nichts

My mentor (who headed admissions for a top public R1 university) said that while there are many excellent students coming from the MAPH, the degree says more about your financial situation than intellectual prowess. That isn't to say students coming from the MAPH don't get accepted to PhD programs, but I'm afraid its reputation may get in the way. CSDS is a great program though, and there's nothing unusual about going straight from undergrad to PhD. Good luck.

I second @Glasperlenspieler's advice, and recommend you reflect more on your interests before narrowing down schools. What do you like about these times, places, and ideas, and how can you bring them into conversation with one another? Try reading through the essays you wrote for literature courses, and looking into the GRE subject test if you plan on taking it. Of course the best way to make sense of your interests would be to seek advice from professors you trust, and preferably more than one. They can also help you decide between English and comparative literature and whether you should apply for an MA or PhD. Finally, my mentor told me to to think more broadly about potential advisors, to focus less on what they study and more on how they study it, so you may want to keep that in mind as well. For example, I identified one advisor for the exceptional work she does in literary history and by looking through her previous students' dissertations. She specializes in South African literature, which I know almost nothing about, but her research background could be applied to my area of study.

Cue aneurism.

Thank you!!!! I'm quite pleased. Not sure I would have made it through a second application cycle.

A few existential crises later—I'm on the wait list for U. Maryland and Penn! If anyone is likely to decline their offer, please let me know!

Congratulations, @immanentfields! Edit: And thanks for giving an update!

No such luck, my friend. Sounds like you have a good chance though! If the person who posted the rejection dated Feb 27 is on here, would you mind clarifying whether you were interviewed and how you were notified?

Hey @Oklash, I was told the SOP is not a contract, and once you're accepted, it may as well go out the window. It's there to show you can come up with a project, not that you already have one. This is as good a time as any to make a shift, and you even have the next few months to catch up on essential theory and contemporary debate. There are a lot of ways your background in modernism might benefit study of nineteenth-century literature (speaking as someone who focused on modernist lit during undergrad), and if you already have a background in the nineteenth century, it doesn't sounds like cause for concern. I bet faculty would be glad to help you work through it.

Congratulations, @YTC and @DatGuy, I'm so happy for you! This may sound stupid or sappy, but I'm glad to see offers go to people rather than statistics. I appreciate the support on this thread.

Glad to help! Afraid not. I should probably qualify my earlier post and say this all depends on how you learn. For me, online resources were a distraction, and learning platforms make it easy to get excited about a language only to lose your momentum within the month. Languages don't have to be hard, but they do require a lot of dedication, so find something reliable and build a routine around it if you can. Something like Lingvist might be right for you. Best of luck and feel free to reach out if you have other questions. @punctilious Most welcome!

It's great that you're learning Russian! The first few months with a Slavic language are tough. You'll have to sludge through grammar exercises and drill vocab every day. There's just no way around it. I would try not to get distracted by the materials and language-learning commentary online and instead find only a few resources that work for you (a grammar textbook and electronic flashcards at first; newspaper and radio stream later on). If you can't find flashcards specific to your textbook, you can make them yourself through a free app called Anki. I recommend this over memrise, as their decks vary in quality and can be difficult to stick with, and especially over Duolingo, which slows your progress so you see more ads. When a case gives you trouble, try looking at different declension tables, reading explanations from a more technical textbook (focused on linguistics rather than fluency), or organizing the information in different ways until it makes sense. Finally, if you plan to use a language outside of reading, pronunciation is key. You can speak quickly, you can have perfect grammar, but none of it matters if a native speaker can't make out your words. Speak words aloud as you learn them, and once you gain some confidence, start putting on Russian radio at the house. Passive listening can help. @punctilious Have you seen the Russian cinema wiki? I came across it just two days ago.

Sadists. Well thanks again @DatGuy!

OR THE NEXT?

@EspritHabile Wonderful advice, thank you. How to take advantage of the next few months seems like a good subject to broach with your program (or POI). They'll probably be able to tell you what students know coming in, and you can gauge what kind of support you'll receive there.