2019 Applicants

[disidentifications]

5 hours ago, swarthmawr said:

Anyone else see the recent interview posted on the results page for UChicago? Is this one spam too? 

I should think so, since @mandelbulb's friend did call UChicago yesterday, and was told that they were still reviewing applications. (Besides, interview updates for Chicago usually come around 20th Jan, with the talk of doodle polls and other interviewees...) 

15 hours ago, aporeticpoetic said:

Out of curiosity, did anyone else applying to Harvard's PhD in English get an email requesting additional language proficiency information? Not sure what to make of it.

Got that too, but as everyone said, it's probably a universal email. Still, that January 17th deadline for us to update our language proficiency has me wondering if they've actually started going through our files yet, or if they're only going to start on the 17th. (Please, start sooner, so we can be freed from this misery earlier!) 

16 hours ago, pdh12 said:

Comrades!!!!

The dreaded and most desired hour has arrived on this end—-Penn State requested an interview (Comp Lit!) !!!

What Do I Say?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!! please send help! 

 

15 hours ago, dangermouse said:

i got an offer from the university of york in england today (!) - it's slightly less exciting because funding information isn't released until march so it's not really an actual acceptance, BUT it is still a thrill to know that someone read something i wrote and liked it!

Congratulations both!! And best of luck to you, for your interview and funding situation respectively! 

[jusrain]

7 hours ago, flungoutofspace said:

I should think so, since @mandelbulb's friend did call UChicago yesterday, and was told that they were still reviewing applications. (Besides, interview updates for Chicago usually come around 20th Jan, with the talk of doodle polls and other interviewees...) 

Oops, I missed that! I don’t see what anyone gets out of trolling about stuff like this. Thanks for the reassurances. 

[pdh12]

Yea, everything with a grain of salt..but i’m feeling kinda lonesome of the comp lit front..nobody else has any news yet, and all i can think about is all the ways i’m sure to self-sabotage come interview time.

[jadeisokay]

@pdh12 i'm in the same boat. i applied to primarily comp lit and film programs. feeling very in the dark about everything.

[pdh12]

@jadeisokay ooo solidarity!! I’m sure you mentioned earlier in the thread, but which comp lit programs? i’m sure we have some overlap... i’m crossing my fingers especially for umass amherst, and thus far have only heard from penn state. GOOD LUCK!!!

[kvlt.nihilist]

hello, new here.

@pdh12 penn state already came out with interviews?  i literally just submitted my application a few days ago!  although i did apply to the english lit phd, not complit; i'm assuming your deadline was much earlier?  either way, congrats xx

@flungoutofspace @swarthmawr holy crap i was worried as hell about that singular uchicago interview posting lmao... and then i discovered i could just make an account and search through forums for things like that.  i wonder though - who would try to worry people like that?

 

 

[jadeisokay]

@pdh12 best of luck to you as well! i applied to penn and northwestern for comp lit

[FiguresIII]

@pdh12 fellow comp lit person here! applied to harvard, yale, princeton, nyu, duke (literature - i guess it's most like comp lit...)

 

[pdh12]

@FiguresIII wow, what a lineup! how are you feeling with the wait? 

[FiguresIII]

28 minutes ago, pdh12 said:

@FiguresIII wow, what a lineup! how are you feeling with the wait? 

mostly fine haha one day at a time, as they say...

but every hour or two i do get that feeling of standing in an elevator when suddenly it drops ever so slightly

it's nice to have more time for friends, for random activities, and for reading a whole book in one go! like today, I just finished giovanni's room and am still catching my breath

what would you say your areas are? it's less clear to me what the delimited subfields in comp lit are, or whether they translate from english to comp lit (in english i have a good sense of what's there, like poco, ecocrit, performance etc)

Edited January 12, 2019 by FiguresIII

[Musmatatus]

10 minutes ago, FiguresIII said:

it's nice to have more time for friends, for random activities, and for reading a whole book in one go! like today, I just finished giovanni's room and am still catching my breath

I agree...It's so nice to read!! 

[dilby]

I've really been enjoying checking out a dozen art films from the library and then binging Parts Unknown on Netflix instead

[mwils15]

Having time to read really is ~so~ refreshing. We’re expecting about 8 inches of snow in my part of Maryland; I’m currently bundled up on the couch with a cup of coffee and Middlemarch

Edited January 13, 2019 by mwils15

[SomeoneAcceptMe]

Hey everyone, full-time lurker here! I just posted a topic panicking about one of my apps so I thought I might as well introduce myself ?

I graduated last May, this is my first application cycle, and oh my goodness has it been a stressful experience. I'm interested in Modernist and fin-de-siecle literature, really love phenomenology and affect theory! 

What are you guys doing to pass the time and/or ward off endless anxiety?

Edited January 13, 2019 by SomeoneAcceptMe

[savay]

43 minutes ago, dilby said:

I've really been enjoying checking out a dozen art films from the library and then binging Parts Unknown on Netflix instead

The post-Brexit London episode is one of my favorites. There's something really soothing, and somehow hopeful?, about Nigella Lawson making a hungover Tony breakfast. I'm glad that moment exists.

[Bopie5]

25 minutes ago, SomeoneAcceptMe said:

What are you guys doing to pass the time and/or ward off endless anxiety?

I’m an English/Theatre double major and I’m still in undergrad, so theatre stuff is eating up all of my time! For my senior project, I’m directing a piece of devised poetic theatre using poetry by TS Eliot and Anne Sexton as the text, and that is passing the time sooooo quickly. Being in rehearsal every night really makes the days slip by!

