wreckofthehope

Thank you for the clear and helpful advice! I think perhaps I should have been clearer about the experience each professor has of my work: each of my MA professors has taught me for a seminar class which had a 20 page research paper as its method of assessment. My thesis supervisor obviously has further knowledge of my research abilities. My undergraduate professor is indeed a PhD (is actually a 60 year old Oxford don), I wrote him 1 or 2 fifteen page self-set papers every week for three years as an undergrad, so he has an excellent grasp of my writing and my ability to research under pressure and time constraints, the only thing is that my interests have developed a great deal over the course of my MA so he perhaps won't be able to be enormously specific in praising my suitability as a researcher within my exact field. I will try and investigate each professor's "placement record" as you have suggested, this is a great idea - I'm not sure how easy that will be here... grad school applications seem to be a far more transparent process in the U.S. I also doubt very much that any of my recommenders will have sent students to schools in the States. I know most of my undergrad tutor's recent past students and many have gone on to graduate work at the top universities in the U.K. (with many switching disciplines strangely) but none, that I know of, that have gone abroad; my thesis supervisor has also sent people to the U.K.'s top universities but, again, I haven't heard of anyone going overseas. I'm ordering the Donald Asher book as I write this, and I will definitely follow your lead and discuss the style of praise issue with my professors. - I'm not sure why I didn't already think of doing so

I'm having a little bit of trouble deciding which of my professors to go with as recommenders. I have 5 possible people who I'm pretty sure would give me good letters, but my situation is complicated by the fact that I'm trying to second guess how effusive they're going to be - I'm from the U.K. and I'm worried about the difference between what is considered "great praise" here, and what Adcomms will expect to see from LORs in the States. I'm definitely going to have my MA thesis supervisor as one reference. Then, I get to the possibilities: I have two more professors who have offered without being asked - which is very nice. One is a European modernisms specialist... tangentialy related to my interests, who did Comp Lit at one of the places I'm applying to - so she's a definite for that app and for the other Comp Lit apps I think. The other professor is the one I'm really debating on: he's probably more well known than the others, has done a lot of Cultural Studies type work - which is more my area, and will likely write a very enthusiastic letter, since he specifically said so to me - however, he's completely computer illiterate and never answers email which makes me worry that he is going to prove unreliable come submission time. Also... he's the professor I like the least, and I worry that he doesn't know me at all well...I took two MA modules with him, but I always get the feeling he doesn't remember my name (I'm perhaps being unfair to him, since he offered to give me a reference unsolicited he must actually know who I am.... but he just gives off a slightly flaky impression). Then, I have the Director of my MA program, who I respect intellectually a great deal, he's fairly gruff though and has taught me for less classes than the others. I also want to ask my undergraduate tutor, who knows me extremely well - he was practically my only teacher for three years - I went to a very good university for undergrad, so I think including him could be a bonus in that sense also. However: he's a Victorianist/ Fin de Siecle specialist, I'm Contemporary; he is NOT into the highly theoretical approach that I have ended up taking and he's very, very terse - I worry that what he thinks is high praise will be read as faint damnation by the adcomms... Anyone have any advice about who would be the best choice/ what combo of the above would give the best impression, please?

I can't answer as to how U.K. qualifications are viewed in the U.S., although I'm hoping that it is not unfavourably since I'm English and applying for U.S. graduate programs. I would think that, especially in a field such as Mediaeval studies where Britain has great strengths, a Master's level qualification from the U.K. would not be a liability and, depending on the university, could be an asset. The added bonus for you would be that it would probably take you less time to complete than an MA in the U.S. The general consensus seems to be that it is at the PhD level that the U.K. / U.S. distinction becomes more important - and that a PhD from a good U.S. school will put you in a better position to get work in the U.S., in part due to the pedagogical training you receive. In the U.K. most MA level students study for an MA and not for the MPhil, it is a far less popular course in general - the MPhil is (usually) two years rather than one, and has a much longer thesis - the coursework requirements are usually the same for the two. There are a few exceptions: at Cambridge, all Master's level degrees (or at least most) are MPhils, this doesn't mean they're more research intensive or longer (although it may benefit you that people often assume they are), it is just that because Cambridge and Oxford have the whole Oxbridge MA thing where you get an MA automatically 7 years after you started your BA, they have to find different things to call their Master's level qualifications. For the sciences there is no problem, because all undergraduate degrees are BA's and thus become MA's after 7 years, so MSc is still available... for the Humanities, they've been forced to be creative, thus Cambridge has MPhil, and Oxford MSt as the equivalent to what would elsewhere be called an MA. (Oxford does still have the MPhil as a 2 year, research intensive degree). The other exception is the MPhil as a kind of failed PhD - often people get granted an MPhil when they haven't managed to produce scholarship of high enough quality to pass their PhD, or they are granted it on the way to fulfilling PhD requirements, in that sense it is more like the MA granted by a PhD programs in the U.S. Personally, I don't really see the point of a (non-Cambridge) terminal MPhil - the MA takes less time but qualifies you for PhD entry in just the same way...

