anoveldave

Thanks smellybug. Question: what's it look like on your wolverine access? Is there a third link that appears once a decision's been made on your application?

i can claim the uw acceptance. no funding. they say it might change in the spring but i'm not getting my hopes up.

Thanks for the info. I remember also seeing acceptances for the other schools spread out in Jan-Feb, but I've yet to receive any sort of decision on my app via email or website. Anyone else get frustrated when you open a thread for a school and realize that everyone's talking about the english phd and not comp lit?

Looks like everyone's either gotten accepted somewhere, or trying to keep it cool while waiting for schools. Does anyone know if Harvard, Michigan, UCLA, or UC Santa Barbara have sent out all their acceptances?

I appreciate your points on this. What's key for me might be the question you posed about changing careers after the PhD. Personally, I don't think that's something that I would be able to do, which changes how I see the PhD. As much as I'm sure that I'd enjoy it, and the intellectual growth that'd come with it, I don't know if I'd be able to free myself of this and that responsibility to even consider a career change at that point. That being said, your first comment on the nature of the job market in academia is something that heavily affects my thinking right now. Having to be realistic, I might need to look to a different road.

Totally understandable. There's definitely a need for some sort of "Humanities Apologetics." Especially with the global endorsement of sciences and practical education, though I do think the sciences are just as important. I don't think people give just even applicants to grad school enough credit for how much they've thought out their futures. No doubt that every one of us has come to the decision to apply, and then accept, and then go on to grad school after wrestling with all the voices inside our heads.

Ategenos: I didn't mean to make it sound as though I was relegating the academic choice to some sort of "self-imposed exile from real society" idea. However, I do think that by choosing to stay in a campus community bubble as a graduate student, you can't help but put off certain life choices because of financial fetters. That's not to say that certain things are impossible, but I think it's definitely much more difficult to house thoughts of having a family (for example) if you're only able to live off of your fellowship as opposed to a salary. Of course, that (family, baby, house) idea of life is another set of values and whatnot that not everyone shares. Generally speaking, I believe that I have certain responsibilities to self, family, etc. that will be harder to fulfill if I don't have an income. I suppose that brings us to the idea that with the supersaturation of PhD applicants and holders, and the nature of the global economy, PhD programs might move further out of reach for persons of a certain socioeconomic stratum and below. Anyway, I was just curious as to whether there were any other applicants who were coming to reconsider the education route in favor of the professional.

Gwendolyn: You're definitely right in that I shouldn't and needn't give up hope. More than half of the schools to which I've applied still remain, and it seems that nothing's for certain with this whole process. ohgoodness: I think I'm the same, in that the more I think about it, the more sense it seems to make to pursue a professional career instead of in education. intextrovert: I remember getting the same advice (in undergrad and also after I completed my MA and really started thinking about PhD programs). I did spend a lot of time (during my MA program) contemplating whether I needed to be in academic circles, as well as whether I need to even creatively write and try for that whole life too. I think I've realized that you can have any job and still write (e.g. William Carlos Williams), but I suppose a part of me that applied to PhD programs wasn't totally sure about it at the time even. As everyone else surely knows, there are a lot of personal factors in applying to and pursuing a PhD program. Right now, I don't know if I'm willing to put off *life* per se for another 5-8 years. Looks like I'll be applying to a handful of job opportunities, and hopefully a path, any path will appear in the next month or so.

So 6 of my 13 schools have gotten back to me. All rejections. There were a few that were not completely unexpected, but there were others that I had thought to be great fits. At this point, I'm (objectively) considering a life outside of academia. Aside from the fact that a PhD doesn't guarantee any plush life sitting in a leather ottoman with tenure, I've been thinking about my eventual career goals, and realized that it doesn't have to include a PhD program. In other words, I've been able to imagine a path not involving more schooling and that whole world (though I'd have less of a head start with my near non-existent work experience in the real world). Though I haven't *given up*, I have found a few great opportunities to which I'm applying. If I get job A and also get accepted into school B, I'm currently leaning toward pursuing a professional career. Just wondering if there are any others in this boat back to the *real world*?

i've actually been looking for anything close to my field for the past six months and nothing aside from some tutoring. i've recently started work at a bar in ny (i live in jersey) because of all the financial burdens, which includes the cost of applications and all. as already advised, it's probably best to try to send out applications to related jobs but also apply to any service or retail jobs as well. with the high expectation of relocating in six months time for grad school, i'm also trying to have some money in the bank to make that first month as easy as possible.

