Hi there,
I've just got a few questions! First, here's a bit about me:
I'm a current MFA Fiction student and Promising Scholar at a top ten Creative Writing program (4.0gpa) who also has an MA in English from UVA where I was a teaching fellow (3.93 gpa). I'm a bit torn as to whether to apply to PhD programs this year because I might be in line for additional funded year at my current program (which I'd be nuts to turn down), but I really want to be able to keep my options open and I do hope to get a PhD post-MFA whatever happens. I'm an international student from the UK so there are a couple of issues around my staying in the country etc. and I basically just want to be sure I get my ducks in a row! My interests are: early and 20th Century American, Anglophone Caribbean and, to a lesser degree, Narrative Theory and the theories behind creative production. In addition to researching programs that have strong reputations in these areas, I'm also keen to apply to departments that have active creative writing communities. To that end, the two programs I'm most interested in are at UPenn and NYU. I know how competitive these programs are and I'm very nervous about applying but they seem like they'd be the best fit for me, and I'm happy to apply only to a handful this year, just to test the water. I have tenuous ties with UPenn ( I gave a paper at a conference in the McNeil Center for Early American Studies in 2009), and took a year of graduate courses there during my time as an undergraduate exchange student forever ago!
So these are my problems and I'd really appreciate any kind of advice you could give me!
I haven't been able to get in touch with my thesis supervisor at UVA, although she'd be the best recommender. I sent her an email in June and she hasn't replied. Should I badger her?! If I can't get a rec from her, will it look odd? There's a possibility I could ask another prof at UVA but she already wrote me a rec for my MFA so I feel a little bit pushy asking for another. Is it rude to do that? If all else fails on the UVA letter of recommendation front, do you think it will look strange if my letters come from my MFA Fiction professors? The dreaded GRE. I really didn't revise at all and scored a 600 verbal on the old test. My math score isn't worth repeating. A 600 seems totally inadequate and I'm terrible at standardized testing, but I've already been to grad school. TWICE! And my undergraduate degree (in the British system) was exclusively in literature. I now have somewhere in the region of 8 years of literature/writing classes... Take the stupid thing again or push my luck? I hate the GRE!!!!
Thank you all so much for being so helpful!
