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2021 Applicants


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On 9/15/2020 at 4:46 PM, nowherelit said:

Applying this year for Hispanic Studies. Happy to take a look at anyone's SOPs, especially in the Humanities, or do a swap! 

I'm also doing Hispanic Studies, so if you want to do a swap I'd be more than willing. You can't have too many eyes!

In general if it isn't too late to get in on the swapping I'd be willing to. 

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Just a check in--how's everyone doing? How are you all feeling about your applications? 

I'm about on track for where I wanted to be (3/10 SoPs fairly finalized, all LoRs requested, currently working on excerpting my WS, since about half of the programs I'm applying to ask for a statement that's 8-10 pages). 

Crazy to think there's only two months left in the applying part of this season. It doesn't seem like enough time!

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Good luck to all of this year's applicants! 

It was a grueling set of months for me last year, and I can only imagine that covid is making it even more chaotic and uncertain for you. However, I'm very glad I took the chance and applied. And I hope you're all in a similar place come next year.  

If anyone has any questions about JHU, feel free to let me know.

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On 10/10/2020 at 11:51 PM, DanArndtWrites said:

I'm still torn. I have my MFA, I want a PhD in CW but also love literature. Don't know if i  have a strong enough essay for PhD but am unsure if getting an MA on top of an MFA would just be excessive before a PhD

Multiple people have an MA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing. For many, it's allowed them to decide whether they're looking for a PHD in English, Creative Writing, or Rhetoric/Composition.

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On 10/11/2020 at 12:51 AM, DanArndtWrites said:

I'm still torn. I have my MFA, I want a PhD in CW but also love literature. Don't know if i  have a strong enough essay for PhD but am unsure if getting an MA on top of an MFA would just be excessive before a PhD

Do you want an academic job? If so, a PhD in literature will make you more versatile. However, there's inescapably going to be some creative writing time sacrificed by doing a lit dissertation instead of a creative project. 

A lit MA before a PhD of any sort is just fine. 

Edited by merry night wanderer
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On 10/10/2020 at 10:51 AM, Bopie5 said:

Just a check in--how's everyone doing? How are you all feeling about your applications? 

I'm about on track for where I wanted to be (3/10 SoPs fairly finalized, all LoRs requested, currently working on excerpting my WS, since about half of the programs I'm applying to ask for a statement that's 8-10 pages). 

Crazy to think there's only two months left in the applying part of this season. It doesn't seem like enough time!

The writing sample is taking me the longest! Coming back to my MA thesis chapters after a year of not looking at them is rough. I'm finding mistakes and trying to better focus my arg, but it's slow going. Especially since I need different lengths.

BUT I'm done with my SoPs and my letters have all been requesting, so I'm kind of ahead of schedule. But I only got all that done because I was avoiding the writing sample ?

Sending good vibes to everyone else working!

Edited by kirbs005
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First post woohoo!

Hi everyone, after going through one application cycle in a socially distanced bubble before those things were even popular and getting rejected all around, I've decided that I'm long overdue for some camaraderie and commiseration. Officially throwing my name into the hat now.

I'm an international applicant with a BA in English from the national university in my home country and an MA in Comparative Literature from King's College London. My interests are in East/Southeast Asian literature and cultural production, literary adaptation, popular culture and video game narrative (particularly interactive fiction). I've been working full-time for just over two years as a copywriter, which is okay, but my heart's still set on the ivory tower of academia.

I made the decision to run the application gauntlet again fairly soon after receiving all my rejections, but then COVID-19 and the accompanying surge in anti-Asian sentiment around the world happened. As a result, my preparation's been rather halfhearted up until now. Still, I figured I'd take the opportunity to gain some experience and do the things I didn't do before, even if I fail to get in anywhere again.

Nice to meet everybody and best of luck to all!

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6 hours ago, cassidyaxx said:

I know some people already were working on swapping SOP's... but if any other procrastinators like myself are still looking to swap, I'd be up for it!

Hey friend! I'd be happy to swap if you're looking for more readers. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Found myself procrastinating quite a bit after last round's rejection, Covid, and just the general state of the world. However, I've finally started pushing myself out of the funk a bit! I was wondering -- has anyone reached out to professors you're interested in working with? I did last round and had a few really good conversations, but for some reason the whole process terrifies me; I'm never quite sure what to say. I'm just not quite sure what's normal and what's not. Any advice would be so appreciated! 

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5 hours ago, haleydanielle said:

Found myself procrastinating quite a bit after last round's rejection, Covid, and just the general state of the world. However, I've finally started pushing myself out of the funk a bit! I was wondering -- has anyone reached out to professors you're interested in working with? I did last round and had a few really good conversations, but for some reason the whole process terrifies me; I'm never quite sure what to say. I'm just not quite sure what's normal and what's not. Any advice would be so appreciated! 

