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beardedlady

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Everything posted by beardedlady

  1. From the fact that they told me it's unranked, I'd venture the longlist. I don't think removing myself will be much help to you, but I hope some good news will come your way soon!
  2. Withdrew from the GWU waitlist. Crossing my fingers for movement this week for all you waitlisted out there!
  3. Turned down a fully funded spot at Fordham's PhD program, hope this helps someone out! The campus was gorgeous and the DGS honestly couldn't be any more helpful.
  4. And apparently Emory's not done stringing us along, as I have yet to hear a peep from them since applying. Same with NYU... It'd be nice to just have some closure. BTW I'm also waitlisted at GWU; have you heard anything from them besides the form letter on the website? Wondering how the waitlist works etc.
  5. What do you consider as "fit"? How do you determine it? I ask just because I think people may be able to give more specific, or just better advice depending on the answer, as this already nebulous term is used differently by different people If it were me, I wouldn't place too much of an emphasis on research fit (but again, my advice may be different depending on how you determine research fit). Unless the other programs have literally nothing of interest to you research-wise (which I can't imagine being the case), I'd suggest following the money, especially when talking about a nearly 50% higher stipend. Considering similar CoL, more money would relieve financial stress and allow you to focus on your courses and research, to attend conferences etc.
  6. I just wanted to say that I think your perspective seems very level-headed, which is a feat in itself and just amazing (I think I'd be bouncing of the walls with nerves and stress). I truly hope the visits help you with this difficult decision! In any case have fun, and sending you good vibes and lots of luck.
  7. I'm reviving this old thread (and chose this one specifically a little at random and also because some of the responses seemed to make interesting points) because maybe it'll be helpful for next year's applicants to hear our experiences. FWIW, I didn't take the test and applied to 5 schools that "recommended" it in some way; I was accepted to one school that "highly recommends" it and even set a benchmark score, and was wailtisted at two others that vaguely "recommended" it. I honestly don't think that this in itself would have been the reason I was waitlisted rather than admitted, but who knows. I'm an applicant with an MA who has had little in the way of a well-rounded course selection--i.e. the vast majority of my courses focused on 19th & 20th century (but my stated focus on apps was 20th & contemporary, so at least it matches. If I were applying as an early modernist I guess my situation would be different). My advice would be: don't let department's statements on recommending to take the test deter you from applying if you haven't. This probably isn't going to be the reason you do/don't get a spot. (Of course, this is just my opinion, based on completely anecdotal evidence.)
  8. Got some meh news from WUSTL--that they're not "encouraging" waitlisters to visit this year since they took a smaller cohort and are unsure how much they'll need to dip into the waitlist pool if at all. This does not seem to bode well for me. I'm trying to gauge if this is a general thing with the waitlist or that maybe they know I personally won't be likely to get off the waitlist. Has anyone had any contact with them? Has anyone got in and know they'll be declining the offer? PM would be great if you don't want to go into it here!
  9. What's your future goal with a PhD? Look at Rutgers' placement rates, they're pretty damn solid and I think they are very well regarded. But is it either/or? Apply to Rutgers as well as a couple of top-10's and some lower ranking programs that are strong in your AOIs. There are no guarantees in this game anyway. You should definitely be aware of yourself, your academic record, and your strengths (and weaknesses), but don't unnecessarily discount your ability to get into a top school. You should definitely not apply to ivies/to-10 schools alone, since even if you're a perfect candidate you could easily not get admitted. This is a little bit of a numbers game, and luck factors in big-time imo. Also, it's unlikely that all ivies/top-10 schools would be a good fit for you. But some probably would be, so why not take a chance? If your professors think you have the potential to get accepted to a top-ranking school, I'm sure they know what they're talking about.
  10. One should look at placements of people in their subfields and whether POIs get their students into good positions. Though this still assumes that one would remain in the particular subfield, which isn't always the case. Oh that is a tricky one! I'll just say that IMO very open communication about the future is absolutely imperative to making a choice. There is no right or wrong--both Yale and Rice are fantastic options. Do you know where you stand on the waitlist?
