factical.illusion

You too huh? ? Yeah, the only thing I'm frustrated and peeved about is the cold rejection after *a lot* of correspondence in the year leading up to it. And well, I mean, I *guess* Harvard is alright... but seriously, congrats that's absolutely amazing.

Yeah, I'm already in a PhD program, so I really can't complain at all. Rejection is redirection (or in my case, hunkering down and focusing)

I am at Hopkins (not in CTL though) and an admitted student visited one of my seminars the other day. So I deduce that acceptances have gone out.

Logged in to portal to find that I was rejected from Yale comp lit (after an okay interview which got my hopes up). Completely crushed. Gonna allow myself to wallow and feel all the feelings for a few days and then take a deep breath and pick myself back up on Monday.

^I couldn't agree more with the importance of this! Just to echo it: one of the most important things to consider is potential advisors. A lot of this depends, of course, but you want to find out if there is a person who can support, as well as challenge in order to help you develop, your research. While certainly any professor can be a critical and incisive reader of your research/dissertation, it would be even better (imo) if they are familiar with your research areas and their contours. In some (most?) cases, it's crucial. And speaking of the abysmal job market, I would suggest putting more importance on the quality of the next 5-7 years than what might come after. They are both speculative, but I think it's worth it to put the most weight behind finding a milieu and a program where you imagine yourself being the most supported, where there is the most potential for growth, and where you will feel the most satisfied and (dare I say it) happy. It would arguably make for better job portfolios in the end anyway. You obviously can't know everything ahead of time, but you can ask a lot of questions to gauge the responses and trust your gut. This is often what happens in interviews: both parties try to get a sense of the mutual fit. If you didn't/don't have an interview, it's perfectly reasonable to reach out to ask these types of questions.

I mean, sure, that could be a response, too. But it just highlights that it completely depends, not just on the program, but the individual. In any case, it's highly unlikely that whether or not you send a post-interview email will be a deciding factor in your application case. Personally, I do it just so I can have that much longer of a communication thread, and so I can read too much into a response (if I get one) to keep my morale up (i.e., so-and-so said it was a "great conversation!" WITH an exclamation point, so I convince myself it's only a good sign).

Just repeating something I read somewhere else on here: an acceptance is personal, a rejection isn’t.

From what I can tell, it’s a nice gesture (some profs might even expect it, even as a formality). Just keep it simple: a thanks, a reiteration of some of the points if you want, and maybe an invitation to ask further questions. It shouldn’t be anything that makes it seem like you want a response. You want to show you’re serious and interested but also know that they’re busy. That’s what I’ve done. There are some threads about this here too

For me its long walks without my phone so I won't be tempted to check email, portal or gradcafe

And the English dept has got to be the biggest humanities dept. Curious what that means for other programs e.g. comp lit... (answer: nothing good)

You are really onto something there. That is some next-level innovation. Yeah, thanks for reminding me about that. I'm sure that most also fixate on retracing their steps and their flubs or rougher answers....or maybe just me. But at least it's over with. All that's left is more waiting ? I've read that the Duke Lit interviews are unequivocally the toughest interviews. Kudos! None of the questions they asked were much more than a softball, which is maybe why I'm obsessing

Yeah, it signals to me that they genuinely want to get a good sense of the fit. Makes me feel like it both for a more substantive evaluation but maybe also for them to advocate (too optimistic?) for "their interviewees" at the final vote... But then it's harder to tell how/if they're trying to eliminate people from the short list

@harleth Whew, glad I'm not the only one. I didn't get nailed on any nitpicky things, but I rambled a bit too much and they lowkey had to cut me off a few times... *stomach sinks* but I guess I did get good lawful-neutral vibes overall. I feel like a requirement to be on an adcomm is to...*gestures at sky*...be impossible to read! But cheers to making it through our interviews. May I ask who your interview was with? Mine was with MH and MFi.

Just had my Yale comp lit interview with two professors, both of whom I mentioned in my SoP and cited in my WS lol. Did anyone else with an interview have mixed feelings about their own performance? I mixed up my words so much. The question that really threw me was when they asked me how all my ideas come together to be caught in a net. Thought I had that down, but I definitely didn't feel like I did. Gonna go walk it off. On the other hand, I got equal amount good vibes as I did "I'm-stressed-out" vibes. I had some some good moments, but the overall feeling is that I didn't clear the bar. Time for wine. Also they told me that various faculty are meeting with short-listed applicants over the coming weeks to learn more about their work and trajectories and how it fits with faculty interests (I got the vibe that they are doing this with all the short-listed people, but can't say for certain). The DGS will be in touch with applicants in the "next couple weeks" with decisions. So my current mood on a scale of 0-10: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ full stop. Time for more wine.

I would say, in my experience, that it's mostly either people's own preferences projected onto/against comp lit, or opinions of scholars in language depts other than English who will never believe anyone can have sufficient knowledge of a given language and national tradition if trained in comp lit and *not* be a native of said language/tradition. Even if it's a potential, given many structures of comp lit programs who emphasize theory and/or world lit, that has no bearing on a specific applicant. It's a stereotype. A prof of German once told me that the only people that are "forgiven" in job searches for doing comp lit are native German-speakers and that few things are more detrimental to a job application than "comp lit Deutsch," whatever that means (I imagine weak language skills besides reading...). That is demonstrably false, but I do feel that that old school perspective is still found (perhaps limited to German and French studies?). There is always the risk of not being "grounded enough" in a certain national tradition, since most comp lit grads have to market themselves to such departments. But imo that's a risk you take and something you have to ensure yourself. I've heard too many people complain that their dept doesn't offer the "right" courses for them (myself included), but that's just deflection of one's own agency to take their education into their own hands and acquire that knowledge. It's pretty simple (I'm oversimplifying and ranting but you get the point). It's a good challenge to bring in or combine your own interests to the class if they're not part of it (most professors are open to that; if not, that's anther convo), and we all spend most of our time in the library anyway (or used to...).