Where my Duke applicants at?!

[koolherc]

Indeed, universities tend to gentrify communities, pushing impoverished communities elsewhere and erecting gates vis-a-vis high rent and cost of living-- part of the reason I would rather not live in a college town or university part of town.

But this is not to say that the latter areas are, in fact, safe: my university town had high amounts (relative to the population) of on campus hate crimes, the largest police force in the state per capita, and a disturbingly high number of rapes and sexual assaults (not even counting all of the ones in fraternity parties that never go reported).

well put; well put. add substance use to the list

Edited February 14, 2012 by koolherc

[cquin]

so it seems that duke is accepting 6 this year, out of the 15 invited to the interview. i'm almost certain that i won't be attending duke, so i suppose that now that's 14....

Just curious, but did you receive a better offer elsewhere, vordhosbntwin?

I may be a little obsessed with Duke's Lit program, as evidenced by the fact that I'm still lurking this thread although I was implicitly rejected...

[Aubergine]

Just got the official rejection!

[vordhosbntwin]

Just curious, but did you receive a better offer elsewhere, vordhosbntwin?

I may be a little obsessed with Duke's Lit program, as evidenced by the fact that I'm still lurking this thread although I was implicitly rejected...

i received better offers for my particular interests (yale comp lit and johns hopkins humanities center), and perhaps an offer with better funding (yale's is quite good), though i'm not sure what duke's funding is.

[ivandub]

Hi all -- for the Duke Literature applicants, I managed to find my way to a course guide that provides synopses of the classes taught in the department in previous semesters. You may have noticed that going through the department website it's impossible to find more than a title and a generic one-sentence description for all the classes, but this page provides much more. I'm sure some of you will have found it of your own accord, but it may be of interest to some of you -- http://fds.duke.edu/db?courses-29-0-2011-Fall-0-

Good luck to everyone who's at the campus visit this weekend

[vordhosbntwin]

just got back from the interview; i left before the final dinner because i was ready to get out of there. the program is definitely not for me, but there were attractive elements, and if any of the international folks who couldn't make the weekend want impressions from someone who visited, feel free to ask me. i think i need a more 'traditional' program, so i'm gonna do yale comp lit.

[Two Espressos]

just got back from the interview; i left before the final dinner because i was ready to get out of there. the program is definitely not for me, but there were attractive elements, and if any of the international folks who couldn't make the weekend want impressions from someone who visited, feel free to ask me. i think i need a more 'traditional' program, so i'm gonna do yale comp lit.

I'm in the States, and I'm not applying until the next cycle, but I am curious as to your thoughts about the program. What is it that you liked and disliked about it?

If you want, I can PM you instead, but I figured that I'd ask publicly first, as others may be interested as well.

[ComeBackZinc]

Would you feel comfortable sharing a few reasons you didn't feel that Duke was a good fit?

[takethiswaltz]

Yes, please! I'd be happy to PM you if that's what you prefer.

[vordhosbntwin]

i've written a short summary of the event, and i'll message it to each of you.

i've PM'd a few; i'd be glad to PM others. i would like to add one thing: i do not do cultural studies, i am not at all a cutting-edge literary theory person; i do work in philosophy, modernism, and other canonical literary traditions. i'm not conservative necessarily, but i don't really give a shit about trendy theory, which doesn't make me the best candidate for duke. there are people at duke whose interests really align with my own, but unfortunately, these people are not easy to work with, to approach, or to really have much interaction with at all. there are good reasons to go to duke. but there are certainly better programs.

to illustrate this a bit, let me say that the literature department seemed to be very opposed to comparative literature depts in general. i will likely choose to go to yale complit, which is precisely the kind of program duke seems to despise, so perhaps that's why i'm not a good fit.

Edited February 19, 2012 by vordhosbntwin

[DorindaAfterThyrsis]

I'd love to hear your Duke thoughts, vordhosbntwin PM me if you get a chance.

Quick clarification, though: you were visiting the English program, or the Comp Lit program? (or are they the same? Duke confuses me... )

[ComeBackZinc]

I'd like to get your thoughts PM'd, as well, if you don't mind and it's convenient.

[vordhosbntwin]

I'd love to hear your Duke thoughts, vordhosbntwin PM me if you get a chance.

Quick clarification, though: you were visiting the English program, or the Comp Lit program? (or are they the same? Duke confuses me... )

Duke doesn't have complit; just a Literature program and an English program. I was invited to interview for the Literature program.

and please, give me your thoughts on the feedback i've sent you. my perspective is a very narrow and specific one; perhaps some things i see as negatives you see as positives.

