itslit

First off, @Compele, congratulations on your offers! That's impressive! This is a tricky situation, but it ultimately boils down to what you hope to achieve down the road. Is the school that offered you admission to their PhD program one of your top programs? Is it a program that you would thrive in, that would support your interests well, that could help you secure a job later on? If so, I would take that route, no questions asked. But because it sounds like you have some reservations about accepting that offer, you might do better to complete an M.A. Like you said, earning an M.A. would likely help your chances when you next apply for PhD programs. As someone who is finishing up their M.A. right now, I can say that this path has felt like a waste of time, money, and energy at times, but it has also presented me the opportunity to narrow my areas of interest, gain professional experience, get a better "feel" of what advanced work will entail, and pick up relative degrees of proficiency in a few more languages. So it's a toss-up. If I were you, if I could do it all over again, I would probably go with the latter option a second time, as frustrating as it may prove to be in your case. I think having elected this path will make my transition considerably smoother when I begin work on a PhD come September. One important consideration, however petty, concerns the reputation of the M.A. program in question. If it would be a "lateral move" from your undergraduate institution, I might accept the PhD's offer or even take a year off (if that's an option for you, of course). If the M.A. program or university isn't ranked higher than the one you are currently in, I would be hesitant to accept their offer. Not because it wouldn't be meaningful and enlightening in any number of ways—not to mention the opportunities to network it would likely present you—but because academia is so miserably entrenched in perceived status (which we, as the rising generation of academics, may well combat in the years to come!). I was lucky to get into my current program. It was a step-up from my previous university, and I doubt I would have been as fortunate this application season were I to have applied straight from the small, middle-of-the-road university from where I earned my bachelor's degree. If you're intending to apply to competitive schools and feel that this master's program might give you a leg up, by all means, take that road, but if you have the sense that you would be better off beginning your PhD at the institution that has offered you admission this cycle, do that. Trust your instincts. I hope that my rambling bit of advice is of some use to you.

Hi there, @CompLit! I received word of my acceptance around the first week of February, and from what I understand, they have already issued the majority of their offers for this cycle. I say that only because a more recent email regarding my campus visit mentioned that many of those admitted have arranged to come during the same weekend, but I can't say for certain if they have made all of their decisions. Don't hesitate to reach out via email to ask about the status of your application, and take what I have said with a grain of salt. I do know, however, that all offers will be out by the fifteenth of this month, per something I read on the department's website. Best of luck to you!

Hi, hi! I'm happy to announce that I have been accepted to Michigan—my top choice. I still have a couple of programs to hear back from, but I am almost entirely certain that I will accept this offer of admission. Congratulations to you all on your acceptances, and to those still waiting to hear back, don't give up hope yet. Best of luck!

@Clarisse451 Hey, yes! When I posted this, those were programs that had already sent out interview requests or accepted applicants for the fall. Some of them are still deliberating—to my knowledge—so don't feel discouraged if you applied there! --- @pdh12 Ahhh, sorry! I should have clarified, but I'm finishing my MA in a department that also offers a PhD! I could not imagine trying to transfer, omg. And yes, I absolutely agree. What one person might consider a "bad" school will always be someone else's best fit, and regardless, what matters most is what you do along the way. So I'm not a huge fan of rankings, even if we're somewhat forced to keep them in mind because big names can carry a lot of weight when we reach the job market. Still, though, there's no way to say with any certainty what others might think of one's application post-PhD, but I surely hope they take a more holistic view than what I'm cynically suggesting here. This silence is KILLING MEEE. How is it going on your end?

I have mixed feelings, but I agree more than I disagree with this. I think it would benefit from a metric related to programs' placement record. Last time I checked, Emory's was dicey, but they have high marks across these fields. I wonder to what extent that discrepancy may result from their name and perceived status as a "Southern Ivy." But, full disclosure, I'm a little embittered by my own program's not-so-great ranking according to this list, so take my perspective with a grain of salt.

Another batch of rejections today, y'all! There's still time for things to turn around, but I have a gut feeling that I'll end up continuing on in my current comp. lit. program, which is less than exciting (as much as I recognize how fortunate I am to have that as a backup plan).

