karamazov

Congrats! Did you apply to their PhD or MA program?

Yes, that sounds about right. I'm excited for the event and I'm looking forward to meeting you! What's your field of interest?

Found out this afternoon that I've been accepted to the University of South Carolina! I'm so excited!

I was also contacted by Northeastern. They make it sound like they'll be letting us ask the questions, but I can't help but think that they'll have some questions to ask us, too. I'm going to review my WS, SoP, and the work of my PoIs just to make sure I'm prepared for whatever they might ask. Since they don't explicitly call it an "interview," I'm assuming they won't be brutally grilling us, but I definitely want to review everything just to be sure I can speak intelligently about my work, the work of my PoIs, and why exactly I'm interested in their program. I'm also deciding in advance what I want to ask them so I won't freeze up during the meeting, ask zero questions, and come off as unenthusiastic/uninterested.

Me @ me preparing for the first week of February

Did anyone apply to the University of South Carolina? Last year they sent out decisions on January 23rd so I'm getting anxious... I've considered calling but since it's still relatively early I'm not sure if that would be jumping the gun.

Y'all, I've reached the point where every time I get an email I almost have a heart attack. Can I just go to sleep and wake up when all the decisions have been released?

@Glasperlenspieler Oh my gosh I just died laughing!

@digital_lime Thanks so much for the advice! Yes, I was leaning toward business casual, but then my dad was like, "you MUST look like a YOUNG PROFESSIONAL because everyone will be in SUITS and you do not want to make a BAD IMPRESSION." Based on my experiences with English profs and grad students, though, super formal business-wear definitely does not seem to be common, but I started doubting myself after my conversation with him. I appreciate the reassurance that I do not, in fact, need to dress like Hillary Clinton. I'm thinking I might wear a skirt (with thick tights underneath, of course- I am much too weak to go out bare-legged in 30-something degree temps) with a nice collared blouse and a cardigan. Also, thanks for linking that article!

Does anyone know what sort of attire is expected at an interview/recruitment event?

@Indecisive Poet @NinaM @caffeinated applicant @politics 'n prose Thanks so much, everyone!

Thank you!

I just got an email from Northeastern inviting me to their pre-admissions welcome event! I am SHAKING! I really could not even process what I was reading when I first opened the email. Feb 9-11, reimbursement for flight/train, shared hotel room paid for by the university, meals covered... Having a mini-heart attack over here, y'all. Is anyone familiar with how many folks Northeastern invites to their event (seems like an informal interview/recruitment weekend sort of shindig) vs. how many they ultimately accept to the program?

Sameee. This just adds to my already unbearable anxiety.

Congratulations!! That's such awesome news!!

You are definitely not alone in your anxiety or your middle of the night email checking! I don't know what makes me think that a school would send me anything at 3 in the morning, but alas, every time I roll over I refresh my email. Last night this resulted in a dream about getting an interview notification, and then, after waking up, not quite knowing if I had dreamt it or if I had read the email while half asleep... (The former, unfortunately, was the case).

Last night I had my first acceptance dream of this cycle and I sure hope it's the last because waking up and immediately remembering that I likely have no chance really blows... Also, if I can find the willpower, I'm going to try limiting the number of times I check my email per day over the next couple months. Refreshing the email app on my phone every two minutes will only lead to increased anxiety, so I really need to control myself (...I say whilst checking my email). Luckily, my last semester in undergrad starts on Monday, so that should help distract me from the waiting. What are y'all's survival strategies for decision season?

That's so exciting!! Congrats!

I'm right there with you. I still have a few more apps to complete and I'm dangerously close to throwing in the towel.

So, the university I attended for the first two years of my bachelor's degree merged with another university near the end of my time there. The transcript from the university I'm currently attending lists that institution's old name above my credits from that school instead of the new, post-merger name. Since my transcript from that first school comes with the new name, I've used the new name everywhere. I'm just now realizing that my current institution's use of the old name above those transfer credits on my transcript might cause some confusion for the adcomms... I've referred to the school by its current name in every other piece of my application, so I'm hoping they can figure it out, but I really probably should have explained the merger somewhere in my application. Well, now I get to worry not only about the quality of my SoP and WS, but also about whether or not the committee will throw out my application before even reading those documents because they think I'm missing a transcript or something... Awesome.

If you want to attend the phD program, you only need to apply to the phD program. According to their website: "Students who will have earned a BA by September 2019 and who wish to apply for the PhD program in English should check the Post-Bachelors PhD option on the application form. Students admitted under this option must complete all of the requirements for the MA before moving on to the PhD. Permission to continue in the PhD program is conditional on the timely completion of all MA requirements at a satisfactory scholarly level." Also: "Please note that successful completion of requirements in the first year earns each Ph.D. student an M.A. degree as a matter of course." I hope this helps!

I know, right?! I was not happy when I saw that on the application. Okay, yes. The middle of the road sounds good. Thanks for the advice!

On the required documents page of Penn State's MA application, they request a CV, a writing sample, and a "personal statement," which I would assume to be equivalent to the SoP. But... in the "personal statement" section, the application asks this question: "why do you want to pursue a higher degree in English studies at a time when the liberal arts are often less valued than science and technology?" This caught me majorly off guard. Is the "liberal arts vs. STEM" question just a trigger for "why grad school and why our program," in which case I can more or less use my SoP? Or do they seriously want us to write a defense of the liberal arts? I would think that everyone applying would be perfectly aware of the importance and the benefits of studying English, and just rehashing one of those many, many arguments seems like an unhelpful exercise for determining research fit and understanding the applicant's intellectual background. Is this just the committee trying to nudge applicants toward explaining the wider importance of their research in the face of STEM-mania? How much should I be directly addressing the latter portion of that question ("at a time when the liberal arts are often less valued than science and technology") vs. explaining my tentative research project and outlining my academic background? Is anyone else applying to Penn State's program? If so, how did you approach this?

@CaliAcademic I'm pretty sure Emory also conducts interviews, but as @politics 'n prose said, most English programs don't interview potential grad students.

@merry night wanderer I'll chime in just to give a very different perspective on English education in public high schools. My high school English teacher is one of the most brilliant individuals I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, and I consider him the sole reason I can even write an essay. I had always loved reading, but he taught me how to make a claim about a text and support that claim with concrete evidence. His comments on essays were thorough and ultimately invaluable to the improvement of my writing. His classes themselves gave me insight into difficult pieces of literature, and taught me to read closely and critically examine the texts I read. When I got to college, I found myself well prepared for serious academic writing, and my professors never shied away from telling me so. If I hadn't been taught by that particular high school English teacher, that wouldn't have been the case. My friends, who also took his classes, found themselves similarly well prepared for their English courses at their respective universities, and the love for literature and writing that he fostered in his students led my whole group of friends to study English in some capacity at the college level (I majored in English, another friend minored, one double majored, another majored in writing). There are definitely some brilliant, demanding, life-changing public high school English teachers out there, regardless of the constraints of Common Core, so I would hesitate to make blanket statements about the quality of public high school English education. Some people have really bad experiences with English in high school, while others don't. And, of course, I'm sure the same holds true for homeschoolers. I just wanted to share my experience to illustrate that not all public high school English classes consist solely of "paint-by-numbers 'find the foreshadowing' bullshit."