Taco Superior

I've got a good one in terms of "things that will make you paranoid you'll be rejected even though you've been accepted": In my emails back and forth with the grad chair from my one acceptance so far, I mentioned that I have a pre existing medical condition in the context of inquiring about health insurance options. Tonight one of my advisers learned of this and said I shouldn't have told the grad chair that because "in the wrong hands that could be trouble." He went on to explain that once I'm there I'm safe, but that I should wait till I'm there. ....Thanks Mr. Adviser, I didn't want to sleep for the next several months anyway.

Ok, for sure. PM me even if you don't have to and let me know how it turned out.

nice. Thanks, it's just sinking in.

All Hail!

Ya I need this thread. I'm on that "I just want at least a second acceptance to prove its not a fluke" tip... But reading this helps. I had to stay away from this site till I got an acceptance but now I'm enjoying it.

Just a note of hope: this is my third app. cycle and I got into a solid program with 6 years funding/fellowship. I was, like some of the other posts, demoralized by the shock of unfamiliar failure. I just decided it was less painful to keep working at it than it was to wallow. My new and improved strategy was to retake the GRE (the first time I skipped the math section not thinking it mattered which was ludicrous, obviously), retool my statement, and write a new sample. I improved the statement and sample by making them more integrated with eachother and also more conservative. My 1st sample was an old paper on Kafka and Borges which got me on a waitlist but clearly is not right for an ENG application. The second year my sample was on poetics but included Dickinson, Language Poetry, and Twitter: too much pop-culture studies sillyness, which may be ok once you're in a program but isn't good for GETTING in as I found out. This time I wrote on just a single Dickinson poem and threw in some Heidegger and Auerbach. My plan B was to keep working in construction (where I've been for 12 years) while I reapplied, listening to lectures etc. at work on MP3.

Alas I had to retire from all booze and drugs ten years ago: this 2 year application process has been completely clear headed. Pity me.

The poor creatures were probably too cold to type at a reasonable speed and their disertations dragged on therefore...

well, I don't know how many apply, but judging by the amount of information submitted on the results board I'd say relatively few compared to some other top 30 type programs. Their dept is small though with few faculty and few grad students. Phds.org seems to be a good source for such stats: http://graduate-school.phds.org/rankings/english/program/size/rochester/7053

Annnnd it's NYU by a nose!

duke or davis. I'll take davis just to be on the other side of the wager...

I'm listening to the Fry lectures at work today - thanks for the tip.

Robert Dale Parker: How to Interpret Literature: Critical Theory for Literary and Cultural Studies. Concise, clear, up to date survey of contemporary theory. Was very helpful in writing my sample paper.