labradoodle
-
Posts
43 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
3
Posts posted by labradoodle
-
-
My language test waiver got approved by Columbia!! whoo (thank god because that test is like 5 hours and I have done enough fill-in-the-preposition and multiple choice questions to boring but ambiguous texts in high school English classes to last me a lifetime)
-
On 10/23/2021 at 4:46 PM, Hard times! said:
Does anyone have insights into which English departments draw on philosophy a lot? I mean of course much of literary theory is based off of philosophical ideas but there are certain issues in philosophy which English departments do not typically deal with anymore because they tend to border too much on 'formalism'. Issues like how metaphors are conceived, current theories of imagination, phenomenology (a lot of affect theory does draw on this but not enough), time and cognition and so on-- does anyone know which English departments (not Stanford or Berkeley and the like but more 'modest ones) would perhaps be interested?
I'd say it really depends on what kind of philosophy you're talking about. This might be stating the obvious, but I initially thought 'philosophy and literature' was a somewhat comprehensive field, when it's really not. However, I'm mentioning it because I initially thought of Berkeley as a good fit bc I'm interested in philosophy and literature, and even critical theory in particular, only to find out they really mainly do gender and race and not thaaat much else. You might want to check out the journal 'philosophy and literature' (maybe the words are switched around, idk), and see where the people writing on these specific things come from. I've seen that Binghamton has this kind of dual programme, so that might be to your taste, and I think Purdue might as well (though with specifics I can't really help you, unfortunately). Regardless, I feel like usually they have a 'philosophy and literature' tag on their faculty page, so that might be of some help!
-
7 hours ago, Hard times! said:
Can you still apply without a proficiency test? In many cases the proficiency test is not a departmental requirement at all and schools are ready to consider your application without the test. Of course this is provisional and even if you are made an offer it will be conditional but I am sure you'll have plenty of time then. Or have I made this up in my head because it's convenient? I am an international applicant too but in my case, some schools list my country as an English-speaking one while others don't.
To add on to Alyson, I've only come across the proficiency-test-after-the-deadline situation at Oxford and Cambridge, I think, but other UK unis are a lot less strict with proficiency, meaning that you can meet the requirements in many more different ways. For instance, you might meet the requirement if your programme was in English, or even if you got a certain high school diploma with a certain grade. Hope that helps!
- WomanOfLetters and Hard times!
-
1
-
1
-
1 hour ago, Alyson said:
Where does it state that applicants need to take TOEFL 2/3 months before deadline?! TOEFL is also not the only English proficiency test that US schools accept. What about taking IELTS instead?
It says so on the site of TOEFL itself, and it's just too expensive to gamble with. I just assumed IELTS would be similar, but you're right!! I'm gonna decide today if I'm taking the IELTS next week, lol. Thank you! (I swear I'm not as disorganized as I seem here, haha.)
-
On a more positive note, I realized the obvious: Dublin is still in the EU, so I might be able to make that work financially, and apply there!
-
I'm quite salty about something tbh: I couldn't start my applications till last month (when I was too busy with classes starting again,which is on me, sure), but only now I can really find clear info about the language tests and potential waivers (which is probably also on me, sure, but this is a rant more than a real complaint lol), and the applications are open for only 2 months or so, but TOEFL states you need to do the test 2/3 months before your earliest admission deadline, which is basically impossible. But now I'm finding info that I'm probably not eligible for waivers in the U.S. unis I wanted to apply to (most other places, even in the UK, where I'm considering applying waive the tests for me), even though I've literally been studying almost exclusively in English for the last 4 years.. So annoying, honestly.
I know I should've just done it earlier, but I wanted to first start the application and figure out all the info to make sure I really wanted to and not waste any money (which turned out to make sense because one of my programmes just didn't open for new applicants this year). I'll contact them anyway with "I literally studied English, in English, what more do you want" emails, but I'm not too optimistic lol. Still, especially because it's clear so late whether they're actually taking on new applicants, I do feel like this is a bit of a shitty policy towards internationals, but whatever haha.
-
Also, does anyone know with regard to US unis: do they or do they not want you to propose an exact small niche that you want to research (as in a proposal question)? I'm mainly putting all my stress right now into developing my interests further and turning them into a PhD proposal, but would the US really be okay with you just putting down your general interests? I had hoped to receive more information from my teachers, for instance, or from other students applying in my programme, but that's not really happening unfortunately.
-
4 hours ago, Alyson said:
My guess is that program is Duke? I was hugely disappointed when I found that out ???
Yes exactly! I think I'm going to apply for their English programme now instead of literatures. But I'm so sorry!
