starrystarry

Hi, could I take you up on this as well? I have a History background and applied to schools for PhDs in Literature this past fall and am trying to assess my application before I go in to another round and would really appreciate it if you had time to look at my SoP. Thanks!

This has been really useful to read! I'm a History major with an MA in Women's History, and applied to PhD programs in Literature this year (didn't make it past the waitlist to my top choice). My interests are largely in contemporary poetics, queer studies, and borderlands/hybridity, and I'm having a hard time figuring out what my next steps should be, if my writing sample or research needs to be framed in different, more traditionally literary ways. Most English departments I was interested in emphasized being interdisciplinary or an openness to such work, but its possible I'm outside enough of the discipline formally to not be reading that correctly. I'm currently considering an MFA in Poetry at Sarah Lawrence, and was wondering if anyone here had any ideas/suggestions about the interplay between MFAs and PhDs in terms of interdisciplinary interests. I'm an international student, so an MFA also gives me time to stay in the States and work on presenting at conferences, possibly getting more lit classes on my transcript, and being in touch with faculty more, but I wasn't sure if, given I already have a very unconventional background for someone applying for PhD in Literature, an MFA on my CV would make my academic interests easier to dismiss.

Congratulations!! I've been checking my inbox for a mail from CUNY all day - what's your field/research interests in case? So glad the waitlist worked out for you

Thanks! My heart stopped when I saw those emails too. I guess I’ll know either way by tomorrow... Best of luck for the one you’re waiting for! I hope so - the CUNY waitlist is my only chance of getting in this year, so I’m hoping my email has some good news over the weekend, but every minute is anguish at this point. Thank you! I was at the open house too, and got my hopes up seeing how many students were on the waitlist so let’s see. Thanks again, fingers crossed!

Anyone here who's on/heard about the CUNY waitlist? I know there's been some movement, and I have all my fingers crossed and was wondering if anyone knew people who're accepting/decline/have heard anything at all. (This is probably just my anxiety talking at this point). Best of luck to all!

I haven't heard anything from them at all, so I'm guessing that means there was/is a shortlist? Best of luck!

(Hi, I'm a first time poster, long time lurker!) Waitlisted at CUNY's GC! It's my top choice, so really hoping this works out. Anybody else on the waitlist? It seems like it's organized by field, but I'd love to know if anyone has any information about it. Best of luck to all!