thoreaulymodern

Hello all! Second cycle applicant as well, just digging up Grad Cafe as I get ready to submit my first round of apps this Monday (?). I'm currently in a fully-funded MA program after the 2019 cycle. I saw an early, early response asking about what we changed for this second go at PhD apps. My writing sample is completely new (like, I literally wrote it from scratch at the urging of my LoR writer because she said I needed a more complex 'base' text to do close readings of), and I re-wrote both my statement of purpose and personal statement. I think they're stronger now- I name my interests right out the gate and have a clearer picture, theoretically, of where I want to go. that I hope is articulated there. My LoR writers also seem stronger this time around because they just know me better (faculty advisor, associate prof I've taken two classes with, and a full prof who I've done a few Zoom meetings with in the hopes he can emphasize theoretical expertise). Good luck to you all!

Accepted to ASU's MA in English!

I was just accepted to the MA at ASU! Excited to be able to say "I'm 100% going to grad school", even if I haven't heard back from everywhere yet!

Right now I'm holding out for the MA at UA(rizona) or ASU, which were my 'more realistic' applications this cycle, but-- I'm using Animal Crossing hype to get me through this wait ?

Just got a rejection from Univ of Washington ? That’s my first actual response from a program so my stress levels just peaked

Re: all the folks talking about Michigan ( @jm6394 @hamnet in tights @CanadianEnglish etc.), their director of graduate studies told me this in an email (yes, I send a lot of emails) regarding the English and Women's Studies program: "The admissions committee is currently reviewing files and we expect the review process to wrap up in mid-February. Notifications to applicants will go out before the end of February." So, we've still got a bit of a wait ?

Got an email from UCI and just about jumped out of my skin-- until I realized it was just about my financial aid application ?

@onerepublic96 Late response to this but I emailed the head of graduate studies for UCI's literature PhD earlier this week about this same question and she said, "We typically do very informal interviews with the students we are likely to be admitting in the first half of February". Hope that helps!

Hi all! I'm Audrie, and more than a little late to the game with this thread ? I finished my BA (double major in English + Comm) in December and my last application went out at the beginning of the month! I'm a first-gen student who is mystified by even the application process for grad school, but I was lucky to have some amazing mentors (faculty and otherwise). I only applied to a few programs, but I am excited to see where this journey takes me. Congrats to everyone who is already hearing good news!!

Hey all! First post, but this is a podcast my 'femtor' (female mentor) shared with me recently that is a fairly short but uplifting listen. It's hosted by Doctora Yvette Martinez-Vu, a Chicana scholar and assistant director of the McNair Scholars Program at UCSB. It's an awesome free resource that starts off with some of the basics of applications and moves on to discussions of imposter syndrome and the like. Here's a link to the first episode (there are only 8 now, so it's an ongoing project):