Same, @jadeisokay. Northwestern, yeah? It seems they sent out automated humanities rejections en masse yesterday—art history, comp. lit., history, philosophy. We'll get there. It was hard to swallow, but if nothing else, it's better than not hearing anything until April.

Hi, everyone! How are we holding up? Personally, I have run out of fingernails to bite—for better or worse—but I hope to hear back from schools in the next week or so. For those of you who applied to a comp. lit. program (or a related discipline, e.g., media studies) this cycle, how are things on your end? Congratulations to those already on the board! Yale, Emory, Duke, Cornell, PSU, Irvine, and Santa Cruz will be lucky to have you, whoever you are. If only out of masochism (as I have yet to receive anything): to those of you who recently interviewed at Penn State, how did it go? What sorts of questions did they ask? And more generally, for those of you who have interviewed at any school for (comparative) literature, what should those of us waiting in the wings prepare for? How do these things go, in your experience? Regardless, best of luck to everyone this season!

Hi, all. This is going to be somewhat vague (and something that doubtlessly varies by applicant, field, school, or any number of other factors), but it’s something that has made me increasingly anxious as application deadlines draw nearer: Do you all think that my having completed core requirements at a “regional” school (ex: University of [North, South, East, West, etc.] [State]) could impact my consideration for a PhD at historically “elite” schools? Is it something I should qualify in my statement of purpose, that I elected to attend a local school to save money with the intention of transferring out? Or could admitting even that signal a lack of ambition, preparation, thought, etc.? I inevitably graduated from a better state school and am well on my way to finishing a M.A. at a top-15 public school, but I am so worried—maybe baselessly so—that my early-coursework transcripts at a no-name institution could completely discredit my PhD application profile, especially at Ivies or Ivy-adjacent schools. Am I wrong to worry about this? Is this something others are mulling over? Or better yet: could anyone with a similar background who ended up at a phenomenal school comment on their experience? My mental image of so-considered prestigious schools is warped, to be sure, but I can’t help but imagine that the admissions committees in those kinds of universities will quite literally turn up their noses when they see that I attended a regional school for two years. Any help you all could provide would be greatly appreciated. My GRE came back better than expected, I have a good number of publications and presentations on my cv, some solid recommendations, and “trendy” research interests, but I feel like my freshman–sophomore year transcripts will be the kiss of death for my applications at “elite” schools. TLDR; (1) I went to a “bad” school for core, (2) I moved on to a “better” school to complete my undergrad, and (3) I am finishing my M.A. at a fairly “well-regarded” public school, but I’m stressed beyond belief about item one (1).

Hi, everyone! I'm new to GradCafe, and I'm reaching out to ask about any programs you all may know of with strengths or established faculty working in "digital culture"—broadly defined—or related fields. I'm a second-year M.A. student in a comparative literature program at a top-15 public university, and I am set to send out Ph.D. applications in the next month or so. I hold two bachelor's degrees in two national literatures from an all right R1 state university, and I graduated summa cum laude and with a good deal of research-related honors. In short: I'm attempting to make the jump from literature-literature to media and culture, and I'm not sure where would be a great fit. I only have a handful of grad-level publications, but they're all in popular culture (TV, film, adaptation), and I've been presenting on memes, bots, and patterns in e-discourse at some conferences recently (as of this semester). My biggest concern is that my transcript won't reflect my interests or indicate a solid background in what I hope to study (2 film courses, 1 popular culture undergrad course), so I am considering more interdisciplinary programs and comparative literature departments at schools that have certificates in digital media/studies. I'm less wont to consider myself interested in the "digital humanities," if only because I understand that more as a methodology (using algorithms, etc.) than as the application of cultural studies paradigms on questions of the digital, but I ask that you please correct me if I'm wrong in that assumption. My theses, B.A. and M.A., thankfully do lean toward those things (TV, literature in the digital age, respectively), so that may stand in my favor. My GRE is all right—good enough to keep me in the running (or so I hope)—and I'm proficient in 3 non-English languages, working toward reading knowledge in two more by the time I graduate. I'm cashing in connections, close and distant, to try and get my name out there to the powers-at-be, but that could very well backfire. My recommenders are/were once well-regarded, too, for what that's worth these days. I apologize for rambling. Here are the programs I'm exploring, and I would appreciate any feedback or suggestions you all could provide: Stanford, Modern Literature and Thought Brown, Modern Culture and Media UMich, Comp. Lit. (certificate program in Digital Studies) UMN–Twin Cities, Comparative Studies in Discourse and Society UC–Davis, Cultural Studies Brown, Comp. Lit. UW, Comp. Lit. (certificate program in Textual and Digital Studies) NYU, Media, Culture, and Communication (probably not—early deadline—but... maybe?) Part of why I didn't include some other programs is—well—their placement history isn't great, and while I'm not opposed to moving to another country for a good-paying, tenure-track position, everyone I know lives in the US. I would love to hear what you all think and hear from others in similar situations! Best of luck to you all during this stressful season. You've got this. Own it.