Ah in that case, I left the institution I transferred out of off of the "degree granting" only apps. I did ask certain schools because it didn't seem too clear (plus I didn't want to have to order transcripts if I didn't need to).

I also transferred after my freshman year, also a (slight) change in course of study. I feel that it actually makes my application stronger because it demonstrates 'purpose' to a certain extent, and also shows that you took initiative in your studies, especially if your academic work improved following the transfer. I've made sure to include it in all of my applications, including transcripts, excepting the few schools that only wanted degree-granting institutions. I figure it's also better to be up front with all of your academic history so that way you can get in your version of the story if there's room for misreading.

Those are pretty ridiculous odds, but I figure most schools have similar admission rates? 1 out of 30 does seem better than what the odds probably are at HYP. I suppose we just have to be confident in our applications (which is in part ourselves).

UMN's portal is a bit messy. I'm applying to the comp lit department and have confirmed that I should ignore those statements and upload to the department specific page at the end of the application. Of course these are two different departments, and I saw the bfat's right. I suppose all I can offer is that a handful of my schools also require two statements, as bfat outline, one about your academic self and one about your personal self. I suppose you want to portray yourself as a (potential) scholar in one and speak to research interest fit, and then write about your 'person' in the other and shade that more towards how you'd [uniquely] contribute to the community['s diversity] at the school/department.

I have a question that sounds so simple but is confusing enough. What's the format for the writing sample? Regardless of whether it's a whole piece or just a portion, should the style guide (in my case MLA) be followed to the T, including the header above the title (name, professor, course, date)? More simply, Should there be anything in the writing sample document aside from the text itself, page numbers, references, and the title?

I definitely appreciate all of the information on schools. At this point, I've come up with a list of 13 schools, and I've had to forgo schools with established translation centers for resources in my field. Hopefully this is helpful for others who might find a good fit for them at the mentioned institutions.

You're right, I'm still reeling from the past two weeks of work that I've put into revising my own papers. Regardless, my process/approach to the writing sample remains the same. I wonder though, have you come across any length requirements for your writing samples that you'd need to take into consideration with your work on the paper now? The range of page length min/max is complicating the differences in applications (SOP word count, transcript requests) I've encountered thus far.

skybythelight, I was/am in a similar situation. I recently graduated from an MA program, but my MA thesis is not so much a thesis as it is longer research paper in a foreign language (more a test of language than content). I've looked to my undergrad papers, and considering that only honors students wrote undergrad theses, I have only 15-or-less page papers to work with. I decided on two of my best papers, one of which is more relevant to my intended field of study. This (close-reading) paper was 6-7 pages, and I've drafted it to 10. The other (research) paper was about 13 and I've managed to revise it into a 15 page draft. A writer friend (with whom I often workshop creative writings) is serving as editor for these papers. I anticipate near-complete drafts of both papers to be around 13-15 pages each, and will combine the two for 25-page writing sample requests, and choose one or the other for samples limited to a shorter length. I imagine that my choice of writing sample will be based on the quality of the final products and the programs to which I'm submitting. I suggest digging up all your old notes and researching (really a quick parse on academic search engines) for relevant articles and essays. Each of my essays necessitated borrowing ~20 books from my undergrad alma mater (which is luckily just a short commute) and utilizing alumni privileges for academic search engines, and the papers definitely read better than the original draft because of the extra research. I suppose a concern might be whether the newer drafts/essays are more removed from your original paper('s argument). I think that lands you in the whole "don't submit an unreviewed paper as a writing sample" mess. I'm including a short blurb about my MA thesis being in a non-English language and having to submit in its place a developed undergrad paper, which I hope buys me some compassion for not having an awesome senior thesis to submit.

