lyonessrampant

Huge congrats to you both! I've been rooting for you and have a friend in the UTA program who is quite happy with it.

Congrats Guate! Fingers crossed for Thunderpaws!

I think for your field, MIT is probably the better choice in terms of going into industry, though only marginally so. Location, however, does matter, I think, so if living in MA is something you really don't think you could do, then go to Berkeley. It's a tough call. Good luck!

Sorry to hear that Datatape. If you apply again next year, I wish you the best of luck!

Congratulations!!

What? You have to share once you decide so we can all congratulate you!

Given that at UNC you can also do coursework with Duke faculty, I would go there because it really maximizes your options for faculty, other graduate students working in your field, and funding opportunities. Just my .02.

What are your language skills? If you have solid Old English and Latin, than Medieval Studies programs might be better for you. If not, you'll probably want to focus on English, which tends to be more lenient with language requirements. As for finding POIs, start with the list of medieval faculty and make a list of the profs that look interesting. You may also want to look at faculty in English, French, Medieval Studies, and History departments (though focus on the department you'll actually be applying to). Then you should try to read work by the people you are interested in, even if it is just to skim a couple of articles, so you can get a feel for their methadology.

I should have clarified that time out is the problem, so if you're coming recently from an MA that should be fine. It's really time away from the field (more than a couple years) that is an issue. Edited to add that I am not sure about age. . .I am 29 and the second oldest in my cohort. The average age of a humanities Ph.D. is early 30s. . .but that's including people who have been doing Ph.D. work for sometimes 5-10 years as well. It also depends on the type of program. The average entry age for most of the top ten programs is closer to mid20s. I don't think it makes or breaks an application by any means, but the same programs that tend to prefer their admits don't have an MA are also the programs with the youngest entry age profiles.

Well, that's about where I was when applying and I think it was a disadvantage because there was a fairly large gap between my MA and Ph.D. If you can keep taking classes or something that might help. More importantly, being able to show continuing connections to your field is important. As for CL for English, I considered that route, but language proficiency held me back, sadly. If your language skills are strong, I'd say go for it. The statistics are technically better for admission to CL than English, simply in terms of number of applying, but neither is "easier" to get in to. CL also tends to be a lot more theory heavy across the board (another reason I wanted to go that route), so if you don't have much theory, you should get it. As for interdisciplinary English programs, there are tons and tons. All the ones I applied to support interdisciplinarity. Here are a few: Minnesota, Stanford, Berkeley, Texas, Colorado, Oregon, Chicago, and Utah (just to name a few). Good luck to you!

If you definitely get to move on to the Ph.D. and the MA is funded and Kentucky is a better fit, then that changes things. It's just scary to me to gamble on something happening when you have a secure Ph.D. offer. I didn't mean to say you were making a bad choice at all. It's just hard to get into Ph.D. programs these days, let alone ones as reputable as Maryland, and if you have to reapply after your MA, there is no guarantee that you'll get an offer as good or better (so much of this application game is luck and chance!), so I was curious about why you were making that choice. Best wishes!

You would take an MA over a funded Ph.D. admit at a very strong school (Maryland)? If you plan on going on for the Ph.D. after the MA, I would think carefully about turning a Ph.D. admit down.

Congrats, Dorinda! I probably would have gone the other way, but it would have been an excrutiatingly tough call. . .especially if you have any interest in gender and affect in conjunction with early modern lit. I wish you the best of luck. . especially with Quilligan at Duke!

I haven't gone to Cornell's School of Theory yet, but given that I'm from Montana, I plan on making campfires and roasting marshmallows. . .whether that's cool or not

I'm excited that Cornell has their summer school of theory. I wish I were going this summer (AFFECT THEORY!), but I am so going in the next couple summers. Such a cool department and school!

I think that the amount of time you've been away from academia probably impacted your success this cycle. Do you live near a university with graduate courses? If so, I would strongly encourage you to take a graduate-level seminar this fall that aligns with your research interests. Communicate your goal to get a Ph.D. to the professor and try to use that class and the paper you write for it as your writing sample. This will enable you to produce a fresh piece of writing, get the feedback of a professor, and show that you are engaging with current conversations about your proposed field. The key to making this a viable writing sample, though, is that you start working on it early and have a final draft to give to your prof for feedback early as well (like maybe mid-October). If you wait to finish the paper until the end of the semester, you won't have time to revise with the professor's feedback.Your test scores are fine; I wouldn't worry about those. Some of the programs on your list require the subject test. Have you taken that? Try also to make sure you're aware of current research in your field. Read some journals that focus on your research areas. Join a regional organization like the Midwest MLA or Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association (I use those as examples only; I obviously have no idea where you live or what you are interested in!). Best of luck!

