coffeelyf

I think the specific-general balance is really hard to strike, and also depends a lot on what your field/interests/actual ideas actually are. For me applying with a MA, I had a really specific idea and specific questions after doing my thesis, but I was told to take a step back and make my ideas a bit more general. I thought that was helpful, but I still offered some questions I'm interested in asking, my general lenses, etc. From the perspective of the readers, those questions would help them see how you think and how your approach aligns with their department and specific professors. That's the sense I got from an interview I had recently with a rather high-ranked program. And programs also know that your interests and questions would change down the line. I truly sympathize with your worries, but as you said, it's gone and submitted now, and I find there is really no "right" way of writing a SoP!

Yep, I don't think it will be a problem for you. Good luck!

First off, congrats on your acceptance! Only speaking from my personal experience as an international student in the US. Immediately after undergrad (in the US), I was offered a temporary teaching job which required a background check (I think this is simply part of the process for teaching jobs). The employer simply sent me a form email with a link to their background check provider, in which I filled in my name and a few other information (can't recall exactly) and a few weeks later they sent me a paper copy of my "background check" which was a few pages long and didn't contain any notable information because I had no criminal record or any record really... I didn't really know anything throughout that process at all, and I was an international student for 4 years in the US at that point. Yes, the background check checks for criminal and disciplinary records. I have no idea how that would work if you have not lived in the US. Probably something to check with the department/admissions about.

Yep, it was the Writing Program and not the English dept that interviewed me. Just dug through my old emails, the interview was for a Teaching Associateship! Basically, you are to teach the first-year writing course as an instructor, not a TA. And yes, UMass has a great program. My MA advisor was quite surprised that I declined their offer (but my MA was funded, too, and seemed like a better option for my personal life at the time). Hope this helps!

When I applied 3 years ago I got my acceptance from UMass mid-February. They didn't have any interviews or correspondence in between. After acceptance, you have to have an interview for the teaching assistantship though.

I'd second that! Having been through a MA program with lots of interaction with faculty in my program and other unis, I'd like to think that English profs are quite nice and it's best not to be too tense. For my interviews, I plan to review my materials and research the schools/programs in detail (I already did for writing the SoPs, but refreshing my memory is helpful I think). As for any job interviews, preparing questions for the interviewers is extremely important too - though I've found that can be rather difficult. UMD specifically told me that they are not going to "quiz" us on our dissertations, so that is kind of reassuring. Good luck to everyone! I was extremely nervous before I heard back about interviews, and now I'm still nervous af. Whatever happens happens I guess.

Congrats! I also got invited to a Skype interview as I'm from abroad. Would be great to hear if anyone else here got good news!

As far as I know, most places do not do interviews - I was accepted to programs 3 years ago with no interviews at all in between. However, programs who didn't interview in the past may interview this year, which is the case with UMD. I think most of the time they will inform the applicant by email.

Thanks, @politics 'n prose and @tiredderridean!

Me too! Congrats! Kind of surreal in the middle of this waiting agony.

@NinaM From what I know, independent research normally includes undergrad honors thesis/MA thesis. You may also have other types of research projects for which you were the primary researcher and formulated your own questions, etc., but that is often hard to come by at the undergrad level. I'm also an international applicant (Southeast Asia), non-native English speaker - I did my BA in the US (small liberal arts college), after which I came back home to take a gap year and apply to grad programs in the US. I did get into 2 PhD programs with full funding, and 2 MA programs, one with full funding and the other with partial funding, and I ended up choosing the MA (with full funding) because I didn't feel totally ready to commit to a PhD. Now I'm applying again from home and we'll see if I made the right choice ?In my experience, the odds are low for literally everybody, and an international background, with native-level skills in languages other than English, would even be something that helps you stand out. My MA program had several international people who didn't even do undergrad in the US, and they got in and did well anyway. My MA advisor was also an international student coming into his PhD. I'm very very anxious too but I think as long as you put your all into the applications and applied to a good mix of schools for you, your odds are not lower than anyone else's.

For me, I got prompted to pay after I clicked Submit. There was a link that was kind of easy to miss next to the You've submitted the application line (I don't remember the exact wording). Besides Emory, I applied to another school which had the same thing - the payment portal appeared after clicking Submit, not before (which is counterintuitive tbh). I think you could email the Laney Graduate School, as they are the place receiving the application fee payment, not the English department, to ask.

Hi everyone! Long-time lurker since my first round of grad applications 3 years ago, and now I'm finally feeling ready to participate, as I'm about to apply to PhD programs. I'm applying with a MA, and want to use part of my thesis for the WS as it is really my best work both theory- and analysis-wise and reflects the kind of work I would like to do at the PhD level. The problem that I'm having is that my chapters are kind of short (~10 pages), with a long intro (~15 pages), so a combination of the intro + a chapter would be too long for most WS page expectations (~20 pages). The context is that my thesis is on 4 different novels, so each chapter is on one novel, with the intro and conclusion and one small interchapter for historical and theoretical backgrounds. Overall, it's a pretty long thesis. I would love to hear your input on how to approach excerpting a MA thesis: should I craft a paper that's like a cohesive whole, revolved around one of my chapters? Can you offer some advice on best practices? I know that I should have a cover page explaining the excerpt and how it relates to the bigger project, but that's about it. I would really appreciate any advice, as this is the hardest part of the apps for me right now. Thanks!