Chances at Comp Lit Programs?

[DontHate]

I applied (removed at poster's request) this cycle. These are my stats:

• Currently enrolled in an M.A. _______ (no grades yet, too early, the program is 1 year)
  
• Undergrad at _______ with a 3.6 GPA (3.77 in my major, English Lit and Fiction Writing)
  
• Studied 4 foreign languages (only 3 of which are going to be a part of my project)
  
• No publications in my field, but I did work for two years between undergrad and grad, writing for an SF bay newspaper and working as an editorial assistant at a magazine and a book publisher (I don't think this experience is at all relevant, but it is on my CV)
  
• My letters are from 3 full professors, one of whom is pretty famous, (the others are solidly respected in their field, but they work on premodern literature and I plan to do mostly 20th C with a dash of 16th C). 2 from _______ and 1 from _______. They all know me pretty well, particularly the Columbia prof. I think they will be very good letters.
  
• My statement of purpose is pretty strong, I think. It's about a creative topic that is growing in popularity, at the intersection of (removed at poster's request).
  

I applied to 7 extremely competitive programs (no safeties): 4 Ivies and _______, _______, and _______. I've corresponded with professors at _______, _______ (where one of the profs in the department I'm applying to is recommending me), _______, _______ and _______ (of course, I'm here, they all know me at least in passing). My profs at _______ are extremely encouraging, but they say they can't guarantee anything, since every year is a crapshoot. I have 3 of 7 on the _______ adcom who are very enthusiastic about having me stay. The other 4 don't know me as well, so I have no idea what they will vote. I'm just worried that my writing sample is weak. I had to produce it in a hurry, it probably could have been better, I think there was a typo. And it's basically the most important part of the whole app :/

[asleepawake]

"I think there was a typo." <----- Welcome to club of people with application typos. We must endure.

Honestly, none of us can give you the reassurance that you are looking for. Your stats are excellent. However, that doesn't guarantee anything. You might not feel great about your writing sample right now, but it's too late to do much about it if you've submitted your applications already. It is probably better than you think it is. If you do not get in this year, the schools will still be there next year.

All of the programs you applied to are incredibly competitive. Lots of excellent applicants don't make it every year. Fit is extremely important, so applying to Ivies just because they're Ivies isn't what you should be doing. If those schools were good fits, you might have a good chance. But as you probably already know, if you have no idea what your chances are, strangers on the internet probably don't either.

Good luck!

Edited December 5, 2012 by asleepawake

[waparys]

Just had to write and give you props for the Mary gif. A good one to keep around!

[DontHate]

I realize that it's impossible to predict. I'm not really asking for anyone to predict the future for me. I just want to know how other people perceive my chances... that's all... I'll go back into this corner to be neurotic by myself now kthanks

[rems]

I don't know how much this means, but I think your chances are better than mine.

[Swagato]

Not really sure what you're looking for, OP. It's evident that you are in a better position than a lot of applicants, but by the same token, when they're considering the final 30 applicants or so, more or less everyone will present similar profiles. What will set them apart are a set of factors nobody, not even with the best 'connections,' can predict: which professor is inclined to take on another advisee, which professor isn't a part of the reading committee and thus won't see your shout-out to him/her, who writes with technical perfection but in an utterly dull voice, who writes with a lively, innovative touch, and so on.

[DontHate]

Not really sure what you're looking for, OP. It's evident that you are in a better position than a lot of applicants, but by the same token, when they're considering the final 30 applicants or so, more or less everyone will present similar profiles. What will set them apart are a set of factors nobody, not even with the best 'connections,' can predict: which professor is inclined to take on another advisee, which professor isn't a part of the reading committee and thus won't see your shout-out to him/her, who writes with technical perfection but in an utterly dull voice, who writes with a lively, innovative touch, and so on.

What are any of us looking for? Acceptance? Validation? Love? Why are we here?

I think when it comes to admissions, we're all underdogs. This time last year I was severely depressed, living at home, completely uncertain about what to do with my life. I thought I would apply to grad school, started an application to SFState, and then went to talk with an old prof at Columbia -- who told me to throw the SFState app in the garbage and apply to Stanford. So I completed exactly one application last year, expecting nothing. I literally forgot I had applied until I got the acceptance email, on exactly Februar 15th. Life is nuts sometimes.

