2022 Applicants

[illcounsel]

15 hours ago, sweet tea poetics said:

I’ll most likely have possible writing samples in either subfield, but am just a little lost on where to focus in general, since I know “fit” is quite important. Any help or advice is really appreciated! 

I think it would be generally advisable that your writing sample should match the your intended primary field of interest. So, if you decide to discuss your intention to pursue e.m. literature, it would make more sense to choose the e.m. paper over the victorian paper to showcase your work in the field. 

[sweet tea poetics]

5 hours ago, illcounsel said:

I think it would be generally advisable that your writing sample should match the your intended primary field of interest. So, if you decide to discuss your intention to pursue e.m. literature, it would make more sense to choose the e.m. paper over the victorian paper to showcase your work in the field. 

Thanks! I’m hoping some more work on the writing samples might help me figure out the direction in general. 

[sweet tea poetics]

Hey, everybody! I’m in the midst of thinking about possible writing samples, and was just curious what everyone’s topics are. Is your writing on something that you think you might like to pursue further in grad school, or just something you think really shows your abilities as a critic? Hearing people talk about their own work is great (and a good distraction from focusing on mine), so I’d love to hear from y’all! 

[Poiple]

I'm also applying for Fall 2022 so replying to follow.

 

I also notice a few posters above are US based applying to the UK, and I am vice versa - UK applying to US. I have previously studied abroad at UCSB as part of my undergrad, but most recently I obtained my MSt in Women's Studies at Oxford and am happy to answer any questions people may have.

 

One key take away for funding in the UK, especially if you are applying to Oxford or Cambridge, is to look at college funding. There's a YouTube historian PhD student who has made a video on this - redheadacademic

 

I'm looking forward to chatting with you all more!

[zetasp]

I'll be applying for Fall 2022! I'm currently at the University of Hawai'i, Mānoa, trying to compile my list for PhD programs after a crazy pandemic year o_o

[Mikha]

I've seen mention of this series on the Chicago MAPH thread, but just so newcomers can find this more easily in the future:

https://annehelen.substack.com/p/the-masters-trap

[sadevilminion]

Throwing my hat back in the ring after 6 rejections last cycle. I'm about to start a course at my alma mater in order to create a new, heavily-critiqued writing sample at the advice of one of my LOR writers. I'm curious what sort of things you other masochistic second-cyclers have planned/worked on to improve your chances.

[scoobydont]

UChicago English is only accepting applicants working on the Middle Ages to 1900 which is…the exact opposite…of me…RIP

Hopefully this helps other people who work in these time periods though!

[ellieb_]

Hello everyone! I was wondering if it's necessary to get in touch with faculty members if I'm applying to the US schools?

I emailed a few faculties and they responded that with emails like these:

"Application process is done through a faculty committee. That is to say, students apply to our program generally, and in their applications list a couple of different faculty whose work they are interested in, rather than applying to study with a particular professor."

and "faculty cannot individually select grad applicants on their own--all applicants must go through the process and all dossiers are reviewed by the Admissions Committee in early Spring."

So I was wondering if these emails mean I don't have to find an advisor prior to submitting my application? Because as far as I know, European countries and Canada are the opposite of that. 

I also wanted to know if I have any chance of getting accepted with 2 conference attendance, but 0 published papers? 

[labradoodle]

8 minutes ago, ellieb_ said:

Hello everyone! I was wondering if it's necessary to get in touch with faculty members if I'm applying to the US schools?

I emailed a few faculties and they responded that with emails like these:

"Application process is done through a faculty committee. That is to say, students apply to our program generally, and in their applications list a couple of different faculty whose work they are interested in, rather than applying to study with a particular professor."

and "faculty cannot individually select grad applicants on their own--all applicants must go through the process and all dossiers are reviewed by the Admissions Committee in early Spring."

So I was wondering if these emails mean I don't have to find an advisor prior to submitting my application? Because as far as I know, European countries and Canada are the opposite of that. 

I also wanted to know if I have any chance of getting accepted with 2 conference attendance, but 0 published papers? 

From what I've heard (but I'm not completely sure so please correct me if I'm wrong), UK does often require you to get in touch with a faculty member, because you'll be starting your thesis work immediately. US, I think, has a kind of divide between fields that do lab work and so require you to really look into a faculty member whose lab you want to join or whatever, and (most of) the humanities where that's (thankfully lol) not a thing.