I can't speak to the specificity of Victorianists at either school, but at NYU you will also be able to work with faculty at Columbia and CUNY. This will really maximize your resources. Given that and the superior funding, I would go for NYU. Also, New York will be a better venue for conferences and networking.

Congratulations! Feel free to PM me with questions if you aren't already in contact with a UMN student.

That was in my rejection letter last year. . .I think it is a standard letter, but congrats on your other Ivy offer!

I believe, having a friend at the program, that the issue with first-year funding is present only if you don't already have an MA. If you have an MA, you can TA, but they don't (from what I understand) let a first year TA if straight from BA, so if you're waitlisted with an MA, your worries about funding will be less. I would echo the advice to go to Austin if you don't get funding for the first year, though. . .I have another friend in that program and she's pretty happy, though medieval not Victorian. Good luck!

Absolutely don't feel bad. I think by reading the forums you can tell how arbitrary much of this process is, particularly given how many people are applying and how few spots there are. So many factors that are entirely out of your control affect whether you get admitted or not. Programs don't mess up. If they've admitted you, they want you, and they see a place for you in their department. Maybe your interests didn't coincide as well as you thought with the other programs you applied to. Maybe the profs you thought you wanted to work with are leaving or doing totally different new research now. You can't know these things. Maybe you were edged out by someone who seemed 100% perfect for a given prof's interests whereas you were 95%. Focusing on the negative is normal, but try to focus on the positive. An acceptance means you will be at grad school. It is impossible, I think, not to read every acceptance as a validation of yourself, your intelligence, and every rejection as a negation affecting your sense of self-worth. However, that's not true. All applicants internalize this process, but decisions ultimately do not judge you or your intelligence or potential or any of that. No program can really tell that about you. You can tell that about you and take what you know about yourself, talents, and skills into the program that has accepted you and shine. Believe in yourself. . it's a self-fulfilling prophecy

I would echo most of what Swagato said. However, I didn't care much for my preceptor, so other than the required weekly meetings for the first quarter, I didn't have much to do with her. First quarter you have a MAPH Core (theory based) and weekly breakout sessions with your preceptor (sort of like general lecture with the MAPH directors and then discussion groups with a TA/preceptor). I had an idea of whom I wanted my advisor to be going in, so I met with him early in the first quarter and regularly throughout the first and second quarter because I had a thesis project in mind. He helped me extensively on it over the year. Basically, I add this only to say, don't be shy about seeking out an advisor. I found all of the faculty very responsive to initiative. Also, don't think your funding isn't special! I'm sure one prof wouldn't have sway over that, and I think the ad comm for MAPH is mostly the directors, and they would decide the funding, too. It just means you're extra awesome! Good luck!

Good luck, Enzian!

Aww. . .thanks . . .insert blushing smilie I don't know how to make.

Congratulations! I'm also thrilled to see that MAPH is now offering full tuition remission. I think that will really help to alleviate the prevalent opinion of MAPH as simply a cash cow. I did MAPH in 07-08 and had some funding, but no one had full tuition remissoin. It's great that is changing. I would agree that MAPH is what you make of it. Like the previous poster, I networked, attended all department functions, took multiple graduate seminars in my area (including 8000 level courses) and had very positive experiences with faculty. I got 5 great offers last year, and I know MAPH made me a better writer and scholar. Getting to work with the medieval and early modern profs I did was amazing, and they were all very supportive of me, keeping in contact and doing new letters for me when I applied to just a few schools in fall 08 and then when I applied to a bunch of schools last fall. However, a lot of people in my cohort were quite discontented. Yes, MAPH grads get some awesome placements. A friend in my cohort is at Cornell, another is at UT-Austin, another at Fordham, another at NYU law, etc., and I was very nearly at Duke last year (sigh). BUT for every happy MAPH-er there are a few unhappy ones. Especially if you don't have any funding, know what you're getting into.