Current state of English departments & PhDs: traditional vs. interdisciplinary

[nichts]

14 hours ago, youngim said:

Ummm... Yes NRC rankings have been helpful to some extent. I guess I wanted to compare one school's English Department to another school's Comp Lit Department, but maybe they just aren't comparable. If the general reputation gap between the two schools were significant, maybe it wouldn't be so difficult choosing since I feel I would be able to do the research I want in both schools. Again, I feel like I am speculating about the future job market (of whether comp lit and eng lit would be more favorably received??), which may be futile at this point. I have been looking into Asian Universities (I live in East Asia), and I had the impression that an English Degree would be more valuable, but things may not be the same in the States now, or even in six years. In any case, I'll have to dig deeper into each school. 

Oh, okay, I didn't realize you were comparing specific schools. That does change things. @WildeThing definitely has a fair argument against comparative studies, but I've heard much of the same from the other side—English departments are filling more positions with comp lit scholars, how many more specialists in Victorian, modernist, etc. lit do we need—so I'm not sure how useful it is to compare the two. Since there's not much you can do to predict the American job market, as you both mentioned, and the two programs are both reputable and fit your research, I would think visiting the schools would go a long way in helping you make a decision. Is this a possibility for you?

But I understand where you're coming from when it comes to working internationally. My advisor in undergrad (who's pretty cynical about academia) said that if you can't get a tenure-track position, consider teaching in a boarding school in Europe. The pay and quality of life is supposed to be better anyway. They don't care about research and would probably prefer an English degree. For your plan B, C, or D, the distinction between English and comp lit becomes more important, and many of us will be falling back on those options. I'm sure you were already planning on asking your recommenders for advice, but if you can I would contact a few more professors to get a better sense of what your options are.