mostlytoasty

I guess I got my first unofficial acceptance, too! Nominated for fellowship at a school that shall remain unnamed for now. 1 down 13 to go. Ahh!!!

on how long an English PhD takes: me: "usually 5 or 6 years" them: *wide-eyed stare of disbelief* YES, becoming a doctor of anything takes a long time. And people spend 5-6 years devoted to other things/finding themselves and no one ever seems THAT surprised. Also, one cousin (a doctor from Europe) "Oh that should be a pretty easy program to get into."

And for the 2nd time... I'm done with applications! Now on to stressing out over whether or not my transcripts were received/uploaded/noticed and fantasizing about my future life.

I just checked my status and my hard copy MA transcript is missing tooooooooo. And now they're closed til January. Sigh. I hope that they just haven't gotten around to uploading and updating everything.

Nope. The only exception was UCSB because they explicitly said you could send a 4th from a teaching supervisor if you had teaching experience. Everywhere else I just went with 3 because they said 3, even if there was a space for 4 or if there were just endless spaces to add.

CUNY Grad English... only.. accepts 2 recommendation letters, amiright? I was stressing out over only receiving 2/3 interfolio requests and then I realized it said 2 recs. Whhhhatttt

Well they aren't listed as required on the department website (only SOP, recs, and the usual) and they're not starred as required on the app itself. I really didn't know we had to do this and thought we'd automatically be considered for teaching fellowships... I don't really have time anymore to get supervisor evals from everyone (I have one on file).

University of Oregon applicants! Did you guys fill out the GTF position questions?

I had pretty mediocre/bad GREs last season and still managed to get waitlisted at 3 schools... oh... waitlisted. Nevermind, I still got rejected. But if it eases anyone's mind, one was pretty close to the top 10 and the other two in the 20s. Would it have helped if I had amazing GREs? Maybe, maybe not. One DGS I talked to didn't say anything about my GREs, just the fact that others were further along in their field of interest than I was. I tried retaking the general test again and scored pretty much the same. I feel like with standardized testing, I hit a plateau and no matter how intensely I study, I just fare the same + all the anxiety. I'm over it!

So.. back to Rutgers. Their "SOP" is a "Personal Statement," which I understand is a SOP and not something like Berkeley or Michigan's Personal History Statement. Correct? Or did anyone include diversity-ish/familial background kind of stuff in their statement for Rutgers? I wrote about influences stemming from my non-academic, professional experiences, but don't know if I should bring in more of the personal stuff I sent to Berk and Mich.

I'm glad I read this thread before submitting. So for the record: it's preferable to NOT have all that personal stuff, yeah? And it's a limit of 1,000-2,000 still?

You could do some case studies from Oliver Sacks (they read like short stories). A memoir that comes to mind is also Lucy Grealy's Autobiography of a Face (deals with her diagnosis and treatment of ewing's sarcoma). Also some chapters from Andre Dubus (esp. "A Hemingway Story" which you could pair with Hemingway's "In Another Country") which talk about the futility of cures, phrased reductively. If you were going to assign some historical background text, Roy Porter's work is excellent and easy to digest, esp. The Greatest Benefit to Mankind--you'll find some good sections on American medicine there I think.

Hi Guys, So I'm filling out my first app for submission (UCSB) and this came up: "What amount of personal funds are available to you for funding your graduate study?" Does how much I list here effect my probability of receiving a funded offer? Honestly, I have no personal funds or savings... everything I earn is going toward student loans, rent, etc. But I don't want to write "$0.00" if that's going to keep me from getting an offer because they think I can't pay. If necessary I could borrow money from family/take out more loans. What do you guys think or suggest? I might just put a tentative number.. but what to put?

I say don't contact! The rest of your sample is great—let it be. Think of how many other people are badgering the department with questions, troubleshooting issues, etc. I would be pretty annoyed if I had to go back and help someone fix a measly "of." It's something you should have ideally caught before hand, but you know what... we're human and we make mistakes especially after working for months on apps for a bunch of other schools while trying to have a life. No big deal. I'm pretty sure my writing sample has mistakes too even after staring at it for so long. Take heart that the adcomm will probably be speed reading your paper most of the time and will brush right through it to get to the meat of your paper, aka stuff that really matters like your argument.

