agunns

So, I applied to PhD programs in English Lit this past fall after graduating from an MA program in June. I told myself that I would go anywhere as long as they have a school that I feel is a good fit, but at the end of the day I ended up with one acceptance: IU-Bloomington. The program so far feels like it will be a pretty good fit, but the location is what I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around. I hear that lots of people love Bloomington, but I’m starting to have some serious second thoughts about relocating from Chicago. I can’t tell if this is just a freaked out reaction to moving or if I didn’t give enough consideration to place when I chose to what programs to apply to. I don’t want to complain because I know I’m lucky to get in somewhere, but I also don’t want to end up somewhere that I really don’t want to be for six years. Thoughts? Is anyone experiencing a similar sort of issue?

That's great to hear! I do really enjoy living in a big city, but don't absolutely need that lifestyle, and I've heard such fantastic things about Bloomington from everyone I've talked to. It's definitely going to a big shift going from a big city to a college town again, but I'm excited!

That's great! I hope to see you there!

Thank you! I'm definitely going to still attend the recruitment day because I've never been to Blooomington and I figured it's a great chance to meet some of the faculty in person. But I figured why wait to accept the offer when I know that I'm going to no matter what!

I officially accepted an offer from IU-Bloomington! It's so hard to believe that the process is finally over.

I also did a one year master's program, which I graduated from last June. Because it was only a year, I did decide (at the recommendation of all the faculty I spoke with) to take at least one gap year, and apply to programs in Fall 2017 while working. I am very, very happy that I made the decision to do so. I think that even just taking time off of school while working and completing applications helped clear up for me exactly what I wanted out of a PhD program. In terms of work, I did a few different things during my gap year. My program offered summer internships, so I ended up doing an internship in the archives department of a public research library in Chicago (only to find out that I actually really don't like working in archives!). After that summer internship ended, I landed a position as an adjunct instructor teaching beginning English composition at a university in Chicago. That's still my primary work, although with the pathetic adjunct salary that they pay us, I've had other part-time jobs like dog walking. I think it's definitely helpful to try and find something close to your field of study when you're looking for work, if for no other reason than that it will probably be more enjoyable. But I also don't think that having a job somewhere like Starbucks would reflect negatively on your application. I found that having a teaching job, even if it was teaching just one class part-time, really helped my application, but it's not the be-all-end-all if you don't do something like that. Unfortunately I found it difficult to balance work and applications, which is not necessarily something that can be avoided. My biggest piece of advice would be to start writing your application early. I typically tried to spend about 30 minutes after work during the week focusing on applications, and then I would block off bigger chunks of time during the weekend. It was tough, but it's manageable!

I definitely echo the statement about asking about friends and social life in the program. I was in a similar situation when I did my MA, because I loved the school and knew I wanted to go there. I made sure to ask about the student community during campus visits, and I was really glad that I did. My program ended up having a lot of different social events, and I made some really good friends. It's definitely something that makes graduate school more bearable, so getting a sense of the community there is always a good idea!

I definitely second all of this. To be very, very honest, only one or two schools I applied to required the test, so I definitely did not study as much as I probably should have. I ended up with a score in the 55th percentile, and just chose not to re-take it. (My experience was also that it was mostly comprehension questions so no amount of studying will really help.) Despite not having a great score, I ended up getting accepted to IU-Bloomington, which was one of the few places that required it. So, I think even schools that do require the test take it with a grain of salt.

I don't necessarily have any answers, but I feel like I've been in the same boat! I typically refer to myself as a 19th c Americanist, even though my main period of research is roughly 1880-1920. But I have done a good deal of work in mid-20th c lit as well, so I often struggle to figure out how to brand myself. It was particularly difficult with PhD apps, as most of the options for field of specialization made you either choose 19th or 20th c American, which frustrated me as I am definitely both in a way.

I've finally heard back from all the schools I applied to (minus Berkeley, which I assume is a rejection at this point), so if campus visit days go well, it looks like I'll be off to IU-Bloomington for PhD!

That is really strange, but also comforting to hear in a weird way! At least it's not an outright rejection.

Me! I just checked my portal and don't have anything updated.

I definitely don't think you need to suck it up and stick with modernism! At least in my experience/opinion, an MA program is the perfect time to shift your interests and figure out what you're really interested in (and this process will likely continue into PhD if you go that route). I started my MA program being interested in late-20th century American lit, ecocriticism, and feminist theory. While I still find all those things interesting, my research drastically shifted over the one-year MA I did, and when I graduated/applied to PhD programs, my focus was late-19th century American lit, biopolitics, and queer theory. I would definitely suggest seeking out any faculty that align with your new research interests as well. It'll be one of the best ways to get a sense of how to go about making that shift.

