olivetree

Oh my gosh, congratulations!!! I'm so, so happy for you!

Hi, @Tessjane77! I've worked as a high school English teacher for the past four years (started teaching right out of college) and just applied to PhD programs in this cycle. I highly recommend getting some work experience outside academia before reentering the academy; not only do I think it's helped me become a more competitive applicant and clarify my research interests, but it's also just been hugely valuable to me personally to be removed from the ivory tower for a few years. If you want to talk more about entering secondary education, let me know! I've loved working as a high school teacher and, given the dearth of TT jobs, teaching at the high school level is a great option for people with interests like ours.

This is an interesting perspective, and I'd be curious to hear more of your thoughts. What would you say are topics that are undergoing a kind of "fad" wave, and what are areas that are currently underrepresented in the discipline?

Some insight into CUNY Comp Lit: they said they’re conducting all their interviews this week and next, and should have decisions out by the end of next week. Good luck to everyone who applied!

Thank you so much for sharing! I really appreciate it. I haven’t heard anything from my schools yet, so it’s comforting to have some ideas for how I could make my application stronger in the next round. It sounds like all your acceptances are very well deserved Congrats, and best of luck with making your decision!

I’d love to hear both what you did to try to look impressive and also what schools indicated were strong elements of your app! I’m also curious about your research interests—if they’re particularly of the zeitgeist and therefore interesting-sounding, or areas that are super well established already within academia.

Holy shit, you are having the most successful season ever! Can I ask about your profile? Like, BA, MA, publications, research interests? You must be some kind of ideal candidate.

You're not alone! I also haven't heard a peep from any of my programs... it's hard not to catastrophize, especially seeing all the results pour in for other people on the forum. Just one more month until we're officially put out of our misery!

Totally feeling this, too. In other news, I just woke up from my first admissions-related dream: I received an interview offer (should’ve known I was dreaming from that alone) and then was interviewed by a current 12th-grade student of mine!

Feeling this hardcore right now.

Someone posted a Rutgers interview invitation on the results page yesterday

CUNY seems to notify of acceptances in early-mid February (from the 4th to the 13th-ish, judging by past GradCafe results)

Thanks for emailing — keep us posted!

Hi, fellow Comp Lit-ers! I'm interested in the intersection between Ancient Greek tragedy (especially female tragic figures) and postcolonial literature of the African diaspora (in English, French, and Italian). I applied to six schools and am not expecting to start hearing back until early-mid February. Wishing everyone the best of luck!

On a related note, does anyone have insight about whether it's acceptable to list professors from affiliated departments as SoPs? For example, if there's a professor from the French department who's affiliated with the Comparative Literature department, is it okay to name them as a professor of interest? Or is it best to stick to naming core Comp Lit faculty?