School Lists 2013 (Where are you applying?)

[Datatape]

I might have to redo this list because I might not get into any of these schools. To those applying again: did you refine your list of colleges?

Oh, yes. Very much so. Last year, I made the mistake of not doing my research early (would that I had found GradCafe before I sent out applications) and of the seven schools I applied to, really only four of them worked as far as my interests went. There was nothing wrong at all with the other three schools, they just weren't good picks for me. My advice to you is BE YE NOT SO STUPID and make sure you know exactly what you're getting into and which professors you want to work with. There's nothing wrong at all with having stretch schools (I've got a few of them this year, myself), but you're going to really have to hit the sweet spot with those programs to get in on your first run. It can be done, but there's no guarantee.

[dazedandbemused]

Oh, yes. Very much so. Last year, I made the mistake of not doing my research early (would that I had found GradCafe before I sent out applications) and of the seven schools I applied to, really only four of them worked as far as my interests went. There was nothing wrong at all with the other three schools, they just weren't good picks for me. My advice to you is BE YE NOT SO STUPID and make sure you know exactly what you're getting into and which professors you want to work with. There's nothing wrong at all with having stretch schools (I've got a few of them this year, myself), but you're going to really have to hit the sweet spot with those programs to get in on your first run. It can be done, but there's no guarantee.

THIS. I applied to about 13 programs last year, and honestly, maybe 7 of them were a good fit. This year, I've already got about 18 schools on my list, and maybe half of them are MAs. I did A LOT more research this time so I'm only reapplying to about 3 from last year, but the fit is way better with my current list. You live and learn I guess!

[lolopixie]

On 7/6/2012 at 7:36 PM, tfr said:

1. NYU, Columbia, Brown, Cornell, Princeton, UChicago, UM Ann Arbor

2. UPenn, Duke, Yale, WUSTL

3. postmodernism, post WWII American novel, modernism, and all of that stuff.

I might have to redo this list because I might not get into any of these schools. To those applying again: did you refine your list of colleges?

Good luck to everybody!

My list is very much refined. I would also recommend that you apply to some non-top tier schools. All of those schools get a lot of applications - slim odds. NOT saying you're not good enough, but maybe you would want to increase your odds slightly. Aim high by all means, but also be realistic. With that said, no school is really a "safety" school when it comes to these programs.

[TripWillis]

On 7/7/2012 at 4:00 PM, lolopixie said:

My list is very much refined. I would also recommend that you apply to some non-top tier schools. All of those schools get a lot of applications - slim odds. NOT saying you're not good enough, but maybe you would want to increase your odds slightly. Aim high by all means, but also be realistic. With that said, no school is really a "safety" school when it comes to these programs.

yeah, seconding lolo's sentiment. Stratify between mid-tier programs you like/love and top-tier programs you love/love. Focus on the best fits between 1-60 in the rankings. I'm not sure I'd apply any lower than that though -- I know a lot of people who got into schools who were lower in the rankings and were not offered funding. I'm not exactly sure what the correlation is, but there you have it.

[NowMoreSerious]

I tried to spread myself out around the tiers, looking for good fits. Here's my working list:

Temple University

UPenn

Boston University

University of Southern California

UC Davis

Duke

CUNY Graduate Center

NYU

University of Virginia

Princeton

Tufts

Rutgers

Maryland, College Park

Fordham

I've divided these into four tiers:

Tier 1: If I even dream I'm getting into these schools I better wake up and apologize to myself

UPenn

Princeton

Tier 2: No chance in Hell

Duke

NYU

University of Virginia

Rutgers

Tier 3: Snowball's Chance In Hell

Maryland, college Park

Boston University

CUNY Graduate Center

University of Southern California

UC Davis

Tier 4: Highly, highly unlikely

Fordham

Temple

--

Keep in mind, I'm not just basing these tiers on overall rankings but also fit for me and how attractive I may be to a program for various reasons, especially because I've been working out.

Edited July 8, 2012 by ImWantHazPhD

[lolopixie]

I've divided these into four tiers:

Tier 1: If I even dream I'm getting into these schools I better wake up and apologize to myself

UPenn

Princeton

HAHAHAHAHAHA. THIS!!!! Thank you for the laugh. Literally cracked up when I read this.

