2019 Applicants

[The Wordsworthian]

Hello all, 

Glad to have stumbled upon this thread in my latest bout of graduate school anxiety.  I hail from the Northeast, and am currently in the process of applying to English graduate school!  I am applying to two MA and eight PhD programs (rest in peace to my bank account).  I will graduate this May with my BA in English with Honors.  My GPA (4.0 in major, 3.899 cumulative) and research experience are both in good shape, but I am not a great standardized test taker, and am therefore retaking the GRE General Test to bump my score up to a more competitive range in early November.  I've been working on my writing sample since May, and it is pretty much where I want it to be.  Still wrestling with the SoP, grrr!

My research interests include: the elegy, the pastoral, poetry and poetics, Romanticism, ecocriticism, the Bible as Literature, contemporary poetry, prosody, and queer literature.

Schools I am applying to: Brown, Cornell, UPenn, UConn, University of Washington, University of Michigan, Penn State, UC Boulder, Vanderbilt, and UVA.  

Good luck to all as you wrap up your application processes!

[GlacierPoint]

A professor just told me that I should call myself a late 19th century Americanist instead of a 20th century Americanist since I'm mainly interested in the writers around the turn of the century. 19th c is a better fit for my interests and reflects the kind of writing that I'm interested in but I'd feel like a sham classifying myself as one while applying.

Just had to drop a program from my list that I was interested in after being warned against it by three different people so took the opportunity to do a cull of my list. Now I'm internally freaking out about going from 7 PhD programs + 2 MA programs to 4 PhD programs + 3 MA programs. But I haven't had the opportunity to search for 19th century American lit programs yet so that might give me some more to put on my list.

 

[Matthew3957]

[Start] Rant:

Gah! Just realized that like half my schools have different requirements for the SOP. With Rice it seems to be just 2 pages. While mine is solidly 1k words atm. Where as with UCSC, UCSB, UC Davis, and UMich I need a personal history and diversity statement. Luckily my WS are all set because I wrote them both for classes not two months back

On top of that the Uni that I am getting my master's at needs me to translate my transcript to English and then they will print it and make it official..... 

Also wondering if I need to bother with my transcripts for the year I spent at a different university as an undergrad or if just my final undergrad transcript and my master transcript are enough. I figure they are because they honestly give no fucks about the year I spent right out of high school taking GE requirements.

This process is irritating. I am solidly at 9 schools now with like 3 I am still considering, but probably won't apply to.

[/ End] Rant

[jrockford27]

2 hours ago, Matthew3957 said:

 

This process is irritating. 

 

If you think it's bad now, just wait 'til you get on the job market, where there are twice as many documents required and they're twice as long, and everyone still wants them a slightly different way!

A piece of advice to save frustration: nobody will ever be upset that you didn't use every word/character allotted to you (this is actually true of pretty much everything in academia). If coming up short on length on some of them because of a lack of uniform standards saves you some aggravation just roll with it.

Also, and this may sort of cut against the above: include the transcript of every institution of higher education where you earned credits toward a degree. If it's on your CV, you should include transcripts.

[lyonel_]

4 hours ago, Matthew3957 said:

With Rice it seems to be just 2 pages. While mine is solidly 1k words atm.

Luckily, in the Rice application portal, there is a section to type out your research interests, fit, etc. with an additional attachment location for your SOP file. So there's ways to navigate this short page limit (which I'm still figuring out how to do) without omitting some of the content in your SOP! 

Edited November 1, 2018 by lyonel_

[placeinspace]

I agree about how different they all are- one of my schools wants 1,400 words and another wants 500. It'll take more time to revise than it did to write it in the first place!

[GlacierPoint]

I haven't started on my SOPs yet, oops. My plan is to write an outline then use that as a template so I don't have to mess with it too much to get it to work with length requirements. Hopefully it'll prevent me from sending the wrong SOP to the wrong school.

[Indecisive Poet]

14 hours ago, lyonel_ said:

Luckily, in the Rice application portal, there is a section to type out your research interests, fit, etc. with an additional attachment location for your SOP file. So there's ways to navigate this short page limit (which I'm still figuring out how to do) without omitting some of the content in your SOP! 

I'm looking at Rice for next application cycle -- this is interesting! Do you think this is reason to edit the Rice SoP to not include the same things about fit, interests, etc. that are in the other statements? I'm thinking about advice I've received to not discuss in the SoP what's already obvious elsewhere in your application (ie grades, stuff on CV). Or do you think the space in the application portal is an area to expand on research interests mentioned but not gone into depth on in the SoP? It seems there would inevitably be overlap even in this case, though.