I was waitlisted at 3 schools two app cycles ago (one of which was my top choice and a pretty close top 10)... I used the year to get my MA so I have a new writing sample and a clearer sense of direction in my SOP. The whole 1 year MA program felt really rushed so I don't feel that confident about my WS. I try to comfort myself by saying, well, if my thesis was THAT bad, my advisor wouldn't have given me an A, wouldn't have agreed to write me a rec, and I wouldn't have graduated, right? I'm hoping that the dream school that waitlisted me in spring of 2011 will remember me this time around.

Recommendation e-mails will not be sent until you submit your application, so do it early. I really dislike this method, ugh.

I would definitely submit a CV. All of the schools I am applying to require one. Smilax: depends on how unrelated they are. I'd forego listing jobs like restaurant hostess...speaking from experience...but stuff that has to do with teaching/education, writing, community development, non-profit work, etc. might be good to list. Follow-up to the follow-up: should I include non-academic publications? They're the only kind of publications that I have (from editorial internships, freelance work, and jobs at magazines).

Personally I would stick with TNR, but if you were going to use a different font, put it into PDF form so it doesn't get converted. I feel like adcoms would definitely be able to spot writing samples trying to appear shorter in length... just do them the favor and keep trying to "ruthlessly delete the excess" (Stunk and White).

Hi Somer (and everyone else), here's some advice my MA thesis advisor gave me about the writing sample that I think you'd find helpful: it doesn't have to be groundbreaking or ready-to-publish work. While you should aim to ask interesting questions, you don't have to give the adcom a mind-blowingly brilliant rereading of a text—it just rarely happens this early on. What they really want to see is a range of skills that you will be expected to have in a PhD program, such as close reading, the ability to define and execute research parameters, and that you can navigate secondary literary criticism in a normal, responsible way. Your WS should show you can do the things you want to do in your SOP. Perhaps your WS will show off your ability to do historical or archival research. There are plenty of applications that make it through that aren't "perfect," but they are at least persuasive readings and engage in literary criticism. All in all, don't obsess over how "smart" the WS is, but how you can craft it to show off a range of skills. I hope this helps! I'm in the same boat. Not done with my writing sample, and I need to cut it down to a bunch of different page ranges. After looking at it for so long I'm just not happy with it. I'll hope for the best. Hang in there!

Bumping this thread to ask: Should I mention that I was waitlisted in my SOP a year ago, or let my new application speak for itself? Any opinions?

14. I applied to 11 last year and was waitlisted at three.

One of my recommenders is asking if it is *possible* for me to set up Interfolio for my PhD apps. Is there a nice way for me to say no to this request? Or do I owe it to them to set it up? One of my schools specifically said that letters that go through these 3rd parties are usually more general and less persuasive... so I am guessing this might be true for many departments. I would also like to try to save whatever fees I can.

Bumping this thread! I'm going to U of Chicago for an MA so I'll only be there for a year or so. I want to rent a reasonably priced studio myself and don't really want to live in Hyde Park. I've never lived on campus so I don't really feel the need to be close by. In fact I want to live a bit closer to "the city" rather than be trapped on campus. I'd like to live somewhere cool, with good places to eat and walk to and whatnot. I'd like to be close to a train or something that would take me to campus in like 30 minutes or less too, as I don't know if I'll have a car. I'm also a pretty experienced bike commuter so I'd also like to live somewhere I could easily commute to (when it's not snowing like crazy of course). Any suggestions? How are the neighborhoods just north of Hyde Park (Douglass, Oakland, etc.. stuff by the lake front area). I'm also a very small female and would appreciate a relatively "safe" neighborhood. Thanks!

I got a waitlist letter in the mail a few days ago, along with one from Chicago about the MAPH. Ahhhhhhgggghhh

So as I was trying to get my mind off of being waitlisted, I accepted a friend's offer to go on a road trip from Chicago to Yellowstone. Problem: it's the week of April 15th! What was I thinking? She says there should be sufficient reception along the way, but that's a risk I'm uncomfortable taking! If I'm offered a spot off the waitlist on say, April 15, and I don't call back until the next day, will my offer be revoked? Do departments wait or do they just move on down the list?