Comp Lit 2021 Applicants

[angrychalupa]

I JUST GOT IN TO UC DAVIS WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!! 6 years' funding!!!

 

i'm so hoping this means good things for my other fellow confused applicants like @Magic Lanternoh my god i'm going to puke. 

 

i was at work and my boss thought something terrible had happened because i screamed his name and was laugh-crying.

Edited March 7, 2021 by angrychalupa

[Magic Lantern]

6 hours ago, angrychalupa said:

I JUST GOT IN TO UC DAVIS WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!! 6 years' funding!!!

 

i'm so hoping this means good things for my other fellow confused applicants like @Magic Lanternoh my god i'm going to puke. 

 

i was at work and my boss thought something terrible had happened because i screamed his name and was laugh-crying.

wow!! Congratulations! That's wonderful! 

I haven't heard from them. I think I'm waitlisted, but I'm not feeling super hopeful at this point.

[angrychalupa]

5 hours ago, Magic Lantern said:

wow!! Congratulations! That's wonderful! 

I haven't heard from them. I think I'm waitlisted, but I'm not feeling super hopeful at this point.

Thank you so much! I'm crossing my fingers super, super hard for you. It came at a weird time for me (I think it was about 6pm for them), and on a Saturday...? But who knows; maybe they're going thru a few meetings before they can offer admission? I really, really hope it works out for you.

[mashatheicebear]

14 hours ago, angrychalupa said:

I JUST GOT IN TO UC DAVIS WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!! 6 years' funding!!!

 

i'm so hoping this means good things for my other fellow confused applicants like @Magic Lanternoh my god i'm going to puke. 

 

i was at work and my boss thought something terrible had happened because i screamed his name and was laugh-crying.

Yay! I am so so happy for you!

I got in as well, and am planning on accepting (waiting on two more implied rejections before I make my final choice).

What are you research interests? I know it is a pretty small cohort so I'm keen to get to know everyone!

Edited March 7, 2021 by mashatheicebear

[angrychalupa]

53 minutes ago, mashatheicebear said:

Yay! I am so so happy for you!

I got in as well, and am planning on accepting (waiting on two more implied rejections before I make my final choice).

What are you research interests? I know it is a pretty small cohort so I'm keen to get to know everyone!

Thank you!! I'm not 100% sure I'll be going-- I'm the #1 waitlist at a diff school's German department (and they're actually appealing the school to try to get me accepted), and I'm waiting to hear back from one final school for what I'm assuming is a rejection. So it'll be a tossup of UC Davis and the unnamed other one I do Jewish lit, mostly German, but also Slavic/Yiddish lit a bit, as well. 

I think I got in off the waitlist for UCD. I'm honestly in complete shock. I thought I had totally bombed my interview. 

[mashatheicebear]

3 hours ago, angrychalupa said:

Thank you!! I'm not 100% sure I'll be going-- I'm the #1 waitlist at a diff school's German department (and they're actually appealing the school to try to get me accepted), and I'm waiting to hear back from one final school for what I'm assuming is a rejection. So it'll be a tossup of UC Davis and the unnamed other one I do Jewish lit, mostly German, but also Slavic/Yiddish lit a bit, as well. 

I think I got in off the waitlist for UCD. I'm honestly in complete shock. I thought I had totally bombed my interview. 

Very cool! I just went to a (virtual) Slavic conference and saw an interesting presentation on early 20th century Yiddish poetry. Jewish lit is something I've always wanted to get into, but just never quite made it there. Maybe this time around, I'll finally make the leap!

I'm a Slavist (Russian 19th-20th century lit), primarily, but have done mostly comparative research in the past, with a focus on performance theory as well as feminist criticism/women's studies.

Again, so thrilled for you that you got in! It seems like such an awesome program and everyone I've spoken to has been incredibly kind and solicitous. Here's hoping I see you in Proseminar in the fall! 

[camertz08]

Congratulations to everyone who has gotten in to a program! Anyone know the scoop on UCLA? They had the earliest deadline and are the last to report so far by 2 weeks. I already got into UCSD but I want to know about UCLA.

[Modpol]

Hi everyone,

I am sorry if this is not the right place to ask this question, but I scrolled through a few pages of this thread and I thought some people here might be able to advise me.

