joeygiraldo

Elementary my dear, Watson (or stephenfirrell, ha). What you have there is ''prolepsis.''

update: Just checked my e-mail and received good news (relatively). I'm pretty sure we secured a third available funded slot so that's a tiny, tiny light of hope I guess?

Hey, all. I was part of the '09 Gradcafe community and hardly visit this site anymore but curiously returned this morning and saw a post about Brandeis (where I attend now). For the PhD program, I believe they have two funded slots, and they are really fighting for a third. As far as I know, they've made a couple of offers since February and most have passed on them. But I believe one student is very close to confirming (we were told to contact the student to impart info. on the program), so unfortunately, that's one slot gone there. There is a waitlist but it's kinda long (only about 6 or 7 students but given that there's so few spots, I consider this "long"). Also, accepted students day is April 7th. Hope this helps.

APPLY. I'm the famous cat from last year who applied with a 50th percentile Subject and got into 2 out of 6 programs. More and more programs are regarding that test as bogus.

I think it does. I think it gives the OP some perspective on the strength of the types of applicants and accepted students there and demonstrates that the school does expect a lot more than they lead on on their website. I do admit it was an awkward way of me to show all this, by telling the OP about my friend, but I'm sticking to it.

I realize my post seemed a bit forward (sorry) and the tone was a little off. I'll just tell you facts: 1) My friend who got accepted into the program is one of the brightest people I know (smarter than me, yes), and the faculty in our previous grad program all agreed, and he is extremely lettered and knows many languages (all I'm saying here is this is the type of competition you'll be up against) and 2) UCSD's Literature program is not a traditional English program, but rather more of a Comparative Literature one (so thusly, I think even though they don't have specific language requirements on the site, I believe wholeheartedly that they expect serious language skills for admission).

This thread makes me laugh. UCSD's program in Literature is highly, HIGHLY selective. Esp. the language requirements (dig deeper into that site, please). My friend who just got accepted into there is from Belgium. He is fluent in 3 languages (with working knowledge of a fourth), and has TWO Master's: he has a M.A. from Antwerp in Germanic Languages, and an M.A. from SUNY in Comparative Literature (he was my classmate). For one of his classes, he wrote a 45 page final essay just for the hell of it (it wasn't a thesis). That's the type of competition you are going up against.

It doesn't matter what your focus language is in. 99% of Comp Lit programs require another (some a third) language as a degree requirement even if you don't use it in your research (you need it, though, for them to test you in it). So yeah, brush up on that non-European language as best you can. You're gonna need it.

Get the hell out of here with your NJ hate, man. The hell is wrong with you? Rutgers is a fine school. Now that that's out of my system, I would like to know how exactly you plan on using your Russian and English skills in a Comparative Literature program (which for a PhD, btw, would require good knowledge of one more *additional* language). What do you want to study exactly? I'm just asking because usually people are all for going into a Comp. Lit. program, or are all for going into English. It's odd that you are mixing-and-matching... makes me wonder if you are truly committed to a particular niche.

In other news, what does everyone think of Harvard English's new web site??? http://english.fas.harvard.edu/

What do you mean by "somewhat normal in interviews," perchance?

But do these people live in Manhattan??

Hey, greekdaph! Great points... although I must disagree with you regarding NYU's English funding. 22k never sounded and never will sound good for living in the city. Even living in Brooklyn and Queens with that is extremely tough. NYU does offer great graduate housing in 2bedrooms next to the department for a cheap (relatively) $980 a month (all utilities included), but unfortunately, this is only available to students for their first year. Places like NYU and Columbia should be offering at LEAST 28k stipends.....

Hi, friend. If you only know English, I would advise you not to apply. If this were a lowerranked program and your stats were ace, I'd feel different, but any school in the top-tier most certainly wants to see second language training. There's no way around this... when a place like Columbia gets 600 apps, knowledge of languages serves not only as an asset but also as an unspoken, under-the-radar cutoff criteria... the idea being that they want to admit students w/ the highest amount of what I call ''success probability.'' In other words, they want students who can, at least on paper, go through all the hoops of their degree reqs. w/ the least amount of hitches.

Where are you getting your information? I'm curious, since I have a Comparative Literature degree from SUNY... when I finished and left recently, yes times were a little rough; I was told that they were only accepting three fully funded people into the Ph.D. program (as opposed to double that during a normal year).

I certainly meant "compliment" in my reply; circumfession gave good advice and I was the one congratulating there. But "complement" works, too, surprisingly.

