Comparative Literature Programs

[Aquinaplatostotlestine]

Lise: I do hope that you are right. I've been very surprised by the one acceptance/handful of wait-listed posts on the results page. Of course we'll know soon enough, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a few more acceptances . Best of luck to everyone.

Cheers!

[Lise]

Bweirk. Penn State has been making phone calls so it seems and I haven't got one! Sad, I really would have LOVED to go there

[craigjohnston]

On 1/22/2010 at 11:35 AM, Nightingalesing said:

Hi! I'm also applying to Comp Lit programs this season, but in a very different subfield. My focus is on East Asian languages and literatures and I've done a lot of work with Chinese Opera and theatre in Elizabethan England. I'm crossing my fingers and waiting to hear back from Penn State, WUSTL, Duke, Stanford, UC Davis, and Harvard. best of luck to everyone!!

Hi... I am interested in applying to Comparative lit/East Asian Lit courses in the US.. I did my BA in Humanities (Major in Chinese/Japanese lit) from a small liberal arts college in California. I did a terminal MA in Eastern Classics at St John's College, Santa Fe...

I am interested in the PhD courses at CU, Berkeley and ,er, well the best Universities I can get accepted to.. I am concerned about how much I need to know and just how good my language skills need to be... Any pointers, experiences you can share about preparing your PhD proposal?

Thanks,

Craig

[squarerootof]

I am currently getting my MA in Comp Lit at CU, so let me know if you have any questions about the program.

[squarerootof]

I applied to six Comp Lit programs, all for PhD, as I'm currently finishing up an MA in Comp Lit. I applied to Duke, UPenn, UC Santa Barbara, WUSTL, CU (not too worried about getting into the PhD program here, ha!) and UMass Amherst. I have an unofficial acceptance (via department contact) at UCSB, a rejection from WUSTL, and a lot of nail-biting on the rest.

I really, really have my heart set on Duke Literature, but it seems they already sent interviews out and I did not get one. I haven't given up hope, especially since I'm in a unique position (Fredric Jameson is visiting my program during interviews week and I will be meeting him a few times) but I'm also not holding my breath anymore. Very disheartening.

[pel]

Hey, I'm also a comparative literature applicant. I did my BA at the Literature Department at Harvard. So far I heard from UCB and Brown (both rejections, sadly) I'm keeping my fingers crossed for going back to Harvard tho. Good luck to everyone!

[Refresh refresh]

hey all! I'm also applying to comp lit programs for Iranian literature (also applying to near eastern studies depts). I got into UMichigan and WUSTL, but I'm waiting on UT Austin. has anyone heard anything from them? Or does anyone have any input about the comp lit programs at either umich or washu? Any advice/insight would be super helpful! Good luck to everyone!!

[Starlajane]

On 2/8/2012 at 6:46 AM, Refresh refresh said:

hey all! I'm also applying to comp lit programs for Iranian literature (also applying to near eastern studies depts). I got into UMichigan and WUSTL, but I'm waiting on UT Austin. has anyone heard anything from them? Or does anyone have any input about the comp lit programs at either umich or washu? Any advice/insight would be super helpful! Good luck to everyone!!

No, I haven't heard anything yet nor have I seen anything on the results board. I keep checking the website but it only says "In Review." I am assuming a rejection b/c they notify acceptances/waitlists early Feb., rejections late Feb., early March.

[Refresh refresh]

Mine says "in review" too blerg. What are you specializing in, starla?

[Origin=Goal]

Minnesota comp lit rejection letters are out, got a very nice, albeit long and round-about, statement from the chair.

Not really sweating this one though.

[rawera]

Minnesota comp lit rejection letters are out, got a very nice, albeit long and round-about, statement from the chair.

Not really sweating this one though.

Why'd it have to be some damn nice, though.

[Starlajane]

Mine says "in review" too blerg. What are you specializing in, starla?

Ugh, just got rejected from Indiana (comp lit). I am so depressed; I so far have one interview and two rejections, and I assume rejections from Penn State (French) and Texas (comp lit).

