Isidore

ROCHESTER... swoon. Another place I would have applied to if I thought my SO could commute to MA twice a week... Good luck to you! I've only completed my BA thus far, so I'm sure my interests will evolve, but right now I'm pretty preoccupied with medieval mysticism and the phenomenology of perception (I minored in philosophy) - mainly pertaining to late medieval devotional writers. I also have a soft spot for Anglo Saxon poetry (spent a semester translating Beowulf - it changed my life!) Your area sounds quite interesting! I always wished my UG English department would have offered a course in Tolkien...

PS - Eliot Smith was playing on my Pandora when I got the e-mail. WOMP WOMP WOMP.

I take it you're an aspiring medievalist as well - if so, GO UCONN! That would be THE best fit for me, although I probably wouldn't be thrilled about living in Storrs.

For what it's worth, I'll be sending you good vibes for the next 12 (or 13) months. I have a few close friends who adopted the strategy of "just gonna keep applying until they get sick of me and let me in" - and it worked (well, I'm not quite sure if it worked, but they ended up getting in. One of them ended up going to Harvard.) This whole thing is a crap shoot - don't let it get you down.

Realistically, I shouldn't be upset. They do have three medievalists, but two of them look like corpses and haven't done any recent scholarship to speak of (too harsh?). Why did I even apply? Oh yeah, because I'm geographically bound (my SO just started his dream job up here), and I live on the same freakin' T line as BU. I WISH I could have applied to NY schools (and Rutgers!) instead of schools that are close by and just an ok "fit." So yeah, I'm not REALLY upset, just have to adjust to the idea of a complicated move/commute/compromise. There could be worse things. I'm still SO thrilled with my one acceptance! There, I vented. Over it!

REJECTED! And I don't have an MA. Kind of sad about this one... my SOP was horrible for this app though. Whatever.

HAHA! Yes, this is most certainly BC's strategy - I predict a flood of rejextions from those Jesuits tomorrow (ash wednesday).

Now, there's some sound logic. That's hilarious. And that's my T stop - wish I could say it was me, texting words of encouragement, but alas, I was drowning my stress and sorrows in Grendel's in Cambridge, trying my hardest NOT to look in the direction of a certain looming iconic bell tower on my way back to the red line. It's really torturous to be living in this city during this "process." So... this week... good luck to everyone - keep your heads up!

@ katelynann- From the acceptance e-mail: "Students selected for our MA/Ph.D. program and hired by the Writing Program receive 14 semesters of support as teaching assistants." I'm assuming this includes teaching both writing and/or English courses. I also figured I'd make the trip to do the interview in person (later this week). I have to drive down to NJ after, so unfortunately won't be able to get much of a feel for the campus or the town - but I am going to make sure I check out the library while I'm there (tallest library in the U.S. - 26 floors?! I can't resist). I'm pretty nervous about the interview (I have no formal teaching experience), and have been reading up on the Writing Program via their website all day (amidst all this anxiety about Brown - and my first, albeit expected, rejection... NOT helping!) Best of luck with your interview! I would love to hear feedback/advice from interviewees - and I'll be sure to contribute after mine.

First rejection - woohoo! Brown would have been a horrible fit for me anyway...

I'm pretty sure they do, actually - I went there for undergrad and when my professors started talking to me about graduate school, they always felt the need to throw in a cautionary comment about how "we only admitted one medievalist last year." Granted, most programs can only admit an abysmally small number of medievalists (if any), but friends of mine in the graduate program also gave me the impression that periodization mattered in the application process. But who am I to say? Anyway, all this kind of information will do is add to your speculation and stress, so just keep being optimistic - congrats to all who were accepted, and my fingers are crossed for all of you who haven't heard yet!

HA! I had the same experience in HS. We moved on to Salinger and Vonnegut, and were satisfied (although the Franny and Zooey jokes/impersonations were not much better) I'm now the textbook manager at a college bookstore, and one of the professors actually adopted The Perks of Being a Wallflower as required course reading this semester! (It was for a "Coming of Age Lit." course, but still...)

My hopes were completely crushed when I heard they had 4 spots this year... but send me my rejection letter already! I live so close to BC, I can see those spires looming over the treetops every morning on my walk to the T... I figured I'd be one of the first to hear, if they were notifying via snail mail.

I hear that. I just happened to stumble upon this thread last night before I went to bed, and proceeded to have dreams AND nightmares about Yale acceptances/rejections. By the way, according to past years' polls, Brown would be today-ish as well. Fabulous. I really would not be shocked to get rejections from most of my remaining schools, but the speculating about the potential day of impending doom/elation is still making my heart race a bit... and yet here I am, at work (where I swore I would NEVER log on to Grad Cafe), checking to see if anyone has heard...

Now I'll definitely have to see the movie...

I'd like to preface this by saying that I'm an aspiring medievalist, and have read approximately 3 new releases in my entire life. However, Johnathan Safran Foer's "Everything is Illuminated" will stay put on my top 10 (well, maybe top 20) list forever. But the movie fell OH so short - the film fails to navigate time as deftly as Foer does through narrative... not to mention the fact that I laughed out loud many, many more times while reading the book! Maybe "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" will be better... but then again, I wasn't crazy about the book.