Edited February 19, 2012 by vordhosbntwin

[ivandub]

Hi, I'd appreciate some of your feedback as well. It's unclear to me what you mean by cutting edge/trendy literary theory, or reasons why you feel they're 'against' comp lit departments. I'd be interested also to know who the people you identify as unapproachable are; it's a good chance those may be the people that made me take an interest in Duke in the first place, so that would be useful for me to know something about. My own theoretical interests also veer much more in the direction of European philosophy than literary theory per se; but I guess it's seemed to me that Duke is strong in that area. But perhaps I'm putting too much emphasis on Jameson's presence in my own imaginings of what the place is actually like. The main other advantage for me in getting in is that there are people who do film studies there, which is part of my background, even if it's not what I plan to emphasise primarily in my graduate work. It's unclear to me if that's what you're identifying when you talk of a 'cultural studies' presence at Duke, or something else.

I don't know, when I look at their course guide I just see -- a class on Lacan, a class on poststructuralist thought, a class on conceptions of the university in modern european thought from Fichte onwards, a class on stevens & yeats... which all sound great, and which make it seem to me much more like a good, theory & philosophy-heavy comp lit program than what you're describing, so I'll be interested to know if there are things I'm not getting.

[vordhosbntwin]

Hi, I'd appreciate some of your feedback as well. It's unclear to me what you mean by cutting edge/trendy literary theory, or reasons why you feel they're 'against' comp lit departments. I'd be interested also to know who the people you identify as unapproachable are; it's a good chance those may be the people that made me take an interest in Duke in the first place, so that would be useful for me to know something about. My own theoretical interests also veer much more in the direction of European philosophy than literary theory per se; but I guess it's seemed to me that Duke is strong in that area. But perhaps I'm putting too much emphasis on Jameson's presence in my own imaginings of what the place is actually like. The main other advantage for me in getting in is that there are people who do film studies there, which is part of my background, even if it's not what I plan to emphasise primarily in my graduate work. It's unclear to me if that's what you're identifying when you talk of a 'cultural studies' presence at Duke, or something else.

I don't know, when I look at their course guide I just see -- a class on Lacan, a class on poststructuralist thought, a class on conceptions of the university in modern european thought from Fichte onwards, a class on stevens & yeats... which all sound great, and which make it seem to me much more like a good, theory & philosophy-heavy comp lit program than what you're describing, so I'll be interested to know if there are things I'm not getting.

you should talk to some of the other candidates, who will likely give the program a more positive review. jameson doesn't have much of a presence these days, for one, and he's also the only person in the department that really emphasizes history of philosophy and certain strains of continental. if you want lacan, it would be a great place for you to go, but there aren't a lot of folks doing german idealism, frankfurt school, or other twentieth century stuff earlier than say derrida. in my interview today, three faculty members agreed with me that my interests (modernism and continental philosophy, as they tagged me) were a little more traditional than what they do. there are also some other elements, namely financial, that you might want to consider.

and the 'against comp lit depts' came straight from katherine hayles' mouth.

Edited February 19, 2012 by vordhosbntwin

[ivandub]

Hmm, interesting. I don't have any particular interest in Lacan, was just an example of what looked like a good theory class on their current course schedule. Thanks though for all the info, these are all things I should be giving some thought to, if I do end up getting an offer.

[ivandub]

Good luck to everyone else doing their Skype interviews today!

[Matan C]

Good luck to everyone else doing their Skype interviews today!

just had mine...pretty dry wasn't it?

hope to hear back soon...

[ivandub]

yeah, very dry... strange experience. hardt was kind of friendly, the rest were very stone-faced

[takethiswaltz]

ugh... i'm thisclose to just cancelling my interview.

[ivandub]

oh sorry, shouldn't have said that while people are still awaiting theirs! don't worry, and i may be exaggerating coming straight out of it. it wasn't really that bad. it just felt much more like a formal interview than a conversation, which i guess is what i'd hoped it'd be like

[Enzian]

That's a shame. While the faculty were definitely hard to read in-person (during the interviews, I mean, not during the dinners and things), they were also friendly and most of us there this weekend really felt our interviews were productive. But it was a long weekend for them and doing seven Skype interviews on top of the day's work is probably taxing so I guess it's not surprising they're a bit more reserved (plus the fact that they're all together for your interviews, while in person they were divided into two teams). Still, I'm bummed you all didn't have the same experience I did. Relative to other mind-fuckingly nerve-wracking experiences it was ultimately kind of pleasant, is what I mean.

:-(

Good luck to those still to interview!

[Matan C]

how did other people's interview go? mine was dry, pretty official, but fair and good...impressions anyone?

[takethiswaltz]

I've been admitted into Duke's Literature Program!! I can't believe it...

[Enzian]

Holy shit, congratulations takethiswaltz! That's awesome! Especially because:

ugh... i'm thisclose to just cancelling my interview.

Glad you stuck it out? :-)