I'm sure others could speak to this more, but personally, I only reached out to profs when I genuinely had pressing questions. And for me, that amounted to only a couple of times. If you're nervous about whether it is appropriate to reach out, you could consult the DGS or the point-person for admissions for the program in question and ask if professors are generally open to prospective student inquiries. If they are, then you probably don't need to worry too much about what exactly to say! Some programs, the more competitive and "highly ranked" ones, actually encourage people not to reach out unless it's about a procedural matter. Most seem to be fine with it, though. 

Perhaps others have had different experiences, but for me, it seems to not be too consequential whether you do or don't communicate with professors. It probably won't hurt, to be sure, but when it comes to admissions decisions it won't likely make much of a difference. So, again, if you have pressing questions about a program or an extraordinarily keen interest in particular profs, I say go for it, send an email and just be polite and be yourself! 

For context, I'm a current MA student and I'm applying to PhD programs for the first time--so obviously you should defer to more experienced opinions, if anyone else replies. But I will say that judging from my peers' experiences, corresponding with profs didn't seem to affect anything either way, or at least not in any way they could tell. I have friends who are now in top-10 PhD programs who contacted profs in programs they never even heard back from, but did not contact any profs in the programs from which they ended up receiving offers. I'm very curious to hear from others on this, though.

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On 11/9/2020 at 10:30 PM, EffervescentMoon said:

Has anyone finished all of their materials? I am coming around the bend of finishing, but I am anxious about being behind on my schedule.

I just sent in my writing sample for final review w/some former cohort members and once that's done, I'm done with all my materials (except a diversity statement that I may or may not need depending on if a program decides to accept applications yet or not). I'm hoping that it's done next week so that I can submit/start reminding and pestering my professors to submit their letters. 

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@EffervescentMoon I've made some dents in my materials, definitely also feeling a bit behind schedule. I am working on what should be the final draft of my writing sample, so once that's done I'll feel a lot better. Then I just need to customize a few more personal statements. I'll be cutting it close to the December 15th deadline for some of my schools, that's for sure.

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I'm celebrating today! I just submitted my first application, and I'm finalizing my SOP for the other. All my requests for LORs are out. I'm psyched because I'm still nearly a month out from the deadlines!

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On 11/11/2020 at 10:33 AM, cassidyaxx said:

@EffervescentMoon I've made some dents in my materials, definitely also feeling a bit behind schedule. I am working on what should be the final draft of my writing sample, so once that's done I'll feel a lot better. Then I just need to customize a few more personal statements. I'll be cutting it close to the December 15th deadline for some of my schools, that's for sure.

It's so good to know I'm not the only one. I am definitely looking forward to finishing everything.

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If there was a competition on who's the most behind schedule on their grad applications, I think I'd be a shoo-in for first prize.

The more I think about how much more I have to do, the more panicked I become, so I'm just not going to think about it and keep moving forward. @haleydanielle I feel you - the procrastination is real. Hope you and everyone else on here is making good progress!

I didn't reach out to any professors during my last application cycle (mainly because I was also terrified of the process), but I don't think that's the reason all my applications were unsuccessful. This year I've sent out two so far and gotten replies for both, so it seems like the terror was unwonted. Definitely reach out if you think your research dovetails with that of a particular professor really well. One of the professors I emailed said he wasn't on the adcomm last year and didn't even realise someone had applied to work in his area, so it could be very helpful to at least notify a POI of your intention to apply!

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So I found out like a month ago that I can graduate in the Summer instead of the Fall, so I'm actually back to applying for Fall 2021. So much writing, on-top of classes, but everything is pretty much done. Hoping everything is well for everyone else.

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13 hours ago, EffervescentMoon said:

Does anyone list the other schools they are applying to in your applications? Will this help or hurt the application? It seems like it could be a double-edged sword.

I did list the other places I'd applied on all the apps that asked for it, and I don't think it made a difference to the outcome. My best guess is that schools want that information because they want to get a sense of where their competition is (I know for sure that all the schools I turned down asked me to confirm where I'd decided to go instead), but I don't think adcomms are under any illusions about whether their applicants are also applying to many other programs. So I wouldn't worry about it!

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On 11/16/2020 at 3:16 PM, CyberHarpie said:

If there was a competition on who's the most behind schedule on their grad applications, I think I'd be a shoo-in for first prize.

The more I think about how much more I have to do, the more panicked I become, so I'm just not going to think about it and keep moving forward. @haleydanielle I feel you - the procrastination is real. Hope you and everyone else on here is making good progress!

I didn't reach out to any professors during my last application cycle (mainly because I was also terrified of the process), but I don't think that's the reason all my applications were unsuccessful. This year I've sent out two so far and gotten replies for both, so it seems like the terror was unwonted. Definitely reach out if you think your research dovetails with that of a particular professor really well. One of the professors I emailed said he wasn't on the adcomm last year and didn't even realise someone had applied to work in his area, so it could be very helpful to at least notify a POI of your intention to apply!

Thank you so much for your advice! I'm wondering if it's a little bit late if I'm just trying to reach out to professors these days?....

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