Just got my acceptance e-mail as well - so excited it's official now! Still nervous for my interview with the Writing Program, but what a great feeling - my first acceptance!

I have no idea what to expect in this interview; I don't really have any formal teaching experience (years, ago, I subbed for 2 high school english classes, but that's about it), so that makes me wonder what, exactly, I could possibly talk about, experience-wise. I plan on reading up on the Writing Program via their website, and hoping that (especially since I'm going to interview in person) I will sound like I know what I am talking about. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Just scheduled my interview! I figured I would go in person, since I live in Boston... Like everyone else who has posted today, I haven't heard anything about official acceptance, but I say we all just go ahead and assume! Congrats to everyone else, and good luck with your interviews!

I second that recommendation! House of Fame - good stuff. I like it even more than The Canterbury Tales. As an aspiring medievalist, I'd also like to second the recommendation demand that you read Chaucer's magnum opus! Really, you must. It will be worth it. And read it in its original Middle English, not one of these flimsy modern "translations" (not that a fellow medievalist would ever so much as consider such profanity...) It's funny. And beautiful. And worthy of all the time and effort that so many (but not yet I!) have devoted to reading Ulysses.

I've started Ulysses three times... once on a dare/challenge with an English professor/bar regular of mine, and we both gave in to defeat about 80 pages in. And (surprise!) I haven't read Moby Dick either, but it's honestly on my to-read list, now that all my applications are in - that and War and Peace (seriously - assuming the fates are kind and I DO get into a program somewhere, when else am I going to get a chance?)

I was just referring to the US News and World Report rankings (these are probably the most widely referenced, if any sort of "ranking" is referenced at all. I don't think there is any "standard," or that it would matter incredibly much) - I never pay much attention to these things, but people have been trying to reassure me in various ways, (which is impossible during this terrible waiting period) and some seem to think that the reputation of your undergraduate institution counts more than I'd considered. Again, I feel like these opinions are being offered in order to placate me to some degree, as I'm crazily stressed over getting in somewhere; obviously the writing sample and personal statement are the most important - and weighty - elements of an application, and I'm hoping that the 15-20 page portion I hacked out of my thesis as a writing sample and my SOP (most difficult writing task I've ever undertaken!) will at least get the attention of an admissions committee or two. As far as foreign languages are concerned, every English PhD program I've looked at requires reading knowledge of at least 2, and in many cases 3, foreign languages. These requirements are part of the program itself, so while not many schools have strict requirements or minimums for admission, you are expected to complete the requirements (usually) within the first 2-3 years of study. Having at least some kind of undergraduate background would obviously be of some help. My undergraduate advisors stressed the importance of foreign languages if I decided to pursue graduate study - since medieval literature is my focus, it is immensely important that I become proficient in Latin, and French/German/Italian/Greek would help as well. Again, I don't pretend to know anything, but one of my advisors mentioned that foreign language background may very well be a category by which schools make initial cuts of applicants.

If you have a summer to spare, check out CUNY's summer Latin program. It was STRONGLY recommended by all the medievalists at the University I attended. (I was accepted this past summer, but couldn't get funding.) While this might not seem like the "sanest" path, 10 straight weeks of immersion would surely do the trick.

I may be in a somewhat similar situation - I need to stay in the Boston area because my partner was recently offered his dream job (University tenure-track position) nearby. I went against the advice of ALL my advisors, who repeatedly told me to apply widely. I'm applying to English and Medieval Studies PhD programs at BC and BU (and yes, Harvard) as well, and possibly UMass Boston for an MA. However, in deciding where I was going to apply, I probably consulted mapquest and the Amtrak website just as often as the program websites, since we are hoping that if I don't get into a program IN Boston, I could potentially commute (and those Acela trains are really fast!). Taking into consideration that it wouldn't be a 5 day per week commute, and the fact that my partner only has to be on campus 2 days per week, UMass Amherst, UConn, and Brown would be reasonable (if only I could get in...) - but we are also considering relocating to Worchester or somewhere. Not sure if this is feasible for you and your wife, but a not-so-drastic relocation is something to consider. As far as your chances go, I know nothing - I'm terrified about all this! I would think that your recent research experience (and possibly some local contacts?) would be a huge plus. I got the same GRE verbal score and a considerably lower quantitative score, attended a nationally ranked (top 75) public university, completed an undergraduate honors thesis and finished my BA with a 3.6 overall GPA, 3.7 in my field, and I had full professors encouraging me to apply to Ivies... BUT there are a few gaps in my undergraduate record, and I have a weak background in foreign languages. Hopefully I have a shot at BC and BU. Hopefully you do too - I understand the stress of trying to stay in Boston area. It's kind of nice to know I'm not the only one limited geographically - I have to admit I'm a bit jealous of everyone who can decide where to apply for the "right" reasons, but really, New England - and Boston in particular - is NOT a bad place to be if you're an academic! Good Luck!

Check out UConn's Medieval Studies program. I'm also applying to English programs (and intend to focus on medieval), and this program is pretty high on my list of top schools, due to the interdisciplinary nature of my research interests. The program involves the English, History, Art, Art History, and Music departments, and they don't require a subject test. The deadline is Feb. 1