anoveldave

Harvard: "On Translation," involving final project UMich: translation workshops and seminar in translation

In looking at comp. lit. programs for this upcoming cycle, I started wondering about which schools have a more or less fixed offering of a translation course. I figure this might be useful for others in the same boat.

I've taken an OPI both over the phone and in person. It was during my MA program, so I don't know which were "official" and which were for the sake of gauging progress. I think you should be able to do as Stately Plump suggested and contact the director. They might be able to find someone willing to conduct the OPI over the phone (or if you're really lucky, find someone in Europe). Honestly, I don't know how stringent the OPI really is. It's really a rough (emphasized) gauge of your fluency, by asking you questions tangential to current affairs and ultimately calling for you to discuss something of issue in the target language. If the director isn't able to find you anyone, you could also ask if it would be fine for you to take the initiative and take the OPI with a qualified OPI proctor that you've found.

Unfortunately, I don't have an answer for experiencevsinformation, but rather I have a similar conundrum. For comparative literature PhD apps, it seems that most if not all ask for a paper in the 15-20 p. range. Though I have taken seminars in undergrad., the longest paper I have in my folders is 13 p. (without bibliography). Never having had to do an undergrad. thesis, the only other potential sample I have is in a different language (~20 p.). A friend of mine in his 3rd year of a PhD program recommended I contact graduate admissions and ask each school what to do. Have people on this forum submitted shorter papers than asked or plan to?

Thanks so much for the referrals! I'll be sure to check out the journals.

sfh09, one of my interests is also portrayals of mental illness/disabilities, but in the context of East Asian cultures and their diaspora. It's a recent interest, that isn't too grounded in any literature I've come across thus far. Do you have any suggestions for readings that approach the subject? I can also add that though I don't know too much about Rutgers' comp lit program, having grown up near and attended Rutgers, it's a decent campus with great mobility to bigger cities, i.e. Philly and NYC.