Cohesion of personal statement and writing sample

[lemon_drop]

Long time lurker here breaking my silence to ask you kind people of the Grad Cafe a question: Am I committing an unpardonable sin if I submit a writing sample that's not totally related to the topics I discuss in my personal statement? I want to study narratology and contemporary American literature and film, and I said exactly that in my statement, buuuuttttt...my writing sample is a Barthesian study of Lolita. Right method, wrong time period and nationality. It's a strong paper and that's why I'm submitting it but how will admissions committees view it? Will I look like an incompetent applicant not fit for graduate study? Should I *gulp* write a new paper in the next 2 months or so? (I'm only applying to Masters programs so my deadlines are all mid Jan to late Feb.) I need your advice!

[truckbasket]

Doesn't sound like it'd be a problem to me. I mean if it was in another discipline entirely, or a detached area (say medieval) then it might raise some concerns. You could always make an indirect reference in the SOP; something like "My research and writing on structuralism has shaped my interests in narrative structure in ways x, y and z."

[lemon_drop]

Thank you, truckbasket. That's kind of what I was hoping to hear So I shouldn't worry too much about admission committees looking for a direct correlation in my sample? I mean, again, there IS a correlation in terms of method, I'm just applying it to a different body of literature than what I'm proposing to study long term.

[Timshel]

I would say that you should look specifically at the schools you are applying to. Some just say submit a writing sample, while others say specifically to present a writing sample that reflects what you put on your SOP.

[yank in the M20]

When given feedback from Duke on my rejected application last year, I was told that the main problem with my application was that my SOP was not proposing work in the field that my writing sample covered. That said, your topics sound close enough. I was applying to study Modernism with a writing sample on Romanticism. I was told that a Modernist wouldn't know if my writing was showing an awareness of scholarship and saying something new because s/he wouldn't have that knowledge about this other time period. But I'm guessing that an academic covering cont. American film and lit would also be familiar with Lolita, as it's post-Modern, falls into the same time period. Hope this helps.

[truckbasket]

When given feedback from Duke on my rejected application last year, I was told that the main problem with my application was that my SOP was not proposing work in the field that my writing sample covered. That said, your topics sound close enough. I was applying to study Modernism with a writing sample on Romanticism. I was told that a Modernist wouldn't know if my writing was showing an awareness of scholarship and saying something new because s/he wouldn't have that knowledge about this other time period. But I'm guessing that an academic covering cont. American film and lit would also be familiar with Lolita, as it's post-Modern, falls into the same time period. Hope this helps.

FYI, I also got feedback from Duke following a rejection last year and was told that they simply didn't make any offers to Modernists at all because they already had too many. I was encouraged to reapply this year as they would be opening the modernist pool back up, but I had already accepted another offer.

[Grunty DaGnome]

Too funny! I'm applying for American Lit programs, but I'm also planning to submit a paper on Nabokov for one program. They want a 10 page writing sample and that was the only one I could shorten enough and still show something of my thought process.

I don't know if it's a bad idea or not, but I'll let you know in April!

[runonsentence]

I've always heard to submit one's strongest writing, period, though others have convincing arguments for considering topic above.

[Ryzhaya]

I don't get it . . . unless you guys are writing about his early Russian novels in translation, isn't Nabokov considered an American writer? I would certainly consider Lolita an American novel.

[yank in the M20]

FYI, I also got feedback from Duke following a rejection last year and was told that they simply didn't make any offers to Modernists at all because they already had too many. I was encouraged to reapply this year as they would be opening the modernist pool back up, but I had already accepted another offer.

Does this annoy you as much as it does me? I mean, If they know they aren't going to pick anyone from a particular time period, they could save us the time and money and list that on their website--but, then again, I don't think any of these programs give a damn how much time we waste and they want our money...Sometimes I wonder why I'm going back to the States for this. They are not as mercenary in the UK.

[0000000000AAA]

I was told by a professor that he doesn't understand why everyone doesn't pretend to be a 17th British person, write one decent essay in the field, and then once you're accepted into a program, do whatever you want! (No offence of course to 17th british people!) Nothing stops people from radically changing their minds once accepted. He commented that statistically the odds of getting in as 17th Brit or early American is like 10x better than a modernist. If they can be mercenary, why not us?

Edited November 6, 2011 by WellSpring

[yank in the M20]

I was told by a professor that he doesn't understand why everyone doesn't pretend to be a 17th British person, write one decent essay in the field, and then once you're accepted into a program, do whatever you want! (No offence of course to 17th british people!) Nothing stops people from radically changing their minds once accepted. He commented that statistically the odds of getting in as 17th Brit or early American is like 10x better than a modernist. If they can be mercenary, why not us?

My dissertation supervisor told me essentially the same thing, saying why try to do a new piece of writing when I can just say I'm going in as a Romantic and use a chunk of my dissertation. My problem with that isn't feeling guilty--like you, I wouldn't--it's that you'd have to create a fabricated SOP about the great resources the university has in 'fill-in-the-blank' and I meet your cohorts in that area, etc. But kudos to anyone that goes that route, and so much better if you're a fellow Modernist so there's a bit less competition for me.

