buendia.macando

Me too. I wasn't too optimistic in the first place but I'm happy to have an answer so I can start planning for other programs. Oh well, can't say we didn't try!

I know ? the suspense is killing me. It doesn't look like they do interviews which makes it even more mysterious

Anyone have intel on Princeton?

Sorry bud. I know the feeling. I cried hard after my 2 rejections and was surprised by how quickly I recovered the next day. It's amazing you got an interview during this brutal year and something amazing will come your way.

I received an acceptance email this morning and an invitation to apply for the Clark fellowship that they are nominating me for. This is my first official acceptance - depending on how the rest of my applications pan out I'm not sure if I'll accept. I'm still applying for the fellowship to keep my options open.

Hey fellow lit nerds - I am speaking to faculty at UCSB on Wednesday and I'm wondering if anyone has interview tips for comp lit?

I honestly can't remember the last time I've been this anxious / depressed and I'm having trouble dealing. I keep wondering if it's just me? I've kind of accepted it at this point. I do think it's exacerbated by COVID given the limited options of things to do and being unemployed atm. I at least try to journal every day, exercise, and go into youtube-rabbit holes. Honestly I feel like I'm having an existential breakdown that revolves around my deep-seated fear of failure and rejection ;(

Got my Cornell rejection, but it doesn't hurt as much since I have another offer pending. I can see the mismatch in hindsight. Still waiting on Princeton - where some of my interests overlap but I'm not sure if it's enough. I guess we'll see. Either way, I'm happy with my choice at UCSB, but I'm awaiting financial information so it still seems like limbo.

I just got an informal email from UCSB about how they are impressed with my application and are interested in my work, but need to work out the financial information before further updates. I should be hearing back by the end of the month. So that's exciting but still feels like limbo. In any case, it relieves my "everyone hates my application why did I apply I'm a fraud" mood. This process is so mysterious and cryptic. I assume COVID threw a wrench in their process...

Yes, I was in a similar position as you when I finished undergrad but we did the opposite thing - I almost went for a PhD but decided on the MFA instead. . It was a nail-biting process for sure, but I don't remember it being as difficult as right now? That might be because I applied with other people, and was engaged in my studies while waiting it out. I ended up only applying to places that waived the GRE so that I could use that time for other parts of my app. My top choices are Cornell (given its strength in critical theory and emphasis on creativity) and UC Santa Barbara (given its strength in translation studies and Latin America, Brazil in particular which is a geographic interest of mine). I also applied to Princeton, which I don't feel very optimistic about. They have a strong rep. in Brazilian studies, however, their angle seems very Marxist which I am completely down with and have written critical essays about, but don't feel strongly about it in terms of a critical approach in my own studies. I wanna do more language-y stuff, closer to the sphere of linguistics and psychoanalysis than to materialism / pure historicism. I applied to Stanford as well, which might as well hand me my rejection letter now - when I sat down and dug through their website as I was writing my SOP, I noticed a trend toward ancient / early modern / renaissance among faculty and grad students. Which is cool, but not my jam. My recommendation writers already sent their letters there, though, so I figured why not. I won't be surprised or heartbroken if I don't get in. Same thing happened with UC Berkeley - it felt very "square peg round hole" for me. Needless to say, I already got my rejection letter which was not a shock. That's the only thing I've heard so far. I think I would have applied to U Chicago if they were taking people this year.

Hello comp lit comrades. I've been frequently lurking the evil results page for longer than I'd like to admit, but I decided to cave in and make an account when I saw this comp lit thread. I'm hoping to side-step from my creative background into a more focused course of language and literary study, and I'm crossing my fingers 'til they bleed that I was able to make a case for my all-over-the-place background in my application. I decided to go for the PhD since I already have masters, albeit it's an MFA in poetry. I have a poetry manuscript coming out which hopefully can explain my 5 year break from academia. I did a lot of translation work in my MFA which was the focus of my SOP. It's fascinating to read about the varied and multifaceted research objectives from comp lit departments. I'm bilingual from birth with additional language study, but I'm hoping to approach comp lit as an opportunity to explore theory - esp. theory of language, deconstruction, post-structuralism, and probably more complex and exciting stuff I haven't encountered yet. I'm not sure I'm pining for the non-existent academic job awaiting the end of a PhD. I don't want to jinx my chances but I will share results as they come! The waiting period is more grueling than I thought it would be, and I'm having a lot of trouble dealing. Like a lot. A lot a lot.