Hello everyone!
I'm a re-applicant this year as well. A few of my application materials last year were not quite up to snuff, I didn't apply broadly enough, and I shot a little too high (2/5 applications were to PhD programs and I don't have an MA). So, I'm trying my hand again, and am currently in the process of developing a new writing sample, overhauling my personal statement with the help of one of my old profs, and finalizing my school choices.
Most of my work is concerned with feminist approaches to film, and I take particular interst in performance (as in performance within the film, such as the Club Silencio sequence of Mulholland Dr., or any of the balletic sequences of Black Swan, etc), the spectacle, genre-bending/mixing, nostalgia, star personas, the horror genre, the gangster genre, musicals, the grotesque, and on and on and on. There's really no end to what can grab my interest, but overall, I'm fascinated by how different aspects of film inform and interact with questions of gender/femininity/mascuinity/etc.
I know I am for sure applying to the film programs at UW-Madison [i nearly made it last year, they had 4 spots and I was ranked 5 or 6 ], NYU, and UC-Berkeley, and I'm applying for an MA in English at MSU (where I did my undergrad) as a back-up. I hope to make decisions on the rest of my potential schools by the end of this weekend. Such a trying process, amirite!? I'm really praying for UW, NYU, or UC-B, but based on last year I'm not going to put my eggs in so few baskets again haha.
If anybody knows of schools/programs that are particularly invested in feminist approaches to film, I'd love to hear about them! Looking for programs has been such a wild ride that I'm 100% sure I've overlooked programs that would be a great fit for me.
So who's applying where this year?