Programs that list admissions statistics online

[JeremiahParadise]

Hi, all:

I've recently come across a couple programs -- UCSB and UNC-CH -- whose websites list their admissions statistics (admits' average GRE scores or percentiles, GPAs, et cetera). Do you recall any others that do the same? I think this sort of information is really interesting and helpful, and I'm hoping we can compile some links here for future applicants (including me). Thanks!

Best,

JP

UNC: http://englishcomplit.unc.edu/admissions/applying/FAQ

UCSB: http://www.english.ucsb.edu/grad/applications/application-info.asp#application-numbers

Edited January 30, 2012 by JeremiahParadise

[Grunty DaGnome]

Wow, the most intersting thing about UCSB [where I did my undergrad] is how little money they give you and for how few years! Crazy! A beautiful campus though, but I don't know if I'd go back if it would plunge me into certain debt.

As for your interests, JeremiahParadise, I think Tufts is a great fit program for you. You might also check out BC. Chris Wilson is great for American Studies and many profs there do Queer theory.

Edited January 30, 2012 by Grunty DaGnome

[darjeelingtea16]

Hi, all:

I've recently come across a couple programs -- UCSB and UNC-CH -- whose websites list their admissions statistics (admits' average GRE scores or percentiles, GPAs, et cetera). Do you recall any others that do the same? I think this sort of information is really interesting and helpful, and I'm hoping we can compile some links here for future applicants (including me). Thanks!

Best,

JP

UNC: http://englishcompli...ns/applying/FAQ

UCSB: http://www.english.u...ication-numbers

To add to this list:

Fordham: http://www.fordham.edu/academics/colleges__graduate_s/graduate__profession/arts__sciences/gsas_programs__degre/program_statistics/english_language_and_21367.asp

Notre Dame (who is actually pretty awesome about this): http://graduateschool.nd.edu/departments-and-programs/ph-d-programs/

[JeremiahParadise]

Thanks, Grunty! I've thought Tufts would be a great fit -- glad to hear you think so, too. And thanks, Darjeeling, for adding a couple more programs to the list.

[bfat]

Here are Yale's unbelievably depressing statistics:

http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/admissions/departments.html

And the bulletin for English, specificaly: http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/academics/profiles/englishlanguagelit.pdf

[bdon19]

And here's Duke's. The quantitative stuff isn't as scary as some other places, but man, that acceptance rate...

http://gradschool.duke.edu/about/statistics/admiteng.htm

[ComeBackZinc]

Not to say that it's easy to get into these schools (it's incredibly hard) but remember that the more prominent the department, the more frivolous applicants they get. A school like Yale probably gets a ton of people applying who have effectively no chance of getting in.

[thestage]

we might define "no chance" differently (for instance, "no prestige" would be an upgrade for my undergraduate school; I applied to Yale anyway), but I just don't see people putting in the kind of effort necessary to seriously consider getting a PhD, and then doing so at a prestigious school, without also doing enough research to get some cursory sense of what is required. granted, everyone thinks they are the exception to the rule, but that sort of thinking tends to diminish over the course of actually applying rather than merely thinking (or dreaming) about applying.

then again, it worked for james franco (amirite, etc.)

Edited January 31, 2012 by thestage

[tsuga]

Minnesota lists stats for all of their programs:

http://www.grad.umn.edu/data/stats/ad/1027600.html

[xfgdfrmgpo332]

Minnesota lists stats for all of their programs:

http://www.grad.umn....ad/1027600.html

Pretty amazing - while the number of applicants to all grad programs combined has risen in the last 10 years from about 12,000 to about 15,000, a 25% increase, the number of English grad school applicants has gone from 141 to 289 - over 100% increase. And everyone says interest in the humanities is declining...

[pel]

http://www.princeton.edu/gradschool/about/docs/admission/admission_stats.pdf

[ComeBackZinc]

we might define "no chance" differently (for instance, "no prestige" would be an upgrade for my undergraduate school; I applied to Yale anyway), but I just don't see people putting in the kind of effort necessary to seriously consider getting a PhD, and then doing so at a prestigious school, without also doing enough research to get some cursory sense of what is required. granted, everyone thinks they are the exception to the rule, but that sort of thinking tends to diminish over the course of actually applying rather than merely thinking (or dreaming) about applying.

then again, it worked for james franco (amirite, etc.)

But that's just it. None of them think of themselves as not having a chance. They just don't actually have one. Schools like Yale get a lot of applicants who are "believing in the dream" and "following their bliss" or whatever.

[Grunty DaGnome]

But that's just it. None of them think of themselves as not having a chance. They just don't actually have one. Schools like Yale get a lot of applicants who are "believing in the dream" and "following their bliss" or whatever.

I have to agree. I had a friend who worked in the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Admin. Office specifically working on the "initial cut" committee and there is a huge population of candidates who were just totally uninformed about what applying to graduate school entailed. I mean, if you consider that many of the people on these boards spend maybe YEARS trying to get information about the process, editing writing samples, etc., and still get rejected, you can certainly imagine that people with very little information would not produce great applications.

Ironically, my friend said, Harvard probably gets some of the worst applications on the low end. It makes sense, really. If you ever caught a rerun of Goodwill Hunting on cable during the past 15 years, you might convince yourself that Harvard is the place for you. But that same person probably wouldn't even think of applying to the English Department at Minnesota U, because how would they know Minnesota has colleges? That wasn't in the movie.

[Grunty DaGnome]

Pretty amazing - while the number of applicants to all grad programs combined has risen in the last 10 years from about 12,000 to about 15,000, a 25% increase, the number of English grad school applicants has gone from 141 to 289 - over 100% increase. And everyone says interest in the humanities is declining...

I was thinking this myself. There's all this defeatism that the humanities are dying, but those of us who get in to an English department this year or next should keep in mind the 500 or so people who didn't get in to the department. Those 500 or so people a year who are excluded represent a demand for what you/[we?] do. Thinking about how the scholarly community can engage these people over a lifetime, even after they go off to different careers, different lives, well, I think creative solutions to this problem could really transform the role of "scholarship" in American society.

[thestage]

but no one has ever said that the demand for English at the undergraduate level has diminshed (the demand for <i>other</i>, smaller humanities departments is declining, but English numbers seem to be healthy). lots of people get english degrees. the problem is about what comes next. why do you think schools only admit 10 people for an incoming PhD class? look at some of the numbers in this thread, and you'll note that while applications are universally up, admits are universally down. is it because people are becoming less and less qualified (they are, but that's another story)? no, it's because there's no funding. and why is there no funding? because there is less interest in producing those degrees. and why do English PhD students need guaranteed funding in the first place, while non-humanities students often are required to pay their own way through graduate school? because there are no $100,000 jobs waiting for them on the other side, and consequently no one that isn't rich would ever get a humanities PhD if they had to foot the bill.

in fact, the rising number of English graduate applicants is itself a sign of a diminished demand for the humanities, because it suggests that those with BA's in English are not finding jobs.

Edited February 2, 2012 by thestage

[Grunty DaGnome]

It seems to me that if a University used existing capacity to teach continuing education classes for approx 400 bucks a semester, 100 or so adult enthusiasts could stay involved with literary studies and create one more grad or assistant faculty position.

Many large universities do this, but usually as an afterthought. They don't plan a strong curriculum for the non-professional/enthusiast, that might build on itself year after year.