Datatape

I took the test in November last year and the deadline for the school that told me "don't bother" was December 1. The two schools with December 15 deadlines were much more accommodating.

The University of Florida has a very strong (and very competitive) track in Children's Literature. http://www.english.ufl.edu/programs/grad/index_ma_phd.html

This is true, but if you have schools that have an early deadline and you're concerned about your subject scores arriving on time, drop the DGS a line and ask if that's a problem. I had to take the later test last year and emailed three schools; one told me very politely to pound sand, but the other two were both very encouraging and told me that it would be no problem if my scores arrived after the deadline, since it had more to do with the deadline for the graduate school than the English Department.

It is a tight line to walk; you should have a good idea of what general area you want to work in, but not so specific that you come across as someone who already has their dissertation topic picked out and their chapter titles ready to go. Talk about specific authors who you would like to work with, possibly mention a general avenue you might like to research, but don't claim you have a concrete idea that is absolutely what you'll be doing. Similarly to the above, you want to come across as knowledgeable, but not a know-it-all. I think this is actually a good avenue to take: mention your strong background in the Victorian period and explain that you want to expand on it to encompass the entire long 19th century. That way you come across as somebody who already has a good basis in what you want to do, but who is still malleable and has some things to learn.

Short answer: no. Slightly longer answer: hell no. As long as you didn't score in, say, the 8th percentile, your quant score is not going to matter a whit. It's certainly not worth re-studying and re-taking the GRE for. A 148 quant is not going to raise any eyebrows and nobody's going to hold you to a higher standard than that. Focus your energy instead on your SOP and Writing Sample.

I'm two days into orientation and pretty well enjoying both the faculty and my cohort members. That, plus the facts that I am living in a much nicer apartment than in Orlando for which I'm paying less and that I'm rather unexpectedly dating an extremely cute social psych grad student at my uni have me feeling a little bit classy and bubbly.

University of New Mexico, University of Arizona, University of Oklahoma, and University of Nebraska - Lincoln all have very good Native American faculty.

For sure. My cousin sent me a joking message on Facebook asking me to go on a road trip to Seattle with her this weekend. I sent her this in response:

Oh. My. God. So, um, if you guys ever think about driving from Florida to Nevada in four days? Don't. For the love of all that is holy, don't. My mom, my dachshund, and I drove 3,000 miles, leaving Orlando on Saturday morning and getting to Reno on Tuesday afternoon. I am now mostly all settled in, absolutely love my apartment, and am getting the lay of the land. But dear Christ, I probably would have shipped my car if I knew just how that drive was going to be.

I'm leaving town in a week and a half; tomorrow I'm saying goodbye to my ex after one last dinner with him. He was my first love and someone who I still have very strong feelings for, but who ended it amicably with me some time ago (he also would never have been able to come with me and neither one of us would have been good at the long-distance thing). He's been incredibly supportive of me and has encouraged me to no end when applying, and I know I'm going to miss him like crazy. I'm trying to use this as a clean break and to start fresh in a new city and a new state, but every time I think about it, I get choked up. I know once I'm out in Nevada I'll be in a different frame of mind and will have pretty much a whole new dating pool to enter, but the heart wants what it wants. tl;dr:

I had both a similar and dissimilar experience to somethinbruin. The DGS at the school I ended up choosing was very on top of things, gave me data off the top of her head without needing to refer to it back in her office, and had information clearly spelled out. A very strong point in their favor was the fact that in year five, all PhD students go through a series of workshops and mock interviews set up by the department to prepare you for the MLA interviews and the job market; this is one of the reasons Nevada has the stellar placement rate it does - the faculty and administration work extremely hard to get you ready for going out on the market. The only other school I visited had a DGS who did not know the placement rates of his graduates (even when in his office at his computer, which showed me he didn't keep track of it), had only a couple of faculty who did preparatory work for the market with students (one of whom was their newest hire), and nobody was able to tell me where the students who got jobs were going. A well-prepared DGS and faculty who engage with their students on all levels, not just when you're in their class or working for them as a TA or RA, can make an enormous difference in you landing on your feet after you graduate.

I got the apartment I wanted! Everything is falling into place.

Today I put in an application for an absolutely kick-ass, upgraded, enormous apartment two miles from campus with a view of the mountains, that if I get it will be gotten for a steal. Good thoughts, please, as I quietly die waiting for the office to open tomorrow, three timezones behind me.

Texas Tech has a McCarthy specialist in Sara Spurgeon. UNM and Arizona are particularly strong in Native American lit. That's about the extent of my knowledge on those areas, though.