So now I'm here, learning new languages, having too much wine with my professors in our philosophical reading group, discussing heidegger with French rocket scientists... I love it. I'm trying my absolute best to stay here. I really want to be a part of academia, a forever part. I've never been happier, or felt more at home, than doing what I'm doing right now. That's why I'm going crazy over these applications. Doing this job, studying these things, being a part of these conversations...well it just makes me really damn happy.

[DontHate]

I don't know how much this means, but I think your chances are better than mine.

Why do you say that? I've read you posts on here, you seem to have your shit together.

[Guest lefilsdhomme]

i would stop worrying...

[rems]

Why do you say that? I've read you posts on here, you seem to have your shit together.

I was just trying to be funny. And you already go to Stanford, and I do not. And I have horrible GRE scores, and a bad undergrad record. There are numerous reasons. I'm also a bad writer -- honestly, it takes me forever to write a good piece.

My honest opinion? Apply.

[DontHate]

I have horrible GRE scores.

Do GRE scores even matter?

I already did apply. Now I'm just waiting...

[rems]

Do GRE scores even matter?

God, I hope not. You're my new favorite person for saying that.

[DontHate]

I want to get my coffee upgraded on here, so I'm posting on everything. Obviously I'm lonely and bored. Sigh

[t1racyjacks]

I think that we are here simply because waiting is not pleasant. You know where you are with -- and your chances -- given your CV -- are probably better than lots of other people here. Sometimes validation comes at the cost of others. It's the price of narcissism, which is again, of course, an end result of being neurotic.

I am neurotic and very sensitive, so I feel it more than most. But seriously, wrt chances. I don't think mine are very good, but it doesn't matter because we can't control our fates. I don't survive well outside of academia too. Fate is stark however, and if we don't get in, we try again, and if we continue not to get in... *shrugs* life is what it is. I have no doubt that staying in this job will eventually drive me to suicide or something, but I don't feel desperation because I know I have no control.

[DontHate]

I think that we are here simply because waiting is not pleasant. You know where you are with -- and your chances -- given your CV -- are probably better than lots of other people here. Sometimes validation comes at the cost of others. It's the price of narcissism, which is again, of course, an end result of being neurotic.

That's an interesting view. I don't think validation need come at the cost of other people's feelings. I think that has more to do with the fragility of other people's feelings, rather than the actual price of the validation. Waiting does suck. Let's share poems.

Here's one I really like:

Effort at Speech Between Two People (Muriel Rukeyser)

Speak to me. Take my hand. What are you now?

I will tell you all. I will conceal nothing.

When I was three, a little child read a story about a rabbit

who died, in the story, and I crawled under a chair :

a pink rabbit : it was my birthday, and a candle

burnt a sore spot on my finger, and I was told to be happy.

: Oh grow to know me. I am not happy. I will be open:

now I am thinking of white sails againsta sky like music,

like glad horns blowing, and birds tilting, and an arm about me.

There was one I loved, who wanted to live, sailing.

: Speak to me. Take my hand. What are you now?

When I was nine, I was fruitily sentimental,

fluid : and my widowed aunt played Chopin,

and I bent my head on the painted woodwork, and wept.

I want noe to be close to you. I would

link the minutes of my days close, somehow, to your days.

: I am not happy. I will be open.

I have liked lamps in evening corners, and quiet poems.

There has been fear in my life. Sometimes I speculate

On what a tragedy his life was, really.

: Take my hand. First my mind in your hand. What are

you now?

When I was fourteen, I had a dreams of suicide,

and I stood at a steep window, at sunset, hoping toward

death :

if the light had not melted clouds and pains to beauty,

if light had not transformed that day, I would have leapt.

I am unhappy. I am lonely. Speak to me.

: I will be open. I think he never loved me:

he loved the bright beaches, the little lips of foam

that ride small waves, he loved the veer of gulls:

he said with a gay mouth: I love you. Grow to know me.

