M(allthevowels)H

FWIW: A number of universities accept twice as many applicants as they have spots for. Some universities also have waitlists that are determined by time periods. It's likely that 2 people in your time period will need to reject their offer before an offer from the waitlist could be made. It's also possible that the department could be buried under preparing for classes next semester. 

Hi! I'm new here, so please excuse any formatting errors etc.
I'm currently in a Writing MFA program (concentrating in Nonfiction), due to graduate in spring of 2020, hoping to then enter a PhD program that fall. I'm looking at programs in English and Comp Lit, preferably ones that also offer concentrations in Media and Cultural Studies. I'm a little concerned that I'll be applying with an MFA instead of an MA — do you guys have any views on this? Will it help or hurt me? For what it's worth, the program I'm in is a highly ranked one.
Thank you in advance for your help! I lurked this forum a lot when applying for my MFA and I'm excited to continue lurking (lol) as I begin my PhD journey.
 
Edit: Also! Thoughts on applying to different programs at the same school? For example, American Studies and Comp Lit at the same school. Would this be noticed and work against me?

Accepted off the waitlist at UVA! I can hardly believe it, I was sure it wasn't going to happen.
If there any people who went to the visit, or who are current or ex students, please DM me! I'd like to ask some questions about the area and there's not really a lot of time to wait for responses through the regular channels.

declined vanderbilt. agonizing choice - such an amazing, warm, brilliant community. unfortunately I’m not sure if this will help anyone as I know a fairly big group has already accepted, but fingers crossed!

I beg to differ on this one. There are certainly some questions that you can't ask to some people but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be asked. They just need to be asked discreetly to the right person. Typically, these are the sort of things that you should ask grad students in a casual environment removed from professors, such as:
-Which professors shouldn't be put on committees together?
-Is the stipend enough to live on/what do students do to support themselves beyond the stipend?
-What is Professor X's reputations as an advisor?
-How prepared to students feel on the job market? How successful have recent grads been?
-Are their factions/cliques among the grad students? Among the professors?
-How many students leave the program before completion? Why do they leave?
-How flexible rigid are the course/program requirements? 
-Where do faculty and students butt heads?
 
I could go on, but that should give you an idea of the sort of things you really do want to know and should do your best to find out on a visit. Some of these you could ask to professors, but seeing as they're trying to convince you to attend, grad students are the better ones to ask. They too might be trying to sell the program but they were in your shoes more recently and thus are more apt to be more candid about their experience. Plus professors can be pretty oblivious about some of these things. You should definitely broach these topics tactfully, but they are by no means off limits.
 

After reading through all 23 pages, I think I've managed to compile the most salient (at least for me) and still relevant pieces of advice as far as grad school supplies 
Laptop - While most people have a laptop, it was recommended by several people that folks in a new laptop (unless yours is less than two years old) and make sure you get an extended warranty (one that will hopefully last the entirety of your program).  Note: look into funding opportunities for laptops within your department. Some will finance a new laptop for incoming grad students!  Desk - L-shaped came highly recommended, given the extra space. While i love my little desk, I may invest in a larger one by year 2.  Chair (Desk) - Investing in a good chair was stressed many times. You will likely be spending many hours hunched over a desk. get one that will be comfortable for your back, but won't put you to sleep.  Chair (Reading) - a separate reading chair was recommended for those hours upon hours where you'll be reading. a comfortable chair or couch was recommended. Printer - there was some debate regarding the pros/cons of a printer. In an increasingly digital age, I don't think a printer is completely necessary. ESPECIALLY because so many universities have printers available and printing costs included within stipends. But this will depend on the person Scanner OR File Cabinet - One person had recommended getting a file cabinet and regularly organizing it so as not to fall behind (if you are someone who likes having physical copies of everything, then go for this option). HOWEVER, someone then chimed in to say screw a file cabinet. just get a scanner. and i thought that was an excellent idea! just scan everything you need and chuck the physical copies (unless its like your birth certificate or something)  Coffee - Coffee maker, coffee carafe (to keep it warm for those days of marathon working), french press. you get the idea. ALTERNATIVE: electric kettle for tea drinkers  Large Water Bottle - lets be sustainable folks!  Snacks - for those long days  Wall Calendar  Dry Erase Board  Noise Cancelling Headphones  External Hard Drive Dongles - actually didn't see folks write about this, so I'm adding it! Dongles/adapters are constantly changing based on your device. Get the one that is specific to your computer to HDMI and VGA, and you should be set for most campus systems!  Paper shredder - unless your campus has a shredding removal service like my current one has. I'd say take advantage of that Travel - Luggage, toiletry bag, international travel adapter/converter, etc. You will presumably be traveling a bunch! Get the right travel accessories if you can Desk accessories - post its, highlighters, pens Notebooks - it seems like everyone has been unanimously pro-moleskine notebooks on here. mmmm I'm not! What *EYE* recommend is going to your local art supply store, and buying sketchbooks from there. They are usually so much cheaper. And most art stores have artist and student memberships available, so you can get major discounts. I just showed a sale and got all my notebooks and pens for less than $30. Just my opinion  Software - Just some of the software that came highly recommended and that I felt like was still relevant today: Evernote. Zotero. Scrivener. CamScanner. Nuance. iStudiez  Most of this is hella obvious. But some of these I hadn't even considered! And its nice to think about these things early so you have enough time to save up or search the internet for deals. I curated an Amazon wishlist based on the information i listed above. Let me know if you'd like me to post it here and make public! 
And remember: 90% (if not all) of this is OPTIONAL. Let's not make academia seem more inaccessible than it already is. You will excel regardless of whether or not you have these things.  There's always borrowing. lending programs through your university. free services through your libraries. There are options! 
Hope this is helpful to those reading this post 8 years later! It was certainly helpful for me. Aside from curating a great list of things i want, it also helped distract me from decisions this week ://////

