2019 Applicants

[placeinspace]

This is probably a silly question, but do any of you know the wisdom behind December deadlines if the adcom isn't going to start reviewing until after winter break? It's just so interesting to me that some acknowledge that by placing Jan. deadlines, but others want us to wait a whole extra month. 

[Warelin]

@kgras13: A lot of times, it gives the coordinator time to ensure that all components of an application are received and it allows for professors to submit letters later than the application deadline. A lot of departments also print off application materials to distribute to different members of the admissions committee. Having an earlier deadline makes it easier and allows the coordinator more time to get those tasks done on top of their other administrative tasks.

Schools with a January often print application materials as they're received and will still notify you if they notice missing components. Schools with a Febuary deadline may not have the time to notify applicants of missing materials if they submit too close to the deadline.

Personally, I've never understood schools with a Dec 31/Jan 1st deadline. It's unlikely that there's anyone in the office on that day. 

[havemybloodchild]

Only applied to 5 programs last year, 4 PhD and 1 MA.  Got into the MA and waitlisted at top choice PhD...decided to retry this year since the MA I got into (Denver) was only 50% funded and I'd rather not bother with a terminal MA program when I could potentially go straight into a PhD program.  Applied to 19 PhDs this year and 1 fully funded MA (OSU).  I am terrified it's not going to work out this year and I'm going to have to find something else to do with my life.  Also pretty hopeful something will work out!

My areas of interest are very intersectional, focusing on GSWS but also interested in Ethnic lit, especially Chicana lit. Also interested in Disability Poetics.

Wishing everyone here the best of luck!

[placeinspace]

@Warelin That does make sense, thank you! I know it must be a ton of work to keep track of all the applications. I guess the more time they have to get it all straight, the better!

[havemybloodchild]

On 12/11/2018 at 12:09 PM, MetaphysicalDrama said:

Well, I got most of my applications in at the end of November and the first week of December.  I guess can relax now because I've heard from all of the schools that my applications are complete and that everything (letters, test scores, transcripts, sample, statement, and etc.) has been received.  

Area of Interest: Early-modern and medieval literature (Spenser and Arthuriana) 

Schools: Rutgers, NYU, CUNY, Rice, Fordham, Southern Methodist, Houston, North Texas 

Hey, I'm also applying to SMU and I'm just curious what you thought about the optional interview video?  I think I'm going to go ahead and do it but I thought it was a little odd, definitely not a component of any of my other apps.  It's one of those things where I'm like will doing this actually bring something to me application or should I just leave it as is?  Just wanted to commiserate, haha.

[pdh12]

..anyone else feeling the weight of the odds pressing against their soul? i dread coming to notification time barraged by rejection. all that app money for nada!   D;

[placeinspace]

16 minutes ago, pdh12 said:

..anyone else feeling the weight of the odds pressing against their soul? i dread coming to notification time barraged by rejection. all that app money for nada!   D;

Me! I was explaining to my father the average acceptance rates for PhD programs and suddenly realized how slim my chances are. But the app money was worth it for me to at least try- though I say that now, but ask me in a couple months ?

[havemybloodchild]

Absolutely! I'm trying not to think about it but not having much success ?

[WildeThing]

Just need one more letter writer to finish submitting (she has already done most, but some are left). Slowly being left without things to worry about or threads to read. I need some sort of admissions/English PhD stimuli. Last round my first official response came the second week of February. No idea how I will make it.

[pdh12]

yea, that there is no ‘safety’ school in this process feels like a deprivation. 

also, wow! some of you applied to 10+ schools—i’m so curious to know if there are any stats on success rates proportional to number of schools applied to...i applied to too many this time around, and think it might’ve had a watering-down effect (toward the end, i was giving many less Fs than perhaps was requisite). has anyone ever been accepted to more than 5 at a time? must feel cray.

[Warelin]

16 minutes ago, pdh12 said:

also, wow! some of you applied to 10+ schools—i’m so curious to know if there are any stats on success rates proportional to number of schools applied to...i applied to too many this time around, and think it might’ve had a watering-down effect (toward the end, i was giving many less Fs than perhaps was requisite). has anyone ever been accepted to more than 5 at a time? must feel cray.

I applied to more than 10 schools last time and was accepted to more than 5. The first school and the last schools I applied to were among the ones the ones I was accepted into. I think a lot of it depends on how well your passion can shine through and whether they feel the same passion about wanting to work with you over other applicants.

[aporeticpoetic]

Hello to all.

I have been silently reading these threads for a while, so I thought I might as well introduce myself before the coming storm of admission results. I'm finding that--now that all the applications have been submitted--the idea of waiting for two or three months seems impossible and exhausting. At least while composing the necessary documents there was something tangible to throw myself into. Anyone else feel like they oscillate from a sense of complete hopefulness about one's prospects one day to utter dejection the next?

My focus is 20th and 21st century poetics and critical theory. I've applied solely to schools in the Northeast (11 total, and hoping that's enough).

Any way, best of luck to all of you.

[placeinspace]

The waiting seems even worse this week. January is so close yet so far...

[punctilious]

Husband is on break now (woo! first semester down!) so if anyone needs last minute SOP or whatever edits, advice, etc. we are here to help!

