Lycidas

Congrats on your acceptance! My suggestion is to browse It's full of theory reading recommendations from people with various subject backgrounds, and will likely be very useful for you.

I agree with this, but I do want to point out that the Boulder program is two years, so it's a total of $32,000 in tuition (although there is the one semester TA, so that would make things a bit cheaper). Still significantly less than $45,000, so I don't think it contradicts your point at all. Although, if your end goal is to teach at a community college and if you don't mind going through another application season, I think attempting to get into some funded MAs might be a worthwhile decision as well; somebody who knows more about MAs and community college teaching could probably give you better advice there, though.

No thread has made me run out of upvotes more quickly than this one. Congratulations everyone!

Point taken; I think this is fair. Money is a serious issue for me, but that's no excuse since I can apply for fee waivers. I'll look around for some other schools to possibly apply to. I've actually spent some time looking for mid-tier schools with faculty who have interests close to mine, and it's been a struggle. The only one I've found is UI-Chicago, and their website states pretty explicitly that only those with an MA should bother applying. So it's back to googling/talking with my professors.

Berkeley requires the subject test, as far as I know. And part of me (the masochistic part) just wants to take it to see how well, or poorly, I can do. There's absolutely no way I can read everything on those lists either, although I've been lucky enough to already read a sizeable chunk of it (unfortunately that means I'm woefully unread in non-canonical works. Posters here are constantly discussing works I haven't even heard of, much less read). There are other ways to study for the lit GRE that are much more streamlined and effective than trying to read everything off of those lists. I agree with your last sentence. Provided you can afford the test fee, there really is nothing to lose in taking it. The worst case scenario is you do terribly, and then go right back to preparing for graduate school and applying. The number of people who have gotten into graduate school with low subject test scores is huge.

Do you have any ideas so far on how you will go about that? I'm interested in something similar (not directly pertaining to any program) but I don't really what the best way to go about gaining reading competency in multiple languages at once may be. Also, do you mind if I ask what languages you are looking to acquire?

Might as well check myself in to this thread. I'll be a senior undergraduate this fall, and I plan on applying to only two schools. After posting on gradcafe for a little while (and lurking much longer than that) I've realized that many, many people tend to do better after getting a first round of applications under their belt. I hadn't originally planned on applying at all this year, and waiting instead until next year to do a full round of applications, but after seeing this phenomenon occur over and over again, I decided it'd be a good idea to do a mini-round of applications my senior year. I kept it to only my top-2 programs in order to avoid excess stress, since I will also be finalizing my thesis, working, and taking classes at the same time. I view this fall as a way to test the waters a bit; I have no high hopes of getting into either school on my first attempt. Next year I will expand my list greatly and include masters programs as well. In the meantime I've been reading like mad in preparation for the subject test and studying for the general test as well. Awesome recommendations in here from everyone about GRE studying, thanks for that. I also downloaded reading lists here and here that I have been working on. The latter one is particularly recommended to all subject test takers; it's been very helpful for me thus far.

I'm not sure that as long as the university system exists it can be possible to not have some sort of canon. We can of course point out the tremendous amount of flaws with the traditional canon and emphasize to students that the works taught in courses shouldn't be thought of as "canonical" in the traditional sense, but that can't entirely undo the weight of authority that comes with teaching works in a college classroom. One can only teach an undergraduate English major so many works of literature over the span of roughly 4 years, and it's inevitable that many students will come away with the impression that the works they were given were the most important and most worth studying; why else would professors choose them? Thus the works that they saw on a syllabus during their undergraduate education become, for all practical purposes, their "canon." I realize, of course, that undergraduate education is not the only area in which canon discussions are important, but it is a significant one. I voted for the revised canon, again with undergraduate education in mind. If we can't avoid teaching them a canon of some sort, we should attempt to teach them the most equitable one possible, although that obviously is much, much more easily said than done. The sad reality of budget and curriculum constraints is that there will almost always have to be exclusions of some sort.

It's definitely doable. I've had friends who served a year in Americorps and lived in Minneapolis on about $11,000, although that got be rather difficult. Not only is the housing affordable, as noted, but public transportation is very cheap. U of M students can get a Upass for only $97 a semester, which covers unlimited bus and light rail rides (check it out here) and that will be even more helpful with the opening of a second light rail line in 2014. In my opinion this makes it possible to live in Minneapolis without a car, although there are others that disagree with me (largely due to the winters being dreadfully cold, and this making public transportation less appealing). But if you can manage without a car, your cost of living can be very low in the Twin Cities

On the surface of things, it definitely sounds like going to CUNY is the better choice. It's a really good program, as most everyone in thread has noted. But (and I say this with no knowledge of your personal situation, so of course take it with a giant grain of salt) are you possibly posing the question to yourself because you have doubts about your fit at CUNY? CUNY is a great program, but if you don't think you could fit there very well, then reapplying would not be a terrible decision. But if you do think it's a good fit for you, then I think it'd be rash to pass it up. I'd be pretty pumped to have a P.hD from CUNY myself

This is a constant worry of mine. My undergraduate school is a mid-ranked PLAC that isn't widely known outside the midwest (or even the upper midwest), and I imagine that it'll be a weak point in my application, especially since I'd like to apply to several prestigious programs. I have seen many qualified applicants from my undergrad get across-the-board denials by MA programs with what I felt to be stellar applications. Obviously every application is different, and there are too many unknown variables (fit, mainly, and the fact that I haven't seen many applications from students outside of my undergraduate institution) to chalk their denials up to a lack of undergraduate prestige, but it's worrisome nonetheless. I realize that there isn't anything I can do about it now, and I do like my undergraduate school, but I kick myself everyday for not being less of a screw-up in high school and getting into a more prestigious undergraduate school.

