ivandub

Same thing happened to me as TDazzle -- ended up being made an offer by Romance Studies, and yeah they told me they only admit 2 people a year to Comp Lit. I still haven't made a decision but I will most likely accept the offer, even though I applied to Comp Lit and have received Comp Lit offers from elsewhere. Romance Studies is still a good enough fit for me, especially given that, as TDazzle says, they're quite open to more comparative work. And the draw of Cornell in general is pretty strong. Out of curiosity, which program did you choose over Cornell, TDazzle?

Thanks, and congrats to you too. I've received one other offer, from Romance Studies at Cornell. I originally applied to Comp Lit there but was instead accepted by Romance Studies. Assuming these are the only two offers I get, it'll be a difficult decision -- there are various advantages to Cornell, but I do have some uncertainty about being defined in that narrower disciplinary area, even though it's true that the Cornell program is quite open and I would be free to take classes in various departments. My two foreign languages are both romance languages, so in that way it makes sense... but I had also anticipated working on Anglophone literature as well. Anyway, it's exciting to have two great offers. I also applied to Duke, Yale and NYU - interviewed with Duke, no news from the other two.

me too!

Just had my interview. Was way friendlier and more relaxed than the Duke one, and I definitely did better as a result. I was interviewed by Bennington, Robbins, Reed, and Quiroga. They say I should hear something within about ten days. Good luck Margarethe and to anyone else being interviewed!

Thanks for those comments, Bennett. Your last point definitely gives me hope!

Yep, next Tuesday for me

No there was no info given about visiting, just Skype - maybe they've canceled the visiting weekend part of the process in recent years. The most frustrating thing about my interview was that they were slow in setting up and I lost five minutes, and they didn't give me extra time at the end to compensate, meaning that I only got 15 rather than 20 minutes. Obviously it's a bunch of very famous people in a room interviewing you and that can be a bit scary, but they're perfectly straightforward, if a bit stiff in their demeanour. They basically just asked me about the various things I brought up in my statement of purpose. I was a bit unprepared for some of the questions which was really my own fault for not preparing properly. I was a bit surprised and disappointed they didn't say anything about my writing sample, especially as I felt some of the critical things they asked about my project were actually answered more articulately in the writing sample itself than in what I was able to say in response to them. There was supposed to be time for me to ask questions about the program but I guess owing to the lost time that didn't happen. The whole thing was a bit awkward, Katherine Hayles particularly who runs the interviews I found hard to interact with... basically you just need to be confident about yourself and your work and you'll do well; but be prepared to have to answer challenging/critical questions

I'm not certain, but I think based on what I've heard about previous years that they generally interview everyone on their short-list -- so in other words, if you weren't already invited for an interview, that probably means a rejection. Note that this only applies to the Literature program, I don't think English does interviews at all. Others might be able to give more information but I'm afraid I think that might be the case. I just did my interview. Is there anyone else on here who's had one today or is doing one later in the week? How did people think they went? I wasn't too happy with how I did but it's not easy to tell I guess

I've read one White novel, which I loved (The Vivisector), but no it's not anything I've read or studied seriously. I'm in a critical theory MA program, and in some ways my interests now are more in philosophy than literature (though my undergraduate degree was in English); my plan for a PhD is to find a comparative literature program that is somewhat interdisciplinary and with strengths in European philosophy. I guess basically I'm interested in theoretical questions of modernity and modernism seen with regard to the development of modernist forms in the novel and in cinema. So I'm in a different situation from you, my sense of what I want to do in a PhD remains rather too broad.

As someone from Australia, I can tell you -- if you're approaching your work with enough seriousness to be a competitive applicant at US schools, then you will easily get a scholarship at whatever Australian university you apply to. The difference in levels of competitiveness is enormous. Basically if you have around an A average in the final two years of your undergrad, you'll almost certainly get a scholarship. GREs and even writing samples don't happen here. Having a publication can help too -- but, if you've already done an MA, you must have plenty of material that could find publication in a graduate student journal or something. From what I can gather I think roughly 50% of applicants at my university (one of the top handful in the country) receive scholarships... Compare that with any English PhD program in the US. I would however agree with vosemdesyatvosem that you would probably be better off finding an English program in the US with some good people working in British modernism and postcolonial literature, and maybe try to spend 6 months at an Australian university while you're writing your dissertation.

what school did you end up choosing, takethiswaltz?

Yeah, waitlisted too. I've become a bit disenchanted with the whole thing, but having been rejected from the only other school I applied to, I might as well keep my hand in and see what happens.

Do we think that those of us who haven't heard yet should assume rejection? Or maybe waitlisting at best

ugh, that's a lot more waiting than i'd been anticipating... anyway, congrats to takethiswaltz!

You might also find that you're able to take classes and work with faculty in the English and French/German departments at Hopkins, which might work to overcome some of the deficiency in modernist lit people. I expect there'd be a number of strong people in literary modernism in those departments, though I don't know about them in any detail