this just goes to show how little difference there is between the students who were offered acceptance first and those who are waitlisted. both groups of students are wanted or they would've rejected you. this is also why no one should feel like an imposter if they're accepted off the waitlist. they wouldn't have accepted you if you were lesser in any way.

Early modern dude here. I've been wait listed at Vanderbilt and Buffalo. 
I don't want to influence anyone's decision unfairly, but I hear the hazing process at both schools is rough, bordering on sadistic: They make you eat a bowl of Skyline chili. So if you don't like the taste of ketchup-soaked cloves and lukewarm pencil shavings, you may want to direct your future elsewhere. 

I know we are in the thick of admissions results here on the literature forum. I feel like when I was here at this time last year, I was working hard to imagine and plan out what life could be like in the coming year, and trying to get as much information as I could out of these forums and other sources. I also think that sometimes it can feel a bit isolating in graduate school, and perhaps the struggles can be somewhat hard  to discuss. For that reason, I wanted to open up a discussion with the current students who still visit the forum to see how graduate school is going for you, and give a space for applicants/prospective students to ask any questions that may be lingering. Here are some initial prompting questions, but anyone else, feel free to chime in!
Has your PhD so far been what you expected it to be?
What are you impressions of your program?
Has anything about your program surprised you?
How are you feeling in general about your experience?
Have you found your research interests changing?
Are there any hardships you've faced that you want to share?
How about any successes you'd like to celebrate?

Pet peeve: When an application lets you select both of your races but then a subsequent pop up asks you to "please select one race that *most* describes you." Sorry Mom and Dad, I'm going to have to decide which of you annoys me more in this moment so I feel less guilty cutting you out of my identity. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 
 
 

You do know that the people who use services such as food stamps and Medicare have also contributed to society through work and taxes right? I don't quite think its fair to cast those who are in need as people who are just lazy leeches. That is disrespectful and untrue....I think you ought to go out and really see who are actually using these resources. Are there some taking advantage of safety-net programs? Definitely. But you will mostly find people who do work but still can't make ends meet....should they go hungry and without healthcare? How about those who lost their jobs? How about hard-working students like me and you who need food stamps?

Your "reap without sowing" comment is so misinformed it's not even funny. It just annoys me when people stereotype those in need without really knowing what's going on.

I've typed like seven different responses to this and I don't know whether to respond with a moral argument or a statement of objective fact. Objectively, the very nature of government is re-distributive. Example: when an army is raised, the protection which that army affords all citizens of the state is distributed equally while the costs are concentrated within a smaller proportion of the population (usually economic elites). The very nature of government is extraction and subsequent re-distribution. See Mancur Olson, 1993: http://www.jstor.org/pss/2938736
Now, if you want to make the argument that we shouldn't have government at all, then we can discuss this matter on those terms. However we should be mindful that many of the conveniences which we associate with modern life (roads, an electrical grid, potable water, toilets which you can throw used toilet paper down, the absence of roving bands of ax wielding ruffians) are the result of the growth of government. The private sector simply would not build an interstate highway system nor provide an efficient police force (see, much of the 3rd world and an outfit named Halliburton). Not because the private sector is evil, but because undertaking such a project simply isn't profitable in the short-run.
Beyond the obvious need for government to provide public goods, one could make the argument that government is needed to provide private goods as well, again through re-distribution. Subsidies to agricultural interests benefit a relatively small proportion of the population while imposing a general cost on John and Jane Q. Taxpayer. It is a gross inconsistency, as well as the height of hypocrisy, that many individuals who are virulently opposed to re-distribution support it when it benefits their own particular industry (see Charles Grassley re corn).
None of this even addresses the reprehensible 'moral argument' made regarding 'rightful gains' and 'reaping what one has sowed'. Remember that we are talking about healthcare! In the richest country the world has ever known it is a shameful tragedy and a blight on our national conscience that people should go without healthcare. Anybody with a thread of morality or compassion, who knows the history of the 20th century and is cognizant of the way in which much of the world lives, would agree that the right to live and be healthy is a basic human right.