[TripWillis]

I tried to spread myself out around the tiers, looking for good fits. Here's my working list:

Temple University

UPenn

Boston University

University of Southern California

UC Davis

Duke

CUNY Graduate Center

NYU

University of Virginia

Princeton

Tufts

Rutgers

Maryland, College Park

Fordham

I've divided these into four tiers:

Tier 1: If I even dream I'm getting into these schools I better wake up and apologize to myself

UPenn

Princeton

Tier 2: No chance in Hell

Duke

NYU

University of Virginia

Rutgers

Tier 3: Snowball's Chance In Hell

Maryland, college Park

Boston University

CUNY Graduate Center

University of Southern California

UC Davis

Tier 4: Highly, highly unlikely

Fordham

Temple

--

Keep in mind, I'm not just basing these tiers on overall rankings but also fit for me and how attractive I may be to a program for various reasons, especially because I've been working out.

This is hilarious, and also well done. Note about BU: do you already have your master's? If so, I would just throw that one out altogether. They take like 6 people a year and usually only one person with a master's. I consider my applying there last year a huge mistake.

[NowMoreSerious]

This is hilarious, and also well done. Note about BU: do you already have your master's? If so, I would just throw that one out altogether. They take like 6 people a year and usually only one person with a master's. I consider my applying there last year a huge mistake.

Thank you, that is really good to know, and a shame, because they seemed like a great fit. Yes, I'm finishing up a Master's. Any knowledge about Amherst or Boston College? I'll check for fits but I'm wondering if they have that same tendency. I'm a 19th Century Americanist, bleeding more towards the 20th than the early American.

[TripWillis]

Thank you, that is really good to know, and a shame, because they seemed like a great fit. Yes, I'm finishing up a Master's. Any knowledge about Amherst or Boston College? I'll check for fits but I'm wondering if they have that same tendency. I'm a 19th Century Americanist, bleeding more towards the 20th than the early American.

Amherst accepted me and I have an M.A. Seems like they have no bias against people with a master's. BC is also a very small cohort -- like 6 people, but have no idea if they have an M.A. bias or not. Amherst takes like 18 people, btw, but TAships are not guaranteed for everyone. They highly value teaching experience, so if you've taught, I would definitely apply there.

[wreckofthehope]

Thank you, that is really good to know, and a shame, because they seemed like a great fit. Yes, I'm finishing up a Master's. Any knowledge about Amherst or Boston College? I'll check for fits but I'm wondering if they have that same tendency. I'm a 19th Century Americanist, bleeding more towards the 20th than the early American.

Any particular types of literature etc within those areas? I'm at BC - we have major strengths in American Studies and late 19th and C20th American. (also no with MA/straight from undergrad preference - incoming classes are mixed, but too small -4 per year- to really provide any statistical usefulness).

[NowMoreSerious]

Any particular types of literature etc within those areas? I'm at BC - we have major strengths in American Studies and late 19th and C20th American. (also no with MA/straight from undergrad preference - incoming classes are mixed, but too small -4 per year- to really provide any statistical usefulness).

Turn of the 20th century novels and prose. I find myself doing work in realist, naturalist, and utopian novels. I've presented on Charles Chesnutt, Jack London, and Henry James and have also written on Sherwood Anderson, Edward Bellamy, Edith Wharton, and Frank Norris. In terms of "methods": economic criticism, utopian studies/theory, racial and sexual identity. I like looking at representations of desire in novels, expressed both through the thematics and characters as well as the style and aesthetics.

I am also into electronic literature and the digital humanities through a seminar I took.

[wreckofthehope]

Turn of the 20th century novels and prose. I find myself doing work in realist, naturalist, and utopian novels. I've presented on Charles Chesnutt, Jack London, and Henry James and have also written on Sherwood Anderson, Edward Bellamy, Edith Wharton, and Frank Norris. In terms of "methods": economic criticism, utopian studies/theory, racial and sexual identity. I like looking at representations of desire in novels, expressed both through the thematics and characters as well as the style and aesthetics.

I am also into electronic literature and the digital humanities through a seminar I took.

Two faculty members, especially, come to mind:

Kevin Ohi - for James, aesthetics and sexuality.

Chris Wilson - for realism, naturalism, social and economic approaches.

Then there are a bunch of people working in American Modernism and the later C20th century. I don't know of much/any digital humanities scholarship... but there was a project recently, Joyceways, created by staff and students (undergrad and grad) that suggests there might be a lot going on creatively in those areas that I'm not aware of?