I applied to a couple PhD programmes (outside of US), got two offers, but unfortunately the funding situation is not looking too good. I am now planning my next application cycle. My interests are Comparative Literature, Translation Studies and modernist Slavic Literature (not Russian though). I also sometimes work with German and English literature(s).

I was wondering if anyone here knew of strong doctoral programmes in Slavonic Studies in the US which are not Russian Lit-oriented (as far as I know, most Ivy League departments are), and also whether anyone here has had any experience with applying to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

I would appreciate your help and apologies again if this is not the right place to ask.

Best wishes!

[harleth]

16 hours ago, Modpol said:

I was wondering if anyone here knew of strong doctoral programmes in Slavonic Studies in the US which are not Russian Lit-oriented

congrats on your offers and hopefully the funding situation works out! there's a slavic-specific thread elsewhere (under 'Languages'), other people might be able to weigh in there.

you're right that most US Slavic departments are Russian-dominated, but there are actually quite a few that offer PhD programs where you would not be made to study Russian Lit as your main area, or possibly at all. depending on which Slavic languages you focus on, you might want to look at Harvard, Columbia, Brown, UC Berkeley (though if you're international the UC schools are famously tough to get into), possibly UW Madison. i know that in some of these you would also have flexibility to do some comparative work or formally have a secondary field in Comp Lit.

i imagine there are other programs that's i'm not aware of as well. hope this is helpful and happy to exchange impressions about schools!

[mashatheicebear]

21 hours ago, Modpol said:

Hi everyone,

I am sorry if this is not the right place to ask this question, but I scrolled through a few pages of this thread and I thought some people here might be able to advise me.

I applied to a couple PhD programmes (outside of US), got two offers, but unfortunately the funding situation is not looking too good. I am now planning my next application cycle. My interests are Comparative Literature, Translation Studies and modernist Slavic Literature (not Russian though). I also sometimes work with German and English literature(s).

I was wondering if anyone here knew of strong doctoral programmes in Slavonic Studies in the US which are not Russian Lit-oriented (as far as I know, most Ivy League departments are), and also whether anyone here has had any experience with applying to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

I would appreciate your help and apologies again if this is not the right place to ask.

Best wishes!

Slavist here. I am not aware of any Slavic programs in the US that are not Russian Lit-oriented/based. You can absolutely go well beyond Russian, but that is always the primary. Options for Slavonic studies are pretty limited for PhDs. You should poke around the AATSEEL site. There might be someone there you can reach out to for advice. I

would definitely recommend looking into comp lit as well. If you find a program at a school that has a great Slavic graduate faculty where they offer a wide array of language and lit options (like Berkeley), you can definitely use your Slavic language as a part of your degree (even the primary part). If you are studying a more minor Slavic language, that could make you an excellent and unique applicant for a comp lit program. 

[Modpol]

Dear @harleth and @mashatheicebear,

Thank you very much for all the useful information! I really appreciate your help.

Best wishes!

[frenchphd2021]

Sorry to intrude on your discussion (and congrats to those of you who've secured a place this round!). 

I'm going to be applying to some Comp. Lit. PhD programs next year, and I was wondering if anyone wanted to share what the interview process was like?  Were they in English, in your target languages, or a mix of both?  

[angrychalupa]

17 hours ago, frenchphd2021 said:

Sorry to intrude on your discussion (and congrats to those of you who've secured a place this round!). 

I'm going to be applying to some Comp. Lit. PhD programs next year, and I was wondering if anyone wanted to share what the interview process was like?  Were they in English, in your target languages, or a mix of both?  

Hey! Sounds like a lot of places do things very differently; I've heard that a lot of Comp Lit interviews are conducted at least in part in your main language. When I interviewed with UCDavis, it was a pretty informal thing that lasted maybe 25ish minutes. My primary POI was on sabbatical, so it was another POI and a professor who was peripherally involved in my area (only insofar as we both do Modernism; he was a completely different language). All we really did was discuss some of my application material; I was asked to expand on some work I mentioned in my SoP and discuss what it was about. It overall kind of had a more conversational flow than an interview one, though there was some structure of clearly there was some stuff they wanted to get at (such as asking me to talk about that paper), as well as to give me a chance to ask questions.

It was also two months ago and I was super nervous, so I'm having a hard time remembering anything else other than all this, ha. Hope I was able to help at least a little bit!

[angrychalupa]

Just accepted UC Davis' offer.