So I'm new here and have been checking out these forums for the last week or so because my anxiety over hearing back on acceptances is killing me and knowing others are out there in the same boat makes it a little better. Plus I can see when people are hearing back from schools. Anyway... I just wanted to reply to this thread because I am applying this fall with my fiancee to programs - fiancee to English/Literature PhDs and me to Biology PhDs. I didn't look at this website much during applications and now that I have I am super stressed out by the fact that we have only applied to 3 schools - University of Arkansas, University of Denver, and University of Massachusetts (Amherst). We considered a fourth school that could have been on the table for me (I have to secure a potential advisor at each school and make sure I would want to work in their lab) but ultimately didn't apply because we didn't think even if we got in that we would want to live in the area that school was in. Other potential schools we looked at (and we looked at places all over the US) fell through on my end unfortunately. I am super worried we did not apply to enough now because I didn't realize just how competitive English programs could be and because it seems everyone here applied to 5 or more. I am posting here on behalf of my fiancee to know how he might compare to other applicants out there. Overall I think we are both fairly competitive but I don't think either of us realized just how competitive English grad programs can be.
Some info on him are BA at small state school with ~3.85 GPA (graduated from honors program) and with lots of conferences, research experience, and academic involvement (served on committees for the honors program and creative writing journal). MA from a different small state school 4.0 GPA with a couple of conferences, academic involvement (mainly with the creative writing part of the program) and thesis on its way to publication. He has some publication type things but mainly on the creative writing side and is preparing his thesis for publication in an academic journal. His GRE scores are 167V 155Q and 3.5 writing (he is a great writer just didn't prepare for that type of writing). He was a TA during his 2 years for his MA and now has experience teaching his own classes last semester (freshman composition) and this semester (freshman comp. and freshman lit.). I may be forgetting a few things but I think that's the gist of his academic career. His interests in literary research are in southern literature but more specifically Appalachian lit. I'm not sure I can specifically articulate what type of research he wants to do but as I understand it he is interested as to how these regional literatures expand in their influence beyond the region in which they are found (his thesis was on a novel that is a great example of Southern Gothic literature but the novel is actually set in Ohio).
My fiancee and I are most worried about SOP because I'm not sure either of us are super confident in our SOPs. He worries a bit about not having his research interests defined enough (though I think he expresses his interests I mention above) and I hadn't read how important a SOP can be in the admissions process. He also worries that his involvement with the creative writing sides of his undergrad and master's departments doesn't really matter since he is applying to do English literature programs and not creative writing ones (he just enjoys being involved on both sides but ultimately prefers doing academic research). I guess I am posting to see if anyone knows how my fiancee might stack up since he has no idea who he's competing against (and neither do I really). Also if anyone has any kind words about how maybe it isn't impossible for us both to get into at least one of our schools I would really appreciate it (though I do worry UMass might be out since I know some acceptances have been sent out there and he worries that the fit there might not be right for him, also it is the highest ranked of the schools we are applying to). I'm not sure if it's relevant but I have unofficially been accepted into U. of Arkansas so that's about all we know in terms of application decisions so far. I'm just super worried by only applying to 3 schools that we have potentially really hurt out chances of getting into a school together. I'll be happy to hear anything anyone here has to say!
Also good luck to everyone else on hearing back from schools!