-
I decided quite a while ago to which programmes in the US I wanted to apply, and only now I'm seeing that one of the programmes isn't taking applicants for next year. :'D Fortunately, they have another programme available that's quite similar, so I might try for that one instead (also depending on what they say with regard to language requirements, because my other programme does have my situation listed as a potential one in which you can get a waiver). Still, I hate this moment so much for an application time, as I'm only now developing my research ideas in my programme and will write my thesis next semester, so I might just try for a few this year and if it doesn't work out try again next year.
-
Thank you so much! I'm thinking of applying to Duke and Columbia now as far as US goes (not because I'm some sort of genius lol, I'm just not moving to a country without health care for a programme that's not worth that to me :P). I applied to Cambridge for my master's, so knowing that their leniency isn't universal does help, as I initially assumed their way of handling things must be the standard one (my home university didn't require anything of me). But I think I'm starting to understand, so you've already helped me out tons! Thanks! (I'm not too stressed by the requirement itself, by the way - I just need to figure out whether I need to schedule the test.)
-
31 minutes ago, Alyson said:
I believe you have to submit your English language proficiency test results by the time you submit your application. Even for my masters I sent in my result with my application too. I know that some of the British universities allow you to submit them after you're given a conditional offer (i.e. Oxbridge), but I think mostly it doesn't work like that in the U.S.
Some universities in the U.S. (e.g. Stanford) waive this requirement if you have studied in universities where English was the only medium of instruction, but most universities still require international students from non-Anglophone countries to submit their English proficiency test scores. If you want to save some money, take a good and careful look at the requirements from each school!
Thank you! Especially the first half is really good to know, as I couldn't find that info anywhere. I feel like I should be able to get away with not needing proficiency tests for some places, but am still in doubt. Like... as we need quite a high level of English to pass high school, any English requirements are completely wavered here for students who finished high school, and I've even seen Goldsmiths say that if you graduated from this school system with an 8/10 at least, they'd waver it. (But I graduated with a 7, even though I studied both English and an MA fully in English since, lol. An email should probably solve that one at least, haha.)
-
By the way, does anyone know if you have to submit your language certificate (TOEFL or IELTS, I mean) simultaneously with the rest of your application? For my master application, I only had to hand that one in after, and if I got admitted, but I'm assuming I need to hand it in beforehand here. (I can't figure out if I need to take it as I'm in a fully-in-English type of programme right now, and literally studied English before, and have heard I don't need to, but will need to contact them.)
Oh, and another (hopefully final, haha) question: does anyone else feel obnoxious even trying to apply to highly ranked programs? Every time I even click on the website of an Ivy I feel really weird about it, but I simultaneously feel that one of my main problems with previous attempts to apply at "good" universities was that I didn't feel comfortable even applying, and that came across in my application.
-
I feel like I might finally have found the first university I'm 100% interested in applying to, even when just going on the nausea I felt when I (falsely) realized they required GRE scores. ? It's kind of weird which universities require GREs and which have wavered them - the only one that still required them was one at such an unknown (to me, at least) university that I'd expected them to be wavered (as their requirements are probably less severe than those of top unis), whereas all the top unis don't require them this year, haha.
-
46 minutes ago, Glasperlenspieler said:
It's worth noting that most professors have an are of expertise and knowledge that extends at least somewhat more widely than their publications/listed interests. One good way to get a feel for this would be to look at what dissertations they have advised/been on committees for.
Another point is that rather than starting from faculty lists at various universities and then trying to find suitable professors from there, you might instead start with the research that you're already interested in. What books/articles have been important/interesting to you? Who wrote them and where are they teaching? Then check out the bibliographies of those pieces, look up the works that are cited, and figure out where they're teaching. If you keep doing this for a few iterations, you'll probably find that the bibliographies start to circle back. At this point, you should have a decent idea of who is publishing things of interest to you in your field and where they're teaching.
ohh that's really super helpful, thank you! There are some subfields I'm interested in where I do really notice that, but unfortunately, my main interests are really those classic post-structuralists who are physically dying out at the moment, rather than just their fields. XD Still, I'm definitely going to investigate this further and ask around a bit, cause there must be some current research being done ahaha.
-
I initially didn't want to respond cause I thought "well I don't know", but I do want to say: if you're interested in prestigious programmes, whatever you do, please don't not apply for fear of not getting in anyway. Chances are you're really good, so please go for it (as well as for anyone else reading this). Apart from that, I honestly don't know (and will be following haha), but 4 academic paper presentations seems quite impressive! Good luck!
