gatz

Is anyone else prepping a writing sample by excerpting from a longer piece (like an undergraduate thesis)? I'm looking for advice on how best to locate and bring out the really compelling parts of my paper without losing too much context.

Yeah I just meant that as a basic criteria for narrowing down schools. Among schools I'm applying to there were about 3 public schools that have extremely competitive funding packages (according to the google docs spreadsheet). Not to mention the various public schools that offer solid funding opportunities to their master's students.

So, uh, does anyone know how many actual past tests are available? Just the one they send when you register and the one in the princeton review book?

I didn't mean to imply that or anything, since I honestly don't know, and don't want to make broad statements about the history of literary criticism or whatever. I was just wondering out loud whether there has been recent theoretical work in 'biography studies' or something. From my experience though (just undergrad), all of my professors treated biographical stuff as interesting and sometimes useful for articulating certain points, but never encouraged us to use it much.

I'm not sure I really understand the question, but...biographical criticism? Or like cultural criticism? It sounds less a matter of a particular theory or terminology and more of a matter of research paradigm. Which makes me wonder if there's any interesting research going on into revitalizing or revisiting classic biographical approaches to scholarship. That would be pretty cool.

Also I can't imagine a school being public versus private indicates a meaningful difference across the board for funding or prestige.

Wow...at this point I've just arbitrarily picked the top 25ish programs from a list and it's taking me absolutely forever to go through all of the info on each site and find really genuinely compelling things to mention in a SoP. lot's of them there's really not all that much to say--I could certainly do the type of research I want there, but I feel like the bar is a lot higher than that for showing that you're a good fit for a department. my interests are even pretty trendy but it's still difficult (and that's before even taking into account recent placement records)

Whoa, how/why did you pick so many schools? Are you just applying with a really broad range of interests or like tailoring different applications for different areas of study?

I hadn't thought of this, thanks for the tip!

yep interesting people love trolling around on the internet well known fact

I really liked the Nancy Sommers piece. I'd love to hear more reccommendations, although I know I'm being really vague and maybe have no idea if this is A Thing that Actually Exists I've seen quite a few schools that do joint phd/mfa but I think that the two disciplines are kept somewhat apart. I'd love to read something that...bastardized?...both forms. in a productive way of course

I don't know if you have the collected essays, but the rest of Ellison's stuff in there is incredible as well...he's just so astoundingly timeless and yet current and just completely fascinating when he talks about history and american lit

I've heard a few people mention work written in a style that combines traditional literary scholarship with a more 'creative-writing' (or maybe just personal-essay-style) approach. I'm really curious about this style, does anyone have any recommendations?

1) Maybe if I work part time. Otherwise probably not 2) I never really thought about it in terms of the schools. I was mostly just looking for specific faculty whose research interests would be relevant. Should I search in terms of schools?

Hello everyone. I just wanted to ask if anyone here has participated in research during undergrad or has received a grant to do so. Specifically, I'd like to hear about grants funded outside of one's own institution. Obviously my first choice would be to work with a professor I know, but if that falls through, I'd like to look for some more options. I found a whole lot of humanities research opportunities through google, but every single one has been targeted towards underrepresented groups, and I wouldn't be eligible. Thanks in advance for any and all advice. Edit: I should include that I have a few ideas for papers I'd love to develop...I'm looking for the time to do so!