Watmeworry

On an absolutely trivial level, but one that nonetheless impacts, the actual typing favors the good typist. As one who never learned to type formally, I rely on the modern word processor. The strange cut and paste process is awful, especially for those who don't type so well. I wished that I had taken the time to take a hand written exam from this perspective. A colleague told me that when she worked as a marker for the GRE, length of the essay gave the greatest rewards. I did a short essay and scored very poorly. I am usually a great writer. Anyone have insight into this ? How does the essay part affect the acceptance rates?

I wasn't aware of this and hadn't noticed any difference in the quality of grading on my papers. In as string of all A's for literature, I stepped out of my comfort zone and took a high level History of Political Economics course, received a B+ . I expected the lower grade might be the outcome as I was totally new to all the econ literature, but I also applied information to my other work with great success. Was it a big mistake to risk a 4.0 in grad school?

Thanks for all the responses. I was told in a pep talk for undergraduates at Columbia, by two of my professors that the English dept didn't care about the quantative at all and expected to see 450's. But I'm sure this varies from institution to institution. My scores would have been much higher but a comprehension question was about platelets, magma,shifting crusts and underwater plumes. My brain saw "science", panicked and shut down. Given my exam anxiety track record, it is a miracle that it did not happen earlier.

Maybe we'll end up in a French Lit class at CUNY. Andre Aciman is a Proustian. I am reading Balzac to inform my work on Wordsworth and the social implications of his work. Any way i hope we get the opportunity to decide one way or the other, GOOD LUCK to us both!

My BA GPA was 3.75 and so is my grad MA GPA 3.75 . I have great LORS and I think a strong essay, but on the GRE's I froze. I scored 670 verb, 450 quant and this is the worst, 3 on the essay. Since most of my LORs will talk about my great essay skills, and also because I was told by two of the English dept at Columbia that a 450 on verbal was okay by them, I just sucked it up and thought the admissions will tell this is anomalous. Actually, I type terribly and spent most of the time trying to fix the typos and this together with the numbing panic attack that happened half way through the exam... I knew what the outcome would be. I am hoping that this won't impact too heavily. Any thoughts?

American Studies at Columbia is great. They just moved it into its own dept.

Thanks for the bon mots. Internet. A letter would be nice. I would like to get into CUNY, perhaps even more than Yale. My GPA 3.8, super strong LORS. Verbal 670. I wonder if the GRE will rule me right out? Congrats on Smith. Great school.

I don't have money to throw around. I take class seriously and if I am mistaken for one of the "wealthy older ladies" I hope that I thoroughly spoiled your classes you pompous ageist ass. It is true that some older learners are perhaps too enthusiastic, but the youth-worshipping slackers who refuse to speak in class causing long silences are a waste of time and space too. The only thing I regret about my time at the college was the odd sense of evil directed towards me. MA students are all first years ..no duh...it is likely that they might struggle. It is also extremely hard to get past the kind of prejudice that is palpable from people like you. This addresses the agism, shall we begin with the sexism? Or shall we pretend that you didn't embarrass yourself on a public forum. I'm sorry but with 100.000 dollars of debt under my belt I resent the conflation of old, lady, and rich as a priori. In one year it is harder to make a strong connection with the professors, who tend to give attention to students that they will invest more time in of the course of years. This is true whether one attends a private or public institution.

I paid for a Columbia LSMA in Modern European Studies, my BA is in English and Comp Literature from Columbia too. My thesis adviser and (a) recommender is the chair of the Comp Lit Dept. I took loads of English classes. The MA in English is unbelievably rigorous. The jump in the difficulty level from undergraduate to graduate classes is wide and the classes challenge. One year of intense study. People cried on my shoulder when trying to complete the four 20-25 page papers, and on the last semester the additional thesis. I'm just finishing my MA thesis, but all my classes are in PhD seminars and I see very few MA's across the board. One in a twelve person seminar typically. However, while you will be incredibly well prepared to apply for your doctorate, it is unlikely to be at Columbia. I know this from discussion with faculty. They take maybe 6 from hundreds like everyone else. They like to bring in fresh minds and cross pollinate. They also like to send their product forth too. If you were not there as an undergraduate, it is a little harder to get into friendships and develop relationships with faculty, but it can be done. You will end up in debt , you might not have time to give your applications the attention they deserve, you will be worked off your b.... I regret nothing of my time there/here. The LSMA is interesting, because you can take all the same classes, but over three of four semesters and this gives you time to write your applications and get to know the fantastic faculty. Columbia still carries cache.

Hello all, I applied to CUNY Grad Center for Comp literature, as well as Rutgers, Stony Brook , Yale Comp lit /Film, NYU and Harvard film and Visual Studies. I am a practicing artist, but also have a BA in English &Comp lit from Columbia university and am finishing a LSMA in modern European studies. Thesis on Wordsworth and capitalism and major interests in aesthetics/ ethics. 19th century French and English. I was rejected from Stony Brook with out so much as a "how's your father" in the cockney vernacular. I have not heard from any one else. We do seem to be a shy crowd. Like you, I am becoming obsessive about checking my email, especially since Stony Brook sent no notice, which I think is rather unfair. NYU told me they continued admitting right up untill mid April, tweaking their admissions.

I'm writing my dissertation on Wordsworth and capitalism, and I've done work on English and French 19th century . I am particularly interested by aesthetics and ethics. I have my in BA English Comparative Lit from Columbia University. Finishing LSMA Modern European Studies at Columbia . I took almost all my classes in the English and Comp Lit program there. My adviser is the chair of comp lit. I also applied to Rutgers. I don't know how many they take either?

Hello fellow Comparativists, Does any one know anything about the number of people who apply and who are accepted at CUNY Grad Center for Comparative Lit ? I applied to Stony Brook and got rejected on the website. It was a blow to my ego! However, I'm really hoping to get into this program.I also applied to NYU and they told me they would be working on the application in dribs and drabs right until April 15th. This seems like a small drop of torture.

I just saw that he took his MFA at Columbia and this does impact other students, because it is often competitive to get into good classes. Is this the same at Yale? Also for those who are seriously invested to have someone in a seminar that isn't on point and ready to go is really exasperating. Okay so he is JF, but in the end it devalues the program's credibility. "It can't be that hard if you can make movies and still go to school", forget about the promotional tours.

I am deeply offended by his presence at Yale in a "stringent" PhD program. How can he possibly host the Oscars, act and fully commit to study. What happens when he starts to teach? Does he just put in a sub? With places so hard won, I just makes me angry, because I'm sure if they asked me if I intended to moonlight in a second profession I would be instantly dismissed as a candidate.

I asked four people to write me letters for colleges that required three recommenders. I also had them upload to a document site so that i could have a hard copy mailed if necessary. My understanding in that there is some wiggle time in most colleges, because they allow for the professors to be overburdened and give inter-school courtesy. (They tend to know each other). However, CUNY feels different because the applications go in so late, Feb 15th for Comp lit, but by then I had my professors ready to go and the folio ready to go if need be.