mnelmcar07

Anyone else here confused by the WUSTL results? One rejection and one acceptance (which seems continuous from an earlier interview?) were posted today. I thought WUSTL didn't have interviews based on historical result page. I haven't heard a word from them and now I'm honestly confused. Is it because of the different joint programs they do??

Oof, I assume that would be an implied rejection for ppl who didn't get the interview. But hurray for you - hope it works out! How was the process like, if you don't mind sharing?

That is so exciting!! Huge congrats to you ❤️

Yay, glad to know we have quite a few overlaps but also different interests and priorities. Stanford and Princeton are more on the top of my list for their strengths in East Asian studies. I hope to engage with both ancient and modern China as well as philosophy of art and ethics, which makes my program choices somewhat limited (although I feel that I did not look into as many schools as I should have, oh well). I didn't apply to Cornell and UCSB, but was also rejected from Berkeley since it's a very far-stretched fit in the first place. After I submitted my apps I have the same feeling that the majority of schools I selected was in fact quite random, as I was too afraid to change my mind or add new programs last minute after already requesting my recommenders. Maybe the randomness is just inevitable given how many programs have closed their admissions this year. I emailed Stanford last week asking if they're doing interviews this year and if they've already been sent out, and if I do get a reply at all I'll let you know!

That sounds awesome!! I assume getting into an MFA program must've been an equally, if not more, difficult process. I had my own (rather brief) period of oscillation between creative writing and literary studies, and my thesis eventually pushed me toward the latter route (though in the long run, I hope to be able to engage in both to some degree). I think the analytic lens in my head sometimes could prevent my ability to write in a fictional mode like my creative writing peers - we would approach a text in very different, though not always conflicting, ways. So it's really exciting to hear how you are crossing between the fields. That will certainly make you stand out from the admission pool. Which PhD programs have you applied to, if I may ask? I've been also dying to hear back. Especially since most schools I applied did not require an interview (based on the few results I could gather from this page), everything seems to be up in the air.

That's very true! I am also worried about adapting to a very different educational system and having trouble with rec letters (which seem not a common practice in EU schools?) and writing sample by the time I reapply, although France does have the benefit of a close-to-nothing tuition. I guess my best chance would be the funded MA at UToronto, but I heard it's very competitive for internationals and I'm not betting all my hope on it. My main reason for a master abroad is that I didn't find many affordable options in the US that interested me (I guess MA isn't a big thing here simply because most PhD programs do not require it?) - I'm glad a master did work out for you, though. And yes, I would also love to end up in Europe with all the vacation and intellectual environment than a TT job in some obscure place in the US - Have you heard of anyone from your program who has successfully done so?

Indeed!! My partner is applying to biology programs and I've been checking for his results more frequently than him lmao

Thanks for sharing the info! It was a relief to know that you can transfer if you haven't ended up with the ideal choice first time round, and I think your decision is totally valid; I'm going to take that into consideration if I do get into somewhere. I have been planning for a master in France if I didn't get into my top three choices (just because I feel that my chances would be better at any other normal year, when I could also apply to those programs that are now closed). But again, finding a center to take those language tests during a pandemic has been another nightmare lol

Congrats on the interview - that's definitely a good sign! I received a rejection from Berkeley about two weeks ago, which was also my first and only result so far. Though it wasn't my top choice, I've felt quite hopeless about this entire cycle since then (how naively hopeful I was when I submitted all my apps lol). Just been impulsively checking websites and unable to really concentrate on anything. Hope we can all move on to somewhere exciting after this month or so! Rejection or not, I just wish to hear back now so I could at least be settled with other plans :((

Similar here. I wanted to apply for the UChicago Comp Lit and after they closed I opted for the notoriously mysterious Social Thought department that has quite a few overlap faculty members with CompLit, though it seems to accept very few people each year. Now I feel like out of the seven PhD applications I submitted, only three (and three really competitive ones) are what I would be genuinely happy to attend. Even though it might be too early to know, chances are I'll be reapplying next cycle. I see that you're going for Oregon's philosophy program. Hope that works out well!

Congratulations! You must be the only Yale interview post I saw on the results page. I also applied there but haven't heard back. I assume that's an implied rejection. I haven't heard of many people who transfer institutions in a PhD program. How does that work for you? Best of luck for the interview this week!

Since no one has created a thread specifically for comp lit applicants this year, I figured I might as well initiate one just to ease some of my excruciating anxiety, and hopefully that of a few other comp lit friends - how have y'all been holding up at this point in the cycle? What programs have you applied to? Have you heard back from any so far? What are your languages/areas of study? Looking at the result page, it seems to me that the majority of comp lit programs do not require interviews for admission (or maybe the sample size is simply too small to be representative, who knows).