminar through the Consortium and, in addition to waiving his tuition, they paid for him to fly to DC each week. The seminar was super helpful for him--he honed in on a dissertation topic, met other folks with similar interests, and got to utilize the research library. ...annnnnd you get to write on your CV that you got a grant to hang out at the Folger for a semester, which isn't such a bad thing
  6. Glad to have helped in some little way, Grizbert-- I found myself facing a very similar conundrum last year during acceptance time. The fact that you're asking these sorts of questions before you apply means to me you're ahead of the game ... or at least doing better than I was at this stage
  7. Hi, Grizbert, I'd recommend, if given the option, not choosing a school based on a "perfect fit" potential advisor for a few reasons, the biggest one being that, unless you have intimate knowledge of the department's goings-on, you have no way of knowing whether or not this person will be at the institution for the duration of your time there. I have several friends in my program who applied in order to work with a specific faculty member who, in all likelihood, will be leaving at the end of this year for reasons that they were not privy to as applicants. (We also have a fabulous new senior professor who moved here from a great program this summer, and his old institution still has his faculty profile up on their site. Yikes!) On a more personal level, I ultimately chose the program I did because there isn't anyone here exploring the same questions I am interested in. Instead, there are a lot of really awesome, open-minded faculty members who are interested in my (admittedly inchoate) ideas despite the fact that they don't align neatly with their own. This set-up gives me a bit more room to develop my own ideas without falling into the scholar-worship I might have if I were working closely with someone whose work was directly influential to my way of thinking; at the same time, it means that I have to work a little bit harder to convince my advisors of the validity of my arguments, since, while interested and supportive, they don't necessarily gravitate to the same theoretical frameworks that I do. Though I can only speculate at this stage in the game, I'm anticipating that this sort of "cross-pollination" will make my writing stronger once I start publishing.
  8. I know how you guys feel. Last year, I applied to 6 PhDs, got four rejections in a row, and was resigned to it being an unsuccessful application round. (I even got so frantic after receiving one notification email that I accidentally clicked on the wrong embedded link and was led to some generic "welcome to grad school" site that, for half a minute of euphoric delusion, I thought meant I had been accepted. File this under "Top Ten Ways to Start Your Morning Crying a Little.") Then, on the last day of February, I got The Happy Call from one of my remaining schools. A week later, I got a call from my second school, and suddenly everything changed. I went from feeling hopeless and helpless to the enviable dilemma of having a choice in the matter, all after I had pretty much given up. Bottom line, it's still really early in the admissions game, even though it doesn't feel that way when you're the one waiting. There are lots more acceptances to be given out before the Admittance Fairy flies away 'til next year, and we're all rooting for you
  9. Congrats on your interview! I visited two schools last spring, one as part of a new admit event, the other on my own. While both visits went well, the comprehensive meet 'n' greet type event gave me a much better sense of the program. All the faculty members I wanted to talk to were on campus, and I got to spend time with the students who would eventually become my cohort and the students who were already working with the professors whose work I was most interested in. From your post I gather that there might be some considerable practical/financial concerns for you surrounding travel to/from these visits. If you do decide to do a visit on your own, I'd suggest 1) confirming that the two or three professors you'd most like to work with will be able to meet with you during your visit and 2) emailing students working with these professors before your trip so you can set up time to talk to them during your visit, too. At both of my school visits, I found current students to be refreshingly candid and very open to answering my (many) questions. (Also, financial assistance for travel seems to vary quite a bit from school to school and even year to year. I'd explain your situation as a candidate/admit from overseas who would love to come visit during their event but is having difficulty gathering funds, ask them if they could help you defray costs, and then just see what they say. Nothing to lose, everything to gain. Good luck!)
  10. The common wisdom on these boards is that your "future research" section should be quite specific when applying to PhD programs, and I would agree based on my personal experience. I basically wrote a (super)micro dissertation proposal that explained the theoretical base I wanted to work from and the questions stemming from it that I wanted to explore. (As silly as it may sound, no one expects you to stick to the research plan you lay out in the SoP. It's more of an exercise that shows the adcomm that you are capable of formulating interesting questions in dialog with important thinkers in your field.)
  11. I don't think we disagree, actually-- I think that it makes sense for the OP to contact the department's office anonymously via phone. What I wouldn't recommend would be either calling or emailing the DGS, unless the graduate admin refers the applicant to s/he directly. Apologies to the OP for not being more clear the first time.
  12. When I applied last year, I kept this in check by only including names of authors and critical texts that had directly influenced the proposal I was presenting in the SoP. (I think I ultimately mentioned three or four in total.) So an example sentence would be, "Drawing from Author X's recent work on Topic Wonderful, I'd like to Blah Blah Research Project." Hope that helps a bit.
  13. Just wanted to second (third?) the opinion that the best thing to do here is avoid anything that feels disingenuous. If naming professors at a program and thoughtfully linking their work to your interests feels forced, then it's probably going to sound forced to the admissions committee, too. And sounding like you're full of malarkey is much more likely to be a kiss of death than not naming professors in your SoP. Anecdotally, I applied to six PhD programs and received offers from two. One of those offers was from a school that had professors I was genuinely interested in working in--I knew their work and it was essential to the theoretical foundations of the writing sample I included in my application. I included these professors in my "fit" paragraph and meant everything I said about the possibility of working with them. The other offer came from the one school for which I didn't cite any professors in my SoP. Instead, I talked about how the department's overarching methodology was important to my development as a scholar. This was to one of the most competitive schools to which I applied, and, after the fact, I was worried that the application was dead in the water; in retrospect, I think writing something honest and unforced helped me. As for the ones I didn't get into ... well, I think I "shoehorned" professors into my fit paragraphs a bit, and, while I'm sure that wasn't the only factor that worked against my applications at those institutions, I'm quite sure it didn't help. (As an aside, I ended up going to the latter program, partly because there wasn't anyone here working on exactly what I am interested in, and I'm really glad that I did.)
  14. Ditto this. Last year, I was amazed by how much I was able to take out/tighten up without compromising content. It just takes time and a bit of merciless editing. (Having some objective advisers who aren't afraid to be blunt with you helps a bunch, too.) Good luck!
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