No worries in the slightest—I'm sorry if I came off too brusque. You know how it goes: late-night writing, too much coffee, stress over the application season, etc. I took on a patronizing tone, to be sure, so I apologize if my comment read less like advice and more like a rant. By all means, message me! I'm in my second-year of Comp. Lit. study, and I would be more than happy to share what I have learned along the way. I came from two national-literature departments, and the difference has been... palpable.

It's not impossible to make the transition you're suggesting, @poboy, but it will require deft maneuvering on your part. As an undergraduate, I had a professor who followed the same path, albeit in South America: they earned a B.S./M.S. in a subfield of Engineering and successfully enrolled in a Spanish Literature & Culture program at a fairly well regarded school in the Northeast. But they also had the benefit of speaking Spanish as a first language and knew enough English to meet the TOEFL requirements their school had in place. It's worth noting, however, that this success story took place in the 90s, in a far different academic environment, and that they were by nature a voracious reader. They were able to pass an entrance exam despite not having completed coursework in literature, and I'm not sure if that's an option at the kinds of schools you're considering in this day and age. While your GRE scores are certainly remarkable, you ought to heed the advice @Warelin has offered and carefully consider how you might compete against applicants with 4–6 years of training in literary/cultural criticism and discourse analysis, students who likely know not only the base texts required of those in the field but also the seminal arguments made against them. You would be wise to read the Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism before you make the plunge, as it traces in broad terms the development of literary-critical thought from the Classical Age to the present day. Likewise, I would suggest that you take the GRE Subject Test in English Literature to see how you fare; although few programs require it for admission these days, it might signal to any faculty reviewers your aptitude for and interest in the study of literature. And because it struck me as reductive: I would hesitate to say that "humanities majors have had a grade inflation over the years that STEM majors haven't experienced to the same extent." My training has been arduous. There have been plenty of days I have considered giving up, simply because I found the coursework and expectations too much to bear. My sheer passion for literary study and critical theory have kept me going on my darkest days, and if it weren't for my commitment and work ethic, I likely wouldn't be in the second year of my master's program. The humanities and STEM are both difficult, and I would wager that any professor of the humanities with integrity would just as quickly assign a poor grade for poor performance as any STEM professor. As someone in Comparative Literature, I have to ask: what are your languages? Many Comp. Lit. programs require applicants to hold superior proficiency in one to two non-English languages and reading proficiency in a third at the time admission, with the end-goal of mastery over four or more, as the discipline emphasizes reading texts in their original language (whereas English programs read world literatures in translation). Lastly, if after all due consideration you do elect to make this sort of shift, I would recommend that you enroll in—or at least audit—as many literature courses as your schedule permits prior to graduation, as @Warelin is correct to say that the majority of programs require 18 or more hours in literature or related fields as a consideration for admission. Because so many funded programs require their students to teach intro-level courses, it is imperative that you demonstrate mastery over the material you may be tasked with teaching. The study of literature is as wonderful as you make it seem, I assure you, but it is not book club. It is a serious, age-old discipline that should be regarded as seriously as any other. I wish you the best with your M.S., @poboy, and I encourage you to reach out should you have any further questions.