Likelihood of acceptance?

[CrisCain]

Hi all,

I will be graduating with my MA in English Lit in May and am looking into PhD programs for the Fall. I'm just wondering what my likelihood of acceptance will be- I don't want to get my hopes up! Maybe you guys can help?

If all goes well, I will have a 4.0 upon graduation and strong letters of recommendation (including one from a Rutgers PhD alum). I am taking both the subject and the general GREs in October (which I'm veryy nervous about!), and my one concern is my writing sample. I have a critical essay from last semester that I received an "A" on, but I'm worried that PhD standards are no where near MA standards.

Does anyone have any advice for me?? The other school I'm looking at are: Stony Brook, Boston College, NYU, Fordham, CUNY...

Thanks!

[jasper.milvain]

Well, there certainly aren't any red flags in your post. You sound like you're in fine shape to apply, although you can never really know. I wouldn't worry about using an 'A' paper on a writing sample. That's worrying too much. I know that in my MA the threshold for A+ was so high that only the PhD students in our class had a shot at getting one, and then only a very long shot. Instead of the grade for the sample, I'd worry more about the content. Does it show theoretical/methdological sophistication? Does it link to the project that you're pitching for your PhD? If you can show some consistency or a clear progression, it might help.

Good luck with the GREs and this whole crazy process!

[joeygiraldo]

Well, there certainly aren't any red flags in your post. You sound like you're in fine shape to apply, although you can never really know.

The other school I'm looking at are: Stony Brook, Boston College, NYU, Fordham, CUNY...

That above isn't a red flag to you???

[jasper.milvain]

The other school I'm looking at are: Stony Brook, Boston College, NYU, Fordham, CUNY...

That above isn't a red flag to you???

I don't know American schools. Feel free to compensate for my ignorance!

[joeygiraldo]

I don't know American schools. Feel free to compensate for my ignorance!

I meant the bad grammar of what he wrote... but it could just be he typo'd "The other schools" and forgot the "s." Not a big deal anymore... whatever.

[jasper.milvain]

Ah! Sorry! My humour chip must be turned off. Or I've been spending so much time on the internet that I don't see typos.

[CrisCain]

Wow, I simply forgot the "s." Thanks for the support.

[Minnesotan]

Don't mind them -- we're paid to nitpick our FYW students all day, so it often bleeds into our private lives.

As for your request, can you tell us you SoP strategy? What kind of LoRs you're lining up? Whether you're in contact with potential advisors? This info would really help us give you a better answer. It seems numbers (GPA, GRE) only keep you from being disqualified in the humanities; they don't actually mean you're qualified.

[CrisCain]

I am currently in contact with both of my advisors (from my undergrad and from my masters). I will be receiving LoRs from both of them, plus one from another professor that I have worked with in grad school.

My SoP is already drafted- I have steered clear of the "I love to read" nonsense, and instead concentrated on why I am pursuing my PhD and what I hope to accomplish.

As for my writing sample, though, I am a little worried. I have a paper on TS Eliot, but I have two problems with handing it in: 1) It is 21 pages long and will need to be drastically cut to meet the maximum page requirement for the programs (around 15pp); 2) It is on theory, which is not necessarily what I hope to focus on in grad school.

I would like to start over and write a paper on Kerouac, but have found two problems with that as well: 1) I don't know how well-received it will be, as it is not a conventional, traditional author; 2) My grad advisor said that unless other professors in the programs I am applying to have written about Kerouac, it may not be a good idea. I found one professor at one of the schools I am looking at who wrote about him, but I don't want to have to write a different sample for every school I enroll in.

Any advice?? Thank you!

[circumfession]

Cris,

I'm currently in a Ph.D program that does not admit terminal MA students. However, my partner earned his MA at a graduate program that mixes MA and Ph.D students during the coursework phase. Without going into too-revealing details, he also felt intimidated by the intelligence and sophistication of his Ph.D peers, and wasn't sure that his work could compare. Applying for the Ph.D a year later, he wasn't sure that he'd be accepted into the Ph.D track at this program, much less more competitive Ph.D programs. While it's impossible to make definitive judgments, he got into one of the top Ph.D programs in the country--and one that's ranked over 40 places higher than his MA program. My point, I suppose, that the difference between Ph.D standards and MA standards might not be as vast as you might imagine. I hope you find that to be good news.

That said...I'm sure that you know this already, but do make sure that you revise, revise, revise, and revise that paper. This probably varies from program to program, but I've found that the standards for an "A" paper are not always as high as the standards for an outstanding writing sample. You have nearly half a year...take advantage of that time. However, it might be a red flag that you mentioned your paper focuses on theory, which you're not particularly interested in. I don't think this will matter nearly as much if you're applying with a BA, but as an MA student, your writing sample should be pretty close to what you wish to work on for your dissertation (and your SoP should also be considerably more specific).

Kerouac/less common writers: it really depends on what you want to focus on in graduate school. If Kerouac is important to you, than go for it--but also choose your schools according. To a large extent, I don't think it's the precise writer that makes a difference, as much as the approach that you take when writing about the writer. My paper picked a writer that's even less well known than Kerouac, and fared well enough...but *only* at programs that have faculty who are interested in that writer (or more specifically, in the movement surrounding that writer). Programs that were ranked 25 places *lower* than the school he will be attending turned him down for the Ph.D...largely, I think, because his interests are so unique. This is where "fit" comes in, and I think it's even more pressing when you have an MA already.

Also, page requirements: Take this with a grain of salt, but many of the extremely successful candidates that I know of basically said "screw it" to the page limits. While I wouldn't recommend submitting a 25 page paper for a program that only wants to read 10...you probably can get away with playing with margins, font, spacing, etc. I was able to trim a 26 page paper down to 21 (which is "close enough" for a program that wants 20 pages) without cutting words. (That said, you should also go through the paper very careful, and rephrase, cut, rework every sentence. You might find that you can actually cut off 5-10% of the length without sacrificing ideas...and it generally makes for a cleaner, more concise paper).