lizczard

Thanks for the advice! I definitely need to start emailing profs/grad students. I've been a bit shy about it, to be honest. I'll be visiting both schools at the end of the month, although I'm expecting to 'feel good' about both places, especially since I'm a sentimental sucker for any well-stocked English department. I will try to make a point to be "frank" when it comes to the questions I ask - I hadn't really thought this was a possibility, but I'm thinking now that this might be the only way to get a real sense of what to expect.

Thanks for responding! And thanks for the congratulations! You've actually perfectly articulated my dilemma: go to Cornell and feel like I'd be among more like-minded peers (i.e. queers, pinkos, hippies, etc) or go to Harvard and have my left-leanings constantly challenged. My hope, were I to choose Harv, is that being thus challenged would prove productive - i.e. force me to move out of my comfort zone and thereby make me a less 'partisan' scholar (not sure if that's the right word..). I got my BA from Berkeley, so my issue with choosing Cornell is that it might mean never having to recognize that not all institutions are as politically hospitable..

Hey all, I need help deciding between Harvard and Cornell's English Phd programs... i know this is hardly a problem - believe me, I'm through-the-roof grateful I'm in a position where this is my biggest problem - but I'm having a hard time deciding nonetheless, and have found so many of the responses throughout these fora immensely insightful, kind, and well-informed, so I figured there's no reason to make this decision without asking for others' input. A little about me: Prospective early modernist, with peripheral interests in political philosophy, critical theory, and religious studies. I know that Harvard outranks Cornell in almost every way (for all of its departments), but I'm not as familiar with the perhaps less quantifiable strengths of Cornell's English department (Harvard's is a bit easier in that respect, since almost every faculty member is something of a rock star in his or her field). Anyways, any and all comments are very welcome. In return for advice, I'd be more than happy to share whatever "stats" I have with whoever'd like them (I get a sense these are rather popular in this community..