Rootbound

I'm an early modernist at a phd program on the east coast of the US (also very into allegory), feel free to message me if you have questions!

As a current grad student at a university with a very strong and active union, I can heartily endorse their importance. The current pandemic is obviously unprecedented and a relatively unique event, but the union here has gone to great lengths to successfully protect not only its members, but also graduate students on fellowship and other staff--actions that simply would not have happened without their work. Without a union, rather obviously, your labor can be more easily exploited by the institution, and grad students are near first on the exploitable list. Recently, the union here has negoti

Say this more formally and maybe add something about how great that DGS specifically was and you're good to go. They expect some applicants to turn down their offers, it's not a big insult to them if you change your mind.

I know from experience last year that UVA maintains an invisible waitlist, and while they did eventually formally tell me I was on it, it was well into March, and after I had informally been told in answer to my email. However, there were also people who were simply rejected later--whether or not that spoke to their place in the invisible line, I'm not sure. I would recommend waiting until March if you can stand it, as it's likely your application is still under some kind of consideration.

Nope. Four is plenty. The English departments really will not care, and four is enough to clear any larger institutional bars for funding.

Couple things: 1) While higher ranked schools are indeed more competitive, the whole admissions process is, on some level, a bit of a crapshoot. Your application may not succeed based on things you could not possibly know--the professor you named in your personal statement might be taking a job elsewhere, or they might not want to take on more students. They may have just admitted a bunch of people with the same interests as you, and are looking to diversify. Or, and this is how so many people end up on waitlists, they just have to draw the line somewhere. That said, I would encourage you

I would just add that it's also important to look at how many years of guaranteed funding students receive. Although programs can often fund their students beyond the guaranteed time, it should give you a bit more of an idea as to how the program views its time to degree.

I always assumed there was no wiggle room (excluding works cited pages). If they ask for 15 pages, try to get as close to that without going over as possible. Why give them anything to complain about? For the “less then 10/15” requirements, obviously you wouldn’t want to send in a 5 page paper. While I would recommend getting close to the limit (this is one of your few chances to show the admission committee your academic strengths, so show as much as you can!), if you have a complete, polished 12 page paper, I don’t think those extra three pages would be anything to stress about. As a s

If the grad programs "highly recommend" that you submit the English Lit GRE, then you should. Most of the crowd that you want to stand apart from will also have submitted an English Lit GRE score as well, and not submitting one may make you stand out for the wrong reasons. More importantly, however, the English GRE subject test will never be the high point on anyone's application. Your score, as long as it is at least near average, will probably only be looked at once. Of course, a high score will never hurt your application, but an average score will still help. I believe the GRE Subject scor

An outstanding score on the english lit subject will very rarely be an application’s tipping point. A poor score, however, is much more likely to be noticed and have an effect. While taking the test might communicate to departments that you are competitive with applicants who have an English undergraduate degree, it’s never going to speak as strongly as your SoP, writing sample, and recs. I think the most a good score on the test will say is that you’ve “done your homework.” Unfortunately, your score will probably have a very minimal effect, but in order to be competitive with applicants with

I actually worked as a GRE test prep teacher for a while, so I have maybe a teeeeeny bit more* inside knowledge of the GRE and its function in grad admissions. Disclaimer though: all programs use it differently. Usually, GRE scores, particularly verbal and AW are more impactful as red flags than they are as benefits—that is to say that while a higher score won’t necessarily help you that much, a lower score can have a bigger negative impact. Unless the Graduate School as a whole, not the department, has a minimum you need to clear to be eligible for funding, I think you will be totally fine—in

Heading to Rutgers! Pretty stoked about the program, and excited to join.

OMG CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Turned down Indiana University's offer.

Best of luck! Glad to hear you are approaching clarity about the whole mysterious decision process, or at least as much clarity as any waitlist allows. Rooting for your Michigan result!