Part of the job of the graduate director is to have that information available. Trust me, you aren't annoying them (and if you are, then that's likely a sign you don't want to go to this particular institution). A good graduate director will be able to rattle off placement rates from the top of her head and know both where her past students went and what kind of position they acquired (Assistant Professor, Instructor, Adjunct, etc.). Now, with that said, if a school provides an up-to-date list on the website, take that as it is and don't bother contacting the grad director. If there is no such list, fire off an email. Explain that you're interested in the program and you were curious as to the placement rates. As always when emailing a DGS, be polite and gracious at all times but don't feel like you're being a pest; this is something that's just part of the job. Graduate directors are expected to be able to deal with incoming questions from potential students all the time.

I'm trying to apartment hunt from 3,000 miles away. It does not help that in Nevada, renters are only required to give 30 days notice, so these complexes won't know until the end of June whether they'll have availability at the end of July. I'm going to be out of town the last week of June and first week of July.

The writing sample should be your best piece of academic writing, whatever that may be. I've heard of people writing a new sample entirely from scratch if they didn't have a piece that lined up with their stated interests in their Statement of Purpose. It can be whatever you make it, though I would recommend if you are going to do a new writing sample, you start it as early as possible and have it finished by around mid-August so you have plenty of time to go back, revise, and tweak it before you start sending your applications out.

I jest, I jest. In actuality, I got the "if you can see yourself doing anything else, do it" speech from a few people and I agree, it's an important threshold that people should pass before they do something like this. And the thing is... I've done other stuff. I worked horrible, dead-end jobs (retail, telemarketing (YES, TELEMARKETING)) until I landed an okay office job that I've held for close to nine years now. And I'm tired of it. I love learning and I love teaching. I made booshitdiddly as an adjunct this past year, but being in the classroom, teaching introductory writing to freshmen, was so completely energizing and invigorating - I never knew I could love a job until I started doing it. After I wiped out in the 2012 cycle, I decided to give adjuncting a shot to see if I enjoyed it, and I more than did: to the point where I'd wake up excited on a day I would teach, even though I'd be driving 50 miles one way to the campus. This cycle, I went all in, both because I knew I couldn't keep up a schedule of two full-time jobs forever and because my office job was starting to devour my soul. I certainly didn't have the awe-inspiring success a number of people on here did (not that I was expecting to get in everywhere - I have a very odd cross-section of interests), but I ended up with two solid options and one dream program, where I will be attending in the fall. I'm about to pack up everything I own, drive nearly 3,000 miles from Florida to Nevada, and move to a city where I know absolutely nobody outside of my grad cohort. And you know what? I can't fucking wait. I'm about seven weeks out from moving day and every day I get more and more excited about doing what I absolutely love. I can't see myself doing anything but working as a professor. My 20s were all about prepping me for this moment and it's a whole new, crazy, busy, stressful, wonderful chapter in my life that I am completely and totally jazzed to start.

It's what I do.

The bastards. You're getting out juuuuust in time, TJG.

I don't know, I might have to see said picture to judge.

I found the Princeton Review's Cracking the GRE Literature Subject Test very helpful. It breaks down stuff you should know backwards and forwards, stuff you should be able to reference, and things you should review if you have the time. As a 19th/20th Century Americanist, I found it immensely helpful to get in tune with the Brit Lit that comprised the majority of the test. Obviously, no book can perfectly prepare you for something like this, but there were at least twenty questions on the test I was able to nail because I studied it. With that said, if you have other things going on (finishing up classes, writing your thesis), this should be the absolute last thing you worry about. The subject test is unquestionably the absolute least important aspect of your overall application and should be treated as such. Do some studying for it when you have the time, take it, get it over with, and then move on with your life.

I got a 570, which was the 56th percentile. I got into three schools, but none of them required the subject test. Of the schools that did require the subject test, I was waitlisted at one of them and denied outright at the other four. I think a 620 should be enough; it's unlikely you'll significantly increase it by taking the test again and your time would be far better spent working on your SOP and writing sample than trying to slog through Paradise Lost (yes, I'm still bitter that I was told there are always questions on that book, I read it cover to cover, and there wasn't a damn question on it for the entire test).

Katia: The University of Delaware has a large strength in print and material culture (if I'm not mistaken, you may be able to get a graduate certificate in it) and they have a Center for Material Culture Studies. They're one of those schools that rarely take external M.A.s (you may have to indicate that you'd be willing to take an M.A. before proceeding to the Ph.D.), but they fund all their M.A.s with a pretty good stipend. They could definitely be worth a look.