asleepawake

We are evacuating the area.

YOU ARE TEARING ME APART, UPENN!

Should I resurrect a 2 and a half year thread? Of course. Anybody have any updated info on any acceptance rates from last year? Let's gossip about numbers! Do you trust Peterson's? Though the info seems to include MA, PhD, and MFA numbers all together, it still seems that the information is often feasible. Other times it seems way off - NYU shows 24% (130 of 528), which seems wildly inaccurate even with their consolation MA. Comparative Literature is listed as 5%.

In what universe is a 170V and a 4.0 for the MA "against the odds"? I mean, really. You're letting your anxiety get to you! Your stats are quite good. I don't think the fact that your undergrad grades are imperfect will hurt you. You are qualified, but so are hundreds of others applying to places like UPenn. Now you just have to have the writing sample, the LORs, the fit, and a whole ton of luck.

Sending you a PM. I have mostly good things to say, but I'd still prefer to send a message.

Wow, what? Do you have a link or citation on this? Their website just says that they accept "several" students per year as far as I can find. Edit: A quick look at the Gradcafe results search shows 3 acceptances, just including those submitted, assuming they are genuine, to the PhD program last year.

Bingo. Your experience will not be determined by how highly ranked your program is. All other things being equal, it's probably better to attend a higher ranked program than a lower ranked program. All other things are never equal, though, and you live in Saskatchewan. Especially if you must choose between either no program at all and a local program, there is no reason not to give Saskatchewan a go. You might be pleasantly surprised. I would advise you against considering yourself a "big fish in a small pond," though, as you risk underestimating and/or disrespecting your fellow students/faculty at Saskatchewan, who may be there, like you, for reasons other than that they are small fish.

Seriously! What is it about amusement parks? The one I worked at had at least a thousand employees walking around with ace bandages all over our arms. Customers would ask "Why are so many employees injured?" We're not, we just have ink, and we wouldn't want to, like, ruin your family vacation. I find rules that require covering tattoos to be equal parts classist and out-of-touch.

Thank for this informative post! Is is especially demystifying to hear from someone who isn't just guessing and repeating things we've heard, like the rest of us are. I do have one question if you don't mind. The focus on "fit" is a big topic of discussion on these forums, but I often think all of us have different ideas of what it actually means. How would you describe "fit," in terms of what it should mean for those of us hunting through potential schools? To what degree does it factor into admissions decisions?

I came to my MA program as an MFA student, but I switched when I figured out what I really wanted to do in academia. For a while before the switch, I was looking into the same questions that you are. It seems that some schools welcome the MFA in place of the MA. Either way, many people apply to PhD programs with only a BA, so at the very least, the MFA won't work against you even when it cannot help (except at Iowa, as I've heard they'll think you're trying to sneak into the Workshop). It really depends on what kind of MFA program you attend, what classes you've taken, and what kind of literary scholarship you've been working on. The writing sample and SOP can outweigh everything else, and nothing else can save you if those aren't any good. I would suggest having only one MFA faculty member write a letter (presumably your thesis advisor) and 2 lit faculty for the others. This is just my opinion, though, and of course those who know and respect your (scholarly) work are usually the best. For programs that accept both BA and MA students, I don't think you need to worry. For programs that require an MA, you should e-mail or call to find out if the MFA is an acceptable replacement. I know that some schools specifically state that the MFA is fine while others say the opposite.

Not at all, especially if you don't have an MA. I'd think Adcomes are much more concerned with whether you have something to say worth saying. The best thing you can do is read, read, read, write, and read.

This is nonsense. Anxiety makes everything harder - there's no reason why it would be worse for teaching. It might depend on your own personal experience with your anxiety, but I find teaching fairly calming. Professors are notoriously neurotic. It's okay. You're in good company.

If you can afford it, go for all of the above. Apply to all of the programs you think fit you very well and a few that you feel sort-of-might-fit. This is what I am doing.

Does anyone know whether or not it is okay to apply to both NYU's Comp Lit and English programs at the same time? If so, would it look bad to do so? Their FAQ doesn't seem to address this question. Both departments have at least 2 people on faculty who I'd consider ~~***dream faculty***~~, though I'd really like a chance to work with any/all of them. My interests are interdisciplinary but probably don't fit into most traditional Comp Lit departments. (Don't mind me, I'm just busy being delusional thinking I could have a chance in either program)

Actually, I haven't, but I'm looking now! I've also added Rice and UC Santa Cruz to my list. Thanks!