I'm specializing in transnational modernism, aka comparative lit from 1850-1950 of Western Europe and the Americas, specifically trauma/memory studies, gender studies/feminism, text-image studies and colonial and post-colonial studies. My languages are English, Spanish and French.

How about you?

[Refresh refresh]

I'm doing contemporary Persian diasporic literature, based mainly in France.

Don't feel down yet! I'm not convinced that no word means definite rejection...at least not yet! have you spoken to anyone who has heard from either penn or texas? They might just be slower this year. Where else did you apply?

[andsoitgoes161]

I'm not in comp lit, but I also am a UT hopeful and I've been scouring these boards for any sort of Austin-related info for months now (it's sick how thorough I've been). From what I've gleaned, typically they send out acceptance notifications to the whole lot of English PhD applicants (it doesn't seem to depend on field) on Feb 21, rejections on Feb 25-27, waitlisters hear Feb 28, and if people get in off the wait list they hear on April 2-4. However, I wonder if this year's extended app deadline will affect notification dates this season? I'm scared to hear back since it's my top choice, but I don't think we'll get any news for another week and a half or so. Best of luck to all!

[Starlajane]

I'm doing contemporary Persian diasporic literature, based mainly in France.

Don't feel down yet! I'm not convinced that no word means definite rejection...at least not yet! have you spoken to anyone who has heard from either penn or texas? They might just be slower this year. Where else did you apply?

Yes, another poster (from the French forum) got an interview from PSU at the end of Jan., although no one seems to have heard from UT yet.

I also applied to Chapel Hill for comp lit and have yet to hear from them; I saw one acceptance from them on the results board a week ago, so I'm fairly certain that I've been rejected; it was the only PhD program to which I applied, and I highly doubt that I will be accepted there after being rejected from Indiana's MA program. Oh well.

Persian lit sounds fabulous, I am certain that you will get in somewhere.

Edited February 9, 2012 by Starlajane

[pel]

Hey guys,

Did anyone apply to Stanford Comp Lit? I've seen two acceptances on the board and I haven't heard anything yet. Did anyone hear something other than the news on the board?

[darjeelingtea16]

I'm wondering the same about UPenn Comp Lit...

[Origin=Goal]

Seconding the UPenn question, though I saw some activity on the results board last week (but only a limited amount); and have we completely foreclosed on Chicago?

@Pel: Didn't they send out interviews already, or am I mixing that up with English? (I didn't apply)

[pel]

I think interviews were only for english applicants...

[Enzian]

Also waiting on Penn. I could have sworn someone said they were told middle of this past week for notifications? But there's nothing on the board except that one phone interview, right?

[vordhosbntwin]

here's what i received in an email exchange: "Our committee should be meeting during the next week, and we will draw up a list of successful applicants at that point. We will contact successful applicants at that point.

yours sincerely,

Rita Copeland"

that was sent on feb 1st, so idk.......

[darjeelingtea16]

Also waiting on Penn. I could have sworn someone said they were told middle of this past week for notifications? But there's nothing on the board except that one phone interview, right?

Yeah, I only saw that same phone interview on the results page and nothing else. Maybe they're trickling results out?

Seconding the UPenn question, though I saw some activity on the results board last week (but only a limited amount); and have we completely foreclosed on Chicago?

I think I'm giving up on Chicago :/

[Enzian]

here's what i received in an email exchange: "Our committee should be meeting during the next week, and we will draw up a list of successful applicants at that point. We will contact successful applicants at that point.

yours sincerely,

Rita Copeland"

that was sent on feb 1st, so idk.......

Maybe every applicant was unsuccessful. Thanks for the info vordhos and congrats on Yale!

[vordhosbntwin]

thank you very much! i wanted to ask folks on this board what they think of yale's comp. lit. program, what they think of its emphases, etc. i have a feeling that it may be between yale and a more theoretical program (johns hopkins humanities center, for instance) for me, and i'm just not sure what the hell i'll do in that situation.

[pel]

my best friend is at yale, doing comparative literature and she says that the faculty doesn't really like theory. (when you expect the opposite) But overall, she is very happy with everything; especially poetry and american lit. she chose yale over upenn, stanford and harvard and didn't regret her decision. the only thing is, as you can imagine, she's not a big fan of new haven.