Suggestions for English graduate programs to look into? (18th/19th century Brit. Lit!)

[mariaem]

Hi! Very recent college graduate here currently applying to English Masters and/or PhD programs for Fall 2020 (originally planned on applying last fall, but my courseload and general lack of money made it a little difficult, so I waited a year). I have my B.A. in English, minor in Writing, overall GPA of 3.588 (GPA in major is about the same, I'll have to check, but it's at least 3.5), was in top % of seniors of my major, graduated Cum Laude, plenty of extracurriculars/honor societies/etc. My (December 2018) GRE score for verbal was 159, which isn't too hot, but I was in the higher end of the 80th percentile. I also have two rec letters basically ready to go and the third in the works. All of which I'm very sure will be positive/enthusiastic, haha. I'm also currently working on spiffing up my writing sample and drafting my personal statement(s).

My general preferred area of study is 18th/19th century British Literature; particularly, I'm interested in Romantic and Victorian literature; even more particularly, a lot of my undergraduate work focused on queerness and womanhood within those eras of literature, especially in the Gothic, but that's not necessarily a big "must" for me for grad programs to offer resources in. I would really, really appreciate any suggestions for English MA or PhD programs that both a) are a good fit for my interests and b) I could reasonably be seriously considered for! I have a few programs in mind already and have been working on my applications, but I'm basically just worried about selling myself too short or severely overestimating my chances of getting in somewhere and wasting my time. Thanks in advance!!!

[Indecisive Poet]

Some very good programs for Romanticism are Berkeley, UCLA, Duke, Johns Hopkins, and Boulder. I don't know too much about Victorian but I know that Rutgers is quite strong in it. You will need to choose either 18th or 19th century (and ideally either Romantic or Victorian) for your statements – although this may be less the case for MA programs.

[trytostay]

CU Boulder, UVA, Rutgers, and UCLA are departments that have strong reputations for specifically 18th-century British. 

Edited October 23, 2019 by trytostay

[merry night wanderer]

Based on my limited knowledge, you should definitely make a choice - however arbitrary - between Romanticism and Victoriana, or else double down on something firm and thematic like Gothic Literature. Romanticism and Victorianism are classified differently from what I understand. You can always cheat when you're in the program and dabble in the other field. That's what I plan on doing as a Romanticist  I think it is perhaps a little different if your thematic interests (empire, genre studies like Gothic, etc) cross the entire time period.

Edited October 25, 2019 by merry night wanderer

[mariaem]

4 hours ago, merry night wanderer said:

Based on my limited knowledge, you should definitely make a choice - however arbitrary - between Romanticism and Victoriana, or else double down on something firm and thematic like Gothic Literature. Romanticism and Victorianism are classified differently from what I understand. You can always cheat when you're in the program and dabble in the other field. That's what I plan on doing as a Romanticist  I think it is perhaps a little different if your thematic interests (empire, genre studies like Gothic, etc) cross the entire time period.

yeah, makes sense! (I didn’t really bother with the distinction in the OG post because I was hoping for a wide range of suggested programs)

Edited October 25, 2019 by mariaem