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm not applying to any Ivy League schools, as none fit the bill in terms of Literature dep't suitability... the only school I'm super interested in that doesn't have a geography department is Stanford, which is a real shame I think... but some of the same needs could be met in their Sociology or Anthro departments I hope. One place I'm really excited by in terms of the Literature course is Chicago - and they have a Geography department (Committee) with some very excellent faculty members, but it doesn't seem to have any set graduate role - they say they can provide graduate instruction and classes, but there isn't a program - do you, or anyone, have any experience with,or knowledge about, the Committee on Geographical Studies at Chicago?

At the moment, I'm thinking that I will be applying to 4 programs in the USA, 3 in Canada, 2 or 3 in the U.K. and 1 in Denmark. So, that would be 10 - 11 app's altogether - however, British deadlines for funding consideration are not until mid-March, so if I get in anywhere before that date I'm unlikely to be applying to the 3 U.K. universities on my list. Hopefully that will be the case, as I'd prefer a change of environment and the U.S. and Canada are really where the scholarship is in my field, save a few British trailblazers. It could rise to 4 in Canada... I'm still debating with myself on that one. Oh, and there's Amsterdam too, but again that deadline is much later than those in North America.

Crazily enough would be right... Hassan's Kebab van was clearly superior! (totally right on the Alt' Tuck though). On a more serious note, and in reply to slav4eva's original post: I haven't experienced Oxford as a postgrad' only as an undergrad' but I imagine that Oxford's focus on independent learning doesn't change drastically from one to the other. Anyone thinking of applying should bear that focus in mind - you will not be supervised in the manner you may expect to be coming from the American system... As an undergrad' I had one or two hours of one-on-one tuition a week, (that was it for compulsory classes) in which the essay(s) I had written (with the topic, texts and title chosen by myself) was critiqued by my tutor... that was all. For the rest of the week I was expected to independently research my chosen topic and authors and refine a question to the point where I could write an essay on it. Occasionally, I would attend one of the non-compulsory lectures on a topic related to the period I was studying that term, or just on a topic that interested me generally, but most of the time I was so busy researching my week's essay topics that I did not have time to do so. Student's that are used to a much more proscriptive method of instruction may find the approach taken at Oxford doesn't suit them or that they feel they are not getting good value for money, what with the discrepancy between the enormous international fees paid out relative to teaching hours received - I tend to think this second complaint is rather missing the point of education, and graduate school in particular, but it's something I heard often enough when I was there. As to the library situation - as ezypeezy said, most colleges have a 24 hour library, or at the very least one that stays open until midnight. From my experience of other British Universities, I don't think shorter opening hours out of term-time are unusual, you really need to remember, and this related to your complaints about facilities also, that Oxford is a publicly run university in a country with pretty much no private universities - they don't have the budget to spend on extra library opening hours to accomodate a small proportion of their students. It is somewhat unfair to compare its facilities with those of Stanford or Harvard etc - these are universities that can, and do, charge their undergraduates $30,000 a year in tuition. It is even unfair to compare it to public universities in the U.S. - places like Berkeley have to compete with private universities to attract American students, so they have to be comparable; Oxford needs only compete with other publicly funded institutions to attract British undergrads. Of course, the situation becomes far more complicated at the more international graduate level - and here Oxford's publicly funded status damages it, because students do expect the expensive facilities of a Stanford or Harvard from a top-rated university like Oxford. If shiny computer labs are what you need to feel like your graduate degree is worth it, then I wouldn't bother applying to Oxford; I think the value of the education gained during graduate study is not reducable to quantifiables like library opening hours and number of shiny new buildings.

