superfluouswoman

I've accepted a PhD offer at Davis in Comp Lit. I have everything set (housing, funding, etc) and now I'm just trying to mentally prep myself to live somewhere quiet. I grew up in Cairo, Egypt and then lived in NYC for four years. I didn't visit campus before accepting so I'm really not sure what to expect. Will I die of boredom? How diverse is it? What do you do if you don't know how to drive OR ride a bike?? These are all things that keep me up at night. Anyone else attending Davis and have similar concerns/anyone out there have some words of wisdom for this lost city girl?

Looks like I found my tribe. I'm also freaking out about gaps in my knowledge. Though my BA is in comp lit, I feel like that was forever ago and the last three years of my life have been consumed by creative work. It feels like it might be a daunting task to make the switch. My MFA did have a few classes that were a little more academic but our final papers were always creative. I'll definitely check out some of the books you recommended!

Same. They said 1-2 weeks though. So, it might be another week of anguish.

Oof sorry to hear about the rough day. I also got a handful of rejections yesterday. But, don't rule any school out until the official rejection is in your inbox! When I was doing my MA/MFA cycle a few years ago I was rejected by almost all the schools I had applied to and just as I was giving up I got a Columbia acceptance! Stay strong, friend!

Rejected from Princeton and Northwestern today and rejected from Yale yesterday. It's been rough, fam. Praying to the ancestors for Penn.

Got my Northwestern rejection today. Hoping you had better luck!

Same here. Definitely expected but still a bummer.

Sure! The POI that I mentioned in my SOP has retired and the only other Arabic literature specialists in the department work with poetry rather than novels. My SOP was focused on novels so they asked me how I would manage that if I have an advisor whose strength is in poetry. They started the interview with that and it almost threw me off because I was expecting to jump straight into talking about my research rather than talking about how I would overcome a hurdle. They also asked why I chose to apply to the comp lit program and not the near east languages and civilizations program.

I also just finished up my interview with them (the interview I mentioned in the previous post was for Davis). They threw a few curveballs my way but I think it went pretty well. My roommate, who was listening at the door like the helicopter mom that she is, claims that I killed it so here's hoping! They also told me results will come in the next couple of weeks.

The one interview I had was pretty straightforward and simple. They just asked about me to describe my research interests and what comparative element I’m thinking of incorporating. They also asked me about my language skills and how I plan to use them for my research. I wasn’t quizzed on my language skills though someone else on this thread mentioned that they were. The last five minutes of the interview were dedicated to answering any questions I had. Hope this helps!

CONGRAAAAATS!! That’s so exciting!

Wednesday morning!

Yup! Middle East/North Africa and postcolonial

ME TOO!! CONGRAAAAATS!!!

You are a champion! I got an email notifying me to check the portal.