-
2 minutes ago, Alyson said:
I worked with a professor who was the only person in the department that was knowledgeable in critical theories for my thesis. I was hoping I could write something with critical theories, but in the end he steered me toward something he researched on, which was not critical theories...
I'm so sorry that happened to you! Thanks for sharing, though! I'm definitely making sure that there are multiple faculty who work in the areas I'm interested in, and will pay even more attention to it with this in mind.
-
Now that I've typed that, I'm actually wondering too: how close are faculty members supposed to approximate your own interests in the US? I've looked around a lot, but can't find anyone working in my really specific niche, but I can find a lot of faculty members who I have a lot of crossover with in various of their tags (things like 'critical theory' or '20th century literature'), but then if you look at their own research it's always some random thing I don't know anything about. Would that be an issue? Cause presumably your exact research wouldn't need to be the same, right, as long as people are knowledgeable/market themselves as scholars in the general fields?
-
8 minutes ago, ellieb_ said:
Hello everyone! I was wondering if it's necessary to get in touch with faculty members if I'm applying to the US schools?
I emailed a few faculties and they responded that with emails like these:
"Application process is done through a faculty committee. That is to say, students apply to our program generally, and in their applications list a couple of different faculty whose work they are interested in, rather than applying to study with a particular professor."
and "faculty cannot individually select grad applicants on their own--all applicants must go through the process and all dossiers are reviewed by the Admissions Committee in early Spring."
So I was wondering if these emails mean I don't have to find an advisor prior to submitting my application? Because as far as I know, European countries and Canada are the opposite of that.
I also wanted to know if I have any chance of getting accepted with 2 conference attendance, but 0 published papers?
From what I've heard (but I'm not completely sure so please correct me if I'm wrong), UK does often require you to get in touch with a faculty member, because you'll be starting your thesis work immediately. US, I think, has a kind of divide between fields that do lab work and so require you to really look into a faculty member whose lab you want to join or whatever, and (most of) the humanities where that's (thankfully lol) not a thing.
Also, I believe humanities has much less of an expectancy for prospective students to have published whole papers in fancy journals, cause that's really very difficult to do, and usually doesn't work in the time-scale of an MA (or a late BA) anyway, as it can take years. It can't hurt, of course, but from what I'm exposed to it genuinely doesn't seem the norm, at all. You may want to look at some less formal journals or something, though - things like online graduate journals attached to your university, or those more blog-like journals.
-
From what I've heard, it can be useful to frame it in a different way, asking them: "would you be able to write a strong letter of reference with regard to xyz," instead of just asking for a letter of reference. This gives them more space to say no if they think their letter would not be strong.
-
It really depends what you want to get out of the programme, but you might want to consider the UvA's (Amsterdam) 1-year programme in philosophy. Of course, it's not an English-speaking country, but everyone can speak English, especially in Amsterdam itself, so if that's the main concern it might not be as big of a deal. Also, it's probably cheaper than some other MA programmes. It generally is, however, considered not the programme to do if you want to go into research (there's also a 2-year research track which does have that exact aim), but that might be better suited to your aims!
It came to mind because you're looking to learn more about analytic philosophy, and I generally do feel like the analytic philosophy faculty is really strong (the ILLC is also here, of course, though you probably wouldn't be at the same location or able to take their courses). However, a disadvantage (or maybe advantage to you? idk) would be that the programme does not have any set courses that give you a foundation in the fields; it almost exclusively consists of electives, with the exception of your mandatory thesis. While I've done continental philosophy and other fields exclusively for the last years because I dislike analytic philosophy, the faculty was so good that they tricked me into thinking I liked it for a good two years. Hope this helps!
-
(Just a disclaimer: I'm not very familiar with non-thesis options, nor have I already gone through a PhD application season, but I am a big fan of theses haha)
I think one of the main questions would be why you're in the non-thesis track. Of course, work like that of your thesis will be closest to PhD work, so it probably will at least raise questions of why you decided against doing so. If it is impossible due to circumstances for you to do a thesis, that might be worth mentioning in your application/having it mentioned in a letter of recommendation, if it says somewhere which track you're in. However, if it doesn't mention that on your transcript, they may not even have to know, if you're applying before you would be writing your thesis? (though if you were to re-apply in a later year, they probably would.)
Regardless of whether they will necessarily exclude you or whatever, I do personally think that writing a thesis is a really valuable experience, especially if you're thinking of pursuing a PhD, and unless you have really good reasons for being in the non-thesis track, I personally would try and see if you can switch - it really allows you to do in-depth research, as well as get a better grasp on your research period/topic. If you don't, make sure your application still provides answers to the questions: why are you interested in doing research, and how do you know you're capable of doing so?