Also got a yoga studio membership, and am going to class 3-4 times a week. That helps a lot with self-compassion, relaxation, mindfulness, and also passing the time haha.

[mandelbulb]

30 minutes ago, SomeoneAcceptMe said:

Hey everyone, full-time lurker here! I just posted a topic panicking about one of my apps so I thought I might as well introduce myself ?

I graduated last May, this is my first application cycle, and oh my goodness has it been a stressful experience. I'm interested in Modernist and fin-de-siecle literature, really love phenomenology and affect theory! 

What are you guys doing to pass the time and/or ward off endless anxiety?

welcome to the thread  

i haven't been doing anything in particular. just the same grind as always, which helps normalize the whole thing. work, cooking dinner, cuddling the dog while i watch american gods or the final season of a series of unfortunate events, gathering potentially useful research-y things for the future, sleeping. sometimes i add in dinner with friends or a movie at a theater. i'm old and boring.

[jadeisokay]

nfl playoffs and hockey AND basketball eat up most of my free mental space. hitting the gym 3/4 days a week is doing wonders too for thinking about nothing. i suspect it'll get less helpful as February approaches, though. 

[dilby]

2 hours ago, savay said:

The post-Brexit London episode is one of my favorites. There's something really soothing, and somehow hopeful?, about Nigella Lawson making a hungover Tony breakfast. I'm glad that moment exists.

Agreed, that was a wonderful moment. The whole show has become a sort of melancholy exercise since he passed away, but there's a bittersweet beauty to trying to rewatch with gratitude. He was an amazing person (and a real cinephile, which is also nice).  

2 hours ago, SomeoneAcceptMe said:

What are you guys doing to pass the time and/or ward off endless anxiety?

I've got some reading and viewing lists, but I've been trying to do the thing that feels the least like homework at any given time. So.....a lot of Subnautica. But reading a few plays here and there. :]

Edit: Lol, I forgot I also acted in a friend's feature film. So that took up the entire months of September and October.

Edited January 13, 2019 by dilby
remembering stuff

[kvlt.nihilist]

@jadeisokay dude r u and i the same person? i was just watching the colts v. chiefs playoffs and love hockey lol... i try to hit the gym 3-4 days of the week but usually end up working out nearly every day bc i love sweat and adrenaline

what's everyone been reading?  i've been reading a lot, too, currently finishing up the three-body problem by liu cixin and will move onto some music oral history books.  what are some good book recs y'all have?

EDIT: does anyone use goodreads?  i could really use some friends on there for recs

Edited January 13, 2019 by rxing963

[Musmatatus]

Does anybody else vacillate between thinking that they're definitely going to get into XYZ school and thinking that they're definitely going to get rejected from everywhere? 

I'll catch myself thinking, "I should brush up on Latin before graduate school," and other times I'm like, "Welp. Full-time office job, please don't suck too much or give me back pain from being so sedentary." 

[SomeoneAcceptMe]

1 minute ago, sugilite said:

Does anybody else vacillate between thinking that they're definitely going to get into XYZ school and thinking that they're definitely going to get rejected from everywhere? 

I'll catch myself thinking, "I should brush up on Latin before graduate school," and other times I'm like, "Welp. Full-time office job, please don't suck too much or give me back pain from being so sedentary." 

Oh gosh, I can empathize with this a lot. The other day I was looking at books thinking, "Wow that would be a great source for my resea--oh wait..."

I have more or less come to terms that I'm not going to get in this cycle, but I still can't picture me doing anything in my future outside of academia. 

[sad_diamond]

3 hours ago, SomeoneAcceptMe said:

What are you guys doing to pass the time and/or ward off endless anxiety?

I'm teaching myself Brahms's Ballade op. 10 no. 2 on piano and feeling like a genius

[SomeoneAcceptMe]

1 minute ago, sad_diamond said:

I'm teaching myself Brahms's Ballade op. 10 no. 2 on piano and feeling like a genius

That's infinitely more impressive and productive than what I've been doing ?
 

[dilby]

6 minutes ago, sugilite said:

Does anybody else vacillate between thinking that they're definitely going to get into XYZ school and thinking that they're definitely going to get rejected from everywhere? 

I'll catch myself thinking, "I should brush up on Latin before graduate school," and other times I'm like, "Welp. Full-time office job, please don't suck too much or give me back pain from being so sedentary." 

I think because of how quickly one year in my current job has gone by, it's not so stressful for me to think about the possibility that I'll have to do it again. Being away from academia has certainly given me some confidence that research/teaching is what I want to do, but having a year where I don't owe my free time to anyone but myself has, for the most part, been really lovely.

When my mentors (professors) ask what I'm up to, they sort of envy being able to dive into anything I'm curious about (like, say, reading biographies or Shakespeare plays instead of books that are strictly or even tangentially connected to my research areas). And the time has just blazed by. If any of you find yourself in a similar situation, I think/hope you'll have a similar experience.

A year is no time, and you will keep getting smarter while you're away from school—even if you're not doing something you think is "special" like joining the peace corps or whatever (although that would of course be a wonderful way to spend your time). In fact, when I came back to my thesis to start working on this cycle's writing sample, I was amazed at how much the distance from my writing enabled me to think about my argument differently and reconstruct/strengthen it. If I get shut out this year, I'm almost excited about the possibility that another year of life will make me an even stronger applicant.

I also haven't been able to do any plays since college (where I did 1-2 per semester), so if I don't get in I think I will probably actually audition for some stuff around town this spring/summer rather than thinking I have to set aside all of my mental energy for applications. I know someone who is putting on Cymbeline in June and that one is a blast.