Vertigo23

I also found this piece helpful, but I received conflicting information about the above point. A professor of mine argued that you don't need to worry about over-publishing chapters of your dissertation. Does anyone else have input on this?

This explains the stability: "survey results from fall 2008 and fall 2012 were averaged to compute the scores."

Old 2009 Rankings: 1. University of California – Berkeley (Cali) 2. Stanford University 2. Yale University 4. Columbia University 4. Harvard University 7. Cornell University 7. Princeton University 7. University of Chicago 10. Duke University 10. University of California -- Los Angeles 10. University of Virginia 13. Brown University 13. Johns Hopkins University 13. University of Michigan – Ann Arbor 16. University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill (UNC) 17. Rutgers University 17. University of Texas—Austin (UTA) 17. University of Wisconsin – Madison 20. New York University (NYU) 20. Northwestern University 22. CUNY Graduate School and University Center 22. Indiana University – Bloomington 22. University of California – Irvine (UCI) 22. University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) 26. Emory University 26. Ohio State University (OSU) 26. University of California –Davis (UCD) 29. Pennsylvania State University – University Park (PSU) 29. University of California – Santa Barbara (UCSB) 29. University of Iowa 29. University of Washington 29. Vanderbilt University 29. Washington University in St. Louis (WashU/WUSTL) 35. University of Maryland – College Park 35. University of Minnesota – Twin Cities 35. University of Pittsburgh 38. Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) 38. Rice University 38. University of Southern California (USC) 41. University at Buffalo 41. University of California – Riverside (UCR) 41. University of California – San Diego (UCSD) 41. University of California – Santa Cruz (UCSC) 41. University of Illinois- Chicago (UIC) 46. Boston University 46. Brandeis University 46. Claremont Graduate University 46. University of Colorado 46. University of Massachusetts –Amherst 46. University of Notre Dame 52. Tufts University 52. University of Arizona 52. University of Florida 52. University of Oregon 52. University of Rochester 52. University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee (UWM) 58. Arizona State University 58. Binghamton University 58. Boston College 58. University of Georgia 58. University of Missouri 63. Miami University 63. Michigan State University (MSU) 63. Syracuse University 63. Temple University 63. Texas A&M University 63. University of Kansas 63. University of Nebraska 63. University of Utah 71. Bryn Mawr College 71. Fordham University 71. George Washington University (GWU) 71. Stony Brook University 71. University of Connecticut (UCONN) 71. University of Delaware 71. University of New Mexico (UNM) 71. University of South Carolina 71. University of Tennessee – Knoxville (UTK) 81. Louisiana State University – Baton Rouge (LSU) 81. Northeastern University 81. Ohio University 81. Tulane University 81. University of Kentucky 81. University of Oklahoma 87, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) 87. Florida State University (FSU) 87. Georgia State University (GSU) 87. Howard University 87. University at Albany 87. University of Houston 87. University of Miami 94. Auburn University 94. Iowa State University 94. Loyola University 94. Marquette University 94. Saint Louis University (SLU) 94. University of Alabama 94. University of Hawaii – Manoa 94. University of Louisville 94. University of Mississippi 94. University of North Carolina – Greensboro 94. Wayne State University 105. Southern Illinois University –Carbondale 105. University of Cincinnati 105. University of New Hampshire 105. Washington State University 105. West Virginia University 110. Bowling Green State University (BGSU) 110. Catholic University of America 110. Duquesne University 110. Illinois State University (ISU) 110. Kent State University 110. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 110. University of Nevada – Las Vegas 110. University of Rhode Island 110. University of South Florida 110. University of Tulsa 120. Texas Christian University 120. Texas Tech University 120. University of Arkansas – Fayetteville 120. University of Denver 120. University of Nevada – Reno 125. Baylor University 125. Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) 125. Lehigh University 125. New Mexico State University 125. Northern Illinois University 125. Oklahoma State University 125. St. John’s University 125. University of North Texas 125. University of Texas—Dallas Utah didn't move, but we got a lot of company at #63.

I sympathize. My partner (now fiance) and I applied to programs at the same time, she in creative writing and I in lit. She ended up at Houston and I ended up at Utah. We've been long-distancing for a year-and-a-half now. Needless to say, we spend a lot of time on skype. It's very difficult, but also quite doable. It will certainly test a relationship

Five new lines? Wow. We hired a new 20th century Americanist last year. Received over 300 applications. I'm not looking forward to that job market.

The OP has a valid concern. I'm just not sure how we're defining "DO SOMETHING" such that it excludes working in the humanities.

Utah creative tends to take whoever they're interested in. They're flexible on the numbers.

Speaking from my experience, Utah (where I am) has a good creative writing PhD program (especially if you're into avant garde poetry) and an under-rated but strong lit faculty. Utah also offers some competitive recruitment fellowships. Houston (where my girlfriend is) offers the best creative writing PhD (in my opinion), especially if you have a more traditional aesthetic, but their lit side isn't the strongest--and they're pretty cheap.

Does anyone know of a resource that ranks lit journals?

How did you score on the practice tests? In instances where you lost points, was it because of vocabulary deficiency or something else? Phil Sparrow is dead on: a test is a game, and you need to focus on beating it. Poor performance doesn't mean you're a bad person, or your MA is worthless, or whatever. It means you haven't figured the game out--you haven't studied it on its own (arbitrary and irrelevant) terms.

I hope you don't regret turning away from pharmacy. Pharmacists make six figures and (to put it politely) do not have a very demanding job. If you can tolerate the drudgery, it's richly rewarded.

This might be a bit dated, but here are some suggestions for more theory-oriented programs. This repeats some of what was mentioned earlier: Comp Lit @ Irvine; History of Consciousness @ UCSC; The New School in NYC; SUNY Buffalo; Hopkins' Humanities Program

These days, everyone is expected to have a strong familiarity with "theory," regardless of period specialization. Because of that, and because the job market is geared toward period specialists, you'll probably want to gravitate toward some historical period eventually. That being said, the degree to which "theory" is read and applied in departments varies a great deal. You can discover a department's theoretical leanings relatively quickly by perusing their website. Take a look at course descriptions if you can find them. I've heard positive and negative things about Berkeley's rhetoric program: it's theory heavy, but one instructor I corresponded with said it didn't focus enough on professionalization. It'll take time to research programs that are right for you, but it's time well spent.

I didn't mean to imply that you were dissing Houston, but I did want to point out that they are two different degrees--English at Yale and Literature and Creative Writing at Houston--which is why he apparently wants both. Needless to say, this is an embarrassment to both programs and English graduate study in general. His book of short stories, for example, reads like it was written by a stoned 8th-grader. My girlfriend will be attending Houston, so this suddenly hit me closer to home.

Houston has the top ranked PhD in Creative Writing.