Well, this sucks. I know I'm reviving an old thread, but a lot of the posts in this old thing just really rub me the wrong way. I think the anxiety, pettiness, and downright meanness expressed in this thread toward somebody nobody here has ever met is indicative of a larger problem: grad students can be notoriously competitive and mean. Most people on this forum are kind and supportive. But the whispers around campus of so-and-so not deserving such-and-such exist everywhere. The whisper only becomes loud when we're talking about some stranger who represents more of an idea to us than an actual person. I'd like to link to this great article by one of Franco's Yale professors, John Williams: http://www.slate.com...or_speaks_.html Now, I don't know James Franco. He might be all of these bad things people are claiming. But he might not be. You don't know. Stop pretending you know. Stop imaging how awful he is and getting pissed off about it. Not just about James Franco, but everyone. I need to work to take my own advice, of course.

Take the funding. Take it and never look back.

Try Wikitravel.com articles on the cities to check out information about the public transport in the areas. Check the weather to see if it would be reasonable to ride a bike regularly.

I guess I should answer my own post 1. NYU, UC Sanata Barbara, CUNY, WUSTL, Lehigh, SUNY Buffalo, Nevada at Reno 2. Brown (Modern Culture & Media), SMU, Case Western, Cincinnati, Syracuse, Rochester, U of Miami, Texas at Arlington, North Dakota... and still researching 3. I'm especially interested in postcolonial and 20th/21st century world literatures with a focus on animal studies and law and literature. I want to work with pop culture as well, so I'm especially drawn to programs that will allow me to do that.

I'm from Cleveland and I did my undergrad at CSU. I lived elsewhere for a few years, but I believe it's only gotten even better since I left. Cleveland is great. CSU is located downtown, and though I would consider the area safe, I do know of a number of people who had their cars broken into around campus. Just keep expensive things out of sight in the car as you would anywhere else and you'll probably be okay. I wouldn't suggesting living in the CSU area unless you're going to live in the dorms. Many of the apartments are overpriced, especially given how lackluster the downtown area is. It has been revitalized over the past few years, with the area around Tower City (about 20 blocks from CSU - 10-15 minute walk, 4 minutes on the free trolley) especially so. A casino just opened, and there are a number of nice restaurants and bars, while Tower City is a full mall with movie theater and restaurants. I lived in the old CSU dorms for one year and I liked it, but I wish there had been more to do. If you want to be close to the school without living downtown, Tremont and Ohio City can be great. I'd also suggest the Clifton area or the city of Lakewood, which are both on the West side but relatively close as you can take the shoreway downtown. Where is the love for the West side on this thread? As others have suggested, good spots on the East side include Little Italy, Cleveland Heights, and South Euclid. East Cleveland and Cleveland east of E55th are the areas usually cited as the most dangerous in Cleveland, but many people live there and get by. Crime has gone down there by quite a lot in the past few years in these areas. I would not, however, suggest living there unless you check out the area first and are comfortable with it. Most people with other options don't end up living there. Anyway, you CAN live downtown. It's not especially dangerous. It just doesn't really feel like a "place people live," though many certainly do. You'll notice that many of the cheaper restaurants cater to students and business people, and they will close early and may be completely closed on weekends. One of my favorite lunch spots, Tea House Noodles (http://teahousenoodlescleveland.com/), is only open until 8p and closes on weekends. The restaurants inside of the old Arcade (http://theclevelanda.../content/dining) close even earlier. There WAS a single grocery store hiding in the Reserve Square apartment building (which is still a good place to live downtown), but it closed a few years ago. I think it was replaced with a convenience store, though. Unfortunately, this means there isn't much grocery shopping downtown at all. The closest places are Constantino's Market in the Warehouse District (a bit west of Tower City) and probably Dave's at Payne and E30-something, but there's a good 40 blocks in between those places. When I was at CSU a few years back, there was a new weekly farmer's market with produce and bread and a few other things. Anyway - Cleveland is a great choice. I suggest visiting and checking out the area before you make any decisions about where you'll live, though. More data here, including breakdowns of neighborhoods: http://www.city-data...eland-Ohio.html You can also check out these great videos that explain your new home in detail

I know it's a bit early, but I thought I'd start a thread for listing school and a bit of information to make it easier to find people who are applying to the same places and/or with similar interests. I'm a bit indecisive so my list is constantly changing, but I'd like to narrow it down soon. Some questions: 1. Where are you definitely applying? 2. Where else are you considering applying? 3. What are your research interests?