  11. One of the reasons I didn't apply to UC programs is because, from what I know, they take on very few internationals due to the funding crisis. International students obviously can never qualify for in-state tuition, which makes them much more expensive for the departments to fund. Of course, this issue is relevant to state-schools at large, which is why I was very hesitant to apply to such programs. I think this was not justified as a general rule, and regret not applying to Rutgers and UVA (BTW, I ended up accepted to UT Austin, which I thought impossible). However, the UC system is under pretty significant stress with funding, which may impact their admissions practices in ways unique to them. You should look at the graduate schools' statistics on international students to get a sense of the situation, and of course of departmental statistics on the same if they're available. Schools like UCLA and Berkeley would be especially telling, because I can't imagine they have a shortage of international applicants considering their prestige and name-brand (compared to UCR, for instance, which may just have fewer int'l applicants to begin with as it's less known globally). Of course, you should take this with a grain of salt and do your due diligence. I gathered this information from professors who attended or are familiar with the UC system, but I'd be hard pressed to say to what degree this information is accurate. Good luck! Applying as an international comes with a unique set of issues, but these can be overcome. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. EDIT: oh, and this may be different in complit, where they generally take on international students more liberally since, obviously, international students will be on average fluent in more languages, and familiar with more cultural environments--all of which may be very relevant to their research.
  12. I mean, they can also learn from my CV about my research assistanship, that I wrote a thesis, and that I presented at conferences--all of which I included in my SoP. I would say that the point is to show how these experiences were significant in preparing you for the rigors of a PhD and/or have influenced your research trajectory. So, for example, I mentioned a research scholarship I received to study abroad; but I framed this not as an achievement in itself, but showed how my experiences as a researcher abroad have allowed me to gain new perspectives on the issues I'm interested in etc. I didn't include my TA position following advice from my professors, but I can't imagine that mentioning it (briefly!) would hurt, especially if it ties nicely with the narrative of the statement (it didn't, in my case). I wouldn't mention awards/prizes in the SoP; but discuss it with your letter writers and make sure that they do mention it. I would recommend not thinking of the SoP as a document in which you "sell/market yourself" as such, but an exposition of yourself as a scholar. Who are you as a researcher, how have your interests developed, what do you research/intend to research (and how? what methodologies/theories/etc), and why is it important/how does it intervene in previous and current discussions?
  13. They seem to have very limited funding for visits, but no set amount per person as far as I understood. The DGS was absolutely great about answering my questions about this (and other issues)--since I'm travelling internationally it's especially problematic for me. I recommend you email him and see how they can help. EDIT: and also, congrats! Maybe we'll be cohort-mates!
  14. I think it's fantastic you're already beginning to consider these issues! To preface what I'm pretty certain will be a somewhat long-winded response, I'll say that I applied this season and had moderate success. I have no idea how much my SoP was significant for my results; the minor feedback I've received so far by my acceptances had to do with my WS rather than my SoP. In retrospect, though there are significant changes I would make with my WS, I'm pretty happy with my SoP and don't feel like it was a detriment to my app. In any case, writing the SoP is a pretty individual process, so take the following with however much salt you see fit. Also, there are a multitude of threads on this forum you could look at for SoP advice that may answer your questions. I started with a basic list of ideas/experiences/achievements I wanted to mention, and tried to see how I can interweave between them organically: my MA thesis, some significant seminar papers that influenced the direction of my research, my experience as a research assistant, and of course my proposed research project (also briefly describing a conference paper that directly relates to this research). My teaching experience didn't make the cut. Neither did any mention of accolades/awards/scholarships (leave the bragging for the letter writers to do). From a certain point, after free-writing and revising a couple of drafts, the main question guiding me was "are these words worth the space they take up?" That is, does this idea/experience/whatever add enough content to offset the cost of space? In a sense, then, my SoP was on the drier side, because it really did focus on my research. Of course, I tried to present things in an interesting way, but didn't have a personal expository anecdote, humorous details, or witty asides. Whenever I added those it felt contrived or cheesy to me even when they were very sincere, so I ultimately decided to go with direct and succinct. But this is very personal; I think that since I'm ESL, my writing is always a little deliberate and not as buoyant as I'd like. In terms of research specificity vs. openness to new ideas, I presented a pretty specific research project, but showed how it could be taken in different directions. My overarching focus is driven by queer/feminist theory and poetics, but I discussed the project's possible interconnections with, for example, issues of race, disability, aesthetics and visual culture, urban studies, affect, and trauma. While I offered a highly niche project, I tried to highlight the possible interventions I could make in current discussions and therefore show why this project is relevant, important, and expansive. I think this should be the crux of the SoP. You should be familiar enough with your field to know what questions are currently being asked, and frame your research in relation to these. The SoP should implicitly explain--why this research project? What about this topic is important, and how could it resonate with contemporary issues in literary studies? IMO, this is how to navigate the tension between a niche project that still allows for openness to new ideas. For programs with similar word limits for the SoP (8/11 programs to which I applied required something around 1000 words), the body of my statement was mostly the same, with minor differences to (implicitly) account for the particulars of each department (e.g. emphasizing a detail that uniquely ties with a POI). The last two paragraphs addressed the university, department, and POIs specifically, highlighting different aspects of my proposed research to relate it to the POIs etc. Like you, I was also worried of coming across as brown-nosing, but ultimately found this easy to avoid by deleting any superlatives and using direct, nuanced, and specific language that expressed the methodologies/approaches/themes/ideas in POIs research that dovetail with my own. I also mentioned any departmental/university facilities, certificates, interest-groups, interdisciplinary opportunities and so on that made me want to apply there. So, instead of praising the program, I explained why I thought it was a good fit for my research (and I for it) in a very matter-of-fact tone. No mention of prestige or quality. Hope this is helpful! Feel free to PM me if you want to talk further. Good luck!
