lolopixie

I would assume international students are held to the same standards as domestic.

Addressing your first concern that, from your research on top 50 schools, Asian female professors typically are more interested in feminist studies tells me that you need to look at professors that aren't Asian females to see who in those programs reflects your area of study. While I can see the draw to study under an Asian female given your heritage, you are probably going to have to step outside of your comfort zone and look at other professors. I'm 100% sure that in the top 50 programs there are professors that work in your area of interest. I'm concerned that you limited your research based on the ethnicity and gender of professors. The second concern of being the only female on a panel (or in the room) at a conference and asked to give an opinion from the Asian perspective do not necessarily line up to one another. Being the only female in the room at a conference is odd, but it could happen given the circumstance. It does not reflect that women do not study the humanities...at all. For the panel to ask you to approach something from an Asian perspective was the panel asking for your view because you are from another culture, and panels more often than not do not have scholars from abroad. It is a great way to gain perspective that we (Americans) may not immediately jump to because we are trained differently/have different cultural and historical aspects we consider. I do not see, however, how this impacts finding a professor that is a fit for you. You will 100% have to deal with feminism if you wish to pursue a career in literature. No one is saying you have to be a feminist scholar, but you will have to understand the concepts, importance, and impact of feminism (let alone other schools of theory) in order to advance in this atmosphere. Pardon me for being blunt, but I find it ignorant to think you can obtain an advanced degree and not do a single thing related to "female studies" as you put it. If you do not want to study anything relating to female studies then you may want to consider a different field. Also, no school will ever tell you what you want to study. You tell them. Then they review your qualifications and see if you will be a fit for the department and if there will be a need for that area of study in the department as well. You may want to do more research on what graduate level English programs require, and understand the importance of all areas....especially "female related subjects".

I just took the revised general test yesterday. I wouldn't waste my time studying obscure words because they really were not on there. I would focus on doing the actual questions in a verbal workbook or something of the sort. Expect in each verbal section (I had 3) 6 fill in the blank ranging from 1-3 word answer choices, followed by 5 reading comp questions (each passage really only having 1 maybe 2 questions on it), then 4 sentence equiv questions, and finally another set of 5 reading comp. Reading comp is a huge chunk on the general verbal. Since you are taking both subject and general in November, I would recommend focusing more of your time on the subject test since that requires a lot more "knowledge" and less test prep skills. If you are studying 1-2 hours a night, I would focus about 1.5 on the subject and 30 minutes towards practice drills for the general. That is just my suggestion. I will be retaking the test in November. So close to the score I need, yet the scores were not good enough. I did have a VAST improvement from my last test, which makes me feel more confident...especially since I know what to expect. And do yourself a favor, look over the math practice so you aren't completely lost when it comes to those sections. I know those scores aren't important in the English field, but it will be helpful.

It is okay. I answered it within 10 minutes of posting by chance lol. Helpful hint for the revised test, if you haven't already seen it, there will be only 1 prompt per writing section and you just have to write on that topic - you should have no problem with that. Math - bleh. Verbal - I had 3 verbal sections (I don't know if they all count towards your score or if one is for statistical info like before) each contained 6 fill in the blank ranging from 1 to 3 words, followed by 5 reading comp questions (I think there was only 1 time that the reading comp passage had more than 1 question linked to it, so it was a lot of reading very quickly), then 4 sentence equiv questions, and then another set of 5 reading comp questions. And as another person mentioned in another thread, the obscure words really are not on this test. There were maybe a handful of words (4-5) coming off the obscure list. If that helps on your prep work.

I just found the answer to my own question when I went to look at available test dates in November (general test). Quote from ETS website: Test in October 2011 or later Important: If you test in this time period, your scores will be reported starting in late November 2011. Normal 10–15 day score reporting resumes in December 2011

The writing sample wants to be a reflection of both your ability to research and construct a solid critical analysis from the research. You definitely want to make sure you have a good amount of both. I agree with the comments above.

Does anyone know if I retake the test in say, November, if January deadlines will be met? I don't know if there is just a long delay when you take in Aug and Sept, or if this is going to be an ongoing thing. I took the test yesterday and, disappointingly, I am not in a range I'm comfortable with sending out. I'll have to retake it, but cannot do so for 60 days. Am I screwed?

I hate them. The end.

You defintely have a strong background. I think you will be fine

I'm still at odds on whether I will take the subject test or not. None of the schools that I'm applying to require it, so I don't know where I should spend the time, money, and energy studying for it. Waiting to find out how I do on Monday to see whether I will be taking the general again or not. Then I will determine if necessary.

I completely agree. It is never too early to contact your prof's and let them know, or send them the links/forms for the recommendations. Giving them ample time is NEVER a bad thing. And runon has a great method of making a date that you want to have your friend review your work by. You can also reach out to people on the board for SOP feedback. I've been advised it is very helpful. I didn't do that last year because I found the board after apps were in, but know that you are definitely on time. You are going to be A-okay!

Wine does the trick for me . Maybe since I have been through the process once before, I am not as nervous now about the actual applications. I am pretty type A, so making schedules and doing paperwork doesn't stress me out. However, I am retaking the GRE in 2 days and that is FREAKING me out because it was my achilles heel. I'm just not looking forward to February when we will all be checking our phones, emails, and mailboxes 10 times a day waiting for the responses. I am tuning that out for the time being. But wine, lots and lots of wine!