[truckbasket]

Does this annoy you as much as it does me? I mean, If they know they aren't going to pick anyone from a particular time period, they could save us the time and money and list that on their website--but, then again, I don't think any of these programs give a damn how much time we waste and they want our money...Sometimes I wonder why I'm going back to the States for this. They are not as mercenary in the UK.

Yeah, I was pretty shocked. I guess the only reason they didn't post some kind of "don't bother" notice for modernists was just in case they happened to run across someone who really blew them away. What was a little saddening though was that I'd been in touch with several profs there, and none even mentioned that this might be the case.

I was told by a professor that he doesn't understand why everyone doesn't pretend to be a 17th British person, write one decent essay in the field, and then once you're accepted into a program, do whatever you want! (No offence of course to 17th british people!) Nothing stops people from radically changing their minds once accepted. He commented that statistically the odds of getting in as 17th Brit or early American is like 10x better than a modernist. If they can be mercenary, why not us?

Yeah, I heard that from several sources, too. It's kind of sad, but C20th is by far the most saturated field, so it makes sense. Even though I'm technically C20th British, I'm finding ways to diversify so that I won't be completely doomed on the market.

[Grunty DaGnome]

I don't get it . . . unless you guys are writing about his early Russian novels in translation, isn't Nabokov considered an American writer? I would certainly consider Lolita an American novel.

Mine, indeed, was a short story written and published during Nabokov's European exile period. However, like most of his earlier work, it was published in translation in the 60s after he achieved fame with Lolita. Yes, I agree with you, he may not be the "most" American, but in some ways that makes him all the more American, and therefore, I didn't feel bad about submitting a sample about him...when my SOP doesn't express an interest in early American Literature.

[ecritdansleau]

I was told by a professor that he doesn't understand why everyone doesn't pretend to be a 17th British person, write one decent essay in the field, and then once you're accepted into a program, do whatever you want! (No offence of course to 17th british people!) Nothing stops people from radically changing their minds once accepted. He commented that statistically the odds of getting in as 17th Brit or early American is like 10x better than a modernist. If they can be mercenary, why not us?

I guess in a purely strategic sense, I can imagine this, but really, to ask "why doesn't everyone just pretend..." is somehow off-putting. I imagine, though, he has had firsthand experiences of why one might consider this. But am I a simpleton to think that..people don't do this because it's extremely backwards, dishonest, impractical, and inefficient? It's not as if people are trying to get into English PhD programs for the career prospects. Ultimately, the more one thinks of things with a mindset solely focused on "what's attractive to admissions committees," the more one restricts their thinking in ways that prevent them from creatively exploring the research niches that might be worthwhile (and perhaps, in effect, actually attractive to admissions committees). This is just my opinion. And perhaps I am also unaware and naive of the extent to which choice of field bars many applicants from being admitted. Perhaps it's an early indicator of the difficulties and hoop-jumping of the job market.

Of course, for someone at a stage in which they are still open to different historical fields (a sophomore, or non former English major MA), the fact of glutted fields might be something to consider along with everything else that guides one's research path. And yet, I find the idea of someone intentionally misrepresenting him/herself a bit loathsome (If you're going to give the application a go in another field, you might as well imagine yourself immersing in it fully).

Then again, I also question the efficiency of an adcom's choosing students based on field when so many change anyway (without having planned to do so). I can understand a department not wanting to have an entering class of say, eight modernists out of ten entering students, but it just seems to me like two or three loose categories (i.e. half entering students early modern literature and earlier, the other half18th century and later) might be useful. I guess it's the desire of wanting to have different professors feel like different grad students will definitely be coming to them--but it's weird to think how that's backfiring if students are actually applying-in-field-A-to-study-field-B-after-admission with success.

[0000000000AAA]

I think it behooves all of us to think constantly about the job market. I've been advised (at the MA level) to be reading job listings to get a sense of what kind of demand there is. Obviously, the types of positions and focuses will shift slightly during my Phd, but the idea that we are like inspired artists is a bit silly. The best, most brilliant work imaginable, if not somehow cohered with the contemporary conversation, will never be useful or interesting. I want to contribute.

[Timshel]

I think it behooves all of us to think constantly about the job market. I've been advised (at the MA level) to be reading job listings to get a sense of what kind of demand there is. Obviously, the types of positions and focuses will shift slightly during my Phd, but the idea that we are like inspired artists is a bit silly. The best, most brilliant work imaginable, if not somehow cohered with the contemporary conversation, will never be useful or interesting. I want to contribute.

I can be malleable when it comes to different areas of lit or theory, but there is no way I could do comp/rhetoric. It's just not for me. I teach comp now, and it's great and all, but it's not what I want to do for the rest of my life, and it's not why I'm pursuing the degree. A lot of people try to encourage me to change to rhet/comp because there are more jobs, but I just can't. It's Literature or bust (and by bust I mean another type of job).