[placeinspace]

Now that I'm actually filling out applications, I'm finding it relatively painless. No different than applying to jobs, and far less stressful than applying for teaching positions. Now I'll have more time to stress out about finalizing my SOP, I guess! ?

[lyonel_]

On 11/2/2018 at 2:57 AM, Indecisive Poet said:

I'm looking at Rice for next application cycle -- this is interesting! Do you think this is reason to edit the Rice SoP to not include the same things about fit, interests, etc. that are in the other statements? I'm thinking about advice I've received to not discuss in the SoP what's already obvious elsewhere in your application (ie grades, stuff on CV). Or do you think the space in the application portal is an area to expand on research interests mentioned but not gone into depth on in the SoP? It seems there would inevitably be overlap even in this case, though.

To your first question, no. It's just that Rice has a 2 page (double-spaced) maximum, so there's not a lot of wiggle room with the SOP file. I believe they are doing this to see if applicants can discuss research interests concisely. While the space to elaborate further is where I'm just going to include the few finer points I had to leave out in the file. And, yeah, there's going to be, and I think there should be, some overlap. For the SOP file, I'm basically just going to synthesize my intro paragraph and the more in depth research paragraphs, while still keeping the paragraphs in their respective place (just reducing length). After this, I will then expand on my research and include anything I may have had to omit from original SOP in the space they give you. This is the initial plan, but we'll see how it turns out when I decide to do it next weekend. 

Edited November 3, 2018 by lyonel_

[Matthew3957]

@lyonel_ Yea that is a good point and more or less what I plan to do as well. I noted those when I put my information into the application, but had not thought about it after seeing the different requirements between the schools.

I am just taking it one application at a time.

[GlacierPoint]

I was looking through faculty pages to identify professors that I'd like to work with. One had a link to a YouTube video that looked like it would be relevant so I clicked it to see a professor at my current school in it.

I've never taken a class with him but will next semester (was already planning on it before seeing the video!). We've interacted a couple of times so trying to work up my courage to email him to see if they keep in contact. The video was personalized for the professor who posted it on their faculty page and they're from different fields but their research interests overlap.

Things like this makes me realize how small academia is and that I should try utilize my professors more to see if they've got contacts at the programs I'm looking at. And now I'm starting to feel like my school might not put me at a disadvantage compared to others at bigger schools!

[jadeisokay]

my writing sample is around 15 pages, but my #1 program says "approximately 20 pages." they'll take two papers adding up to 20, but prefer one paper. do i find 5 pages of stuff to add... or take the chance?

[Matthew3957]

@jadeisokay I am not an expert, so maybe one of the more experienced people can weigh in. However, from emailing with departments about length of writing samples (I have asked if I can send my 25 for programs that ask for ~20) my guess would be your paper is fine as is. They mostly just want a strong sample and if its a few pages shorter no one will think thats a negative as long as the paper is strong. I think adding 5 pages might just weaken the sample.

I have 11 page sample I am sending to the schools that ask for 10-15 page paper and I am not adding.

[dangermouse]

@jadeisokay again very much not an expert, but i was speaking to someone at UNC about writing sample related queries and they stressed the importance of a succinct sample and advocated for the minimum rather than maximum page limit - as it's only approximately 20, i would hazard a guess that the adcomm will welcome your 15 page paper

[jadeisokay]

thanks, y'all. i'm just amped up with anxiety. i'm having to cut schools from my list because i just can't swing sending gre scores plus application fees so i feel an extra crunch to get everything perfect. perfect storm of financial issues all at once means crossing my fingers and hoping for a fee waiver just isn't an option. 

[Warelin]

22 minutes ago, jadeisokay said:

thanks, y'all. i'm just amped up with anxiety. i'm having to cut schools from my list because i just can't swing sending gre scores plus application fees so i feel an extra crunch to get everything perfect. perfect storm of financial issues all at once means crossing my fingers and hoping for a fee waiver just isn't an option. 

I'd double-check with the grad school to see if fee waivers are available. Additionally, there are some schools that might be willing to accept an official gre score after acceptance.

[GlacierPoint]

USC accepts unofficial GRE scores! Not sure which other schools do the same.

My school's financial aid office is being weird with me about my request for a letter verifying that I receive need-based grants and the application fee would be a financial hardship. They first told me to email my school's grad admissions department with my FAFSA statement to get a fee waiver from them. I then pointed out that I said I needed it for other schools and copied & pasted a section about the letter requirements from a program that I'm applying for. That didn't work as they told me to contact the program for their fee waiver form.