It all boils down to the specific school. While it may be true that some schools prefer to take in the BAs and not so many MAs, they do still accept MAs. Some schools DO require you have an MA in hand first. Here is a direct pull from the Purdue English PhD Admissions site: Admission Requirements: Admission requires a Master's degree from a college or university of recognized standing with a GPA of 3.0 or other academic indices of outstanding performance. The program requires GRE scores. Nonnative English speakers must also provide a TOEFL iBT score. Contact the programs you are interested in directly to gain perspective, if the website does not provide you the direct details you are looking for. PhD programs are looking for more than just teaching experience because they are going to "teach you how to teach" when you get there. Most first year program requirements include at least one pedagogy course. They are also looking to see what you have been doing in your MA program - have you attended conferences, published, attempted to publish, community involvement, educational involvement (did you participate in the grad school "club" at your school - brain fart right now and can't think of the word). Obviously, these are not REQUIREMENTS of the program, but will be what makes a MA candidate show their ability because they are already participating in what will be expected in the PhD program.

My writing sample is on a book from 2003, so I would say there is nothing wrong with 2006. However, it all depends on the research. I don't think the concern needs to be on which text you are analyzing/critiquing/whatevs, but what you did with the work and the research produced. I would be more focused on if the argument is well researched, written clearly and concisely, and demonstrates your best writing ability.

It may be easier for you to use a chapter from your thesis. You don't necessarily have to send in a writing sample that is exactly what you are planning to study. It is related, so you wouldn't be sending in something totally obscure (like a Poe paper when you say you want to study 21st century diasporic). If you are up for the challenge of expanding on the latino/a paper, then you would have something more "rooted" in your focus, but would you be compromising quality? If you are confident you can expand it and have the quality mirror that of your thesis sample, then I would do that. But if you have doubts about being able to have enough time to expand, you may be better off going with the thesis. You could always somehow tie it into your SOP to address te transition of trauma study interest in your research.

It will be more competitive to get into a MA/PhD program. Most terminal MA programs are going to be unfunded, and a MA/PhD track may go unfunded until you begin PhD coursework. It really depends on the school. From what I've seen, most terminal MA programs do not offer funding, but you may be able to TA/GA for income. The obvious benefit of MA/PhD program is that you do not have to apply to a PhD program - you're in! However, I wouldn't only apply to those due to the competitive nature of the application process. I learned it is very important to have a plan B. My suggestion is to go for both. If you get into a MA/PhD program, great, if not, you still have the possibility of continuing your education through a terminal MA. Then you just have to go through the PhD application process in a few years...meh.

I'm using one chapter of my thesis. However, this was the paper I sent as my writing sample last year. It started as a paper I wrote for a Caribbean lit course, edited to crap to send in for my writing sample, while I was using it as the paper I expanded on to write my thesis. Since it is a chapter from the thesis, I'm going to have to rework the intro and conclusion, but I think it is my best choice for writing sample.

Due to the fact that you think your research interests are vague, I would think applying to a MA/PhD track program would probably be best if you decide to go literature route. You definitely seem to have an area of interest, but if you aren't 100% sure then you probably want to take the additional time with the MA. MA programs will also catch you up to speed in areas you may be lacking, in your case pre-19th century. There were several people in my MA program that did not come from a literature background (ie Communications not even a writing major) but may have minored in English, and I think they were required to take 2 additional courses. Even though there are exceptions where applicants with only a BA are accepted to a PhD program, many programs require a MA or enter in and essentially do MA workload before beginning PhD work. Review the schools you are interested in and see what options and pre-requisites they have. You are in a common field, so I do not think your writing degree will hinder you at all if you decide you want to pursue literature.

I love this question. I'm reminded of my freshman intro to lit courses and the people that asked this very same question (probably in the same room) every time I see an email go out to our department that is riddled with such vulgar solecisms that I literally cringe at my desk. Studying literature also enhances your ability to read and write efficiently, which is a necessary skill in almost any job market people!!! You should see some of the training material - I just want to get the red pen out and get to business. I could rant on this topic forever. I, personally, have stopped explaining to people why I study literature. If you don't get it, then you're not worth explaining it to. There was a guy at work, who only has a hs diploma mind you, that congratulated me on getting a Master's and asked me what it was in. His response: "Oh, well at least it wasn't in fiction, was it? hahahahaha". My response: "Actually, a lot of the works we studied were fiction" - straight face. I'm not insulted that I study literature, but I definitely made him feel like an a**hole for trying to make fun of something he doesn't understand. The look on his face was priceless. Win!

Jealous. I will be taking personal study, since I graduated from MA program in May. I've got my reading list set lol.

I'm not really sure about the questions you pose on people's concern to their CV. I would assume content, but that's just a guess. The majority of the schools I applied to last round did not directly ask for a CV, but I provided one to every program. For the applications that only had online submissions, I uploaded it to the "additional documents" area - they all had a drop-down option to indicate that it was a CV. For schools requiring a paper based portion going to the English department, I included a hard copy in that packet.

I'm suprised to hear that there was a question asking to identify the preposition. That makes me feel a wee bit better, but I will still be doing all the prep work. I'm not going to risk it

I believe that in certain instances, but that scenario is more of an exception to the rule. Kentucky, for example, states they want a 700 verbal (at least in old scoring terms), and I really haven't heard of too many people scoring that high. I'm sure people have gone into that program with lower scores. I, personally, would not apply to a school that states there is a minimum requirement and I don't meet it by a long shot. I'm not a gambling gal

I really wanted to take it at half price! Now I'm upset that I didn't schedule it earlier so I could get a date I wanted. I have 2 friends that are retaking it and wanted September too, texted them to let them know they may be needing to take some time off work. Luckily, the time slot available is 4pm. I'm a morning person, but this will give me extra time to study that vocab! OH, and I read in the study guide you can now use calculators for the math part?? Is that true? And do you bring your own? Or do they give you one there?

I haven't looked at the ETS website in a little while for registration purposes. Just logged on to see dates available in September...6 days in my area - all week days. Luckily I have one of those days randomly scheduled off for vacation at work. However, I am now taking the test in 2 weeks. Officially.Freaking.Out.