Not to sound overly pessimistic, but it will likely be extremely difficult to find many universities that offer summer courses with financial aid to international students who aren't seeking a degree from that university (which I assume you wouldn't be). Financial aid for international students is generally available at most major schools here, but the catch is that they are generally only willing to provide it to degree-seeking, matriculated students. If you plan on only taking some summer courses, it's unlikely that they'd be willing to give you much aid. I know this isn't nearly the equivalent, but you could take some summer courses via a distance learning program. The University of Georgia used to have a terrific one, but unfortunately it recently closed. There are many other US schools that offer distance learning, however. It obviously won't have anywhere near the same benefits as coming over to the US and taking classroom style courses would, but it could allow you to study another language (many people, including myself, use distance learning courses to study a classical language) which could boost your application. And you don't need to be a matriculated student to attend. Sorry, I know this isn't the most helpful of posts. Perhaps someone else here with more knowledge of summer school options for international students can be more helpful. But in all honesty, I see funding opportunities being few and far between

Sheer insanity. William Empson dedicated the entire last chapter of Some Versions of Pastoral to a discussion of Alice back in 1935, and that's now a canonical piece of criticism. As Empson says, children's literature produced by an adult mind is rarely intended solely for children

I know I missed Valentine's Day, but I'd like to send all of those awaiting acceptance news some cheery Puritan valentines. (also, let me say, compared to other message boards I post on, gradcafe has by far the easiest method of inserting images into a post):

Just started in on The World Turned Upside Down by Christopher Hill. Who would've known so many people could manage to hate a group called "The Family of Love"?

Gravity's Rainbow is very different from The Crying of Lot 49. More digressive, a much larger cast of characters and settings, some extensive detail of the physics and engineering behind the V2 rocket. That said, I thought it was a pretty enjoyable read. But maybe I'm a glutton for punishment. Worst case scenario, you will at least enjoy the opening paragraph. I consider it to be close to the Moby Dick class of spectacular opening paragraphs

Congratulations! You can probably safely remove that first line of your signature now!

Generally speaking, sooner rather than later. If you're looking at living in the Twin Cities area, now would be a good time to start looking for housing. Many places may not know their exact availability yet (assuming you won't be moving in until fall semester starts) but they can put you on a wait list, which is probably a good idea. These wait lists generally fill up quick, especially in housing around the University. So you want to get on one early to have the best shot at getting good housing.

This is a wonderful typo/Freudian slip Congrats to everyone in this thread on your acceptances!

If you like the fit at the U of M the best OP, definitely go for the U of M. It's a well-regarded school, and in general it's much better to attend a well-respected school where you have a great fit rather than an elite school where you might not fit very well. I have no doubt that people are coming out of the U's program and getting good jobs. Also, being from the Twin Cities, I can second everyone else's comments about Minneapolis/St. Paul being a great metro area. If you don't mind cold that is.

Absolutely loving seeing so many people get acceptances thus far. It's not only really encouraging for someone who still has another year before applying, but also a great look into what the emotional roller-coaster will be like (although I'm sure I can't really imagine it until I'm actually there)

Currently reading Raymond Williams' The Country and the City and Sarah Vowell's The Wordy Shipmates (just for the fun of it). On tap after the Williams is Peter Burke's book in the Italian Renaissance. Also digging through some of Sidney's Arcadia(s) and Spenser's pastoral works on the side

Mine, like most's, is influenced by my field: Karl Marx Samuel Johnson William Empson Stephen Greenblatt

Not to drag politics into things, or to point to any one politician in particular, but I feel that the way the US political scene shakes out over the next few years will have a big impact on professorships, especially for people in the humanities. There is a growing movement that says something along the lines of "if your degree won't make you a lot of money, don't get it." Proposals such as only offering federal financial aid to students with "marketable" degrees could really threaten humanities departments at public schools. Not to mention proposals to do things like shut down the National Endowment for the Humanities entirely. That would be a blow to private and public humanities departments alike.

For your potential proposals of study, try and imagine/plot out where they would take you during your actual Master's study (I'm assuming that you're applying mostly to programs which require a written thesis). It's absolutely true that you may very well change the direction of your project one or more times during your study, but nonetheless imagine the course these projects may take can be helpful: do you see yourself being able to build on the scholarship of others? do you see yourself being able to generate a thesis-length work on that topic? or being unable to constrain yourself to an appropriate length, or not being able to achieve the depth required of a thesis? All of these things can be helpful to think about. A proposal to study the liminality within the plays would likely not be too narrow, imo. Having research interests that are similar to a potential advisor will never hurt your application, this is for sure. However, two minor cautions: first, be careful not to tailor your proposal so much that you lose your own passion for it. This will only hurt you in the long run. Second, there is such a thing as being too close to your potential advisor's research interests. This is largely dependent on the advisor, but it does happen that if the subject is too close and the advisor too involved, the project can end up becoming more of the advisor's than the student's.