Hello GradCafe friends,
I have been lurking this forum for about six months now, and have just mustered up the courage to post. Here is my situation, I hope to get some infinite wisdom from you all:
I am a double major in Psychology and Creative Writing with a minor in Biology, graduating this December from a top tier private university. English major GPA of 4.0, Overall GPA is 3.4. GRE is 1340 (680 V, 660 Q), but I think I will be taking it again, and taking the subject test in November. I had plans to get an MFA before I went the Lit Ph.D route, but I want to do that the other way around now, because I would like to take advantage of my literature resources (professors, classes for writing samples, etc). My research interests are admittedly vague, but I am extremely interested in the areas of cognitive science and literature, psychoanalysis, literature and theory of mind, and literature and philosophy. I definitely have the academic background for these, but there are some possible obstacles in the way.
1) My creative writing major- Is this going to be a hinderance? I have taken just as many literature classes as a literature major would have, but they are not as evenly distributed by time periods, meaning most of my literature classes are post-19th century, save a few pre-18th century requirements. I had an advisor tell me that ad comms might reject me for this reason. Should I switch into the literature track? Or can I stay where I am?
2) Masters or Ph.D- if it is true that I don't have the necessary literature background, should I go ahead and apply for Masters programs as well? I have read mixed opinions on this forum about the value of Masters programs, but if it is going to get me into a top tier program then I will go for it. I would much rather go for a Ph.D. I guess I just don't know how solid one's research interests have to be; I definitely have an area, but not a thesis topic!
I think those are my main questions. I think I can snag great recommendations from my literature professors, and I plan to work with one of them on my writing sample, so everything else I can think of is in line. I just need to know where I should aim to shoot!
Thanks for your help, everybody!
