Math BA interested in literary theory? Road to an MA or PhD?

[blueturret]

I'm new here but so grateful to have found this community and all the amazingly helpful information on these fora.  This may be a long post, so I'll leave a tldr at the end.

Like many people here, I was a huge literature/creative writing nerd in high school (though I doubt this counts for much now, nearly 3 years out of college), where nearly all of my extracurriculars were writing-related. I was a YoungArts finalist in creative writing, attended the Iowa Young Writers' Studio, won two National Scholastic Gold Keys (in flash fiction and creative nonfiction), had a poem published in the Kenyon Review, etc. 

I ended up getting into the college of my dreams but succumbed to many outside pressures of needing to study a "useful major" so I gave up on literature and became a math major, with the goal of working as a machine learning engineer or quant trader. I did fairly well in my major (~3.9 GPA), earned an M.S. in Statistics to boot, and have been working as a quant at an algorithmic trading shop since graduating a few years ago. But I'm honestly kind of miserable and wish I'd followed my heart as an undergraduate.

I'm mostly interested in contemporary American literary theory and criticism, though for the purposes of M.A. admissions (which I understand are CRAZY competitive), I'm willing to spin the narrative necessary. 

The pros going for me:

1) I have strong computer science/programming skills which can hopefully translate to and/or be used to justify an interest in digital humanities. 

2) I have C1 competency in Japanese and Korean, B2 in Spanish, and B1 in German. Not sure if this counts for much in the grand scheme, but thought I'd include it in case it moves the needle even a hair.

3) I won a small writing award for a humanities class I took in college. I'll be able to ask this professor for a letter of recommendation.

The cons going against me:

1) I've taken a whopping total of 2 humanities classes of any sort in college, despite my undergrad institution having a top 5 English department, so I have no one to blame but myself for not engaging in the literary community in college. 

2) Following from 1), this also means I have only 1 humanities professor whom I could ask for a reference letter. I'm assuming letters from mathematicians/economists/computer scientists wouldn't count for much..

3) I have essentially 0 writing samples to speak of at the moment (other than my senior thesis—on abstract algebra lol—and my essay from 3) under "pros" that I wrote during my sophomore year). 

So what do you all think? Is there any hope for me to pivot back to critical theory/contemporary literature by going back to school for an M.A. (and/or PhD down the line)? What would I need to do to get back on track? I'm willing to entertain any length of detour. 

Thank you for reading this! 

Tldr; Math B.A. who did a lot of literature-related things in high school wondering if there's any chance of returning to my roots? Will an M.A. be enough to have a shot at being a literary scholar, or does one really need to get a PhD? Thank you!

[josef_k]

Hi!

I'm in a similar situation as you; majored in business and worked for a couple years before deciding to pursue graduate study in English. I haven't gotten in anywhere yet--currently waiting to hear back on MA applications--but here's what I've gathered re: applying without a BA in the humanities.

I think ultimately, as is often mentioned on here, it will come down to the strength of your writing sample and statement of purpose. If you can demonstrate that you have a working knowledge of your field, develop a logical argument, and explain how your non-traditional background might complement your research, you will have a good shot. It looks like your extracurriculars point towards an interest and a talent for writing and language, so these should also strengthen your application.

There are some schools that require a certain amount of undergraduate coursework in English, so these are unfortunately out of the question. Aside from that, no one I've spoken to has said that not having a BA in English is an automatic disqualifier.

Ultimately, if it's something you're passionate about, the only thing you can do is shoot your shot and hope for the best. Feel free to PM me with any more questions.

[queenofcarrotflowers]

On 1/18/2021 at 11:39 PM, blueturret said:

I'm new here but so grateful to have found this community and all the amazingly helpful information on these fora.  This may be a long post, so I'll leave a tldr at the end.

Like many people here, I was a huge literature/creative writing nerd in high school (though I doubt this counts for much now, nearly 3 years out of college), where nearly all of my extracurriculars were writing-related. I was a YoungArts finalist in creative writing, attended the Iowa Young Writers' Studio, won two National Scholastic Gold Keys (in flash fiction and creative nonfiction), had a poem published in the Kenyon Review, etc. 