[danialexis]

Hello all. I just joined the forums today; it is early, but I have a nontrivial amount of work to do, so I figured I ought to start reading up now.

I have a list a mile long of places I still want to look into, but right now, this is how it looks like my personal list is shaping up:

1. UC - Irvine

UC - Berkeley

Emory

University of North Carolina

University of Michigan

2. UVa

Cornell

Duke

WUSTL

Chicago

2a. (places that are on my "look at these programs" list, but I can't remember why they're there in the first place, lol. So maybe I am applying or maybe not, but I don't know enough yet to know!)

Harvard

Princeton

Duke

Michigan State

Boston University

Columbia

USC

UCLA

Oregon

Yale

Rutgers

Brown

U Penn

University of Wisconsin

3. My research interests are 20th/21st-century American literature and intersectionality as a literary theory (overlapping with but distinct from intersectionality as a social justice theory). I have a J.D. from UMich, so I suppose I should be interested in law-as-literature as well, but I'm not five-years-of-my-life interested in it.

[ckstarling]

1. YESES

Carnegie Mellon

Buffalo (poetics)

Rochester

Albany

Miami U, Ohio

Ohio University

WUSTL

2. MAYBES

Syracuse (they're a hearty "yes" -- a dream program, in fact -- but there are... interpersonal issues... that complicate its movement to the "yes" list at the moment)

Case Western

Purdue (theory & cultural studies)

Oregon

UT Austin

3. RESEARCH INTERESTS

Contemporary poetry, trauma theory, identity theory, postcolonialism, feminism, issues of self & body. I am currently finishing my MFA in Poetry & have been working on research regarding the intersections between trauma/trauma theory & the female poetic voice, specifically in terms of the lyric being used to simultaneously expose & conceal sexual violence. I'm most interested in issues of female identity & self vs. body in the post-traumatic state. My other primary area of interest is postcolonialism, so I'm equally interested in these issues of female identity & self vs. body in terms of colonial violence.

[NowMoreSerious]

Two faculty members, especially, come to mind:

Kevin Ohi - for James, aesthetics and sexuality.

Chris Wilson - for realism, naturalism, social and economic approaches.

Then there are a bunch of people working in American Modernism and the later C20th century. I don't know of much/any digital humanities scholarship... but there was a project recently, Joyceways, created by staff and students (undergrad and grad) that suggests there might be a lot going on creatively in those areas that I'm not aware of?

Yes, I've read the first few chapters of Kevin Ohi's book on Queerness of Style in Henry James and it was excellent. I wasn't aware he taught at Boston College. I will research Chris Wilson.

Thanks for the excellent information. What's your emphasis?

[romeo jones]

These ...

CUNY

PITT

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)

University of Pennsylvania (UPENN)

Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL)

UT Austin

USC

and considering these too ...

Brandeis

Claremont

UC Riverside

University of Chicago

... and I'm still poking around for other programs. For me, the main factor is location; got to find a place that works for my girlfriend.

Interests: film/lit intersectionality (other media / pop culture too), the 20th century American novel, comedy

[Timshel]

On 7/12/2012 at 8:53 AM, romeo jones said:

These ...

CUNY

PITT

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)

University of Pennsylvania (UPENN)

Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL)

UT Austin

USC

and considering these too ...

Brandeis

Claremont

UC Riverside

University of Chicago

... and I'm still poking around for other programs. For me, the main factor is location; got to find a place that works for my girlfriend.

Interests: film/lit intersectionality (other media / pop culture too), the 20th century American novel, comedy

I'm heading to UC Riverside this fall. They are good for your interests, and the location is great. The location was one of the factors for me, too, because I needed somewhere that would work for my husband, too. If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask.

[romeo jones]

Cool. Thanks, Timshel!

[kallie]

Hi guys! I started a poetry resource site called www.telltellpoetry.com and I've included some MFA resource information that you might like. I applied to MFA programs last year, so let me know if you want some help editing your SOP! In addition, if any of you are interested in guest blogging or writing blogs (for your resume) please let me know!

[JeremiahParadise]

Definitely applying: Brandeis, CUNY, Rutgers, UT-Austin, UW-Madison, UC-Irvine, WUSTL

Possibly applying: UNC-Chapel Hill,WUSTL, UMD, Notre Dame, BC, UC-Davis, UConn, UMass

Area of interest: Postwar American fiction, aesthetics, queer studies, book history, and others.

