meghan_sparkle

Just poking in to say I can't imagine how enormously frustrating and sad this is for the fall 2020 applicants. If it's any consolation (not that there needs to be consolation) I think what programs choose to do this season (whether they pause and why, how true or false words about closing admissions 'to support current graduate students' end up being) will be really ... telling. Telling for what it would like to be in that program, telling for the longevity of the humanities PhD, telling for the profession ... There is also really no harm in taking a year out and working, if that would be

On a slightly brighter, albeit literature-grad-unrelated note: since you're straight out of undergrad, if editing is something you're really serious about, my sincerest advice would be to look into copyediting courses, e.g. in NYU's Continuing Education department. Once you've done that and studied some of the literature (e.g. Carol Fisher Saller's The Subversive Copy Editor; Benjamin Dreyer's Dreyer's English) you can contact various organizations/publishers/magazines about copy-editing positions; in the case of publishers, they'll give you a copy-editing test, which if you pass could very we

No, no, and no. I interned at one of the ones you list for about 6 months straight out of undergrad. An MA in literature really is not necessary to work at these; what's much more helpful is journalistic experience and connections (say, if your goal is NYRB/The New Yorker, try to write for LARB or keep an eye on entry-level positions going at, say, Slate—Slate has a lot of lateral movement to those places). PhD --> literary journalism has in recent years become something of an alt ac track; think Naomi Fry (NYU PhD --> New York Times Magazine --> New Yorker) or Josephine Livingstone (

oof ... hadn't heard this, good to know

Yayyyyy!

Heading to Yale!!!!!!!!! Was genuinely so tough to decide between Yale, Princeton and Columbia, as they were all legitimately tied as #1 in my mind and each had unique strengths for me personally, but something about New Haven just already felt like home. Whether that was just because they had their visit days and Princeton/Columbia didn't, it's a little hard to say, but at one point I just had to say to myself that counterfactuals aren't helpful in this scenario, it is what it is, and I have to go with my gut. If I'm honest I'm going to feel pretty sad about turning down Princeton/Columb

Belated, but turned down Columbia and Princeton in the last couple days. Columbia isn't keeping a waitlist this year but hope this helps someone for Princeton.

Just turned down Berkeley. That was incredibly, incredibly difficult.

Aaaaand just turned down Harvard!

Just declined Chicago. Damn that was difficult. Not sure if they have a waitlist but if they do, hope this helps someone on it.

One thing that has been helpful to me while trying to sort through my longings and instinctual impulses is remembering that the decision isn't just about the next year or two, but has to still feel right even in three or four years when dissertating. In that vein, a less stressful teaching experience should weigh more heavily in terms of your daily working schedule. Whereas having to move cross country—although it's a hassle, inconvenient, a lot of work and may distance you from family/friends—is something that will probably feel like a blip 6 months in when it's over and done with and you've

For what it's worth I doubt this—there may well be fewer spots but I don't think that means MAs will be functionally mandatory. There are a good number of BA only applicants in all of my admitted cohorts, and to me they're indistinguishable from the ones with MAs, tbh. Ofc to a degree it's program specific (some already lean toward students with MAs, though not the ones I applied to, and maybe those will become even more MA-centric). What will get you into the PhD is an excellent sample and good recs, and an MA is only one way of many you can get there (I did a one-year masters, took a year ou

Hey, I'm really sorry. This must be awful, especially with faculty encouraging you like that—I wonder if it points to COVID really messing things up behind the scenes, making even fewer spots available when normally they would pull from waitlist when someone declines. Fwiw I haven't responded to Berkeley yet, though got a nudging checkup email from their DGS yesterday. To be honest I really wish what was going on behind the scenes with department admissions and COVID-19 was less opaque and cloak and dagger than it is right now. I imagine humanities budgets are being devastated left and ri

edit: nevermind!!

VERY small. I'm realizing this myself every day, it's crazy!