hadunc

If I were you I would not pay for the MA at your undergrad. I considered doing this last year when I got rejected from every school I applied to, but I refrained because it is just not worth taking on that kind of debt. My advice, as someone who went through the exact same experience last year and got across the board rejections, is to spend the year off doing everything you can to improve your apps for next year so that you can get into a funded program. I spent some time feeling very depressed and bitter last year, and I too felt cheated, but looking back now I realize that it was the best thing that could have happened to me. In that year off I took the time to really figure out what it is that I want to do and why. I also had some great life experiences that I wouldn't trade for having gotten into grad school immediately. When you have to struggle and face rejection and doubt, you discover whether or not this is the right path for you. I know I will be a much better grad student this year because of what I went through last year. You can choose to be angry or you can choose to use the time that you have constructively, that's the way I see it.

Oh God, that sounds so intense! I was disappointed when I didn't get an interview invite because Duke would have been such a great fit for me, but now I'm just so glad I don't have to go through that process! Good luck Soccah123, it's an honor just to be invited and I'm sure you'll do great!

I've only heard from 1 out of the 11 schools that I applied to so far. I wouldn't worry about it--many of my apps still say "submitted" as well. I think at most schools they will contact you if there's something missing from your app, like GRE scores or transcripts, and several of my mine even have a strict "don't contact us we'll contact you" policy about missing materials. Some of them just never update that page. I think it's probably too early to start calling and asking when decisions will be made. It's only mid-February and most places won't notify until the end of this month at the earliest. You don't want to seem pushy.

Thanks! I suppose that means I am out, but I didn't really expect to make it in anyway.

Has anyone heard anything from the Duke literature department (not English)? I've been wondering if some of the results posted might be from the literature program since some people have listed "English Literature" as opposed to just "English" under field. It's very confusing having two separate departments! I did see one posting for a Duke Lit interview back in late January, but haven't seen anything specifically listed that way since then. If anyone's been admitted or contacted would you care to share?

That's funny, I will be leaving Chicago to move to Buffalo if I decide to accept the offer. You will love living here, it's such an amazing city and I'll be sad to say goodbye. Just don't live right around campus, it's in a terrible part of the city! If you need any advice about housing or general info about living here feel free to pm me! And btw your subfield sounds fascinating--I am just amazed at the range of research interests that are housed at SUNY Buffalo! I would be going there for digital and cultural studies and contemporary American literature. And congratulations on your admits!

Hi Simpleton, I was also accepted to SUNY Buffalo. Care to share your subfield? Will you be attending the recruitment weekend in March? In case anyone else is curious, my GRE scores were also not what I'd call stellar (not awful, but a lot of people on this forum seem to have much higher scores). My undergrad is also a small, virtually unknown liberal arts college. I haven't heard back from any of the other schools I applied to yet but I know for sure it was my writing sample and not my stats that got me into Buffalo.

Accepted by SUNY Buffalo PhD program, subfields are digital media and cultural studies. Good luck!

It's not exactly a life-altering event, but having to basically go completely broke in order to complete my apps has definitely been a huge source of stress this time around. I'm talking literally choosing between grocery money and application fees. My bank account has a negative balance and I have a ton of medical bills to pay, and I was just denied my unemployment benefits and told I will have to pay all the money back, which I obviously don't have. So if I don't get in this time around, it's going to be a pretty crushing blow. I really hope all the money was worth it...

I'm hopefully getting my PhD in English but I'm mainly interested in digital/new media studies, which causes a lot of confusion even amongst other English majors. My family really doesn't get it at all...I try to explain but I usually give up once I see the glazed looks come over their faces. It's so much easier to just say I want to be an English professor!

Ugh, I'm so glad somebody else has had that problem with degree dates! So many of my apps didn't allow for a simple "no degree awarded" option...that would have made things so much easier! I mean, it's not very rare for an undergrad student to take gen eds at a community college and then transfer to a 4 year college. In that case there would never be a degree awarded! That was very frustrating to me. Other annoyances had to do with having to fill out information that 1) seemed completely irrelevant and 2) felt a bit like a violation of privacy. For instance, one of the schools I applied to asked me to fill out my parents names, address, phone number, highest academic degree awarded, and even when they last voted!! I couldn't believe they asked that question. What the hell does that have to do with my application? And it wasn't even an optional question, it was required for submission! I just didn't understand that at all. Another school actually made me list my high school under previous academic institutions, including its address, phone number, and web site! I mean really, do they think that I could have managed to get a BA if I hadn't even graduated from high school? Who designs these apps anyway?