If I remember correctly, when I looked into their faculty, it seemed like the University of Maryland College Park possibly have strengths in both areas? Mediaeval stuff tends to pass me by as it's the opposite end of the time spectrum to my interests, but I usually notice folklorists as my MA is partly focused on myth.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of working in Canada as an American? I'm looking at a number of Canadian universities for my PhD, I'm English and my boyfriend is American - we both live in London currently, and we don't live together because I've had to move back in with my parents in order to afford my Master's course so we will not qualify as a "common-law partnership" which would allow him to come with me automatically if I were accepted. So, I'm wondering how easy or difficult would it be for him to get a job and a work visa in Canada as an American citizen?

Thank you for the suggestions - I'll look into them. I'm not sure how great they'll be in terms of location though... which shouldn't really be a concern, but unfortunately needs to be due to my relationship....I should have mentioned in my earlier post that I'm tying to only apply to universities in, or very close to, big cities because it will be difficult for my boyfriend to find work in his field otherwise. Since I'm an international applicant, and have plenty of options on my doorstep in London, I'm only going to apply to universities I'm really keen on that are also in great locations for both me and my boyfriend... I don't need to compromise on that point, because my compromise would be staying here in the U.K, if that makes sense.

Hi Geography peeps, I'm actually applying for a PhD in English Literature, but my area of specialization is representations of space, place and environment in literature. Ideally, I'd like to be able to take something like a PhD minor in Geography, which seems do-able at a number of places... however, the only schools I've really found that seem to be offering actual courses in exactly the kind of geography I'm interested in are the University of Toronto and the University of Washington*. Can anyone suggest other schools with strengths in the are of Cultural Geography, and in particular spatial theory, Behavioural Geography, and landscape studies/cultural landscapes stuff? *for example, this course at Washington: Ecoscapes: Nature, Culture, and Place Relationship between nature, culture, and place as the heart of geographic inquiry. Examines how perceptions of nature are influenced by changing political-economic, cultural, and scientific practices. Uses cultural studies of ecological science as a primary method of analysis. (although that's an undergrad' course, but you get the idea) and these at Toronto:"Space, Power and Geography", "Cultural and Critical Geographies".

Hi there - I was hoping someone would take the initiative, so thanks I'm applying for both English Literature and Comparative Literature PhDs; at the moment, my list of definites looks something like this: Stanford (English), WashU (English), Chicago (Comp' Lit - comp' disciplines path), Rutgers (Comp' Lit'), Toronto (English), UBC (English), The University of Copenhagen (Comp' Lit and Cultural Studies), The London Consortium (Humanities and Cultural Studies), and University College London (Comp' Lit'). I'm from the U.K., wanting to study both American and European lit', hence the scattered-across-the-globe approach. There are also a couple of other schools in the States that I'm still deliberating on... I'm writing my MA thesis at the moment, and don't submit that until the 15th of September, I work in Quality Assurance almost full time as well, so it's going to be difficult to find the time to actually work on my app's between now and September, but I'm going to use part of my thesis as my writing sample, and can certainly get started on my SoP. So, at least I'm working towards it in some ways. It's the GRE I'm worried about, as I have pretty much no time to revise for it.

Thanks everyone. Playing around with the paper size in Word suggests that for every ten thousand words a change to Letter format from A4 results in one extra page, which shouldn't be much of a problem. Double spaced A4 yields about 300 words a page, versus your 250; so, 5,000 words would be the upper limit acceptable for most applications. I may need to cut a chapter slightly, but not drastically, which is nice to know.