[Stately Plump]

On 7/16/2012 at 8:29 PM, JeremiahParadise said:

Definitely applying: Brandeis, CUNY, Rutgers, UT-Austin, UW-Madison, UC-Irvine, WUSTL

Possibly applying: UNC-Chapel Hill, WUSTL, UMD, Notre Dame, BC, UC-Davis, UConn, UMass

Area of interest: Postwar American fiction, aesthetics, queer studies, book history, and others.

I know that UMass has some people doing some pretty interesting work on the history of the book. Just food for thought

[sfh09]

Definitely: Northwestern, WUSTL, Michigan, Duke, Vanderbilt, Kentucky

Maybe: Northeastern, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Florida, Indiana, Carnegie Mellon, Pitt

I'm interested in portrayals of mental illness/emotional abnormalities, particularly from a feminist perspective. I'd mostly like to focus on mid-to-late-twentieth and twenty-first century American fiction and memoirs but I also want a solid background in the history of how such conditions are portrayed. I already have somewhat of a background in early American women's captivity narratives--I might want to do some work with them as part of a comparison between emotional conditions resulting from specific trauma versus mood and anxiety disorders that just kind of...happen. (I feel like I need to refine my interests a bit...and possibly my lists...).

I don't exactly have high hopes for this year.

And I have no expectation of getting into Michigan. A) It's amazing and B ) it's my undergrad but if I could...that would be amazing. On that note, if anyone wants to know anything about the English department/the university/Ann Arbor/the weather/whatever, feel free to PM me

[anoveldave]

sfh09, one of my interests is also portrayals of mental illness/disabilities, but in the context of East Asian cultures and their diaspora. It's a recent interest, that isn't too grounded in any literature I've come across thus far. Do you have any suggestions for readings that approach the subject? I can also add that though I don't know too much about Rutgers' comp lit program, having grown up near and attended Rutgers, it's a decent campus with great mobility to bigger cities, i.e. Philly and NYC.

On 7/16/2012 at 9:52 PM, sfh09 said:

Definitely: Northwestern, WUSTL, Michigan, Duke, Vanderbilt, Kentucky

Maybe: Northeastern, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Florida, Indiana, Carnegie Mellon, Pitt

I'm interested in portrayals of mental illness/emotional abnormalities, particularly from a feminist perspective. I'd mostly like to focus on mid-to-late-twentieth and twenty-first century American fiction and memoirs but I also want a solid background in the history of how such conditions are portrayed. I already have somewhat of a background in early American women's captivity narratives--I might want to do some work with them as part of a comparison between emotional conditions resulting from specific trauma versus mood and anxiety disorders that just kind of...happen. (I feel like I need to refine my interests a bit...and possibly my lists...).

I don't exactly have high hopes for this year.

And I have no expectation of getting into Michigan. A) It's amazing and B ) it's my undergrad but if I could...that would be amazing. On that note, if anyone wants to know anything about the English department/the university/Ann Arbor/the weather/whatever, feel free to PM me

[claptrap]

sfh09, one of my interests is also portrayals of mental illness/disabilities, but in the context of East Asian cultures and their diaspora. It's a recent interest, that isn't too grounded in any literature I've come across thus far. Do you have any suggestions for readings that approach the subject? I can also add that though I don't know too much about Rutgers' comp lit program, having grown up near and attended Rutgers, it's a decent campus with great mobility to bigger cities, i.e. Philly and NYC.

MELUS has an issue that focuses on "Race, Ethnicity, Disability, and Literature" that you might find interesting, though there are really only two applicable essays ("Editor's Introduction: Race, Ethnicity, Disability, and Literature: Intersections and Interventions" and "Cutting the Tongue: Language and the Body in Kingston's 'The Woman Warrior'"). Also, the upcoming issue of Amerasia Journal is supposed to concentrate on "The State of Illness and Disability in Asian America," so keep an eye out for that.

[skybythelight]

The only schools on my definitely applying list so far are: UIC and University of Washington. It's very likely that I'll be applying to Carnegie Mellon. Also considering U of Minnesota and U of New Mexico... I'm planning on applying to 5-6 total. Oh, and this is for MA.

My interests are somewhat broad as of now (which is why I'm starting with an MA), but I would like to focus on queer/gender theory as well as post-colonial theory and African literature in particular.