Have experience with any of these schools?

[semicolon2013]

Hey All,

 

I was hoping for some feedback about my tentative list of schools.  If anyone has any personal experience with these programs (or any suggestions for other places to apply), I would love your advice.  My interests are in contemporary (late 20th century and 21st century) American multiethnic literatures, questions of authorial agency and reader responsibility, and continental philosophy.  

 

My current list is as follows:

 

Stanford

Brown

Columbia

Emory

Cornell

SUNY Buffalo

University of Minnesota

University of Chicago

UC Berkeley

University of Pennsylvania 

University of Virginia 

UC Riverside 

Stony Brook 

UC Irvine 

 

[ScubaStevesGF]

I don't have experience with those schools. But, I do have to say, dang yo, you ain't messing around with that list of potential schools. Good luck! 

[ProfLorax]

I also don't have any experience with those schools, but I highly recommend that you search this forum for threads about each school. I know they exist, and you can find out lots about others' experiences there and the application process. Doing this will cost you many hours of your life (I've been down the gradcafe rabbit hole, and so have many others), but I'd say that it is totally worth it. 

[jazzyd]

I visited Brown this past year and will be attending UChicago this fall.

 

As someone interested in African-American literature, I had some major concerns about Brown, which ultimately put them out of the running. But depending on your approach to "multiethnic," they may or may not apply to you.

 

I definitely rec'd searching and seeing what people have to say. I'm sure you'll find at least one rather large thread on each of the schools on your list.

[semicolon2013]

jazzy - why did you pick Chicago, if I may ask?

[jazzyd]

jazzy - why did you pick Chicago, if I may ask?

 

Mainly my decision came down to faculty and program atmosphere. Chicago has the best combination of well-established big names and sharp up-and-coming younger faculty that I (importantly) would be able to realistically work with given my area of interest*. I have no clue what my ultimate project out of all this will be, but after researching the school, contacting faculty, and actually speaking with several members of the department on the visiting day I'm pretty confident Chicago will help me get where I need to go - figuratively and literally.

 

Also, had I been less married to my interest in African American literature and/or the idea of doing a longer historical project with Black culture, the other schools on my list of options would have ranked a lot higher and my decision could have been completely different.

 

(*This is of course out of the schools that extended offers to me.)

Edited July 3, 2013 by jazzy dubois