Researching Schools to Apply for Fall 2015 Admission

[mer5901]

I am going to be applying to PhD programs this fall with the intent to begin working on my PhD in fall 2015.  My interests include Modern World Literature, Feminist Theory, Ethnic American Literature, Postcolonial Studies, Literature and Law, Gender Studies, and Disability Studies.  I have a BA in English, a JD, and a Graduate Diploma in Civil Law, and will have a MA in English prior to beginning a PhD program.  I would really appreciate some PhD program suggestions in light of my interests.  I am definitely interested in moving far, far away from where I am.  The location of the school matters a great deal to me, but so does fit.  I am thinking east coast or west coast.  I'm not so much interested in the mid-west apart from Chicago.  I want to apply to at least a few top-tier schools but want to balance that with applications to mid-tier and safety schools.  What do you think?

[Creffecreve]

You might want to look at Cornell, and Liz Anker specifically, as she also does postcolonial studies within a legal framework (just based on your background, I don't know if that would interest you!)

[Alex Stinson]

I know you aren't thinking midwest, but WashU has Melanie Micir who does Modern British Literature, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Queer Theory and Modernism. Also, the faculty is fairly dense in all the topics you describe: https://english.wustl.edu/browse

[mightyheidi]

UPenn has a number of faculty working on law and literature, specifically, US imperialism and the implications of discourses of freedom. UCLA also has a strong concentration in postcolonial studies, with a number of faculty who are doing work in postcolonial literature! 

[danieleWrites]

First, there is no such thing as a safety school. Safety schools are just as likely to reject you as any other school. There is no school you can apply to that you're practically guaranteed admission to. In fact, skip US News & World report entirely.

 

Second, hop onto the Literature Research Center, MLA international bibliography, JSTOR, whatever, and find out who is doing work in what you're interested in (within the last two years!), and read their publications. Find out where they teach at and you have the beginnings of your list of schools.

 

Once you have a list of schools, start looking at the dissertations of their recent graduates, particularly those in your field of interest. This will give you an idea of the quality of work the program puts out (this is better measure of top tier, mid tier, and bottom tier than anything else). It will also give you a very basic idea of how their culture works and how you might fit into it. Look at the programs and schools to see which ones you like better and which ones you don't.

 

Next, start going through faculty publications. Read their books (or at least the blurbs on book store sites and interlibrary loan the good ones). Read their articles. Don't just look at the ones that work with the theories you're interested in, look at related theory. Feminist theory can also consider deconstruction, post-modernism, Marxism, and so on. You never know who might be a better fit, committee-wise, if your focus is too narrow.

 

That's what I did. My top pick ended up being what other people have stuck in the "in case I don't get in elsewhere" school. I got into it and couldn't be more pleased.