Also, I believe humanities has much less of an expectancy for prospective students to have published whole papers in fancy journals, cause that's really very difficult to do, and usually doesn't work in the time-scale of an MA (or a late BA) anyway, as it can take years. It can't hurt, of course, but from what I'm exposed to it genuinely doesn't seem the norm, at all. You may want to look at some less formal journals or something, though - things like online graduate journals attached to your university, or those more blog-like journals.

[labradoodle]

Now that I've typed that, I'm actually wondering too: how close are faculty members supposed to approximate your own interests in the US? I've looked around a lot, but can't find anyone working in my really specific niche, but I can find a lot of faculty members who I have a lot of crossover with in various of their tags (things like 'critical theory' or '20th century literature'), but then if you look at their own research it's always some random thing I don't know anything about. Would that be an issue? Cause presumably your exact research wouldn't need to be the same, right, as long as people are knowledgeable/market themselves as scholars in the general fields?

[WomanOfLetters]

27 minutes ago, labradoodle said:

Now that I've typed that, I'm actually wondering too: how close are faculty members supposed to approximate your own interests in the US? I've looked around a lot, but can't find anyone working in my really specific niche, but I can find a lot of faculty members who I have a lot of crossover with in various of their tags (things like 'critical theory' or '20th century literature'), but then if you look at their own research it's always some random thing I don't know anything about. Would that be an issue? Cause presumably your exact research wouldn't need to be the same, right, as long as people are knowledgeable/market themselves as scholars in the general fields?

I worked with a professor who was the only person in the department that was knowledgeable in critical theories for my thesis. I was hoping I could write something with critical theories, but in the end he steered me toward something he researched on, which was not critical theories...

[labradoodle]

2 minutes ago, Alyson said:

I worked with a professor who was the only person in the department that was knowledgeable in critical theories for my thesis. I was hoping I could write something with critical theories, but in the end he steered me toward something he researched on, which was not critical theories...

I'm so sorry that happened to you! Thanks for sharing, though! I'm definitely making sure that there are multiple faculty who work in the areas I'm interested in, and will pay even more attention to it with this in mind.

[ellieb_]

On 8/11/2021 at 8:14 PM, labradoodle said:

Now that I've typed that, I'm actually wondering too: how close are faculty members supposed to approximate your own interests in the US? I've looked around a lot, but can't find anyone working in my really specific niche, but I can find a lot of faculty members who I have a lot of crossover with in various of their tags (things like 'critical theory' or '20th century literature'), but then if you look at their own research it's always some random thing I don't know anything about. Would that be an issue? Cause presumably your exact research wouldn't need to be the same, right, as long as people are knowledgeable/market themselves as scholars in the general fields?

Thanks for the reply and it's basically the same for me. I thought I would be easier to find a faculty whose interests are similar to mine, but no. I guess I'll have to try and make my interests similar to theirs. ?

[Glasperlenspieler]

It's worth noting that most professors have an are of expertise and knowledge that extends at least somewhat more widely than their publications/listed interests. One good way to get a feel for this would be to look at what dissertations they have advised/been on committees for.

Another point is that rather than starting from faculty lists at various universities and then trying to find suitable professors from there, you might instead start with the research that you're already interested in. What books/articles have been important/interesting to you? Who wrote them and where are they teaching? Then check out the bibliographies of those pieces, look up the works that are cited, and figure out where they're teaching. If you keep doing this for a few iterations, you'll probably find that the bibliographies start to circle back. At this point, you should have a decent idea of who is publishing things of interest to you in your field and where they're teaching.

[labradoodle]

46 minutes ago, Glasperlenspieler said:

It's worth noting that most professors have an are of expertise and knowledge that extends at least somewhat more widely than their publications/listed interests. One good way to get a feel for this would be to look at what dissertations they have advised/been on committees for.

Another point is that rather than starting from faculty lists at various universities and then trying to find suitable professors from there, you might instead start with the research that you're already interested in. What books/articles have been important/interesting to you? Who wrote them and where are they teaching? Then check out the bibliographies of those pieces, look up the works that are cited, and figure out where they're teaching. If you keep doing this for a few iterations, you'll probably find that the bibliographies start to circle back. At this point, you should have a decent idea of who is publishing things of interest to you in your field and where they're teaching.

ohh that's really super helpful, thank you! There are some subfields I'm interested in where I do really notice that, but unfortunately, my main interests are really those classic post-structuralists who are physically dying out at the moment, rather than just their fields. XD Still, I'm definitely going to investigate this further and ask around a bit, cause there must be some current research being done ahaha.

[WomanOfLetters]

1 hour ago, Glasperlenspieler said:

It's worth noting that most professors have an are of expertise and knowledge that extends at least somewhat more widely than their publications/listed interests. One good way to get a feel for this would be to look at what dissertations they have advised/been on committees for.