[Bopie5]

5 hours ago, aporeticpoetic said:

Anyone else feel like they oscillate from a sense of complete hopefulness about one's prospects one day to utter dejection the next?

This is EXACTLY how I feel. Although I also get the feeling that there's a correlated relationship between how much time has passed since my submissions, and how much worse I feel about myself/my prospects...can't imagine how I'm going to feel in February ?

[Musmatatus]

Hi everyone! I've lurked on/off for a while (as I thought about applying previously), but as I've actually applied this cycle I figured I would introduce myself. I'm  in California and I graduated with my BA earlier this year. I've applied to English PhD programs. 

I'm interested in contemporary ethnic US literatures, trauma studies, memory studies, and visual culture. 

[name-less]

Best of luck to everyone, and may we all have stress-less winter holidays/breaks!

Edited December 19, 2018 by name-less

[Bopie5]

My last LOR writer FINALLY submitted to my last four schools! With that done, all 7 of my apps are officially complete! I've officially, completely done everything in my power to get them in, and it's now totally out of my hands. For now, yay!

[savay]

25 minutes ago, Bopie5 said:

My last LOR writer FINALLY submitted to my last four schools! With that done, all 7 of my apps are officially complete! I've officially, completely done everything in my power to get them in, and it's now totally out of my hands. For now, yay!

Congrats! Having finally finished my apps, I have joined the waiting fun as well. I'm glad there's holiday stuff to distract me for a bit, the wait is hard.

I'm currently finishing up my MA and applying to PhD programs. I work in contemporary Nordic film and literature, queer theory, critical race theory, affect, and translation studies.

[brontebitch]

So, my boyfriend is applying to comp lit programs and missed the deadline for NYU (he was giving his students a final until like 10PM). Anyway, he submitted the application this morning anyway, several hours late. Do they ever read late applications? Should he send an email to the DGS? 

Pretty stupid but I do feel bad for him. If anyone has any thoughts on this or a similar experience, I would love to hear about it.

[placeinspace]

@natalielouise I feel guilt really easily so I personally would email the DGS. However, I was advised by someone recently to not bring attention to anything late due to the craziness around the deadlines- they might not even notice. 

[disidentifications]

A long-time lurker here! I've finally decided to join in the collective panic on this forum to keep me from spiralling alone into an abyss of ceaseless worry. 

A bit about myself: I'll be graduating with a BA in English Literature (w/ minors in Linguistics and European Studies) from a top 20 international research university next year, and I'm currently applying to a mix of Masters programs in the U.K. and PhD programs in the States (GPA 3.82, GPA in subject 3.91, GRE 165V, 160Q, 5.5W). I've already gotten my applications to Brown, Chicago, Columbia, Duke, Princeton, and Penn in, which means there's only Harvard and a couple of other U.K. universities left to go for me.

My research interests are primarily in C20 and C21 British literature, especially in women's life-writing — autobiography/autofiction/autotheory and the likes. As for my secondary interests, they include French feminism, psychoanalysis, and visual culture, though the latter is not something that I've explicitly mentioned in my SoP, just because I haven't had the opportunity to delve into it as much as I'd like at an undergraduate level, and hence also haven't found a way to work in with the rest of my interests. Nonetheless, I always welcome discussions on the topic. My written work deviates slightly from my research interests, since I found it to be my strongest piece of writing, and is a Derridean reading of Ali Smith's How to be Both. It deals with themes of loss, mourning, and memory, and questions how we can remember our dead responsibly. In a similar vein, the honors thesis that I'm currently working on extends the same line of questioning to Virginia Woolf's Jacob's Room and The Waves.

I really should be working on my thesis right now, but instead, application fever's got me checking this forum every other hour, so if anyone would like to nerd out with me about Woolf (to make sure I get my work done), feel free to PM me. Otherwise, best of luck to all of us! 

[The Wordsworthian]

@flungoutofspace Majorly off topic but may I just say that I love the fact that your icon is Carol? 

[disidentifications]

@The Wordsworthian Seeing as it's December, Christmas is always on my mind... And what better carol with which to celebrate Christmas than Carol (2015), the best Christmas film of all time ?

[dilby]

After a few weeks of lurking I think I'll say hello. :]

Finished up applications to a hatful of literary/cinema studies programs last weekend and am now waiting. I graduated with a BA in English about a year and a half ago and am very grateful to have taken a couple of gap years. But also, I'm happy to be getting back into the swing of things. Applying was a blast for me because I've really missed this part of myself.

Anyway, I'll be curious to see if anyone else has done something similar to me. I applied to Stanford Modern Thought and Literature, Duke Literature, Chicago/Wisconsin/Toronto Cinema Studies, UCLA/Penn/Rice English, and the combined PhD in English and Film Studies at Yale.

My undergraduate thesis looked at animation and affect theory as systems for understanding the connection between body and mind. I've pitched myself in statements of purpose as hoping to expand that inquiry to address other media (documentary and experimental film as well as video games, cell phones, etc. depending on the department I'm writing to) as well as a broader array of cinematic and literary theories of subject formation, including film theory post-deleuze, cognitive humanities and ecocriticism.

I love reading about what all of you are interested in. It's fun to be reminded that other people's passions exist far outside my own little bubble. Best of luck to you all and I hope to meet more of you soon. :]