  15. Still reeling from the Brown rejection, but I got accepted to Fordham! Email from DGS says all acceptances have been sent out, but I don't know about waitlist notifications.
  16. Duke: Feb 21-23 University of Alabama: February 28-March 2 Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL): February 28-March 2 CU Boulder: Feb 28-March 1 Indiana University: March 1 Queen's University: March 1 U Wisconsin-Madison: March 3-5 SMU Interview Visit: March 3-5 Illinois (Urbana): March 4-5 Stanford: March 6-8 UC Irvine: March 7-8 Northwestern: March 7-9 Saint Louis University: March 8 UC Santa Barbara: March 8 Florida State University: March 12 UC Santa Cruz: March 14 Fordham: March 14 University of Minnesota: March 14-15 CUNY Graduate Center: March 15th UC Berkeley: March 16-18 Kansas: March 17-19 UVA: March 18-19 UPenn: March 19-21 Vanderbilt: March 21-22 UNC Chapel Hill: March 21-22 Rice University: March 21-23 BU: March 22 USC: March 24-26 Penn State: March 24-26 Rutgers: March 25-26 UT Austin: March 28-30 UC Davis: April 2 SUNY Buffalo: April 2-3 NYU: April 3-4 University of Washington: April 4-5 U Oregon: April 4-6
  17. I think both Goldsmith and FU are decently known. Plus, if you get a some time of scholarship for study (Fulbright, DAAD) it would definitely look good on your application. For what it's worth, I'm an international applicant from a truly unknown school. My app season has been good--not amazing. So far, I've been accepted to one top-20 school and waitlisted elsewhere, but I don't think the rejections are necessarily due to the name-brand (or lack thereof) of my alma mater, though I assume this definitely didn't help. I'm pretty sure my writing sample may have hurt me as it needed more work and wasn't as streamlined with the research I propose in my SOP as I would've liked. If I had to do this again I would prepare two polished af samples rather than one, to showcase different styles/theoretical backgrounds depending on the program and POIs (in my case, for example, one with a more feminist/women's writing bend, and one with a stronger queer emphasis). My WS was almost 'traditional' in its feminist analysis, and the schools I heard good news from housed POIs who I know are into that. I think had I polished an experimental queer seminar paper, my results would have been different (maybe worse, maybe better, but in any case different). All of this to say that while I think prestige can give one a leg-up, it's ultimately down to fit and how much you catch the eye of people on the adcomm.
  18. This was posted on the Phil board and I think it may also be relevant to us here. I'll preface by emphasizing that, of course, we should all take our time and make sure we are confident and certain with our choice of program. But if you've been accepted to a few places, and you know which are your top choices, help out those waitlisted out there and decline the offers/remove yourself from the waitlists of the programs you're certain you won't want to attend. Declining is hard--we all put enormous effort into our applications and it may be difficult to let that go. But we also all know the difficulty of waiting. And declining offers early to those programs you won't be taking has a ripple effect. Instead of thinking about declining as shutting a door, consider all of the doors you may open for other people! Good luck ya'll, this is one hell of a process.
  19. I haven't heard anything from them either, for what it's worth. Good luck!
  20. Congrats! You're going to have some hard choices ahead of you! ?
  21. Thank you so much for this detailed reply, silenus! I'm going to take you up on this, if you don't mind. ?
  22. LOL! a subversive undercurrent of tea representational activists trying to overthrow the caffeine hegemony. Also, tea sux coffee rulz.
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