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Damn. Mine was 1500.

I was also puzzled when I saw this question on apps. I am sending my Berkeley app today, which is my first one due...I am listing n/a for the "what other schools have you applied to" question, because, technically, I have not applied to anywhere else (yet). heh heh.

What about Berkeley's regular SOP (not personal history/diversity statement)...does it have a word limit? I don't remember seeing anything on their site or the app. Would it be bad i went well over 1000; say, 1300-1400? I know Im gonna have to cut this to 1000 for some schools

so awesome

Mr Eugenides, the Smyrna merchant unshaven, with a pocket full of currants...

I'm kind of dealing the with same issue, though my two periods are Romanticism and Modernism. Your problem seems slightly easier than mine to reconcile, since the Victorian period chronologically comes right after Romanticism - it's not really much of a leap for you (it's not like you want to do both Medieval and modern Caribbean lit). I think you'll be fine, especially if you make an argument for how you think the two periods are connected in your SOP, and what about this continuity (or self-conscious discontinuity, as it may be) interests you. That being said, it may help to emphasize one period more than the other; but I really don't know - I'm struggling with this myself!

Thanks for the opinions, guys and gals. I talked to some people in English Depts, and everyone said a third letter from a Classics prof would be fine. However, I just saw on UVA's website that 3 letters from English profs are needed...perhaps I'll get another English (though it's late in the game) and just have 4 letters for a lot of places.

Some of the apps I've looked at want me to list up to 3 professors I'd be interested in working with on the online app (Berkeley, for example). I wonder if I should also name drop these same people in the SOP? Or should I avoid it since I've already indicated the profs in the app (as requested by the school)?

Hey, so I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts or experience on this matter: I am applying to English PhD programs, but I'm strongly considering having a classics professor write one of my recs (my other two would of course be English, both well-known profs in their respective fields - Romanticsm and Modernism - which are the fields I am interested in). I am a classics minor, and do plan (kind of) to incorporate my Greek and Latin into the study of writers who were influenced by the classics, like Shelley, Coleridge, T.S. Eliot, Woolf, etc., but that's certainly not my main interest. Still, it's not like I'm getting an Organic Chemistry prof to write me one haha. So, would it hurt me to have a non-English prof write one of my 3 letters? (he has an adjunct appointment in Comp Lit as well). I know him very well, and he would write me a great one, but I just don't know if it will look like...well, I don't know what it will look like! Might some adcomms look down on this? Thoughts?

Also, a 92% in Verbal (before the new changes) is around a 640, which (unfortunately) is actually low for the top schools, and may indeed keep one out.

just wanted to bump this. Anyone else applying (or having already applied) to Michigan have any thoughts/advice/experience with the "personal statement" as opposed to the SOP?

I also took it today - a LOT of passage analysis, and mostly renaissance stuff.

My favorite movie ever!

So...what exactly is a diversity statement?

Hey everyone, so I was gonna start my own thread but this seems like a pretty appropriate place to ask...are visits normal? I'll be applying to places this fall and had planned to take a trip to the Northeast in early December and visit 3 or 4 schools I am interested in applying to, but I don't know what the protocol or expectations are. Some of the comments in this thread have helped, though. Have most people here visited/plan to visit some of their potential schools (I am talking about before being accepted, or even applying really)? Not even necessarily to sit and chat with Professor XYZ, but just to check out the town, campus, and department.... One more thing - though this a really dumb question, I've wondered about this - do the top English grad schools have interviews? Obviously Harvard isn't going to interview all 762 or whatever applicants...but is there an interview process for the top tier of the pool to help them decide?

Going through Joyce's Ulysses for the first time. Quite a trip.

I don't know if there's anyone still planning to take the old version, cause its only offered for 8 more days, but I just took it and wanted to share. I was really happy with my score and did WAY better than on the practice tests I took (5 Kaplans and 3 or 4 from a random crappy site called 800score.com). I guess it might have helped to do harder questions, but it caused me a lot of undue stress, as I was getting worried about my score - but I ended up doing well. Maybe I'm not the norm, but I just wanted to share in case anyone is about to take the old test and stressing out from not doing great on practice exams. You will be fine.

Good luck Protagonist (and all others taking the GRE this round). I'm in the same boat as you - taking it this Friday so I can have the "old" test. I'm also pretty worried about my math score. Does anyone know if the more elite schools (say, top 10) care more about the your math score? It seems like they might, because it would give them another stat with which to pare down their absurdly astronomical number of applicants. Like, is there a real, substantial difference between, say, 550 and 680 on the math?

Thanks for the responses guys! I will definitely look into UVA - it sure would be nice to go somewhere where sweet tea still exists. I've also found some people at Yale that I think I could really work with.

Hey everyone, I've been a member/lurker for a little while, but this is my first post. I'd greatly appreciate any comments, advice, suggestions, andecdotes, etc, on my situation. I'm going into my senior year at a well regarded state school (UNC) and, like most people here have done or want to do, looking to apply to English Phd programs this Fall. The thing is, I take a more "traditional" approach to literary study - i.e., I am not really interested in postmodern "Theory," deconstruction, gender studies, disability studies, what have you. However, I think I will be a fairly strong candidate and want to apply to top 15 (maybe top 20) programs (I can give GPA stats etc. if anyone's interested or curious). Basically, I don't want to get into a top grad school (if I am lucky enough), then go and be miserable learning French theory in every class instead of actually reading literature. I don't really have anything against Theory, it's just not what I'm interested in, and I am somewhat worried because almost every poster here that I have seen (just casually reading posts) seems to have literary theory as either a primary or secondary focus. This is also what I find when I look at the English department websites of top universities. Thus, I cannot help but wonder if I am a hopeless cause. I am not opposed at all to taking classes on theory/theorists, and even incorporating some into my work (I have an open mind - who knows, I may discover some aspect of theory that greatly interests me), and I realize it is important to be up on the latest scholarly conversations and trends for one's field. However, I don't want it to be the central focus of my work/study, and I don't want to be forced to apply this or that mode of theory by a professor (I am not assuming many places or even any places do this...I simply have no idea). So I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions, either general (statement of purpose stuff etc.) or specific (programs/depts/teachers that are not as theory-centered). I of course realize that it is my own responsibility to research departments and individual professors to look for people whose approaches are congenial to mine - I have already done this some and will be doing much more in the coming months. But if anyone (whether you're heavy into theory or not!) has any suggestions or comments, they would be welcome. I am mainly struggling with a tension that I'm sure many of you feel - between finding the perfect fit, and getting into the best program you possibly can. I often find that the people I would really be interested in working with are not at a top program. Normally this would be fine, but with all the horror stories I hear/read about newly minted PhDs being unable to find positions (I'm sure you've read the Chronicle articles etc. as well), I want to go to a strong (top 15) program to give myself the best chance on the job market. Well, I have written so much! Sorry. BTW, my field of interest is 19th and 20th c. British and American poetry - especially Romantic (1790-1830ish) and Modernist (1910-1950ish). My main interest is actually the link between these two periods, and the influence of the former upon the latter. Thanks!