[Carnegie Mellon Literary and Cultural Studies MA]

I’ve been through that program. What do you want to know?

[Projected Acceptance Dates for English PHD programs]

2 hours ago, jpbends said:

That's been really bugging me because I saw it pop up this week but nobody has claimed it, nobody else has posted a decision from Irvine, it's uncharacteristically early (by about four or five days), and Irvine doesn't typically notify by phone. They've said in pretty much every stage of the application process that they notify by email so it's really iffy for me but I hope it's just somebody who called early and got a decision, and that they're still going to be releasing acceptances soon.

Hi! I posted the Irvine acceptance that’s up. I just found this thread, and i’m sorry that its been giving you so much anxiety! I got a call from the grad director last weekend letting me know i was accepted and inviting me to campus. He said official offers would be sent out on the 16th though. I’m guessing that since no one else has posted theirs and official offers are still a week out, a fair amount of acceptances haven’t been notified yet! Hope this helps!

[Applying to MA programs without an English BA or many English classes.]

I recently completed an MA in literature after coming from a nearly identical situation (Pol. Sci undergrad and almost no lit. classes), so it can certainly be done. One thing I emphasized in my personal statement was that i was switching fields and wanted to complete an MA before a PhD so I could orient myself to the field. That seemed to work fairly well - I got in to every program I applied to. You'll probably do better in programs that have some commitments to interdisciplinary research and course work. They tend to welcome people from outside the field more than traditional lit programs might.