Djinns&Dragons

I know this wasn't directed at me, but to also give some suggestions as someone who is also hearing back from schools in my first time applying, I would suggest focusing more on your languages and research. My GRE scores were also horrendous, but my schools flat out told me that they don't really look at them and more and more complit programs are foregoing them. In terms of language, I'm not completely fluent in them, but am capable of conversing and using them. That said, I am choosing non European languages and have been told that if I was applying for something like French or German, I would need to be completely fluent in one prior to applying. So depending on your language, spend this year doing some immersion program to make yourself stand out. I've had interviewers flat out tell me that the most important thing is your research topic and ability so also spend this time submitting to undergrad conferences and journals for that CV line. Also pick a good research topic that hasn't been touched, but gets you passionate. Hope this helps.

Hey, so I'm applying for a PhD in Complit for Arabic and Chinese literature for the Fall 2020 season. I'm wondering if anyone else here is applying for a PhD in non-European languages. If so, what languages? What's your research topic? Finally, has anyone landed any interviews or acceptances?

Agreed...Had my Duke interview yesterday and it was definitely something like an exam...penetrating and scholarly questions, not just "getting to know you better" or clarifications of application materials. I'm just gonna (try to!) forget about it and wait for the decisions. Yeah, mine was something where at first I thought it was good, but now I'm not so sure. This is probably due to me going over some of my responses and the friendly atmosphere I had in the interview. Mine was also primarily researched based as the interviewers made it clear that the most important thing was my research project and ability. All in all, I think the post-interview is definitely more stressful than the actual interview, but that's just my two cents.

As my username alludes to, I am interested in studying Arabic and Chinese literature. Especially fantasy, scifi and folklore written in these languages. In total, 6 Most of my programs have deadlines in January with a couple being in February, so not yet. I did, however, have one school tell me that decisions will be made by late February so fingers crossed.