-
On 6/16/2021 at 2:26 PM, labradoodle said:
Definitely go for your thesis advisor, of course. Apart from that, from what I've heard, it's most important to choose people who know you well, so that they can say more than just "they got an A in my class". While it's definitely a good sign that you receive emails saying you did so well, that on its own wouldn't convince me completely. I think that Professor 2 seems like a really good pick, but only if, and after you meet with him a few times. Then he'll certainly know you better. While I get the appeal of the third one, you have to properly ask yourself if they would still remember you well, and what they would exactly have to say. A bad letter from a famous person doesn't bring you that much further. As a bit of balance also can't hurt, and 2 and 3 seem fairly similar in their function in your academic path, I'd definitely go for someone who knows your concrete research experience as a third one! They'll know from the other letters, plus from your CV/transcript, that you're qualified and have taken (bio)statistics courses - a letter from a political science professor will probably only show your interdisciplinary qualities.
I do want to say, though, that all of these seem good options, and as long as your thesis advisor is there, you're probably alright! So if one declines, the other ones would probably be good choices, too. If you end up asking someone who only knows you from a course, though, espeically if it's a bit longer ago, I would definitely recommend you sending them some information about yourself - your CV, transcript, maybe a paper you wrote for the class, or whatever. Good luck, in any case!
I'm not sure how to edit my previous comment, but you can of course also just email them asking "would you be able to write me a strong letter"? That leaves them more room to say so if they actually don't remember you well, and might increase your chances for a strong letter!
-
Definitely go for your thesis advisor, of course. Apart from that, from what I've heard, it's most important to choose people who know you well, so that they can say more than just "they got an A in my class". While it's definitely a good sign that you receive emails saying you did so well, that on its own wouldn't convince me completely. I think that Professor 2 seems like a really good pick, but only if, and after you meet with him a few times. Then he'll certainly know you better. While I get the appeal of the third one, you have to properly ask yourself if they would still remember you well, and what they would exactly have to say. A bad letter from a famous person doesn't bring you that much further. As a bit of balance also can't hurt, and 2 and 3 seem fairly similar in their function in your academic path, I'd definitely go for someone who knows your concrete research experience as a third one! They'll know from the other letters, plus from your CV/transcript, that you're qualified and have taken (bio)statistics courses - a letter from a political science professor will probably only show your interdisciplinary qualities.
I do want to say, though, that all of these seem good options, and as long as your thesis advisor is there, you're probably alright! So if one declines, the other ones would probably be good choices, too. If you end up asking someone who only knows you from a course, though, espeically if it's a bit longer ago, I would definitely recommend you sending them some information about yourself - your CV, transcript, maybe a paper you wrote for the class, or whatever. Good luck, in any case!
-
On 6/11/2021 at 11:21 AM, EM51413 said:
I don't know much about UC Davis and Binghamton. When I visited Emory people were talking about how their department doesn't really have faculty working on Marxism...but on the other hand, there are few better programs than Emory for studying 20th century French thought imho, and people there are very much up to speed with contemporary European conversations.
The thing is, these are both really broad categories. Postmodernism go everywhere from new historicism to deconstruction to phenomenology to whatever Deleuze is doing, and Marxism can go from political economy to Frankfurt school critical theory to whatever Zizek is doing. Are there specific scholars whose work you admire? That might be a starting point for narrowing things down a little.
The place traditionally known for "philosophy and literature" is Stanford, and they are still strong in that regard due to the legacy of people like Rorty and Gumbrecht...but administratively that department is complicated. Suffice to say the comp lit department there seems to share PhD spots with a number of national literature departments, and there are years when they'd interview a bunch of people and not accept any of them. Have you read stuff by Martin Hägglund at Yale? He was trained as a Derridian at Cornell but then wrote a Heideggerian reading of Marx in a public-intellectual-y book. Take a look, and if you like that approach, Yale might not be a bad option. Also a "philosophy and literature" project might be feasible in some English departments - back in undergrad I had a professor who does amazing work on philosophical existentialism and the novel. She got her PhD from Harvard English not too long ago. But I'm afraid I don't know much about English departments in general.
Thank you so much! I love Heidegger and Derrida, so will definitely look into Martin Hägglund! I'm also definitely going to look more into what exactly it is in postmodernism that I like - I have some ideas of course, but this has helped me enormously to realize that I definitely need to look further. Again, thank you!!
2022 Applicants
in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
Posted
A lot of people apply to these kinds of places purely because of the name and prestige, and fail to see that the fit itself is terrible. If the fit is especially good, why not try?