Another point is that rather than starting from faculty lists at various universities and then trying to find suitable professors from there, you might instead start with the research that you're already interested in. What books/articles have been important/interesting to you? Who wrote them and where are they teaching? Then check out the bibliographies of those pieces, look up the works that are cited, and figure out where they're teaching. If you keep doing this for a few iterations, you'll probably find that the bibliographies start to circle back. At this point, you should have a decent idea of who is publishing things of interest to you in your field and where they're teaching.

That's what I did when I first started looking for programs. But like labradoole said the thing is most academics who published works I am interested in are either retired or work in universities/programs that aren't right for me (as an international student I have some serious concerns about where I will be staying for the next 5 years. I heard some places were impossible to live in without a car. There are of course many other factors like the languages they offer - some universities like Yale and Emory clearly prefer French to German. And then there's the 3rd language...applying for comp. lit. programs is just extra complicated). Does anyone has advice on how to look for the right comp. lit. programs?

[ChessPiece99]

Hi everyone! I'm also applying next fall for English & cultural studies MA programs, hoping to specialize in fandom/reception studies with an orientation towards literary fan cultures, and pursue a PhD in the future. I don't really have much to help me apply other than extremely strong (I think) references and one publication/presentation, which is why I wanted to pursue an MA first to see if it was really "right" for me. 

Excited yet extremely intimidated about this app. Thank god this forum exists. Excited to talk more about this stuff with y'all!

[woahkay]

Hey all,

I am currently in an MA program in english, applying to phds this fall (a mix of ivies/top 20 english & interdisciplinary departments w 1 or 2 exceptions). 

A friend in my program mentioned she put together a group of folks from gradcafe who edited each others SOPs each week leading up to phd application submission, so I'm hoping to find 1-4 people interested in doing that with me!

I am seeking others applying to similar programs and ideally, folks w interdisciplinary interests in theory (I'm proposing a mix of medievalist, early modern & contemporary critical work on temporality, affect, embodiment... ). Message me if this sounds like you you're interested in trying this out! 

Thanks

[RosabellaIris]

I'm applying for both MA and PhD programs in English in Fall 2017. I know a lot of universities say it's important that your interests fit with members of the faculty. I am primarily interested in comics/graphic novels, the relationship between literature and visual art, and feminist writing. I'm having some difficult finding university professors with similar interests (aside from women's literature, which seems pretty popular).

Does anyone know of any grad schools that offer specialization in comics and/or visual culture, or that have faculty interested in these topics? So far I've only come up with the University of Florida and the University of Colorado Boulder.

[UndergradDad]

Check out Ohio State as well.

[labradoodle]

I feel like I might finally have found the first university I'm 100% interested in applying to, even when just going on the nausea I felt when I (falsely) realized they required GRE scores. ? It's kind of weird which universities require GREs and which have wavered them - the only one that still required them was one at such an unknown (to me, at least) university that I'd expected them to be wavered (as their requirements are probably less severe than those of top unis), whereas all the top unis don't require them this year, haha.

[labradoodle]

By the way, does anyone know if you have to submit your language certificate (TOEFL or IELTS, I mean) simultaneously with the rest of your application? For my master application, I only had to hand that one in after, and if I got admitted, but I'm assuming I need to hand it in beforehand here. (I can't figure out if I need to take it as I'm in a fully-in-English type of programme right now, and literally studied English before, and have heard I don't need to, but will need to contact them.)

Oh, and another (hopefully final, haha) question: does anyone else feel obnoxious even trying to apply to highly ranked programs? Every time I even click on the website of an Ivy I feel really weird about it, but I simultaneously feel that one of my main problems with previous attempts to apply at "good" universities was that I didn't feel comfortable even applying, and that came across in my application.

Edited August 20, 2021 by labradoodle

[karamazov]

Hillary Chute is at Northeastern! 

[sadevilminion]

4 hours ago, labradoodle said:

does anyone else feel obnoxious even trying to apply to highly ranked programs? Every time I even click on the website of an Ivy I feel really weird about it, but I simultaneously feel that one of my main problems with previous attempts to apply at "good" universities was that I didn't feel comfortable even applying, and that came across in my application.

I totally felt I was a bit delusional while applying to places like Syracuse and Cornell last cycle ? which turned out to be true. Even one of my LOR writers told me to be more realistic after I was flatly rejected all around. I didn't feel comfortable applying to them but they are all fully funded, so I thought I'd give it a wild stab! I'll be applying to more more *ahem* rural programs this time around ?.