will stanford interview this year?

[cloverhinge]

I didn't want to freak anyone out with title "stanford interview" and give the wrong impression just in case. 

I was just wondering whether stanford usually interviews for english phd. I browsed the results search and it looks like stanford interviewed around 2012 or so, but I haven't had any more information about it. 

If anyone who applied in previous years or has more information about interviews, I would be super grateful. Thank you! 

[WendyWonderland]

10 minutes ago, cloverhinge said:

I didn't want to freak anyone out with title "stanford interview" and give the wrong impression just in case. 

I was just wondering whether stanford usually interviews for english phd. I browsed the results search and it looks like stanford interviewed around 2012 or so, but I haven't had any more information about it. 

If anyone who applied in previous years or has more information about interviews, I would be super grateful. Thank you! 

They do interviews for comp lit. They already invited some folks according to the results board. As both a former and current applicant I can tell you that Stanford is decent enough to send you an email around late January to tell you that "all interviews have been sent out" and that "all other short listed candidates have been contacted, thank you for your interest" blah blah. This year, however, I haven't got any emails yet. Good luck to you! Hope it helps!

[bugambilia]

Hi, I'm one of the comp lit applicants invited to Stanford for an interview weekend, and I just thought I'd say that the English and comp lit departments are housed under different divisions, and it was the DLCL admin who contacted me. So there's no reason to believe English follows the same protocols. Hope that's somewhat helpful! 

[Villain Elle]

7 hours ago, cloverhinge said:

I didn't want to freak anyone out with title "stanford interview" and give the wrong impression just in case. 

I was just wondering whether stanford usually interviews for english phd. I browsed the results search and it looks like stanford interviewed around 2012 or so, but I haven't had any more information about it. 

If anyone who applied in previous years or has more information about interviews, I would be super grateful. Thank you! 

Thanks for asking this--I was wondering, too! 

[cloverhinge]

Ahh yes I heard that comp lit applicants usually get interviewed for their language skills and such. Thanks for the info! 

5 hours ago, bugambilia said:

I'm one of the comp lit applicants invited to Stanford for an interview weekend,

If you haven't already done your interviews, GOOD LUCK and also congrats! Stanford's campus is absolutely beautiful, wish I were there as well! 

[bugambilia]

@cloverhinge Thanks! The interview isn't for another two weeks, but I'm excited to visit the school – I've never been to Norcal

[unræd]

I can't speak for years prior to it, but they didn't interview English PhD applicants before accepting them last year.

[haltheincandescent]

It seems there was a period a few years ago, when English programs were trying out interviews as part of the process--Chicago, for example, seems to have only just recently started doing them, and there was a bit of discussion (or maybe only results) here from years past that talked about Stanford, and maybe Yale as well. There was definitely larger scale (in higher ed publications, I think, or maybe just Yale's own magazine) discussion of Yale's process--programs that traditionally interviewed seemed to find them valuable, which raised questions about how other departments were handling admissions. So, I think maybe that trial period worked out as something also valuable for some (Chicago) and less so for other schools, who have since gone back to a non-interview application review.

Edit: here's the article I found about Yale: http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/01/11/grad-school-divided-over-interviews/. I can't find a follow-up, though, to see how this ended up, or for what reasons Yale English went back to no interviews.

Edited January 29, 2016 by haltheincandescent

[WendyWonderland]

2 hours ago, bugambilia said:

@cloverhinge Thanks! The interview isn't for another two weeks, but I'm excited to visit the school – I've never been to Norcal

The campus is absolutely gorgeous! The comp lit department also has a friendly vibe! Congrats and good luck to you! I am mentally ready for them to reject me lol

[cloverhinge]

1 hour ago, haltheincandescent said:

It seems there was a period a few years ago, when English programs were trying out interviews as part of the process--Chicago, for example, seems to have only just recently started doing them, and there was a bit of discussion (or maybe only results) here from years past that talked about Stanford, and maybe Yale as well. There was definitely larger scale (in higher ed publications, I think, or maybe just Yale's own magazine) discussion of Yale's process--programs that traditionally interviewed seemed to find them valuable, which raised questions about how other departments were handling admissions. So, I think maybe that trial period worked out as something also valuable for some (Chicago) and less so for other schools, who have since gone back to a non-interview application review.

That was very informative (and interesting!) - thank you tons for that. I was a little mystified by the whole interview process and one grad student said that for his school at least, it was just to verify that the person who had written the application actually lives up to the expectation in real life rather than gaining more info. If that's the case for other programs as well, I think it's terrifying and assuring at the same time... hahhahaha...... I guess there's nothing more I can do than just wait...

12 minutes ago, WendyWonderland said:

I am mentally ready for them to reject me lol

It ain't over yet! I totally sympathize with you about the whole agonizing process of uncertainty though...Last night I was legit weeping over dog rescue videos on youtube - I dunno, but I feel like this whole application process is getting to me in some way or another....

[cloverhinge]

5 hours ago, unræd said:

I can't speak for years prior to it, but they didn't interview English PhD applicants before accepting them last year.

Wait I don't know why I missed this when I read through all the comments - thank you thank you for the info!!