NO THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEANT AT ALL ?‍♀️ IT SAYS THAT I NEED A LETTER FROM MY FINANCIAL AID OFFICE TO SUBMIT WITH MY FORM TOO!

Seriously, is it so hard to just write some generic letter saying that I receive need-based aid and that paying an application fee would be a financial hardship???

I sent my email early Monday morning and stopped by the office Thursday to check up on it when I didn't hear back from them. They said they were working on the letter and would let me know when it was ready. But hahahaha nope.

But in happier news, I was meant to write a potential WS as part of my independent study assignment for a class that I'm TAing for but the professor said that one of my old papers would be a stronger WS than the topic we came up with so she's going to help me completely overhaul it, yay!

I also asked the professor whose class I wrote that paper to be brutal when giving feedback. I just got it from her and oh my god, it looks like someone murdered it. She even put post-it notes on some pages because she filled up all of the available space. I guess I did ask for it but ouch...

Edited November 10, 2018 by GlacierPoint

[Warelin]

On 11/10/2018 at 12:20 AM, GlacierPoint said:

USC accepts unofficial GRE scores! Not sure which other schools do the same.

 

In recent cycles, Johns Hopkins and WUSTL have accepted unofficial GRE scores. I think their websites indicate elsewise but I remember them allowing it during the previous cycle. I think it's usually the English Coordinator/ Assistant to the Graduate Director who fields these type of questions.

[GlacierPoint]

On 11/10/2018 at 12:38 AM, Warelin said:

In recent cycles, Johns Hopkins and WUSTL have accepted unofficial GRE scores. I think their websites indicate elsewise but I remember them allowing it during the previous cycle. I think it's usually the English Coordinator/ Assistant to the Graduate Director who fields these type of questions.

USC's website says the unofficial scores are allowed which is nice because they require the subject test and have a deadline earlier than Dec 7. So that means that people can do the October subject test (like me!) and not be barred from applying for USC because ETS won't have the official scores ready in time.

I'm tempted to check with my other programs to see who else is willing to do this so I can try save some money.

[jadeisokay]

Thanks! I'm mad that I didn't check Northwestern's policy of not requiring scores. Would have used that free report elsewhere. 

[GlacierPoint]

I deeply dislike my school's financial aid office. They're still giving me a hard time about writing a letter so I had to escalate it to the associate provost. He was outraged on my behalf and promised a follow up within 48 hours.

I stopped by the office today and it was just terrible all round. Them going WELL I'VE NEVER HEARD OF SOMETHING LIKE THIS and acting huffy when I showed four different schools offering fee waivers in exchange for a letter from my school's financial aid office. Then they asked how I was planning on paying for graduate school when I couldn't even afford the application fees.

"No, I'm applying to funded programs. They pay ME, I don't pay them. And if it wasn't a funded program, I'd take out loans NEXT YEAR."

There was a really rude comment about how they couldn't know if it would be a financial hardship for me to pay application fees when they didn't know how much I had in my bank account. The office has my FAFSA report which lists my EFC! They looked at my income and taxes so they know I'm low-income. Trust FAFSA!

Argrhghghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ?‍♀️

I am not going to be happy if I have to pay unnecessary fees because they decided to be little snots. I think they've wasted more time refusing to write a letter than they would have if they just wrote me a letter when I first asked.

[jadeisokay]

ugh, I'm sorry you had to deal with that. my fin aid office is relatively useless, even when i see a real advisor and not a work-study kid. getting a gre waiver was like pulling teeth, and when i needed a new copy because my backpack got soaked to the core in a storm they were beyond rude. i hope you can get what you need. 

[GlacierPoint]

Associate provost came through for me! Woke up to a follow-up email from him in my inbox this morning saying that he talked with the director.

The financial aid office secretary says they're writing the letter now but the director is leading training all day today and tomorrow so have to wait on her to sign it when she's free. She said they would scan it for me and email it to me as a pdf so I wouldn't need to do it myself which is nice.

I am just so happy that the associate provost was the relevant admin to escalate the issue to - he's the best for yelling at people to get stuff done. The others, not so much.

@jadeisokay - I didn't even bother getting a GRE fee waiver for that reason, unfortunately. That and ETS being vague as hell about how to send it in.

[jadeisokay]

oh, awesome! I'm glad that got settled.

the $100 fee after waiver was even a lot for me at the time because I wasn't working as much. i had to take it again due to a technical error and they tried to charge me full price. ets sucks.