Great find. This is quite interesting. Nothing in that list really blindsided me, with one exception: "Source of MA degree" (and to a lesser extent, source of your undergrad degree). I thought this bulletpoint was largely a myth; I guess I was wrong. That was really thought-provoking to me, namely because I received my B.A. from a really, really unknown school, and my M.A. from a fairly well-known one (SUNY Stony Brook)... And I'm glad to see that the writing sample was a close second. I've said time and time again that for *Literature* programs, the writing sample was the heaviest criterion. P.S. - I hope more people get into RhetComp. My college advisor was a RhetComp Ph.D., and if I could do it all over again, I would focus on taking composition theory and perhaps take fewer literature courses. It seems like the job market for them has always been better than us Lit folk... slightly better, at least...

It was meant to compliment, yes. I mean, the 600 verbal rule is pretty universal across-the-board. I applied to Master's programs two years ago and talked to, what I thought, was a large number of professors all over the Northeast. This year, applying to Doctoral programs, I talked to even more professors across the nation (in total, probably 20 schools) and I do not think you can get into a PhD program with a, say, 540 verbal... unless you are a published scholar already or a trained academic. Trust me on this. The 700 rule, though, as you state, is definitely a tad bit more flexible. And there are many exceptions.

Circumfession is right on the mark for the above points. One thing especially is breaking 700 verbal for those top 10 schools and ivy's. The general rule is that you should break 600 verbal to apply to ANY English Ph.D. program--it doesn't matter if the school is in the top 20 or in the top 75. You have completed this goal, but I urge anyone else reading this to do the same. Trust me when I say this: the verbal is the most important GRE element (and I'm including the Subject) when applying for an English degree. Schools nowadays get so many applications that they are using unspoken benchmarks to weed out applications quickly. I took the GRE four times in an effort to break 600... I finally did and because I think my writing sample was immaculate, I got moderate success this past application season. I bombed the Subject test (read: 40 percentile! no joke!) and that's probably why I got some rejections, too, but the Subject exam is being taken less seriously by nearly everyone as of late (just check out Columbia English web page to read their hard-lined opinion on the matter). But anyway, this is about you and your 660 verbal and I think you should be fine with that score for top 10-40 programs. If you honestly believe you can break 700 and have the time to prepare and retake it, then by all means do so, but I'd start concentrating on other aspects of your app. Cheers, JG

I meant the bad grammar of what he wrote... but it could just be he typo'd "The other schools" and forgot the "s." Not a big deal anymore... whatever.

The other school I'm looking at are: Stony Brook, Boston College, NYU, Fordham, CUNY... That above isn't a red flag to you???

I'd like to voice my opinion here (especially considering I applied to UMiami for the PhD, and got in)! To begin, I want to agree with what everyone has stated regarding location for the PhD vs. location later on. If you want to do your PhD at a Florida school, definitely go for it (UMiami in particular, isn't high on the rankings, but they have a pretty good record of job placement which is why I considered them). That's four, to six years of living in the beautiful state (my homestate!), in great weather, and you have a couple of options--UF and UM obviously, but also look at University of South Florida in Tampa. Tampa is great, and they have a PhD program in both Literature and Writing/Rhetoric, the latter of which opens up a lot more jobs than the former, regardless of the institution's prestige (i.e. there's more rhetoric jobs out there). Now the bad news: staying in Florida to teach. Unfortunately, newly minted PhDs have greater success of securing jobs if they have flexibility and mobility in terms of location. Even if your PhD is from, say, Harvard, the market is so bad that you'd need to apply to other schools/universities outside of Massachusetts. Which is why being accepted at a PhD program in the state of Florida is tough, finishing well in the program is tougher, and staying in Florida with your Florida PhD seems to me to be the toughest hurdle of them all...

It depends on if you get to the Porter T and the train is there/nearing the platform, or if you get there and have to wait for the next train. Also keep in mind that entering the Porter Square station *itself* is half the battle... you have to go underground to finally catch that Kendall-bound train (this only takes about an additional 2-3 minutes but it's something to keep in mind). It's just the way the station is structured--Porter Square's tracks are really below street level. In any event, if you get there and catch a train quickly, then yes, it only takes about 10-15 minutes from Porter to Kendall. If you have to wait for a train, it's closer to 20-25 minutes. And if you want to stop by Anna's Taqueria to grab a burrito before catching that train, give yourself those "35 minutes."

This. I took out a 20k loan for my entire master's from SUNY and proud that I paid only pennies. edit: And I was out-of-state! If you are a NY state resident I don't know why you wouldn't jump at the chance!

After being somewhat successful this season I'd have to say that my writing sample most definitely was the aspect that pulled me through. I edited that thing like no other, and every page was the best page I had written. Start thinking now about what you plan on submitting. If your writing is great, polish it more. Make sure the grammar and punctuation is error-free, and alternate between short and long sentences to create an enjoyable cadence to your ideas. More importantly, make original connections between literary theories and the text (in my first page, I connected Derrida to Shakespeare). This means you should create links adcom professors hadn't even thought of before. This will catch their eye, make them remember you, and make you "more competitive." My writing sample was publishable quality (not my words)--make yours that, too.