The price of transcripts has been brutal. Luckily, I managed to order the maximum from my undergrad when they were still free! But I'm still short and it seems like prices increased again.

I don't know how much help my comment will be, but I had a similar brush with the referrals away from my intended department. For the past year, I've done thinking on my academic goals. I concluded that I belonged in comp lit, because I had a number of languages through which I wanted to study literature. The thing is all of these languages can be easily grouped into "Asian languages." However, my research interests include Asian American literature as well. Contacting schools, some departments have asked whether I might not want to look at the East Asian studies dept. instead of comp lit. In a recent meeting with a professor from undergrad, she suggested that I should in fact keep the option open, of looking into East Asian studies programs. I have, but my current and more or less final list of prospective programs are comp lit PhD programs. To link my experience to yours, I should state that I've decided to look at comp lit programs because that's the department in which I want to work. I wouldn't mind being concurrently housed in East Asian studies, but I want to also be in a literature department. I feel that English and comp lit programs are inclusive and possibly, depending on the institution, supportive of interdepartmental movement, generally. In addition to how choice of department might affect a future career, I think it's important to be cognizant of the training that would be available. I'd rather pursue theory in comp lit than say political readings of history in East Asia. In your case, your focus on literature seems to indicate that you should be looking at literature programs. It's just a matter of whether English lit programs will suffice or if you might want to give comp lit programs a chance. Looking back at your last question, I suppose you should just make sure there's faculty to guide you in Shakespeare and Greek lit., much like you would research faculty for any PhD program. And a sidenote on the exclusively literature approach, it might be difficult to isolate the literature without considering cultural or historical context. Moreover, it might be beneficial to be able to approach literature from the different angles of literature as art, literature as cultural history, etc., with regard to future employment and in line with the ever-changing tide of academic discourse.

I just recently narrowed down a list of 17 schools to about 13 (8 definite's and 5 should's). Aside from the two/three schools that seem to be a perfect fit, the other schools all have their respective strengths and the fit doesn't seem too off either. I've been hoping to try to cull a list of 10 or under from the 13 but it seems like that might be limiting. I think 15 would still be manageable, as long as you can devote a good amount of time to each application. Of course, there's the financial investment to consider. If I don't receive any sort of application waivers, I anticipate to pay about $1100 in application fees and $225 for GRE scores. If you aren't too burdened by the costs, I'd say go for it.

I apologize if this is in the wrong forum. But I figure it's something more general than what belongs in The Bank. Is anyone else an unenrolled college graduate trying to apply or figure out how to apply for a GRE fee reduction certificate? Not a soul at my undergraduate institution seems to understand that I'm trying to apply for this certificate to use towards Ph.D. application fee waivers. Calls to ETS are also not too helpful. It seems that those who are not currently in any programs need two things, 1. to have applied for financial aid (though I don't know how that can be for 2012-2013 if we're currently unenrolled) and 2. to have an ISIR to show financial hardship. Are there any other applicants out there who are in the same boat?

Imogene, that's a good point. I did want to get in touch with DGS's or graduate admissions for comp lit departments about writing samples, so maybe I'll make that a secondary point to address.

You're absolutely right. I almost went crazy yesterday trying to make certain that I had all of my transcripts ready sooner than later. After I realized that I didn't even have my diploma from my recent MA program, that's when I encountered the scanner problem, and I too naturally turned to gradcafe. I did get properly scanned images, so it was most definitely a technical issue with my scanner. However, in case anyone else might run across this, if you manually input the dimensions to be scanned, that's supposed to help from what I heard.

I started exploring the online applications for schools today, and when I realized that I hadn't scanned my transcripts, I pulled out my printer/scanner and went to work. Unfortunately, not all of my transcripts scanned properly. Has anyone had problems with scanning transcripts? I was left with a jpg image that showed only the bottom "this is an official...." strip without the actual information. Is there a way to scan this with a home-use printer/scanner or would I need to head to a university with copier scanners?