HunkyDory

I mean, I don't think there's really any topic that just isn't "worthwhile."

You mention you're a junior? I'll offer two pieces of advice, and maybe other people can agree/disagree with this.

1. TAKE TIME OFF AFTER GETTING YOUR BA. Especially if you want a PhD. But you mature more as a person, as well as intellectually in that time. And a PhD is a big commitment...unless you are beyond positive that that's what want to do, I wouldn't even go.

2. The way you describe your topic...it needs to be more fleshed out/get more specific. "Doubt" isn't really a unique concept, if you want to talk about individuality, but as you take time and learn more you'll probably zero in on something a little more specific.

I mean, I don't think there's really any topic that just isn't "worthwhile."

You mention you're a junior? I'll offer two pieces of advice, and maybe other people can agree/disagree with this.

1. TAKE TIME OFF AFTER GETTING YOUR BA. Especially if you want a PhD. But you mature more as a person, as well as intellectually in that time. And a PhD is a big commitment...unless you are beyond positive that that's what want to do, I wouldn't even go.

2. The way you describe your topic...it needs to be more fleshed out/get more specific. "Doubt" isn't really a unique concept, if you want to talk about individuality, but as you take time and learn more you'll probably zero in on something a little more specific.

What do you want to know? I'm not going to sit here wasting my time writing what you could figure out if you just looked at the department website (and maybe it's because I'm biased towards it but http://www.english.upenn.edu/ is one of the most helpful straightforward department sites there is).

So if you want to know something specific, say so.

Wow, you seem like quite the asshole.

Penn's strongest areas are medieval/renaissance lit, Modernism, and contemporary poetry. They used to have Stuart Curran running Milton and Romantic Poetry (and his specialty was female Romantic poets), although he left in 2008. Since then there's been a bit of a gap in that area of the department, mostly because Curran was so outstanding that nobody could replace him. They've got Lesser running Milton now, but he's a fairly young guy.

Because of this, if your research interests are outside of these areas, you've got a drastically reduced chance of getting in...I mean, it's pretty much a "fit" issue here, and you probably weren't applying if you were outside of this area. They'll usually take a gender studies person and race/postcolonialism person, both more often than not working in the 20th century forward. For contemporary stuff (and especially poetry) they look for much more unique research interests. There's a current PhD who got in with interests in recordings and methods of sound production--an issue that's very salient to contemporary poetics that a lot of the faculty has written on to some extent--but an area which less work is being done in.

Poetry-wise, they're the opposite of the canonical Yale/Harvard programs, and much more in line with Buffalo is this respect. If your poetry interests are Dickinson and Longfellow, you're quite divorced from a department that has a number of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets and affiliates in it.

So yes, common sense tells me that if you're looking to write about Dryden, then you're fairly out of luck in the department. A fairly good predictor of whether or not you stand a chance at admission.

If you said your specific interests, I could have told you if there's faculty members to champion it, maybe even some you didn't notice going through the website. If you wanted to know more about Philly specifically, about the Writer's House specifically, I could tell you. There's stuff online but people always have questions they can't find the answers to otherwise.

I just don't know why you're being such an enormous dick about me offering to answer questions.

What do you want to know? I'm not going to sit here wasting my time writing what you could figure out if you just looked at the department website (and maybe it's because I'm biased towards it but http://www.english.upenn.edu/ is one of the most helpful straightforward department sites there is).

So if you want to know something specific, say so.

I've read most of the stuff people are listing.

But my big gap is female writers. No Austen, no Brontes, no George Eliot, No Woolf, No Chopin, etc, etc, etc.

Started many of them, but they're all just so awful.

Is the Blackout affecting anyone else?

No Reddit, No Wikipedia...yet I keep going to them. There's not even PennSound or UbuWeb...

Is the Blackout affecting anyone else?

No Reddit, No Wikipedia...yet I keep going to them. There's not even PennSound or UbuWeb...

I've read most of the stuff people are listing.

But my big gap is female writers. No Austen, no Brontes, no George Eliot, No Woolf, No Chopin, etc, etc, etc.

Started many of them, but they're all just so awful.

I've read most of the stuff people are listing.

But my big gap is female writers. No Austen, no Brontes, no George Eliot, No Woolf, No Chopin, etc, etc, etc.

Started many of them, but they're all just so awful.

What do you want to know? I'm not going to sit here wasting my time writing what you could figure out if you just looked at the department website (and maybe it's because I'm biased towards it but http://www.english.upenn.edu/ is one of the most helpful straightforward department sites there is).

So if you want to know something specific, say so.

Wow, you seem like quite the asshole.

Penn's strongest areas are medieval/renaissance lit, Modernism, and contemporary poetry. They used to have Stuart Curran running Milton and Romantic Poetry (and his specialty was female Romantic poets), although he left in 2008. Since then there's been a bit of a gap in that area of the department, mostly because Curran was so outstanding that nobody could replace him. They've got Lesser running Milton now, but he's a fairly young guy.

Because of this, if your research interests are outside of these areas, you've got a drastically reduced chance of getting in...I mean, it's pretty much a "fit" issue here, and you probably weren't applying if you were outside of this area. They'll usually take a gender studies person and race/postcolonialism person, both more often than not working in the 20th century forward. For contemporary stuff (and especially poetry) they look for much more unique research interests. There's a current PhD who got in with interests in recordings and methods of sound production--an issue that's very salient to contemporary poetics that a lot of the faculty has written on to some extent--but an area which less work is being done in.

Poetry-wise, they're the opposite of the canonical Yale/Harvard programs, and much more in line with Buffalo is this respect. If your poetry interests are Dickinson and Longfellow, you're quite divorced from a department that has a number of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets and affiliates in it.