: What are you now? If we could touch one another,

if these our separate entities could come to grips,

clenched like a Chinese puzzle ... yesterday

I stood in a crowded street that was live with people,

and no one spoke a word, and the morning shone.

Everyone silent, moving... Take my hand. Speak to me.

[t1racyjacks]

I used the word 'sometimes'! and I'm not sure how far that view works. only to a certain extent. if one boasts about one's self, that will hurt fragile egos (like mine). However if it is validation that involves directly putting people down..... that's why I used the word sometimes

[DontHate]

Is the original post "boasting"? It's only boasting if interpreted that way. My gpa is far from perfect, I have no academic publications, and as I said, my writing sample kind of blows. I don't think it's boasting to list your stats and ask for an appraisal. I didn't know the baseline in this forum (and I still don't) but I just naturally assumed it was at or above my level.

[t1racyjacks]

it may or may not be *shrugs* like I said, I'm a sensitive bugger who has a fragile ego.

[DontHate]

Well it wasn't intended to be boasting, and I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.

[rawera]

I think it's hard not to (wrongly) view this exercise as a zero sum game. So if someone has good chances that reduces our respective chance of getting in. But gradcafe is only a small small (extremely neurotic) sample from all those applying. There will be a few posters who register only once they've been accepted. "Hi, I'm the one who posted the acceptances to Penn, Harvard, Yale." Etc.

[t1racyjacks]

Well it wasn't intended to be boasting, and I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.

it's ok. I'm just terribly sensitive because I'm applying to American unis as an international student -- and I'm from Asia -- so of course I don't come from an ivy or a might-as-well-be-ivy. It wouldn't matter so much if admissions didn't naturally (I don't think they mean to, but the attitude probably exists) pay more attention to ivy/might as well be ivy applications That I've had to take the TOEFL is already a huge blow to my pride (excuse me, of course I am capable of speaking basic english). I don't have a 'background' since I was a science student before I went to university, and my writing skills are below par for an english student I did manage to get 2 degrees (BA/ MA) but my BA grades, particularly in the first few years, aren't stellar because I was 'adjusting' to being an English student and writing long essays. That, coupled with the fact that I really want to get into Berkeley (supervisory reasons) is terribly stressful and makes me more of a sensitive twat than I already am

[waparys]

it's ok. I'm just terribly sensitive because I'm applying to American unis as an international student -- and I'm from Asia -- so of course I don't come from an ivy or a might-as-well-be-ivy. It wouldn't matter so much if admissions didn't naturally (I don't think they mean to, but the attitude probably exists) pay more attention to ivy/might as well be ivy applications That I've had to take the TOEFL is already a huge blow to my pride (excuse me, of course I am capable of speaking basic english). I don't have a 'background' since I was a science student before I went to university, and my writing skills are below par for an english student I did manage to get 2 degrees (BA/ MA) but my BA grades, particularly in the first few years, aren't stellar because I was 'adjusting' to being an English student and writing long essays. That, coupled with the fact that I really want to get into Berkeley (supervisory reasons) is terribly stressful and makes me more of a sensitive twat than I already am

Speaking of which--does anyone actually KNOW what it's like for an international student applying to English PhDs? I mean if you met me, you'd say I was indistinguishable from an American...but on paper I AM foreign--I'm worried this is going to hurt me somehow (though t1racyjacks, I've also tried to tell myself it makes us more exotic!).

[t1racyjacks]

When I think of 'exotic' my post-colonial defenses go red >_< It sucks, I think. I don't know if you did your basic degree(s) in Germany. My English is not noticably 'foreign' in typing, but I don't have an American or British accent when I speak

[waparys]

When I think of 'exotic' my post-colonial defenses go red >_< It sucks, I think. I don't know if you did your basic degree(s) in Germany. My English is not noticably 'foreign' in typing, but I don't have an American or British accent when I speak

Sorry--no offense was meant with the word "exotic." Just something these adcomms don't typically see. Yes I did my undergrad in the States and my Master's in the UK.

[t1racyjacks]

think that probably looks better than mine. I did everything here in SG something adcomms don't usually see = unusual? I dunno, for me 'exotic' has that connotation you know.