Still being ghosted by Brown and Berkeley; anyone else in a similar situation? I'm going to assume rejections from both of them at this point.

I'm really glad that you started a discussion about this! I don't necessarily have anything constructive to add, but I'm mostly in the same boat as you are; I have one acceptance, and I've been rejected from everywhere else (including two implied rejections since I haven't heard anything either way). The stipend that I've been offered is enough to live on in Bloomington, but it'll be just enough - in other words, I also have some concerns about living expenses, even though Bloomington has a much lower cost of living than New York! I've been debating on whether or not I should try to ask for more funding, because I also don't feel like I have much leverage.

Honestly one of my main pieces of advice would be to befriend, or at least become friendly with, any PhD students while you're an MA student. My MA program was only a year long, but I ended up being in classes with some of the new PhD students at my school. Near the end of the school year, I had a random conversation with one of the PhD students after class and she ended up offering to send me her SoP/writing sample and to read any drafts of my SoP/writing sample that I wanted to send to her. When I started my MA, I didn't even think about this as a possibility, but seeing her work was hands-down one of the most helpful ways for me to get a sense of what types of things top programs were looking for in an SoP, etc. Had I known how friendly and willing to help she would be, I would have definitely tried to form connections with as many PhD students as possible at my school. In addition, I would also say that you should try to form connections with as many profs as possible, even if you're not necessarily going to use them as recommenders for PhD. I sent my SoP drafts to my recommenders, but other people that I knew in the program had a good enough relationship with various profs that they were able to send those profs drafts of their work even though they weren't expecting recommendations from said profs. Basically, just make sure that you're building connections as much as possible. When it comes time to write your PhD apps, you'll want as many eyes as possible on your apps, because that's really the best way (in my opinion) to make your application as strong as possible.

So I don't know if there are any resources available that have several writing samples available, but I would be happy to send you the writing sample I used. I was recently accepted to IU-Bloomington for the English PhD program (IU-B is ranked #20 by US news), and I also focus on feminist and queer theory, although in a different time period. In addition, have you been able to befriend any current PhD students at UA? During my MA year, I was in a class with a PhD student and after chatting with her, she offered to show me her writing sample that had gotten her admission to the school we were at. I think that was possibly one of the single most helpful ways to get a sense of what schools are looking for.

I just received an acceptance from the PhD program in English at IU and I was a little surprised about the stipend offer because it didn't seem like much (for instance, my first year stipend is about $18,000 and then will be roughly about $16,000 until I start working on my dissertation). It's definitely not as much funding as you might get from one of the other Tier 1 or 2 schools, but I've done some research on cost of living in Bloomington and talked with some current PhD students. They've assured me that the stipends IU offers is more than enough to live on in Bloomington - and the dept is apparently quite generous with additional fellowships/funding once you've been in the program a while.

Another thing to consider when thinking about "traditional" vs. "nontraditional" English PhD programs is the opportunities available for students to engage in work outside their department. When I say this, I'm specifically thinking about the way that IU-Bloomington's program is set up. I've always considered English literature to sort of be my "home base" so to speak in terms of academic work, but my work within the field of English lit has always been more concerned with interdisciplinary research from drawing in feminist theory, queer theory, biopolitics, etc. etc., rather than a specific region or time period of literature. I received an acceptance to Bloomington's English PhD program, and they were telling me that they have a required PhD minor, which means in addition to completing the PhD requirements for English lit (I do mostly 19th c American), I need to declare a sub-field through the minor option, which extends to everything from American studies to critical theory to gender studies. I guess my point here is that whether a department is "traditional" or not doesn't necessarily need to stop you if think you've found a good fit! I particularly have a lot of friends from my MA program who do English and Philosophy, and many of them have ended up going the English PhD track due to the opportunities for PhD minors, graduate certificates, etc. So to echo others on this thread as well, I do think that many English departments moving towards a more interdisciplinary/nontraditional mode anyway, and my advice would be to consider all those extra factors as well, like opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. Bloomington's PhD minor was definitely one of the major draws for me.

Well that's good to know that it will soon, I guess. I'm more or less expecting a rejection but was holding out a little bit of hope!

Might have missed this already, but has anybody else heard from Brown or Berkeley? I saw some mentions on the acceptance thread about a few people hearing, but I'm dying to know because these are my last two schools. I'm in a IU-Bloomington, which is exciting, so I'm waiting on these two before I make my final decision.