margarethale

this has absolutely nothing to do with the 2013 application season, but i just wanted to say that i am in constant awe of people who can plan a family and having kids alongside applying for grad courses. when i applied, the only thing i had to worry about was finding someone who could occasionally cover my bartending shifts. kudos and congratulations!

step #1) make dr. who references step #2) befriend the people who get them

I'm too excited about the fact that this is the last Monday that I'll ever have to work at my awful, awful job to be nervous about school. I'm sure that'll all change this time next week though...

1) There's really no way to figure out this information without just asking the DGS at your respective schools. That being said, it doesn't really matter how many spots are open for which specialities. You should apply to the schools that have the best fit for you regardless of how many spots they may have open. The thing is, most PhD programs only have around 5-15 spots for a cohort in total. Chances are there are only 1 or 2 spots for each specialty with a cohort of that size. 2) The best way to tell which programs are strongest in which specialty is to spend some time researching. There's no cheat sheet or master list and no easy way around doing good, solid research on which programs you think you might fit into best. If you're pursuing your PhD, you're going to be spending at least 5 years of your life at the institution you attend. Personally, I was only comfortable making that commitment after conducting some thorough investigations into a number of different programs. If you are looking for a jumping off point as far as rankings/specialty strength goes, then try: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/english-rankings Here you can scroll through specialties and see which programs are statistically ranked better. Bear in mind that these were ranked in 2009. 3) Be as specific as possible when looking for professors that you could possibly work with. I would be more specific than "Oh look! I like 20th century American lit and this guy teaches it! ACADEMIC SOUL MATES 4 LYFE!!!" Of course you'll be able to find someone who teaches the period of literature in which you are interested. Be as specific as possible. If you're interested in 19th century Postcolonial Literature with an emphasis on Caribbean narratives, then find someone who teaches that above finding someone who just teaches the time period. Getting into grad school is not nearly as important as getting in somewhere that is a good fit for your individual interests. You don't want to spend 5 years getting a degree in something that you're not passionate about or that isn't a good fit for you, so find somewhere that is as specific to your specialty as possible. As far as how many professors should you look for that fit your specialty: at least two. If there's one professor that you have your heart set on working with and you only mention that one person in your applications, then you're putting yourself at a risk. That professor may be retiring or going on sabbatical. Try to have at least one backup.

i have to take everything with me (including Harry Potter). i just don't know how i'd part with any of my favorite characters. fortunately, there are always bookshelves for cheap on Craigslist

Moving August 18th for a PhD in English Lit that starts Aug 29 but I'm giving my two weeks this Friday (can't wait!) so that I have some time to travel/live the summer life that I miss so much from undergrad.

I agree with Revo (but I also use it so... yeah). I feel like showing which schools you've applied to and gotten accepted/rejected from can be helpful to other applicants. When I first learned about gradcafe, I appreciated knowing which members had been accepted to the schools that I was interested in so I could PM them and get to know more about what it takes to get in to certain programs. Now that I've been accepted to a grad school and know where I'm going, it's nice to be able to know who's going where based on the signatures so that I can get to know my cohort better. I also get PMs occasionally from other forum members just starting to apply asking me about my program and how I ended up choosing that particular school. I just feel like it's a good way to signal to other gradcafe-ers where your interests lie and help out fellow members who are interested in learning more about specific programs.

I was in the exact same boat last year. I had every professor telling me that I was certain to get into an amazing program. Then I applied to what I thought was a great list of programs that were perfect fits for me and I got into exactly none of them. I was seriously depressed for months. I felt worthless and stupid and I thought I was a bad student (I had never had any of these feelings before). After a whole summer of feeling awful about myself and my future, I got back on the proverbial horse and reapplied myself to polishing my statement of purpose and my writing sample. When I applied again last fall, I was more confident and ended up getting into some really great programs. The biggest help for me when I was reapplying was remembering that not getting in the first time did not mean that I was worthless or dumb; it just meant that (as you pointed out) the acceptance rates at these places are insane and that I hadn't shown the best possible reflection of myself as I should have. Don't worry about your chances, just worry about putting together an application that you can be proud of and you think is a good reflection of your abilities.

honestly, it totally varies from school to school. I had a number of acceptances via phone and a few via email. All of my rejections though were via email. I would say that if you get a phone call from an area code that's from your school's city, you're probably in. If you get an email it could honestly be good or bad news. It just depends on the school. Best of luck in your applications this season!