My boyfriend tells me that American paper is a different size from English paper.... We use A4 sheets, which I take it are somewhat shorter, but perhaps wider, than your sheets, this messes up my calculations of words per page for my essays etc. We work in numbers of words, so my MA thesis will be 20,000 words long - which, not including footnotes, would be approximately 67 pages (double spaced). A chapter of the thesis will be between 15 and 20 pages... a good size for a writing sample - but I don't want there to be problems with a) formatting, if I send anything electronically and they need to print them. b ) inadvertently sending an over or under length writing sample. I think the easiest thing for me is to convert my essays into the paper format used in the US in Word, but the only options it gives me are "Tabloid", "Letter" and "Legal" - does anyone know if one of these is the American paper size I need to use? I know this is a niggly little detail that can wait till MUCH later, but it's still worrying me, so I'd like to put my mind at rest with an answer now.

Branwen - you don't say what texts you are thinking about for the Courtly knight to knight of God concept - would I be right in presuming "Floris and Blancheflour" is one? The other text that came immediately to mind was "The Awntyrs off Arthur at the Terne Wathelyne" - I'm not sure if you had thought about it as it isn't Crusades-based, but it definitely fits with the idea of an uncomfortable co-mingling of motivations for the knightly quest. - I'm absolutely not a mediaevalist, but that sounds like an interesting topic. I'll second, third and fourth everyone who says a scholarship review is not good enough - I know very little about this whole process, as I'm doing it from the U.K. for the first time, but I would certainly balk, as you have, at sending in something that isn't able, by virtue of its scope, to properly demonstrate your critical ability.

Ahh - thanks for the info'. And something approximating condolences I guess. That all sounds pretty nasty. I looked into the English department and was generally impressed - you wouldn't happen to know if it would be possible to take classes in the Scandinavian/German department as an English PhD - e.g. take Danish as a language/ secondary literature?

The ETS website only says that registration for the subject test will open in July, they don't give any dates. Does anyone have any more specific information on when I can register? I really want to do so as soon as I can, because there is only going to be one test day between now and applications.

Does anyone know what is going on with the Comparative Literature dep't at the University of British Columbia? I am hoping to apply there for a PhD, but there is a large message in red letters on their website saying: Please note that we are not currently accepting applications to the Comparative Literature program. Does that just mean - not right now, as in - applications aren't open yet... or does it mean something more permanent?

Sorry - this reply is rather late, but I just came across this thread. I did my undergrad in Oxford 05 - 08, it really is a fantastic city to live in. The best website to use is the daily info: http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/ - it's Oxford's own version of Craigslist and Timeout combined The places most people live are Cowley/ St Clements, or Jericho. Jericho is gorgeous, but more expensive - and depending on what college you end up at maybe not the best in terms of location. I lived in St Clements in a shared 4 bed house - which I think was about £1600 a month for all four of us, so £400 a month each. Jericho rents will likely be another £100 per person a month, at least. Your college will likely have accommodation for postgrads though - and this is often the cheapest and the nicest option. Battles (accommodation payments) include meals, internet, utilities etc so college accommodation usually ends up being a really good deal. Also... just as a caveat to the above comments - Orange pay as you go mobile is thought of as a truly BAD deal by almost everyone I know - the best value providers are usually either O2, or 3mobile. Also - TerriM, my boyfriend graduated from the MSc Comparative Social Policy in '08... they're closely allied with your Evidenced Based cohort - so if you needed to know any specifics to do with the course, ask away and I'll ask him for you. Any specific questions you have about Oxford feel free to ask me.

Hello! I'm getting ready to apply this Autumn - for a mixture of English Lit' and Comp' Lit' PhD programmes. I'm currently in the thesis-writing stage of my MA, and I work 4 days a week for the British National Health Service in Quality Assurance.

I'm from the U.K... and hoping to do my Ph.D in the States because funding is so awful over here (+ the teaching emphasis). It is extremely difficult-impossible for a humanities student to find funding from any source; AHRC funding is highly, highly competitive, and there is little in the way of outside scholarships etc (which you get a bit more of in the Sciences). There are, however, often scholarships specifically for international students... they are usually endowment type awards - and mostly will only cover some of the fees or provide a small lump sum... but it's worth keeping a look out for them. This website may be helpful:http://www.postgraduatestudentships.co.uk/ Also, in terms of your area - Oxford is very good, and they are likely to have some awards going for international students:http://www2.admin.ox.ac.uk/studentfunding/awards/search.php5