So yes, common sense tells me that if you're looking to write about Dryden, then you're fairly out of luck in the department. A fairly good predictor of whether or not you stand a chance at admission.

If you said your specific interests, I could have told you if there's faculty members to champion it, maybe even some you didn't notice going through the website. If you wanted to know more about Philly specifically, about the Writer's House specifically, I could tell you. There's stuff online but people always have questions they can't find the answers to otherwise.

I just don't know why you're being such an enormous dick about me offering to answer questions.

Is "Cool story, bro" passive-aggressive? Sometimes I speak too much in memes (coincidentally part of what I want to study), the statement is mostly devoid of meaning at this point, more of a nonchalant attitude akin to Condescending Wonka: http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/35qn5n/

On a similar note, I hope I'm not the only one interested in internet culture as an academic topic...

Cool story, bro. I'm curious, which professor? And I don't get why you're being so outrageously hostile.

Wow, you seem like quite the asshole.

Penn's strongest areas are medieval/renaissance lit, Modernism, and contemporary poetry. They used to have Stuart Curran running Milton and Romantic Poetry (and his specialty was female Romantic poets), although he left in 2008. Since then there's been a bit of a gap in that area of the department, mostly because Curran was so outstanding that nobody could replace him. They've got Lesser running Milton now, but he's a fairly young guy.

Because of this, if your research interests are outside of these areas, you've got a drastically reduced chance of getting in...I mean, it's pretty much a "fit" issue here, and you probably weren't applying if you were outside of this area. They'll usually take a gender studies person and race/postcolonialism person, both more often than not working in the 20th century forward. For contemporary stuff (and especially poetry) they look for much more unique research interests. There's a current PhD who got in with interests in recordings and methods of sound production--an issue that's very salient to contemporary poetics that a lot of the faculty has written on to some extent--but an area which less work is being done in.

Poetry-wise, they're the opposite of the canonical Yale/Harvard programs, and much more in line with Buffalo is this respect. If your poetry interests are Dickinson and Longfellow, you're quite divorced from a department that has a number of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets and affiliates in it.

So yes, common sense tells me that if you're looking to write about Dryden, then you're fairly out of luck in the department. A fairly good predictor of whether or not you stand a chance at admission.

If you said your specific interests, I could have told you if there's faculty members to champion it, maybe even some you didn't notice going through the website. If you wanted to know more about Philly specifically, about the Writer's House specifically, I could tell you. There's stuff online but people always have questions they can't find the answers to otherwise.

I just don't know why you're being such an enormous dick about me offering to answer questions.

I've read most of the stuff people are listing.

But my big gap is female writers. No Austen, no Brontes, no George Eliot, No Woolf, No Chopin, etc, etc, etc.

Started many of them, but they're all just so awful.

I've read most of the stuff people are listing.

But my big gap is female writers. No Austen, no Brontes, no George Eliot, No Woolf, No Chopin, etc, etc, etc.

Started many of them, but they're all just so awful.

I've read most of the stuff people are listing.

But my big gap is female writers. No Austen, no Brontes, no George Eliot, No Woolf, No Chopin, etc, etc, etc.

Started many of them, but they're all just so awful.

I've read most of the stuff people are listing.

But my big gap is female writers. No Austen, no Brontes, no George Eliot, No Woolf, No Chopin, etc, etc, etc.

Started many of them, but they're all just so awful.

Female authors being termed "all just so awful" has physically transported me into periods in time when women began or sustained their careers under male pseudonyms.

You know, like the Brontës, George Eliot, etc., etc., etc.

Outrageously!

I know less about the Comp Lit department, only insofar as it intersects with the English department, but I do know that they are far more theory oriented. How do you feel about Lacan? Because if so I think Jean Michele Rabate would be your man. Simultaneous Lacan/Flaubert/Joyce scholar. Loves "conspiracy theory" readings, loves theory...really great.

Where's your British/French modernism interest centered around? As far departmental crossing goes, Perelman is a good Pound/Eliot person, and Bernstein got his degree in Philosophy at Harvard under Cavell, and does a bit with folks like Stein and Wittgenstein.

And how do you feel about Walter Benjamin? There are a lot of folks in both departments that love him--definitely a great school to do work with the Arcades Project (Kenny Goldsmith is actually doing a rewriting of The Arcades Project right now).

Sorry I can't be AS helpful with Comp Lit. And yeah, totally a drag to lose Guyer.

Is "Cool story, bro" passive-aggressive? Sometimes I speak too much in memes (coincidentally part of what I want to study), the statement is mostly devoid of meaning at this point, more of a nonchalant attitude akin to Condescending Wonka: http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/35qn5n/

On a similar note, I hope I'm not the only one interested in internet culture as an academic topic...

I've read most of the stuff people are listing.

But my big gap is female writers. No Austen, no Brontes, no George Eliot, No Woolf, No Chopin, etc, etc, etc.

Started many of them, but they're all just so awful.

I know less about the Comp Lit department, only insofar as it intersects with the English department, but I do know that they are far more theory oriented. How do you feel about Lacan? Because if so I think Jean Michele Rabate would be your man. Simultaneous Lacan/Flaubert/Joyce scholar. Loves "conspiracy theory" readings, loves theory...really great.

Where's your British/French modernism interest centered around? As far departmental crossing goes, Perelman is a good Pound/Eliot person, and Bernstein got his degree in Philosophy at Harvard under Cavell, and does a bit with folks like Stein and Wittgenstein.

And how do you feel about Walter Benjamin? There are a lot of folks in both departments that love him--definitely a great school to do work with the Arcades Project (Kenny Goldsmith is actually doing a rewriting of The Arcades Project right now).

Sorry I can't be AS helpful with Comp Lit. And yeah, totally a drag to lose Guyer.