insideoutside

It seems to me that people do get in to English programs despite no English background if they come from very select (dare I say trendy?) disciplines, i.e. women's studies, film, american studies, and others. I'm also hoping to apply to English depts this fall for a PhD, while my undergrad was in English lit, my M.A. is in area studies (that dreaded "discipline" that English depts love to hate). In other words, not trendy. Now, I'm very critical of area studies myself and basically tailored my master's to take as many theoretical courses as I could in the areas of research that I am interested in for the PhD. Still, no English grad courses (though plenty of literary theory) and I'm really nervous about how this area studies degree will affect my chances. I have a decently literary reason for having done it - I was at the time interested in non-english and non-european literature (thereby ruling out comp lit) and the only place that allowed me to study it was an area studies dept., but I'm worried that English depts won't care about my reasons. In other words, I'm wondering what y'all think and if you've heard of anyone making this particular switch. Thanks!

Thank you! I do also have two A minuses so I'm scared this will be read together. I will probably mention working my way up from continuing education to a master's degree somewhere in my SOP, but only in general terms without mentioning the grade itself :/

I recently received the FLAS for my MA, and when applying I was advised against mentioning any professional goals simply to please the govt. In any case the people reading FLAS applications are professors (and not the govt) and they would know if you're not being entirely honest on that front. Instead, I focused on convincing them that my academic research in the area was vital. I contented myself by adding a sentence about my long term goals including wanting to teach the language (as also the literature). Additionally, if you already do know the language in some measure (as I did) it is important to stress that you don't know it well enough and that knowing it better is integral to carrying out your research. This may all vary from university to university though, so it definitely helps to talk to some professors who have served on the FLAS decision committee before.

I'm currently completing my MA while obsessing about my PhD applications (and I'm not even applying until Fall 2012!). Before my MA I took classes at the same university as a "continuing education" student while simultaneously working full-time. Now, I got a B grade on one of those classes. It was in the humanities but entirely unrelated to the work I am now doing. I recently found out that it will show up on my transcripts when I finish my MA even though it was not taken as a MA class and does not count towards my MA. How bad would this B look on my applications? I'm assuming the worst about this :/ Thanks a ton for your input!