[Comparative Literature Fall 2022]

3 hours ago, Triebziele said:

A bit random but did anyone who got accepted UC Irvine Comp Lit end up rejecting the offer? I was told from a POI that I was high-up on the waitlist and I have my fingers crossed that something will fall into line after a very disappointing cycle.

After receiving a MA with high marks from Germany, in German, and a BA from a top-tier US school, I am perplexed as to what it takes to get into these programs. Perhaps my SOP was a bit "old school" (my interests are psychoanalysis, aesthetics and politics, the relationship between German-Jewish identity/national citizenship, the question of "ethnic" Americans (Afro/Italian/Jewish),  and transatlantic modernism). Thus my project is basically German/US comparative with lots of interest in psychoanalysis and structuralist/poststructuralist thought. It feels as though I somehow should have a more "Zeitgeist-y" interest but perhaps this is just my own defeatism speaking. 

Thanks for the help! 

Unfortunately I don't know anything about UC Irvine, but I'm just responding to offer the perspective I was given by an advisor after being shut out last year: the whole process is a lottery. I applied to 10 programs this year and was accepted into one. My profile is generally strong. I interviewed three times (two interviews apparently went horribly hahaha). Two schools were interested in my project outlined in my SOP/writing sample, one really did not seem to care and wanted to see if I knew who I could become instead. I am sure that every candidate who seems prepared for graduate study belongs to an exceptional student profile. I don't think adhering to any zeitgeist (especially in comparative literature, where eclecticism and dabbling are encouraged) is necessary. Schools are seeing if they can support your interests and if they have anyone like you already. The one thing I think an application should be is so wholly and weirdly you that it makes an impression, as it sounds you made at Irvine. That's really what matters; based on reading it here, it sounds like you know what you like and what you're about, and it's impressive to me. If it's important to you, go for it again next year. There's a ton of rejection in academia -- from fellowships, jobs, schools, journals, grants -- and PhD applications are no different. We can work hard on our apps and we can be smart, but we have to be very lucky too.