I'm not in the same field as you, but this is my second time around applying to PhD programs after being totally rejected last year so I feel like I might be able to offer you some constructive advice. I won't lie, I was pretty devastated, though not as devastated as I initially thought I would be. I did get a lot of good things out of the experience. Looking back, I really didn't have a clue back then about this whole process, nor what I wanted to focus on in terms of specialization. The year in between applications gave me time to really figure out what my niche is in my field and the kind of work I can see myself doing in the long term. I also used my time constructively by engaging in independent research and presenting a paper at a conference, which gave me a great writing sample to use this time around. Now I feel like I'm a much more interesting and focused applicant than I was last year, so I am cautiously optimistic. But you never know, I may be back for another round next year! In terms of the emotional toll, I do have a few suggestions for how to cope with it. Last year while I was waiting to hear back I spent all my free time obsessing over whether I got in or not, constantly checking and rechecking my application statuses and basically driving everyone around me insane. That was really unhealthy for me and led to an emotional downward spiral as the rejections started to come in. This year I made a resolution to focus on other areas of my life while waiting to hear back. I'm working on getting in better shape, learning to cook, spending time with my friends and family, planning my wedding, and devoting more time to meditation and spirituality. You have to realize that your whole life does not depend on whether or not you get into grad school this year. To be a whole person you need to devote attention to all areas of your life. Make that a priority while you are still waiting to find out. I have also been looking into various "plan Bs" in case I face across the board rejections again that might involve teaching English abroad for a few months, something I've always wanted to do anyway, so knowing that I have other options has also really decreased my anxiety. Telling friends and family about my lack of success last year was probably the hardest part of the process, especially because a certain negative family member was all too quick to try and convince me of my inadequacy. You need to shut the negativity out as much as possible. This is your dream and you will make it come true in your own time. If it isn't meant to be at all, then there is something else out there in the world for you to do. I really believe that too many people get so hung up on this process like it's a life or death thing. In the end, it's really not. You have talents and you will find a way to utilize them. I hope this helps you feel less stressed. I really do sympathize. Just keep in mind that rejection can be a positive growing experience if you allow it to be and you will be fine!

Loyola University-Chicago's English graduate program app is free if you submit online.

I'm finding that deadlines are way more flexible than they sometimes lead you to believe. I've had issues getting my materials in on time with a few schools due to some of my letters and transcripts getting lost in the mail, and all of them have been very understanding. I also have January 1st and 2nd deadlines, and since the offices won't be open those days I think it's pretty safe to assume that as long as the applications arrive on the 4th it won't be a big deal. They probably won't even have all the apps accounted for until later in the week, so if I were you I wouldn't worry.

I'm applying there too, and they don't provide any info about their acceptance rate on their web site (I think it's pretty rare for schools to publish that info). I think it's safe to assume though that it's probably about 3-5%. That seems to be pretty standard across most programs regardless of rank.

Just because Oregon is ranked in the 50s doesn't mean you shouldn't apply there. When you have a fairly narrow focus that is not something you could study at most schools, I think the fact that a particular school has a lot of faculty members working in your field is much more important than its ranking. I'm not into ecocriticism, but I have an equally narrow focus and I'm basically disregarding rankings this time around (it's my second time applying). Last time I made the mistake of only shooting for schools ranked in the top 30 or so and I paid less attention to the "fit" of each program. Now I really wish I hadn't been so driven by prestige in my choices. The fact is that while the highly ranked schools all have great programs, that doesn't mean they're all right for you. You could be at a great school but if they can't accommodate your interests, you won't get much out of it. I would say forget the rankings and apply to places where you know you'll be able to explore your interest in ecocriticism.

I've been following this thread because I've been wondering the same thing myself. I've heard really mixed advice about whether it's a good idea to contact faculty--some people seem to swear by it, others say it's pointless or at worst a bad idea. Personally, I think I'm going to contact one or two faculty members at my top choices, but I'm not going to send emails to profs at every single school I'm applying to. Like ratiocinator said, I think it probably can't hurt but it may not help much either. I'm sure faculty, especially those at highly ranked programs, get tons of emails from prospective applicants each season, so I think no matter what it's going to be hard to distinguish yourself from everyone else. On top of that, if you're not familiar with their work I imagine it would be hard to start a dialogue, and frankly I just don't have time to look over the publications of faculty members at every single school I'm applying to. I'm putting most of my effort into my writing sample and SOP, and I think that's much more likely to pay off than contacting faculty is.

