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indalomena

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Everything posted by indalomena

  1. Hello fellow applicants! Haven't posted for a while because I thought I was geting too obsessed with applications and such... But I am also feeling the nerves about today, could be a big one. I haven't had any good news yet this cycle so I'm beyond desperate for an admit soon. Good luck eveyone. I hope our dreams come true today.
  2. I wonder if I should give up gradcafe for the next two months, I have a feeling this could get ridiculously painful UNLESS I GET IN
  3. omgz you gave me a heart attack. Anyone heard yet? I'm desperate for Evanston omgz aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrgghhhhh
  4. YES, because this was the week last year for Northwestern. First notifications went out on the 26th. Tomorrow could be the day. Obsessively checking everything all the time.
  5. nothing I applied to has appeared on the survey yet and yet I still manage to be nervous every time I look at it! I feel your pain.
  6. sorry about the bad news folks. Sucks this might be the week for Northwestern, based on last year's results, so I might find myself crawling into this thread lacking even the distinction of having the first rejection! Still, we must keep hoping. fingers crossed for the rest of your apps
  7. I guess I just see things differently. Maybe we have a different definition of brilliant scholarship -- I've never read anything I thought was brilliant but not engaged and forward thinking. I also don't think utility is the most important way to judge literary scholarship. Thinking about the profession, and impressing professors, and creating a product, is very important, and a good antidote to those naive attitudes we might have held as undergraduates. But it is possible to balance a sense of the artistry of criticism and the somewhat loftier aims of scholarship with the drive for success in a PhD program, and following that, in the academic profession. I don't think I am thinking of myself too highly when I try to do this.
  8. I don't know if that was aimed at me, but I don't think it's very meaningful: obviously, originality can't exist in a vacuum. Our ideas are formed by a multitude of influences, some too subtle to discern clearly. I just think that "molded" is a strong word to use in this context. Remember, I come from the British system, which typically involves a much more independent style of learning. I have no problem satisfying my professors, but I absolutely disagree about your characterisation of the purpose of writing. You seem to suggest that artistry and satisfying professors are mutually exclusive. I don't write for approval. My writing gains approval, and it needs to, but that is not my prime motivation. I'm not striving for a brilliant career as an end in itself, but rather as something that will enable me to pursue those goals that go beyond that constant striving for approval. I hope that made sense. I may have misinterpreted your post. I was a little offended by it.
  9. It's not like I'm putting this "attitude" all over my application forms for these people to see. And nobody has molded me into a particular literary position, nor would I want to go to a university that tried to do this. My strength is my originality. All I meant was that I'm tired of proving myself in ways that are ultimately meaningless. Aren't we all? Obviously we have to put up with it for a bit longer, but that doesn't make it any more pleasant. And I am a "young student", but I went through the British system, where an MA takes half the time..
  10. ahhhhhh that's a lovely idea. Sadly my boyfriend is allergic to incense, but I'll try to do something similar *sigh* My MA applications were totally half-assed, I sort of gave up halfway through. Worked out very well for me in the end, but I was lucky. For the PhD, I have really worked hard, which is probably why I'm so much more obsessive/nervous...
  11. oh wow, I should NOT read that results board!! I will get way too obsessed. Seems like some places have very clear patterns repeated year after year (Yale, eg: phone the admits mid-February, email the rejects late February..), and others are a bit more unpredictable. Phoning the admits seems pretty common, though I wonder if that's only US applicants? (I'm international..) I don't want to go in an immediate-reject pile.. *sigh*
  12. I understand...tone difficult to judge on internet, and all that. I think history of the book is really interesting, but it's not quite what I want to research. Stallybrass is amazing though, you're right. Mortician?!?!?! I had no idea!