Yup - brick's version is better. That doesn't change anything I said. Nobody has yet answered why a test that aims to judge your ability to comprehend that material you will encounter in graduate school should deliberately choose clear and easy-to-understand passages. It doesn't matter if these scholars are trained in writing - they're publishing work that you need to read and understand in graduate school.

I really don't think there is any reason why adcoms will care if you wrote your paper for a class or not. I think it is pretty expected that as students we write for conferences and to our interests in ways that may not always fit into our courses. The only downside to submitting a paper that was not written for a class if that you will not have received the instructor feedback that you might in a course. You may think it's better than it is, or you may not realize just how good it is. Maybe you can workshop it with some other students from your MA program. As for MLA, I imagine you'd remove the typical class header when you send it off, anyway. I certainly wouldn't submit anything with the kind of header I'd submit in a class, but then again, I'm using part of my thesis. The paper should still be in MLA, of course.

I find the comparisons between the AW writing of the test and the reading comprehension sections to be illogical. They are testing two very different skills, and they are judged accordingly. I don't think the AW test is especially useful, and a lot of schools seem to agree, as they often ignore it or have no cut-off as long as you don't score very, very low. As another user pointed out, you're not reading imaginary texts by GRE text writers sitting around twirling their mustaches. These are excerpts from real academic journals. This is the kind of material you will read all the time in graduate school. You need to be able to comprehend it quickly. The more needlessly complex sentence that brick has written is absurd - sure, we can keep making this material more and more needlessly complex. But we're talking about the material on the test, not the most contrived sentences that could possibly exist. I disagree that any of the material that actually appears on the test is, however, so needlessly complex as others are suggesting. The specific quote about women in the workplace is not a perfect sentence, but it's not bad. I think it would be OK on the AW. The end gets a bit wonky, but I think it's pretty clear. It is something I would realistically read in and not think twice about in my studies. If it's not clear on the first reading, you read it again. I usually tackle the RC questions by reading the question, then the passage, then the question again. Finding the correct answer often involves some looking back and forth and I usually end up rereading parts of the passage to instill the confidence I need to move to the next question. Sometimes my first instinct is wrong, but I usually catch this by returning to the passage. I'm surprised to hear so much criticism directed at the passages but almost none at the questions. The questions are not something you will see in grad school, but you certainly will be expected to rephrase and infer things about readings that are complex and perhaps even fatally flawed. The questions attempt to replicate that need, but they're certainly not perfect. As brick points out, the gre is generally successful in providing texts that are not ambiguous in meaning. As I said, the meaning is there. It seems like what we're really having here, when the AW section is brought into the question, is a debate about scholarly writing in general. Should we aim to write more like Orwell or Derrida? Regardless of your answer, we have to learn to read all of these things if we plan to succeed in graduate school. If the clarity were increased in the RC passages, what would the result be? Test takers might be a bit less stressed taking the test, but they are still going to receive a percentile score. The old quantitative test had this exact problem - some 4-6% of test takers scored 800, so the highest percentile was 94%, if I remember correctly. The test was too easy, and it has been adjusted for the new version. This problem would return with the RC/Verbal section if the passages were too easy for the average test-taker to comprehend. If the passages were rewritten to be completely clear to all readers immediately, they would just have to ask harder questions. But if the passage is easy, how can you ask a more difficult question about its interpretation? There is nothing to untangle, nothing to comprehend.

I think the conventional wisdom is that it is best to go with a longer sample, as it proves you can do work of that length. However, especially if you are applying with only a BA, you may not have a 20-30 page sample that you are confident about. I don't think sending two 10-15 page samples would be the worst thing you could so, especially if both are excellent, but it might be a good idea to e-mail programs and ask first. Otherwise, can you extend one of these 10 page works into 15-20? I think that a 6 page sample is simply too short no matter what the guidelines, though.