This is just out of curiosity, but this was the second year that I took the GRE Literature test, and I noticed a huge drop in the number of people who showed up at the testing center this time around. Last year, I'd say there were about 50 or 60 of us. I remember it was such a big group that they had to find a different room for us to test in because the one they assigned us was too small. This year, I counted 10 of us. Did anyone else notice a huge decrease in the number of people who took the test? If so, do you think this is because fewer people are applying to Lit programs this year or did a number of schools do away with their subject test requirement? Other explanations?

I've been doing some research into PhD programs with a strong emphasis in cultural studies and contemporary American lit and so far I've come up with University of Oregon, University of Pittsburgh, and WUSTL. Any other suggestions of places I might apply? I'm not necessarily limiting myself only to English programs, I would consider a Communications or American Studies program as well. Thanks!

I read your post and couldn't help but feel how eerily all of your concerns coincide with my own. Although our situations aren't quite identical, I went through a very similar experience of basically being praised all the way through college and told how awesome I am, only to be rejected by 6 schools and wait listed and then rejected by the seventh. I've been feeling like I am clearly not as great as everyone has always told me I am. But now that I'm starting to pick myself up out of the post-rejection slump, I've been looking over my application materials and I think I made the exact same mistakes as you did. I applied only to schools that were ranked highly (with one exception), I didn't spend nearly enough time on my statement of purpose, I didn't make contacts, and my writing sample didn't show a very advanced grasp of the theory which I was trying to apply. I plan to work really hard on improving all of these areas this time around. I'm also looking into programs I normally would have dismissed because of their rank, and also considering some programs that fit my interests in cultural studies but aren't part of an English department. Honestly, I think if I had discovered this site BEFORE my applications were due instead of after, I'd have done much better. As an undergrad, it's really hard to be completely aware of all the things ad coms are looking for, unless you have a prof who has gone through the experience recently enough to be helpful. Undergrad programs, even at prestigious schools, often aren't geared toward people like us who want to pursue professional scholarship. I know at my school that even the literature major is catered to people who want to go into professional writing fields, which has left me feeling way behind and kind of shafted. It's frustrating, but I'm trying to look at this as a learning experience. And on the bright side, putting myself through all this crap has made me realize how much I want this and has also allowed me some time to realize exactly what area of scholarship that I want to pursue. Anyway, this post is starting to ramble on, but I think the key here is to try to get as much advice as possible from everyone you can, then try to piece together a plan. If you want, you can pm me, and maybe we could compare strategies as the 2010 application season starts to get underway. Since we are going into somewhat similar fields, it might be helpful for both of us.

Thanks, that does help. This IS what I enjoy about contemporary lit, I guess I'm just worried the person reading my file won't be familiar with it. But I suppose they'd have someone in the contemporary lit field evaluating it, right? I mean that would be logical, you'd think, but then again you never know with this ridiculous process!

I'm trying to gear up for the next round of apps and I'm throwing around ideas for what to do my writing sample on (reusing the old one isn't an option since my interests have changed a bit and I want my new one to reflect this). I kind of want to write about "Empire Falls" by Richard Russo, but since this is a very new (2001) text, there hasn't been much scholarly work done on it yet. And when I say very little, I mean I only found three articles in the MLA bib, so the pickings are pretty slim. While I am attracted to the idea that I can really say just about anything I want to about the book, I'm worried that ad coms won't be familiar enough with the text to understand what's going on. Should I go ahead and use it anyway, and maybe summarize the text a little more than I normally would, or should I go with something that's more familiar? My focus is cultural studies and contemporary American lit, so I feel like "Empire Falls" would be a very relevant text, and it did win the Pulitzer, but I'm worried I might be putting myself at a disadvantage by using a book that was published so recently. Any advice would be very helpful!

I'm in as well, assuming I'm not accepted off of the wait list (which seems like a good possibility). I'll definitely need some extra motivation, especially once I get out into the "real" world and get a job.

I think the stipend has actually been bumped up to 16,500. It seems their website is a little out of date. Not a huge difference but certainly helps. And also Loyola does make a point of keeping the workload low for their TAs.

I'm certainly no expert in this area since I've barely started to think about the process of reapplying, but I don't think it would be a good idea to use the same letters twice, especially if you're applying for a second time. I talked briefly with one of my recommenders and she said that she would be updating her letter to reflect whatever I've accomplished during the year long hiatus. You don't want it to look like you've spent the last year doing nothing, plus I think it shows a certain amount of carelessness on your part if you reuse a letter. But I agree, it certainly is awkward having to ask again but it happens all the time, I'm sure you won't be the first person to need more than one. Just meet with them again, go over the changes you've made to your application and have them make some quick updates to their letters.