[Advice for ugrad sophomore]

One thing that I don't yet see on this thread is studying a foreign language. If you pursue graduate study in English, you'll have to have a reading proficiency in at least one foreign language. I was shocked when I learned this when I was in your place (sophomore exploring graduate study) because I did a "Pre-Graduate Studies" emphasis in my English BA, and they didn't require a foreign language. I signed up for French classes as soon as I could because I didn't see my High School Spanish taking me very far. If you're not already taking a language, summer would be a great time to pick up some books and study on your own.

My other advice is to read and write as much as you can. No matter what you're reading or writing, it will help you when you enter a graduate program. In case you're wondering, I'm currently in my last semester of an M.A. program.

In terms of the foreign language stuff--I have a reading knowledge of German, but don't have any classes on my college transcript indicating this. Do you think it would be wise to start a second language, take an upper level german class to get it on my transcript, or none of the above because adcoms don't care if it's on your transcript/there are other ways of indicating language proficiency on the app?

[Advice for ugrad sophomore]

Try and get a working knowledge of the history of criticism as opposed to just the C. 20th stuff. It's invaluable to see where some of the ideas came from ie. Longinus' setting the stage for Kant and Burke. For that, check out the Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism (3rd ed) or Adams' Critical Theory Since Plato. Both provide solid overviews.

From there, I would see what approaches interest you the most as potential lenses through which to read. I quite like Northrop Fry's Theory of Modes myself.

So would you recommend just reading straight through the Norton Anthology instead of picking a few authors to focus on? Although I've taken survey philosophy classes that have basically covered Plato to Foucault, my approach to teaching myself theory outside of class has just been to pick authors that interest me and then read representative books. The field just seems overwhelming sometime, every professor seems to have their pet theorists they bring up all the time. Is it expected to have a very broad knowledge of 20th C. criticism and a solid background on pre-20th C. stuff, or is it expected to have a few authors you know really well in the 20th C. and a shallow knowledge of pre 20th C.?

Kudos to you, basicpolitics, for getting a jumpstart on this process! If you have the opportunity, I would definitely suggest pursuing some sort of independent study/thesis project during your junior/senior years, which will facilitate the writing sample development process. Also, (though it sounds like you've already done a decent amount of theory reading), my mentor suggests Terry Eagleton's Literary Theory: An Introduction to most students who express an interest in English graduate study.

Hope this helps, and best of luck!

Would you recommend doing independent study junior year or just taking seminar classes, and then doing an independent study senior year? I've read the Eagleton book, it's really good. I just feel like the expectation is to have an encyclopedic knowledge of contemporary criticism--to be able to regurgitate Butler versus Austin, etc.--is this a complete misperception?

[Advice for ugrad sophomore]

I'm currently an undergraduate sophomore studying English. I'm definitely interested in pursuing a PhD in English—my interests right now are the realist novel and American lit 1918-1939.

Although I've read a decent amount of theory, I'm looking for lit crit/theory texts that are must reads if I'm preparing for an advanced degree in English.

Also, any suggestions as to productive summer activities? I'll be doing an internship around 15 hours a week, so I'll have time to spare.

Thanks for the help.