I ended up getting into the college of my dreams but succumbed to many outside pressures of needing to study a "useful major" so I gave up on literature and became a math major, with the goal of working as a machine learning engineer or quant trader. I did fairly well in my major (~3.9 GPA), earned an M.S. in Statistics to boot, and have been working as a quant at an algorithmic trading shop since graduating a few years ago. But I'm honestly kind of miserable and wish I'd followed my heart as an undergraduate.

I'm mostly interested in contemporary American literary theory and criticism, though for the purposes of M.A. admissions (which I understand are CRAZY competitive), I'm willing to spin the narrative necessary. 

The pros going for me:

1) I have strong computer science/programming skills which can hopefully translate to and/or be used to justify an interest in digital humanities. 

2) I have C1 competency in Japanese and Korean, B2 in Spanish, and B1 in German. Not sure if this counts for much in the grand scheme, but thought I'd include it in case it moves the needle even a hair.

3) I won a small writing award for a humanities class I took in college. I'll be able to ask this professor for a letter of recommendation.

The cons going against me:

1) I've taken a whopping total of 2 humanities classes of any sort in college, despite my undergrad institution having a top 5 English department, so I have no one to blame but myself for not engaging in the literary community in college. 

2) Following from 1), this also means I have only 1 humanities professor whom I could ask for a reference letter. I'm assuming letters from mathematicians/economists/computer scientists wouldn't count for much..

3) I have essentially 0 writing samples to speak of at the moment (other than my senior thesis—on abstract algebra lol—and my essay from 3) under "pros" that I wrote during my sophomore year). 

So what do you all think? Is there any hope for me to pivot back to critical theory/contemporary literature by going back to school for an M.A. (and/or PhD down the line)? What would I need to do to get back on track? I'm willing to entertain any length of detour. 

Thank you for reading this! 

Tldr; Math B.A. who did a lot of literature-related things in high school wondering if there's any chance of returning to my roots? Will an M.A. be enough to have a shot at being a literary scholar, or does one really need to get a PhD? Thank you!

Will preface this by saying I have absolutely no expertise on this subject, since I’m just a first-round PhD applicant! 
It’s certainly not unheard of to pursue a literature MA/PhD if you’ve got a STEM undergraduate degree— many of the current graduate students’ profiles I looked up whilst researching programmes listed STEM backgrounds. However, and sorry if this is unhelpful, I’m a bit confused on what your academic goals are, and what you regard as being a ‘literary scholar’. Also, you mention creative writing as a previous passion— have you considered an MFA, or are you definitely more interested in studying, rather than writing literature now? Sorry, I know you’ve already clearly stated your interest in critical theory and contemporary American lit, but since you seem to have a talent and passion for creative writing, I’m wondering if that’s a track worth considering/ one that would fit with your interests and goals best.

Edited January 21, 2021 by queenofcarrotflowers
forgot to add ‘MA/‘

[EM51413]

So I also have a BA and MA in math (I specialized in category theory...lol), as well as a BA double major in English. I think your programming skills are very important assets that can help you in the long run (DH jobs are much easier to come by than lit crit jobs in general), and your language skills sound very solid/competitive as well. The problem is, as you say, you haven't taken a lot of lit classes at the university level. @queenofcarrotflowers has a good point. Academic literary criticism is VERY different from writing/appreciating literature in general. (This is important to know, because a good deal of people who enjoy the latter find themselves detesting the former after getting into the field more.) If you're sure you want to pursue literary theory, then it's a lot more realistic if you go for a masters first. There are places that genuinely recognize the value of a STEM background for literary studies (UPenn, Columbia, and Stanford come to mind), but even their phd programs tend to require (for good reasons) some systematic training in the humanities beforehand. Given where the field in general is moving (DH is a small part of a big interdisciplinary turn) and speaking from my own interview experiences from last cycle, your background in STEM will in all likelihood be viewed as a very big plus--provided you have enough training in the humanities so as to be able to make use of that background in connection to literary studies.