Though I am Canadian, if I were you I wouldn't count on Obama's health care plan standing up in the courts. As much as I think it's a great step forward for your country, I know those mouth-breathing Republicans will stop at nothing to see it struck down.

Well you will see that I wasn't responding to you...it was the long-time-lurker. If you want to read over his or her post again, feel free to do so. He or she mentioned that people who receive benefits want to "reap what they haven't sowed". I
am pretty sure that this is suppose to imply that those who depend on programs haven't contributed enough to deserve them...hence I used the term "leeches." I had a problem with that argument, as I know many people who are on hard times and depend on these programs.

As hard as I am trying to follow and understand your argument, I still don't know what is wrong with expanding healthcare to millions of people who aren't insured. It costs way more tax dollars to take care of those who don't have health insurance and always have to turn to the ER and those with pre-existing health problems. Why not focus on preventative measures by making sure people can take care of themselves before they get sick? Wouldn't that be a better society overall? I am genuinely asking these questions.

I hope I make it off Vanderbilt's wait list. I've always wanted to attend a school named after an evil millionaire. 

No, I promise--I've served on grad admissions for many years, directing the committee several times, and  we're not looking for additional reading material! And we're definitely not looking to find out any dirt on our applicants in underhanded or nefarious ways. I'm not sure this is advice, exactly, but I'd just remind all applicants (especially at moments of disappointment) to keep sight of the fact that we have *way* more applicants who could clearly succeed in the program than we can admit. And even of those we admit (my institution aims for a cohort size of 6-8), we can't secure all of them academic jobs when they finish, even if they were spectacularly successful in the program (winning fellowships, publishing articles, writing stellar dissertations). We sometimes joke, grimly, that we're doing more of a favor to the applicants we reject than the ones we accept. Not to spread doom and gloom about the profession--I'm sure you've heard it all before. But it's worth keeping in mind that there are lots of ways to have a rich intellectual and professional life, inside and outside of academia.

Oh, thanks! I read the posts speculating about profs lurking and started to feel sheepish ... 

I'm the director of grad admissions in English at an R1 university. I'm not lurking to find any information on applicants! (By the time we've read your applications multiple times, we have more information than we can even process!) Rather, I'm trying to figure out what information might have been shared about particular/additional fellowships awarded--specifically, whether other admittees are aware that they were not awarded these funds. FWIW, GRE scores are really bad predictors of who will succeed in graduate school, and we try not to rely on them almost at all. 

The standard offer from Illinois is a fellowship plus teaching one course per semester during the first year. The stipend increase during the second year is in exchange for teaching two courses per semester. I'm not sure if teaching two courses is guaranteed. An enhanced offer includes an increased stipend plus no teaching for up to 3 years. I think there's usually a nomination process for the latter.

That was me! I’m excited— thanks. They said they took 4 funded PhDs this year, not sure about the rest. 

hey y’all, longtime lurker, finally posting to claim the Vanderbilt acceptance on the board! first place I’ve heard from and so relieved to get good news after weeks of increasing anxiety. if anyone’s curious (I know I always am when I obsessively refresh the results page 100x a day) my focus is early modern lit. congrats to other acceptances and fingers crossed for everyone waiting!

I think it's also good to note that smaller cohorts are not uncommon. Graduate Programs are becoming increasingly sensitive to the market and most are attempting to provide their graduates with as many resources as they can. Chicago and Johns Hopkins were traditionally huge programs with cohorts of 20+. In recent years, Johns Hopkins has chosen to accept between 0 and 6 candidates for each cohort. 

In at Chicago..........

I think Application Season is wonderful practice for the Academic Job Market. Each job on the job market will want a number of different documents. The length of these documents will also differ at each school. Application Season (while stressful) allows everyone to become better aquainted with each school they're interested in and learn how to tailor their application to each school they're applying to which is a crucial skill when applying on the Job Market. The practice allows you to think carefully about what you enjoy doing and which schools align well with your interests and your values in the future. (Are you interested in research? Teaching?) Are you sensitive to temperatures? What about area? How do you feel about a large lecture?How do you feel about small schools? After Graduate School, there are a lot more schools which have the potential to hire you. According to World Atlas, there are 3,026 4-year institutions. That's a lot of work to catch up on if you aren't sure what you're looking for within a university.

I think the biggest part this would cause is a huge increase in the number of applications. Less work means people who aren't passionate might apply anyway to get in. In turn, this will lead to less-interested professors who only applied because they were trying to delay something else in life without really caring about what that thing was. On the flipside, it might also mean that universities will only look at students who listed their university at the number 1 or 2 spot because these students are more likely to accept their offer. I don't see that going well for many people. The SOP is crucial because it allows professors to not get overbooked and different people might be interested in the same professor for different aspects. Without the SOP, professors would have to spend more time looking over applications on top of their additional responsibilities which often include teaching, academic advising, publishing, academic meetings, serving on other committees, applying for tenure/trying to get a promotion and so on.

Tbh I’d be happy with something as simple as a common app so that I didn’t have to enter my emergency contact information 10000 times