Rootbound

I'm glad the MAPH program is working well for you, clearly there are benefits to it. But, I would be a little hesitant to accept this as one of the benefits; I was shut out last year (with only a BA), and came to a similar realization. As a result of my shut out, I spent a serious amount of time reading both recently published scholarship by current faculty in my area of interest and by current or recently graduated students. I also re-read my SoP and thought, "Wow, that's a cute lil narrative about my undergraduate experience, not really a great grad school application though." The point here is that just having the rejections as feedback ("you did not do this right") and the perspective granted by a couple months of not being in an academic environment led to my application being much stronger and more mature this year. I don't doubt that you have a much better understanding of the field currently than I do, but I also think admissions committees have different expectations for students with only a BA vs students with an MA of some sort with regards to their currency in their chosen field. I just think that to advocate going into debt in order to strengthen a PhD application is a little extreme, especially as there are other ways to strengthen it (the one that worked for me being time and reflection). Academia may be an elitist beast, but we can still try not to feed it.

I had similar questions, and I was actually surprised at the lengthy and interested response I got from a program I’m waitlisted at. The tone of the response actually convinced me to stay on the waitlist more than the answers themselves, which is helpful information to have. I say definitely go for it—if they don’t answer at all, or if they are dismissive, that’s good information to have too!

Glad you got good news!!

Outside of my research, but I read Samantha Hunt’s “The Seas” back in November while going through endless drafts of my SoP, and it was such a captivating read. Highly reccomended to one and all!

Well I would encourage you to desperately beg them for info because that's exactly what I did.

On the same kind of waitlist at UVA. I’m an early modernist.

Shaggy is still here! I am early modern, and also listed Clare Kinney.....I have no idea why they are doing it the way they are doing it. Seems like they send out ten emails and then the computer crashes for a week.

Very cool! Mary Sidney is the best. I had similar experience with Margaret Cavendish—wrote a thesis (in part) on her work, and fell head over heels. I’m now the proud owner of a Cavendish t-shirt. Lanyer is also someone I would be so stoked to read in a graduate setting. I know, go rutgers!! Early modern women writers represent!

Right on!!! That’s so exciting. I’m really happy about Rutgers because they have such a great track record for work on women writers. Any authors you’re particularly excited to work on?

Congrats to a member of the UVA mystery gang!

In at Rutgers! What a thrill. Very sweet call from my POI.

Shaggy’s still out here with no word either...what a fun game we are playing, UVA.

Given my profile picture of a romantic young Donne with the locks of love, I’ll put dibs on Shaggy.

Just wanted to register with both of you two as another member of the UVA mystery gang. I would have assumed it was an invisible waitlist if somebody hadn’t already said they called UVA and been informed that they had notified everyone on the waitlist....on the other hand, there are no UVA waitlists on the board, so who knows what delightful game they are playing.

Ah. Well I can’t say this is particularly encouraging information, but good to have nonetheless. Thanks!

I was really thrown off to see the UVA rejections on the board this morning, not having got one myself--glad my head's not alone on this chopping block.

Oops sorry, Penn. Although I don’t remember getting an email to check my Penn portal until mid-March.

My rejection letter came with a date of February 16th last year....if that makes the silence any more fun.

Seeing as no one has answered your last question yet, here's my best advice: Use the US News rankings as a starting point to find well-regarded programs (the actual significance of these rankings is very much up for debate, especially as so much varies by specialty). If you start to feel drawn towards specific periods, I believe you'll be able to find rankings based on period with a quick google search as well. Start going through these programs' faculty to see who fits your interest and start reading their published work. It's very possible that reading currently published work in areas that intrigue you will help solidify and focus your own interests, and also help you get up to speed with the jargon of the field. Once you have found someone who's work in some way relates to the kind of work you would like to do, take a closer look at the program: do they only have one faculty member in the area you are interested in? Do they have current grad students with broadly similar interests to yours? Or, does it seem like they already have a glut of people doing what you would like to do? If teaching is important to you, check and see if they actively support pedagogical development, and see what their job placements look like. The most helpful part of this "finding a fit" process will probably be all the reading of current scholarship; as others have mentioned, nothing will get you up to speed like reading reading reading. Best of luck!

Apologies for a non-reply to your questions, but I wanted to give a huge hurrah for a fellow Cavendish fan!! I wrote my undergrad thesis partly on Cavendish's Poems and Fancies, and she is an author I very much want to continue working on in grad school. "Hunting of the Hare" is absolutely fantastic, and (I think) engages with some Petrarchan tropes in a pretty singular way. I would encourage you to apply if only to add another Cavendish fan to the academic world!

I can’t answer your question about the impact of a LOR from undergrad, but I can say that LORs are generally pretty important, behind your SOP and writing sample. I’m not sure how much extra work your undergraduate letter writer is willing to do, but perhaps share some of your work from your MA with them? That way they can speak more directly to your current level of scholarship.

Sounds like the common sense way to go about it! thanks for the advice

Hello all, Quick question: one of the programs I am applying to asks for a writing sample that "must be between 3,000 and 7,500 words (12-30 pages)." The work I was planning on submitting is well under 30 pages, but about 500 words over the word limit. I might be driving myself a little crazy over this one, but does anyone have any insight on whether or not that would be a problem? I have already edited it a good deal, and if worse comes to worse I can find 500 words to lose, but I would rather not if I don't need too....Thanks!

Haven’t heard from berkeley either, and even though there seem to be a slightly low number of reported acceptances, it definitely feels like a rejection. I dont understand the huuuuuge gap between acceptances and rejections from them.....