  13. I think it's comments like this that tend to present a problem. It's perfectly reasonable to ask people to be specific in the information they require. It's unreasonable to tell them you're not prepared to "waste your time". Offering to help is great Doing it aggressively tends to upset people. If only you'd been nicer about it and not bookended the comment with "dick" and "asshole". Your info on Penn is very helpful! So thank you! I really like the idea of Penn, but I think their early modern work is a bit too history-of-the-book focused for me, so I didn't apply. What's your focus? In other news, I can't believe how late in January it is already. This is terrifying, decisions will be with us soon!
  14. Hi! It depends on where you want to go -- Oxford and Cambridge have early deadlines (literally, in the next two or three days...) Others are later but typically will have funding deadlines around March/April. As far as I know you have to have an offer in hand before you apply for funding, so probably try to apply early February at the latest if you're going for scholarships. Good luck!
  15. This is a really nice post, thank you And it's good advice. English is frighteningly competitive, but unfortunately I don't think my language skills are strong enough to make it into a foreign language program. I did consider trying for different sorts of departments -- I could conceivably fit into philosophy or history, as my interests are broad and interdisciplinary -- but at the heart of it is always literary criticism. I'm always at my strongest, intellectually, when I'm working very closely with a text. So it has to be literature. Your post reminds me, though, of how worthwhile and splendid it is to know multiple languages, so perhaps I will dust off my German grammar and have a crack at it again. And I do like Rilke.
  16. I'm just licking the wall, it sort of looks like ice cream No but really. Safety schools? If you excelled at your BA/MA school, then they're probably keen to keep you. I know this is the case for my MA school, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to have at least one option
  17. Haha, no it's OK -- it's best to be prepared for the possibility of January notifications! And I suppose, UNC and Northwestern had quite early deadlines, so it's conceivable they started sifting through the apps before the winter break.. Good luck to you! I hope we get good news soon
  18. ooooooops.. Sorry! I just wanted to acknowledge the necessity of a thread like this, given that we all have so many worries. But any slight hint of a crack in my resolve and the negativity just leaks out!
  19. This is a nice idea, since we've all been obsessing over those typos in our submitted apps and the quantitative GRE scores and such. I know I had a lot of typos, and a poor AW score, and a slightly inconsistent record. And my CV is a little short -- a few impressive things on there, but not necessarily relevant to academia. But I have one or two things going for me: extremely high MA grades, and an innovative interdisciplinary writing sample. I would be surprised if any other grad students are doing this kind of work, which could be a hindrance, but I think originality is good I don't know my fellow posters well enough to add anything meaningful to the person-above-you game, but everyone here seems articulate, dedicated, humble, and ambitious. All fine qualities in a prospective scholar
  20. no inside scoop, but terrified about the idea of a January notification! I've been counting on having an emotionally stable January... AARGH edit to add: now I notice that Northwestern started notifying in January last year. Let the emotional rollercoaster begin!
  21. Oh goodness, there are plenty of "important" books I haven't read! I don't feel guilty/ashamed, I just haven't got round to them, and I specialised early -- in the UK, we don't really go in for big survey courses. I haven't read all of Shakespeare, for instance, and I'm an early modernist; certainly haven't read Joyce beyond Dubliners; haven't read 1984, or Moby Dick; no Hemingway or Henry James. There are many, many more canonical texts I haven't read. But then there are plenty of completely obscure and bizarre books that I have read and obsessed over and read again.
  22. *notices signature* our lists of universities are very similar if you switch out Harvard/Stanford for UNC. I'm from England, though, and of all of them I have only visited Columbia. I have a friend who turned down Princeton because he found it soul-crushing when he visited ... I'm quite intrigued, since you have said this as well. It's almost good that I haven't visited these places, though -- it reduces the chance of getting attached to one particularly. As I said previously, I really like the idea of Yale, but all I know about it is what my recommender told me and about how it would be a great fit. I've calmed down after my post-application week of high anxiety. I have quietly made peace with the idea that I'll get rejected from everywhere, whereas before I was in this frustrated, anxious, and frankly selfish ("I deserve to get in! I'll be so angry if I don't!") state of mind.
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