As much as I'd love to devote my summer to reading for pleasure, now that I've got my reading list for fall, I'm trying to tackle as much as humanly possible before September. Re-reading: The Mill on the Floss, Our Mutual Friend, Mrs. Dalloway Plan to Read: The Satanic Verses

yeah... if you do a quick search of UVa's website http://www.engl.virg.../applicants/aid the "bloodbath" gets disproved immediately "All students admitted for doctoral study in English at the University of Virginia receive a financial package of $20,000 (combining fellowship support and, after the first year, wages for teaching) in addition to full tuition remission and health care coverage. This package runs five years (four years for MA transfers, who enter our program as second-year PhD students)."

Just wanted to chime in with pinkrobot and say that not having an MA is totally fine when applying to grad school. I was accepted without an MA and I know plenty of people from my undergrad who went on immediately to get PhDs in English Lit in fantastic programs including Ivy League institutions. It's definitely not a "must have" by any means. Like pinkrobot said, some schools set aside a certain number of spots just for students applying fresh out of undergrad. There's no need to worry at this point.

I am by no means a Mac-hater. I love my MacBook Pro and I've been very very happy with it. That being said... The new Retina Display Macbook Pro is a TERRIBLE investment for grad students. this thing is nearly impossible to repair. even if you want to do something simple like just replace your battery (I've owned a MacBook pro for about 5 years and I've had to replace my battery twice), you can't do it yourself because it's freaking glued to the case. This means that every time you need to do a simple battery repair, you have to mail your laptop to Apple every so often for a $200 replacement (to replace the battery myself it cost me $50 for the battery on my current MacBook and all I had to do was take the old one out by hand and snap a new one in). Also, the Retina MacBook has a fixed storage capacity. As a grad student about to start a 5 year program, I would be very uncomfortable investing in a laptop that doesn't have expandable storage options. Pretty much all you need to read to convince you that this is a terrible buy for a grad student can be found here: http://ifixit.org/27...able-untenable/ http://www.ifixit.co.../1#.T9uAXCtYv2U This computer is a ticking time bomb of problems that will cost you more than most grad school stipends will comfortably cover in the long run. Personally, my grad stipend can't afford the extra $200 expense every time I need to do a simple battery repair. This is a terrible investment for grad students who should be thinking about buying a laptop that will last instead of a laptop that will make YouTube videos look prettier.

Would it be possible for you to get a recommendation from the school that you transferred from? If you built a good relationship with the faculty at your original institution, then it would absolutely be appropriate for you to ask them for a letter - especially since your transcripts will show that you were a transfer student. From what my past professors have told me - important. I applied during the 2011 season with a statement of purpose that didn't match my writing sample and I didn't get into a single program. This season, I really worked on fine tuning my SoP and my writing sample and made sure that the one reflected the other. I was much more successful this go around. From what my professors told me, having a SoP that reflects your writing sample makes your application as a whole look more cohesive (which makes you look like a more appealing applicant). Given how competitive graduate literature studies is (most programs in the top 50 have between 2-4% acceptance rates), if there is something that you think could help you get accepted, you should do it if you're serious about going to graduate school. This is most definitely the time to go the extra mile.

bfat - I would seriously not worry about your scores if you're getting around the 89th percentile. I scored in the 90th percentile and I got a number of acceptances with full funding/stipends/TA positions. Also, don't worry about the GRELit subject test. I definitely bombed that exam (bomb as in I scored closer to the 50th percentile) and no one cared. Most places that I applied don't even ask for it. If you haven't done so already, maybe getting a GRE study book would help you out. Go for ETS's book over Kaplan (which sucks). If you're really concerned about getting your scores up, there are always avenues that you can explore from tutoring to online services, etc. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it. I didn't even have my MA degree (I only have my BA) and I got in with very similar scores. Instead of putting energy into your GRE, focus more on your writing sample and SOP, both of which carry more weight for admissions committees than your GRE score. I hope this helps to put your mind at ease a bit but regardless I'm sending positive vibes your way!